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lorddoomicus

Posted Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:50 pm

Having grown up on a C64 in the '80's, I always wanted an Amiga, and finally got a 500+ last year, getting back into retro-computers after an 18 year hiatus. I mainly use it for programming and music. I might get into some video stuff in the future. I also recently build a 'New' C64 using a 64 reloaded board from icomp.de ( I also have an ACA 500+, ACA 1221lc, X-Surf 500 and an Indivistion V3 from them for the Amiga ).

I'm also a long time Mac user and plan on adding a couple old Macs in the near future, and have a couple classic UNIX workstations and even a PiPDP-8. I also have both The C64 and The Spectrum from Retrogrames.

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Bent
Vanersborg, Sweden

Posted Mon Jan 13, 2025 10:45 am

Welcome,

ACA500+ with 1221lc are excellent expansions for retro Amiga. I really regret selling them and get a pistorm.
I also have TheC64 and TheSpectrum, they are really nice to play around with.

Best regards

User avatar
Bluewizard

Posted Fri Jan 31, 2025 8:00 am

Welcome to the forums and for me to the area! I am on the other side of the bridge by the Dulles Airport.

I am currently doing a couple 1 day vintage computer meetups in northern VA at a local library. I completed 2 last year and hope/plan for about that many again this year.

Here is my web url for them. No dates for the next one yet.

https://www.bluewizard.net/pages/vintagecomputermeetup/

Welcome to the community!

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA
YouTube

Posted Fri Jan 31, 2025 8:24 am

Hey Bluewizard, I have a couple questions for you.

How do you get the word out for your events? Is it mainly via word of mouth, foot traffic in the library, or other means? Asking for a friend who is wanting to start his own club but is unsure of the interest in his area.

A library is an interesting choice for a meeting place. Do you have to rent space?

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Bluewizard

Posted Sat Feb 01, 2025 8:05 pm

A few things I am focusing on are Vintage computers in general and not just Amiga which helps bring the community together in my eyes. That said I focus on Amiga but like learning from others.

I posted on the VCF email thread, their forums for for the mid-atlantic area. I already had some contacts and be sure to share with them. I thought it would be me and 2-3 other people for several hours just chatting and seeing what the others brought... I was mistaken.. I have done 2 now and both have had around 30 people show up with different ways of hearing about it. For me this was a build it and they will come kinda thing. There are 2 FB groups for the DMV area as well and things just spread.

We get a little traffic from the library but mostly it was us just appearing.

I have found that WAY more people show up than I totally expected. I guess the DMV area has a want for this kind of thing too.

The library is free as I pick one in the county I am a member of so it's a service. It does have some limitation thoughts so be sure to read your local libraries rules. The big one here is no money can exchange hands which means no swap meet. Food is limited so don't bring things and eat in the library kinda stuff. Those are the 2 big ones.

Challenges is finding several hours available in the library that overlaps with my schedule. My local branch's rooms are in high demand.

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA
YouTube

Posted Sat Feb 01, 2025 11:05 pm

That is fantastic information and thanks for all the details. And congrats on forming such a great club!
A few things I am focusing on are Vintage computers in general and not just Amiga which helps bring the community together in my eyes.
While my own club is Commodore branded, truth be told we do "all the flavors". Atari, Mac (gasp!), Coleco, Spectrum, Vectrex, vintage Japanese computers, consoles, modern emulation (MiSTer/Pi/etc), repair work - you name it. It's all good.

And we aren't a "user group" like the old days because we are all online and can keep up with this and that. We're more a vintage Tech Club. That simply wasn't a thing back in the day. But getting together can help bring us together and learn from one another about corners of the vintage scene we may be unaware.

Great stuff!

User avatar
Bluewizard

Posted Sat Feb 15, 2025 6:37 am

I like seeing others computer clubs in the area. Where do you all meet? Have you returned to in person?

I am currently thinking of seeing what other options are in stead of or in addition to the Library. Some are scheduling issues, some to do a mini swap meet kinda thing. Maybe even repair times as I really don't want to do solder stuff in the Library.

Thank you for sharing!

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA
YouTube

Posted Sat Feb 15, 2025 10:53 am

Lorddoomicus:
I also have an ACA 500+
Have you seen the Parceiro II+ for the A500 by David Dunklee? It's also a side expansion, but there is an accelerator for it. You get 3 separate OSes on a single micro SD card, a "transfer drive" your modern PC/Mac can see to [place files you download off the internet - and each of the 3 AmigaOS partitions can also see the transfer folder. Very cool!

Also has 8MB Fast and a real-time clock. Very nice device in a very small package.

Bluewizard:
Where do you all meet? Have you returned to in person?
We meet at my office once a month. We went back to in-person a long time ago. We back to in-person starting in January of 2022. Our next meet is next week, which will be the 73rd meeting since I founded the club May 9th 2018.





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