- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

what no minis this year?
by Herb Johnson 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

> Noticed there were no mini computers listed in the vcf Exhibits this year? Last year there were many minicomputers, mostly DEC; previous years had various brands of minis. It would be disappointing to me if no working minicomputers were represented this April. If their owners expected other owners to step up, it apparently hasn't happened yet. For related reasons, I deliberately chose to bring S-100 computers, because apparently they weren't represented LAST year. And for my own interests. So far the other S-100 exhibit is early Cromenco products. I'm working hard to have a Ithaca DPS-1 running; hopefully I'll have two. Running nothing fancy, I'm exhibiting the technology (8" floppy + S-100 + CP/M) and not specific applications or eye/ear attractive products (except I hope a front panel). What do I mean? What does this have to do with minicomputers? S-100 development somewhat parallels minicomputer development; and is similar to a longer period of mainframe development. There were of course dominant brands (IBM and DEC, earlier companies) but other brands had good market share and introduced innovations. Ithaca was a significant S-100 brand, the company contributed to the IEEE-696 standard. There were well over 100 S-100 brands of products, I'll call that out. The sheer size of those minicomputer systems was mentioned. Yes, it's amazing how SMALL minicomputers were, to support computing power comparable to desk and room-sized computers of years and decades prior. Replacing old slow human and mechanical calculators and accounting systems, relay-racks of mechanical control systems in factories, and other applications in business, science and industry. They provided "computing to the people" with wired or dial-up terminals and BASIC; the beginnings of the "personal" computing revolution. And in time, minicomputers and later microcomputers overwhelmed much of the "mainframe" market of use, some becoming like mainframe systems (higher-end DEC product line). And yet, even in 2015, much computing use (beyond networking, no small thing) is about one operating system running one (sometimes a few) processors, with auxiliary processors operating specific devices. Not much change from S-100 and microcomputers, or minicomputers, or mainframes with printer and drive and I/O controllers decades ago. And now? This is largely forgotten history today, in part because computing is like water to fish now, it pervades modern culture and business and science. Few examine critically the history of, say, fresh water - until they lose access to it. Then history matters, or catches up to you. Smart phones have been fee-based and service based - like minicomputer service contracts were. Bill Degnan pointed out, mobile-supporting services are as human-factors limited, as Windows 3.11/WFW was limited by display, bandwidth and processor. Looking backwards can sometimes inform you. Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ISA Sound Card is going for $1500
by Michael Lee 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

On 3/11/2016 12:33 PM, Alexander via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > It starts with Windows 3.1, then they're using DOS 5, and the next thing you know, they're figuring out MFM drives on an IBM PC XT. Who knew a Gateway PC can be a gateway drug down a path of 8-bit, until next thing you know, you're looking at flipping switches on a PDP and referring to everything in octal. Yup, I've noticed this too, and honestly to keep the hobby around and maintain interest in it, there needs to be new blood and the helpful community assisting the n00bs with their MFM drives and sharing the years of experience and knowledge the elders of the hobby know. As much as you can read books on this stuff, some of it just comes down to experience. Sidenote: I still think MFM drives can be like voodoo magic. The perfect balance of the right controller, sector/cylinder/head, bad block table, formatting and sometimes a mallet to get them to behave.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ISA Sound Card is going for $1500
by Alexander 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

One thing I have noticed within the younger vintage computer enthusiast crowd is that 486s and Pentium 1s are the entry level machines that capture folks' attention. Sure, some stop there and find that to be vintage enough for them, but still others delve deeper. It starts with Windows 3.1, then they're using DOS 5, and the next thing you know, they're figuring out MFM drives on an IBM PC XT. However, the early beige box is more than just a gateway (no pun intended) to the larger world of old computers that we discuss on a daily basis. It is a stepping stone that is interesting historically. But it's also highly practical in the sense that many machines of that era are repurposed as tweener machines, bridging the gap to still older machines. I'm too young to remember Commodore existing as more than just a brand name to be exchanged by other companies -- and yet my fascination with them came from somewhere. I could go on about all the subtle influences that brought me to the VCF (it's a very long story, I'll tell it to you some time) but what's important is that I got there by way of systems commonly dismissed within our circle for being too new. And I know I'm not the only one. I think it's an untapped vector (again, no pun intended) for us to help a new crowd to discover the larger body of history. -Alexander 'Z' Pierson Sent from my pocket telephone.

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ISA Sound Card is going for $1500
by Herb Johnson 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

> The ones who grew up on PCs and not Ataris, Commodores and Early Apples. > They are here now. They are going to want to be represented.... For those who read-by-thread, I have comments in the thread "what no minis this year?" - Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net

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ISA Sound Card is going for $1500
by Jeff 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

When I first joined into the "MARCH" group...I brought up the topic of the "vintage" term being a moving target as you know...time marches on ;-) A year or two ago when I brought it up it was not embraced well that beige boxen and 286s/386s would ever be considered "retro" to the group, but I'm part of that generation as many others my age are. Nostalgia for me is the little LED readout and the "Turbo" button on your beige box, or the demo scene that was carried forward from the Amiga days. To be honest, that era is just as important to computing history as any other, since it was the decade where an amazing amount of technology got developed VERY quickly - things like computer graphics and audio (demo scene, Creative Labs), video games (Doom, Wolfenstein, Quake and many others), Virtual Reality, CDROMs, BBSes (died off), AOL, Prodigy, Compuserve, and lastly the Internet all either came and went or came and stayed. Using software like Trumpet Winsock to dial your Win 3.1/95 computer into the internet was a thing! Trying to learn to network Doom ended up launching my IT career LOL. I just hope this group does embrace and move forward with the times, because the demographic is there and suddenly realizing the 90s were 20 years ago. I threw a lot of my crap away 10 years ago and kicking myself now. Jeff (aka Bags)

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: LED lights
by Dan Roganti 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

From what I've seen only the 'dimmable' LED bulbs have RF pollution, not plain LED bulbs Dimmers in general create this problem too, even with incandescents. So even if you buy plain LED bulbs and your room is wired with a dimmer, You still have a problem - even thought the LED bulbs will not dim. Dan

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Hey look!
by Evan Koblentz 11 Mar '16

11 Mar '16

Oracle public relations came through. http://vcfed.org/evan/9710key.jpg I'll put this on my key ring so we can open the library Saturday.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: LED lights
by tom.hornberger＠verizon.net 10 Mar '16

10 Mar '16

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: LED lights
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 10 Mar '16

10 Mar '16

William Dudley via vcf-midatlantic writes: >My experience with LED lamps for motorcycle use is that the driver >generates RF interference that wipes out fringe FM reception on the >motorcycle. Down here in Ocean County, pretty much everything but WOBM >is fringe :-( There's nothing worthwhile on FM anymore. Go Satellite or Internet Radio!!!

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: LED lights
by Dave McGuire 10 Mar '16

10 Mar '16

On 03/10/2016 01:09 PM, Bill Sudbrink via vcf-midatlantic wrote: > Dave McGuire wrote: >> No, not at all. Weak signals from other continents are often >> completely obliterated by interference from LED, CFL, and standard >> fluorescent lighting. The inverse squares law applies to the desired >> transmissions too, and they're coming from a lot farther away that >> across the street. > > Two words: > > Faraday cage > > Then we could get Tempest certified too ;-) YES!! -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA

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