Vintage Computer Federation will be doing another swap meet on February 26, 2022. This will be an indoor swap meet taking place in 3 rooms in two different buildings on InfoAge Science and History Museum’s campus in Wall, NJ. This time we are looking to sell food and drink items in our cafeteria in 9010-C. We are expecting a large turnout of 100 vendors and hundreds of people throughout the day.
Look here for more information about the swap meet: https://vcfed.org/vcf-swap-meet/
There will be more than just the exhibits, classes, talks and consignment during VCF East 2021. There will also be the following:
GLITCHWORKS
Glitch will be selling and helping people to build various kits at his workshop in the CDL building Friday (10/8), Saturday (10/9) and Sunday (10/10) from 1PM to 5PM during VCF East.
Here is what he will be offering:
* XT-IDE rev 4A kits
* R6501Q SBC kits
* RAM expansion for R6501Q kits
* 8085 SBC rev 3 kits
* CF adapter boards (works with both R6501Q and 8085 SBC rev 3, but really for the 8085 SBC)
* 8255 parallel I/O and prototyping interfaces
* Blank prototyping cards
UNIVAC 1219B
We will demo this machine from 1 to 3PM Saturday and and Sunday in the VCF museum.
LEARN TO SOLDER
We will have someone teaching beginners how to solder in the CDL workshop area Saturday and Sunday from 8AM to 5PM
BOUNCE YOUR VOICE OFF THE MOON
Saturday and Sunday from 1PM to 5PM at the Diana site 2 tenths of a mile walk down the road from the InfoAge main building. ISEC has many exhibits to see and learn about:
Hello everyone,
We are *not* doing a swap meet at our event. There just aren’t enough volunteers and the show would be spread out too much. We are however doing consignment for anyone wishing to buy or sell items.
I’ve had some people who were having trouble finding the information about consignment on the website. So I added links to the website, but for convenience here is the main website for VCF East consignment. It’s helpful for us if everyone to filled out the Consignment Sale Sheet before they arrive.
Here are the instructions for filling it out. Here is an example sheet to understand how to fill it out.
Any questions? E-mail vcfeast AT vcfed.org
Ever wonder about the roots of today’s technological society?
Did you spend the Covid-19 lockdown nostalgically playing old video games from the past on an emulator?
Do you want to get hands-on with computers ranging from the 1960’s thru the late 1980’s?
Come to the Vintage Computer Festival East in Wall NJ on October 8th thru 10th, 2021!
On Friday, October 8th, there are classes in everything from CRT display repair to hands-on building your own Intel 8085 board set computer.
On Saturday and Sunday, join us for hands-on exhibits of vintage and classic computers along with talks from the people who were at the beginning of what makes today’s world of technology common place. Talks include Dr. Ted Nelson, the pioneer of hypertext, the building block of the World Wide Web.
Listen to stories from Scott Adams, who brought adventure gaming to personal computers and David Ahl, who literally wrote the book, “Basic Computer Gaming”, that fueled many early home computer purchases.
Hear stories from Bil Herd’s years at Commodore and get him to sign his new book!
Hear from Bill Mensch about how a small microchip company from Pennsylvania in the 1970’s created a 6502 microprocessor that would not only power the home computer and home video game revolution thru the 1980’s but is still in use today in consumer devices.
For tickets, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vintage-computer-festival-east-2021-tickets-157239897767?aff=affiliate1
Learn more about the Vintage Computer Festival East at https://vcfed.org/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
Pictures from VCF East 2019: here and here
Click HERE to download our 8 & 1/2″ x 11″ flyer.
VCF Southeast is back!
August 20-22, 2021.
This year they’re at a NEW LOCATION!
They will be at the Marriott Renaissance Waverly in Atlanta, GA.
This year they’re co-located with the Southern Fried Gaming Expo (who are sponsoring their space!)
There will be Speakers, Exhibits, Hands-on Activities, Consignment, Vendors, Concessions,
For complete information, exhibit registration and updates, please follow this link: https://vcfed.org/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
THE SWAP MEET IS A GO FOR SATURDAY APRIL 24!
GREAT WEATHER IS EXPECTED!
We are open from 1PM to 5PM: https://vcfed.org/vcf-museum
The Vintage Computer Federation Museum is located nearby the swap meet and is part of InfoAge Science and History museums.
InfoAge and VCF Museums are open every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday from 1PM to 5PM
InfoAge museums: infoage.org.
There were 5 designs submitted for this year’s Vintage Computer Festival t-shirt.
Please remember that these are only concept art and not the final product!
Please vote for the one that you like the best!
The one with the most votes will be selected as the new t-shirt design for 2021!
Go to this link to see the designs and to vote HERE
This weekend enjoy two different VCF events!
VCF East (our flagship event!) will take place on Saturday and Sunday between 9:00AM and 6:00PM Eastern Daylight Time. This year it is a virtual event – in addition to streaming the event some exhibitors will be on site at the InfoAge Science Center in Wall, NJ. The theme for the event this year is the 6502 microprocessor, remembering Chuck Peddle and celebrating the 45th anniversary of its creation. Be sure to check out our schedule page with info on how to watch the show.
Also plan on enjoying VCF Berlin, taking place on Saturday and Sunday between the hours of 10:00AM and 8:00PM Central European Summer Time. Enjoy virtual exhibits, talks and workshops and a special exhibit on “Collecting Computers as a Hobby.” (VCF Berlin is run by a different group of great people and we are happy to see VCF goodness there!)
VCF East will be a virtual only show for 2020.
The dates for the live show will be October 10 & 11. Time will be from 9AM to 6PM.
We will be streaming to YouTube with the schedule to be released soon.
Exhibitors can submit a 5 to 10 minute video or show their exhibit in-person at InfoAge.
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/24CeNpKFDwVmLeMR9
Class Instructors can submit a 30 minute video on their how-to class.
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/kFhoGKuPBcSAWRHKA
I know that this will be a great disappointment to many. I had hoped that after 4 months that conditions would have improved to the point that the show could be in-person, but limitations in indoor capacity makes the effort to organize an in-person show prohibitive. We considered the time, effort, money and safety to make an in-person show.
But don’t despair! Our virtual hybrid show will still be a lot of fun!
We can still make the show great despite being a virtual hybrid.
VCF West, K-Fest and HOPE have shown that a fun show can still be created while being virtual.
THE GENERAL PUBLIC ISN’T ALLOWED AT THE SHOW.
Only staff and a handful of exhibitors will be there in-person
I will be sending out more details about our plans as we develop them.
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!
