- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

IA opened at noon today for the train show. I didn't get there until 1:30 because of the weather. We had about 15-20 people come through. Pretty good condering the river of slush between our building door and the front building.

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40th's
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

There are a lot of other computers that have a 40th this year. Northstar Horizon comes to mind, but many others. Plus PDP 11/04 /34 /45 /55. Atari 2600....

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SASI Hard Drive Controllers
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

Related to my post yesterday, I have a SASI XEBEC 104526 rev 4 that works ok when there is a fan blowing on it but overheats after a while. It controls a SASI external hard drive used by a Visual 1050 computer. OK, I will look through the electronics and replace failing components and sure it up. Seems like the typical course of action for an XEBEC and other (SASI) external controllers. I am also thinking about the CBM 9090 and related 5-10Mb drives. 35 years in, they all seem to be failed or failing. Similar XEBEC controllers for things like IBM PC's seem to have fared better. Why? Or just a coincidence? Is there a common component that fails more often in SASI controllers but not IDE and others of the era? I know the history of SASI/SCSI and I have some XEBEC docs. I can research further on my own, but maybe someone who actually supported these back when they were new has some casual knowledge to pass along. How reliable were these when they were new/current? Bill

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Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games"
by Corey Cohen 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

I’m trying to run “TICKERTAPE” on my Altair so I can punch out some holiday paper tape. Problem… I don’t have a copy, I’ve been trying to decipher the image on the atari archives site, but I can’t seem to get it to work. The image is really bad and I’ve had to guess on a few things. If you have a hardcopy, can you please take a high resolution photograph with a camera or your phone and email it to me. I want to send the paper tape in with my kids to school on Monday morning. Thanks, Cheers, Corey

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games"
by Duane 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

Corey, I can't help on the BASIC program, but you might be able to help me. The attached file is the output of a program I wrote last year to run on a 1219B computer and punch text into paper tape. I hand encoded the data from a character generator data sheet (TB62713). I don’t have a punch so I have not been able to check / debug the program. It runs on my emulator. If you have a way to send it to the punch, let me know of any problems. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 3:35 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Corey Cohen Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games" I’m trying to run “TICKERTAPE” on my Altair so I can punch out some holiday paper tape. Problem… I don’t have a copy, I’ve been trying to decipher the image on the atari archives site, but I can’t seem to get it to work. The image is really bad and I’ve had to guess on a few things. If you have a hardcopy, can you please take a high resolution photograph with a camera or your phone and email it to me. I want to send the paper tape in with my kids to school on Monday morning. Thanks, Cheers, Corey

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SASI Hard Drive Controllers
by Herb Johnson 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

> I have a SASI XEBEC 104526 rev 4 that works > ok when there is a fan blowing on it but overheats after a while. > Is there a common component that > fails more often in SASI controllers but not IDE and others of the era? Short answer: I don't know, but here's how to diagnose heat-failing components: controlled heat and freeze. The trick is in finding the physical location. I simply don't know if there's a common component on XEBEC products which fails. I do know there are heat-related failures on decades-old computers; so I look for such things when I repair them. Obviously one can just replace "hot" components, but they may not be the source of the problem. Long-term, excessive heat is an enemy. Small hand-held IR thermometers are your friend. I bought one at Radio Shack decades ago for $50. Now they are $15; I'm still using my first one. If you freeze-spray a hot component and the board operates again, you've established cause-and-effect. A temperature-related failure mode can be a solder joint. Or a printed-circuit board through-hole which does not contain (enough) solder: the copper plating of the hole cracks over time and separates when hot or flexed. Components can crack too. I isolate heat-failing components, by putting the board in a freezer, then I install the board back in the device, after heating a SELECTED portion of the board with a hair dryer. Heating different parts of the board, and smaller sections, in succession, should isolate the failing location. "Teach a person to fish...." Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Apple III
by william degnan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

You all in the Apple team might need one of these there Apple III's I rec'con http://delaware.craigslist.org/sys/5887919925.html b

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Computer Music Exhibit for 2017?
by Ethan 17 Dec '16

17 Dec '16

I thought about doing a computer music exhibit for 2017. I have Sound Blaster 1.0, 1.1, Gravis Ultrasound, MT-32. What would be good? What would make it good? I do have a Mega ST 2 as well, Atari ST was known for MIDI sequencing. Thoughts? - Ethan

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Fw: Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games"
by Duane 16 Dec '16

16 Dec '16

-----Original Message----- From: Duane Craps Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 7:47 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games" Corey, Uploaded basic program to an online OCR service. File looks fixable. Made Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays tapes with the 1219 emulator. Try to read each line into a variable and output it with a CHR$() function. I tried to send this before but I never saw it go through. Duane -----Original Message----- From: Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Friday, December 16, 2016 5:54 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Corey Cohen Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Anyone have a hardcopy of "More Basic Computer Games" I was able to bring the pic into photoshop and clean it up so it’s perfectly readable!!!! I’ll type this in tomorrow… Cheers, Corey > On Dec 16, 2016, at 4:59 PM, Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic > <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: > > Can you take a closer up pic of the code. Your pic looks like it has the > same problem, just not as bad. > > I really appreciate it. > > Thanks > Cheers, > Corey > > corey cohen > uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ > >> On Dec 16, 2016, at 4:21 PM, Jonathan Gevaryahu via vcf-midatlantic >> <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >> >>> On 12/16/2016 3:37 PM, william degnan via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >>> On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 3:35 PM, Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic < >>> vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote: >>> >>>> I’m trying to run “TICKERTAPE” on my Altair so I can punch out some >>>> holiday paper tape. >>>> >>>> Problem… I don’t have a copy, I’ve been trying to decipher the image >>>> on >>>> the atari archives site, but I can’t seem to get it to work. The image >>>> is >>>> really bad and I’ve had to guess on a few things. >>>> >>>> If you have a hardcopy, can you please take a high resolution >>>> photograph >>>> with a camera or your phone and email it to me. I want to send the >>>> paper >>>> tape in with my kids to school on Monday morning. >>>> >>>> Thanks, >>>> Cheers, >>>> Corey >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> checked, don't have it. >>> >> >> I have it, here's the page: >> >> https://www.dropbox.com/s/cifwy6u3w56pao8/2016-12-16%2016.19.44.jpg?dl=0 >> >> -- >> Jonathan Gevaryahu >> jgevaryahu(a)gmail.com >> jgevaryahu(a)hotmail.com >>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Teams?
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 16 Dec '16

16 Dec '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >> I'm a bit confused, and likely missed something. What are these >"teams" I'm > hearing about for VCF? > >Trying something different this year. The show will still have regular >exhibits -- lots of 'em! -- but we arranged three "mega exhibits" to >honor the 40th anniversary of the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and >TRS-80 Model 1. These exhibits will be full-ish timelines of ALL vintage >computers from those brands, with each team having 4-6 members, several >tables, a captain, team name, and a prize for the best team. As >discussed by members on the list, the teams are: Commodorians, >TRanSistors, and AppleDappleDude. Is there a VAX/VMS team? It too will be 40 years old as of Oct. 25, 2017.

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