Category: Uncategorized

Chuck Peddle, a pioneer in the personal computing industry passed away on December 15th.

Chuck was on the team at Motorola who worked on the 6800 microprocessor. Based on his experience and belief that a lower cost alternative was needed, Chuck and several engineers left Motorola to create the 6502 microprocessor at MOS technology. When released in 1975 the 6502 was far less expensive than competing processors; the low price point enabled products such as the Atari 2600, the Apple ][, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64, the BBC Micro, and many others. It was an important part of the home computer revolution.

Chuck gave the keynote speech (via Skype) at VCF East 4.0 (in 2007) for Commodore’s 30th Anniversary. Dave Haynie, Bil Herd, Jeri Ellsworth and other Commodore fans were in attendance. Here is the YouTube video of his keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnmJhEOdC8&t=854s

Chuck will be missed and remembered for his immense contributions to the early home computer revolution.

Chuck, thanks for all of the opcodes!

For those of you in northern Europe, remember that VCFe-CH is this next weekend!

When: Saturday, November 30th and Sunday, December 1st
Where: The Rote Fabrik cultural center on the shores of Lake Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

For more detail see http://vcfe.ch/doku.php.

Are you going to do any shopping at Amazon.com? If so, then keep reading …

Amazon has a program called Amazon Smile that allows you to specify a charity to receive a 0.5% cut of all of your eligible purchases. The program doesn’t affect the prices that you see on Amazon, so it is free to you.

Head over to smile.amazon.com and select “Vintage Computer Federation Inc” in Eatontown, New Jersey. Then do your shopping at smile.amazon.com. If you forget and you start at amazon.com you can switch to smile.amazon.com and continue – your shopping cart will be preserved across the two sites.

Thanks in advance for helping us pay the bills and keep things running!

(Vintage Computer Federation is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.)

Mark your calendars! The next edition of Vintage Computer Festival East is October 10, 11, 12, 2020, as always at the InfoAge Science & History Museum in Wall, New Jersey. Stay tuned for details as the event nears.

The Vintage Computer Federation is pleased to announce Vintage Computer
Festival Pacific Northwest 2020! We will be at Living
Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle Washington on Saturday March 21st and
Sunday March 22nd, 2020.

To make this happen we are looking for exhibitors, speakers and
volunteers. Last year we had 28 exhibits and 6 presentations. We had a
great time, we broke the museum attendance record (again), and we are
looking to have a good time again in March.

If you are thinking of traveling from outside of the region there is plenty
to do in Seattle while you are here. Local attractions include the
Connections Museum, the Pacific Science Center, MoPOP, the Boeing factory
tour, Mr. Rainier, etc. Victoria, British Columbia is also a short
distance away. See a more complete list at https://goo.gl/3emMWH.

Details about VCF PNW 2020 can be found at https://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw. The
exhibitor registration instructions can be found at
https://vcfed.org/vcf-pnw/exhibitor-registration. I’m happy to answer
questions by email too.

Regards,
Mike
michael@vcfed.org

THANK YOU to all who attended and supported Vintage Computer Festival West last weekend! It was a huge success. Dozens of amazing exhibits, great lectures, and 18 of the world’s approximately 70 remaining original Apple 1 computers in the building. Special thanks to all of the attendees and exhibitors, plus our awesome loyal supporters: the staff of the Computer History Museum, Hackaday, the Association for Computing Machinery, Commodore’s Bil Herd, Apple’s Dan Kotte, RR Auctions, and Apollo Guidance Computer expert Frank O’Brien. Visit our YouTube channel to watch video of the event.

Vintage Computer Festival West (#vcfwest) is underway. In addition to the exhibit hall, there’s a full slate of lectures, panels, and special demonstrations. There’s nothing like being there in person, but this year we are experimenting with our first live stream — please forgive us if the quality isn’t fully professional. Make some popcorn and click over to our YouTube channel to watch all weekend. Enjoy the show!

VCF West is just a few weeks away! You’ll find three dozen incredible hands-on exhibits, a special exhibit with at least 10 original Apple-1 computers, a restored Apollo Guidance Computer, an amazingly detailed technical lecture by legendary Commodore engineer Bil Herd, our huge consignment sale, and much more!!! It’s all happening at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, right in the heart of Silicon Valley — with special thanks to our supporters at Hackaday and the Association for Computing Machinery. Get your tickets online now to save time at the show! Click here for all of the details.

We’re honored to announce that Dag Spicer is our newest board member! Dag is senior curator at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley.

Dag’s background is in electrical engineering and history. He joined VCF to assist in expanding the grassroots involvement of computer enthusiasts in the story of computing, one in which every person on earth is now a part. Originally from Canada, Dag now lives in Santa Clara, CA. His hobbies include reading, hockey, and Cycladic art.

Click here to see our complete governance page.

Vintage Computer Festival West 2019 is just two months away! The show is August 3-4 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

We are going to have a fabulous show and hope to set a new record for attendance. Buy your tickets online now!

This year we’re having a special gathering of several working Apple 1 computers. Their owners will participate in a panel discussion to tell the stories behind these rare machines. We will also hear from the team who restored an Apollo Guidance Computer, and we’re always happy to welcome Commodore engineer Bil Herd.

Additional speakers and classes are pending but we still have room on the schedule for more of everything. So if you have something to share, please let us know!

If you haven’t signed up for your exhibit yet please do so ASAP. The sooner we get that list together, the sooner we can lay out the hall and get the program started. Click here for the exhibits page.

Comments/questions? Contact erik@vcfed.org.