Vintage Computer Festival 8.0 Event Guide
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Vintage Computer Festival 8.0 Saturday & Sunday, November 5-6 Computer History Museum Mountain View, California
This is your complete VCF 8.0 event guide! Vintage Computer Festival 8.0 happens this coming Saturday and Sunday, November 5th and 6th, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
The doors open at 9:30am each day. Speaker sessions begin at 10:00am and run until 2:00pm. The exhibit and marketplace open at 2:00pm and run until 6:00pm.
Admission is $12 per person per day for full event access, including the speakers, exhibits and marketplace, or $7 per person per day for exhibit and marketplace only (exhibit and marketplace open at 2:00pm each day). Parking is free, and kids 17 and under are admitted free of charge.
Homebrew Computer Club Retrospective
The VCF in conjunction with the DigiBarn Computer Museum is proud to present a 30th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Homebrew Computer Club, the legendary Silicon Valley insbreastution that helped to launch the era of the personal computer. Bruce Damer of the DigiBarn Computer Museum will moderate this panel of former Homebrew members, including Steve Wozniak, Lee Felsenstein, Allen Baum, Len Shustek, Bob Lash and Michael Holley.
Join the panel as they recount their experiences and gab with the group as we feast on some yummy cake, courtesy of the DigiBarn:
VCF 8.0 Speaker Schedule
The speaker schedule for VCF 8.0 is as follows:
Saturday, November 5
Time Session breastle Speaker(s) ------- -------------------------------------- -------------------- 10:00am Film Screening: The Future of Pinball Greg Maletic
11:00am IOCCC Award Presentation Ceremony Landon Curt Noll
12:00pm VCF Shenanigans Sellam Ismail
1:00pm Homebrew Computer Club Retrospective Steve Wozinak Lee Felsenstein Join us in a celebration of the 30th Len Shustek anniversary of the founding of the Michael Holley Homebrew Computer Club. Moderated by Bob Lash Bruce Damer of the DigiBarn. Allen Baum
Okay, let's try this again; a power glitch caused my machine to crash, but apparently not before it spat out...
Sunday, November 6
Time Session breastle Speaker(s) ------- -------------------------------------- -------------------- 10:00am A History of the Smart Card Jerry Svigals
11:00am Yack 'N Hack: Computers Talk Back Deborah Norling
12:00pm A Personal Re-telling of Personal Dave Freeman Computer Retailing
12:30pm Nerd Trivia Challenge! Evan Koblentz and three Uber Nerds Are you up to the Challenge? Hosted vying for the prize! by Evan Koblentz, editor of the Computer Collector Newsletter
1:00pm In The Beginning: A BBS History Christian Wirth Discussion Joe Russack Ernie Longmire A panel discussion to follow-up the screening of BBS Documentary on day one of the VCF. Moderated by director Jason Scott.
For complete details on this year's speaker series including session abstracts and speaker biographies, visit:
Nerd Trivia Challenge
The Nerd Trivia Challenge is a trivia contest to test the knowledge of the most serious computer history buffs. Contestants are chosen from VCF attendees who qualify for play by taking a preliminary quiz upon arrival at the VCF on Saturday, November 5. Those applicants scoring highest on the preliminary quiz will be selected to compete in the Nerd Trivia Challenge on Sunday, November 6, at 12:30pm.
The Nerd Trivia Challenge is being hosted by Evan Koblentz, editor of the Computer Collector Newsletter:
To participate in the Nerd Trivia Challenge, ask to take the NTC preliminary quiz when you arrive at the VCF registration desk.
Film Screenings
The VCF is proud to present the first ever public screening of a new documentary film breastled "The Future of Pinball":
The Future of Pinball is a new documentary on the recent history of the pinball industry. The showing is a beta version of the film and VCF attendees will have a chance to help direct the final cut based on the feedback they provide.
Sarr J. Blumson Well, I wouldn't trust my memory either. :-) But I believe the 1620 only had 4 data bits, or at least only 4 that were visible. It could only represent 0-9; characters required...
Be sure to catch director Greg Maletic's talk on Saturday, November 5, at 10:00am.
The VCF will also be reprising a screening of BBS Documentary:
The screening will take place on Saturday, November 5, and the film will be shown in its entirety to all VCF attendees. On Sunday, November 6, join director Jason Scott and three of the subjects from the film at the BBS history panel at 1:00pm.
Tours and Excursions
Guided tours of the Computer History Museum Visible Storage Debt Collection will be conducted on Saturday, November 5, with Visible Storage open for self-guided tours on Sunday, November 6.
For those interested in touring the DigiBarn Computer Museum, curator Bruce Damer will lead an excursion into the Santa Cruz mountains that will disembark from the VCF at 3:00pm.
Complete details and tour times are available on the VCF 8.0 website:
When I was in high-school there was a Univac 9200 that we were trying to get running...
Bring On The Exhibits!
Once again the VCF has attracted some rather fascinating exhibits. Check out what we've got in store for VCF 8.0:
We look forward to having you at the Vintage Computer Festival. I'll see you there!
Charlie Gibbs There was a whole art to calculating optimized block sizes for various S-360 tapes and disks. As you said, the maximum was theortical only...
Best regards,
Sellam Ismail Producer Vintage Computer Festival