Some cool stuff from this weekend's VCF East. The Retro Tech Foundation (h😞t
tps://www.retrotechfoundation.org/ ) had a booth recreating a picture of Steve Jobs at one of the assembly spaces for the Apple 1. Everything was reproduced down to the finest details. You could sit for a picture!
First full day at VCF East 2026 went great. Met tons of awesome people and got to have good conversations about my UnixPC, Pro 380, and Kaypros. We had a really rough start to the show with several machines going offline, but that's the fun of old computers.
DECmate III in pieces :(
Well this is dispappointing. This is a DECmate III. I was hoping to bring it to VCF East this weekend, but the cover / handle failed miserably, and the whole casing shattered. I have other machines, but I had hoped to display this guy. Sigh.
Working on contact sheets for giveaway stickers at VCF. And this is perfectly describing my experiences.
(to be clear, i'm actually doing it in google docs, but it sure feels this way).
#microsoftword #layout
It's going to be one of those weeks. Do I open 'er up or no.
(update: after a half hour of warming up, it's now just jittery. I have 3 of these monitors, 2 have serious cataracts and need cleaning. I may bring the others so I can have SOME image running)
I'm sorry - $23,000 for a 10" model of a 1969 computer?
Woohoo. All back together and booting cleanly! This machine will be ready to go to VCF East 2026. I have one more to set up and test, but this guy is back to healthy. Hurrah!
Yes, you're absolutely right, I should have read farther into it. I blame myself focused on "OH HEY I KNOW THIS ONE!" knee jerk posting. Apologies.
The secondary story about this was Osborne made a HUGE error. They announced the next generation prematurely, which caused everyone to pause ordering the current one. This is referred to as "The Osborne Effect". The pause in sales severely damaged their cash flow.
Furthering the discussion of the UnixPC, here's a quick video of the problems I ran into and the current state of the project. The machine's still in pieces on my workbench, but it is running!
www.youtube.com/shorts/Tv4-7...
It would have been creepy. Since my name actually is Dave.
<snark> my 3b1 has a better frame rate than that SGI </>
(note: probably not, and not in color. but anyway).
Most likely. Recapping these is a daily occurence. Noted else-net, the PSen on these were pretty weak so even a mild drop in performance can start having effects. Very little room for error..
I think I own 4-5 of them, and moving them is always a sketchy proposition. "is THIS the one with the loose front bezel? no? Okay, that one has the rear panel off it, don't stick your hands in it... That one - wait, that's the 180, put it on top of those drives..."
I did a great video on this series, using an HP95LX to talk to a local BBS over a serial connection.
I have two HP200LX's also, but I haen't gotten a chance to play with them yet. They're super cool!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ub9...
AT&T Unix PC / 3b1 / 7300 home screen
ITS ALLIIIVVVE!
So turns out the internal powersupply on the 3b1 has a Problem [tm] and can't power the MFM emulator properly. I can debug this further later, but I piggybacked a PC power supply to power the MFM board, and was able to bring the whole machine up. ONWARD!
Project update. Got the beaglebone booted again, and my disk images are STILL THERE. Holy cow I was scared of that. I have the full MFM image of the Unix 3.51 installation that the 3b1 needs in file form (and backed up now). Next to figure out why this wasn't booting from scratch. Baby steps!
An AT&T Unix PC opened up and the MFM controller pulled for debugging.
Tonight's project. Dusting off the UnixPC aka 3b1 aka 7300 to hopefully bring it to VCF. Unfortunately, it's not booting. Looks like hte image on the MFM emulator board (which is driven by a Beaglebone black) may be horked. I've pulled it all out and I'm going to try and debug it.
fancifaul 2029 pic from unix world
“Computing in the year 2029” as depicted in Unix World Magazine, in 1985.
I too wish to shoot rainbows out of my... honestly don't know how to complete that sentence here.
It is not. Repeat. Not. A good movie. But people kept asking for it in the comments on my last vid.
I may need therapy after this.
I lolled at that scene. There’s a whole bunch of great Easter eggs there. “This is Eddie Vedder from accounting…”
I’m in the middle of editing a “how real is it” video on the movie Hackers. You’ve just re-upped the phrase “Hack the planet!!” In my brainstem.
Thanks for that.
Let’s go!!!
If this screen looks familiar, I bet I know where a chunk of your GPA in college went.
I thought this was common knowledge, but everyone I poitn this out to goes "Wait, really? I had no idea!" So here ya go, something that you can show off to friends at your next social event.
youtube.com/shorts/FFkVp...
People wonder why things like Craigslist are dying and Facebook Marketplace is taking over the world.
This motorcycle spammer has been active on CL for literally decades, and CL does nothing to stop it. The site is ancient. This is what happens when indifference sets in.
Checking in on my next video. Ya'll loved the War Games vid, right? Well, next one just hit the first big milestone as all audio and video is loaded into the timeline and synced. It's 2hrs 45 minutes long in raw form, I expect it'll be half that when done.
Stay tuned!!!
TRS80 model 1 setup
Saw this on /r/trs80 - what a perfect beautiful TRS80 Model 1 setup. Kinda the dream configuration from 1979...
www.reddit.com/r/trs80/comm...
Absolutely! I had a spaceorb back in the day and was a screaming Descent player. The SpaceOrb was PERFECT for it. Up, down, left, right, forward, back, spin in any direction… good stuff!
The entire T series was rock solid. When I was doing conventions, I collected stacks of them - mostly T21 through T23s, and any T4x's when I could (they were more expensive). Absolute workhorses, and they all used the same power supply.