VCF 3.0 ANNOUNCEMENT: VINTAGE COMPUTER FAIRE!

I have responded to all the current outstanding questions about the VCF Computer Faire in this one message to make things easier. From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> What are you going to do about 'contemporary' modifications? Most machines had a number of 3rd party add-ons that IMHO should be left in old machines if they're found there... For example, my TRS-80 model 4 came with a Z-clock in it. This is a little board that fits under the Z80 processor and contains a real time clock. If I was going to exhibit this machine, should I remove the option (as it's not original), leave it in, or what? My view (and I'm not a judge) is that reversable modifications like that shouldn't count against a machine. In fact, if the option is rare enough, it should count in favour of it. --- My reply: The intent of this rule is to get machines that are as close to their original condition as possible for historical accuracy. In your example, since the mod came with the Model 4 then it would be an acceptable addition (with proper documentation). I'll address this issue more in further comments. Does this mean _every_ peripheral that was ever made for the machine, every peripheral that was made by the original manufacturer, or just a representative sample of them? I'm having problems thinking of an Unibus PDP11 (say an 11/45) with every option DEC ever made connected to it :-) A representative sample is what we had in mind. The more that are included in the exhibit the higher number of points in that category will be awarded. --- From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com Interesting set of rules, with an interesting sense of "purity". In the real world, of course, someone who bought an IMSAI and populated it with only IMSAI peripherals was a fool. And it also leaves out the richness of computing that is (was) possible - take a look in the back of a late 70's BYTE and you'll see hundreds of manufacturers making a huge variety of S-100 boards. Yet any computers demonstrating this richness, so important in the early personal computing industry before the dominance of the PC-clone and the subsequent dull monotony of compatibles, lose points in this proposed judging scheme. Oh well, different strokes for different folks. --- My reply: In formulating these rules we started out with the basic rules of a classic car show since the parallel to computers is considerable, and modified them accordingly. This particular rule really applied to the more "packaged" computers, like the the TRS-80, Commodore and Atari, etc. We really didn't have S-100 type machines in mind. But your argument is entirely valid and we definitely over-looked this class of computer. We'll re-work this rule accordingly, mostly to allow for third-party add-ons to computers where this practice would have been the norm. --- From: Dave Dameron <ddameron(a)earthlink.net> So I would be penalized for getting my SWTPC CT-1024 video terminal to work and enter it? First I changed the number of characters/ line from 32 to 64. Then I added a cassette "bit bopper" to it. I found the 60Hz line sync didn't work right, so took it out. Lastly, I added some graphics display in parallel to the characters. Now 20 or so years later, it doesn't seem to work, and the "original" ic's are all soldered in. --- My reply: A stock computer is generally more representative of the original. However, there are definitely some cases where a modification was required to the original to fix a bug that came from the factory and was pretty much mandatory if that machine was to be useful. We'll re-work this rule to expand the allowability of modifications to computers that really required them to work correctly. --- From: CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com Or, as I understand the rules, it would penalize someone who hooked a Model 33 Teletype to their Altair because MITS didn't make the Teletype. Yet the Teletype is the most singularly classic input/output peripheral of the era. And if you didn't have a Teletype, users generally had some surplus keyboard hooked to their S-100 box (heck, look at the very first issue of _BYTE_ which features "surplus keyboards" as the cover story!). Yet again, you get penalized in the judging for configuring your machine as it would have typically been configured by an actual user in that day. --- My reply: No, in this case a Model 33 Teletype would be a perfectly acceptable add-on to the computer since it certainly was a typical configuration. The rule in question really applies to modifications or add-ons to the computer or associated hardware itself. Additional hardware that was used with the computer to make it a whole system would make for a better exhibit. An Altair with an Altair VCT or Comter terminal would probably earn more points than one with an ASR-33 since those are stock Altair, but also because they are far more rare than an ASR-33 and would be nice to see as part of the exhibit. But an ASR-33 would not cause the exhibit to lose points. --- Lastly, there was a question about the requirement of the $10 registration fee. The fee is not to make money off of the exhibitors, but is intended to hopefully get exhibitors to stick to their committment to exhibit. Putting on an event like this requires planning and money. If 30 people sign up to exhibit but then only 15 show up, that could amount to a lot of extra equipment and space that has been rented and paid for going to waste. I don't know if $10 is even enough to lock in a committment, but I didn't want to make it so high as to scare people away. I just hope that those who sign up to exhibit follow through and do show up with an entry. If it proves to be a problem then we'll have to think of something different next year, but I hope it works out fine. As we come up with modifications to the rules they'll be posted to an updated version of the complete rules posted to the VCF website. The web site is being re-worked for the next few days so you won't see them right away but they will be there. Please continue to ask questions or suggest improvements to the rules. This being the first year we are bound to have some bugs in the process, but with everyone's insight and input we should be able to conduct a fair competition, which is the intent. I hope to see many participants in this first competition! Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out. Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0! See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details! [Last web site update: 04/03/99]