Photos from the 2014 Holiday Party

Published on Thursday, 01 January 2015 20:39
Written by Alan Hightower

The Atlanta Historical Computing Society held its annual holiday party on Saturday Dec 20, 2014. If you weren’t there you missed out. Really. It was a blast.

Ataris, Commodores, Mattel Odyssey 2, MSXs, Amiga 600, “Pongs”, Apple II, PC, Coleco, Vectrex, Mattel Handheld Football, Nintendo Entertainment System, PDP-8, and I’m sure I’m missing a couple!
We had a good cross section of game machines and computers playing games. Many of us hadn’t much time with the MSXs before this, so that was quite fun. And a Mattel Odyssey 2, you don’t see many of those anymore.
I think next time I’ll try to get everyone to load up Pacman or something so we can have all the machines running the same game at the same time. Just have to make sure to have an Atari 2600 so all the other machines can feel good about themselves. 🙂

Barbecue, pizza, subs, cake (see the accompanying photo) cookies and snacks galore!
Five hours was over just as we were getting rolling, and I think the kids could have gone on for five more hours.

Thanks to everyone who came and had some fun!
(If you have photos, please send them to Kevin or me so we can get them posted.)

Next meeting 12PM Saturday January 17th 2015.

Brad Arnold

Annual Holiday Party on Dec. 20

Published on Saturday, 06 December 2014 23:02
Written by Alan Hightower



It’s that time of year again! Time for the annual AHCS holiday party!

This is one of the most anticipated meetings of the year. The focus is on fun, so feel free to bring any retro games or holiday-related programs to share from yesteryears. There are usually several classic video games available to play and kids always have a great time. Families are always welcome!

The meeting will be on December 20 from 12-5 PM. We generally do a potluck luncheon, so please bring a dish or snack to share if you can.

Christ the Lord Lutheran Church
1001 Duluth Highway (State Route 120)
Lawrenceville GA 30043

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Next meeting is November 15

Published on Thursday, 13 November 2014 20:26
Written by Alan Hightower
The next regular meeting of the AHCS will be on November 15, 2014 from 12-5 PM. Please note that the meeting this month will be in a different room than usual, so watch for signs directing the way. Christ the Lord Lutheran Church 1001 Duluth Highway (State Route 120) Lawrenceville GA 30043 We hope to see you there!

Stone Mountain Hamfest

Published on Tuesday, 28 October 2014 22:01
Written by Alan Hightower

November 1st and 2nd, the AHCS will be at the Stone Mountain Hamfest at the Gwinnett fair grounds.

Admission is $8
Sat 8am to 4pm
Sun 8am to 2pm

For more information, check out their site www.stonemountainhamfest.com

Sam and Kyle will be selling vacuum tubes and old electronic equipment (again) and have donated half a table for the AHCS to display its QR code and some cool retro computers (someone may bring the club stickers and t-shirts to sell). We do this to hear stories from folks about their old equipment they used to have and delight them that someone is crazy enough to fix, maintain and use this stuff. Last year, we were well received. Flash bought an HP Apollo when he wasn’t slinging Tandy portable computers, to help prepare folks for the zombie apocalypse (That Flash, always thinking of others). Kyle spent Sam’s money on a plastic teak wood stain bucket that had a variac in it (he said it was a good deal, it’s getting an ammeter and volt meter installed in it at Acorn Amps as we speak). Brad looked at all of us like we were crazy with that classic old school angst ridden IT tech look and all the visitors at our tables nodded knowingly. We were not what the flea market or the crowd was expecting and they welcomed us back with an invoice and an address to mail the check.

This year will be no different, other than Sam knowing a little more about vacuum tubes and Kyle being over 21 (he really surprised the crowd with his radio knowledge).

So come one, come all! To the finest collection of weird junk that Stone Mountain has to offer.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Next AHCS meeting is October 18

Published on Friday, 17 October 2014 13:54
Written by Alan Hightower
The next regular meeting of the AHCS will be on October 18, 2014 from 12-5 PM at: Christ the Lord Lutheran Church 1001 Duluth Highway (State Route 120) Lawrenceville GA 30043 We hope to see you there!

Photos from 2014 Atlanta Maker Faire

Published on Monday, 06 October 2014 18:29
Written by Alan Hightower

Soldering Kit Instructions

Published on Monday, 06 October 2014 18:04
Written by Alan Hightower
For visitors to the Atlanta Historical Society booth at this weekend’s Atlanta Maker Faire who took home soldering kits to work on at home, instructions for the Flashy kit and the Memory Game kit are available via the links below. Thanks again for visiting us, and please join us at the next regular AHCS meeting. The date and time for the next meeting will be posted here soon, as well as on our Facebook page and on Twitter (@AtlHCSdotORG). Flashy Maxi Instructions Memory Game Instructions

Thanks for a Wonderful Atlanta Maker Faire!

Published on Monday, 06 October 2014 17:53
Written by Alan Hightower
From Sam Lysinger, who did a fantastic job coordinating the AHCS’s presence at the Maker Faire this year:
We were off to a rough start Saturday morning, being adjacent to the wall of porta potties is not something someone wants to see after 6.5 hours sleep. But, it was cold enough out that we could not smell them. Then the wind decided to turn our tents into kits before we had them weighted down. Yet, we could repair the damage and make them work. We got everything set up, and then we did what the AHCS does: We nerded out with other nerds. (Alan even called me a super geek today) There were a lot of them. 10,000 per day, a lot of them. They weren’t all computer nerds. There were HAMs, robot builders, scientists, physicists, junk repurposers, car racers, artists, even a few normal families. The crowd was really fun. We must have left a favorable impression as the AHCS has taken home 3 Maker of Excellence Awards. Big thanks go out to all who made it happen, and let the Maker Community know who we are and what we are capable of.

Call for Maker Faire Volunteers

Published on Wednesday, 30 July 2014 14:35
Written by Alan Hightower
The AHCS is building a crack team of exhibit creators and staffers as we speak. We had been capturing them by strategically laying vintage Star Wars toys in parking lots that were tied to strings. We kept pulling the string as they got close to it and they followed the action figure to our volunteer sign up sheet. It was working surprisingly well until the volunteers realized that they did not get an action figure and the FBI warned us to cease. In light of this, we need your help. We are running a morning shift and an afternoon shift. 9am to 1pm and 1pm to 5pm. This way you can see the Maker Faire and meet a ton of cool folks doing cool things. Or you can play the memory game in our booth that works similarly to a game called Simon. Rumor has it that Star Raiders could be there too. If you want to volunteer, contact Sam Lysinger help@simplycompute.net for details. If you want to see our display, come find us in Downtown Decatur on Oct 4th and 5th. www.makerfaireatl.com There will be games, solder, lights, computer history. You name it, we’ll have it.

Atlanta Maker Faire Update

Published on Saturday, 19 July 2014 14:12
Written by Alan Hightower
The Atlanta Historical Computing Society officially returns to the Atlanta Maker Faire. Expect PC boards, expect solder, expect blinky lights, expect 8bit music and 8 bit graphics. http://makerfaireatl.com/atlanta-historical-computing-society-2/ The eminently popular, simplistically eloquent, Simon game will return for its 3rd public appearance as it evolves further towards its fusion of retro gaming and Steam Punk sculpture destiny. There may be other upgrades if we can get our crack team of Mad Scientists to convince their case workers to allow them access to the tool shed again. Also, the retro computer display will soon move from the idea stage to the planning stage, and then to the world domination stage. Expect greatness. Expect the unexpected.

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