Time to reveal a personal project related to vintage computing and
unrelated to my role at VCFed.
In the past two years, while getting neck-deep in the historic Lego 9700
"Technic Control Center" set, I learned that there is a TON of
information about this set (and about various related sets) -- but most
of that information is missing from the web or at best scattered.
What these programmable robotic sets all have in common is they're all
from the 10 years BEFORE the modern Mindstorms series,
and they run on
vintage computers!
I decided a few months ago to make a web site about it. I call the site
www.mindsbeforethestorm.com. The site is under construction but you can
visit now and see where it is going.
I'm asking for contributions to the project.
I make a very modest living through my work as a freelance tech
journalist and additionally through VCFed fundraising. Many of you will
also recall that a personal fundraiser is what enabled publishing of my
computer history book in 2015. That was a positive experience.
I do not plan to sell anything on this new site, only to offer helpful
information that isn't currently available or is very difficult to find.
As such, I cannot promise any Kickstarter-style rewards: I don't have
any ideas about what a good reward for this might be (open to
suggestions). Instead, I appeal to your altruism: fund this project
because it is a good thing.
Please visit my new site. If you think it exemplifies how the web should
be used, if you'd like to see it get finished, and if you would like me
to continue to be able to pay my rent and eat food, then please make a
contribution via
https://fundrazr.com/61N3ef?ref=ab_74VRia.
Thanks,
-Evan