VCF Midwest 2025 Recap

It's late September and VCF Midwest #20 (2025) is in the rear-view mirror.  This was my fourth in-person visit to VCF Midwest, but I think of the online only 2020 event as my first VCF, so I've been to five total VCF events now.  It was another excellent event this year and I really enjoyed being there.

I decided a couple of months ahead of the event that I was too busy to exhibit this year so I bowed out of having a table for the first time in 2 years.  It was nice to not have to worry about prepping and I already have an exhibit idea that I'm excited about for next time.  I'll save that as a surprise for next VCF.

This year at VCF I invited along a couple of my Minnesota based retro computer friends who came for the first time.  It was more enjoyable to have a shared experience; shared meals, attending talks, and of course walking the show floor.  Of course we also talked with alot of the other Minnesota based folks that travelled to the event.

I spent a fair bit of time walking the show floor on my own looking for bits and pieces for projects.  I had planned ahead of time that I was not going to buy new projects (unless there were deals I couldn't pass up) because I already have a handful of new projects from the previous lots I purchased locally earlier this year that I haven't got too yet.  I was successful, bringing home only a small number of items from the show...

The monitor is a composite green screen that I'll pair with and resell with an Apple IIe project.  The Pizza Box computer is an HP PA RISC machine, an 712/60 from 1993.  I've been holding onto another one of these so this allowed me to get started on an HP 712/60 project which will probably be a future bLog article.  There are a couple of Apple Unidisk drives that will pair up with an Apple IIe Platinum and my IIgs systems, and most of the rest of the lot is various kits for pending or future projects.

One of the highlights of the show was the last minute addition of Lee Felsenstein.  I'd read his book earlier this year and quite enjoyed his take on the early days of home computing in the SF Bay Area.  I got to meet Lee and he signed my copy of his book...

I didn't get to talk to Lee for very long, but it was fun to meet one of the originals from the Homebrew Computer Club, certainly a highlight of the weekend for me.  One of my friends from Minnesota brought down his Sol-20 computer and Lee signed his computer manual, too.  I have an Osbourne computer, but it's a bit of a hodge-podge so I didn't bring it to show to Lee.

Sunday morning was significantly quieter at the show.  Since I didn't have a table, I just did a single lap of the show, purchased a few final items, and then headed home.  I'm already looking forward to next year.