RetroChallenge 2021-10 Entry

[jeremybh1]

Hi Everyone
I’m happy to participate as I’ve taken on a huge collection of Macintosh related printed material including manuals, posters and books. The scanning has been completed and I’d like to share it here for October. Half the work is summarising what I’ve done so people can see it!

[europlus]

Don’t forget to enter at RetroChallenge site to be in the running!

[feilipu]

Saw the ACMS link on the RetroChallenge entry form. So decided to stop by.

My challenge is in two parts.

1. Extend my Sept 2021 8085 CPU Module for RC2014 to support the Am9511A APU (Floating Point Module), and other /WAIT enabled RC2014 Modules.
2. Build driver support to allow it to be used from C, BASIC, and assembly.

I’m probably going to post most stuff to either the RC2014 forum, where the 8085 CPU Module thread has been for some time, and the rest will appear as PRs in z88dk or MS BASIC repositories.

The RetroChallenge blog is however on my site on 8085 CPU on the Z80 Bus, on the bottom half of the page.

[europlus]

Hey @feilipu, welcome to the ACMS Forums (Fora?) - just post blog updates here and, if the summary doesn’t say anything useful, throw in a para or two as a description so we can see what you’re up to

Talk soon,

Sean

[feilipu]

Moved the first post here.

[europlus]

I must admit most of that is above my head, but sounds like you’ve got a handle on it!

I’ve always loved the look of the RC2014 - reminds me of the S-100 computers built from boards.

Talk soon,

Sean

[europlus]

Here’s the details of the WOzFests I’m holding - feel free to join via Google Meet.

And I might even be able to have 10 attendees at WOzFest 22!

[europlus]

Hi @feilipu - sorry, got confused - start a new topic for your entry and post the details and update/s there - then each entrant gets their own topic

[feilipu]

Fixed with this post.

[jeremybh1]

RetroChallenge 2021 Summary Jeremy Barr-Hyde

I’m proud to say I’ve been able to

• Summarise the work
• Get all files online

There is still work to be done but my entry focuses on discovering Maxwell Burnett’s 35mm DEC Australia slide archive and then some cool mid 1990s Apple posters. I understand this is not a hardware based entry.

I’ll copy and paste my blog post here for convenience

The aim of this blog post it to highlight the availability of over 400 images that have been scanned from the DEC Computer archives and Apple Computer, Inc. posters from the mid 1990s.

DEC Computer museum content - rising from the ashes but not quite a Phoenix

Source: My understanding is the DEC Museum of Australia held these slides and were maintained by Max Burnett Part of the challenge was ensuring slides were scanned and put back in the original order, and hand-written notes kept.

Most people will be viewing these online (opposed to TIFF files) so I’ve come up with a non-destructive watermark solution that captions each photo with the file name. This applies to the online gallery photos only - the originals are not watermarked and will be made freely available soon. If Max left a note like “CSIRAC Launch Group” then that will be displayed on the lower border.

The workflow is easier as I have decided upon a file naming convention and border/watermark process. However approximately 200 more 35mm slides remain to be scanned. Interestingly they are of DEC Computer employees and not just hardware photos. I believe when finished, this archive will be an unique resource for nostaliga over the legacy of hardware and the team that built it. So often we see photos and collections of hardware and not the effort behind them.

The initial gallery is publicly available via the official ACMS Facebook group/photo gallery: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AusVintage


Note: A great deal of consideration has gone into the physical scanning of these slides but dust and debris remain. This is due in part to some being interpositives. Meaning they are not directly from a camera, but duplicates from a master set.

Alongside the scans of 35mm slides was all the printed materials found in the folders, for example Maxwell Burnett's slide notes that accompanied one of his many DEC presentations. I will be looking for volunteers to rename the PDFs when made available.

 

Apple Computer, Inc - Mid 1990s Posters now available for high resolution download or PDF

Michael Patterson of Canberra, Australia, kept a wonderful range of Apple developer resources from his time working as a programmer and university IT manager. I was fortunate enough to pickup hardware, software and printed materials from his estate and have been working in my hobby time to digitse what I can. A recent A3 scanner purchase has enabled me to tackle these huge foldout brochures and posters. I believe they are presented online for the first time and are freely available for direct, high speed download via the Google Drive link. Search for folder Apple Brochures; Posters; Stickers and employee business cards.


The RetroChallenge was motiviation for me to do the post processing work (e.g stitching, descreening) and 'get them done'. 1200dpi TIFF files and 8 parts to stitch together isn't always fun but we go there and the results speak for themselves. New for this month include and single page examples:

• Apple - How you can use Macintosh color separation process poster (foldout 8x8 A4)
• Apple Color Design poster 1994 - A2 double sided
• The Human Mind - Apple HyperCard Freedom to Associate (2x2 A3 promotional booklet)

 

I hope someone will engage with the links or content and find happiness in these relics being brought to life.