AHCS Prepares for Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 13

Published on Tuesday, 14 July 2026 12:09

Written by Dave Brown

The Atlanta Historical Computing Society held its latest monthly meeting with 43 members and guests in attendance. President Earl Baugh called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.

Much of the discussion focused on preparations for the upcoming Vintage Computer Festival Southeast, which will take place from July 31 through August 2 as part of the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo.

Festival Load-In and Consignment

Exhibitor load-in will begin at noon on Thursday, July 30. Nate and the SFGE volunteer team will supervise the loading area.

Members were advised that both Thursday and Friday evenings are expected to be particularly busy, with significant traffic entering the venue. Exhibitors should plan accordingly and allow plenty of time to unload and set up their displays.

Anyone planning to sell items through the festival’s consignment area should complete the required forms before arriving at the show. The forms and instructions are available on the Vintage Computer Federation website:

https://vcfed.org/vcf-se-13-0-consignment/

New Attendees

The club welcomed two first-time attendees, Marty and Antonio. We hope to see them again at future meetings and events.

Member Projects

Several members shared updates on their current projects:

Earl presented two aftermarket keyboard kits designed for the Commodore 64.

Kyle teased a forthcoming “complete” NeXTcube project.

Rich demonstrated a prototype FujiNet variant for the TRS-80 Color Computer 1, 2, and 3. The device connects through the cartridge port and is designed for systems equipped with 64 KB of memory.

Logg is preparing a quiz about early computers that will be administered during VCF Southeast.

Submitted by Bill Blackburn,
AHCS Secretary

June 13th Meeting Recap

Published on Tuesday, 23 June 2026 10:12

Written by Dave Brown

The Atlanta Historical Computing Society meeting was called to order at 2:10 p.m. by President Earl Baugh, with 50 people in attendance.

The meeting opened with a recap of the Southern Fried Gaming Expo volunteer meeting, which was held on June 7 and attended by several AHCS members. Topics included the new Vintage Computer Festival Southeast location, parking and load-in logistics, and a possible layout for the exhibit tables.

Earl then provided an update on the upcoming Vintage Computer Festival Southeast. He briefed the membership on the number of tables still available and discussed the current status of potential speakers, including Lonestar and Boise Pete. He also noted that a revived version of *Compute!* magazine may provide sponsorship for the show. Kit assembly and soldering activities are expected to be included in the main show area.

Nolan gave an update on the show’s three-color T-shirt design. Dave Brown also reminded exhibitors that anyone wanting telephone service at their exhibit table should indicate that on the sign-up form or contact him directly.

The club welcomed several new attendees, including Alana, Marty, and Lawrence.

During the show-and-tell portion of the meeting, Jon offered keyboards, CRT monitors, and computers for sale on a donation basis to help recoup his investment in acquiring them. Grizzly Dave had Voltage Blaster boards available for $15 and discussed his work on Bluetooth keyboard-to-IBM XT adapters, as well as input modules for Seth’s Whack-a-doodle game. Snowkitty showed a Microsoft Quanta module, an unusual phone system from Microsoft.

Richard exhibited several pieces of Apple memorabilia, including a letter written by Steve Wozniak. Kyle showed his recently acquired Alpha Syntauri, a pre-MIDI sound keyboard system with an Apple II interface. Jared demonstrated a method for creating and manipulating BlueSCSI drive images.

Lawrence presented his homebrew computer creation, which prompted several questions from members about the operating systems it was based on. Jon also discussed Atari 2600 symptoms and repair questions.

The meeting concluded at 4:20 p.m., after which 12 members adjourned to Sonny’s BBQ for further discussion.

AHCS Monthly Meeting!

Published on Tuesday, 02 June 2026 10:25

Written by Dave Brown

When: This Saturday, June 13, 2026, 1:00pm to 5:00pm

Where: Christ the Lord Lutheran Church, 1001 Duluth Hwy, Lawrenceville, GA 30043

What: Our monthly meetings run from 1pm to 5pm. Club President Earl Baugh will preside over this month’s meeting. Normally club business is called to order at 2 pm and then adjourns an hour or so later. All attendees are asked to arrive early and to stay later to help set up and take down tables and chairs. And don’t forget to bring your name badge so that newcomers can identify our seasoned members. If you don’t have a name badge, please get with the club secretary, Bill Blackburn, while at the meeting.

Who: Anyone who is a past, current, or future member of the AHCS is welcome to attend!

CLUB BUSINESS:

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS/ATTENDEES: Please be sure to extend a greeting to anyone at the meeting you don’t know to make them feel welcome; wearing your name badge helps 🙂
OTHER CLUB BUSINESS: We will discuss continuing plans for VCFSE 13.0 to be held July 31-2, 2027=6.
DUES FOR 2026: As always, we will continue to collect yearly dues from all members and potential members whom haven’t yet paid. Annual rate is $20.

PRESENTATIONS:

If any member or attendee would like to provide a brief presentation (15-20 minutes) at a future meeting about a vintage computer/subject that you are passionate about, simply let either Club President Earl Baugh or Bill Blackburn know so that your presentation can be added to the agenda. A projector for PowerPoint presentations is also available; just let Earl know ahead of time so that he can bring it.

SHOW AND TELL:

Don’t forget to bring your vintage or retro computer projects so that you can utilize the technical and historical expertise our club members freely offer, as well as to show off what you have!

FREE TABLES:

Club members and attendees are encouraged to bring any old computer/electronic hardware or software, working or not, that they no longer want/need for placement on the Free Tables. And any items that anyone wants to offer at a reasonable price to any attendees are also welcome. We do ask that all members and attendees refrain from browsing the Free Tables while club business is being conducted.

Please plan to attend this important meeting. And we hope to see everyone there!

David Brown
AHCS Treasurer