16 ms·
Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 16
- LeoPanthera 5y agoI exhibited at VCF West this year, my first time. It was a lot of fun. I hope that visitors had a good time, but the interactions between exhibitors were almost as fun.
- code_duck 5y agoThat’s my favorite part of doing conventions, especially for fields in which one typically labors alone most of time.
- AlbertCory 5y agoI spoke there! (Saturday 1:00 pm) Sorry I probably didn't see your exhibit; too keyed up by the talk & the following book-signing to get into the rest of the show.
- degenerate 5y agoTo save a few clicks, Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago, IL. Do people lug their vintage machines to the event, or is it more of a software-based meetup?
- brian_herman 5y agoThere are vendors that sell some stuff and there is a place where people drop off unwanted vintage equipment that you can take home for free.
- LarryMade2 5y agoI've exhibited at VCF West many times, you get part of a table or more depending on your exhibit, its a good time/place to show off your stuff and share your excitement of it. Since it is mainly just enthusiasts, and limited to "vintage" (see event exhibitor info for the definition) it is a great place to reminisce and find some old hardware/software/media as well. Here's some pics I took from when I attended (2002-2006) Later ones probably have the same vibe, and as it has grown in popularity you may see more tech luminaries attend/present. https://portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=photos:start https://portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=photos:start
- Silent700 5y agoAbsolutely heavy on the hardware. Lots of micros, obviously, but there are always a few minis (PDP-8/PDP-11/HP 1000/etc), Unix workstations and odd stuff. This year there is even an IBM Midrange display (System/34, /36, AS/400). Appropriate vendors are welcome and loads of stuff changes hands.
- myself248 5y agoThe parking lot is full of vans and trucks, and some beleaguered sedans and stationwagons. There's tons of hardware, literally.
- jdkee 5y agoThis was my first vintage computer con I attended back in the pre-pandemic days. It was a wonderful experience and the people were great. Looking forward to attending next month.
- ilaksh 5y agoIs it also next month? I thought it was like right now. Oh. September 11-12.
- paulkrush 5y agoI used to go to the computer show at DuPage County Fairgrounds to check out the new computers, that are well, vintage now...
- Silent700 5y agoThat was a decent show. Great place to find AT cases, SIMMs and imported knock-off Sound Blasters in identical blue/orange boxes.
- Silent700 5y agoGood Lord, that website rules. ;)
- redisman 5y agoBeautiful. Some real geocities vibes
- diskzero 5y agoWe all need more blink tags in our lives.
- tsak 5y agoNote the lack of HTTPS and social media preview tags.
- grp000 5y agoIt feels cozy. I can already hear the faint buzz of the CRT and see my dim reflection on the curved glass.
- unrealhoang 5y agoI hear the sound of my 56K dial-up modem dialing.
- erickhill 5y agoCan I get a shoutout for my dot matrix printer?
- cf100clunk 5y agoD'oh, my Jaz drive just crashed again and I can't get the cartridge out!
- poetaster 5y ago3d rotating text banners, I've missed you so. Not to forget the flying cows.
- tcbawo 5y agoI'm a huge fan of Dave Murray's. It's great to see that he'll be there demoing the Commander X16. He has a great way of making vintage technology accessible and relevant as a teaching tool. I've spent some time watching his videos with my son. I think the technology of that era is great for learning computing basics from first principles.
- mixmastamyk 5y agoNeat, just watched his video on how to brighten yellowed plastic on old computers. A great storyteller I enjoy is the professor from computerphile: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUTypj9XuPp4YBaHucPvr-zisHwfEGIEq https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUTypj9XuPp4YBaHucPvr-z...
- Silent700 5y agoHere's a gallery (and video) of previous shows that may give some more insight into what goes on at a VCF: http://vcfmw.org/past.html http://vcfmw.org/past.html
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- thesuitonym 5y agoKind of off topic, but I always wonder who decided that Chicago, Ohio, and that whole corridor count as "mid-west". When I see mid-west, I think the Dakotas, Minnesota, and southwards. I'm always disappointed to see that actually what most people think is "mid-west" is pretty far from me. Shouldn't those areas be called the mid-east?
- NegativeLatency 5y agoAs someone who lives on the west coast I’m similarly struck by the occasional realization that states like Nevada and Colorado are considered in “the west”. I’m guessing it’s because the terms were all defined by people on the east coast some time ago.
- Cyberdog 5y agoI grew up in Northern California, as in one county away from the Oregon border, and was confused by a child when people referred to the Sacramento and San Francisco areas as "Northern California" since we had to drive several long hours south to get there.
- fuzzfactor 5y agoWhen I was growing up in South Florida (which does not include any of Florida's Gulf Coast no matter its latitude) in the very old days, they came out with a John Wayne movie called "North to Alaska" which had a catchy soundtrack. For us it was always "North to Orlando" :)
- breput 5y agoThere is a spectrum and it isn't just a east coast thing. I think you can basically divide it out where the primary crop is wheat vs. corn/soybeans, and where the crop irrigation starts. As you drive from east to west, you can feel exactly where this line occurs. People move around a lot - and let me tell you about what actual western residents like old CO front range and Montana residents think about SV California people moving in. But there is a bell curve-type shape as you move west of a certain kind of individualism, which tails off in central CA. You don't have to get much east beyond SF/Mountain View to get to the "real west".
- abraae 5y agoFuck covid, I want to be there.
- earthbee 5y agoLooking at the source to that webpage got a chuckle out of me
- technothrasher 5y agoThis makes me nostalgic for the Dayton Hamvention flea market back in the early 1990s. There was always a ton of 8-bit computer stuff and I used to load up every year on cheap deals on Amiga, C64/128, Atari 400/800/ST, TI 99/4A, et al. I'd get boxes and boxes of stuff for almost no money. My favorite find was a C64 with serial number S00001185. Still the second earliest known C64 outside of prototypes. I got it with a couple other C64's and a bunch of software for $5. I haven't been to the Hamvention in many years now. The old Hara arena where it was held in those days is gone, and if there is still any 8-bit computer stuff at the flea market I can't imagine it is cheap any longer.
- th0ma5 5y agoI have been to a few in the last decade. I picked up some Atari joysticks pretty cheap. I wasn't in the market for too many things, but there were lots of things to be had. You almost have to go there with a list of things that you have in mind. I primarily wanted to get a very large high voltage variable capacitor for a decent price, but I actually found out that everybody wants that and they go for a regular price most everywhere. I did see some vintage computer stuff going for a hefty price, but really not much vintage computer stuff really.
- ChicagoDave 5y agoI’ll be going and trying to auction my DecWriter III.
- flyinghamster 5y agoMy high school had one of those, and a couple Decwriter IIs, on their PDP-11. The III, in its day, was absolutely amazing. My office had a III sitting in a storeroom years ago, which got pitched in a move. I had no place to keep it, otherwise I would have tried to save it. One of the keycaps was busted as well, and I had no idea how much restoration it would have needed.
- ralphc 5y agoI attended the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 8 a couple of weeks ago, here's the pictures I took. https://imgur.com/gallery/hi5Yb50 https://imgur.com/gallery/hi5Yb50
- capableweb 5y agoAnd for even more photos, probably thousands, see this page from the linked website (aggregation of visitors own photos/videos): http://vcfmw.org/past.html http://vcfmw.org/past.html
- slipperlobster 5y agoHey fellow Southern Fried attendee! I'm glad we were able to do it this year. The room set aside for the vintage computers was great.
- GnarfGnarf 5y ago"Vintage"? Hah! Vintage is IBM 1403, IBM 360, CDC 6600, Univac 1101, DataGen Eclipse, PDP 11/34, VAX 730, HP 3000.
- Silent700 5y agoWe've had all of the last five at the show before. Older than that is "Antique."
- andromaton 5y agoI'll be there. Maybe I'll find an Atari 400 or 800. Those were aspirational when all i could and did buy with my Lego money was a Zx81. Or a (white, Forth running) Jupiter Ace.