- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Our new museum neighbors
by Evan Koblentz 03 Mar '16

03 Mar '16

Our main neighbors in the new museum will be the Garden State Central Model Railroad Club. They are posting a build diary of their layout at http://gardenstatecentral.com. They're very friendly people and they understand what VCF is all about. They personally did a large amount of work on the space we're occupying along with the classroom area down the hall. (They have permission from InfoAge to put mobile exhibits in that room, and they'll move the exhibits out when we or any other group needs the room for events.) There are two other organizations in the building. NJARC has a storage room there (I've never seen inside, so I don't know how big/small it is), and (it appears) there is some kind of surfing exhibit being built. I don't personally know what surfing has to do with historic electronic technology, nor do I know the status of that group's exhibit -- they moved some things into their room a few years ago and it seems unchanged since then. Anyway, InfoAge has them as a member organization, so we wish them well.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Pick 34)-ish
by whitneys 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

My two cents' worth. Flying Eagle cents, mind you. The History Micro-Computer Predecessors: The Terminal & The Calculator Datapoint 2200 aut al. HP-85 eg. The Kit Scelbi-8H Mark-8 The Altair/The S-100 aka Attack of the Clones MITS Altair 8800 IMSAI 8080 The Single Board Computer Apple 1 Other SBC/Trainer Heathkit Heathkit H-8 H89/Z-100 You Oughtta be in Cases/The '77 Trinity Processor Tech SOL-20 Apple II The '77 Trinity/Follow-On TRS-80 Model 1 CoCo or other TRS The '77 Trinity/Follow-On Commodore PET VIC-20/C64/C128 (space avail.) The '77 Trinity/Return of the Clones Apple II (see above) Franklin Clone Atari! aka Is My Game Console a Computer? Atari 800 ? The PC/Revenge of the Clones IBM 5150 PC Compaq Portable The PCjr/Son of the Clones PC Jr. Tandy 1000 Now GUIer than ever Apple Lisa Apple Mac 128K/GEOS/GEM/HP NewWave/Windows 1-3 etc. The Shape of Things to Come (see also You Oughtta be in Cases) The Suitcase Portable IBM 5100 Osborne The Pocket/Handheld Computers Tandy Model 100 eg. Epson HX-20 eg. Lap-Top Computers Grid Compass Data General One eg. Somehow address foreign developments, which ran in parallel, but dominated in Europe & Japan respectively International MSX BLs BBC Master/Sinclair ZX/Amstrad/non-BBC Acorn Toyotas Hitachi MB/Fujitsu FM/NEC PC-88/NEC PC-98(APC III) also Sony, Sharp systems Citroens Thomson/Oric The Finale The Last Gasp of the Independents Commodore Amiga/Atari ST/Acorn Archimedes/Sharp X68000/Fujitsu FM Towns/NeXT/Sinclair QL Day of the Clones aka Clone World /The Survivor aka Once and Future King The Compaq '386 Late model Mac Some Notes: This list is not intended to strictly reflect VCFed possession (I'm not sure what's in there), but also my estimation of significance to the story of Microcomputer history. I probably missed some things too. Especially kits, foreign systems, and foreign kit systems. I identified some themes, already implied by Evans' and others' choices. Mabye they'd make OK info card headings. Word processor unit removed, as addressing that market should reflect some diversity of the systems (Wang, Vydec, Sony etc). Also needs more space. Have to trim anything that was merely sentimental, popular, or cool, or just available in collection for: Technical Innovation, Market Significance, and Historical Narrative. For instance the Franklin has to go in-- it made ROM copyrightable, if not on purpose. Compaq's 386, beating IBM to the punch, signified more than any other system that the Clones had bested IBM, and would come to dominate. I think the PCjr line can go, but I wanted to make another silly sequel reference. I believe first Fujitsu then the PC-88 were the real dominant market players in Japan; BBC Master was the Apple II of England (fondly remembered school computer), ZX and MSX the real international players, France's never went EU wide. That's five international picks of what I feel should be six or eight. Six would add up to 40 systems total picked above, which it seems is the 20-rack goal, including both shelf levels. This eludes the history of the midrange/workstation, which gets micro-ed on the inside and out beginning around 1981. I left two gaps, in as much as I used the Apple II twice and used one Atari only. Systems separated by slashes meant to indicate either/or, as space dictates. I tried to be as ruthless as possible-- I think no platform got more than 2 machines. Despite my predilection for macs, I think you can tell the story with just one (and the LISA) and not even a significant one (the 128k). The early interface is too alike the LISA's to demonstrate/differentiate well to the layman. I confess a soft spot for the Archimedes as we're all running way more ARMs than any other processor these days. Kudos to anyone who appreciates my stupid Movie/Car refs/Old-Fashioned Hyphen-ization. I hope I didn't do anything improper with the line breaks. --

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Pick 34)-ish
by Evan Koblentz 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

Everyone, Good news / bad news about our new museum space. The good news is, as indicated earlier tonight, we found creative ways to make more space for mainframes and minicomputers. :) We also found a way to ** probably ** include the Cray and StorageTek tape robot in the "modern history" exhibit (after all, the computing power and mass storage in your smartphones is rather mind-boggling!) The bad news is, all of the good news means somewhat less space for microcomputers. Here is the 24/48 list from a couple of weeks ago: 1. Scelbi-8H ... Above it: Mark-8 2. IBM 5100 ... Above it: HP-85B 3. MITS Altair 8800 ... Above it: IMSAI 8080 4. SWTPc 6800 ... Above it: ??? 5. Processor Tech SOL-20 ... Above it: 6. TDL Xitan ... Above it: 7. Apple 1 ... Above it: Other SBC 8. Apple 2 ... Above it: //e 9. Commodore PET 2001 ... Above it: ??? 10. TRS-80 Model 1 ... Above it: CoCo 11. Atari 800 ... Above it: 400, ST 12. Heathkit H-89 ... Above it: Zenith Z-100 13. Xerox 860 ... Above it: ??? 14. Sinclair ZX-80, ZX-81, Timex 1000 ... Above it: Amstrad 15. TI-99/4A ... Above it: OSI Challenger 4P 16. IBM 5150 PC ... Above it: PC Jr. 17. Osborne ... Above it: Compaq Portable 18. Commodore 64 ... Above it: VIC-20, 128 19. Apple Lisa ... Above it: Epson QX-10 20. Tandy Model 100, DG One ... Above it: Epson HX-20 (etc.) 21. NEC APC ... Above it: Tandy Model 4 22. Apple Mac 128K ... Above it: Mac Portable 23. Commodore Amiga ... Above it: Sony SMC-70 24. PC clone ... Above it: ??? This does NOT count the pre-kit systems (Dudley PDP-8, etc.) nor the teletype/terminals. It also doesn't count the Computer-of-the-Month exhibit. All of those are already placed in the layout. Here is my shot at reducing it to 17/34. There were some difficult decisions to make! 1. Scelbi-8H ... Above it: Mark-8 2. IBM 5100 ... Above it: HP-85B 3. MITS Altair 8800 ... Above it: IMSAI 8080 4. Processor Tech SOL-20 ... Above it: TDL Xitan 5. Apple 1 ... Above it: KIM-1 6. Apple 2 ... Above it: Apple /// and/or GS 7. Commodore PET 2001 / Atari 800 8. TRS-80 Model 1 ... Above it: Heathkit H-89 9. Xerox 860 ... Above it: NEC APC 10. Sinclair ZX-80 ... Above it: TI-99/4A 11. IBM 5150 PC ... Above it: PC Jr. 12. Osborne ... Above it: Tandy Model 100, DG One 13. Commodore 64 ... Above it: VIC-20 and/or, 128 14. Apple Lisa ... Above it: Epson QX-10 15. Apple Mac 128K ... Above it: Mac Portable 16. Commodore Amiga ... Above it: Sony SMC-70 17. PC clone ... Above it: (Sun 1? Not sure if we have one...) Remember, everything that doesn't make the cut will automatically go into the Computer-of-the-Month rotation. That list (far from comprehensive) includes: NeXT Station Apple //c, ///, IIgs Pockets/Handhelds Franklin/Laser Cromemco Z2H Cromemco System Three Northstar Horizon SWTPc 6800 Tandy CoCo TRS-80 (later models) Atari 400, ST, etc. Sinclair ZX-81, Timex Sinclair 1000, Amstrad PPC 640 OSI Challenger 4P Compaq Portable Epson QX-10 NEC APC Various other laptops/portables "And many more....."

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] SIX WEEKS to VCF East exhibit DEADLINE - April 1st
by VAXman＠tmesis.org 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic writes: >There are only SIX weeks until the VCF East exhibit registration >deadline. > >They're going to go very fast. > >Register your exhibits now. > >Not doing so makes life extremely difficult for us. We waste a lot of >time chasing down people who we know usually exhibit, and we delay >ordering the table rental, arranging the layout, and other things. > >Reg link: > >http://www.vcfed.org/registration/east_exhibitor_register-online.php FYI, I think you should configure the server to NOT display directory content unless it's really necessary. See: http://www.vcfed.org/registration/ if you don't understand what I'm referring to.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: Possible Items for IXR
by tom.hornberger＠verizon.net 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Windows 3.11 Networking
by william degnan 02 Mar '16

02 Mar '16

> > Anyway, back to your work Bill, how long did it take you to set up TCP/IP within 3.11, and how hard was it locating suitable drivers .. Not hard to find drivers. I had to re-learn some Windows 3.11 networking as it had been a long time since I last did anything with it, but you can read my post on vcfed.org forum and/or my website that I started and was done in 24 hours w/ in spare moments. I uploaded all the drivers and software associated with the Dell 486 system used... video, audio, network, joystick, MOBO bios to my website should anyone read my post, have same hardware, and want the drivers. http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=626 Bill

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Windows 3.11 Networking
by william degnan 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

Anyone using Windows 3.11 to browse the Internet or do mail? Today I visited vcfed.org. It's close to usable believe it or not using Netscape 2.0 via Win 3.11, if you turn off javascript. Now you know. FYI - My site, vintagecomputer.net is compatible with Netscape 2.0 and early Mosaic versions if you're looking for another site to search. It looks just like 1994 there. Bill -- @ BillDeg: Web: vintagecomputer.net Twitter: @billdeg <https://twitter.com/billdeg> Youtube: @billdeg <https://www.youtube.com/user/billdeg> Unauthorized Bio <http://www.vintagecomputer.net/readme.cfm>

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OT: Possible Items for IXR
by tom.hornberger＠verizon.net 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Workshop after-action report (IBM 029)
by whitneys 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

On a side note I'd like to thank everyone who welcomed me, and helped at my first workshop. Special thanks to Ian. To everyone else on the list, Hi! I'm new here. Whitney -- For external use only. If taken internally, consult a technician.

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Workshop after-action report (IBM 029)
by Mike Loewen 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

For the 2/27 - 2/28 workshop, I did some more work on the museum's IBM model 29 keypunch. When I first powered it up, it didn't do much of anything except run the motor. It gradually "warmed up" and started punching, but was obviously in need of lubrication. I cleaned and lubricated many maintenance points, which quieted down the machine and made its operation much smoother. I used Tech Rubber Roller Restorer to clean up the rubber feed rollers. I replaced my home-made arc suppression board with a spare from the warehouse. I also replaced the punch clutch pulley belt, which was ready to fall apart, and substituted a much better looking program drum. I adjusted the two pressure rail microswitches in the card bed, and cleaned and lubed the keyboard to fix some sticking keys. During the process, the machine developed another fault: each time a card would "register" at the punch station, it would automatically be "released" and sent to the read station. After several hours of troubleshooting, I discovered a broken wire leading to the escapement magnet assembly. It had been hanging on by a thread, causing erratic operation, and eventually completely broke away from the spade lug. I soldered it back on, and the machine was again punching. The very last thing I checked was the function of the sensing pins in the read station, by trying to duplicate a card. Not all card rows were consistently read, but improved with repetition. Unfortunately, I ran out of time at that point. I had lubed the sensing pins, but they need another round of cleaning/lubrication. At this point, the keypunch is useable for demonstrations in the museum room. The print mechanism still needs work, and doesn't print all of the characters correctly. Cleaning and aligning the print unit will be a major project. I multi-punched a VCF EAST 2016 card and left it on the punch. Oh yeah: I also pushed an IBM printer for a 1/4 mile. :-) Mike Loewen mloewen(a)cpumagic.scol.pa.us Old Technology http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/

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