VCF East 6.0 announcement

[EvanK]

No details yet, but VCF East 6.0 will be Sept. 12-13 this year, once again at the InfoAge Science Center, located in Wall, New Jersey.

- Evan

[NeXT]

>:/
Seriously now. These need to be a little closer to me. Vancouver might be nice. ;)

Anyways, I can't wait to hear about what will be there this year.

[Bill_Loguidice]

I definitely want to try and make it this year.

[billdeg]

I definitely want to try and make it this year.

And exhibit too?

[Bill_Loguidice]

And exhibit too?

I'd hate to say "yes" and then not be able to follow through. I have lots of stuff going on right now, including another book and a feature film documentary.

[Terry Yager]

Any info on Midwest available yet?

--T

[EvanK]

Any info on Midwest available yet?

I can only speak on behalf of the VCF East, but I haven't heard anything about other upcoming editions.

[Terry Yager]

Ok, tnx!

--T

[vbriel]

There is suppose to be a Midwest show this year, waiting to hear for sure. The East show has grown into a very nice event. I should be there again this year and I recomend anybody who is into old computers or wants to learn about them to go!

Vince

[Terry Yager]

I dunno, VF East is a little out of my range. The Midwest show, OTOH, is just a spit and a holler...

--T

[vbriel]

Yeah, I hear it will be in the windy city, that's 5 hours from me, not too bad.

Vince

[docred]

NeXt, if you can make it as far as Saskatoon, Kaypro and I have been tossing around the crazy idea of a road trip...lol. Meet us here and we'll continue on :) I need to square that idea away with my wife yet, but...

[EvanK]

One of the (many!) good things about VCF East is that our venue itself is part of the history of technology. Read all about it at http://infoage.org/history.html ... note that this page was created BEFORE we knew about all the computer history that also happened here! The venue is also less than 90 minutes from both Manhattan and Philadelphia, and less than an hour from Atlantic City. So anyone coming from far away should consider making a vacation out of it.

[CommodoreKid]

Awwww rats... once again the VCF east is gonna be late enough in the year where college interferes. I guess I'm one of the few people who want to attend these things at my age.

I enjoyed it so much when I visited for 4.0, but 5.0 happened to be right when I was in an important part of the school year... I mean, heck, I would love to exhibit somewhere down the line, if I have the time to go...

[Terry Yager]

Awwww rats... once again the VCF east is gonna be late enough in the year where college interferes.

College? What are ya now, like, 16?

--T

[CommodoreKid]

Me? Naw, 18 actually. I visited VCF east 4.0 when I was 16- that was fun.
I guess you guys don't hear of too many younger retro computer geeks. But that's another discussion, for another forum section...

[billdeg]

Each month a respectable number of teen/college students visit the MARCH computer museum at Info Age (also where they've had the VCF E for the past few years). Our computer club also has student-aged members who participate regularly.

If anything, me being 97 years old is an exception, but I still can dance.

Bill

[EvanK]

Go here: http://www.vintage.org/2009/east/exhibit.php to register for VCF East 6.0 exhibits.

It's okay if you only have a general idea of your exhibit right now. You can always fill in some more details later. However for the VCF's advertising / marketing purposes, it is MUCH better to sign up sooner rather than later! People who sign up sooner will also have dibs on the best booth locations.

- Evan

PS - Please send me a private message or email (evan@snarc.net) if you find any mistakes, have questions, want to be a VCF event volunteer (free admission!), etc.

[EvanK]

This is a first for ANY edition of the vcf .... this year we're hosting a vintage computer / vintage chip live concert, thanks to our friends at 8static and the Philadelphia Hacktory. Those groups are sending four audio/visual artists, who'll also be joined by MARCH's Bill Degnan playing his TTL theremin. Bill will also perform the warm-up act of "Fool on the Hill" via an Altair 8800 and radio (a la the Homebrew Computer Club performance in 1975, which was duplicated by Erik Klein at VCF California in 2005.)

The 8static guys also signed up for an exhibit booth, where they'll teach people all the musical tricks!

Details of VCF still being posted at http://www.vintage.org/2009/east/index.php.

[curtis]

Any more info on VCF Midwest?

It's a little further than the wife normally lets me wander, but with a little time to work on her I might be able to pull it off!

It'd should only take about 3-4 months of begging. That and clearing off the honey-do list!

If I can swing it, might bring up the CC-40 collection. May be static, but IF I can get the time, might try to work a running demo with the PCIF, hexbus floppy drive and a portable host computer.

Curtis

[EvanK]

I can only speak to VCF East.

[EvanK]

There will be a consignment booth at VCF East this year.

Here is how it works:
- Bring your on-topic things to sell (no generic x86 / PC crap.)
- Fill out form w/ description, asking price, and lowest accepted price.
- VCF keeps 15% of the final sale price (to the nearest whole dollar.)
- Retrieve any unsold items things at the end of the day (or end of show, your choice.)

No pre-registration for consignment sales, just show up.

VCF East is Sept. 12-13 in Wall, New Jersey.

Details (with more speakers and exhibitors to come) are at http://www.vintage.org/2009/east/

[EvanK]

This year's VCF East (6.0) keynote speaker is Ted Hurewitz.

Unlike some of our past keynoters -- Bill Mauchly, Chuck Peddle, David Ahl, etc. -- most collectors probably never heard of Mr. Hurewitz.

But he's quite awesome. He was in the engineering group for RCA's Bizmac tube computer, and he worked on the design for the RCA 501. This all went down in Camden, N.J. in the 1950s. Amusing sidebar: one of his employees was Arnold Spielberg -- father of Steven.

Some info about Bizmac is here: http://www.cedmagic.com/history/rca-bizmac-computer.html and also here: http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/RCA-Bizmac-1951.htm ...... some info about the 501 is here: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/RCA/RCA.501.1958.102646273.pdf (and in many other places, according to Google.)

Hurewitz will give his lecture on the morning of Sat., Sept. 12 (exact time to be determined) followed by audience Q&A.

[EvanK]

To all: yes, we are aware that the VCF site (vintage.org) is has been up-and-down recently. VintageTech, which owns the VCF, recently moved to a new building and is having DSL problems. They are working on this right now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[EvanK]

Site is back up now.

[EvanK]

Please help us advertise the VCF East 6.0 by either printing and distributing our flyer, or posting the flyer link wherever you can: http://www.snarc.net/vcfe6.pdf .... the hobby and we @ VCF thank you!!!

- Evan, Sellam & crew

[EvanK]

Dave Ahl was a big hit at VCF East 3.0 (2006), so we're bringing him back this year. He will lecture on the second day (Sunday, Sept. 13) at 1 p.m. on the subject of "Blunders in Personal Computing."

http://www.vintage.org/2009/east/

[vbriel]

My Hero! Thanks Evan for putting that together, can't wait.

Vince

[EvanK]

Hi everyone.

Some updates re: VCF East 6.0:

Sellam is working on the vintage.org site; he says the problem is his AT&T high-speed connection. A tech is coming to look at it tomorrow morning PST. If it's not fixed then Sellam will temporarily host the site elsewhere. He and I both apologize for the inconvenience.

We're up to 18 exhibitors so far, and I've heard that people are coming from California, Florida, New Hampshire, and Ohio. So, the rest of you cctalkers have no more excuses. :)

Looking for lodging nearby the VCF East? Our venue is at 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, N.J., 07719. There are several mainstream motel/hotel chains nearby. Anyone who arrives Friday night (Sept. 11) to help us set up gets a free VCF t-shirt. This year's shirts are black with a very cool (and funny) server room design in bright green.

Vince Briel is still taking registrations for his PockeTerm workshop. It's only $60. While the VCF site is down you can directly access Vince's site at http://www.brielcomputers.com/workshop.html .... the workshop is Sept. 12 at 10am.

David Ahl, of the former Creative Computing magazine, will lecture on famous blunders in microcomputer history, Sunday at 1pm. His lecture was an audience favorite at VCF East 4.0 in 2006.

Saturday at noon is the first-ever VCF music concert! The warm-up act is MARCH's own Bill Degnan who will perform "Fool on the Hill" on his Altair 8800, exactly as done by Steve Dompier at the Homebrew Computer Club in 1975.

The BASIC Programming Challenge. Go wild.

Live restoration of an IBM 026 keypunch on our exhibit floor.

Bring your kids!! Tickets are FREE for ages 17 and younger.

- Evan

[EvanK]

Sellam is working on the vintage.org site; he says the problem is his AT&T high-speed connection. A tech is coming to look at it tomorrow morning PST. If it's not fixed then Sellam will temporarily host the site elsewhere. He and I both apologize for the inconvenience.

Vintage.org is FINALLY back up, but Sellam isn't sure about how long it will STAY working. He said the problem was because of a company called DSL Extreme (or something like that).

[classiccomputing]

Looking for lodging nearby the VCF East? Our venue is at 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall, N.J., 07719. There are several mainstream motel/hotel chains nearby.

I'm coming from the Atlanta, GA area, and I have purchased a very reasonable room in the area, at the Extended Stay America, Red Bank. I got a great rate through priceline.com - $69 a night. I'm happy to save a little more money though, and save someone else some by sharing the room. I'm sure I can request two full size beds, any takers?

Thanks, David

[EvanK]

I'm coming from the Atlanta, GA area

Excellent! Make sure you find me and say hello.

Also: yesterday we posted a list of other things to do at (and also close to) the VCF. The list is at http://www.vintage.org/2009/east/tours.php .... meanwhile here's a quick video montage of last year's VCF, in case you missed it in the other thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mNXrKjiD78.

I've heard from people coming from Florida, California, and even Italy!

You might want to also post on the cctalk list re: a roommate.

[ahm]

See you guys tomorrow!

[EvanK]

Got home very late, and now very tired!!!

VCF East 6.0 this weekend was, by far, the largest and most successful of all the east-coast editions. We out-did ourselves for the number of exhibitors (23), number of attendees, amount of income for our club and museum, all sorts of good press attention (ars technica, AOL, etc.), very busy computer consignment and book sale, and special events (8-bit concert, guided museum tours, etc.)

We also took lots of video and photos, hopefully to be posted soon.

Best-of-show winner: Mike Lee (Chicago); exhibit: "Fail" (computers that were duds)
Best rookie VCF East exhibitor: Robert Bernardo (Visalia, Calif.); exhibit: Guitar Hero on a C-64

I'm off to hibernate for a while. :)

- Evan

[ahm]

Some photos of VCF East 6.0 (not mine):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancentury/sets/72157622361009754/

[Ragooman]

I uploaded one VCF East video so far
This one is the music video from 8static with Animal Style playing.
It's on my homepage at the moment as I'm having problems trying to upload it to YouTube.
I was getting too many timeouts, I barely managed to upload to my homepage.
http://www2.applegate.org/~ragooman/video/vcf/VCF_east_6.0-1.mov

I'll have more online soon.

=Dan

[billdeg]

Can your web host stream this video?

[EvanK]

Dan successfully posted it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt4L_k5Si4U .... I also put it on the MARCH account at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=942ru7gGnck