Rick, Thanks for your report on the show!
I used a Wang 360E in college - since it was a scientific calculator and great for engineering homework! Monty McGraw Tektronix 4052 and 4054A vintage computers On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 4:57 PM Rick Bensene via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Hi, everyone, > > Myself and my friend Mike, representing the Old Calculator Museum, > exhibited the line of Wang Laboratories electronic calculators at the > Vintage Computer Federation's Vintage Computer Festival/Pacific > Northwest edition, at the Living Computer Museum+Labs in Seattle, > Washington this past weekend. > > This was the 2nd annual VCF/PNW, and it was clearly a success, as it was > significantly larger than the first event last year (which I went to, > but didn't exhibit at). There were 30 exhibits, all of which were > really interesting, and a good-sized consignment area, as well as quite > a group of guest speakers who had interesting topics to present. Of > course, being held in the Living Computer Museum+Labs was a bonus, as > the museum is an amazing place, with lots of vintage computers up and > running and accessible for people to actually use and experience. > > The Old Calculator Museum exhibit consisted of a Wang LOCI-2 and punched > card readers (1st and 2nd-generation card readers), a Wang 360E w/320K > keyboard/display unit;362E with 370 Programmer and 371 Punched Card > Reader; 360SE 4-terminal timeshared calculator package with two 360KT > trig keyboards, 360K, and 320K keyboards, all running simultaneously > off the 360SE electronics unit; a Wang 720C; Wang 600-14TP; Wang > 500-14TP; Wang 462 and 452 Programmable calculators; and a Wang C-52. > These are representatives of all of the lines of calculators that Wang > Laboratories made during its years in the electronic calculator market > (1965-1974). All of the machines were running and available for > visitors to play with, with the exception of the LOCI-2 (which has a > thermal issue that manifests after about 3 minutes of operation) and the > 500-14TP, which has some kind of problem that renders it catatonic that > I've not yet had a chance to try to diagnose/repair). Also shown was > an original Wang Labs factory spare parts kit for the 300-series > calculators & peripherals, another Wang 360SE electronics package opened > up so people could see the insides, a number of circuit boards from Wang > 300-series keyboard/display units, as well as core memory boards from > 300-series electronics packages, core memory and circuit boards from > Wang 700-series calculators, and original sales documentation for Wang's > 700, 500, and 600-series calculators. > > The exhibit turned out pretty well, though I didn't have time to make up > signs to identify the stuff until we actually got there and made > hand-written signs, which turned out to be good enough -- it seems that > people could actually read my chicken-scratch handwriting. The signs > included the retail price at the time the machine was introduced, and > people were stunned that in 1971, a Wang 720C outfitted as the exhibited > machine retailed for $7,000. A lot of people asked how much that would > be in today's dollars, and I was able to use my phone to find > out...about $50,000. > > The exhibit was almost constantly busy both days for the whole time the > museum was open, (10 AM - 5 PM), and the folks were all very careful > with the old machines, and had really great questions about them. I > was pretty surprised at how much interest there was in these old beasts. > The crowd was pretty mixed in age, from folks who actually used examples > of the machines in school, to youngsters who were totally shocked that > this is what calculators were like 50 years ago. The machines ran the > whole time the exhibit was open, and amazingly, despite the old > Germanium-based transistors in the Wang 300-series calculators, as well > as fussy magnetic rope ROMs and core memory in the 700 and 600-series > machines, they ran trouble-free. A lot of folks had trouble getting the > machines to give answers they expected because of Wang's unusual math > entry method. Once they were given a simple explanation of the way the > machines worked, they caught on quickly, and got answers they expected. > It was a lot of fun to explain and demonstrate the machines to the > visitors. The Wang 370 Programmer hooked up to the 362E electronics > package was popular. I had a little program punched up on a card that > would perform an iterative approximation of Pi. It'd run for 100 > iterations, then stop and display the approximation it had come to thus > far. People were fascinated by the "spinning" Nixie Tubes as the > machine churned away on the iterations. People also liked the 360KT > keyboards hooked up the 360SE simultaneous timeshared calculator > electronics package. They enjoyed it when I demonstrated the two 360KT > keyboard/display units running the Sine of 45 degrees at the same time. > The timesharing between the two terminals was obvious as the calculator > switched back and forth between each of the keyboards as the > calculation, which takes about 25 seconds, was being performed. > > Nixie tubes were a big attraction. Many younger folks had never seen > them in person before, but almost everyone knew about them. I think > that the popularization of Nixie tubes in the form of clocks using Nixie > tubes for display has brought Nixies to the attention of folks that > didn't experience them in the day, but have seen stuff online about > Nixie tubes. > > I did get a little time to wander around the event and look at the other > exhibits (there were 30 this year!), and the stuff the folks had was > amazing. I was really impressed by Josh Dersch's exhibit of PERC > workstations...it was truly amazing to see these rare machines running! > I really liked Vince Slyngstad's PDP 8/e with a custom Omnibus board > that replicates the vintage (and rare) X/Y analog output board using a > CPLD and a couple of DACs such that the PDP 8/e was running actual > SPACEWAR code and displaying on a Tektronix display tube. There were > a lot of other really great exhibits, including a very complete Atari > 800 systems running office productivity tools that made what was > considered a gaming computer into a true office machine that was ahead > of its time. There was a great exhibit of some classic Silicon Graphics > machines running, an exhibit of just about every type of floppy disc and > optical media ever produced (some of which are very rare), and a couple > of exhibits related to accurately emulating classic computers using > contemporary microprocessors to either run vintage "lights & switches" > front panels, or even miniaturized front panels built to look and run > like the original computers. All of the exhibits were well presented > and truly interesting. > > Just before the event closed, I took a few minutes so I could go > upstairs to the computer room and take some photos of the KA-10(which > I'd have to say is my favorite vintage computer), when my friend and > exhibit helper Mike came through the doors of the computer room, pointed > at me, and motioned for me to come with him. I had been talking to two > very nice young gentlemen who had a lot of questions about the KA-10, > and had to beg their forgiveness as I had to leave. I followed Mike > down the stairs, and a big crowd of people was there. I didn't realize > it, but the awards ceremony was going on while I was upstairs. Mike > guided me to Mike Brutman, the event organizer, and he presented me with > "The Most Interesting Presentation" award! I was completely stunned. > I never would have thought that a couple of tables of old calculators > with hand-written signs would merit such an award, but I was very > honored and humbled to receive it. > > The event was very well-organized. The Living Computer Museum+Labs > staff and volunteers did an amazing job getting the museum set up for > the exhibits, with tables, tablecloths, and chairs all in place and > ready to go when we arrived Friday. Mike Brutman was fantastic! He was > so nice, accommodating, and supportive of my exhibit (which, by > definition, was somewhat outside the "Vintage Computer" realm), as well > as doing a completely amazing job of organizing such a complicated > event. Everything went off smoothly, from the set up Friday night, > through the two days of the event, awards Sunday after the doors closed > to the public, and tear-down and haul out. Our exhibit was the last > one out the door, as it's rather tedious packing these old machines up, > making sure that they are cozily packed within the crates with a lot of > padding in between them. It took my about 2 days to get everything > packed to head up there, and we had a little over two hours to repack it > all after the event closed...we were running like banshees to get > everything packed safely and loaded into the van. > > The trip home went smoothly with no problems. I was totally exhausted > Monday afternoon when we got home. Mike and I unloaded all the crates > and stuff from the van into the museum building, and Mike headed home. > I went to the house, sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV, and was > dead to the world when my wife got home from work a few hours later. I > don't remember anything from the time I sat down until she got home. > > I haven't unpacked anything yet...I needed a day yesterday to get a > bunch of errands done, and reply to a backlog of Emails that stacked up > while I was away and didn't have time to tend to them. Later this > afternoon, I'll get everything unpacked and back on the display shelves, > and test 'em out. Hopefully everything will work fine after the trip > home. > > I want to take this opportunity to thank my long-time and cherished > friend, Mike Weiler, for taking three days off work to come help with > the exhibit. He was a real trooper, helping people understand how to > use the machines, manning the exhibit when I wanted to wander around and > look at the other exhibits and the new machines at the Living Computer > Museum+Labs (including the awesome KA-10 PDP-10 running in the machine > room upstairs...what a treat!), as well as fielding questions when I'd > get engaged with a visitor discussing these old calculators. Not to > mention all of his help packing the stuff up before we left, hauling all > the stuff into the museum when we arrived Friday afternoon, helping get > the exhibit set up and organized, tearing everything down and packing it > up after the event closed and hauling it out to the van and getting it > all packed in for the trip home, and helping to unload it all once we > arrived home. Along with all of that, Mike was a godsend in terms of > helping me keep my cool when I'd get stressed out about stuff. There's > not a ghost of a chance I could have done all of this myself. > > I'd also like to thank Mike Brutman for all of the effort and > determination it takes to successfully pull of an event like this. > It was all stunningly well-done! > > My thanks also go out to the other exhibitors at the event, many of > which who came over to visit the Old Calculator Museum exhibit and > compliment us about having these old machines running and available for > visitors to touch and operate. > > Last, but certainly not least, thanks to the Living Computer Museum+Labs > staff and volunteers for all of the work and support that they provided > for this event. The venue amazing, and makes a perfect place for a > vintage computer festival. > > With the success of this year's event, only its second time in the > Pacific Northwest, it is sure to grow even more next year. I am > looking forward to next year's VCF/PNW, where I plan on doing a similar > exhibit of old electronic calculators from the Friden Calculating > Machine Co., with an example of every line of calculator that > Friden/Singer made available for visitors to play with. I just hope my > friend Mike will be up to doing again it next year. > > Just before we left, Erik Klein, the organizer of VCF/West, held in > Mountain View, CA at the Computer History Museum during the first week > in August, came to me and invited me to bring the Wang exhibit down to > the event his summer. I was surprised that there'd be interest, but he > was emphatic that it'd be wonderful to have the exhibit there. I was > honored by this request, and told Erik I'd do all I could to try to make > it to this event. Perhaps if I make it, I'll actually have printed > signs to identify the stuff rather than hand-written signs that I made > "on the fly" as we were setting things up, because I ran out of time to > make decent signs. :-) It's a long trip down there from the Portland, > Oregon vicinity, but I'm going to do all I can to make it if at all > possible. > > The experience was amazing. I've never done anything like this before. > I discovered that there's really something special about seeing people > amazed by how much things have changed since the 1960's. The > calculators really make it so clear just how amazing it is to have an HP > calculator emulation running on a smartphone...and that the smartphone > has far more compute power, storage, and capability than all of the Wang > calculators on display together, with the emulated HP calculator running > far faster than the original calculator it emulates. It's really crazy > just how far we've come in 50 years...and I just can't even begin to > envision what we'll have 50 years from now. I wonder if the tech we > use today will be on display at vintage computer events in 2069? > > A funny note. The whole time I was there on Saturday and Sunday, I was > wearing on my wrist a classic HP-01 wristwatch/calculator. A total of > five people noticed it and commented, and of the five, three knew what > it was, and two were just curious about it because it caught their eye, > but they didn't know what it was. The two that were curious were > completely blown away when I demonstrated it to them. I would have > expected that more folks would have noticed this big gold hunk on my > wrist. > > So, that's my "trip report". To all the ClassicCmp'ers that came to the > event, thanks for coming. See you maybe down at VCF/West, and, fates > willing, next year at VCF/PNW. > > Rick Bensene > The Old Calculator Museum > http://oldcalculatormuseum.com > > > > > > > > > > >
