Vintage Computer Festival Midwest

[Chris Davis]

Is anyone going to VCFMW in Chicago?  It's next weekend, September 7th and 8th at The Schaumburg Convention Center.  It's going to be HUGE!  33,000 square feet of exhibitors, which is more than half the size of a football field!

It's an amazing time, notorious for going late in the evening on Saturday night.  I'll be there - so look for me at tables G18 & G19.

[Chris Davis]

Oh yeah, admission is FREE.  vcfmw.org 

[John Kennedy]

Wish I could make it. Looking forward to some videos. 

Next event for me is Retro Gaming in Portland later this month. There is a new retro home computing exhibit this year. 

[Chris Davis]

Getting things ready to leave in the morning for VCFMW!  Hope to see you there!

[w9gb]

Chris -

Saw your Table at VCFMW ,on Saturday, but you had a 2-deep group of attendees.

The new Altair 8080c full sized cases, you brought, looked very nice.

I assume holes in bottom were for original Altair sized S-100 parts?

greg

[Chris Davis]

I guess I don't know about that because I did not design the cases.  They are made from Mike Douglas's original designs.  I do know they will fit Todd Goodman's 9-slot S100 motherboard.

[w9gb]

Chris -

Since you used Mike Douglas’ earlier design — that answers my question.

I have Todd’s 9-slot board as well as a CompuPro 12-slot motherboard.

I noticed the top cover on your cases had a dark gray (looked sharp).

greg

[Chris Davis]

I had the manufacturer rush out five cases for the show, so they used the color of the back plate for the top so they didn't have to mix a new color.

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

Post some info about when and where the Portland even will be.  I have a friend there and he might go take some photos ... if it's free to get in.  

.

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

Mike's design is for the S100Group 9-Slot backplane and also a couple of other backplanes.  I think one is either a 4-slot or 8-slot.  

.

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

Yeah, I built an Altair 8800c computer ... I now have a TDL ZPU board in it and use it for practicing MBASIC ... I am also doing new DAZZLER software testing on it since the computer includes a DAZZLER II board I built.  

.

[w9gb]

Chris’ table at VCFMW appears within first minute of this posted YouTube video.

https://youtu.be/IzUjTdHaTSE?si=HxSKveOXwpFNaUmt

The five S-100 Altair clone cases with the dark gray tops are clearly seen.

==

The VCFMW was 3 to 4 times the space of earlier VCFMW events.

Amazing to consider that these tables were sold out within 2 hours.

Parking lot had participants from Texas and Colorado to New York.

—

The event reminded me of a monthly DuPage county event 25th years ago, 

of Midwest computer vendors (new & surplus hardware) and software vendors.

greg

[Chris Davis]

It was very busy but much more room to move around than last year.  I really like the new venue, but getting a bottle of pop or a snack was much cheaper at the old venue!

[John Kennedy]

Was there a lot of interest in the AltairDuino at the event? Or is this "too" retro these days?

[Chris Davis]

Lots of interest.  Most guys I talked to said the original Altair was too expensive, and too hard to keep running so they were very interested in a lower cost replica.  Also a lot of interest in the 8800c.  Fortunately there was one near me that I could point out.  I'll have to try to get my 8800c ready for next year's show.  Lots of young people interested as well.  One kid maybe 10 years old knew so much about the Altair (and Elf, and Apple I, and more...)

[Stéphane Pitteloud]

very nice, can't wait to get mine! What is the case without front panel behind the Altair cases, it is a IMSAI 8080 case replica?

[Chris Davis]

That's an S100 case from Don Caprio I was trying to sell.  If anyone is interested, let me know.

[Stéphane Pitteloud]

a friend of mine might me, I ask him. What is the price? do you have a pic? Thanks