As announced at VCF West we are starting a West Coast Chapter of the Vintage Computer Federation.
If you are interested please sign up here.
Thank You!
As announced at VCF West we are starting a West Coast Chapter of the Vintage Computer Federation.
If you are interested please sign up here.
Thank You!
Please note that VCF West is happening as planned. The Computer History Museum recently announced that they will be reopening to the public on September 1st. This is for their exhibits. Their rental space, such as the one the VCF is using, will be open earlier and VCF West will go on as planned on August 7th and 8th.
We will be closing Exhibit Registrations immediately after the July 4th weekend. All registrations must be completed by July 6th to be accepted.
Please note: We have the opportunity to support analog phone lines at this year’s event. Please let me know if that is something you want to take advantage of.
Speaker schedules and other particulars will be announced shortly.
We are pleased to announce that the Vintage Computer Festival West is returning to a live show format with this year’s show. Last year’s virtual event was great, but it’ll be good to get back together in person and, of course, we can have a consignment space at a live event! The event will be held on August 7th and 8th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead famously noted that,“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Curt Vendel, Atari collector and historian passed away unexpectedly on August 30, at age 53, was one of these ‘committed citizens,’ a walking one man archive of Atari history. Vendel was the guiding light behind the Atari History Museum, an online and physical archive of over 15,000 documents from Atari, which he in many cases rescued from oblivion as part of a lifetime of intense collecting efforts. The collection also includes “information, images and personal stories on all items produced by Atari as well as news and links to further assist any and all individuals interested in learning more about the company that helped to pioneer and shape many areas of Video Arcade Entertainment, Home Consumer Electronics, Personal Computer Systems and much, much more.” The Museum is celebrating its 40th year. Vendel was known to be kind, outgoing, and generous with his time. His loss will be keenly felt by the retrogaming and history of computing community. He leaves behind his wife Michelle and daughter Madison, a college freshman.
The VCF West Schedule and YouTube streaming link have been posted.
Mark your calendars and spread the word far and wide!
Details about the Q&A sessions after each talk will be posted sometime this week.
You can e-mail questions about each talk to microphone@vcfed.org and Erik will ask the questions live.
Since it appears that we won’t be allowed to host “large gatherings” in the state of California for the foreseeable future, it is time to plan for keeping the spirit of VCF West alive without the physical gathering.
To do that we want to host the same basic format. Exhibits, speakers and classes along with the “social” aspects of getting hobbyists together.
The only way to effectively do that is to put as much of the effort in advance as possible. That means that contributors are being asked to “virtualize” their contributions with shareable videos, slide shows, etc. Speakers and class trainers as well as any exhibitors willing will be asked to allow for an online Q&A session after the video is aired.
We will also host virtual meetups throughout the day, hopefully with special guests encouraged to visit at predetermined times.
The entire event will be scheduled for 6-8 hours on Saturday August 1st with all of the videos completed, post processed, uploaded and held by the prior weekend (July 26th.)
What we will need:
Committed exhibitors to produce 5 minute (+/-) videos of the systems(s) they would have liked to exhibit. These should be submitted to the VCF West team by early July, at the latest. Sooner is always better!
At least a couple of keynote speakers willing to do 30 minute recorded talks and willing to host a Q&A Hangouts/Meetings call.
Hopefully a classroom teacher or two to do a training video of 15-30 minutes and willing to host a Q&A Hangouts/Meetings call.
Again if you would like to participate in one of the above categories (exhibitor, presenter, educator) please let me (erik@vcfed.org) know as early as possible and please get your video done as quickly as possible.
Some video suggestions:
Please have your recording device in Landscape mode.
Introduce yourself and your exhibit to start.
Please ensure that you have appropriate lighting for your video. Remember that different parts of the video may need different lighting. Filming screens is usually done in a darker environment while speakers should find as much light as possible.
Audio is just as important as video. Consider an external microphone, if possible. Find a suitable space to do the recording with a minimum of ambient noise, echo, etc.
If you are speaking while in the video please speak into the camera rather than while looking away, if at all possible.
Play back your work and make sure you like it before submitting it! Our editors will clean up some stuff, but we can’t add things that aren’t there, etc.
I created a sample video.
My raw one is here: https://youtu.be/amSyI3t6JWk
We currently have 12 exhibits, 2 presentations and 2 classes and the list is growing daily. The deadline of July 7 is coming soon, so submit your video quickly if you want to be included!