Bob says,”you and your wife, Karen, are the only user couple to attend the last fest, (did you hear that, Annette?) so write your observations.” So after 8 years of pounding T/S keys, I have decided it is time to start giving thru-put to NLs, so here goes.
I can’t tell the whole story without including the pre-trip tale which was half the adventure.
Not wanting to miss the fest, I had mentioned to Bob during one of our SIG meetings we hold by phone on unannounced week-ends (keeps the cost lower), shouldn’t I be getting tickets. No problem, he was going also, just send him the money, he’d get mine when he got his. How many? Three–my son, wife and me. How are you going? Thought I’d drive my VW camper van. Great! My wife, Al Feng and I (Bob) want to go, also. So, why don’t we all go together and share costs.
I tell Karen and she freaks out, then calms down and asks how do I expect to get 6 people into a van that seats 5 on a +500 mile trip, especially if Bob is as big as you say. So, we’ll rent a full-size van. Now we come to the part that separates us from the more affluent readers who know you need a Major credit card to do this. I report this to Bob and he replies “Al and my wife aren’t going now, so I’ll drive by myself.” We elect to go by car (it’s hot–no AC in the camper). But, we still take I-80 thru the crazy repair work in Chicago to Gary and I-65 south to Dayton like we would have with Bob instead of going south out of Moline on I-74 and saving 150 miles, Oh well!
We arrive at Hara Saturday afternoon. The parking is great….don’t have to walk far to the door. We ask for Gary, he has our tickets, they ask if we are the Shepards, WE ARE IMPRESSED! We can’t believe the size of the building and the number of vendors…looks like ALL the flea markets we’ve ever been to all together in one building! The Hara is like the phone box in DOCTOR WHO, much larger on the inside than it appears from the outside.
Just like a flea market, if the price isn’t right, do a little old fashioned haggling and you might find a price you’ll both like, even on items you wouldn’t expect to find at a COMPUTER fest. I found a remote for one of the first TV channel changer-on/off-volume controls for $2 that would have cost $55 from any electronic supply house. There were 5.25″ uncased drives for $25 and practically every orphan computer going plus IBM & its clones.
The T/S folks had a nice length of table space all together just down from the Radio Shack booth. Karen wondered why the T/S groups were the only ones not proud enough fly a banner. Al Feng made a small banner proclaiming us as the Sinclair Users Group but most of the folks that saw it thought we were a user group from the local college of the same name!
Anyway, at T/S booth #1 was Steve Spalding offering all kinds of Spectrum programs for those lucky enough to have a Specy emulator. He also had spare TS2068s and keyboards, plus a copy of Derek Ashton’s 747 FLIGHT SIMULATOR that he had purchased from the U. K. Bob Swoger put Derek’s business card in it, the closest thing to a signed copy. [Bob works with Derek at Motorola] Frank Davis is now the proud owner. I bought a fine NEC color monitor at an excellent price. Swoger bought a spare 2068 and all the software he could find that would fly.
Keith Watson rode to the fest with Steve from Michigan. Keith from Mt. Clemens was showing his TS2068, in which he had installed a standard keyboard. He was also extolling the praises of RPM ne CPM that he uses with his AERCO FD-68 that he with Dave Hill of FD-68 NL fame wrote TXDOS which is a DOS with less errors than AERCO’s and helps the AERCO with CPM run super. Of course, if you wanted CPM why not buy a Commodore, but I’ll beat that drum some other time.
Bob Swoger, Steve Cooper, Karen and a guy named John (last name unknown according to E.P.Wannum in the Oct.’91 UPDATE!) Shepard were representing CATUG. Why, that’s me! and my last name is SHEPARD! –we were at the next table (me only part of the time – Karen some of the other part) … Bob was attracting people to our table by playing the Specy’s ‘EMPIRE STRIKES BACK’ theme song with three part harmony and start-up $creen, demoing the LarKen disc system w/LogiCall Integrated Software Package and handing out this years Nite-Times News N/Ls and helping….
Don Lambert, the Chairman of T/SNUG at the next table. Don was signing up folks for the newly formed organization and handing out ZXir QLive Alive! N/Ls as well as N/Ls from all the North American groups. By Sunday afternoon a case of such newsletters were gone!
Ruth Fegley was working the CATS table handing out CATS N/Ls and moving QL goodies. Bob and Audrey Currnutt were along side her at the next table selling T/S goodies for Sharps.
Frank and Carol Davis worked a VERY BUSY table. UPDATE! magazine was sold there, ISTUG was represented there with Mechanical Affinity goodies, both hardware and software, for ZX81/TS1000, TS2068, QL and even ZX88. Yes, even a ZX88 was there for sale.
Paul Holmgren was at the next table for QUANTA and ISTUG. He was showing an impressive ‘Action’ screen of a Vegas dancer to the public available from the QUANTA library[over 55 disks now]. It looked like a movie at first glance. Paul also had MORE ZX81/TS1000, TS2068 and QL goodies. QL Micro-cassettes were going for $15 per set of four. CATUG purchased 2 sets for shut-in Grant Thomas. QL keyboard contact overlays were going for $12. A John OLIGER Disk drive/EPROM Burner/Printer Driver interface package was priced to go at $150 but it didn’t. What a shame!
Bill Angle was at the next table selling QLs for $55.
Bill Heberline represented SMUG. He was ‘taking names’ of all who came by. I trust he will publish this list in a SMUG newsletter so as to let user groups and T/S people get together.
Finally, Neal Shultz of SMUG manned the Zebra goodies booth. Many things at the Zebra booth couldn’t be identified but many could. RS232 interfaces for the TS2050 modem, Dock Port cartridge boards, Zebra Talker boards, Koala pad interface boards just to name a few. There were Timex and Alfacom thermal printers Track-Balls, a kind of mouse that lies up-side-down and you rub its tummy for joy stick action. Getting these thing is good for ‘cheap insurance’, that is, if you buy a back-up, your original will never go out. [Things just don’t last forever. Of my now 6 TS2068s 2 have something wrong with them. My advice to my Sinclair friends is always “buy back-ups and you’ll never be down!”]
Of particular interest were dock boards with sockets for $5. Put Jack Dohany’s TS2068 and Spectrum ROMs in these, type OUT 244,3 and enjoy Jacks work without tearing into your machine.
Don said he would avoid naming names, but I won’t, people need recognition! Besides those I’ve named so far, there were also present Dan Smith, the T/SNUG TS2068 JLO Disk Librarian, Carl Molee, Jud Yalkut, Doug Gillespie, Dave Schwensen, Toby Radloff, Dave Bennett, Andy Hradesky who has breathed new life into Mile-High, Conrad Miller, Bill Bell, John Impellizzeri, Harv Spencer, Jeff Anderson, Carlos Lytle, Mike Konieczny, Mark Martin, John & Tim Schoenharl, just to name the folks that checked in to Karen at the CATUG booth.
The fun wasn’t limited to just computer enthusiasts either. There was something for everyone, typical flea market items with an emphasis on electronic goodies. Karen did her favorite fun thing, buying. She returned to our table with two toys for the kids that laugh on que, wish I had one of these when I was told the cost of van rental. Come to think of it, that lewd comment generator she purchased would have been just the thing when we traveled over those Illinois roads under repair. Karen’s message? Bring your spouses next year, it’s fun!