VCF SE - Atlanta, GA July 19-21st

[+acadiel]

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Normality has returned for me.  My baggage came it around 11:45pm, I picked up my car around 2am, and I am heading home soon.  It could have been a lot worse -- many people are still suffering from the effects of Thursday.  A shout out to several people, some who will likely never see this:

• Shannon DeWitt (SFGE) - Helping me secure my SFGE group room in the Sheraton in the first place.
• Shatique, front desk agent at Sheraton Suites Galleria - Finding me a no-show room after my reservation had been cancelled while I was en-route, caused by an unfortunate miscommunication.
• Susie, United Airlines baggage manager at ATL, and superhero - calling SFO to find out why none of the bags for ATL had been moved since Thursday night, and getting my baggage here ASAP.
• Earl Baugh, AHCS/VCF-SE - Making sure I got my 99/4 45th Anniversary shirt, good humor over the whole situation, and a six pack of consolation when I got in.
• @acadiel - keeping my exhibit in his garage this whole time and just being an all around froody dude, and Cara for the cookies!
• @RickyDean - Trudging up to hang out.
• @Ksarul - Trudging down to hang out, show off his Dimension 4, and possibly talking me into coming up to Chicago another year.  Look forward to seeing you next year, @iliketurtles !
• David, Eli, and Mom - visiting again this year and hanging out for a bit.  Eli gave me a good reason to go check out the indy game area, and I was not disappointed.  David, remember to hit me up every once-in-a-while about the SX-64.

"We've been... CrowdStrike struck!"

I'm so glad everything worked out and you had so many people looking out for you!  You know that when you're around here in ATL, we have your back if you need anything.  Just ask.  Sorry we weren't able to do a home cooked dinner today, but if you ever make it this way again, let me know!  We'll make it happen!

[+acadiel]

On 7/21/2024 at 6:25 AM, Vorticon said:

Would have loved to attend. Is the VCF SE the most popular one for TIers? I can plan on attending one of these events next year, but I'm not sure which one. And is it always in Atlanta?

The Vintage Computer Festivals (VCFs) are decentralized, with each event independently operated, except for VCF West. Our VCF Southeast (VCF-SE) is held in Atlanta, hosted by the Atlanta Historical Computing Society at the Southern Fried Gaming Expo (SFGE). We typically feature 2-3 TI setups, including Mark Little's "TI Experience booth", mine, and @OLD CS1 Dragon's Lair livestream.  Major VCFs also occur in the Midwest (Chicago), Southwest (Dallas), and East (New Jersey).  https://vcfed.org/vintage-computer-festivals-united-states/  Visitors to VCF-SE also gain full access to SFGE, including pinball and arcade machines, vendors, and tabletop games.

 

This year, @Ksarul's borrowed P-Code and Video controller sidecars fully expanded my /4 system. Thanks to Jim for contributing for this show these sidecars and a Dimension /4 with original joysticks.  With the full /4 system displayed, my 1A2 phone system had to be pushed to the left side of the second table to make room for the full /4 systems length.

 

The /4 systems were a highlight, impressing attendees with their length and capabilities. On the left (smaller) unit, we simply used my Corcomp 32K, a F18A, and my patched /4 FinalGROM, running the Megademo flawlessly the entire show.  People enjoyed @Airshack "Escape from North Korea" game. However, some home-brew games need patching as they disable the 99/4's keyboard by writing a different mode to @ >8374 than >00 (enabled) or >01 (disabled). Additionally, TI games that detect for a /4A and reboot the /4 need patches to run bitmap games on systems with an F18A or equivalent. (@Tursi again might help me the necessary hex strings for these patches. For example, Parsec resets, and TI Workshop uses the wrong keyscan mode.)

 

Many people couldn't believe the size of the system... "You mean you extended the BUS *THAT MUCH?*"  and "What KIND desks did people BUY to work with this system?"  and "Wow!  That's only 32K in that large box?".  The modem also was a thought stirrer, and several people loved the /4A CRT.   The TI Panasonic-made studio quality display was mentioned by people who were CRT-philes at this video game festival.  One CRT-phile ever even adjusted it with my permission to "give the best display" because he thought it was "too bright".

 

The games were popular, especially BLASTO, with people competing energetically against one another.  A-Maze-Ing was popular for the 2-player competition and the ability to print the maze on the Thermal Printer.  The Megademo interested many people in the technical capabilities of the system, which we talked about aplenty.  "You mean that this stock system can do this with just a video chip replacement?  No CPU hacks?"  People also took plenty of pictures, including videoing the demo, the credits, asking question about @Asmusr and the demo authors, everything!  

 

MSX fans came by and commented on similarities and asked about the F18A, and even ran the Megademo on the stock /4 to observe the differences on the TMS9918(no A) with lack of bitmap, plus register/palette differences and to comment on tricks/techniques used by the demo authors.

 

Many people expressed interest in seeing the exhibits again next year. The themed t-shirts sold out quickly in all but 4X and 5X sizes, which is not typical (we usually have many spares due to high minimum order requirements.)  For next year, I plan to connect my /4 to TEII and the phone system to dial out to @arcadeshopper's The Keep BBS, which we almost achieved this year. Ideally, we could get TELCO working off a cartridge for easier use.   Many people made this year successful.  @Ksarul did a lot of speaking when I simply just didn't have the energy (or was out of spoons).  My wife was there to support me, our group's president Earl helped contain the chaos, and we all looked out for each other.  

 

[+Vorticon]

I will try to attend but will need to know the date probably by September in order to block my schedule for it. Is there a date penciled in for next year already?

[+OLD CS1]

16 hours ago, Vorticon said:

I will try to attend but will need to know the date probably by September in order to block my schedule for it. Is there a date penciled in for next year already?

Keep an eye on this website. https://gameatl.com/

[+acadiel]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

Keep an eye on this website. https://gameatl.com/

Yep, and by October they will announce on Facebook the room blocks, which usually sell out in an hour.  https://www.facebook.com/southernfriedgamingexpo?mibextid=LQQJ4d
 

I usually know when those are getting released by monitoring the page. Look forward to seeing you!

[+acadiel]

Also, our college member, Nolan, who is currently in England, flew back over.  He designed this shirt for us this year.  Yes, it takes the front and back

[+OLD CS1]

15 hours ago, acadiel said:

Yep, and by October they will announce on Facebook the room blocks, which usually sell out in an hour.  https://www.facebook.com/southernfriedgamingexpo?mibextid=LQQJ4d
 

I usually know when those are getting released by monitoring the page. Look forward to seeing you!

It looks like these are held around the same time every year, toward the end of July, so maybe pencil some of that off until we get a definite date, @Vorticon.

[+acadiel]

Here's a tour of Southern Fried Gaming Expo, the show VCF-SE collocates with (same ticket lets you in to both):