- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Hello Computer? (Star Trek IV Scotty talking to Mac 512k)
by Jeffrey Brace 28 Dec '25

28 Dec '25

Apparently for 40 years people have been speculating how the creators of Star Trek IV (1986) put what was on the screen of the Mac 512k in the scene where Scotty talks to the computer to create transparent aluminum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpWhugUmV5U) . Hint: It wasn't real Macintosh graphics. It seems that Ron's Computer Videos investigated and solved the mystery! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHqiiPGPHFY Enjoy! Jeff Brace <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free.www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Oregon Trail Hallmark ornament
by Jeffrey Jonas 27 Dec '25

27 Dec '25

It's just 2 screens alternating (probably projection, not LCD) https://www.hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornaments/the-oregon-trail-orna…

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InfoAge & VCF Museums Closed Dec. 27, 28, 31, 2025
by Jeffrey Brace 26 Dec '25

26 Dec '25

Due to the upcoming snowstorm InfoAge and VCF museums will be closed this coming weekend Sat & Sun, Dec. 27 & 28. They will also be closed on Dec. 31 for New Year's Eve. Reopening on January 3, 2026. Take care everyone and see you in the new year! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> Virus-free.www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campai…> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Merry Christmas Everyone
by Brian L 25 Dec '25

25 Dec '25

Merry Christmas! Passing along some brief appreciation.. Thank you to everyone who participated in VCFE this past year, and to all the familiar faces who showed up to Festivus a few weeks back. Wishing good health to everyone in the New Year!

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Merry Christmas Everyone
by Christian Liendo 25 Dec '25

25 Dec '25

I wasn't able to be there and I hope to be at VCFE. So I couldn't say be before. I hope you guys have a great day. It will be nice to see you all again.

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Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Early delivery from Santa's sleigh
by Bill Degnan 23 Dec '25

23 Dec '25

Thanks. I added a link to the ENAIC drawings here: https://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=147 This is my list of vintage computing-related links. On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM Brian L. Stuart via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic(a)lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > So Santa had his sleigh out for some test drives tonight. For > ballast (the real gifts won't be loaded until Wed night), he used > a big stack of engineering drawings from the 1940s. Fortunately > for us, his "spirited" driving included one turn that was too > tight and out flew the drawings, where they landed on my lap. For > anyone who's as eager as I am to geek out over 1940s computer > design, I share them with you here: > > http://cs.drexel.edu/~bls96/eniac/drawings/ > > There are over 900 drawings in the set. Most of these images come > from scans of microfilm taken of the patent trial exhibits. There > are also about 100 copies that the Smithsonian had imaged and put > up on their web site. I've processed them all to approximate > something like we remember from our technical drawing classes in > college (well those of us old enough to have taken them). The > quality varies widely, but a large subset are readable down to > the measurements for the panels and the component values in the > circuits. > > If you've read Kathy Kleiman's excellent book (Proving Ground) > about the original ENIAC programmers, you may have found yourself > wondering what the block diagrams from which they figured out how > to program the machine looked like. Well, those are among the > drawings here. So feel free to try your hand at figuing out how > to program it from them. > > One subset of the drawings is conspicuous by its absence, the > PX-15 series. From what I can tell, those were drawings of a > delay line memory unit that was never built. Those drawings were > not part of the trial exhibits and were not microfilmed. However, > some physical copies do exist, and I am hoping to get back into > the archives to scan them at some point in the future. > > Beyond that, there are a number of drawing numbers that are > skipped, and I suspect that these are drawings that do (or did) > exist, but were not microfilmed for whatever reason. So if anyone > has or comes across any drawings that are not on this list, or > better copies of those that are, feel free to send scans my way. > > For anyone wanting to grab copies of the full set, it should be > pretty easy to extract a file name list from the index.html file. > I'll leave the sed command for extracting the list as an exercise > for the reader. > > For printing, all of them are sized in the PDF files for 8.5x11 > or 11x17 paper. Be warned, printing all of them without duplexing > and folding the 11x17s to fit into a normal binder, ends up > filling 2 4-inch binders. > > By the way, if anyone has access to the adapter shown in drawing > PX-4-119, I think there's an error in the drawing and I'd like to > check to see if either there really is or if I'm missing > something. > > Thanks and have fun, > BLS >

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Call for speakers - VCF East 2026
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Register to give a talk here: https://forms.gle/6BW1tayfcD5Wqfx96 Jeff Brace VCF East Showrunner

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OT: Return to the Moon: Artemis Update by Frank O'Brien
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

I interviewed Frank O'Brien back in October about the Artemis mission to the moon: https://youtu.be/2NSAfLyIjVU Enjoy! Jeff Brace

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VCF East 2026 Hotel Block(s)
by Jeffrey Brace 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

The first block is ready for Residence Inn: https://vcfed.org/vcf-east-hotel-blocks/ The second block is pending. We are finding a third one as well. Take care! Jeff Brace VCF National Board Member Chairman & Vice President VCF East Showrunner VCF Fundraising Manager VCF Evangelist Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity https://vcfed.org/ <http://www.vcfed.org/>

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MARCH Workshop Dates for 2026
by Jeff Salzman 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

The MARCH Workshop event dates are listed below. You can get more details about the rules, location, and other pertinent information at the following link: https://vcfed.org/repair-workshops-at-infoage/ Jan 10 – 11, 2026 Feb 7 – 8 , 2026 Mar 21 – 22 , 2026 No Workshop in April due to VCF-East May 2 – 3 , 2026 June 13 – 14, 2026 (may coincide with the VCF Swapmeet) July 11 – 12 , 2026 Aug 8 – 9 , 2026 Sept 19 – 20 , 2026 Oct 17 – 18, 2026 (may coincide with the VCF Swapmeet) Nov 14 - 15 , 2026 No Workshop in December due to VCF Festivus Thanks, Jeff Salzman MARCH Workshop Manager VCF Steering Committee

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