[vcf-midatlantic] Three history talks at Trenton

[Herb Johnson]

Evan announced these events at the Trenton Computer Festival:

> 12:25-1:20 - Brian Stuart, "ENIAC Then and Now"
>
> 1:30-2:25 - Frank O'Brien, "Flying to the Moon / The Apollo Guidance
> Computer"
>
> 2:35-3:30 - Jeff B. & [Evan Koblentz], 8-Bit 'Bots (Capsella, Lego)

..and Neil Cherry posted in reference to his talk: "Do It Yourself:
Home Automation & More"; also scheduled at 12:25-1:20

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Brian's talk on the ENIAC, on 
the Princeton University campus. His talk was sponsored by the IEEE 
Computer Society chapter, and the ACM chapter, hosted at Princeton. They 
meet together each month for public presentations like Brian's.

Brian gave a fine presentation, about the construction of the ENIAC and 
about its general operation. He demonstrated a visual and operational 
model of the ENIAC, which runs on modern computers. He described both 
its physical architecture, and its computing methods. ENIAC design and 
operation were a key part of computing development in the 1940's and 
50's. I believe a video of this talk, may be on YouTube in due course.

In attendance was my good friend and colleague, Frank O'Brien - an 
active member of the sponsoring organizations, and of course he's part 
of InfoAge. We took time to chat and I caught up with his recent 
activities. He's given his AGC talk a number of times recently. He tells 
me he's added some props to give descriptions about the fundamental 
issues of spaceflight guidance: "where you are, where you are going, 
which way is up?". So I look forward to seeing his presentation again.

I've heard Neil's talks on Home Automation at TCF; they are informative 
and not "too technical for mere mortals". He's published, and 
well-versed, on the software and hardware of commercial products; and 
has championed open-source approaches. The subject is of interest to the 
vintage computing community, for those who develop or use access from 
their computers to modern devices and the Web.

Another friend of mine, but one not active in VCF discussions, is 
Jonathan Allen. "Practical Electronics Tricks of the Trade" will be 
presented by him at 1:30-2:25. Jonathan has repaired and restored TV's 
and radios for decades. He's very familiar with 20th century test 
equipment and tools. His talk's content may be of interest to those 
beginning to restore their vintage computers.

There are many other talks at the Trenton Computer Festival. There will 
be exhibits by computer clubs, including VCF Inc.; and by The Sarnoff 
Collection which is on the TCNJ campus, and which has vintage computers 
from RCA.


Herb


-- 
Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA
http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net