Re: vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 95, Issue 1

1 Apr 2026


      Any one know where i can get a copy of Versawriter Software for IBM PC i found Apple2 software but the version i got is IBM PC images attached for ref


Sent from my iPhone
...
On Apr 1, 2026, at 3:56 PM, vcf-midatlantic-request@lists.vcfed.org wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Replica Burroughs B205 console for sale (Mike Loewen)
  2. Doom on the Univac 1219B! (Jeffrey Brace)
  3. Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B! (Jeffrey Brace)
  4. Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B! (drummy)
  5. Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B! (Bill Degnan)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 01:40:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mike Loewen <mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Replica Burroughs B205 console for sale
To: vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org
Message-ID:
   <alpine.LFD.2.21.2604010130330.16812@cpumagic.137clearview.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
I recently acquired an identical pair of replica B205 control consoles, and
I wish to sell one. Pictures of the unit and a description are at:
https://q7.neurotica.com/Prop_Console/
I can bring the unit to VCF East. Asking price is $700.
Mike Loewen                mloewen@cpumagic.scol.pa.us
Old Technology                http://q7.neurotica.com/Oldtech/
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 07:21:09 -0400
From: Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Doom on the Univac 1219B!
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>
Message-ID:
   <CALWfZAJPmGEJAY+4HCeVe2SLAV0_GU1Lo9P+oSG0UUQwG6sTag@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Yes! Can you believe it?
Years ago Bill Dromgoole diagnosed, troubleshooted and repaired the Univac
1219B that sits in the VCF museum. As far as we know the only one of its
kind still in operation.
At every VCF East for years he has demonstrated this machine to visitors
and lamented "I don't know what to demo". Everyone was happy just to see it
working, the blinking lights, the loud noise, the tapping of the teletype
and Bill's explanation of how it worked.
About 4 years ago a young whippersnapper Steve Schivone came along and was
fascinated by this machine and wanted to learn all about it. I mean, can
you blame him? Learning to use a working mainframe computer? Bill Dromgoole
took him in as an apprentice and he learned this system in and out.
A few months ago Steven met some other "young" guys who thought using and
learning about this system would be cool!
So they got to thinking. "What can we do with this system?". So they made a
C compiler. Not satisfied, they created a BASIC interpreter. Then they
loaded the Oregon Trail. Imagine playing that on a teletype machine on a
machine used for ballistics control on a naval ship! Next up was a series
of common BASIC programs and games like Zork. And "modern" games like
Wordle. All very cool. then they were like Light Speed is too slow, let's
go to Ridiculous Speed. So they created a Minecraft server on the machine!
What an incredible and fun feat! Who would have ever thought of such a
thing!
But ... they were not satisfied. They needed to go to Ludicrous Speed! So
they made Doom on this machine. Yes. Doom! The thing that everyone making a
new innovative system uses as a test "Does it play Doom?". I couldn't
believe it was possible, but I saw it with my own eyes!
So when you are at VCF East, stop by the Univac found in the Vintage
Computer Museum and play all these fun games! VCF East runs April 17-19.
The demo will run Saturday and Sunday 1PM to 3PM April 18 & 19.
Take care!
Jeff Brace
VCF East Showrunner
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 13:47:53 -0400
From: Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B!
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>
Message-ID:
   <CALWfZAL=gFxz=UicfU722fA4AZiADG8kWDxGYEbfe9LDSiPz6w@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Bill Dromgoole corrected me in that Duan Craps was a major contributor to
the understanding, repair and diagnosis of this machine. I didn't mean to
overlook his contributions. I was just focused on the new programming and
not the original repairs and diagnosis, etc.
...
On Wed, Apr 1, 2026 at 7:21 AM Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org> wrote:
Yes! Can you believe it?
Years ago Bill Dromgoole diagnosed, troubleshooted and repaired the Univac
1219B that sits in the VCF museum. As far as we know the only one of its
kind still in operation.
At every VCF East for years he has demonstrated this machine to visitors
and lamented "I don't know what to demo". Everyone was happy just to see it
working, the blinking lights, the loud noise, the tapping of the teletype
and Bill's explanation of how it worked.
About 4 years ago a young whippersnapper Steve Schivone came along and was
fascinated by this machine and wanted to learn all about it. I mean, can
you blame him? Learning to use a working mainframe computer? Bill Dromgoole
took him in as an apprentice and he learned this system in and out.
A few months ago Steven met some other "young" guys who thought using and
learning about this system would be cool!
So they got to thinking. "What can we do with this system?". So they made
a C compiler. Not satisfied, they created a BASIC interpreter. Then they
loaded the Oregon Trail. Imagine playing that on a teletype machine on a
machine used for ballistics control on a naval ship! Next up was a series
of common BASIC programs and games like Zork. And "modern" games like
Wordle. All very cool. then they were like Light Speed is too slow, let's
go to Ridiculous Speed. So they created a Minecraft server on the machine!
What an incredible and fun feat! Who would have ever thought of such a
thing!
But ... they were not satisfied. They needed to go to Ludicrous Speed! So
they made Doom on this machine. Yes. Doom! The thing that everyone making a
new innovative system uses as a test "Does it play Doom?". I couldn't
believe it was possible, but I saw it with my own eyes!
So when you are at VCF East, stop by the Univac found in the Vintage
Computer Museum and play all these fun games! VCF East runs April 17-19.
The demo will run Saturday and Sunday 1PM to 3PM April 18 & 19.
Take care!
Jeff Brace
VCF East Showrunner
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:52:15 -0400
From: drummy <drummy@comcast.net>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B!
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>
Message-ID: <7zjkwlMwa5h2h7zjkw2RgR.1775065946.a6d7e2cb8d43e03b3b0b8d6
   e56809fd6.MISSINGID@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Jeff gives me way too much credit for getting the Univac up and running. It could not have been done without Duane Craps.He is the most knowledgeable person on the computer and did most of the troubleshooting on it. We constantly consult with him on issues that we have difficulty with fixing.Bill DromgooleSent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------From: Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Date: 4/1/26  7:21 AM  (GMT-05:00) To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey@vcfed.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Doom on the Univac 1219B! Yes! Can you believe it?Years ago Bill Dromgoole diagnosed, troubleshooted and repaired the Univac1219B that sits in the VCF museum. As far as we know the only one of itskind still in operation.At every VCF East for years he has demonstrated this machine to visitorsand lamented "I don't know what to demo". Everyone was happy just to see itworking, the blinking lights, the loud noise, the tapping of the teletypeand Bill's explanation of how it worked.About 4 years ago a young whippersnapper Steve Schivone came along and wasfascinated by this machine and wanted to learn all about it. I mean, canyou blame him? Learning to use a working mainframe computer? Bill Dromgooletook him in as an apprentice and he learned this system in and out.A few months ago Steven met some other "young" guys who thought using andlearning about this system would be cool!So they got to thinking. "What can we do with this system?". So they made aC compiler. Not satisfied, they created a BASIC interpreter. Then theyloaded the Oregon Trail. Imagine playing that on a teletype machine on amachine used for ballistics control on a naval ship! Next up was a seriesof common BASIC programs and games like Zork. And "modern" games likeWordle. All very cool. then they were like Light Speed is too slow, let'sgo to Ridiculous Speed. So they created a Minecraft server on the machine!What an incredible and fun feat! Who would have ever thought of such athing!But ... they were not satisfied. They needed to go to Ludicrous Speed! Sothey made Doom on this machine. Yes. Doom! The thing that everyone making anew innovative system uses as a test "Does it play Doom?". I couldn'tbelieve it was possible, but I saw it with my own eyes!So when you are at VCF East, stop by the Univac found in the VintageComputer Museum and play all these fun games! VCF East runs April 17-19.The demo will run Saturday and Sunday 1PM to 3PM April 18 & 19.Take care!Jeff BraceVCF East Showrunner
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 15:55:23 -0400
From: Bill Degnan <billdegnan@gmail.com>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Re: Doom on the Univac 1219B!
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>
Message-ID:
   <CABGJBueHs=8tOqpD3L0qmUo1xnnuSj+4av9RXFEZPEVjLJaN-A@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
I for one am quite proud of everyone there.  You must really have that
Teletype buzzing drawing those rooms while playing Doom.
b
On Wed, Apr 1, 2026 at 1:53 PM drummy via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
...
Jeff gives me way too much credit for getting the Univac up and running.
It could not have been done without Duane Craps.He is the most
knowledgeable person on the computer and did most of the troubleshooting on
it. We constantly consult with him on issues that we have difficulty with
fixing.Bill DromgooleSent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------From: Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Date: 4/1/26  7:21 AM  (GMT-05:00) To:
vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Jeffrey Brace <
jeffrey@vcfed.org> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] Doom on the Univac 1219B!
Yes! Can you believe it?Years ago Bill Dromgoole diagnosed, troubleshooted
and repaired the Univac1219B that sits in the VCF museum. As far as we know
the only one of itskind still in operation.At every VCF East for years he
has demonstrated this machine to visitorsand lamented "I don't know what to
demo". Everyone was happy just to see itworking, the blinking lights, the
loud noise, the tapping of the teletypeand Bill's explanation of how it
worked.About 4 years ago a young whippersnapper Steve Schivone came along
and wasfascinated by this machine and wanted to learn all about it. I mean,
canyou blame him? Learning to use a working mainframe computer? Bill
Dromgooletook him in as an apprentice and he learned this system in and
out.A few months ago Steven met some other "young" guys who thought using
andlearning about this system would be cool!So they got to thinking. "What
can we do with this system?". So they made aC compiler. Not satisfied, they
created a BASIC interpreter. Then theyloaded the Oregon Trail. Imagine
playing that on a teletype machine on amachine used for ballistics control
on a naval ship! Next up was a seriesof common BASIC programs and games
like Zork. And "modern" games likeWordle. All very cool. then they were
like Light Speed is too slow, let'sgo to Ridiculous Speed. So they created
a Minecraft server on the machine!What an incredible and fun feat! Who
would have ever thought of such athing!But ... they were not satisfied.
They needed to go to Ludicrous Speed! Sothey made Doom on this machine.
Yes. Doom! The thing that everyone making anew innovative system uses as a
test "Does it play Doom?". I couldn'tbelieve it was possible, but I saw it
with my own eyes!So when you are at VCF East, stop by the Univac found in
the VintageComputer Museum and play all these fun games! VCF East runs
April 17-19.The demo will run Saturday and Sunday 1PM to 3PM April 18 &
19.Take care!Jeff BraceVCF East Showrunner
End of vcf-midatlantic Digest, Vol 95, Issue 1
**********************************************

Marcus Mera

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