Please check out the SFGE app on Yapp app for the full SFGE schedule as well as the VCF SE speakers!
Friday
7:00 in Chancellor
James Sanderson & Marc Tessier – Live Kickstarter Launch of their latest Historic Computer Replica
James and Marc will be giving us the opportunity to participate in the launch of their company’s newest Kickstarter. With two successful campaigns under their belt already, they will give us an inside look at their strategies & winning methods. They will explain their process live & explain how they are able to turn simple ideas into major bucks through crowdfunding.
Marc is one of the two founders and owners of S&T GeoTronics LLC, and their products include the “Op
en Enigma” and the “Open DSKY (Apollo Guidance Computer)”. Back in 2015, he left a long career as a Wireless Network Engineer to follow his passion as a maker and entrepreneur. Fluent speaker and writer in French and English, he’s a creative and detail-oriented individual with an interest in custom projects and hi-tech solutions. Loves to tinker with Arduinos and build various niche electronic devices for Geocaching, Escape Rooms, and even an interactive bar (which has been said to be London’s best)!
James is the other founder and owner of S&T GeoTronics LLC and started his adult life in the 3rd Infantry division as a M1 tank systems mechanic. Upon leaving the army, he became a millwright. After many years of working on every possible type of equipment, from programming logic controllers to building drive systems from scratch, he was ready to build his own grassroot electric car (truck). His passion is Open Source electronics, ham radios, and solving technical problems
Saturday
11:30 in Chancellor
Adam Spring, Tim Jenison — From NewTek to Vermeer : Q&A Session with Tim Jenison
Tim Jenison and NewTek reshaped how television programmes, music videos and films could be made. This was through hardware like the VideoToaster and software like LightWave 3D.
Early and well known examples that helped put NewTek on the map include science fiction shows like Babylon 5 and SeaQuest DSV. The music videos for Change Myself and Fascist Christ by Todd Rundgren were also important for the company. Find out more as to why this was the case, as well as Garth in Wayne’s Word 2 ended up wearing a VideoToaster T shirt, in this session.2:30 in Andover Room
Paul Schreiber — Who Took My Scope Probe?” – Tales from Tandy R&D 1977-1993
Paul Schreiber started as a co-op student in 1977, working on TV games and then was Steve Leininger’s technician for the Model 1. After graduating from Texas A&M in 1979 with a BSEE, he worked at Data Generalon the Dasher family of video terminals, returning to Tandy in 1980. From 1980-1984, he designed over 30 products including modems, stereos and music equipment, the Model II graphics card, and the Model 3/4 graphics ASIC.
Leaving in 1984, he returned in 1988. From 1988-1993, he went back to school (MSEE, SMU) and worked on a succession of monumental failures such as THOR, DCC, VIS, and the Tandy Sensation. None of these
failures were his fault. He also designed digital voltmeters and was heavily involved in patent litigation/consumer product safety. He holds 12 US patents.
Sunday
11:30 in Andover Room
Adrian Black — How retro computers ignited my passion for electronics repair
Adrian has been fixing vintage computers on his Youtube channel “Adrian’s Digital basement” since 2016. He got his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, in 1982 at the age of 7. This put him on a lifelong journey of tinkering and working with computers and technology which brings us today, where Adrian can often be found down in his basement making videos about troubleshooting and repairing broken vintage computers. Entirely self taught, Adrian specializes in pinpointing exactly what is wrong with a computer and explaining to his viewers how they can use logical thinking to figure out what has failed on the system. This allows for pinpoint repairs versus randomly replacing parts until the system works again.
Adrian is from Montreal Canada but now resides in Portland Oregon.
