- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: interesting computer history books
by Steve Lagotte 21 Nov '24

21 Nov '24

Thanks for sharing those book recommendations, both have definitely piqued my interest. I’ll add them to the list, just have to get through “The Power Broker” and “Infinite Jest” first - but that’ll only take a day or two, right? XD Idea: piggybacking off Dustin’s suggestion of maintaining a book list - imagine if we had a MARCH library! Lots of books and magazines and manuals in the warehouse, wouldn’t it be fabulous if once we get them catalogued, we could actually get some use out of them? Oof, did I just volunteer for this? ;P

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Basement Sale End of Year
by Andrew Diller 21 Nov '24

21 Nov '24

I missed the swap meet and want to clean up my basement so I'm listing some things I'm just not ever going to use and I want to sell and get out of here... https://dillernet.com/forsale/ I have the listed items there but don't try and put them in the cart and checkout lol. To Purchase: email me and we'll do a PP or Venmo. Then the item is yours. Obviously not holding anything, first person to pay me get the stuff. Delivery: I'm not shipping- but I will bring to any System Source (this sat?) or InfoAge VCF meetup and give to you. There is a caveat- it has to be at least $100 or more to do this. I'm not going to do it for the $10 modem. Bundle or check with me. A few events are coming up and once this is gone I'll add some more things - it's just getting too crazy. If the item is listed there on the web it's available I will remove things as they are sold. -andy

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Reminder - Repair Workshop and Lee Felsenstein at System Source this weekend.
by Bob Roswell 20 Nov '24

20 Nov '24

You are invited to the Vintage Computer Repair Workshop at the System Source Computer Museum during the weekend of November 23 and 24 featuring: [cid:image003.jpg@01DB3B5C.6756BF90] Lee is a pioneer of personal computing. He was the force behind the original Homebrew Computing Club. Lee designed one of the earliest personal computers (the Sol) and earliest portable computer (the Osborne). He also founded the Community Memory Project. His work has been making personal computers into populist tools for over 50 years. As a designer, he made them affordable and easy to use. As a high-profile personal computing pioneer, he advocates computer use for the good of society, rather than for personal profit. As an activist, he promotes projects employing computers to encourage community-building. Lee will speak on Saturday at 10AM about his new book "Me and My Big Ideas - Counterculture, Social Media and the Future". Workshop Hours: Saturday, 11/23 from 9 - 9 and Sunday, 11/24 from 9 - 5 Lee Felsenstein Talk: Saturday, 11/23, 10AM Location: 338 Clubhouse Road, Hunt Valley MD Registration: Vintage Computer Repair Workshop<https://ca.syssrc.com/wp/?page_id=85&civiwp=CiviCRM&q=civicrm%2Fevent%2Finf…> Repair workshops are free events for hobbyists of all technical abilities. You can work on your old electronics including computers, ham radios, vintage radios/TVs and receive help from or assist other enthusiasts. Tables and power are provided. Please bring tools and supplies. Registration is limited to 100 people. Bob Roswell Curator Computer Museum @ System Source

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] 0livetti M380 /XPx computer (AT$T 6386WGS)
by Ian Litchfield 20 Nov '24

20 Nov '24

I have the service Manual for a similar model I only recently picked up a 6386E/WGS tower but this interface should be identical. Dug out the pinout it’s a standard AT Keyboard port. https://imgur.com/a/7ExrJyl Here are the photos on Imgur since the mailing list doesn’t support MIME or images. Hope this helps! -Ian L. On Wed, Nov 20, 2024 at 13:29 Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Well, it’s obvious that the person is working on an M 24 or an XT computer > and mine is a 386. The lines for the keyboard may be different. Not sure I > have not been able to find schematics for my computer computer > unfortunately, that’s where the problem lies. > But I will continue my search > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Nov 20, 2024, at 12:01 PM, Hopkins, Justin < > Justin.Hopkins(a)broadridge.com> wrote: > > > > > > Good luck on that adapter… > > This guy did it, but it is not for the faint of heart. > > > https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/olivetti-m24-at-t-6300-keyboard-e… > > > > > > From: Sentrytv <sentrytv(a)yahoo.com> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 6:22 AM > > To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org>; vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> > > Subject: 0livetti M380 /XPx computer (AT$T 6386WGS) > > > > Good morning I am looking to find people in the group who have > experience with the Olivetti M380 series computers and/or the AT&T 6386WGS. > First off, I am looking for power supply schematics and have questions on > the keyboard wiring. The > > ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart > > This Message Is From an External Sender > > This message came from outside your organization. > > ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd > > Good morning > > > > I am looking to find people in the group who have experience with the > Olivetti M380 series computers and/or the AT&T 6386WGS. > > > > First off, > > I am looking for power supply schematics and have questions on the > keyboard wiring. > > The computers have a DE9 keyboard input and I am looking to make an > adapter for a standard XT/AT or PS2 keyboard, if it will work. > > > > The usual internet searches came up with all kinds of info, but nothing > on the keyboard input, conversion, adapter or power supply schematics. > > > > If there is someone knowledgeable on these computers, please don’t > hesitate to get back to me. > > By the way, > > > > The is some ok YOUTUBE videos on Olivetti models, but no real details or > sources for schematics that I’m aware of. > > > > Thank you > > > > Mike Rosen > > > > > > Sent from: > > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the > addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. > If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized > representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by > e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. >

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interesting computer history books
by Jeffrey Jonas 20 Nov '24

20 Nov '24

2 more books for my Tsundoku (stack of unread books) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku https://www.amazon.com/Turings-Cathedral-Origins-Digital-Universe/dp/140007… Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson In this revealing account of how the digital universe exploded in the aftermath of World War II, George Dyson illuminates the nature of digital computers, the lives of those who brought them into existence, and how code took over the world. In the 1940s and ‘50s, a small group of men and women—led by John von Neumann—gathered in Princeton, New Jersey, to begin building one of the first computers to realize Alan Turing’s vision of a Universal Machine. The codes unleashed within this embryonic, 5-kilobyte universe—less memory than is allocated to displaying a single icon on a computer screen today—broke the distinction between numbers that mean things and numbers that do things, and our universe would never be the same. Turing’s Cathedral is the story of how the most constructive and most destructive of twentieth-century inventions—the digital computer and the hydrogen bomb—emerged at the same time. https://www.amazon.com/MANIAC-Benjamin-Labatut/dp/0593654471/136-3995004-72… The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut A prodigy whose gifts terrified the people around him, John von Neumann transformed every field he touched, inventing game theory and the first programmable computer, and pioneering AI, digital life, and cellular automata. Through a chorus of family members, friends, colleagues, and rivals, Labatut shows us the evolution of a mind unmatched and of a body of work that has unmoored the world in its wake. The MANIAC places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych that begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, an encounter embodying the central question of von Neumann's most ambitious unfinished project: the creation of a self-reproducing machine, an intelligence able to evolve beyond human understanding or control.

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Anyone Coming to the DC Area Meetup Today Have Spare ICs?
by Alexander Jacocks 17 Nov '24

17 Nov '24

Hello, folks. Does anyone going to the event at the Chantilly, VA library, today, happen to have any 1488 and 1489 RS232 line driver ICs? My order showed up missing one of each. I could also use one 74ls08 and one 74ls174, if anyone has them. Thanks! - Alex

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Repair Workshop Tomorrow! (11/16 & 11/17), 2024
by Jeffrey Brace 15 Nov '24

15 Nov '24

Our repair workshop is this weekend! Click here to signup <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EcPexWNHTWBHdWOA9o5sZgWd7QV1Ni445rg…> . *WHERE:* 1) Building 9059 (CDL side and Classroom side) 2) Building 9032-A - NOT AVAILABLE THIS MONTH! *TIME:*Saturday START time == 10 A.M. END time == 11PM. Sunday START time == 10 A.M. and END == 5 P.M. *COST:* $15 per person, per day. NO OVERNIGHT STAYS ALLOWED When you arrive, find Thomas or Andrew. I will be there by 10:30AM so then you can pay me and get a blue wristband. - *Payments* - PayPal: @vintagecomputerfed (or paypal(a)vcfed.org) - Venmo: @VintageComputerFederation - Cash (in person) - Credit card (in person). *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. - If you need particular tools that you don't own or particular parts, please let others know that you need something. They may have what you need. Let them know ahead of time. - Let everyone know what project you are working on ahead of time to inspire collaboration. *DRINKS*: You should bring your own. We have a refrigerator in CDL to keep them cold. VCF will buy some water and soft drinks for member use. *FOOD*: *Saturday afternoon*: Everyone is on their own. *Saturday Night Dinner at 7PM?*: We often go out to dinner together. *Sunday Morning*: We usually meet at a diner around 9AM *Sunday Afternoon*: Everyone is on their own. *Address:* InfoAge Science and History Museums 2201 Marconi Road Wall, NJ 07719 *PARKING:* Park in the main parking lot, unless you are unloading. Don't park on the lawn. Also park on one side of the road for fire safety. *PHONE:* (732) 722 - 5015 *EMAIL: *repairworkshops(a)vcfed.org Have fun everyone! :-D Repair workshops are events which are open to the general public where members of all levels technical abilities and experience get together to help each other repair vintage computer hardware. Repair workshops are a chance to work with other VCF members to help repair your vintage artifact. *We are not there to do repairs for you*, *only to allow you the facilities and partnership to help you figure out how to repair it*. Repair workshops are held about 9 times per year at the InfoAge location in Wall. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President Vintage Computer Festival East Showrunner VCF Mid-Atlantic Event Manager Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> jeffrey(a)vcfed.org

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Thomas Kurtz, Co-Creator of Computer Language Basic, Dies at 96
by Christian Liendo 15 Nov '24

15 Nov '24

I know some people here don't read cctalk https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/vnews/name/thomas-kurtz-obituary?id=56… https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/company-news/2024/11/14/thomas-kurtz-c… https://boingboing.net/2024/11/15/thomas-eugene-kurtz-co-inventor-of-basic-…

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Somebody who needs help with Yamaha floppy disks
by David Ryskalczyk 15 Nov '24

15 Nov '24

For Yamaha organs with MDR drives, this software together with a PC type (or USB 720k-capable) drive will do: https://mdreliminator.yolasite.com/ David > On Nov 15, 2024, at 1:23 PM, Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > >

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For those seeking a 5ESS...
by Martin A. Flynn 15 Nov '24

15 Nov '24

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-407362A1.pdf Verizon intends to retire and remove the Bedminster NJ 5ESS switch (BDMNNJ01DS5) from the network after all traffic served by this switch is migrated to the Verizon New Brunswick NJ C20 switch (NBWKNJNBPS2).

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