The official VCF East 3.0 press release...

Please spread this far and wide! -------------------------------------------- *** Vintage Computer Festival East 3.0 -- Saturday, May 13 -- Wall Township, N.J. *** April 17, 2005 -- Wall Township, N.J. -- The Vintage Computer Festival is coming! For those who fondly remember the charisma of computers from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, this is a must-attend event!! "VCF" as it's known in computer circles is an annual public convention devoted to the enjoyment and restoration of antique computers. The show began in Silicon Valley in 1997 and the current edition is VCF East 3.0. At this year's VCF you will find 17 exhibits of functioning antique computers, six high-profile guest speakers, exciting prizes, and kinship with hundreds of fellow early adopters. Spend a few hours at this event and you'll be in nerd heaven! There will be dozens of antique computers on display from the glory days of blinkenlights, tape drives, greenbar paper, punched cards, homebrew kits, text-adventure games, and much, much more -- and no Windows in sight. Like we said, it's nerd heaven! Use the day to learn, play, or just reminisce with us. So mark Saturday, May 13 on your calendar. VCF East 3.0 will be held at the (new!) Information Age Science and History Education Center, a.k.a. "InfoAge," which was formerly the Camp Evans U.S. Army base and was originally built for the Marconi corporation in the early 1900s. The show's hours are 9:30AM - 6:30PM. Tickets are $10 per person ($7 for children 13 and younger) and parking is free. The address is 2201 Marconi Rd., Wall (Belmar), N.J. and driving directions are posted at http://www.vintage.org/2006/east/directions.php VCF East 3.0's sponsor is the Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists Inc., which is a non-profit user group devoted to antique computing. MARCH is also building a computer museum at the InfoAge facility, where there are also museums dedicated to antique radio, model trains, historic shipwrecks, antique military vehicles, and much more. The museums opened this month in a preview facility and the full museums will debut gradually throughout 2006-2007. *** The exhibits *** There are 17 registered exhibits for VCF East 3.0. The exhibitors are: -- Vince Briel, North Ridgeville, Ohio. Vince will show his newest replica kit, called the AltairPC, based on the famous MITS Altair computers of the mid-1970s. This kit follows his hugely successful Apple 1 replica. -- Rich Cini, Syosset, New York. Rich will show his own Altair replica, called the Altair32, which blends an emulator project and front panel kit. -- Bill Degnan, Landenberg, Pennsylvani. Bill will highlight his exclusive collection of Commodore B Series computer which were never produced. -- Mark Dodel, Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania: Mark will bring his thorough collection of IBM OS/2 computers including some very rare models. -- David Gesswein, Bethesda, Maryland. David will bring his impressive demonstration of a DEC PDP-8 minicomputer system. -- Jeffrey Katz, West Hartford, Connecticut. Jeff will also bring a DEC PDP-8 minicomputer system. -- Evan Koblentz, Springfield, New Jersey. Evan will exhibit a variety of portable computers from the 1970s and 1980s. The focus will be on the earliest laptops, luggables, and handhelds. -- Kelly Leavitt, Wantage, New Jersey. Kelly will show his comprehensive timeline of Tandy TRS-80 computers. -- Mike Loewen, State College, Pennsylvania. Mike will demonstrate how vintage computers can communicate with moden computers, by showing an Apple IIGS and Apple IIe and also a TRS-80 connected to a Linux server. -- Andy Meyer, Clark, New Jersey. Andy will show Atari 8-bit and 16-bit computers from the 1980s. -- Andrew Mollow, Syracuse, New York. Andy will exhibit a Canon Cat, which is the computer developed by Apple Macintosh innovator Jef Raskin. -- Frank O'Brien, West Windsor, New Jersey. Frank will demonstrate the very unique NASA Apollo Guidance Computer from the 1960s. -- Jim O'Brien, Quaktertown, Pennsylvania. Jim will show a timeline of nearly every Apple Computer model. -- Michael Pearson, West Chester, Pennsylvania. Michael will demonstrate early educational computers from 1960s and 1970s. -- Mike Ross, Mamaroneck, New York. Mike will demonstrate his collection of IBM minicomputers from the 1970s, including the System/32, /34, /36, and /38, and others. -- Jack Rubin, Wilmette, Illinois. Jack will show off his KIM-1 single-board computers and various accessories. -- Carlson Stevens, Silver Spring, Maryland. Carlson will demonstrate Japanese computer games and videogame consoles from the 1980s. *** The guest speakers *** There are six guest speakers for VCF East 3.0. They are: -- Steve Lukasik, 10:30 AM, "ARPA in the 1970s" -- Ray Borrill, 12:00 PM, "50 years in computers" -- Sol Libes, 1:45 PM, "The Origins of Personal Computers" -- David Ahl, 3:30 PM, "The total idiocy of starting a magazine..." -- Ray Holt, 5:00 PM, "A microprocesser before Intel" -- Sellam Ismail, 6:00 PM, "Vintage computer replicas and research" *** What else should you know? *** -- Visit http://www.vintage.org for more information about the Vintage Computer Festival. -- Visit http://www.midatlanticretro.org for more information about the MARCH organization. -- Visit http://www.infoage.org for more information about the Informaton Age Science and History Education Center. The primary spokesperson for VCF East 3.0 is MARCH president Evan Koblentz. Evan can be reached at evan at snarc.net or by telephone at 646-546-9999 in the afternoons or evenings, EST. Please do not call in the morning. :)