VCF Southwest, presented by the National Videogame Museum, is coming back to Dallas, TX!

[channelmaniac]

Hi everyone,

After over a decade, a VCF event will be held in Dallas, TX! We signed the venue and are hard at work to put together an initial schedule of speakers and populate a web site.

We'll have two presentation tracks running simultaneously: Industry Speakers and a Technical Talk Track. We've already signed up some very knowledgeable speakers and are working to get more of those and some YouTube dignitaries. I'll be doing some as well, talking through digital basics then a quick series on how circuits inside the computer work: Clock, Reset, Address Decoding, Dynamic RAM access, and Test Equipment Basics.

There will be a lab with hands-on sessions and a show computer you can solder together yourself, just bring a laptop to connect to it. Dallas Makerspace is planning to do a series of Make and Take sessions for the kids and spouses. Bring your test equipment and learn how to use it - Multimeters, Logic Probes, ESR meters, and Oscilloscopes - in a lab session.

We're also planning a fundraising auction!

June 23rd, 24th, and 25th at the Davidson Gundy Alumni Center at the University of Texas, Dallas, campus.

I'll update this post as soon as we get the web site ready.

Thanks,

Raymond

 

[17again]

Vintage Computer Festival South West Workshop June 24th
Build a VT-100 compatible Terminal
https://www.vcfsw.org/

After over 7 years off, I have decided to host a soldering workshop at VCFSW. I did a refresh of the PockeTerm for 2023 making it smaller and less expensive even in today's economy. For VCFSW ONLY, you can attend the PockeTerm II workshop and build your own single-board VT-100 compatible terminal kit. The setting will be a classroom style setting where everyone works at their own pace so there is no pressure to hurry up or slow down and wait. I will be available to assist with questions or any issues during the entire event and will be around the entire weekend. The goal is all kits are complete and functional by the end of the workshop.
Don't know how to solder, not a problem! I have been teaching people how to solder for over 20 years at previous VCF and other venues. My simple method of explaining and demonstrating will have you soldering in 5 minutes.
Solder station and tools will be supplied. However, feel free to bring your own if you are more comfortable with your tools.
SPACE IS LIMITED!
This is a limited space event so you will need to reserve your table. Please wait until you are registered before reserving your space. The kits are at my cost of $50 each due at the time of event. Paypal or cash accepted. Feel free to reach out with any questions, or RSVP information on GitHub page.
More information can be found on the PockeTerm GitHub page:
https://github.com/Retrotink/PockeTerm-II
Vince Briel

 

[channelmaniac]

The UPS Store at Canyon Creek is partnering up with the show to be on-site and ship things back home for everyone!

If you're flying in or carpooling with friends, you don't have to worry about how to get things home or where to find a local shipper. They will be at the show!

 

[channelmaniac]

The 8031 computer kit for the show is coming along nicely. First round of PCB is done and the fixes and suggestions are being added in this weekend. Most of the EPROMs are programmed and most of the components now on hand.

 

[channelmaniac]

A VIC-20 Repair Session has been added!

The 8-Bit Guy is bringing a slew of broken VIC-20 boards to the show. I'll be doing a quick session on the architecture of the system, troubleshooting, and repair right before the open lab.

Raymond

 

[BillGee]

Raymond

Are you Raymond J from DMS and VECTOR?

I never would have guessed from your user name.

 

[BillGee]

I have been teaching people how to solder for over 20 years at previous VCF and other venues.

Vince Briel

Are you living in D/FW now? I bought and built a Replica I at a VCF at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View many moons ago.

Somewhat recently, I bought an Altair Micro from someone else. Unfortunately, it did not come with the memory and "disk" board so I cannot run CP/M. One thing I did do with it was to implement a Knight Rider or Cylon style effect using the address LEDs. The initial effort involved jumping to bits of code in various pages in order to light an individual address LED intensely (the low order 6 bits always glowed) but without 64K of memory, the upper bit remained dark until I came up with a trick to do it.

 

[channelmaniac]

Are you Raymond J from DMS and VECTOR?

Yes sir!

 

[channelmaniac]

Are you living in D/FW now? I bought and built a Replica I at a VCF at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View many moons ago.

Yes! Vince is living in the D/FW area now and has been to a few of the DFW Retro Computing meet-ups at DMS.

 

[channelmaniac]

The 8031 Kit Computer layout is done and this 2nd round PCB is almost perfect. One hole on the DC barrel jack is getting enlarged by 2mm and then 100 PCBs are being ordered!

Yes, it will run with the 8032 and 8052 as well.