VCF West Home Page – VCF West Speaker Summary – Friday Speakers – Saturday Speakers

We have two rooms for speakers:

Hahn Auditorium – Located upstairs
OrientationTheater – Located downstairs, near the gift shop across from the cafe

Friday

The MEGA65: Who Remembers the Commodore 65? Friday \| 11:00AM \| Hahn Auditorium
The MEGA65 is a modern recreation of the Commodore 65, the unreleased successor to the Commodore 64 and 128. With only a few dozen functioning C65 prototypes in the wild today, the MEGA65 is the only practical way for most of us to know the 8-bit marvel that could have been. In this talk, MEGA65 contributor Dan Sanderson introduces the project and its connections with Commodore history, discusses the role FPGA-based platforms can play in recreational computing, and argues that the best way to remember computing history is to put it in people’s hands.
	Dan Sanderson is a software engineer and writer in Seattle, WA, USA. He has been on the MEGA65 core team since 2022, and is currently the maintainer of the MEGA65 KERNAL ROM and documentation. Dan is also the author of Dan’s MEGA65 Digest, a monthly newsletter available by email, RSS, and audio podcast.

The MEGA65: Who Remembers the Commodore 65?
Friday | 11:00AM | Hahn Auditorium

The MEGA65 is a modern recreation of the Commodore 65, the unreleased successor to the Commodore 64 and 128. With only a few dozen functioning C65 prototypes in the wild today, the MEGA65 is the only practical way for most of us to know the 8-bit marvel that could have been. In this talk, MEGA65 contributor Dan Sanderson introduces the project and its connections with Commodore history, discusses the role FPGA-based platforms can play in recreational computing, and argues that the best way to remember computing history is to put it in people’s hands.

Dan Sanderson is a software engineer and writer in Seattle, WA, USA. He has been on the MEGA65 core team since 2022, and is currently the maintainer of the MEGA65 KERNAL ROM and documentation. Dan is also the author of Dan’s MEGA65 Digest, a monthly newsletter available by email, RSS, and audio podcast.

AMIGA/040th: Development of the Amiga and the 1984 CES show Friday \| 12:00PM \| Hahn Auditorium
This will be individual stories of the months leading up to the January 1984 CES show, and stories about the 1984 January CES show.
	Dale Luck, manager of graphics software at Amiga Corp. wrote the original Amiga Bouncing Ball demo during a night at the 1984 January CES, which completely blew away the show attendees. He also invented the blitter line draw. He worked at 3DO and designed the kernel and the security systerm. He worked at Shoretel on the first Voice-over-IP (VoIP) switch. Wanting to stop spam he worked on the Barracuda Networks antispam product. Finally returning to his graphics roots, he worked at Roku on the design of the Roku multimedia player.
	RJ Mical is a programmer and hardware designer who has primarily worked in video games. He is best known for creating the user interface, Intuition, for Commodore’s Amiga personal computer (1985), contributing to the design of the Amiga hardware, and co-designing, with Dave Needle, the Atari Lynx color handheld (1989) and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (1993).
	Don Reisinger was Director of Marketing at Amiga Corp. He came from Tonka Toys where several initial founders, including Dave Morse, also originally came from.
	Sam Dicker was Manager of Entertainment Software and was a key contributor to the audio subsystem for Amiga. He also wrote some great demos for the early Amiga hardware including the Amiga Spinning Ball which Dale used to create the Amiga Bouncing Ball.
	Ron Nicholson has a degree in engineering mathematics from U.C Berkeley, and has worked at several Silicon Valley companies, including Compression Labs, Apple, Amiga, HP, Sigma Designs, and Silicon Graphics. Ron has contributed to the design of FPGAs, network ASICs, RISC workstations, the Nintendo 64, the original Apple Macintosh, and the Commodore Amiga. Ron is named as co-inventor on 11 U.S. patents, including several on the architecture of Amiga 1000.

MiniDisc – Beginnings, Lifespan, Current State and Future Friday \| 1:00PM \| Orientation Theater
MDCon is dedicated to preserving and promoting MiniDisc technology through engaging, in-person gatherings around the world. At MDCon, we are passionate about preserving, celebrating the legacy of MiniDisc technology, and keeping it current. From its groundbreaking debut in the 1990s to its enduring appeal among enthusiasts today, MiniDisc represents a unique fusion of innovation, style, and nostalgia.
	Gunner5, a tech consultant with 20+ years of experience, discovered MiniDisc in 1992 and adopted it as his main music medium by 2002. During years of travel and over a million frequent flyer miles, MD was his sonic companion until digital mixes and the iPod shifted his habits around 2010. Rediscovering his gear in 2022 reignited the spark, leading to behind-the-scenes planning for MDCon in 2023. Today, MDCon continues evolving through global road shows, seeking the right audience and venue to bring the MiniDisc experience back to life.

MiniDisc – Beginnings, Lifespan, Current State and Future
Friday | 1:00PM | Orientation Theater

MDCon is dedicated to preserving and promoting MiniDisc technology through engaging, in-person gatherings around the world. At MDCon, we are passionate about preserving, celebrating the legacy of MiniDisc technology, and keeping it current. From its groundbreaking debut in the 1990s to its enduring appeal among enthusiasts today, MiniDisc represents a unique fusion of innovation, style, and nostalgia.

Gunner5, a tech consultant with 20+ years of experience, discovered MiniDisc in 1992 and adopted it as his main music medium by 2002. During years of travel and over a million frequent flyer miles, MD was his sonic companion until digital mixes and the iPod shifted his habits around 2010. Rediscovering his gear in 2022 reignited the spark, leading to behind-the-scenes planning for MDCon in 2023. Today, MDCon continues evolving through global road shows, seeking the right audience and venue to bring the MiniDisc experience back to life.

The LGP-30: Adventures in Drums and Emulation Friday \| 1:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
The LGP-30 is a true gem of 1950s engineering. It was small, scrappy, functional… and is very different than modern computers. This makes emulating the LGP-30 a unique challenge. Come along as we examine this amazing machine, and see how a new emulator has made the ’30 more accessible than ever before.
	Sean Haas is a software developers and independent historian. He produces the Advent of Computer podcast, and writes dubious code in his free time.

AMIGA/040th: What is an Amiga in 2025 Friday \| 2:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
The Amiga was never just a computer—it was a revolution in colour, sound, and spirit. Forty years on, the name still inspires fierce loyalty and bold experimentation. In this talk, Trevor Dickinson explores the strange, stubborn afterlife of the Amiga: from modern PowerPC hardware and OS4 development to thriving retro communities, FPGA clones, and beyond. He’ll reflect on what kept the platform alive long after the corporations gave up, and why some of us still believe its best ideas are worth preserving—and reimagining. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just Amiga-curious, expect a lively, passionate dive into the machine that refused to die—and the people who wouldn’t let it.
	Trevor Dickinson is an entrepreneur, investor, and lifelong Amiga enthusiast. Best known in the retro computing world for his role in reviving Amiga hardware through A-EON Technology, he has spent the past two decades funding, supporting, and promoting the Amiga platform globally. Trevor is also the co-author of Vultures to Vampires, the definitive chronicle of the Amiga’s post-Commodore years, and a regular contributor to Amiga Future.

AMIGA/040th: What is an Amiga in 2025
Friday | 2:30PM | Hahn Auditorium

The Amiga was never just a computer—it was a revolution in colour, sound, and spirit. Forty years on, the name still inspires fierce loyalty and bold experimentation. In this talk, Trevor Dickinson explores the strange, stubborn afterlife of the Amiga: from modern PowerPC hardware and OS4 development to thriving retro communities, FPGA clones, and beyond. He’ll reflect on what kept the platform alive long after the corporations gave up, and why some of us still believe its best ideas are worth preserving—and reimagining. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just Amiga-curious, expect a lively, passionate dive into the machine that refused to die—and the people who wouldn’t let it.

Trevor Dickinson is an entrepreneur, investor, and lifelong Amiga enthusiast. Best known in the retro computing world for his role in reviving Amiga hardware through A-EON Technology, he has spent the past two decades funding, supporting, and promoting the Amiga platform globally. Trevor is also the co-author of Vultures to Vampires, the definitive chronicle of the Amiga’s post-Commodore years, and a regular contributor to Amiga Future.

ArcaOS: OS/2 for the 21st Century Friday \| 3:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
ArcaOS is a spiritual successor to IBM’s venerable OS/2 Warp 4 operating system. In this presentation, we will discuss the advantages of the platform and what new features it brings to the table over traditional OS/2. Stick around to the end as we will go over some gaming demos in ArcaOS.
	Matt Nawrocki is a cybersecurity architect and President of Warpstock Corporation, a foundation dedicated to supporting the technical commons for the OS/2 community at large.

The Homebrew Computer Club at 50 Friday \| 4:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
The Menlo Park counterculture nexus of Kepler’s Books and the Midpeninsula Free University attracted talented people involved in important computer hardware and software development at Stanford AI Project, Stanford Research Institute, and Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. An important communication nexus was People’s Computer Company, publisher of a tabloid newspaper that facilitated discussion of what personal computers might do when they came into existence. When the first Altair 8800 arrived as a review sample to People’s Computer Company in spring of 1975, a meeting was hastily convened in a garage to examine the beast and to exchange lore about it — this was the first of what became the Homebrew Computer Club’s biweekly meetings. The club, whose only activity was the information-sharing meetings, grew rapidly and spawned at least 37 identifiable businesses, including Apple Computer Corp. This panel will include participants from that time both in the Homebrew Club and in businesses that grew from it. We will reminisce and give our viewpoints from today’s perspective about the history of the Club and the industry that grew up in Silicon Valley around it. Lee Felsenstein will moderate (he moderated the meetings from the fourth one). We will examine the early milieu and what it became during “those unforgettable next two years”.
	Lee Felsenstein is a computer engineer who played a central role in the development of personal computers. He was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club and the designer of the Osborne 1, the first mass-produced portable computer. He acted as chair for the Homebrew Computer Club, which formed in 1975.
	Bob Marsh is one of the co-founders of Processor Technology Corporation, where he co-designed the SOL-20, the first fully assembled microcomputer available for sale.
	Dan Sokol is best known for obtaining a pre-market copy of Altair BASIC, making copies and distributing them to the other members of the Homebrew Computer Club, prompting the infamous “Open Letter to Hobbyists” from Bill Gates in 1976, accusing hobbyists of “theft”.
	Dan Kottke is best known for having been one of the first employees of Apple, Inc. after having met Steve Jobs at Reed College in 1972. Once at Apple, he debugged the Apple II family, and prototyped the Apple III and Macintosh.
	Harry Garland is a scientist, engineer, author, and entrepreneur who co-founded Cromemco Inc., one of the earliest and most successful microcomputer companies. Dr. Garland has been recognized as one of the most important innovators in the development of personal computers in Silicon Valley.
	Liza Loop is an educational technology pioneer, futurist, technical author, and consultant. She is notable for her early use of computers in education, her creation of a public-access computer center, consulting work with Atari, Inc., Apple, Radio Shack and others as well as philosophical musings on the future of learning environments from the 1970s on.

VCF After Dark Friday \| 6:00pm \| Cafe Downstairs
	After a long day of geeking out at vintage computer stuff, why not come join us for a VCF Meet and Greet in the Cafe downstairs? Come for the food and stay for the conversation. Food will be sold by a variety of food trucks outside, and there will be a bar for the purchase of some more adult beverages. Unfortunately there will be no flying toasters. We had our R&D folks look into this for us, but apparently toasters were never meant to fly, due to something about aerodynamics and “the real world.”

VCF After Dark
Friday | 6:00pm | Cafe Downstairs

After a long day of geeking out at vintage computer stuff, why not come join us for a VCF Meet and Greet in the Cafe downstairs?

Come for the food and stay for the conversation.

Food will be sold by a variety of food trucks outside, and there will be a bar for the purchase of some more adult beverages.

Unfortunately there will be no flying toasters. We had our R&D folks look into this for us, but apparently toasters were never meant to fly, due to something about aerodynamics and “the real world.”

AMIGA/040th: Evening Presentation Sponsored by ExecSG Friday \| 8:00pm \| Hahn Auditorium
	Join us for a special Friday evening event on August 1st, featuring two key highlights: an homage to Commodore’s iconic Amiga 1000 release at Lincoln Center and the first-ever “Ammi’s” award presentation. This event, included with your show admission, kicks off around 8:00 PM and will run for approximately two hours. While no food will be served, you’ll have ample time to grab dinner from the VCF West food trucks or nearby off-site options and to prepare for the evening. A bar will be available for those 21 and older, offering a variety of drinks for purchase. To add a touch of nostalgic fun, we’re encouraging formal wear reminiscent of the Amiga 1000 release at the Lincoln Center! Think tuxedos and gowns. Of course, we understand not everyone can bring formal attire, so please know that all are welcome as they are. Thanks to the ExecSG team for sponsoring the event! We’re looking forward to a memorable and enjoyable evening.

AMIGA/040th: Evening Presentation Sponsored by ExecSG
Friday | 8:00pm | Hahn Auditorium

Join us for a special Friday evening event on August 1st, featuring two key highlights: an homage to Commodore’s iconic Amiga 1000 release at Lincoln Center and the first-ever “Ammi’s” award presentation.

This event, included with your show admission, kicks off around 8:00 PM and will run for approximately two hours. While no food will be served, you’ll have ample time to grab dinner from the VCF West food trucks or nearby off-site options and to prepare for the evening. A bar will be available for those 21 and older, offering a variety of drinks for purchase.

To add a touch of nostalgic fun, we’re encouraging formal wear reminiscent of the Amiga 1000 release at the Lincoln Center! Think tuxedos and gowns. Of course, we understand not everyone can bring formal attire, so please know that all are welcome as they are.

Thanks to the ExecSG team for sponsoring the event! We’re looking forward to a memorable and enjoyable evening.

Saturday

AMIGA/040th: Outside Looking In Saturday \| 10:00AM \| Hahn Auditorium
Even before the launch of the Amiga, a vibrant and enthusiastic 3rd party developer sprung into existence. The view of the early days from the perspective inside Commodore and Amiga has been well discussed but what about the folks who built the 3rd party products we all came to love? Join us for a panel discussion led by Perry Kivolowitz (6 time Fish Disk author including the Recoverable Ram Disk and co-founder of ASDG) for a lively discussion from the outside… looking in.
	Perry Kivolowitz wanted to go into business sometime around 1984. Looking at Macintosh software of the day, he said to himself, “I can do this at least as well as those morons.” The Amiga was coming with all kinds of advanced technologies. He figured, “This can’t miss!” And ASDG was born. ASDG led the DTP revolution, then the multimedia revolution, then DTV and finally, desktop film. The author of many Fish Disk offerings including Disk #1 and later the Recoverable Ram Disk, Perry loved the machine and the community. Oh yeah, there was an Academy Award and Emmy Award in there somewhere.
	John Foust was an early Amiga developer and still owns an Amiga 1000 (serial number 36). He started his career as a writer, writing for Amazing Computing, Amigaworld, Compute, INFO, AV Video, Byte and a number of other magazines. While writing for Amazing Computing he maintained the AMICUS floppy disk collection and spent a lot time flying to the various Amiga conventions and developer events interviewing all kinds of people and rubbing elbows with some of the more notable people of the time. He is also known for starting the software company called Syndesis, which published a variety of 3D conversion tools for a variety of platforms, and wrote some of the 3D and image conversion tools used on the Newtek Video Toaster.
	Marco Papa had his software development journey begin while he was pursuing his Ph.D. at USC, where he created software for the Commodore Amiga. He developed A-Talk III, a terminal emulation program supporting VT100 and Tektronix terminals, among others. Remarkably, A-Talk III remains in use on legacy Amiga systems today. He also developed DigiWeather, a weather visualization program for the Amiga bundled with Weather Connect and distributed to TV stations worldwide. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering.
	Aaron Avery sold his Apple ][+ in 1985 and bought an Amiga 1000 (unit #196 off the line) and snagged all the developer manuals from a local Commodore rep, allowing him to learn 68k assembly and C. In 1987 he started porting video games to Atari ST and Amiga. In 1988 he started working for ASDG and wrote ScanLab to display and process huge 18-bit color images and patented CMYK color separations printed on Linotypes using PostScript. He has also been credited with the creation of several well known and well used drivers, such as for the GPIB protocol and for some Ethernet-based hardware. And he is the architect and primary author of Art Department Professional.
	William Volk began his career at Avalon Hill, pioneering its computer game division with titles like Conflict 2500 and Voyager 1. He co-founded Aegis Development in 1985, creating Pyramid of Peril and Mac Challenger, then moved into optical media. As Activision’s VP of Technology, he worked on The Manhole and Return to Zork. At Lightspan, he led production and helped drive its IPO. He later spearheaded mobile game innovation at Bonus Mobile and PlayScreen. Volk founded Deep State Games and created The Climate Trail and Stick Figure Movie Trivia, while remaining a passionate cyclist and environmentalist.
	Willem Langeveld is best known for the software he wrote for the Amiga, including the terminal program VLT, ARexx support libraries rexxarplib and rexxmathlib, Amiga Maple Vr3 (with Tom Rokicki), software for Interworks INet and more. He started out as a high-energy particle physicist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in 1980, joining as staff in 1989. In 2005 he started working for Rapiscan Systems, working on homeland security projects as a Principal Scientist and Principal Investigator. He retired in 2022, but in 2025 rejoined SLAC part-time as a research and devolopement scientist. His favorite project: the Milli-Charged Particle Search, which used Amiga computers for data-acquisition and monitoring.
	Brad Carvey is best known as the builder of the first Video Toaster, a system used in the production and editing of movie and television video. He has created visual effects for feature films and TV shows including Men In Black, Stuart Little, Black Hawk Down, Kate & Leopold, Stargazers and Elvis Has Left The Building.

Digital Archaeology: Decrypting, Disassembling, and Decompiling a 44-Year-Old Killer App for the Mattel Aquarius Saturday \| 10:00AM \| Orientation Theater
While the Mattel Aquarius Computer is renowned for being a failure, that has never stopped fans of the platform from spending hundreds of hours each on its most popular cartridge, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, an early first-person shooter developed by Tom Loughry. In this talk, we delve into the history of the game and implement some modern tools for decrypting, disassembling, and decompiling this 44-year-old killer app, all for the purpose of opening it up to a new generation of players.
	Sean P. Harrington is a systems architect, coder, and designer, best known for his work on the Aquarius+ 8-Bit Retro Computer, a modern/retro implementation of the original (failed) Mattel Aquarius Computer from 1983. He’s collaborated with Perifractic, Levi Maaia, The VintNerd, and others in the retro computer community, and is a regular speaker at both VCF West and VCF SoCal.

Digital Archaeology: Decrypting, Disassembling, and Decompiling a 44-Year-Old Killer App for the Mattel Aquarius
Saturday | 10:00AM | Orientation Theater

While the Mattel Aquarius Computer is renowned for being a failure, that has never stopped fans of the platform from spending hundreds of hours each on its most popular cartridge, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, an early first-person shooter developed by Tom Loughry. In this talk, we delve into the history of the game and implement some modern tools for decrypting, disassembling, and decompiling this 44-year-old killer app, all for the purpose of opening it up to a new generation of players.

Sean P. Harrington is a systems architect, coder, and designer, best known for his work on the Aquarius+ 8-Bit Retro Computer, a modern/retro implementation of the original (failed) Mattel Aquarius Computer from 1983. He’s collaborated with Perifractic, Levi Maaia, The VintNerd, and others in the retro computer community, and is a regular speaker at both VCF West and VCF SoCal.

The History of Computer Board Games Saturday \| 11:00AM \| Orientation Theater
Sellam will be presenting–possibly for the first time–a series of computer board games that came out in the 1960s and early 1970s.
	Sellam Ismail is the Founder of the Vintage Computer Festival.

Cloning the SUN 3/60 Saturday \| 11:30AM \| Hahn Auditorium
The SUN 3/60 is a fascinating computer – modular and built around an asynchronous design, it has stood the test of time – not only able to run modern operating systems, but also still get on the internet even when paired with the period-appropriate SUNOS 4. When the full, albeit low-quality and questionable schematics show up online, can we use them to create a fully-functioning replica of the original? Join me for the story of how this project got started, decisions taken along the way, lessons learned for how to design such a complex PCB, and most importantly the clever tricks the original designers put in to make it all work. Might we even be able to improve on the original?
	Dan Moisa is a software engineer by day, hardware enthusiast by night. Throughout his career in distributed systems, he was always fascinated by designs that stood the test of time – and what better example than SUN Microsystems and their innovations in networking and open systems. His passion first led to collecting, then to understanding, and finally to preservation.

Cloning the SUN 3/60
Saturday | 11:30AM | Hahn Auditorium

The SUN 3/60 is a fascinating computer – modular and built around an asynchronous design, it has stood the test of time – not only able to run modern operating systems, but also still get on the internet even when paired with the period-appropriate SUNOS 4. When the full, albeit low-quality and questionable schematics show up online, can we use them to create a fully-functioning replica of the original?
Join me for the story of how this project got started, decisions taken along the way, lessons learned for how to design such a complex PCB, and most importantly the clever tricks the original designers put in to make it all work. Might we even be able to improve on the original?

Dan Moisa is a software engineer by day, hardware enthusiast by night. Throughout his career in distributed systems, he was always fascinated by designs that stood the test of time – and what better example than SUN Microsystems and their innovations in networking and open systems. His passion first led to collecting, then to understanding, and finally to preservation.

The Minifloppy Revolution, and a Disk Controller for the Sphere 6800 Saturday \| 12:00PM \| Orientation Theater
A journey through the technology and history of the 5.25 “mini” floppy, by way of sketching out a floppy disk controller for the 1975 Sphere computer. Learn where the “flexible diskette” came from, how it germinated in early microcomputing and became an accelerant poured on the fire in the valley. Topics include (among other things) the IBM disk, Shugart Associates, Western Digital’s controller chip, and why the 6800-based Sphere system was uniquely unsuitable for 5.25″ disks. Industry anecdotes will be retold and interface signals described!
	Ben Zotto is a research historian, engineer, and sometime designer. For the last few years he has been reconstructing the story of Sphere, an obscure microcomputer maker from Utah. His forthcoming book, “Go Computer Now!” about the Sphere computer, company, and community, will be available for preorder soon. Early in his career Ben helped launch the Xbox Live service and then created a popular iPad app, but instead of keeping up with the times, he has now spent years immersed in the primal technologies of the 1970s.

The Minifloppy Revolution, and a Disk Controller for the Sphere 6800
Saturday | 12:00PM | Orientation Theater

A journey through the technology and history of the 5.25 “mini” floppy, by way of sketching out a floppy disk controller for the 1975 Sphere computer. Learn where the “flexible diskette” came from, how it germinated in early microcomputing and became an accelerant poured on the fire in the valley. Topics include (among other things) the IBM disk, Shugart Associates, Western Digital’s controller chip, and why the 6800-based Sphere system was uniquely unsuitable for 5.25″ disks. Industry anecdotes will be retold and interface signals described!

Ben Zotto is a research historian, engineer, and sometime designer. For the last few years he has been reconstructing the story of Sphere, an obscure microcomputer maker from Utah. His forthcoming book, “Go Computer Now!” about the Sphere computer, company, and community, will be available for preorder soon. Early in his career Ben helped launch the Xbox Live service and then created a popular iPad app, but instead of keeping up with the times, he has now spent years immersed in the primal technologies of the 1970s.

HomeComputerMuseum; what it is and how it was made (and why you should visit) Saturday \| 12:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
In this presentation, the HomeComputerMuseum will be introduced. What it is, what makes it unique and how it went from being bad at karaoke to a fully functional and independent museum, that provides unique services. With over 50 volunteers and more than half technical staff, we do our own repairs.
	Bart van den Akker is a Linux sysadmin, VoIP-specialist, musician, used to be a pirate and was bad at karaoke: the perfect combination to start a computer museum. So he did. The HomeComputerMuseum opened in 2018 and became one of the larger (interactive) computer museums in the world.

Recovering the Essence of the Whirlwind Computer Saturday \| 1:00PM \| Orientation Theater
The Whirlwind computer, built in 1950 at MIT, was a one-of-a-kind research computer, with many applications to military and academic problem solving. The machine eventually evolved to become a proof-of-concept prototype for the SAGE air defense system, deployed initially by the end of the 1950s. While the building-sized machine itself was decommissioned by 1959, a huge trove of records and artifacts have survived. Using these artifacts, we’ve built a functional model of the machine to run some of the original software, with an interface that reproduces some of the original interface characteristics, with its emphasis on buttons, switches, selectors, lights and graphics to control and direct the machine. The talk will cover some of the no-longer-usual modes of interaction, using some of the original software recovered from CHM archives.
	Guy C. Fedorkow currently researches the history of early computing in the 1950s, in collaboration with colleagues at the MIT Museum, Computer History Museum and Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. As a system architect, Guy’s interests also include network infrastructure security, Trusted Computing Group and IETF.

Recovering the Essence of the Whirlwind Computer
Saturday | 1:00PM | Orientation Theater

The Whirlwind computer, built in 1950 at MIT, was a one-of-a-kind research computer, with many applications to military and academic problem solving. The machine eventually evolved to become a proof-of-concept prototype for the SAGE air defense system, deployed initially by the end of the 1950s. While the building-sized machine itself was decommissioned by 1959, a huge trove of records and artifacts have survived.

Using these artifacts, we’ve built a functional model of the machine to run some of the original software, with an interface that reproduces some of the original interface characteristics, with its emphasis on buttons, switches, selectors, lights and graphics to control and direct the machine.

The talk will cover some of the no-longer-usual modes of interaction, using some of the original software recovered from CHM archives.

Guy C. Fedorkow currently researches the history of early computing in the 1950s, in collaboration with colleagues at the MIT Museum, Computer History Museum and Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. As a system architect, Guy’s interests also include network infrastructure security, Trusted Computing Group and IETF.

AMIGA/040th: Building Modern Amiga Hardware Saturday \| 1:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
Building on the AmiWest 2022 debut of the open-source ReA4091 Zorro III SCSI controller, this talk takes you behind the scenes of an end-to-end hardware revival. Through storytelling and hands-on anecdotes, you’ll discover what it really takes to: Redesign legacy expansion boards and refine production workflows Recreate Floppy disks, manuals and fabricate custom metal brackets Rewrite Amiga ROM drivers from scratch Coordinate community testing, kit packaging, and documentation We’ll also touch on future hardware development and collaboration opportunities. Rebuilding classic hardware is quite the undertaking, but it’s also an incredibly rewarding and fun journey. This talk will give you an honest look at every stage of bringing retro products back to life.
	Stefan Reinauer is most known for his contributions to the open source firmware community, most notably coreboot. He is also one of the two engineers behind the ReA4091 project, a reproduction of the Amiga 4091 SCSI2 controller.

AMIGA/040th: Building Modern Amiga Hardware
Saturday | 1:30PM | Hahn Auditorium

Building on the AmiWest 2022 debut of the open-source ReA4091 Zorro III SCSI controller, this talk takes you behind the scenes of an end-to-end hardware revival. Through storytelling and hands-on anecdotes, you’ll discover what it really takes to:

Redesign legacy expansion boards and refine production workflows
Recreate Floppy disks, manuals and fabricate custom metal brackets
Rewrite Amiga ROM drivers from scratch
Coordinate community testing, kit packaging, and documentation

We’ll also touch on future hardware development and collaboration opportunities. Rebuilding classic hardware is quite the undertaking, but it’s also an incredibly rewarding and fun journey. This talk will give you an honest look at every stage of bringing retro products back to life.

Stefan Reinauer is most known for his contributions to the open source firmware community, most notably coreboot. He is also one of the two engineers behind the ReA4091 project, a reproduction of the Amiga 4091 SCSI2 controller.

llvm-mos: Modern C/C++ on the Venerable 6502 Saturday \| 2:00PM \| Orientation Theater
llvm-mos is an LLVM project fork supporting the MOS Technology 6502. llvm-mos converts freestanding C/C++ into somewhat efficient 6502 machine code, despite the 6502’s hostility to the usual compiler techniques. This talk provides a lay exploration of how a modern compiler works, how one might hoodwink something as modern as LLVM into working with a 6502, and the general challenges of maintaining a compiler toolchain and SDK for the many many 6502 systems of historical note. We’ll also cover the work we’ve done upstream to help embedded development generally, and future plans to make llvm-mos even better.
	Daniel Thornburgh is a member of the LLVM toolchain team at Google that supports lower-level operating systems. His recent focus has been making LLD better for embedded development. In his spare time, Daniel maintains the out-of-tree LLVM fork llvm-mos, which targets the 8-bit MOS 6502.

llvm-mos: Modern C/C++ on the Venerable 6502
Saturday | 2:00PM | Orientation Theater

llvm-mos is an LLVM project fork supporting the MOS Technology 6502. llvm-mos converts freestanding C/C++ into somewhat efficient 6502 machine code, despite the 6502’s hostility to the usual compiler techniques.

This talk provides a lay exploration of how a modern compiler works, how one might hoodwink something as modern as LLVM into working with a 6502, and the general challenges of maintaining a compiler toolchain and SDK for the many many 6502 systems of historical note. We’ll also cover the work we’ve done upstream to help embedded development generally, and future plans to make llvm-mos even better.

Daniel Thornburgh is a member of the LLVM toolchain team at Google that supports lower-level operating systems. His recent focus has been making LLD better for embedded development. In his spare time, Daniel maintains the out-of-tree LLVM fork llvm-mos, which targets the 8-bit MOS 6502.

Applying a Modern CPU to a 1980s Operating System – An Adventure in Retro Computing Saturday \| 2:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
Digital Research introduced MP/M II in 1980, a multi-user operating system capable of running 8 CP/M applications simultaneously with a single Intel 8080 or Zilog Z80 CPU. The Z80 was available at 4 MHz. In 2000, Zilog introduced the eZ80, a 100% Z80-compatible pipelined CPU that runs at 50 MHZ and can directly address 16 MB of RAM. The eZ80 is still in production. Christopher Brock will demonstrate custom-designed hardware and share adventures of re-writing MP/M source code to exploit new instructions and addressing modes, resulting in greatly increased system performance beyond anything possible in the 1980s.
	Christopher Brock is an electronics and software engineer whose career experiences in the 1980s include working for several microcomputer CP/M OEMs and embedded systems controller companies in Silicon Valley.

Applying a Modern CPU to a 1980s Operating System – An Adventure in Retro Computing
Saturday | 2:30PM | Hahn Auditorium

Digital Research introduced MP/M II in 1980, a multi-user operating system capable of running 8 CP/M applications simultaneously with a single Intel 8080 or Zilog Z80 CPU. The Z80 was available at 4 MHz. In 2000, Zilog introduced the eZ80, a 100% Z80-compatible pipelined CPU that runs at 50 MHZ and can directly address 16 MB of RAM. The eZ80 is still in production.

Christopher Brock will demonstrate custom-designed hardware and share adventures of re-writing MP/M source code to exploit new instructions and addressing modes, resulting in greatly increased system performance beyond anything possible in the 1980s.

Christopher Brock is an electronics and software engineer whose career experiences in the 1980s include working for several microcomputer CP/M OEMs and embedded systems controller companies in Silicon Valley.

The CDC-160A, a Desk-sized Computer from 1960 Saturday \| 3:00PM \| Orientation Theater
We’ll take a look at the design of a small computer from the late 1950s, how the state of technology influenced this design, and some of the odd choices Seymour Cray made in its design. We’ll also look at the problems we encountered in preparing an interactive demonstration using a 65-year-old computer, including replacing an unrepairable I/O typewriter interface. Both hardware and software topics will be addressed, so everyone will find something of interest.
	Reece Pollack is a retired software engineering consultant who now spends his time bringing old computers back to life. Most recently he designed and built an electronic replacement for the (sadly) unrepairable electro-mechanical typewriter for the CDC-160A computer. He also wrote the Tic-Tac-Toe game you can play on the 160A on display here at VCF. In his former life he worked on projects ranging from steel mills to NASA spacecraft. He taught Embedded Linux classes for Montavista and Wind River, and presented talks for Linaro, Embedded Linux Conference, DECUS, and others.

The CDC-160A, a Desk-sized Computer from 1960
Saturday | 3:00PM | Orientation Theater

We’ll take a look at the design of a small computer from the late 1950s, how the state of technology influenced this design, and some of the odd choices Seymour Cray made in its design. We’ll also look at the problems we encountered in preparing an interactive demonstration using a 65-year-old computer, including replacing an unrepairable I/O typewriter interface. Both hardware and software topics will be addressed, so everyone will find something of interest.

Reece Pollack is a retired software engineering consultant who now spends his time bringing old computers back to life. Most recently he designed and built an electronic replacement for the (sadly) unrepairable electro-mechanical typewriter for the CDC-160A computer. He also wrote the Tic-Tac-Toe game you can play on the 160A on display here at VCF. In his former life he worked on projects ranging from steel mills to NASA spacecraft. He taught Embedded Linux classes for Montavista and Wind River, and presented talks for Linaro, Embedded Linux Conference, DECUS, and others.

AMIGA/040th: Magicore Engine: No Tricks, Just an Amiga and Good Tools Saturday \| 3:30PM \| Hahn Auditorium
Development tools are becoming more accessible and streamlined than ever, enabling us to create incredible new experiences on classic systems that couldn’t be dreamt of back in the day. Dan Salvato shows you what happens when a professional game dev designs a game entirely around the capabilities of Amiga, and how it’s made possible not through crazy hardware tricks, but through modern development tools and workflow.
	Dan Salvato is a professional game developer best known for creating the renowned psychological horror game Doki Doki Literature Club. Over the years, he has made many contributions to various gaming communities. Dan is also a lifelong Amiga fan. He is working on several new projects, including Magicore Anomala, a game written in assembly language for classic Amiga systems.

AMIGA/040th: Magicore Engine: No Tricks, Just an Amiga and Good Tools
Saturday | 3:30PM | Hahn Auditorium

Development tools are becoming more accessible and streamlined than ever, enabling us to create incredible new experiences on classic systems that couldn’t be dreamt of back in the day. Dan Salvato shows you what happens when a professional game dev designs a game entirely around the capabilities of Amiga, and how it’s made possible not through crazy hardware tricks, but through modern development tools and workflow.

Dan Salvato is a professional game developer best known for creating the renowned psychological horror game Doki Doki Literature Club. Over the years, he has made many contributions to various gaming communities. Dan is also a lifelong Amiga fan. He is working on several new projects, including Magicore Anomala, a game written in assembly language for classic Amiga systems.

VCF West — Detailed Speaker Lineup

Friday

Saturday

Updated 2025-07-16