• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Anyone interested in a Hudson Valley Vintage/Retro Computers Group?

The lack of good east west routing may be more of a challenge than the length of the corridor. It takes me less time to go to Albany or Newburgh than to go roughly directly west to Poughkeepsie.
 
I believe seaken has suggested we meet for the first time at his business in Kingston, NY. To move to some other location means that a venue would have to be found and a fee imposed. Plus many of the original people suggesting getting together are in the Mid-Hudson area (Dutchess/Orange/Ulster and up to south of Albany) more or less plus a few in Western CT. Others are welcome, but moving south towards NYC would somewhat defeat the point of having it be a local gathering. If too far south and then the purpose of a local event would be reduced to why not just have the group meet at VCF? Ditto with going above Albany.
 
krebizfan said:
The lack of good east west routing may be more of a challenge than the length of the corridor. It takes me less time to go to Albany or Newburgh than to go roughly directly west to Poughkeepsie.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, I am just saying that it might be easier for @seaken to focus on developing something close to them for now. If others can make it there, great; if not that might be a future concern at best.

@DeltaDon I'm not suggesting changes to the current proposition, just pointing out that the area is quite large in terms of geography.
 
I like the sharing of ideas. But @DeltaDon is correct and my idea was to have something closer to "home" than Wall, NJ or NYC. To start, I want to try to meet up near Kingston. For some in the entire HV even Kingston is too far. I get that. But we have to start somewhere and then we can add in some of these other locations and maybe have a kind of wandering venue. Plus, I already own a store in the Mid-Hudson Valley area so it makes sense to me to start there.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this post. If it needs to be in another place please inform me. Anyway, here we go:

I would like to propose a Hudson Valley Vintage/Retro Computer User's Group. I like going to the Wall, NJ site for the annual VCF event. But it's over a 2-1/2 drive for me. I used to participate in a Mid Hudson Computer User's Group many years ago. It was primarily focused on the IBM PC users and was around the time of the Internet beginning to take over the world. Somewhere along the line I lost track of it and I can no longer confirm it's existence. We met at the SUNY campus in Stone Ridge, NY. (If anyone know's if it still exists please let me know).

With the current interest in Vintage and Retro computers I would like to propose that we have a User's Group specific to this Vintage/Retro hobby here in the Hudson Valley. The focus can be on more than the PC and include all Vintage and Retro machines and platforms, such as the Apple II series, Apple early Apple MAC, Commodore, Tandy, Atari, Texas Instruments, DEC, HP, Heathkit, Altos, etc. etc. etc.

Anyone interested? If you can make it to the Mid-Hudson in about an hour or slightly over, than you could meet up with fellow enthusiasts a few more times than just the annual Wall, NJ meetups. I have a store near Kingston NY and could start as a host. But maybe the Poughkeepsie area might be the best area. We can keep it informal, no dues or anything like we did with our old user's groups. Maybe just some simple meet ups where we all bring a system from out collection for a Show and Tell, and maybe a swap meet. Then we can decide where it goes from there. We may even allow console enthusiasts to join in and play some games! :)

I am thinking we can draw from Albany, Schenectady, Delmar, Selkirk, Hudson, Catskill, Saugerties, Kingston, Rhinebeck, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Middletown, New Paltz, Sharon CT, Danbury CT, Brewster, Fishkill, Nyack, etc.

Once a month, or once every two or three months. And we can promote the VCF events and maybe even get a table at the VCF festival.

If you are interested in this idea please contact me. Note that I am very busy with my business in the fall and winter and it may take a while to coordinate a meeting. I am thinking mostly Spring and Summer.

Thanks,
Seaken
Click to expand...
Seaken,

I would also be interested. I am in New Windsor NY and recently bought a Commodore 64 Ultimate to replace the one I had as a kid but I can't find a retro computer club in my area
 
It seems seaken is not responding and so I'll jump in and suggest that we hold an organization meeting ASAP. Where and when will be TBD as soon as anyone that is interested get back to me. I suggest the following apply towards when and where we meet for this first time:

1) Near a major freeway/interstate.
2) A place where we can talk privately or as near to as possible (a restaurant with a small room, a community center or etc)
3) That we meet on the East side of the Hudson since some people may be coming from NYC and CT and crossing the Hudson adds to the time and cost (tolls).
4) Have a list of people and a basic agenda prior to the meeting. (I am willing to handle this)
5) Have the meeting on a weekend so that jobs don't interfere with attending.
6) Meet sometime between say 11AM and 2PM so that nobody has to get up at O'dark hundred to attend and end before traffic makes returning home a bear.
7) No show and tell at the first one since we need to develop a list of interests and perhaps repair skills/needs.

So if interested please RSVP here in this thread ASAP and include about where you will be coming from so as we can guess at the best area to meet Also, add any suggestions I may have missed.

My location suggestion is in the Fishkill, NY area since I-84 (east/west) and the Taconic State Parkway (North/South) are both nearby and the NY Thurway (also North/South is west and over the Hudson) and so many ways to reach the area. Or a backup of Danbury, CT, but this is getting far afield for a Hudson River group.
 
This also works for me. I am in northern NJ and Fishkill is just about an hour away.

Pete
 
Thank you Don for keeping this idea alive. I am still interested and think the idea to meet in the Fishkill area for a first meetup is a good idea. I am good for a Sunday. I work most Saturdays.

I'm sorry I have been absent recently. It turns out that this has been a year for health issues for both me and my wife, and my wife's mom. I want to support this Hudson Valley group but I am too distracted to be active with it, for now. At this time I cannot take a leading role but I would like to attend. I am happy that Don is willing to step up and keep the ball rolling and I will do what I can to support the group.

I am hopeful that I will be back to a normal schedule in time. For now, I am spending too much time in hospitals and doctors visits. And I still have to help run our business along with my wife. The computer hobby has suffered. Please keep going with the details of our first meetup and I will do my best to be there in support.

Seaken
 
Saturday is bad enough, but Sunday poses an issue since most dinners are very busy on Sundays. Perhaps Sunday between lunch and dinner hours would work, say about 2PM. I'm posting here for anyone that I haven't DM'ed also. If someone that isn't on my DM list wants to join us, fell free. But please do post here so we have a head count.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top