- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Tomorrow evening
by Evan Koblentz 13 Jan '17

13 Jan '17

Tony is helping me in the museum from 10:00-12:30 tomorrow, and then I'll spend a few hours sorting books/magazines/etc. on our new shelves, but I haven't got squat to do in the evening (staying over rather than making an extra round-trip). Anybody want to arrive tomorrow night and hang out, or do warehouse work with me, etc.?

2 2

VCFed fiscal year '16 report
by Evan Koblentz 13 Jan '17

13 Jan '17

Today we posted financial information from our first full fiscal year. http://vcfed.org/wp/financial-information/ Remember, this report is for the whole national Federation.

2 1

PDP stuff from Omni?
by Evan Koblentz 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Anyone have experience working with this company? http://omnicorp.net/dec.htm

4 6

Advice on Xenix VCF exhibit
by Herb Johnson 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

There's a few threads now, about VCF exhibit design. I may post the same basic message in a couple of them, but point to this one for details. It's pretty long, but I'm saying: my friends here are thinking-through their exhibits, and who will be attracted to them. I suggest being more deliberate. David Gesswein posted some of his deliberations; I'm posting what I did last year, in cooperation with others, by luck and intention. A Xenix exhibit by content, may be limited to certain interests; don't be shy about that, but ask for suggestions otherwise. Keywords: intention, process, discussion. ----------------------------- To put it simply: different exhibit designs, will attract different audiences of "people". Which "people" are you intending to attract? Be specific about your audience; and what you expect out of them. And then the discussion can be about the exhibit design, or the content, or some strategies and gimmicks, for the intended result from the specific audience. "Intention" is a key word. I think the discussion would be better directed, to a notion of intentionally attracting specific groups and therefore naming and categorizing such groups. An exhibitor can either decide on a group and create an exhibit to attract them; or more likely have an idea for an exhibit and try to tailor the exhibit toward some group, or recognize which group is more likely to be interested. Then others can discuss the merits of any of those considerations. I observe that the notion of an exhibit, is moving from "this interests me, this is something I've done, I'm gonna show my work or interest"; to a desire to have some impact on some group (not "people", sorry) about some product or concept. If you wanna have an impact - attention, interest, etc. - you are obliged to identify *who*. Then you can figure out their interests; then you can figure out how your exhibit's content can attract them (or not). YOu can work that forwards, or backwards. "My Xenix word-processing exhibit which is my interest, won't attract teenagers who want gaming. That's fine, I'm focused on people who did word processing in the 1980's or earlier". Even so, having some text-based game program around, would not be a bad idea. David Gesswein's post, described his process for his recent exhibit designs; and also specific strategies for drawing interest. He didn't specify audiences but they were implied. David uses fewer words, better, than I. I don't/didn't plan to exhibit this year. But I'm impressed that this kind of discussion is going on. It's very thoughtful. Here's my thoughts about what I exhibited last year. --------------------- Last year, I chose to show a relatively impressive S-100 system - the Ithaca Intersystem DPS-1, two of 'em. To me, the amazing thing was to make them work! So my exhibit (and Web pages) were about that process of repair and diagnosis. For many people that's the hardest part; for some like me it's the most fun. http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/ith_feb16_repairs.html http://www.retrotechnology.com/vcfe11/vcfe_11.html Target audience? Probably "hardware" people over 40, plus people doing repair of S-100 stuff. "Impact" strategies? Lots of blinkin' lights, I included a Jade Bus Probe (look it up), and the Ithaca front panel is the best IEEE-696 toggle front panel ever made. And they booted CP/M - check how many DPS-1's described on the Web, aren't working. I displayed one-page flyers with bullet points, Web links. "Concept?" - show a good working S-100 system, support other S-100 exhibitors, I called that out beforehand. Bill Sudbrink showed working IMSAI and Altair and Cromemco early video products. A few other folks had S-100 systems, or sold S-100 in the Dealer's area. John Chapman gave a good talk on S-100 repair, I supported him with good questions, comments. We and other people did active repairs at John's exhibit, very nuts-and-bolts S-100 boards and meters and a hot soldering iron. But other audiences? Under-25, non-techies - they saw my "ugly boxes of big boards", yawn. John had tools, chips and cards on his table - that's interesting to tinkerers young and old. Collectively, we "represented" S-100. That was my prime objective. Hard for me to see how that could be topped, this year. ------------------ In general and to the topic: I think one emphasis for an Xenix exhibit, would be word processing and coding. Both use text tools, printers, formatting. Lots of keyboard time. In the early 1980's, "word processing" for home and small business was ground-breaking. There were still jobs for secretaries and documentation-writing and production. Not to mention, C programmers writing for Xenix, Unix, and of course those micro-computers. I'm sorry if that's boring for 20-somethings and younger. But their parents and grandparents DID this kind of work - or designed the software and hardware for it - and they too will be visiting VCF-East, so they are a target demographic. How to make this interesting for teens? - that's a considerable challenge that may only be met by other exhibits. But I dunno, someone may have an idea..... Herb Johnson retrotechnology.com

1 0

Size of mattress during Workshop overnight
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Twin XL is the size for those staying overnight.

1 0

Workshop Important Info 1/14 & 1/15, 2017
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Everyone who has already told me that they are coming will have a table. If you haven't told me, then you will have no table, be shunned and have to watch through the window from outside and watch everyone else play. ;) We are back to 9032-A because the 9010-A room as shown to be too small to accommodate us. 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) 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 1pm to 5pm 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 judgement 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

3 4

Dan Kottke pitching a Raspberry Pi-like system
by Jeffrey Jonas 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

there are many many Raspberry Pi clones. Here are 5 slick commercial-videos for them. Daniel Kottke starts with a pitch for the Pine A64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1l4I2UIw1Q 5 Raspberry-pi alternatives

7 6

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Ultibo
by jsalzman＠gmail.com 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Ultibo is not my project. I discovered it only because someone wrote a CP/M emulator in the environment. I assume Pascal was chosen because it's considered the "perfect" language due to its structured style and ease of use. Pascal is sometimes studied for programming theory for the same reason. Regardless, it's all compiled to machine code anyway, so even a made-up programming language could have been implemented. On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 11:16 AM, Douglas Crawford <touchetek(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello: > > Pascal & Pi? You sent me through a rash of searches and web links to > figure that out. > I had no idea a Pascal derived from Borland lived on and thrived, let > alone was some folks choice even on embedded development. > The list of the supported environments on the Free Pascal wiki is fully > shocking to me. > The list of software produced with it is not so long on the wiki, but I > have used > one on the list PeaZip it works very well and of course had no idea of its > underpinnings. > > What are you implementing with it? Why have you stuck with Pascal? Its > fascinating to me. > > -Doug Crawford > >

3 4

What are you working on for The next great workshop is Jan 14 & 15
by Jeffrey Brace 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Workshop attendees watcha workin on? Also let me know about overnight dorm stay if needed.

5 5

Needed: one helper tomorrow
by Evan Koblentz 12 Jan '17

12 Jan '17

Can anyone help me in the museum and warehouse tomorrow? Dean was going to but he got sick. Contact me privately.

1 0