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Podium

VCFSW Panels & speakers

We have a variety of speakers giving talks on their industry experience, teaching a class, or joining a panel discussion. We're currently building the list of speakers for 2024 so check back regularly!

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If you have something interesting to present please reach out to us!

panels

The Streamers Panel

Saturday @ 3:30PM

A Vintage Computer Festival tradition. We'll gather the creators and streamers attending the show and they'll tell you about their experiences and let you ask questions.

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Scheduled to Appear:
Clint Basinger (LGR)
Adrian Black (Adrian's Digital Basement)
Thomas Cherryhomes (tschak909)
Kate Fox (Macintosh Librarian)
David Lovett (Usagi Electric)
Sean Malseed (Action Retro)
David Murray (The 8-Bit Guy)
June Tate-Gans (Nybbles and Bytes)

Jeff Wires (Chronologically Gaming)

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Moderated by Steve Diederich (The VintNerd)

Hardware is Hard

Saturday @ 12:45PM

A light-hearted panel discussion hosted by Dave Park of obtainium retro about the difficulties of making new hardware for old machines. The panel will include Kevin Williams of TexElec, June Tate-Gans of Nybbles and Bytes, and Paul Schreiber formerly of Tandy Computer. 

Putting on a VCF... How hard can it be?

Sunday @ 10:15AM

A round-table discussion with show runners from VCFs across the country. We'll talk about the ups and downs of planning a VCF and attendees can ask questions.

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Scheduled to Appear:

Jeff Brace (VCF East and VCFed)

Jason Timmons (VCF Midwest)

Jim Leonard (VCF Midwest)

Micki Diederich (VCF SoCal)

Earl Baugh Jr. (VCF Southeast)

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Moderated by Kyle Petree (VCF Southwest)

Archiving and Preservation Panel

Sunday @ 2PM

Join John Hardie, Ian Baronofsky, Adrian Black, and Gene Toye and friends as they discuss the process and equipment necessary to archive and preserve software from old mediums like floppy discs.

Speakers
alex anderson-mcleod

Taking Apart the Past - Reverse Engineering Vintage Computers - Saturday @ 9:00am

Alex and Will will talk about what it takes to reverse-engineer vintage computer hardware and software, using the Apple Lisa and its computing ecosystem as a practical example. Subjects covered will range from tools of the trade; how the multifaceted process of reverse engineering works; the philosophy and rationale behind reverse engineering; and why it's necessary for the long-term preservation of computer hardware and software.

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About the presenter: 

Alex is a senior in electrical engineering at the University of South Carolina who has an intense interest in the Apple Lisa computer. He enjoys collecting, repairing, and writing software for Lisas and has reverse-engineered and created open-source replicas of several of the Lisa's boards. He also created a low-cost Arduino-based hard drive emulator and tester for the Lisa called the ArduinoFile and has plans for many more Lisa-related devices in the works.

  • Alex's GitHub
anne balsamo
Marketing a Revolution: The Story Behind Apple's Iconic Super Bowl Commercial - Friday @ 3:15pm

Discussion with Anne Balsamo and Henry Whitfield (former Marketing Director at Apple Computer) about the making of Apple's 1984 Super Bowl Ad and how it launched the "Think Different" campaign and redefined advertising.

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About the presenter: 

Dr. Anne Balsamo is the Director of the Media Archeology Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she is a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Art, Humanities, and Technology. Her research, exhibit design, and art works examine the cultural implications of emerging technologies. In 1998, she joined the research staff at Xerox PARC where she was a member of the Research in Experimental Documents (RED) Group — a research-design team that explored possible long-range cultural impacts of Xerox technologies. Her book, Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work, discusses the work of the RED group and her theory of cultural innovation.

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Boisy Pitre
Porting OS-9 to the Foenix F256 - Friday @ 3:15pm

The Foenix F256 is a new retro computing platform for 6502 and 6809 enthusiasts. In this presentation, I talk about how I approached porting the OS-9 operating system to this exciting system.

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​About the presenter: 

Boisy's retro-computing interests lie primarily in the home computers of the 1980's, notably the Tandy Color Computer (aka CoCo). Along with Bill Loguidice, Boisy co-authored the book ''CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy's Underdog Computer'' (2013), published by Taylor & Francis.

  • Web Link Icon
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charles sobey
New Value in Old Data: Recovering Legacy Tapes - Saturday @ 2:00pm

Plano-based ChannelScience is developing breakthrough technology for the US Department of Energy to recover irreproducible scientific data stored on deteriorating legacy magnetic tapes.

About the presenter: 
Chuck directs the application of signal processing, probability analysis, and error correction coding (ECC) for ChannelScience’s clients. His expertise includes emerging and novel data-centric applications in semiconductor memory, storage, archiving, and networking. He has secured $1.6M in funding from the US Department of Energy to prototype magnetic sensing and signal processing innovations. These will enable access to irreproducible datasets stored on deteriorating legacy magnetic media, unlocking “new value from old data” for machine learning. 

  • Channel Science Website
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Christopher (TJBChris) Hyzer
“Big” Tandy Systems: A retrospective to learning about, and living with, 8” systems in the 21st century - Saturday @ 10:15am

This is a late-comer retrospective on my time with the Tandy 8” systems.   Prior to the Model II Archive and floppy disk emulation being ubiquitous, very little software or info was available for these systems, and finding knowledge was difficult.  But with the many changes in recent years, new hardware, emulators, and software are available, and a whole community has formed.  The systems have become much more accessible to hobbyists.  I’ll go over my time with these systems, the community, and what it’s like being new to systems that are “new” to the larger retro computing enthusiast.

About the presenter: 
TJBChris is a life-long Tandy/Radio Shack user and enthusiast. He credits his successful career on his first computer: a Tandy Color Computer 3, which along with the OS-9 operating system taught him the fundamentals of *nix-style operating systems and system fundamentals. His collection of Tandy systems spans almost all of Tandy’s product lines, and his thirst for Tandy history and trivia is unquenchable. You can find him on YouTube.

  • Youtube
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cory smith

BASIC Past, Present, and Future - Saturday @ 2pm

Part history and part analysis of how BASIC has changed and yet remained unchanged for 60 years; including the "Microsoft" influence (of almost 50 years).

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Hands-On with QBasic - Sunday @ 12:45

Let's write some code... no previous experience necessary!

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About the presenter: 

Cory Smith is a genuine fan of the BASIC computer language and software developer by profession using some variant of BASIC (for the most part) over the past 30 plus years.

  • gotBASIC Website
cory Wiegersma

History of the MiniDisc Format - Friday @ 2pm

The history of the MD format and some common misconceptions esp w/re US law pertaining to digital home recording.

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About the presenter: 

Cory has been involved with vintage tech since before it was vintage and has been running a vintage Mac forum for about fifteen years now. He got into Minidisc in 2021 as an additional Pandemic Hobby and it has since become his primary research project and music tool.

david murray

Updates to the Commander X16 - Friday @ 2pm

David Murray and Kevin Williams will show off the new network card and MIDI card for the Commander X16, as well as a sneak peak at some of the other upcoming hardware.

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About the presenter: 

David Murray is a well-known Youtuber in the retro-computer and electronics space.

  • YouTube
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jeff wires
Playing Every Computer Video Game! - Saturday @ 10:15am

Jeff Wires and is trying something that has never been done before. He's playing every video game in order of release! He runs a live show where guests can remote in and play games every weekday at 9pm central and the recordings are posted on YouTube. Jeff started with the year 1971 and played every video game (consoles, handhelds, computer and arcade) in the 70s and we are now in the 80s!
Show Streams LIVE Every Weekday at 9pm Central

  • YouTube
  • Twitch
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john hardie
Starting a Museum - Sunday @ 11:30am
Join John Hardie as he discusses starting the National Videogame Museum and the history of how they got to where they are today.

John discovered the magic of Pong like most early generation gamers and became an Atari fan, buying their various game systems and computers. Along with his quest for information about the industry, he began collecting physical artifacts and prototypes in 1986. John has written for various publications, created and organized conventions, helped create a traveling videogame museum and is co-founder and on-site Director of the National Videogame Museum. John is still the ultimate Atari Fan to this day, using their old computers almost daily in his spare time.

  • National Videogame Museum
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Leo binkowski

Internet Before Its Time - The NABU Network - Friday @ 4:30PM

This is a story about how in 1982, A Canadian company called NABU built a cable software distribution system, a computer to go with it, and a whole bunch of software, original and licensed. The software was distributed at 6.3Mbps over any cable system and even satellite, essentially providing broadband software distribution long before the internet was common.

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About the Presenter:

Leo Binkowski is a software developer that got his start writing video games right out of high school. He started part time and eventually worked his way up to Director of Content Development at the NABU Network, a computer and software distribution company in Canada.

  • NABU
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marcel erz
Introduction to Digital Electronics: From Schematics to Circuits - Saturday @ 10:15am
Join me for an immersive crash course in digital electronics, where you'll learn to read simple schematics and assemble digital circuits on a breadboard. This workshop is geared toward beginners who want to extend their vintage computers. It offers hands-on experience with standard IC components and breadboards, covering the fundamentals of digital circuit design. Materials will be provided.
 
Mastering PCB Design with KiCAD: From Concept to Creation - Saturday @ 2pm
Dive into the world of PCB design with KiCAD in this workshop, which is geared towards beginners. From crafting schematics to generating PCB layouts and ordering prototypes, you'll gain practical skills applicable to vintage computing and beyond. Templates for schematics for a few vintage computer extensions (e.g. memory extensions) will be provided.
 
About the presenter: 
While a software engineer by profession, Marcel has always been deeply interested in electronics, specifically digital electronics. In recent years, he has devoted time to explore the low-level implementation of computer systems. Over the last few years, he began analyzing schematics of vintage computers to understand their workings and developed extensions for them, including for the Apple 1 and Ti99/4A. Most recently, he began open-sourcing some of his latest creations on GitHub, which includes a reimplementation of the TRS-80 Model 1 and a disk controller for the Exidy Sorcerer.
 
  • RetroStack Website
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monty mcgraw
How does Tektronix Color-Enhanced DVST Work? - Saturday @ 9:00am
Tektronix lead the market in the 1970's and early 1980's with direct view storage tube technology. I will present the original Tektronix DVST technology introduced in 1963 and discuss how it is used in my Tektronix 4054A exhibit which includes an Option 30 Dynamic Graphics coprocessor and Option 31 Color-Enhanced Dynamic Graphics storage tube CRT.
 
About the presenter: 
I used a Tektronix 4051 vector graphics microcomputer in the 1970's at my first job out of university. This was a great experience with with a completely self-contained microcomputer running BASIC in ROM with internal DC100 tape drive and external GPIB peripherals like 8-inch floppy drives, digitizing tablet and built-in 12-inch flat storage tube CRT with 1024x780 vector graphics resolution. This was years before the emergence of the Apple II and other home computers. I then worked at Texas Instruments, Compaq Computer, Hewlett Packard and Hewlett Packard Enterprise designing and architecting PC compatible computers and servers.

I collected a Tektronix 4052 with same CRT as the 4051 and a 4054 with a 19-inch storage tube display in 2000 and have been posting on github 4050 BASIC programs that I have recovered from tapes and writing new 4050 BASIC programs ever since. I also designed my Flash Drive replacement for the 4050 internal tape using an Arduino with microSD card for storage connected to the 4050 GPIB connector and supporting all the 4050 BASIC tape commands and added a directory command so the microSD can hold all the 100's of MB of files I have recovered.
  • Youtube
petar puskarich
GlobalTalk - Bringing AppleShare to the World for Old and New Computers Alike - Sunday @ 2:00pm
This presentation will cover the process of hosting your files on the GlobalTalk network for vintage Apple computers.  From the Apple II to the newer Macs.  Hosting via Emulator or Real Deal vintage Macintosh computers and sharing AppleTalk over the Internet.  What is it?  How do I set it up?  What's involved?  What can you do with it?
 
About the presenter: 
Petar Puskarich is a vintage Apple II and Macintosh user/collector/archeologist of sorts.  He has used the machines since 1984 and has amassed a large collection of most all of the models from the Rev 4 Apple II through the early Intel Macs.  Many highlights of the collection are on display in his booth this year.  Petar also dabbles with networking , ham radio, and audio/video production using early Macintosh hosts.
  • Youtube
shane grieve

Machines from Around the World Are Not Like the Others - Saturday @ 11:30am

Eastern European, British, and Australian machines.

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About the presenter: 

Traveler and collector of machines from around the world

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steve lewis

Domesticating the Computer (1950 to 1980) - Sunday @ 12:45pm

A tour of various computer systems across several decades, with a focus on the 1970s. This talk is a tribute to the progress that brought us the Information Age and is an overview of several contenders as "the first personal computer."
 

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About the presenter: 

Steve Lewis is a Computer Engineer graduate from the University of Florida and has worked at Lockheed since 2001. He has an interest in history and reflects on remembering the world before "a computer in every home" became a reality. Steve has actively been part of the PC industry since the 1980s, and has collected and maintains a number of "post big iron" vintage systems (staring with his first collection of a Commodore PET rescued from a dumpster).

  • voidstar website
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Thomas Cherryhomes

FujiNet State of the Union 2024 - Saturday @ 12:45pm

An overview of the fast moving pace of the FujiNet WiFi Adapter for 8-bit systems, what systems are coming, software being worked on, and more!

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How Atari Coin-Op Development Tools Worked - Saturday @ 11:30am

Through this presentation, we show the assembler and linker used by Atari to modify a copy of Centipede, from its original source code, and subsequently assembling, linking, splitting onto ROMs, and running the resulting code.
 

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About the presenter: 

Thomas Cherryhomes is the firmware engineer and co-founder of the FujiNet project, which aims to bring the Internet to every 8-bit computer and console on planet Earth. He spends most of his time on Discord helping coordinate the distributed efforts of many FujiNet hackers.

  • FujiNet Website
  • Youtube
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Vince Briel

C.H.I.P. Tiny Single Board Color Computer Workshop - Sunday @ 9:00am

Build a 4" X 3" Color Computer (C.H.I.P.) based on the Parallax Propeller Microcontroller.

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About the presenter: 

For 13 years Vince ran Briel Computers where he recreated several vintage computer replica's. He was featured in Welcome To Macintosh documentary and he has had articles written on replica 1 project in Wired Magazine. Vince now resides in North Dallas area working for Splunk.

  • Vince's GitHub
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william tooker

Taking Apart the Past - Reverse Engineering Vintage Computers - Saturday @ 9:00am

Alex and Will will talk about what it takes to reverse-engineer vintage computer hardware and software, using the Apple Lisa and its computing ecosystem as a practical example. Subjects covered will range from tools of the trade; how the multifaceted process of reverse engineering works; the philosophy and rationale behind reverse engineering; and why it's necessary for the long-term preservation of computer hardware and software.

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About the presenter: 

Will is a systems architect (that knows just enough to be dangerous) who's had a lifelong obsession with the Macintosh... and now the Lisa. He has developed open-source versions of Lisa hardware, such as the CPU and RAM cards and a replacement PSU, and has been working on designing low-cost Mac/Lisa peripheral adapters for some of the less-common hardware out there.

  • GitHub
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