- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

VCF Tech Swap Meet Nov 2, please let your friends and groups know.
by Herbert Johnson 21 Sep '24

21 Sep '24

Congrats to David Riley upon obtaining a US radio amateur license. The ham community has overlap with technical computing and by legacy with vintage computing. And it's a pleasant community. There are other reasons, other overlaps of course. Amateur radio has its own merits. I concur, the effort needed to obtain the Technician license is as he describes: review all the possible questions and get familiar with the answers. There's study guides that provide additional background. I find them worthwhile because questions are regulatory as well as technical. I got my license a year ago, in the manner David describes. That's why I'm posting. The original topic, was about Jeff Brace trying to resolve ARRL requirements to have the VCF-Mid tech swap listed in the ARRL's hamfest listings. That thread seems to be completed. regards Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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Am I an AI? (was: IBM and 8-inch (was: Next Repair Workshop Oct. 4 & 5))
by Herbert Johnson 21 Sep '24

21 Sep '24

> https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/does-anyone-have-a-working-8-inch… So, funny thing happened to me, in the VCFed forum, where there was that discussion of IBM 5510 8-inch floppy drive/disk business, also discussed here. I laid out my usual considerations about making old IMD disk images onto floppy disks. Writing in my usual way, pretty much. People here, know what to expect from me. But in that forum, more than one person wondered "is this an AI chatbot response?" When I suggested otherwise (!), the person apologized and explained their reasoning. In another discussion, they wrote, someone recently gave them a somewhat formal and neutral-tone response. Apparently, their respondent used some AI-generated content as part of their post. So I said, in so many words, I'm old and technically trained. Maybe, I sound like the old-school content that was trained into that AI 'bot? Makes some kind of sense. While I was initially annoyed, our exchange made me thoughtful. Is this gonna be a thing now? Is some informed-sort of response, now gonna be judged as maybe being AI-generated, and therefore suspect of what some call "hallucinations" (and others call nonfactual, fantasies, or lies)? If generative AI becomes the standard, and real humans don't meet that standard, will people be held at fault? Or worse, leave correspondence entirely to the 'bots? That's my general fear, for any new technology of convenience. That is, degrading some skill that used to require human activity. Here in vintage computing, we (should) know something about that history. Is this an AI response too? Most sources, would say it is not. If I desire, can you provide me with character references (Spock)? regards, Her"bot" Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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software-freedom-day
by Jeffrey Jonas 20 Sep '24

20 Sep '24

murph and I are among several folks active with VCF and the North Jersey Linux User Group www.njlinux.org I'm forwarding this message from murph because 1) many of us rely on open software for retro and non-retro activities 2) open source/shareware was invented by clever folks to advance the state of the art and not keep re-inventing the wheel ... forwarded message ... [at the upcoming NJ Linux meeting] I'd like to have a conversation about Software Freedom Day. We haven't done one in quite a while, and I'd like to see what people might be interested in doing next year. There is a virtual event happening in Florida, one of the few in the US. Might be good for some of us to attend, and see if we can add to the conversation, and get ideas for next year: It is before the meeting, so hopefully some of you can stop in virtually. This is of course on September 21st this year, here is a link with the details. https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/software-freedom-day/events/pbsfg-virtual-sf…

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Miniterm 1205 terminal. love it or list it?
by Herbert Johnson 19 Sep '24

19 Sep '24

> Also the deteriorated rubber tractor band feels like a pretty big show stopper unless I can find a source (seems like a long shot). Any other MiniTerm will likely have the same problem, they are all old and all age. So hoping for a "donor" is not likely realistic. It's a common problem of that belting technology. These belts have to be stable and accurate. They aren't "splice"-able really, in most cases. and, they are all custom, no two alike except by pure happenstance. These belts have fibers through them to keep their dimensions stable. Your belt's fibers may be visible. So the idea of making your own is probably not realistic, whatever your skills level. Rubber belts appear on all kinds of vintage equipment. In the past there have been private services that replicate belts to order. People have stock materials, tools and skills to make belts at length and width. The instance I recall, the person charged a tooling fee (to set up tools and make measurements) and then charged per belt to produce them (materials and time). Sometimes the same persons make rubber rollers to dimension. If you are interested, I suggest you measure the dimensions of the belt, teeth per inch, and take good photos. Don't cut it, if you can avoid doing so. Then web-search for forums where people work on these things. Printers, floppy drives, magtape drives, electric typewriters, sewing machines come to mind, your search will find other domains. You'll find a producer that way. Or search for "rubber belts to order" kinds of descriptions. Or you'll find various attempts to make belts. Maybe someone has a scheme that works. Otherwise the unit has value for repair parts, and as a display piece. As printing technology is out-of-favor, most of these will not be saved, or parted out. In another time, that will create rarity and they may gain interest/value accordingly. regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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OT HAM LICENSE
by Sentrytv 19 Sep '24

19 Sep '24

ARRL practice test are Notorious for X&Y type answers. I have been buying, repairing and selling ham radio equipment for over 20 years, and still have not become a “Ham Radio, Amateur radio operator” by choice. I even received some door prizes at a Hamfest, so I was able to purchase ARRL books but still haven’t bothered to get my license. But I do listen and learn on the airwaves. To those people who already have their license and have some recent spare material to loan Jeff, I would suggest bringing them to him. Just my two pennies worth. Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > On Sep 19, 2024, at 1:18 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > On 9/19/24 12:16, David Riley via vcf-midatlantic wrote: >> Seriously, the max commitment it took from me was reading the ARRL's cheap Kindle guidebook on passing the exam (which was useful for the non-EE parts I wasn't as familiar with, like the traditional frequency offsets for repeaters, atmospheric effects, licensing technicalities, etc), and one hour on a weekend at the local radio club to actually take the test. You can do infinite practice tests online for free to see if you're ready. My free time is currently deeply in the red and I somehow managed it, so just about anyone can. :-) > > Adding to this, not only use the online test but do try to understand the > answers. I am dyslexic so I needed to understand the answer otherwise I'd > get the X & Y type answers (similar but slightly different) mixed up. The > understanding helped get around that. Some of the tests have very good > explanations. > > -- > Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry kd2zrq(a)linuxha.com > http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site > http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog > Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies KD2ZRQ >

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF Tech Swap Meet Nov 2, please let your friends and groups know.
by Jeffrey Brace 19 Sep '24

19 Sep '24

On Thu, Jun 27, 2024 at 12:19 Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > Thinking the same way > Please make sure that the ARRL calendar is updated with the event as well! Yes of course, but now they require a someone with a Ham Radio license. I do not have one. Martin did it last time. I will try to get a VCF member to do it this time. > > Sent from: > My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device. > > > On Jun 27, 2024, at 10:51 AM, Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > > > So, I know this happens every time but as we get closer to the next > > swap meet we get told. My group has an event and they conflict. > > > > Can you please let the groups you belong to know about the event. This > > should reduce the chance of a conflict and it will also drum up > > interest. > > > > https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/ > > > > We would like the next swap meet to be bigger and it would help to > > start getting the word out now. > > > > Thanks > >

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Miniterm 1205 terminal. love it or list it?
by glenn.f.roberts＠gmail.com 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

A while back I picked up a Miniterm 1205 but it needs some help. Category:Computer Devices - Terminals (terminals-wiki.org) <https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Computer_Devices> Computer Devices Miniterm 1205 - Terminals (terminals-wiki.org) <https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/Computer_Devices_Miniterm_1205> After removing the cover, I see evidence of a pretty massive tantalum failure (and these tants are huge!) and perhaps other concomitant damage to the power supply. Also the rubber tractor band that moves the head back and forth appears to have dry rot on it - not sure that can be cleaned up. And the label on the unit says it's for 230V/50Hz (not sure if there's an option on the power supply board to reconfigure that (?). (hmm. Wondering if someone attempted to power with 120V?) This is an impressively built machine with a beautiful keyboard. It has a NASA property sticker on it. I am nostalgic for the old era of these terminals (I used a TI silent 700 back then) and when I picked it up was hoping to get it in working order some day. So I'm trying to decide what to do with this unit. Are schematics or service manuals likely to be available? If not, how best to repair the power supply? (find someone else who has one?) Am I likely to be able to find a workable replacement for the belt? Or fix it? I guess I'd have to get a power converter to run this. Feels like a lot to take on. Interested in any advice or pointers. If someone in the group would be interested in tackling this project I'd be happy to have a discussion (off list) on that. Thanks * Glenn

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VCF 2022
by Christian Liendo 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

I know I shared some photos of VCF 2022 and now my folder is gone. If anyone has any of the ones I shared, if they can please share them back with me it would be appreciated.

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IBM and 8-inch (was: Next Repair Workshop Oct. 4 & 5)
by Herbert Johnson 17 Sep '24

17 Sep '24

> There is someone looking to make 8" disks from images that he has. He > recently acquired a fully functional IBM 5110-3 (or 5120) with dual 8-inch > disk drives. He found the image files to make 6 disks with various > applications for this computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5110 I had to look up "5510 model 3". It predates MS-DOS and ISA-class PC's. I had forgotten that one such model had 8-inch floppy drives. There's a good chance, that what-became-ordinary floppy disk controllers on IBM (ISA) MS-DOS PC's and CP/M-80 class computers, will not be able to process such 5110/5120 disks or their images. (I don't know for sure.) I'm saying, Jeff, that most old computers won't likely be able to work with these *even older IBM* disks. There's a modern class of bit-sampling floppy disk emulators and reader/writers, usually operated as USB devices. (I don't pretend to know them well.) Because they operate at the "bit" (flux change) level, in principle they can handle almost anything a floppy controller every written - IF, if, someone trained up on that particular format to decode the floppy bits. Problem is, the owners and developers of those USB devices, probably never had their hands on an IBM 5510/5520! So, if I read 40 words of description correctly (unlikely), I suggest this person outta get on the Web NOW, and contact these developers of these USB floppy reader/writers NOW, to identify if their models can handle disks from their particular IBM model. They might also contact whomever created those image-files. See how they created those images. It may be, there's a "downloader and format" 5110 program as well. The owner should also clarify/confirm exactly what hardware they have, where these image files came from, and so on. . Oh - and if the computer works *to their knowledge*. I get requests from people all the time, for stuff for their computers, before their seller delivers it to them. If the owners already did this work, they should make that info readily available as they ask for help. The zeroth help I can give someone, is to noodge them to identify their problems. Problems solve themselves faster, if details are resolved first. Details identify the tools and knowledge needed, weed out those who don't have either. Regards Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net

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Truckload in Cape Cod
by Bart Hirst 17 Sep '24

17 Sep '24

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/truckload-of-computers-and-parts-… -- Bart Hirst "This signature will now be eaten up and spit out by Velociraptors."

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