-= Vintage Computer Festival =-
-= Saturday, October 11 through Sunday, October 12 =-
-= 10am until 6pm Daily =-
-= Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California =-
-= http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/ =-


It's time to get OLD SCHOOL!

__ __ _ _ _ _______ _______ _______
\ \ / / | | | \ | | |__ __| /\ / _____ \ | _____|
\ \ / / | | | \ | | | | / \ | / \_| | |
\ \ / / | | | \ | | | | / /\ \ | | _____ | |_____
\ \ / / | | | |\ \| | | | / / \ \ | | |____ | | _____|
\ \/ / | | | | \ | | | / /____\ \ | | | | | |
\ / | | | | \ | | | / ________ \ | \_____/ | | |_____
\/ |_| |_| \_| |_| /_/ \_\ \_______/ |_______|

______ ______ __________ ______ _ _ ________ ______ ______
| ____ || __ || ___ _ || ____ ||| |||___ ___|| _____|| ____ |
|| |_||| |_ ||| | | | ||| |||| || || || || ||
|| || |||| | | | |||____|||| || || ||_____ ||____||
| \ || ||| \ | | | || ___|| \ || | \ | ___|| ___ \
| | _ || ||| | | | | || | | | || | | | | | | | |
| |_| |||____||| | | | | || | | |__|| | | | |___ | | | |
|______||______||__| |_| |_||__| |______| |__| |______||__| |_|

_______ _______ ____ _______ _ __ __ _
| _____|| _____| / __ \ |__ __| | | \ \ / / /\ | |
| | | | | | \_| | | | | \ \ / / / \ | |
| |_____ | |_____ | \___ | | | | \ \ / / / /\ \ | |
| _____|| _____| \___ \ | | | | \ \ / / / / \ \ | |
| | | | _ | | | | | | \ \/ / / /____\ \ | |
| | | |_____ | \__| | | | | | \ / / ________ \ | |____
|_| |_______| \____/ |_| |_| \/ /_/ \_\ |______|

_______ _______
| ___ | | ___ |
| | |_| | | / |
| |_____ | | / |
| ___ | | |/ /| |
| | | | | / | |
| |___| | _ | /__| |
|_______| |_| |_______|


[ best viewed with a fixed font, because
in my day we didn't have these fancy
proportional fonts, AND WE SURE AS HECK
DIDN'T HAVE LOWERCASE EITHER DAGNABBIT! ]

That's right! You know it's the Vintage Computer Festival littering
your inbox when you get a message that looks like the intro screen to
a BBS from the 1980s.

The time has come for those who appreciate the more utilitarian uses
of ASCII characters to celebrate another year gone by in computing
history. The Vintage Computer Festival celebrates the passing of more
great machines into the annals of history, and what better place to
celebrate than at the Computer History Museum! The fine folks at the
Museum have invited the VCF crew back again for a second year, but
this time we get to invade their spacious new 119,000 square foot
facility in Mountain View, California, home to the single largest
computer history archive on the planet!

This is what's happening at this year's Festival:


-=[ Xerox Alto 30th Birthday Bash ]=-

The Xerox Alto, the computer that introduced us to the Graphical User
Interface (GUI) and forever aliented Command-Line Interface (CLI)
programmers everywhere, has reached the ripe old age of 30. So we're
celebrating it in grand style by having a panel of past and present
Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center, the place where the Alto was
born) luminaries speak about the development of the Alto. We're also
featuring a line-up of classic Xerox machines.

The panel speakers so far include John Ellenby, Gary Starkweather, and
Mark Bernstein. More panelists are to be announced. Stay tuned!

A special Xerox Alto exhibit will accompany the presentation, courtesy
of Bruce Damer of the DigiBarn and Xerox computer afficionado Don
Woodward (winner of the Best of Show exhibit ribbon at VCF 5.0). The
exhibit will include the original Alto, an Alto II XM, and later D*
machines including the 8010 "Star", 6085 "Daybreak", and more! Many
of these machines will be running, and you'll have a chance to demo
them hands-on.

You do not want to miss this event! It is not often that you have a
chance to experiment with ancient computers that set the paradigm for
modern computing and also meet the folks who designed them.


-=[ Retro-Code Video Game Programming Challenge ]=-

We tried this last year and the results were...interesting. This year
we want some verve, some panache, some jois de vive, some ASS-KICKING
video games, and we want YOU (yes, YOU) to be involved!

Are you ready to take the Retro-Code Challege!?

Here's the deal: We'll be providing three classic computers--an Apple
//e, an Atari 800, and a Commodore 64. Each will be outfitted with
the minimum tools required to design a video game from scratch,
including technical reference manuals, general programming reference
books, and a disk operating system. We'll turn them on and boot them
up, and then turn them over to you.

We're going to assemble three teams of programmers. Each team will
have three hours to design, from scratch, the most inspiring video
game their over-stressed neurons will be able to muster.

The team with the best video game at the end of the competition will
be awarded with fabulous prizes (OK, we'll give out some consolation
prizes to the also-rans ;)

The Retro-Code contest will be held on the Saturday of the event and
will begin at 2:30PM. Teams will be chosen at 2:15PM, so arrive early
if you wish to participate. For more contest details and information,
go to:

http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/retrocode.php


-=[ Computer History Museum Mega Book Sale ]=-

Our fabulous sponsors, the Computer History Museum, will be holding a
huge book sale on Saturday, October 11, beginning at around 1:30pm.
Over 1,000 books covering contemporary technical computer topics will
be available.

The books were donated to the Museum by a very well-known individual
in the computer industry and are intended to be sold to raise money
for the Museum's operations. The Museum is also culling duplicate
titles from their own library to augment the sale. Many of the books
being pulled are very interesting old (1970s and prior) texts on
various computer-related topics. If you're a vintage computer
bookworm then you won't want to miss this sale. Visit the Museum's
website for more information:

http://www.computerhistory.org

You might also want to check out the Friends of the Palo Alto Library
book sale, which features an excellent computer and technical section
filled with many fine old computer related texts. Their sale is also
on Saturday, October 11, and is being cross-advertised with the book
sale at the Museum. Get more information here:

http://www.friendspaloaltolib.org/booksale.htm


-=[ IMSAI Series Two to be Debuted ]=-

Tom Fischer of IMSAI will debut the IMSAI Series Two, a modern-day
reincarnation of the venerable IMSAI 8080 computer. The new IMSAI
Series Two features the classic IMSAI 8080 cabinet, a newly designed
advanced IEEE-696 compatible Programmer's Front Panel, 10-slot active
termination IEEE-696 motherboard and a 350 watt switching power
supply. It's powered by a Zilog Z8S180 20Mhz microprocessor (backward
compatible to the Intel 8080) with 32K Flash memory and 1MB static
memory.

IMSAI will be exhibiting the new IMSAI products, including a brand new
Super I/O S-100 board (Serial, Parallel, IDE and much more!) in the
main hall. Also, make sure you catch Tom's talk on Sunday.

More information on the IMSAI Series Two can be found here:

http://www.imsai.net/products/imsai_series_two.htm


-=[ VCF 6.0 Speaker Schedule ]=-

We always assemble the most eccelectic bunch of computer history
experts and storytellers to entertain you during the morning hours of
the event. This year we've really out-done ourselves. We've got
THREE tracks of speakers, plus the APL Bay Area Users Group will
be holding their October meeting on-site.

Here's the current schedule:

Saturday, October 11

Time Speaker Topic
-------- ------------------- --------------------------------------
10:00 AM Evan Koblentz History of the PDA
11:00 AM Zbigniew Stachniak Microcomputing in Canada 1973-1983
11:30 AM Christine Finn Collecting the Collectors
12:00 PM Len Shustek Keynote Speech
1:00 PM Xerox Alto Panel Xerox Alto 30th Birthday Bash


Sunday, October 12

Time Speaker Topic
-------- ------------------- --------------------------------------
10:00 AM Joey Tuttle A Personal History of the IBM 5100
11:00 AM Forth Panel Using Forth with Vintage Computers
11:30 AM Todd Fischer IMSAI History & the New IMSAI Series 2
12:00 PM Sellam Ismail VCF Shenanigans
12:30 PM Jef Raskin The Humane Interface
01:00 PM Bruce Damer Joys and Trials of Computer Collecting

More speakers are to be announced soon! Check the VCF 6.0 speaker's
schedule for updates:

http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/speaker.php


-=[ Exhibit Your Vintage Computer ]=-

We're aiming to have the largest number of exhibits ever at the VCF
this year, and so we'd still like more! Consider exhibiting your
favorite vintage computer at this year's Festival.

You might say, "Well, Sellam, I've only got [such-n-such] computer
and it's not really that very interesting," to which I would reply,
"You're WRONG, fool!" Ok, I won't call you a fool, but you'll be
pleasantly surprised at the reaction you'll get exhibiting what you
may think to be simply a ho-hum computer, but that others will find
pretty fascinating. Make new friends and strike up interesting
conversations with people you don't even know. Heck, you may even
meet the girl/guy of your dreams!*

Exhibit entries will be judged and awarded ribbons in 12 different
categories. We'll also award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons for the
Best of Show exhibits, with fabulous prizes including a $100 cash
award for the Best of Show exhibit!

To register your exhibit, mosey on over to:

http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/exhibit.php

While there you can also see who else is exhibiting and what they're
bringing.


* No guarantees; bathe and brush your teeth for better results


-=[ Buy, Sell and Trade at the VCF Marketplace ]=-

As always, one of the most exciting aspects of the VCF is the
Marketplace, where you can find a large and varied assortment of some
of the most fantastical old computer thingies anywhere. Find that odd
part you've been seeking out for your collection, then touch, smell,
even taste it if you like, before haggling out a deal. There is
simply no better place to buy and sell vintage computers than at the
VCF Marketplace. For more information on selling at VCF 6.0, please
visit:

http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/vendor.php


-=[ Commodore 64 Prototype Up for Auction ]=-

VCF 6.0 will feature an auction for the only known prototype Commodore
64 in existence. The auction will be happening in the background on
our Vintage Computer Marketplace and will culminate at 3:00 PM on the
Sunday of the event. We'll announce the closing price at that time.

In the meantime, to get information about this auction (and to
participate in the bidding) go to:

http://www.vintage.org/special/2003/c64prototype/

As mentioned, the auction is being held on the newly launched Vintage
Computer Marketplace. Buy, Sell and Trade vintage computers on this
innovative new service. Check it out at:

http://marketplace.vintage.org


-=[ VCF 6.0 Sponsored by the Computer History Museum ]=-

The Vintage Computer Festival would like to extend it's fondest
gratitude to the Computer History Museum for their fifth year of
support and their second year of sponsoring the VCF directly by
hosting VCF 6.0 at their facilities.

The Museum is a fine organization with a mandate to preserve the
history of computing far into the future. They depend on your support
to carry on this legacy and we hope you'll do your part to help them
with their mission.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Computer History Museum,
visit their website at:

http://www.computerhistory.org/contribute/


So that's VCF 6.0 in a nutshell. For more information including
admission, directions, etc., please visit the VCF 6.0 website:

http://www.vintage.org/2003/main/

I'll see you at VCF 6.0!

Best regards,

Sellam Ismail
Producer
Vintage Computer Festival