Tech Week Grand Rapids

So one of my co-workers alerted me to this event, so I went to check it out on their web site.

Wow!  What a load of useless "panels" and Woke trash.  Let's unpack this.

Monday 9/18 - Kickoff with Malcolm Gladwell

• This guy is just an author.  He has no technical knowledge, yet has a 3 hour speech.  On what?

Tuesday 9/19

• Tech Showcase for students - Pretty much just local companies displaying information about their companies.
• SURGE AI Talk: Unleashing the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Your Business! - ChatGPT is 99% marketing right now.  Its usefulness is very questionable.
• Supercharge Your Applications with Artificial Intelligence - Continuing the AI hype.
• Creative Solutions that Change Lives: The Engineering & Computing Mindset - Just fluff.
• Diversity & Inclusion in Tech - Woke trash
• Student Pitch Competition - Practice pitching your idea!  Wow.  An ounce of image is certainly worth a pound of performance.

And no mention of pirates (9/19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day)

Wed. 9/20

• Code, Culture, and Coffee - "Conversations about the Tech Industry", with people who know nothing about the tech industry.
• Tech Trends Reshaping Business - "Sessions on generative AI, cyber, & AI in the workplace" continuing the AI hype.
• Bridge 96: Building a Statewide Startup Ecosystem - No details, but smells like more Woke trash.
• GVSU Tech Talks - "Tech expert presentations".  No list of who these tech "experts" are, though.
• Freshwater Digital Technology Showcase - Just demonstrations of tech.
• Twisthink x Failure Lab - "Presentations and happy hour".  Translation: People who know nothing speaking jibberish.
• AI in Communications: Understanding Impact & Unlocking Potential - And still more pushing of the AI hype.
• VC Happy Hour - i.e. a bunch of stupid lushes pretending to speak on topics of which they know nothing about.
• Demo Day - Maybe interesting, but probably not.

Thurs. 9/21

• Black & Brown Founders Brunch - Woke trash
• Attracting & Retaining Talent in the Work-From-Home Era - Wow!  Something potentially useful, but seeing the amount of Woke trash already here, I doubt it.
• Latinx in Tech - More Woke trash.  Let me check my BINGO card.  I think I might have won.
• Building the Workforce You Need - Another something that's potentially useful, but I doubt it.
• Drinks on the Deck - Even more lushes pretending to speak on topics of which they know nothing about.
• Innovation at Scale: A Playbook for Building High-Growth Ventures - Did we learn nothing from the .COM bust?
• GR in XR on the Blue Bridge - "Extended reality experience".  Potentially interesting, but 1 out of how many? isn't very good.

Fri. 9/22

• Twisthink Breakfast + Panel - I have no idea what Twisthink is, so why would I think this is interesting?
• It Started at State! - Propaganda that tech ideas started at MSU.
• Confluence Music Summit - And more non-tech fluff.

Sat. 9/23

• Confluence Festival - "Free festival with art, music, science, and tech".  Seriously?  That's like saying "I have a smart watch, so I'm tech."

I'll be going to Tandy Assembly later this month and there will be more tech talking in 1 hour there than a whole week of "Tech Week Grand Rapids".

Kaypro "1" update

I decided to return the to the floppy drives.  The half height drives worked much more reliably than the full height drives.

I used the OpenFlops to boot and copy disk images to real 5.25" disks.  Once that was done, I put the real floppy drive back.  Now I have a bunch of working disks for the Kaypro "1".

Then I fixed the video "squeezing" problem.  Just some DeOxyIt and slight adjustment to a video pot.

I also use the 5.25" drive in the NuXT to copy files.  Someone way back in the day, wrote a set of utilities called 22dsk that will read/write CP/M 2.2 disks.  It also works for my kaypro 4/83, but I have to use the same floppy emulator in the NuXT.

TRS-80 Model I update

So I never gave an update on the Model I that I found locally.

I picked up the kit and parts for the power supply and fit it into a nice enclosure.

I powered it on and...  It worked!  It had some issues, but that wasn't a surprise.

On a whim, I also plugged in the Model I Level I that I had bought only for display and it worked too!  The plastic is really brittle with this one, so it's back on the shelf.

The first issue with the Model I Level II was the video.  But some DeOxyIt on the pots and a little adjustment fixed that.

Next was the keyboard.  There were 3 problems:

1. Dirty key switches.  So off go the key tops.  Dusted them out.  DeOxyIt all of them.
2. They still weren't 100%, though.  So I replaced the cable that connected the keyboard to the motherboard - a common problem.
3. Better, but still not 100%.  I reflowed all the solder for the key switches and we are now at 100%.

I picked up a Quinterface and FreHD for it.  It has no serial interface, though.  So no BBSing with it.

I need to put the Expansion Interface on the list of things to work on.

Cleaning house - C128, Tandy 1100FD, etc.

So I'm trying to clean things out a bit.  My rule of "if a new computer comes in, an old one has to go" is being enforced.  I have a few systems that have no desk space, so they are going.

The Commodore 128 went on eBay, alone with the Commodore 1571 floppy drive.  But no one wanted the printer (no surprise).

I am going to donate my spare Tandy 1100FD and PC-2 to Tandy Assembly for their Auction.

I am toying with the idea of doing the same for the Kaypro "1" at VFCMW next year.

I have a box of freebies set for Tandy Assembly and a different box set up for VCFMW.

So it's slowly happening.

Reunion aftermath

So my reunion went off better than expected.

Things that surprised me:

1. The number of people who actually matured and improved.  But I guess the other who didn't wouldn't have shown up.
2. The number of people I didn't remember.
3. The number of people who wanted to talk to us (my wife and me).
4. The number of people who wanted to avoid us (who I had always been on good terms with).

My wife was comfortable enough that she was talked into us doing our wedding dance.  The video was interesting mostly hearing the crowd reactions.  I think they thought they would be getting Amateur Hour, but soon realized that they were getting Dancing With The Stars.

A many women were crying after the dance and one told my wife "I wish my husband would dance with me like that."

I met up with a guy who had my dad as a teacher and he wanted to tell me how being in his class sent him on a career into aviation.  This was a little bittersweet for me.  First, I didn't remember the guy.  I don't think I had any classes with him.  But his memories of the rocket launches my dad did in his science classes was a bit painful for me because I had asked my dad about that, but he would not do that with me.  So all these kids who weren't his children got to do model rockets, but he wouldn't do the same thing with his children.

I think some of the people there were looking for a bit of closure, and others were like me - just curious about how people turned out.

So the next reunion will be in 10 years.  But I told my wife that we probably won't go.  But there are many variables in that equation and we won't be able to solve that for another 10 years.