Coming soon: Vintage Computer Federation BBS!

Everyone should experience the joy of connecting to an authentic dial-up bulletin board service. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. 🙂

It’s why we ordered an 8-port analog PBX with a GSM module today.

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Our plan is to connect this to a PC running the MajorBBS software. Visitors at our museum and at Vintage Computer Festival East (or heck, why not bring it with us to VCF West too?) will get to pick from a selection of vintage computers, hear a dial tone, hear the handshake, and be productive at 300-2400 bps. People could also telnet in over the Internet and, in phase two, dial in through the GSM connection.

We’ll share an update this winter when the PBX arrives.

Reaching our goals

Vintage Computer Federation has big dreams. We’re restructuring our organization to help make them come true.

Our mission is to empower collectors, grow the community, and teach everyone about computer history. We especially want to raise interest in computer history among young people.

To do so, we are planning many changes. For example, we want to expand the Vintage Computer Festival event series, offer new resources on the vcfed.org site, foster regional chapters, and improve our museum space. There are still other ideas that we hope to share in 2017 and beyond.

We firmly believe these goals are attainable and imperative. However, as an all-volunteer unit, there simply isn’t enough time to devote to our cause without overly sacrificing time spent at our regular jobs, being with family, collecting vintage computers, and so on.

As such, effective today, Vintage Computer Federation co-founder Evan Koblentz is stepping down as president and accepts the new position of part-time director. Evan is the Federation’s first paid worker. He reports to the board. Evan will continue day-to-day administration of the Federation and will embark on new fundraising initiatives.

Erik Klein, formerly vice president, is now board chairman. Jeffrey Brace, also formerly a vice president, is now vice-chairman. Corey Cohen retains his role as business manager.

We feel this new structure will help us gain resources, meet our goals, and continue to save and teach computer history for many years to come.

Vintage Computer Federation Inc. is a 501(c) non-profit organization.