VCF Update (was Re: Swapmeet finds)

On Sun, 27 Sep 1998, Megan wrote: Doug Coward made the Digi-Comp I clone, as far as I know, by downloading scans from a web page: http://galena.tjs.org/digicomp/ blowing them up, and then cutting the pieces from wood. It was very well done. The final day of VCF was great! I overslept, so I wandered in just as Gorden Bell's talk was set to begin. But before I could make it upstairs to the talk, I noticed that the vendors had brought fresh meat! By getting there three hours late, I missed some prime stuff, like the SWTP 6800 box (damn), but even arriving that late, I was able to nab a Heathkit H-8 chassis, a Lisa mouse (which I traded away later the same day), and some good books. I'm not much of a calculator collector, but I also got an HP 91 and the only calculator I've really ever desired, the Sharp EL-8. I also traded for a couple of things -- an Ampro Bookshelf Computer and a Linus Write-Top (which I've been trying to track-down for months to complete my early pen-based computer collection). So, this meant I arrived an hour late for Bell's one-hour talk. Luckily, he overran his allotted time by about 20 minutes, so I caught the tail-end of a PDP-6 discussion. In the Q&A, I asked him whether he planned to write a PDP-1 simulator, and he answered that Bob Supnik was doing one, but I got the impression that they hadn't been able to overcome the "media problem" of transfering? finding? restoring? some of the original software. I had previously been under the impression that there were about 200 PDP-1's built, but Bell gave a number of 40 (20 each at two installations). And then I got his autograph :-) Speaking of autographs, Lee Felsenstein stopped by and autographed the case of the Sol 20 I mentioned yesterday. No kidding. The Nerd Trivia Challenge was all it was hyped up to be. To give you an idea of the caliper of contestants, Kip Crosby (of CHAC) was one of them, and he didn't win. The only questions that stumped the panel were some semi-obscure questions about portable computers and the one about the first Apple ]['s serial number. Finally, prizes were awarded (including the IMSAI, which went to a visitor from Nevada, and a few original Bell Labs' CARDIACs which went to some exhibitors), and then we packed up and went home. Congrats to Sam for pulling this off. AFAIK, it's the only event like it in the world, and Silicon Valley is a great venue for the show. It's the next best thing to a time machine :-) See you there next year! -- Doug