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VCFMW
by Mike Loewen 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

This was my first time attending VCF Midwest, and I had a very enjoyable time. I exhibited a Tandy 6000HD running my Micro Magic BBS from 1986, with VT320 and H19 terminals for login, along with an Osborne Vixen running IMP. Lots of familiar faces in attendance, including Jeff Jonas, Ian Primus, Will Donzelli, Kyle Owen, Ethan Dicks, Jack Rubin, Connor Krukosky, Mike Lee and Josh Bensadon. I finally met Jason Timmons, Jay West, Paul Anderson, Earl Baugh and Lee Hart, along with several other exhibitors. I'll be back. Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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OT: tech support please
by Evan Koblentz 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Girlfriend's computer is 15 years old, so I installed a brand new mobo, processor, RAM, and SSD. Only old parts are the case, power supply, and DVD. I triple-checked that all the mobo connectors are in the right places and enabled all SATA ports in the BIOS. First I tried booting with a live DVD to install Mint on her new SSD. I used a cheap IDE-SATA adapter to connect the DVD to her mobo -- the same adapter works fine on my computer. Doesn't work on hers. I get a message saying to insert boot media, the drive seeks, but it keeps returning to that message. I know the DVD that I burned is a good one. Checked the BIOS: it doesn't see the DVD at all. Then I tried it with a bootable USB stick. Nothing happens. Here's the really weird part. I disconnected the new SSD and put in her old HDD, which is also SATA, and I hear it spin up like it's booting normally (has Mint 18 on it), but I get nothing but a blank screen after the boot options menu. It * should * start right up like before. I'm stumped.

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Workshop -- sleeping change
by Evan Koblentz 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Per infoage management: the town has started to notice people sleeping over (not just us) and is clamping down on it since these buildings aren't zoned that way. We can no longer sleep in the museum. However, also starting now, we can stay in the part of the H-building that was professionally restored and re-zoned by the Hurricane Sandy relief teams. There are showers, a kitchen, bunk beds, and everything else -- much nicer than our concrete floor! Fred said IA decided to charge $25/person/night for this privilege. IA would also like a week or so of notice and an estimate on how many people will accept the offer each time we have overnight events. To cover ourselves, I told him it'll be about 10 people for next weekend. That is all the information I have now.

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Workshop next weekend
by william degnan 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

I plan to come up to the workshop Sat 11-6. Remind me to bring an ascii char test papertape for the UNIVAC 1532 Bill

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Upcoming workshops
by Jeffrey Brace 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

September will be the last workshop for the year. InfoAge has a lot of big events going so it would be hard to have workshops in October, November and December. Also on a personal note I need a break from all the work I have done during the year for VCF and other personal obligations, plus continuing docent duties. We will start up workshops again in January and February. Anyone else is free to have their own workshop in their homes. I know others have done this in the past. Don't forget we have Festivus on Dec 3/4 weekend! -- Jeff Brace - ark72axow(a)gmail.com

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Connor made Adafruit Blog and Fast Company
by Neil Cherry 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

I don't like the title as it makes Connor sound like he bought his way into the job (we know better) : This Teenage IBM Employee Got His Job By Buying An Old Mainframe Computer https://www.fastcompany.com/3063265/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/this-… https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/09/13/this-teenage-ibm-employee-got-his-job-… -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies

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Lego Logo 9767 Apple II Interface Build
by Systems Glitch 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Full Writeup: http://www.glitchwrks.com/2016/09/12/lego-logo-interface Ian was going to build the interface, but since I ended up having to troubleshoot the suspected flakey hardware after The Eleventh HOPE, I went ahead and built one to have a known-good board to test with. This uses one of the new Apple II protoboards I laid out a few months ago. I may either reduce the hole size or increase the annular ring on the pads. Right now you can stuff two 24 AWG solid wires plus a socket pin in the holes, which is great for point-to-point prototyping. It'll also take a through-hole switch or 2 Watt resistor without drilling out. About to run out to the post office and send it on its way to Evan! Thanks, Jonathan

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Free CRT
by Steven Toth 12 Sep '16

12 Sep '16

[Edited] Message to Ian Primus.... I have a widescreen Philips (?) CRT, maybe 28", that I bought in 2004. I used it until 2009 when I replaced it. I haven't powered it up for years, but it was working perfectly fine.... its been sitting in the garage (dry / clean), waiting for me to do something with it. ..... I'm never going to do anything with it. If you want it then let me know, I'll bring it to the next workshop. If not, no worries. - Steve

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Museum report -- different than usual
by Evan Koblentz 11 Sep '16

11 Sep '16

I was at the museum Friday, Saturday, and today. Dean helped on Friday and Jeff B. helped yesterday/today. Dean picked up our new Univac display case and delivered it to the museum. It's the first truly * new * display case we ever bought. We always got used cases. The new one is 6 feet tall and has glass sides, glass front, adjustable glass shelves, halogen lights for each shelf, botton locking storage, and locking doors. It's one of the first things you see upon entering the museum. Dean and I also painted shelves for the modern history exhibit. Corey visited to measure for a clear plastic cover to put in front of the shelves. Jeff and I painted the 5-ft.-wide aisle around the exhibits. We used a different shade of gray than the rest of the floor. We did NO prep work :) because it only needs to last a few months until we can acquire something better. Regardless, its a big improvement vs. the old paint which was full of scuffs and spots that didn't come out by any cleaning methods. We are considering rubber garage-style flooring for the future. This is only for the aisles, not the whole room. We also touched up the shelves from Friday, installed an outdoor lockbox in a discrete location for museum docents, and showed our exhibits to visitors. InfoAge hosted a Fort Monmouth reunion so there were many people around. Meanwhile, some of InfoAge's Halloween volunteers helped me build a black backdrop for the display case, because the rear is also glass and we don't want visitors to see what is behind it. That needs some refinement which I'll do Saturday at the workshop. Jeff and I also did a bunch of other general clean-up tasks and discussed other museum improvements, such as where to put TVs on the walls, how to decorate various empty walls, and what content to put in slides / videos for the TVs / Android kiosks. We did not get to any warehouse work, but it was miserable weather for that anyhow.

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Museum needs: chair, mini fridge
by Evan Koblentz 11 Sep '16

11 Sep '16

Everyone, We need two things for the museum. 1. An office chair, but not just any office chair. It should be black and/or silver, have wheels, and have adjustable height. 2. A mini fridge of 2-3 square feet. Prefer one with Energy Star certification and, of course, clean + in good working condition. :) Ps., the oscilloscope arrived today and now happily resides on our workbench.

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