Retro Computer Festival 5th/6th Nov 2022

[dodgy-dxer]

Originally Posted by Phil__G

Thanks G, I must pay more attention in class
Booked in sat & sun, looking forward to it, my first visit!
Not sure about parking, the centres own car park will be full I expect...

Their car park looks very small

The retail park parking just off Newmarket road looks an easy walk over the railway bridge? I dont think that parking is restricted in any way but please check yourself, it may have a time limit

Cambridge has multiple Park and Ride car parks but I don't know if any bus stop is close, the Newmarket Road P&R bus will pass by the Retail park but whether it stops or not?

Cambridge City has been anti car for at least 40+ years

The Cambridge Museum of Technology is on the other side of Newmarket Road opposite the retail park, another interesting visit (I am told as I have not made it so far!). It has a large "Pye" collection

Fred


Fred

[dodgy-dxer]

Originally Posted by dodgy-dxer

The retail park parking just off Newmarket road looks an easy walk over the railway bridge?

Cambridge has multiple Park and Ride car parks but I don't know if any bus stop is close, the Newmarket Road P&R bus will pass by the Retail park but whether it stops or not?

Cambridge City has been anti car for at least 40+ years

The Cambridge Museum of Technology is on the other side of Newmarket Road opposite the retail park, another interesting visit (I am told as I have not made it so far!). It has a large "Pye" collection

Fred


Fred

Update

Newmarket Road Park and Ride has a stop on Newmarket Road by the Retail Park so an easy walk to the Museum

https://cambridgeparkandride.info/newmarketroad.shtml

Frequent services up to around 6pm on a Sunday

£3 return includes the parking

Valid Concessions are FREE at weekends

Fred

[Phil__G]

Thanks Fred, good info for first-time visitors.
I'm staying 2.5 miles away so unless its pouring I've decided to cycle in, I've a folder
My show-&-tell bits will easily fit in a back-pack
Cheers
Phil

[dodgy-dxer]

Originally Posted by Phil__G

Thanks Fred, good info for first-time visitors.
I'm staying 2.5 miles away so unless its pouring I've decided to cycle in, I've a folder
My show-&-tell bits will easily fit in a back-pack
Cheers
Phil

Cambridge is very accommodating to cyclists

Feel free to cycle on pavements and pedestrian crossings, ignore red lights and do anything else you like!

I have put a note in my diary as it would be an easy visit for me, Saturday one of the larger amateur radio shops has an open day so probably on Sunday

Fred

[Phil__G]

Ooh I remember the open days at Lowes near Matlock... leave your wallet at home!

[NealCrook]

@Phil_G - looking forward to showing you ZEN assembler reassembling itself on my Nascom 1

Neal

[Phil__G]

I'd better bring a big memory stick! For a few years, between the retired Nascom-1 and my first CP/M box (Fergy Big Board), I had an Eaca Colour Genie and Zen was my zeap replacement.
I loved it but have long forgotten everything I knew about Zen, all the edit commands etc... I still have the Genie but most of my tapes disappeared and the remaining ones are unreadable At the time I did an RTTY transceiver, Morse transceiver, a speech synth, eprom blower, using Zen - it ran a modest BBS for a while too, though most of that was in basic. all good fun and Zen was such a cool name!
Very much looking forward to meeting everyone
Cheers
Phil

[cmjones01]

Due to a change of plans I'm now expecting to be in Cambridge on the 5th, so I've just booked my ticket to the event. My house is only a few minutes' walk from the Centre for Computing History and I have a modest lab setup there, so if anyone finds themselves in urgent need of a scope, power supply or soldering iron I might be able to help!

Regarding travel there, Saturday and Sunday traffic around the Coldham's Lane/Newmarket Road junction is usually horrific. The concentration of big shops usually means lots of traffic jams at popular times. If coming by car, try to approach CFCH from the East along Coldham's Lane. You won't waste as much time in traffic jams. There is plenty of parking at the retail parks over the bridge, but that can get congested. It may not be too hard to find on-street parking in the streets to the south of Coldham's Lane. There are no restrictions there as far as I remember, though there are some width restrictions which are good for practising precision driving! I'll be going by bike...

Chris

[coolsnaz2]

Got my ticket for the Festival tomorrow, my first visit to the Centre for Computing History.

Looking forward to meeting a few MK14 enthusiast.

[SiriusHardware]

Are you going to take your Pi-VDU and superfast loader along? I would think they would be of great interest to some of the visitors, not to mention some of the exhibitors.

[coolsnaz2]

SiriusHardware

I was going to bring a couple of M5Sticks in my pocket with the Fast Loader installed, but not the Pi-VDU. The Pi-VDU is not yet ready for showcasing, maybe next year.

[Pamphonica]

I’ve just set up my demos (good old school mechanical plotting!) and the rooms are crammed full of great computers, large and small. Should be a great event to visit!
If you see a row of HP computers and plotters, do stop and say hello.
- Jeremy

[Timbucus]

I am setup in the classroom - not had room for a lot of the stuff I brought and need an hour tinkering with the Triton this morning as it had a keyboard fault… see me at the sign of the hat!

[SiriusHardware]

Surely a wizard's hat is something he is never not seen in? Like Judge Dredd and his helmet...

I really wish I could have been there but SWMBO hasn't seen me for the previous two weekends so I had to show up for this one, no way to get out of it.

Tim, you never mentioned whether you managed to get a sample of one of those MK14 themed T-shirts made and whether it turned out all right. I'm still interested if they ever come to fruition.

[ScottishColin]

Enjoy everyone. Wish I could be there.

Colin.

[Timbucus]

Indeed I did get a t shirt made - website down so will post a discount code to make it cost price as soon as it is back up…

Just got back from the pub so excuse the dishevelled state!

[SiriusHardware]

Well done Tim - allowing for the relative unsteadiness of the subject, that looks quite good

I see your MK14 setup must have attracted some attention, as we already have a new joiner who was enquiring about the Hamblett display fitted to your issue VI. I've directed him to the relevant post.

[Realtime]

Had a great time at the Retro Computer Festival yesterday. Very nice to meet Timbucus, Coolsnaz2 and Phil__G in person and I'm sure there were others that I didn't get the names of. The centre for computing history doesn't look like much from the outside but there was lot's going on inside. An amazing range of equipment on display from the exhibitors and of course the centre's own displays were all accessible too. Managed to get 'Realview' set up alongside Tim's retro gear. Was the first time I'd seen a real SoC VDU card and Tim graciously allowed me to plug the DM8678 character generator replacement into it to see if it would work - and it did!

Another highlight was seeing the original prototype of the ZX Spectrum. Looked just like something you would have made yourself on a 6U vero card back in the day.

[ScottishColin]

I was wondering where you found that MK14 logo from? I can't find it and I was looking at printing some beermats on my printer.....

Colin.

Originally Posted by Timbucus

Indeed I did get a t shirt made - website down so will post a discount code to make it cost price as soon as it is back up…

Just got back from the pub so excuse the dishevelled state!

Attachment 267487

[Realtime]

"SC/MP inside" baseball caps. A must have accessory!