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Museum Report 2017-06-21 June 21, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

Since I work in public schools, I am off work today, so I was docent at the museum. We had a few visitors today with moderate interest. I mostly got a look at any changes in the last few weeks since I was away. There are two new artifacts of the month. Next machine and Indigo 2. I hope to try to be here as many Wednesday as possible during the summer. There are a few dates where groups are visiting. I plan on making to being her on those days. -- ======================================================== Jeff Brace ========================================================

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Retro computer desk / table recommendations?
by John Heritage 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

Hey folks -- Does anyone have any epic retro computer desks/tables they've seen that they'd recommend? I currently have an Atari 800XL, Atari Mega STE, and an Amiga 1200 crammed on a small 5' x 30" table. It has a few "stacks" for separating monitors, mice, and keyboards, but I'm looking to build something bigger than this. I might convert my guest room into a retro room (and then add an Atari 7800, Jaguar, and maybe an Amiga 500).. so if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or pics they'd recommend I look at -- I'd appreciate it :). I do have a Roland MT-100 on the side for MIDI for these machines, and of course an old onkyo stereo to play those chiptunes loudly :). Thanks! John

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] CHIP, was Re: WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Earl Baugh 21 Jun '17

21 Jun '17

There are two MicroCenters here in the Atlanta area, I've walked in multiple times and bought a number of Pi Zero W's. Never any muss or fuss. (same with the Zero when it came out) I currently am working not too far from one of the two, so if someone wants one (don't bury me with requests) just drop me a line in private. I can go by sometime and buy some ...just need the cost plus shipping and I'll get them to you. I've found that they work quite well with the BT and Wifi (I also have some RedBear shields that I use on the regular Pi Zeros and those work well too...but the W is cheaper...) Earl

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] CHIP, was Re: WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by william degnan 20 Jun '17

20 Jun '17

On Jun 20, 2017 10:15 PM, "Kyle Owen via vcf-midatlantic" < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > On Jun 20, 2017 7:29 PM, "David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic" < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 07:30:53PM -0400, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic > wrote: > > > > Not they removed the 1x per person limit, but still prohibit the online > > sales for the PI Zero???. > > > They also have the interesting per unit price which significantly increases > with quantity starting with qty 2. > > > My friend bought one, walked out of the store, walked back in and bought > another. The look on the cashier's face was, shall we say, not very > approving...! > > Kyle I bought 5 zeroes from Ebay cheap, I guess I got lucky. The lot included headers. At the time there were.a few lots avail. I did not get the last one or anything like that. Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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Superbrain Restoration blog
by Douglas Crawford 19 Jun '17

19 Jun '17

I finally wrote up the saga of the Superbrain restoration that happened over the last several years. Its in my usual long winded story form. :O https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/intertec-superbrain-qd-rest… This led to the Kermit and the Brain exhibit, which by the way, has undergone some extensive edits with help from a very kind edit reviewer and folks from The Kermit Project. It is much better than when I first announced it. https://abitoutofplace.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/kermit-and-the-brain/

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A little personal milestone
by Evan Koblentz 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

This is no big deal to most of you, but today I entered a simple front panel program solo for the first time (on the HP 1000 thanks to Mike L.'s excellent teaching last weekend). Hey you, David G.! This means I'll have more confidence the next time I try your similar program on the PDP-8.

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OT - Live streaming / podcasting from VCF
by Martin A Flynn 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

OT Warning: One of the other InfoAge Teams (disclaimer I'm helping) is setting up a podcast / livestream studio at IA. The studio has a decent audio chain and will be able to stream to a commercial provider. Anyone interested in hosting a segment live from VCFE XIII? If so, email me directly to keep the chatter off the main list Martin

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Wifi232 on hackaday
by Duane Craps 18 Jun '17

18 Jun '17

Link to WI232 modem review on Hackaday: http://hackaday.com/2017/06/17/bbsing-with-the-esp8266/

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Herb Johnson 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

To Paul: Thanks for the response to my post; and likewise for the other responses and your offer to head's-up here your next run of boards. If you have insights into USB/serial buffering issues, you can contact me privately c/o retrotechnology.com. (I follow the VCFed list by Web, so I don't see private email addresses for private contacts.) - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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WiFi RS-232 Internet Modem
by Herb Johnson 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

> but I really want to to be able to ssh from my Apple IIe > to any of my machines without having to serial tether the Apple IIe to > one of my Linux boxes. Caution: this message may be boring to younger audiences. This is not my technology, but I have interests in 20th C. serial in the 21st century. After noodling the Web and Twitter, my impression is that this item seems to come available briefly, then get sold out; that may repeat or not. I'm not passing judgement, I'm simply reporting what I found. There's any number of WiFi dongles which are a little programmable and which accept serial trans/recieve, and have some other I/O bits. Neil Cherry works with ESP8266 type WiFi dongles, as part of his open IOT activities; he's reported on them in this list. This responds to the "want non-tehered serial" comment above. I think I see one such dongle on this device, on a board that probably includes another processor and some RS-232 type level-converting. One could likely build one with an Arduino - some of them are WiFi without a shield. For fun, you could add a speaker to sound-out the wired-modem buzz-whirr connect sounds. One challenge of vintage use of 21st century connection technology - WiFi, even USB/serial dongles - is how they manage both sides of the 20th century transfer. Translation: USB dongles have hardware buffers (and software drivers) that screw up character processing and other delays, by old MS-DOS programs and old slow microprocessors. I don't know if the WiFi dongles have similar issues. Here's a tech note I wrote recently, reportage on discussions about the above, in an on-line 1802 COSMAC forum. Many 1802 microcomputers were severely limited, even by mid-1970's standards. That's fine, it was a condition of the times. http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/mship_ttlusb.html Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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