swap meet in Ottawa

[vic user]

I hope Mike Kenzie comes to this forum, because he mentioned that he wanted to trade some hardware. I am very interested in getting one of the Apple II's.

If we can't find a public place, I am open to having people show up at my house for a swap meet.

Chris

[Terry Yager]

The local thrift shops here have Apple II's coming out thier ears. Whaddaya got ta swap? HINT: Anything portable and/or CP/M-ish would entice me.

--T

[Erik]

The local thrift shops here have Apple II's coming out thier ears.

Apple ][s? ][+s? //e's?

There's a big difference in value between those.

If you find any ][s, I'm interested. Those are the hardest to come by. //e's are a dime a dozen and ][+s are in the middle.

Erik

[Terry Yager]

Gotta admit, it's been awhile since I saw a ][. ][+'s are still kinda plentiful tho.

--T

[vic user]

I should have been more specific.

They are e's and c's, sorry for getting your hopes up.

By the way Terry, someone was selling a Kaypro II, in Ottawa this weekend, with disks and manuals, for $50.00 CDN.

Someone else beat me to it, but it is going to a collector who has an online museum, so that is good news.

I have not much in portable stuff, although i want to pick up this canon wordstar 81 (i think) word processor, at the local good will. pretty bif LCD screen on the thing, and i think you can still get ribbons for it.

they also have a brother ep 43 (i think) that has a very small screen (maybe a two word buffer) which is cute.

well, so far this local thing for ottawa isn't working out.

why in the world aren't all those people posting?

chris

[sracle]

Terry -

Where's "here"? Any Apple II software?

[Terry Yager]

Terry -

Where's "here"? Any Apple II software?

I'm in Flint, MI USA. I might be able to scare up some odd Apple software, although I don't see anywhere near as much as I did just a couple years ago. It's drying up rapidly, so grab some up while ya still can.

--T

[Terry Yager]

vic user,

I dunno how far Ottawa is from Toronto, but I just kicked up an active PET users group. Some of thier meetings might be of some interest.

http://www.icomm.ca/tpug/

---T

[vic user]

Hey Terry;

T.O. is about a 6 hour drive from Ottawa I think, so no dice for me :)

TPUG is actually what got me thinking of trying to set up some kind of meet up here.

I am now trying to clean up my house enough, so i can have people come over.

Chris

[Terry Yager]

Whaaa...??? Ya gotta clean yr house up in order ta have company come over? No wonder I never get any visitors anymore! (I thought it was my obsession with computers that scared 'em off).

--T

[vic user]

if you are not into cleaning your house, dimming the lights tends to help...for a while.

chris

[Terry Yager]

if you are not into cleaning your house, dimming the lights tends to help...for a while.

chris

Nah, that won't work. I'd be constantly tripping over the piles of computer parts.

--T

[carlsson]

But do you have to play with your computers if you are bringing visitors? Just invite them and dim the lights at arrival. If you need to have access to the computers because your friends also are nerds, they probably will not mind your cleaning anyway.

[Terry Yager]

I guess I must be some kinda geek all right. I just did a quick count, and I have right now, 8 laptops, all in working condition, within arm's length of where I'm sitting. (Not to mention the twelve manuals within easy reach). True multi-tasking still requires multiple computers, doesn't it?
AAMOF, most of my friends are geeks too, so they feel right at home when they do come to visit. The main reason I never get company is because I'm located out here in the styx (15 miles from town). My two best friends also live out in the country, but way on the other side of town, about 35 mi. from here.

--T

[vic user]

by sheer coincidence, Leif (aka scheema from the denial vic 20 forum), from toronto and a member of TPUG, will be in ottawa this weekend, and asked if he could pop over.

so a little test visit for me perhaps :)

chris

[carlsson]

Test visit.. that sounds like a representative from an organisation is going to check if you're eligible to become a member. But good meet anyway!

[vic user]

Leif and his wife popped over yesterday, for about 45 minutes or so.

I got to show him the dual screen setup I have with the vic, showed him my collection in the basement, that sort of thing.

Got to find out more about some things i didn't know much about, like the super cpu thing and all that, and he is going to send my name along to someone looking to swap things with, in the ottawa area.

Leif knows a lot about rs232 and the vic 20 it seems, and i would love to pick his brains more.

one thing i want to do, is hook up a vic 20 and 64, via a serial cable and two rs232 interfaces, and have them as text terminals. like text walkie talkies :)

i also got to donate a breadbox 64, two 64 mainboards with wonky video chips, a wonky vic 20, a power supply, and a 1541 drive, which Leif is bringing back to T.O. to give to people.

chris

[kenziem]

OK so I finally made it.

Has a date been set for a meeting/swapmeet?


Is there any interest in an ARIX 6000? It's a big machine hard drives have been pulled.

Hopefully I'll have a better idea of what else I have to trade soon.

Plenty of apple IIe, a few IIc, IIsi, ...

486's and EGA monitors.

Mike

[vic user]

Hi Mike;

no, there has not been a specific date set yet. I have been so swamped with work and home stuff at the moment, that i have been postponing setting a specific date, until my other commitments mellow out a bit.

i am also waiting to hear back from someone in Kingston, who wishes to meet up.

i hope i have something that you are interested in, because i would like to get an apple IIe again. god, i wish i could find my old floppies for the apple, i had tons of porgrams i wrote for that thing :(

talk to you soon, and glad you popped over to this forum!

chris

[kenziem]

Hi Mike;

no, there has not been a specific date set yet. I have been so swamped with work and home stuff at the moment, that i have been postponing setting a specific date, until my other commitments mellow out a bit.

chris

Is a meeting still planned for the 8th?

Where and what time?

[vic user]

Hi Mike;

I sent out an e-mail to you yesterday.

Too bad that you did not get it.

I have set the meet up for august 15, which is two sundays from now.

i can't remember the person's name, (maybe Greg). but he said that he would donate a timex sinclair, and that we could give it away as a door prize, and that since you lived near him, that perhaps you could pick it up.

chris

[jstimson]

Hello all.

Just joined the group and was wondering what the activity level in Ottawa is.

Quick background on me and my collection.....

Grew up during the golden age of home computing, started of on TI 99 4a and went through C128 and Amiga before finally succumbing to the PC.

However, now that I'm older and have more disposable income I've started collecting vintage home computers. My aim is to not go too nuts (but that may already be too late) and to have my collection as a working display of equipment, not just a pile of stuff.

Set up and working is my original TI fully decked out, a Coleco Adam, C 128 D, Plus 4, Sony MSX2, Atari 130XE, Vic 20, SX-64. Also have C-16, Mattel Aquarius, Atari Portfolio, TI CC40, Vectrex, Atari 7800, original Magnavox.

My main resource has been Ebay but you all know how expensive shipping can get. If there are any resources locally I would love to find out about them.

You can reach me at jstimson@rogers.com

[Terry Yager]

Just a few years ago, there was still an active ADAM group in Canadia, but I don't remember all the p'ticulars. Mebbe a web search will hook ya up with 'em.

--T

[Terry Yager]

Well, I didn't find the ADAM UG, but here's a link to an anual convention:

http://www.adamcon.org/

--T

[vic user]

mike kenzie is into adams, and he should be coming to the meet up.

i hope i get to trade for one his spare adams :)

i would love to see a demo of your aquarius!

chris

[jstimson]

Could someone give me some info on this meet up?

Is anyone invited? Where and when?

What are the general items people in Ottawa are into? I aim mostly for the home computers of the early 80's.

My main thing now is to attempt to clean up and organize my display area. As for collecting my focus right now is cartridges for Coleco and Atari 8 bit computers. At some point I'll create an online photo album to share my display.

As before, anyone wanting to contact me I'm at jstimson@rogers.com and live in Barrhaven area.

[vic user]

Vintage computer user meet up

Just want to give you an update to what is going on, and maybe
what to expect at the meet up:

TIME:
Sunday, August 15 at 14:00

PLACE:
My house
863 Borthwick Avenue, Ottawa

- If you need directions, I can supply you with text and an
attached map.

- Excellent chance that a Timex sinclair will be donated,
and given away at the meet up. Perhaps we could do this
at future meet ups, and have more raffle give aways, if people
have things they would like to donate.

- Hope people will bring their favourite computer(s), or
perhaps would like to demonstrate an unusual or uncommon computer
they have. Please remember to bring a power bar, just in case!

- Bringing computers over for trading purposes is a great thing to do
as well. Hopefully people could reply to the group e-mail, with
things they are looking for or willing to trade.

- Discussion on creating a database for a software and publication library,
in the hopes that we can share material we may not wish to part with,
but are willing to allow others to borrow.

- Find out what online forums or sites people go to, to help them with
vintage computing.

- I would like to hear about people's experiences with interfacing
computers (via RS232) with various devices, as I am extremely
interested in such things.

- I will discuss and demonstrate the following, at the meet up, if
anyone is interested:

1) Transferring files to/from a pc to a commodore 64

2) How to use vic 20 ROM images stored on floppy, to run on a real vic 20

3) Vic 20 emulation under VICE

- You are welcome to copy any software I have, so bring some 5 1/4's,
some 3 1/2's, and tape cassettes too!

- Green tea, fruit juice, popsicles, and veggies and dip will be
available.

- If you need to smoke, you can smoke in my front yard, but not in the
house.

Please reply to me, so I will know how many people to expect.

Thanks in advance, and I hope this will be a good experience for
everyone!

Chris

[jstimson]

Hi Vic User

Not sure if people are sending you email directly but I havn't seen any traffic on this forum.

I would be interesting in dropping by. I am a tad disorganized in my collection right now but if people would like I could bring along a Mattel Aquarius to show. This is a fairly rare beast and is indicative of the glut of computers to be thrown on the market in the early 80's by any manufacturer who could manage it.

I'll also try and take some photos of my machines to show. I have the start of a good display going, all I need is time and motivation to get going on it.

[vic user]

Hi;

yes, many have repsonded to me via personal e-mail.

i know i would like to see the aquarius, especially if you have some add ons for it, like a cassette drive and such.

i hope this meeting goes well.

i am just a vintage computer using tadpole, and i don't think i have much to offer really.

but i wanted to find a way of getting people, who live around here, connected somehow.

chris

[jstimson]

OK. I'll try to make it then for Sunday. Sounds like fun and would love to meet others with a joy for retro-computing.

I'll bring the Aquarius with the mini-expander. I have a recorder coming to me but it has not arrived yet.

I could also bring an SX-64 which is the worlds first portable colour computer, an Atari Portfolio (first DOS based handheld) and a TI CC-40 which is also a handheld computer.

As for the rest of my collection, I'll try to take some pictures to show off.

Just to let others know what I'm looking for my main goal right now is cartridge collection for various systems. I'll bring my cartridge lists.

[vic user]

oh yeah!

please bring the sx-64!

i have never seen one, and i would love to see that power up....
not to mention, i have a ridiculous amount of 64 software here, which we could load up on it :)

chris

[vic user]

Well, we had our first meet up.

Four people showed up... Chris, (not me I was already there :) , Dave, Mike, and Jeff.

I got to give Chris my old and in need of TLC Apple II+, and he is going to kindly fix it for me. I even offered to give him another Apple II+ as compensation, but he told me to keep it for spare parts!

Got to see Jeff's Aquarius, and was very surprised to find that the games were slightly different than the Intellivision games, as i thought they would have ported them directly, but i guess with a different CPU etc.., they had to write new code, Very surprising though!
What a tiny computer, but vey cool, and would like to see it running, once Jeff gets it hooked up, and plays with it for a while. no space bar, but a space key to the left, which was driving me nuts, and i only played with it for a tiny bit :)

He also borught a beautiful Atari portfolio handheld, and i wish he would have forgotten it at my house :)

Got to see my first sx-64, also via Jeff, and i am really amazed at how well it is to view stuff on that screen, even being far away. really cool and very sturdy machine.

Jeff also brought a texas instruments handheld, but i disn't look at it for long enough to say anything about it.

Mike and dave seem to have a crazy amount of computers, and from their talks, are in need of free rental space :)

I found out, via mike, that it should be easy to rebuild my rechargeable battery for my 386-sx20 notebook!!!! very happy about that

dave had a cd of his collection, and had some incredible machines.
i will get a his site link for you guys

overall, we didn't really do much, not like we diagnosed a computer, or held some demo of something, but did get to talk and listen a lot :)

i hope this happens again, and i think i am going to host a retro gaming party, and hope people are interested.

i got to tell them about the upcoming world of commodore expo in toronto, and gave them hard copies of the info, via my vic 20 and a commodore printer, which i thought was appropriate.

thanks to you guys for coming, and please keep in touch, and hope that others join us.

chris

[Terry Yager]

Glad you finally got your group off the ground, congratulations!

--T

[vic user]

thanks terry!

i think, at the very least, it gives everyone who attended, a bit of momentum in their vintage computing endevours.

if chris can get my apple ii+ in working order, it sounds like i will be back in CP/M land pretty darn quick too, and perhaps might be able to give me things, like forth, algol, apll !!!

now, if i can only persuade at least one of them to go to Toronto with me in december, and cut the hotel fare :)

chris

[jstimson]

First of all, thanks to Chris for inviting us over. Gracious host and has an obvious joy for vintage computing.

Second, nice to meet the others that showed up. I forgot to get contact info for them so if they or Chris could send me their email address that would be great. I'm at jstimson@rogers.com

To Dave - I have an extra serial interface for the Atari Portfolio. The only drawback is that Atari, in their infinite wisdom, did not ship a terminal program with it for transferring files. Go figure.

To Chris (the host, not the other Chris :-> ) - I have a number of duplicate Vic 20 carts that will eventually be up on Ebay. However if you want first crack at them I will be very reasonable on any arrangements. I have Avenger, Cosmic Cruncher, Gorf, Jupiter Lander, Omega Race, Pinball, Radar Rat Race, Road Race, and Slot all as extras. Also willing to trade for any extras that you may have.

My passion right now is cartridges for Colecovision, Atari computers, Vic 20, C64, Vectrex, TI 99/4A, MSX, and Atari 7800.

Meeting others has rekindled the fire under my ass to get my vintage collection cleaned up and displayed properly. When things have become more presentable I will post an online album. Maybe I'll also host a get together later on.

[vic user]

Thanks Jeff, and thanks for coming! I really enjoyed your company!

I am going to start cross-posting on the ncf classic comp. sig, in hopes that we will attract a few more people.

Another thing i thought would be a good idea, is to post to each other, of anything neat we find at valu villages or good wills. for example, i now know you are into game carts, so if i happen to come across some, i can e-mail you right away, etc..

i hope you are into attending a gaming party. i think that would be pretty fun, and odds are people who are not really into old machines, would still want to come, if they lioke playing video games. would be a lot more of a relaxed atmosphere as well. i will just have to make sure i stock up on fuses, just in case :)

here are the list of e-mails i have so far. i can't remember which one is mike kenzie's

Chris Witkowski: chrisw@ncf.ca
Dave Dunfield: dave04a@dunfield.com
Greg Nacu: gregnacu@kingston.net
Stephane Racle: ex809@ncf.ca
Chris Prest: ex809@ncf.ca
Jeff: jstimson@rogers.com
Mandeville.CA@forces.gc.ca
ba600@ncf.ca
teknical@rogers.com
ey042@ncf.ca

hope you have a wicked day Jeff!

chris

[vic user]

i know you are into the real thing Jeff, but have you seen this site, that has some ROM images of games for various platforms:

http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary's/Emulation/ROMs_summary.htm

chris

[jstimson]

Thanks for the link. They have a pretty good selection of roms.

You're right, I prefer the actual hardware. But sometimes emulation is the only way your going to get to play a particular game. For example, the Colecovision Galaxian cartridge is a very rare beast and unless you have an Adam setup (with the game dumped onto tape or floppy) then you have to resort to emulation to play it.

Also pleased to report that I've started in on cleaning up my collection. Placed some extra coleco carts on ebay, updated my catalogue, planned for more efficient layout, and getting ready to add composite output to my Atari 7800.

[vic user]

Hey Jeff;

here is another link, this time for the vintage computer store. they have some ti stuff for sale. i have dealt with this person, and have no complaints at all:

http://www.vintagecomputer.com/

unless you have an Adam setup (with the game dumped onto tape or floppy) then you have to resort to emulation to play it.


have you run a game this way from your adam?

glad you are getting your collection up and running. do you have a site, or or you planning on having a site, to display your collection? looking at the photos you brought over, i am guessing you have a site, or will be easy to get one going for you.

one thing about not having a parnter who lives with me, is that i can fill the house with computers, and not have anyone whine :)

take care!
chris

[jstimson]

I have a couple of floppy drives for the Adam and have a number of disks that have cartridge dumps on them. Also have software that will dump cartridges to disk/tape.

Although I haven't investigated it there must be a way to modem over images d/l'd from the net to the Adam.

With our Rogers account we get unlimited photo album space so once I get things semi-presentable I will be putting together a public album.

As for collecting stuff, my partner and I have a mutual understanding. We don't bug each other about our hobbies as long as it does not get totally out of hand. My goal is to keep each of my 'classic' computers in a very displayable condition with most of them in a set-up and playable state. I have a portion of the basement dedicated to an island of computer desks. The good thing about the old home computers is that many can fit entirely on the keyboard tray (like the Vic 20) so I can put 2 computers displayed on 1 desk (one on the tray, the other on the desk).

I find that my main problem is storage of all the peripheral stuff. I don't want to hide it away since there are some cool things I want to show but not necessarily have connected. For example I have a CPM/80 column card for the 64 that is neat to show but is not something I would use to show off the computer.

[vic user]

Man, I have been zipping around trying to find some info on the adam, in regards to transferring files to and from a pc, etc.. and having little luck.

normally i am pretty quick at finding things on the net.

chris

[jstimson]

One thing I have to set up in my 'vintage' area is a nice plain old DOS box with a 5 1/4 floppy.

This way I can use various utilities to move files to my old computers.

I can copy Adam emulator disk images directly to floppy using a 'dcopy' utility so that they can run on the real thing.

I can use 1541 emu so that the PC acts as a fast 1541.

I can finally play Crusader:No Remorse again! My favourite DOS game that refuses to run under any windows system.

[vic user]

i am sure you must have an old pc kicking around with a 5 1/4 drive?

if not Jeff, you can gladly have one of my mine.

and lots of 5 1/4 drives if you want one, no worries there.

crusader... i will take a look.

do you remember 'out of this world'? came out maybe 10 years ago.
god i would love to play that again. i actually wept a little at the end of that game, because it ended :)

chris

[jstimson]

I do have a PC that I was using to display digital pics on my TV but since it has been stagnating for so long I will turn it into a DOS box. I think I have a 5 1/4 hanging around somewhere. It's been a long time since I've had to think about loading drivers into high memory, getting the sound blaster to work, finding the right cd drivers, etc. Will be a journey of rediscovery I'm sure.

You ever notice it comes down to time, motivation, and money? Can never seem to get the right ratio between the three.

Right now my approach is to to a little bit each day instead of trying to tackle everything at once. That way I feel some accomplishment without feeling overwhelmed with everything I want/have to do. I also find that keeping a list of tasks is a BIG help. That way I can organize and prioritize.

[vic user]

I know what you mean about trying to do a little bit each day.

Just talking about computers, I have literally months worth of archiving I could do, etc..

If i look at it as a whole, it usually gets me down, and i feel like nothing will be accomplished.

I also like to program, and the amount of half baked projects i have, can also overwhelm me, if i look at them as a whole.

the way i try to look at it now, is that hopefully i have a few more decades of getting my computer stuff organized, so why stress out :)

hope you have fun in your basement :)

chris

[kenziem]

here are the list of e-mails i have so far. i can't remember which one is mike kenzie's

ba600@ncf.ca


I've been doing some cleaning up in my basement too. Is anyone interested in the Coleco Adam ?

I also have a bunch of apple monitors and floppy drives.

[jstimson]

I've been doing some cleaning up in my basement too. Is anyone interested in the Coleco Adam ?

[/quote]


Ooooh. Ooooh. Ooooh. I am :D !

My Adam is having tape reading issues but it's not the end of the world since I have 2 Adam floppy drives with a load of stuff on disk. Always on the lookout for more software and/or peripherals.

My basement cleanup project is going slowly but surely. A lot of it is behind-the-scenes type stuff like catalogueing but I think that soon my 'vintage computer museum' area will look very presentable.

[vic user]

darnit, i should have been quicker in responding...
bye Adam :wink:

glad that your cleaning and organizing has been going well guys, so we can come over and gawk :)

i have started to search the 'net for info on the various computers i have, so i can have a little write up page to put beside the various machines.

one thing that i am finding out, is not to rely on just one source, (at least i have not found a completely reliable one), for getting my info about a machine. some sites miss things, and some get things wrong.

i am also trying to find a good size for the hard copies of the info, perhaps something a bit larger than an index card, but smaller than 81/2" x 11"

i have access to some amazing printing machines, so i want to experiment.

i am planning to have a meet up at my house for the 19th. hope that will work for people.

i hope this will give people a chance to post what they are looking for as well as what they are willing to trade away

i would also like to organize a halloween/ spoky theme retro game night as well, during october of course. there must be games of this type for lots of platforms and 'puters.

[vic user]

OK, so I will try an clean up my house again, for September 19.

Sunday September 19
Time: 14:00

- If people could write a list of what they are willing to trade away, and what items they are looking for, that might help people in deciding what equipment to bring (if any)

- Please let me know if you are planning on coming, so i can figure out how many people migh show up.

Topics i would like to bring up:

1) World of Commodore expo in December

2) Can anyone open up one of my pc tower cases?

3) Ways of letting us know when and where garage sales are happening, and arrange for trips to garage sales

4) Halloween / spooky theme game party

5) Storage methods of magnetic media

6) Setting up a software / publications database to facilitate a sharing library amongst ourselves

chris

[carlsson]

Re (2), are you too careful to open it yourself, or does the tower has some intrinsic locking mechanism you can't figure out? :D I've opened and closed many various PC chassis, and know they can differ quite a lot how to do it without damaging something.

[vic user]

i wish i had a photo to show you.

short of using a hack saw, i cannot firgure out how to get at the insides.

it's too bad, because it is a pentium pro 200 with 128 megs ram, but no modem, and i would use it to replace my pentium 166 with 48 megs ram, as my main internet browsing computer.

i have a 56k internal modem i would like to pop in, but only have max 28.8 external modems

i should have showed the guys the back of the computer when they were over. we even used it when they were over!

[Terry Yager]

Some laptops can be a real nightmare to open too. Some are even designed to break upon opening, to prevent opening by anyone but authorized dealers who have the replacement parts on hand to put it back together with.

--T

[vic user]

that's kind of what i think happened to this computer.

it was assembled by some defunct company in ottawa, and i think they wanted only their service guys to open the systems, probably with some special key or lever lifter

[vic user]

Just a reminder that the next meet up is on Sunday the 19th.

Please leave me a note if you plan on going.

I have the following, that I can think of off hand, that I am willing to trade:

1) Commodore 64c

2) Ambra pentium 133 slim case

3) Macintosh plus

4) Macintosh LCII

5) Atari style joysticks

6) Macintosh printers

7) Commodore printer

[vic user]

Meet up #3:

Sunday, October 24, 14:00

Location: my place

e-mail me for directions and my phone number

Fruit juice, veggies and dip, and chips and salsa will be provided.

Thanks for those that attended the last meeting, and thanks for those that mentioned that they wanted to come but could not.

Personally, I got a lot of things accomplished... My thanks go out to Dave, Chris, and Ian, for their kind hearts. Thank you for all your help!

I am getting tons of out of these meet ups, and hope that whatever I contribute, in whatever capacity, comes close to matching the returns of hosting these.

If you have any suggestions, comments, things to trade, machines of interest, or topics you wish to see at the next meet up, please mention them!

I will post again with more updating info.

Hope to see you at the next meet up.

Chris

[jstimson]

Hi Chris.

I wanted to make it but I've barely had 2 minutes to rub together lately. I'll be in Hollywood for your next one (:-<) so I'll have to plan for the one after that.

I am however getting some progess done on cleaning up my collection. Have added a Magnavox Odyssey 2 to the mix and am working on building a composite output circuit into my Atari 7800.

[vic user]

Hollywood! Super cool!!!

If you want Jeff, I can always make it another Sunday in October. I just wanted to throw out a date and give people tons of notice.

So, if you think you will have an hour or two free some Sunday afternoon in October, let me know quick, and I will change the date.

Dave brought over some cartridges for you to look at, and hopefully he will bring them again.

You will have to bring over a TI, so i can see what some of those games look like!

[jstimson]

Actually with the way October looks I won't be free at all. I'd be up for a November meeting I'm sure.

So don't change anything right now for me. Work is crazy-busy right now and with the trip to California I barely have time to breath.

[vic user]

Ok Jeff, I will pencil you in for Novemeber then :D

Will you be in Hollywood for halloween? i just think that would be beyond awesome!

[vic user]

Ottawa Vintage Computer User Meet Up
September 2004

I wanted to do a bit of a write up on the last meeting, and perhaps touch on things that we could do at the next meet up.

I want to tell you first off, that this entire message was written on my TRS80 model 100, and then sent over serial cable to the pc
and then the internet. If I was only using e-mail, then I think I would have used my Mac SE30 instead of the pc, just to keep as
vintage as possible :)

Dave brought over an Osborne I (version 2), and by sheer coincidence, I had picked up an old computer magazine at Goodwill which had an article by Mr. Osborne himself and in it he talked about why he made the Osborne. Dave took it with him to scan the article, and pop it on his site.
Dave can also boast about being the one to finally solve opening that damn pc case! Thanks again Dave!

He also helped me hook up a secondary hard drive to it. I gave Dave a Commodore serial cable, as he wants to make an x1541 cable, and said he would make me one as well!


By the way Dave, I managed to remap the whole hard drive of the pc I had connected via the parallel port.
Life is sweet for that pc.

Ian brought over two very full boxes of computer stuff, that he longer wants. Thanks Ian! I scored some good stuff off of you, like the boxed up Windows 3.1 on 5 1/4". I haven't even gone through the stuff properly.

Any things that I do not need, I will gladly give away to anyone at the next meet up, so please remind me.

Chris showed up with a quite a lot of things, yet we hardly went through any of it, due to time constraints. Thanks for that cd, and also for mentioning the pc book. And let's not forget the incredible job you did on my Apple II+ clone. My teenage computer lives again! I am also extremely grateful for all the software you provided.

The microchess game is a lot of fun. One thing that I like to do, is pit chess games against each other, so hopefully this weekend microchess on the Apple will go up against Sargon II on the vic 20!

Well, that's it for now. I should be sending out a reminder posting in the next couple of weeks for the October meet up. If you want me to mention anything for the next posting, please give me a shout.

Chris

[carlsson]

Hm, if I remember correctly, Adam Osborne was involved in some experimental computer project right before Osborne-1. This project was in some way backed by Swedish research money, but not much spoken about. The project didn't work out into a commercial product, but it was assumed that Adam took benefit from it when making "his" computer, thus it was said that Swedish grants partly paid Osborne-1. I have an article at home about this, so I could give more exact details unless it is known and on Internet since before.

[vic user]

If you could dig that aritcle up, it would be interesting to compare it to the article i found in that magazine, and see if mr. osborne minimized or even mentions his time in sweden

[carlsson]

Ok, I had the magazine on my desk, so here comes a translated version:

ANOTHER SWEDISH COMPUTER?!

In 1981, the new Swedish computer "Expander" was introduced and caused great excitement in places. Swedish technicians had yet again produced a computer for qualified business use.

Obviously it was not only Luxor and their head technician Lasse Karlsson who knew how to make computers. It soon was obvious that this was a very useful computer - adopted to "industrial standards" like S-100 and CP/M. Apparently it was a computer meant for qualified business use.

But then some confusion set, exactly how Swedish was it? What was really going on? It showed that a couple of young gentlemen had gotten STU (Swedish national board for Technical Development) to invest 795000 SEK (thus more than $100000) on designing a new computer - in the USA!

The computer was developed by Lee Felsenstein - a well-known micro computer developer. The same Felsenstein had at the same time developed the first "portable" computer Osborne 1 - partly according the same principles as the Expander computer. Was it really Swedish STU money that paid the development of Osborne 1?

So I was wrong about Adam Osborne himself was involved, but his developing engineer. Maybe this Felsenstein was independent enough to keep different designs apart, but both machines were ready within a short time span in 1981 and Osborne 1 is at least CP/M based (which may not be so difficult to do). There was no picture of the Expander, and I yet haven't Googled the net for one.

[vic user]

when i get the mag. back from dave, i will read the article over again.

i just want to see if he ever mentions the swedish connection

[tachyon]

Lee was involved in many other computer designs as well. He had at the center of all of his designs something he called the 'Tom Swift Terminal', or basically what we have today with the Internet. A terminal to a large repository of information that would give the average person a great deal more knowledge than they could expect at the time.

If you read some of the books about the early stages of the microcomputer revolution, you'll find Lee involved if not the driving force behaind many of them.

tachyon