Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023 Recap

I've just returned from Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023.  I had a great time during my first year as an exhibitor.  The thing I enjoyed most were seeing so many people enjoying the computers I brought along...

Many types of people enjoyed the computers, from those who have never gotten to work on a NeXT machine because they were too young to those who had used the Apple Power Mac G3 w/ the 21" Studio Display back in the day.  It was so much fun hearing about peoples memories with these computers,  answering questions, or hearing small parts of many many different stories.  It was a really great time.

I was also able to connect with some of my favorite YouTubers, purchasing a boxed game from David Murray (the 8-bit guy), meeting Adrian Black for the first time, and even recording a YouTube Short for RetroTech Chris, in addition to hanging out with Steve from Mac84 and Ron from Ron's Computer Videos who I had met 2 years ago at VCF Midwest for the first time.

Also, I was able to purge several project machines that I'd lost interested in onto the "Free Pile".  Hopefully my failures can become part of a successful repair or refurbishment for another collector.  One of my friends, Matt, had a table right next to the free pile and he gave me a couple of items off the pile that he had recovered.  The crowds were so large that the good stuff came and left the free pile pretty quickly!

One goal I had set for myself was to buy only parts and pieces for projects that I already had pending.  I didn't want to leave VCF with a bunch of new projects and I was able to accomplish that goal!  I found many parts and pieces that I was looking for, mostly on Sunday.  I waited till about 11AM on Sunday to make offers.  With only a few hours left in the show many of the vendors were happy to make deals.  I have 4 or 5 projects now that I can complete with parts that I found at the show, including hard to find parts like: a DEC keyboard w/ a PS/2 port, a SUN CRT, and a New Old Stock Floppy Drive.

In summary I had a wonderful time at VCF Midwest 2023.  There were some growing pains that go along with the number of people at the show but my overall impression was quite positive and I hope to return as an exhibitor next year with a completely different set of computers to show and to share.

Preparing for VCF Midwest 2023 - September 9 and 10

I'm heading back to VCF Midwest this year and I couldn't be more excited about it.  I consider the year of the pandemic (2020) as my first VCF because I eagerly watched all the sessions (the event was online only that year).  The following year (2021) I attended for the first time in person.  I was able to pickup a NeXTstation during that show and meet so many interesting people including regular collectors like myself and a few YouTubers like Clint from LGR and David Murray, The 8-Bit Guy.  I missed last year (2022) but ended up buying several machines before the show from a local friend who has been downsizing his collection.

This year I decided that I'd like to try to exhibit.  I was inspired by a couple of different sources.  The first was a history book that presents computer history as a series of computing stories.  This book made an impression on me this year and left me thinking about the importance of teaching computer history to the next generation.  Last year Bill Degnan gave an interesting talk about how to build a Vintage Computer Museum at VCF Midwest.  I found his idea of building exhibits one at a time and looking for opportunities to display them pretty interesting and so this year I'm taking advantage of the opportunity at VCF Midwest to bring this exhibit...

The title of my exhibit this year is "Engineering Workstations of the 1990's".  This was a time when I was going to school and early in my career.  I really wanted one of these specialized machines, but never had anything other than a PC.

The first computer I'll be displaying is the NeXT NextStation from 1990 I've already mentioned.  It's had a bit of preventative maintenance since its last appearance at VCF in 2021, and it works great.  Come and check out some of the applications I've installed and maybe even surf the web a bit with frogfind.com.

The next computer I'll be showing is the Digital Equipment AlphaServer 300 from 1996.  This machine is running Windows NT 4.0, an OS that I experimented with back in the day (on PC hardware) but never used at work.  As I have learned about the history of Windows NT and its chief architecture David Cutler I've wondered if the DEC Alpha may have been the primary development target for Windows NT.  There isn't very much software for the machine, but you can come and try out what I've been able to install so far at VCF.  Perhaps we'll find some other applications to install during the show.

Finally, the last computer is an Apple Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White from 1999 that I have recently upgraded.  The G3 B&W is a machine that I had at home back in the day and shows an amazing progression during the 90s from the expensive and rare NeXTstation to the much more affordable G3, becoming so affordable that it could be purchased as a home computer.  Come and check out all the different OSes I have installed on this machine, including Rhapsody.

There is an interesting "what if" scenario about a pivotal event in computer history that ties these machines together but I will save that story for the show.  Stop by my table if you are there!  I'll be in the "Big Iron" room, table D33.