- vcf-midatlantic - lists.vcfed.org

Apple IIe Voltmeter
by Systems Glitch 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

VC Forums thread: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?49958-Big-Voltmeter-… I discovered my Fluke 8000A no longer measures current (fuse is fine) and realized that meant I had no way to precisely measure current. My other bench meters are analog, lowish impedance, and not precise enough to measure voltage drop across a small-value resistor. Additionally, my Simpson 260 and Simpson 160 meters don't agree on the 100 mA scales -- I believe the Simpson 160 is correct, but needed a way to figure out. I thought about using the ADC on a PIC to do the conversion, but my PIC dev stuff is still packed from the move. My Apple IIe isn't though, and I do have an ADC card for it -- the Interactive Microware ADALAB. Someone recently uploaded a manual for it! The IIe also has floating point BASIC, which makes converting ADC to voltage easy with no lookup table, and lets me adjust parameters on the fly -- switching sense resistor values, for example. Anyway, I had fun getting the ADALAB tested, and ended up calibrating it with a quick n dirty BASIC program (listing in the VC Forums post) and a LM103 2.7V reference. Good enough to show it works! After getting that BASIC extension typed in and making sure it worked, I made extra-sure to SAVE it to disk and avoid having to type it again! Thanks, Jonathan

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OT: Guy has his son play though video games in chrnological order.
by Kelly Leavitt 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

A fun read. A guy has his son play through some of the classic games. Don't recall seeing this before, but it is from a year ago. Probably some errors and oversights but a fun read. https://medium.com/message/playing-with-my-son-e5226ff0a7c3 Now I must... ...mambo dogface to the banana patch. Kelly

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Last chance: Hoodie deadline 5pm ET today
by Evan Koblentz 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

Final reminder. ========================== We are ready to take orders for the Federation hoodies. They'll be black with front pockets and (obviously) hoods. Design will be our new logo on the front. Only change is the keys won't have the gray shadow, because that would be a third color and too expensive. Speaking of prices: Small through XL = $20, 2XL = $25, 3XL = $30. All are men's sizes. Kids/womens/or anything bigger than 3XL not available at this time. ***** VERY IMPORTANT: ***** - All orders MUST be placed by next Friday (Nov. 13) at 5PM ET. At that point I'll email our order to the shirt company. Procrastinators will have to wait for another batch some other time. - You must prepay. Hoodies are too expensive for us to lay out the money and chase you down for it later. Acceptable methods of payment are through PayPal (hoodies(a)vintagecomputerfederation.org) or send a check to Vintage Computer Federation. Our address is P.O. Box 417, Eatontown, NJ, 07724. - Put the sizes and quantities you want into the PayPal comments box or the check memo field. - DO NOT say "I'll take size XYZ" in email (to me, the list, or wherever) and expect us to fill that order. Follow instructions above.

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Festivus: big sale on old VCF/club shirts
by Evan Koblentz 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

All of the old shirts (VCF East, blue club polos) need to go. $5/each donations to the Federation per item. We'll have a big box at Festivus.

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Semi-OT: interviewing SSH inventor
by Evan Koblentz 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

I'm interviewing the guy who invented SSH. It will probably be tomorrow or Monday. This is for work so it's forward-looking, but I definitely will ask him some history questions. Feel free to make useful suggestions.

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RIP, Gene Amdahl
by Evan Koblentz 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/technology/gene-amdahl-pioneer-of-mainfra…

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OT: CS books for kids
by Evan Koblentz 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

Here is a good article about CS books for children. http://www.supercs.net/2015/11/13/computer-science-childrens-reading-list/

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Hoodie
by Bill Dromgoole 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

Just sent a paypal payment for VCF hoodie. BillDrom

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Hoodies again...
by Evan Koblentz 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

Only 12 people placed orders so far (I'll be 13). Doesn't anyone else want a new Federation hooded sweatshirt? I will keep posting until the deadline this Friday at 5pm, because I don’t want to get a bunch of guilt trips when people at Festivus ask, "Isn't there one for me?" :)

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PDP-8/E Simulator
by Al Hartman 12 Nov '15

12 Nov '15

Not my interest, but thought others on the list would like it: PDP-8/E Simulator, from Bernhard Baehr, emulates the classic Digital Equipment PDP-8/E minicomputer with software that runs on a Mac. Features include a "comfortable user interface" for running, writing and debugging PDP-8 software; viewing and editing memory; breakpoints, single step execution, and a trace mode; a plug-in API; a programmer's console; a virtual TSC8-75 board to run the ETOS time sharing OS; an ASR 33 Console Teletype, ASR 33 Auxiliary Teletype, PC8-E High Speed Paper Tape Reader and Punch, a RK8-E Disk Cartridge System and more. PDP-8/E Simulator is free, open-source software for PowerPC and Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 and up. Benchmarks show that the PDP-8/E Simulator outperforms a hardware PDP-8/E in orders of magnitude when running on reasonable current Macs. There are options to slow down the CPU and the I/O devices to the speed of the real hardware. http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/pdp8e/pdp8e.html

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