November Repair Workshop at System Source

Posted on by Jeffrey Brace Category: Uncategorized

The Vintage Computer Federation and the System Source Computer Museum are hosting a vintage computer workshop on Saturday November 14th and Sunday November 15th 2020 at:

System Source Computer Museum

338 Clubhouse Road,

Hunt Valley, MD  21031

Plenty of free parking, short walk from Baltimore’s light rail (Gilroy Road Stop)

Saturday November 14th, 2020 we will open at 9:00 AM on and will lock up by 7:30 PM.

We will go to dinner afterwards. Details to follow soon.

Sunday November 15th we will open at 9:00 AM and lock up at 5:00 PM

All social distancing restrictions must be followed such as wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart. There is plenty of space in the workshop areas.

Accommodations:  Try https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g41196-Hunt_Valley_Maryland-Hotels.html

Feel free to talk with others about sharing a room.

Food:   There are plenty of restaurants within a short drive.   We will have a catered Indian buffet on Saturday at cost ($12.00?) and catered Barbecue ($12.00?) on Sunday for those who sign up.

We will feature tours of the museum throughout both days and several mini-workshops:

  • Retrobright workshop (bring your yellowed plastics)
  • Pre-industrial computing class –  Learn to use a slide rule, and various types of Abaci
  • Hot Metal Typesetting (3500 lb word processor)

If you need a machine to work on, please let me know.  We have lots of computers awaiting restoration!

If you have unusual needs, (220 Volts, fork lift, etc please email Bob Roswell at museum@syssrc.com

Bob Roswell

broswell@syssrc.com

https://museum.syssrc.com

410-771-5544 x 4336

Sign up for the repair workshop is here: <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z72yC72x5PmN4jb0Aw8uK3x0sQwMAk-0Opuee_zYu5Y/edit?usp=sharing>

Curt Vendel, 1966 – 2020

Posted on by Erik Klein Category: Uncategorized

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.

VCF East 2020 Virtual Only – Oct 10 & 11

Posted on by Jeffrey Brace Category: east, Events, Vintage Computer Festival

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.

VCF Museum reopening August 1, 2020

Posted on by Jeffrey Brace Category: Vintage Computer Federation Museum

The Vintage Computer Federation Museum will reopen starting August 1, 2020 as per InfoAge’s plan to reopen. InfoAge has a plan for everyone wearing masks, providing hand sanitizer, social distancing and controlling the volume of visitors, etc. They are following all the state and local guidelines for safety in regards to Covid-19. If you have any questions, then please let me know.

VCF West 2020 will be a virtual event.

Posted on by Erik Klein Category: Events, Vintage Computer Festival

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:

  1. 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!

  2. At least a couple of keynote speakers willing to do 30 minute recorded talks and willing to host a Q&A Hangouts/Meetings call.

  3. 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

The cleaned up version is here: https://youtu.be/_1GKSVyuLRk
Update 6/24/2020

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!

VCF East 2020 Update – Postponed till October

Posted on by Bob Roswell Category: east, Events

What a difference 24 hours makes!

Since last night’s announcement, we have now seen various state governments
recommend cancelling all large gatherings in light of the “continued
outbreak and to aggressively mitigate the spread of the virus.” in the
words of the Governor of NJ.

As such, VCF East 2020 will be POSTPONED (not cancelled) until October 10th
through 12th, 2020. This is Saturday through Monday, Columbus Day.

Over the past week we have been actively working on backup plans for VCF
East in the event it had to be postponed, with several different
contingencies planned based on different circumstances that might arise.
While it is unfortunate that such a circumstance has occurred, the VCF
Steering Committee is pleased to inform everyone that we have secured the
dates mentioned above, along with the needed space at the Infoage Science
and History Museums.

Additionally, we have been reaching out to our Keynote Speakers and class
proctors to lock in their availability. We have confirmed that Bill Mensch,
Michael Tomczyk, Bil Herd and David Murray have all confirmed their
availability as of today. We will update the website, class schedules, etc.
over the coming week to reflect the changes in date as well as filling in
who can and cannot attend based on the new days of the event.

Please stay tuned for more updates as the days and weeks go by, and please,
stay safe and healthy!

VCF Steering Committee

VCF West 2020

Posted on by Erik Klein Category: Events
With due consideration for the current Corona virus situation, our hopes are that The Vintage Computer Festival West 2020 will take place, as usual, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on August 1st and 2nd.
 
This year, however, we’ve decided to take over the entire second floor of the CHM.
 
This will give us a real auditorium and stage for our presentations away from the hustle, bustle and noise of the exhibit area. It also allows us to put Consignment in a contained area nearer the freight elevator and, by doing so, free up the classrooms for, well, classes.
 
I’ve opened exhibit registration on the vcfed website and have posted our preliminary schedule, exhibitors guide, FAQ and so on, all linked from here.
 
Please feel free to sign up for exhibits as soon as you are able. Please tell your friends, family, coworkers, acquaintance and random people you meet on the street about the event. Especially those in the vintage computing community or related areas who might be interested in exhibiting or presenting.
 
We have a much bigger space to fill and I’m looking forward to a huge, awesome show.
 
But we still need lots of things:
 
  1. Speakers – If you know someone working on a special project, with a connection so some bit of history, with a passion for something in our field, etc. please let me know and let’s get them signed up to share!
  2. Classes – If you have a talent or skill that you can teach others about, please consider conducting a class. Anything in the restoration, vintage software, preservation and other hobby areas is encouraged!
  3. Exhibitors – we need lots. We’ll be expanding beyond the traditional VCF focus on just computers and related gear. We’re looking for collectors of slide rules, mechanical and early electronic calculators and other “computing” equipment from days gone by.
  4. Volunteers – This show requires a lot of work and we’re looking for anyone interested in lending a hand. Responsibilities include running the front desk, consignment, the AV boards, running mics for presentations, helping with setup and tear-down and more. Students in need of volunteer hours will get letters for credit.
We will, of course, continue to monitor the Corona Virus situation closely and we will make timely decisions on how that might impact this show. The hope is that things settle down significantly in the intervening 6 months, for the world’s sake, and that we can proceed.
 
We’ll keep you posted. Please let me know if you have any comments, concerns, questions or whatever.
 
Thank you!