WCC Open House Show February 11, 2023

Performa

Member
Hello all!

As the title suggests, the Wisconsin Computer Club will be hosting an open house show at the Portage County Stevens Point Library (our usual haunt) on Saturday, February 11th, 2023. As usual, the show will open at 10Am and close by 4PM, with an hour of setup before and after.

The "showcase theme" for this one is Macintosh history- we're aiming to get one compact Mac from each "generation" up and running on the table in chronological order. Of course, everyone is welcome to bring anything they like- we'll have plenty of table space.

Additional featured items will be the Philips CDI game console and (presuming I get it working) the Panasonic 3DO game console as well. Some "fan favorites" like the Commodore 64 and Atari 2600 will be up and running too.

Hope to see you there!
 

Pezdude

Active member
Love me some Macintosh! I’ve got quite a few that I would love to bring. Maybe I could bring all my iMac G3s and get them connected together for an unreal tournament party haha! Thanks to @Performa for the VERY beautiful tangerine tray load iMac! It has become my instant favorite in my iMac lineup haha!
 

DeanG

Well-known member
I might be able to help fill the gaps, I have several macs here from different generations . I still have to see if I can make it - if I can I can see what’s still working.
Looking forward to hearing what gaps there are for any last minute scrambles.
 

Performa

Member
As I understand it, @PS2it has the bulk of the early Macintosh line pretty well covered up through the SE generation and Classic generation. I figure an example from each generation will be sufficient, but if anyone wants to bring extras we will have the room. I do have a Macintosh Plus if we need that as a stand in, but I think PS2it's Mac Plus is in better shape than mine.

For my portion of the display I'm going to focus down the oddball machines I have here. That includes the PowerMac 5400 which should be done today, the eMac which should be done tonight/tomorrow, and a few tests to make sure the iMac G4 and G5 don't melt at the show.

I'll have the Gray iBook G3 at the show as it's still in the show kit box from Evercon- so it'll be at the library show anyway if we need it too.

The "gaps" include the Color Classic (I believe @Pezdude has one, but I'm not sure if it can make it to the show), something from the Performa 500 series, an iMac G3, and a Molar Mac. We do have two Molar Macs across the club that I know of, but the one sitting at my shop has some significant problems with it's analog video system, and I'm not confident they'll be fixed in time for the show. I'll have more on it later today I think.
 

PS2it

Well-known member
As I understand it, @PS2it has the bulk of the early Macintosh line pretty well covered up through the SE generation and Classic generation. I figure an example from each generation will be sufficient, but if anyone wants to bring extras we will have the room. I do have a Macintosh Plus if we need that as a stand in, but I think PS2it's Mac Plus is in better shape than mine.

For my portion of the display I'm going to focus down the oddball machines I have here. That includes the PowerMac 5400 which should be done today, the eMac which should be done tonight/tomorrow, and a few tests to make sure the iMac G4 and G5 don't melt at the show.

I'll have the Gray iBook G3 at the show as it's still in the show kit box from Evercon- so it'll be at the library show anyway if we need it too.

The "gaps" include the Color Classic (I believe @Pezdude has one, but I'm not sure if it can make it to the show), something from the Performa 500 series, an iMac G3, and a Molar Mac. We do have two Molar Macs across the club that I know of, but the one sitting at my shop has some significant problems with it's analog video system, and I'm not confident they'll be fixed in time for the show. I'll have more on it later today I think.
I'm not sure if I'll have the Mac Plus there, it has some battery leakage on the analog board, and I'm not 100% sure it works. I'll for sure have the compact Macs from the SE up.

If I can get either the Performa 575 or the 520 working before the show, I'll bring one there. But if someone has one they'd want to bring, that'd be fine!
 

mikem

Member
As I understand it, @PS2it has the bulk of the early Macintosh line pretty well covered up through the SE generation and Classic generation. I figure an example from each generation will be sufficient, but if anyone wants to bring extras we will have the room. I do have a Macintosh Plus if we need that as a stand in, but I think PS2it's Mac Plus is in better shape than mine.

For my portion of the display I'm going to focus down the oddball machines I have here. That includes the PowerMac 5400 which should be done today, the eMac which should be done tonight/tomorrow, and a few tests to make sure the iMac G4 and G5 don't melt at the show.

I'll have the Gray iBook G3 at the show as it's still in the show kit box from Evercon- so it'll be at the library show anyway if we need it too.

The "gaps" include the Color Classic (I believe @Pezdude has one, but I'm not sure if it can make it to the show), something from the Performa 500 series, an iMac G3, and a Molar Mac. We do have two Molar Macs across the club that I know of, but the one sitting at my shop has some significant problems with it's analog video system, and I'm not confident they'll be fixed in time for the show. I'll have more on it later today I think.
I've got a color classic among other things. I'll try to get it out and see if it still functions. At this point, I should be there on Saturday, although maybe a bit later than when things get started.
 

Performa

Member
I've got a color classic among other things. I'll try to get it out and see if it still functions. At this point, I should be there on Saturday, although maybe a bit later than when things get started.
We'll have room for you!
 

Performa

Member
So I was able to snap this one photo of the eMac, and it is the sole proof I have that the machine does in fact still "work" sometimes. It hasn't worked again since this one random startup though. Frustrating of course as it had been running reliably not long ago- isn't that always the way? At this point I doubt this machine will make it to the show unless I find some fix online I'm not aware of, though the nature of the problem itself is intermittent on top of it's known hard drive issues. Still a chance I suppose, but it's very slim now.





If anyone else has an eMac that they can get to the show, awesome! If not, the show will still be stunning even if we have a few gaps in the lineup. To my knowledge we're the first group to set up a display like this anywhere that wasn't inside a computer museum.

I've refocused my efforts on the other machines in the fleet with problems that I better understand at least to get the most out of the machines I have here. More info to follow!
 

Performa

Member
When it rains it pours I tell ya. Ah well- we will press ahead and I'll get everything that can run up and running for the show. I'm not out yet! 😁



 

Performa

Member
I got a few posters out around town earlier this week, and have a few notices up about the show online in a few spaces retro tech folks frequent. Hard to say what size crowd we might have for the show.
 

mikem

Member
Well, I may not have my color classic. I plugged it in to load up some games and it won’t turn on. I’ll play with it tonight and see if I can get it working.
 

Performa

Member
I've shared to some local groups last minute, perhaps we'll get some more folks to swing on by. Feeling very good about the equipment I've got ready to rumble. If anyone needs anything from me last minute, text me in the morning or message me on Facebook. It all goes to my phone!



See you there!
 
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