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swap meet in Ottawa

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
 
New to group

New to group

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
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
Meet Up

Meet Up

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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
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.
 
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