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Update, museum tablets
by Evan Koblentz 12 Dec '16

12 Dec '16

Here's an update on the tablet project that I mentioned a while ago. We made simple card-stock signs for all of the microcomputer shortly before VCF East last spring. The signs looked decent and served their purpose. However, after a few months, the signs began to show their age and we realized it's a hassle to make changes. We also started to realize they looked sort of amateur-ish. So we decided to experiment with tablets. Simple tablets cost as little as $50-$60 and have tolerable specs for Android and our low requirements (run a browser, maybe play an A/V file here and there). I bought an Amazon Kindle Fire 7. It's a decent little tablet, but Amazon customizes it too much. You can't run Google Play apps without all kinds of complicated changes. I'm returning it tomorrow. In its place, I bought an Insignia (BestBuy house brand) 8" tablet. $60 and pure Android. I examined 20-something apps that do kiosk mode and/or parental control. Settled on an app called Fully Web Browser. It's inexpensive, easy to configure, and locks down everything except whatever domains/features that we white-list. Home button, hidden address bar, password-protected settings, even the power/volume buttons are locked down. It would be impossible for a museum visitor to do ANYTHING except what we specifically allow. The idea (as most of you know by now) is to install one tablet for every two display carts in our microcomputer exhibit. Each cart has upper/lower artifacts. The tablet screens will be divided into four quadrants. Visitors touch the quadrant corresponding with the artifact. I'm writing the web page so they can touch anywhere in the quadrant; it doesn't have to be on the actual contents (thanks to a trick in the <td> tag: <td onclick="location.href='yourpage.html'"> which supercedes using standard hyperlinks for the cell contents.) Up top there's a headline: "Press a box to learn more about the artifacts." On bottom are our Twitter/Facebook handles. Pressing a box makes that box go full-screen with info about the artifact. The top headline changes to, "Press here to return to the menu" and the bottom social media info stays the same. I ordered a case for the tablet. If it works well, then we'll determine a system for mounting them to the carts. And if THAT works well, then we'll bulk-purchase the rest of the tablets/cases. We already have funds budgeted for this. The simplicity of paper signs has some merits, but let's face it, this is 2016 and we need to have modern artifact presentation and interpretation. Using a slick kiosk app on tablets will be welcoming to our visitors, will make young people feel more comfortable in our learning environment, will impress InfoAge management, and (along with the two TVs we installed) will raise the bar for InfoAge museums in general. I am very excited about this project! We'll post some video when the first beta is installed.

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update re: bouncing messages and also Verizon accounts on our list
by Evan Koblentz 12 Dec '16

12 Dec '16

Everyone, Got this email from our list provider just now. -------- Forwarded Message -------- Dear List Owners, Some of you will be aware that for the last week Verizon has been blocking email coming from our server in New York. As a result, customers of Verizon in the US who are subscribed to lists hosted on that server are not receiving list-emails. We are still working on getting this block lifted. As part of our routine maintenance updates on the weekend, stricter bounce rules were applied to all our servers around the world. Many lists have old and outdated email addresses that no longer work, or that mail cannot be delivered to. Any subscriber address on a list that now bounces more that twice in a month is automatically removed.

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Museum Report 20161211 - Dec. 11, 2016
by Jeffrey Brace 11 Dec '16

11 Dec '16

Lots and lots of visitors today from the run by type to the know more than me type. The Holiday train show is going on and we get lots of visitors thanks to the show and the volunteers directing them to us. Next weekend will be very busy as it is the last weekend of the Holiday Train show. -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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The eye
by william degnan 11 Dec '16

11 Dec '16

https://www.degnanco.com/eye.cfm

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FS: Unknown S100 Host Interface Board
by Systems Glitch 11 Dec '16

11 Dec '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272480498465 Don't know what it does, it's only labeled as "S100 Host Interface," it *is* made in the USA though! There's a 50-pin dual row connector on top, but the board is all TTL logic. Electrical tested only -- it won't blow up your S-100 box, but it's not guaranteed to do anything else! Figured perhaps someone can find a use for it, or might even know what it's for! Thanks, Jonathan

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Museum report
by Evan Koblentz 10 Dec '16

10 Dec '16

Good day at the museum. This morning we took in a donation of various DEC, Tandy, and UNIVAC bits. Highlights are a very nice Tandy Model 12 with no yellowing, a UNIVAC book all about their product line (not a catalog; it's more like an encyclopedia) from 1970; punch cards, various manuals, etc. Then we had a bunch of visitors due to the train show. Mostly families, and also one guy who last saw us a few years ago in the old museum. Steady stream all day. I also cleaned the workbench area. Came home and there was a package waiting -- 100 banana plugs (20 each of 5 colors) that we'll wire up for the analog computers.

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Anyone have any 10Base5 cable?
by Martin A Flynn 09 Dec '16

09 Dec '16

Working on a building a 10Base5 LAN segment with vampire taps and Cabletron ST-500 transceivers. Before I spring for new 10Base5 cable, anyone have decent lengths (50-75 feet) of 10Base5 cable they are willing to part with? Martin

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FS: Data Technology Corporation DTC-10-1 S-100 SASI Interface
by Systems Glitch 09 Dec '16

09 Dec '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272480493687 Going through more duplicate/unused S-100 cards! This one is a SASI disk interface, and Bitsavers has a manual for it, linked in the auction listing. Electrical tested only, it won't blow up your S-100 box :) Thanks, Jonathan

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FS: MITS Altair 88-C700 Centronics Parallel Printer Interface
by Systems Glitch 09 Dec '16

09 Dec '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272480403564 Board is very clean, apparently this was intended to interface a MITS-branded Centronics C700 printer to the S-100 bus. I can't find much documentation for it, and I don't have any software that would use it, so it's only electrically tested: it has been plugged in to my IMSAI, it doesn't overcurrent, cause bus conflicts, et c., but HAS NOT BEEN TESTED FURTHER due to a lack of equipment, documentation and software! The ribbon cable that came with it is included. Definitely used, it has embedded dust/dirt, a few splits in the ribbon (but no worn insulation). There's some sort of panel transition fitting in the middle, it's not apparent whether this is permanent or can be separated. It didn't come apart easily, and I didn't pry. Thanks, Jonathan

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FS: Ithaca Audio IA-1010 Z80 CPU for S-100 Bus Tested/Working
by Systems Glitch 09 Dec '16

09 Dec '16

link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272480218774 Fully tested/working. This board is unusual in that it's a Z80 board that uses an Intel 8224 clock generator IC -- intended for the 8080. Not necessary to the Z80, but apparently Ithaca was trying to maximize compatibility with old S-100 boards that were expecting an 8080. As with all Z80 boards, it's not 100% compatible with every old S-100 card out there: it would not work with my DaJen SCI due to issues with how the SCI generates the "E" signal for the 6850 ACIA. Tested with an IMSAI front panel, 32K static RAM, and a Cromemco 4FDC floppy controller/console board. Onboard EPROM and power-on-jump functionality tested. Original ceramic Z80 had some broken pins that were intermittent, it will be included in the sale *if* you request it. Thanks, Jonathan

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