Welcome!

[Erik Klein]

Hello Folks,

Thank you for signing up for this new effort!

This will, hopefully, be the start of a vibrant Bay Area Retro Computing community.

I'm not trying to siphon discussions away from cc:talk, the Vintage Computer forums and other venues.  I don't mind discussions on "how do I...?" or "What is...?) etc. but I'm more interested in using this list to get ourselves organized around doing things related to the hobby.  In person.

Stuff that's already been discussed like swap meets, meet ups, repair workshops and the like just need volunteers to make them happen.

And there are bound to be tons of other great ideas out there.

What I'm hoping for is a local chapter of the Vintage Computer Federation that can organize stuff in the Bay Area.

So tell your fiends!

[Boris Shpitser]

This is great! When do we start the meetups? :)

[Mariano DM]

I'm interested in starting a retro computing group.

I have several projects, like repairing my ZX spectrum (currently there is a problem in ROM connection), programming 6502 assembler in my Atari 800XL , and build some version of Ben Eater's breadboard computer.

Some guidance on hardware repairing/troubleshooting would be welcome.

I own a 1040 ST, but have not done too much with it.

Oh. and this is my pet project in Twitter: ZX spectrum Bot (try basic or assembler)

https://twitter.com/ZxSpectrumBot1

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 4:18:05 PM UTC-7 er...@vcfed.org wrote:

[Erik Klein]

>> When do we start the meetups?

We can/should start meet-ups, workshops, etc. ASAP! :)

We'll need a few things:

1. A coordinator.  Someone (or a small group) needs to step up to set dates, send invites, set topics, etc.  I'm willing to help, but someone has to lead.

2. A venue.  Where will we meet?  Are there local hackerspaces, companies, schools or other organizations with a place for us to do this?  This will be a little harder for workshops than meetings.  We can meet in a restaurant, park or other public venue.  Repair workshops need a few other resources.

3. Resources for workshops.  A typical repair effort needs a soldering station, scope, meter, other tools and spare parts.  Not everyone has these things or the expertise to use them, but almost everyone has a bit of broken kit they want to fix up.  The coordinators will need to arrange for materials and experts along with the venue.

BTW, nobody has yet mentioned swap meets, but we should arrange for those as well.  If we can find a sponsor (basically someone willing to let us fill their parking lot on a weekend) we can set up a regular event (maybe quarterly?) 

Cheers!

[Jay Cotton]

definitely up for swap meets