- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Re: [vcf-midatlantic] oldest email address in the club
by Jeffrey Jonas 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Loewen: > Here's my entry from the NIXPUB list in 1992: > 04/92 814-353-0566 cpumagic Bellefonte PA 12/24/96/14 24 What a small world: friends still live in Bellefonte. The closest I have to that was my photo & entry in "Face Saver" at the 1989 Usenix conference. http://www.metron.com/FaceSaver/ From: Neil Cherry > If you were on bitnet you were probably using all sorts of symbols. > I recall mixing !, %, @, {}. Lots of fun with routing email. I donated my O'Reilly Nutshell book of manual e-mail routing to the VCF library. It documented all known email gateways and things like the "at-hack". The title looked like a cartoon character cursing: @!#%*-something.

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Next /sgi displays
by william degnan 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

Avail in silver spring, md Bill Degnan twitter: billdeg vintagecomputer.net

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Painting
by Evan Koblentz 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

Painting the top few feet of our walls (top of the door frame to the ceiling) would be easy, but painting the ceiling itself would be difficult detail-wise. Rollers on sticks wouldn't get the all the edges. There are many edges because the ceiling is WW2 style. I asked Tony for his opinion because he seems to know a lot about painting. He recommended getting professional estimates. He said if the cost is exorbitant then he can probably get some of his worker to come help, but he emphasized that the tall, large ceiling really should he done by pros to look halfway decent. I will get a few estimates.

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Painting
by Herb Johnson 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

I also think Dan has been informative, about focusing on the content of the museum, rather than the walls and ceiling. I think it's a reasonable point, that the many computers and other objects in the museum space, provide plenty for the eye to examine and for the mind to consider. And of course, for the docents to explain. My impression of the space, is that it's full of equipment and shiny shelves, and is well-lit. My old-man eyes are very busy already, thank you. I'll let youngsters give their own impressions. As for the blandness of the ceiling and walls, Evan; You can't say they are bland AND that you need to keep people's eyes off of them AND you need to put objects up there (like LCD screens) to give them something to see. This is - no offense - contradictory. you might consider that the white paint covers all the various textures and structures on the ceiling; they reduce the contrast. also the white, well-reflects light around the room and reduces shadows. Dark paint would increase contrast, not reflect light. The point of the room is not the walls and ceiling, it's the content - I think Dan was working hard to make that point. These things said, it may be of some advantage to change the lighting - that is, use other color temperatures of fluorescent tubes or LED substitutes, as changing the fixtures is far too expensive for too little benefit. It's a subtle consideration, once made only requiring dollars and some simple labor. And it's reversible. It's far simpler to add some posters or other hanging items, than to paint. Items hung one day, can be removed and replaced another day. If one thing doesn't work, remove it and provide another thing. Items well above eye-level will not be examined in detail, that's human-factors. Again - the room is full already, with much to see and describe. Finally: The space is new and simple. It's just been established. the contents have just been established. Why not let them run their course, gather reactions from the visitors, and from the volunteers who respond to the visitors? Then in a few years, revise the space. They may be other exhibits to add at that point, other renovations. That seems prudent and considered. That's my response, to a public discussion, about changes to the museum exhibit space. What Evan and VCF Inc. do is their choice, and so I would not comment in this way except others have done so, presented their points. These are mine. Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Vintage computing art project
by Evan Koblentz 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

I'd like to try an experiment with painting an on-topic design onto a sheet of clear plexi and having light shine through it. Anyone done something like this? What kind of paint should we use?

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disk duplicating machines
by william degnan 01 Sep '16

01 Sep '16

Anyone into vintage disk duplicating machines? Me? I have two; one for 5 1/4 and one for 3.5 disks but I don't use them. Have not powered them on or tested in 10 years. I have never seen anyone demo these at a VCF or elsewhere, but I bet there was a time when these were in use in many businesses before easy software download. A lost piece of tech. Bill

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Fwd: Daily Tech News Show: DTNS 2846 – Vintage Computing Never Gets Old
by murphnj 31 Aug '16

31 Aug '16

The podcast that Evan was on has been posted. I have not yet had a chance to listen. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Blogtrottr <busybee(a)blogtrottr.com> Date: Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 5:35 PM Subject: Daily Tech News Show: DTNS 2846 – Vintage Computing Never Gets Old Daily Tech News Show Keep up to date with independent, authoritative and trustworthy discussion of the tech news of the day. Tom Merritt and co-host's home for daily tech news. [image: thumbnail] DTNS 2846 – Vintage Computing Never Gets Old <http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DailyTechNewsShow/~3/pPcs0vpMRJA/> Aug 31st 2016, 17:25, by tommerritt(a)tommerritt.com (Tom Merritt), Tom Merritt [image: Logo by Mustafa Anabtawi thepolarcat.com] <http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DTNS_CoverArt14…> Evan Koblentz from the Vintage Computer Federation joins Scott Johnson to discuss the allure of vintage computer technology and its role in shaping modern trends. MP3 <http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/280806555-dtns-dtns-vintage-computing.mp3> Using a Screen Reader? Click here <https://youtu.be/jmAB85gRU5Y> Please SUBSCRIBE HERE <http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyTechNewsShow>. Follow us on Soundcloud <https://soundcloud.com/dtns>. A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible. If you are willing to support the show <http://dailytechnewsshow.com/support/> or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon <http://www.patreon.com/dtns>. Thank you! Big thanks to Dan Lueders <http://danlueders.com/> for the headlines music and Martin Bell <http://twitter.com/martinbellmusic> for the opening theme! Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo! Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit <http://dailytechnewsshow.reddit.com/> *Show Notes* To read the show notes in a separate page click here <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oY2XMRtMlaBEujRfmD2cy7x1F-amg-OXQSq…> ! Media files: 280806555-dtns-dtns-vintage-computing.mp3 <http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/280806555-dtns-dtns-vintage-computing.mp3> (audio/mpeg)

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vintage computer streaming video
by Jeffrey Jonas 31 Aug '16

31 Aug '16

I finally repaired the power supply to my Roku box (Internet television). My guilty pleasure is over - the StarLost channel is gone! It was all StarLost all the time. I liked the urban exploring feel of the show as the clueless-3 wandered the Space Ship Arc's corridors of abandoned consoles, kinda like NASA mission control of the 60s, or an old military base. Gee, just like Camp Evans :-) Anyway, I found something wonderful: Joe Screwdriver's Retro Tech https://www.rokuchannels.tv/retrotechtimemachine/ https://channelstore.roku.com/details/39210/retro-tech-time-machine Joe Screwdriver presents the Retro Tech Time Machine curated collection of retroactive technology. Old-style motion pictures of high tech gizmos from the previous century are transmitted directly from Joe's collection to your Roku player. Plenty of old-time knobs, switches, rollers, gears, computers, telephones, tubes, spacecraft, blinky lights, and machines of all sizes to satisfy your retro tech urges. I wish I had YouTube links for all the wonderful videos showing - an analog computer with plugboard-o-wires running an early Apollo simulator - early computers, including a quick tutorial of the 026 and 029 keypunch - all sorts of pre-computer office machines such as Addressograph's variety of machines for printing labels and form letters. An early form of word processing: the typewriter punched holes in a wide paper tape similar to a piano roll, which was played back on "player piano" like typewriters so everyone could get an original document. Before the IBM Selectric was Varityper's typewriter with an interchangeable DRUM of various fonts and type sizes! - publicity films from IBM and Western Union, showing how early systems used MILES of paper tape every day! - lotsa NASA films from Gemini, Apollo, letting me relive the space race days. -- jeffj

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Live interview @ 4:30 ET today
by Evan Koblentz 31 Aug '16

31 Aug '16

I'm being interviewed by someone at the Daily Tech News Show this afternoon. http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/about/

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Live interview @ 4:30 ET today
by Evan Koblentz 31 Aug '16

31 Aug '16

>> Cool! Any specific topic >From their email: "the lifespan and obsolesce of computers and computer related technology including smartphones and tablets".

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