- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

UPDATE! Re: Successful workshop January 14&15, 2017
by SVCatITC＠aol.com 01 Feb '17

01 Feb '17

Hello All; Newbe here. I will take Jeff Brace's advice and detail what I worked on that was pix'ed. (See Jeff's link to the Google drive where the pix are located) I have been working on the museum presentation of the EAI TR20. So far, the restoration has been behind the scenes. Visitors will see the computer in a blue rack, sleeping. We pulled all the amplifier trays from the computer and then put the patch panel back, thereby allowing us to work on the defective components without disturbing the display and not making it any uglier than it already is. The large spaces between the computer are destined for a flatbed plotter (above) and a storage scope (below). With the new fabricated test bed (pix), we now can test and repair the amplifier trays at our convenience (workshop days). The pix that Jeff took of my stuff are as follows: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9SJLfGXYiG5LS1hMU8yX19fQWM?usp=shar ing IMG_5061.jpg: Could keep the bench a little cleaner. I tend to spread out. IMG_5065 to IMG_5066.jpg: Test Bed finished and fired up. YEAH it's ALIVE! IMG_5067.jpg: Test extender cable is firing up an EAI TR10/20 amplifier tray. Farm fresh picked from the boneyard storage at my warehouse, and it WORKED FIRST SHOT! (Parts and tray components are from my collection.) IMG_5068.jpg: EAI PC-12 Industrial Systems test setup box (glorified DC multimeter) I've jazzed this up with an internal +/- 10v reference supply. This is nice eye candy while doing repairs, and it has the same look and feel of the TR20 front panel. 50 year old technology diagnosing 50 year old technology. Just thought others might want to share in the progress and joy! I will continue diagnosing museum components at next workshop (Feb 11-12) Bill Inderrieden In a message dated 1/16/2017 12:05:17 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, vcf-midatlantic-request(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org writes: Message: 7 Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2017 01:25:23 -0500 From: Jeffrey Brace <ark72axow(a)gmail.com> To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Successful workshop January 14&15, 2017 Message-ID: <CAKVfvQxiQA-Z_nzbSnMc-P=TnZJaLWtY84C+HccSzw=OrbgLgQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Just wanted to write a quick e-mail to thank all those who attended the workshop. It was another successful workshop. It was a good idea to have the workshop in the bigger space. It accommodates more people. A lot of things got fixed and there was a lot of sharing of knowledge and expertise. Here are some phones from my iPhone which are raw, unedited and not the best quality (sorry I forgot to bring my Nikon): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9SJLfGXYiG5LS1hMU8yX19fQWM?usp=shar ing If anyone wants to chime in on what the worked on, their progress and what they need to work on next. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com End of vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 15, Issue 16

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Eniac in the "news"
by William Dudley 31 Jan '17

31 Jan '17

http://hackaday.com/2017/01/31/eniac-the-way-we-were Bill Dudley This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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sort of OT: "vintage" Oscilloscope for sale
by William Dudley 31 Jan '17

31 Jan '17

I have a pristine but untested RCA/Heath oscilloscope, looks to be from the 80's. Debug your Apple ][ with period appropriate hardware? Looking for $25 but make an offer if you think that's too salty. (The money is for the owner; I'm just the middleman.) picture here: http://www.dudley.nu/oscope_825.jpg I've also located and downloaded the Heath manual for it, and will make that available to the buyer. Bill Dudley This email is free of malware because I run Linux.

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PDP industrial/11 Progress
by william degnan 30 Jan '17

30 Jan '17

Hey all ... very happy to report I finally got my PDP 11/40 "industrial/11" to boot using RL11 controller to RL02 drive, running RT-11 at the moment. Long story short, the CPU and power seemed OK but I could not get the @#$! thing to boot RT-11 using an RL11 controller. I have been combing through the system for the better part of a year I guess to try to figure out why. I'll write up what I finally did to get it to work when I get the chance, but in short the DD11-CF backplane I was using had issues and was the cause of my problems. The industrial/11 is a PDP 11/40 with a red white and blue front panel, and most of the hardware is 1974. I need to add more RAM as I am only using 16K core at the moment but it's enough to boot the RT11 disk Ray Fantini so kindly made for me. Whew. Bill

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OT: SD card reader (USB) needed
by Andy Meyer 30 Jan '17

30 Jan '17

Does anyone have an SD card reader to USB that I can buy/borrow? I seem to have misplaced mine. Reply direct to me. Thanks Andy

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All robots need arms
by Evan Koblentz 30 Jan '17

30 Jan '17

This is entirely Dan's fault. :) He joked about an arm for Leinard Legobot, I said it's too difficult, and then of course I was up all night and all morning building it! Right now I have an arm that extends out of Leinad like an extension ladder. It works pretty well but its only capability is to emerge and retract. Not very exciting. Oh... and I used Lego hydraulics to make it tilt up and down. :) You have to pump it manually. I could automate the pumping with another motor, but all of the interface box ports are full. ________________________________ Evan Koblentz, director Vintage Computer Federation a 501(c)3 educational non-profit evan(a)vcfed.org (646) 546-9999 www.vcfed.org facebook.com/vcfederation twitter.com/vcfederation

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Signup for repair workshop! (Feb 11 & 12, 2017). Be there or be cubed.
by Jeffrey Brace 30 Jan '17

30 Jan '17

DATE: February 11 & 12, 2017 LOCATION: InfoAge Building 9032A - (2201 Marconi Road, Wall Township, NJ) TIME: Start about 10 A.M. on Saturday and ends whenever we go to sleep. End about 5 P.M. on Sunday. (Starts around 10 A.M. Sunday morning) SIGNUP: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13GnWX3AajJRMede2N7BrVht2j26hyt4lQoO… COST: - $10 for all members attending the workshop, which VCF donates to InfoAge as thanks for providing the space for us. - $25 for those wanting to stay overnight. Please pay me when you get there so that I don't forget. OVERNIGHT: Bring your own pillow, blankets, soap etc. We provide a bed frame and an uncovered mattress. There are showers and a kitchen for your use. - We will have PayPal credit card swipes available. EQUIPMENT: - VCF will provide a table and you can use any available electrical outlet. - Bring your own tools, power strips, power cords, and supplies etc. DRINKS: You should bring your own. I would recommend bringing a cooler of some type. FOOD: You provide your own. We may order pizza or go out to a dinner. Usually, we make a decision when everyone gets hungry. GATE: During the hours from 1 pm to 5 pm close the front gate behind you. We want museum visitors to go to the front lobby and not wander through the middle of the campus. Outside of those times, you can feel free to leave the gate open. PARKING: Park across from 9032A on the grass area. WEATHER: We will watch the weather very carefully. Snow is a predicted Saturday. We will make a judgment Friday night weather we will cancel due to snow. QUESTIONS? Please ask me (Jeff Brace) or Evan. My cell is 732-759-1783 and Evan’s is 646-546-9999 in case you need to contact us. See everyone there! And have fun! -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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CompuPro question/help
by Richard A Cini 29 Jan '17

29 Jan '17

All – I’ve been struggling recently getting any kind of x86-type system running on the S100. I have a mix of boards, but couldn’t get any to get me to a “boot”. Rich Camarda has a bunch of boards on eBay, so I emailed him to get confirmed jumper settings. To start, this is what I had in my system: CompuPro 86/87, RAM22, Disk 1, and the System Support board. While I don’t have a CompuPro diskette, I at least wanted to get the boot sequence to work. Nothing would work, even pared down to the troubleshooting-minimum from the manual (the CPU and Disk 1). For the drives, I’m using modified YD-380 PC/AT drives to replace 8” as I do on my IMSAI. I have an SCP 8086 board so I swapped it for the 86/87 board and now I get the boot activity (drive access, pause, drive access, etc.) per the description in the manual. Not sure what’s wrong with the 86/87 board I have (was bought “working” but who knows), so if there’s an expert out there, please contact me off-list. I also have a few Z80 processor boards I wouldn’t mind trading for the CompuPro Z80 CPU card. Also contact me off-list for that. Next up is getting something bootable going. Thanks! Rich -- Rich Cini http://www.classiccmp.org/cini http://www.classiccmp.org/altair32

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New Floppy Days Podcast #69 - The Commodore Vic-20 History, with Brian Bagnall, Michael Tomczyk, Neil Harris
by Randall Kindig 29 Jan '17

29 Jan '17

http://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-69-the-commodore-vic-20-history-wi… <http://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-69-the-commodore-vic-20-history-wi…> A new episode of Floppy Days about the Commodore Vic-20!! I was able to get a few notables from the Commodore & Vic-20 community to help me do this documentary-style retrospect on the history of this important machine. Some of the people you may have heard of Including: Michael Tomczyk - Advisor to Jack Tramiel and leader of the Vic Commando Team Neil Harris - Commodore employee and key member of the Vic Commando Team, before he went to Atari with the Tramiels Brian Bagnall - author of "Commodore: A Company on the Edge" I hope you enjoy this!! Randy Kindig, host Floppy Days Podcast floppydays.com

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Some interesting testimonies on BASIC
by Douglas Crawford 29 Jan '17

29 Jan '17

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