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VCF Midwest discussion panel
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 04:41:50 +0000 UTCI watched the VCF Midwest 2024 YouTube Creator discussion panel the other day and thought about how I would answer the questions posed to the panel.
Since most questions were for the whole panel, it's easy for us as viewers to chime in. On the downside, having so many questions for the whole panel meant we mostly heard from the most talkative members on the panel and not necessarily the most interesting ones, but it was still pretty good.
So here's what I would have said if I were on the panel. If you have your own answers to any of these that you'd like to share, I'd love to read them!
Was there an early movie or media that got you more interested in computers? James Bond: Never Say Never Again (1983). Bond jumps in on the video game craze, battling the villain in a computer game that gives you a deadly shock if you lose! Still a great scene to this day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9_cLu5-JY
Is your goal to bring your vintage computer back to 'Stock' condition or Modify/Optimize it as much as possible? STOCK
Is Generative AI a help or hindrance to your work? The 2037 Mac Pro, the first AI Mac, has generally been a hindrance in my experience. Besides that, for research, I’m reading articles from back in the day, so AI is not going to help with that. For music, I generally scavenge background music from the time period, but use Alexander Brandon music, otherwise. Using AI for making graphics?.. never crossed my mind. It’s a fun toy, though. We were playing with it the other day with a photo of my wife and her friends, using the AI to make the photo resemble different art styles. My wife was annoyed that half the time the AI decided she was male because of her short hair.
My beloved wife on the right
Was there a new technology that you got excited about and then it failed? Apple OpenDoc
Favourite person on the panel? Action Retro
What got you into doing YouTube? Sir, I will direct you to my Patreon for a full disclosure of this.
What is a machine that you really wanted but couldn’t get it when it was new, but now you own it? TI99/4 Peripheral Expansion Box and the TI Monitor. 
Oh, and a machine that I wanted when it was new and still don’t own is a Commodore PET 4016, just because it was the first computer I used. It's more expensive now than it was then!
Favourite OS? Mac OS X 10.6
What digital technology did you use for the longest time? QuickTime 7 and FireWire. Still using both.
What is the most frustrating tear-down you ever did? Putting the media bay assembly back into the Power Macintosh 4400 (other people echoed that opinion after I published the video). A close second is doing an iBook G4 Hard Drive swap. Lots of "Damn!" resulted.
Has Emulation been a boon or hindrance to your work? Boon. I use emulation for many old systems such as the original Macintosh, Coin-Op Arcade and TI-99. That way I get clear digital clips for my videos.
What do you consider retro/ vintage? The panel got 'in the weeds' on this question, discussing the difference between 'retro' and 'vintage', but in the spirit of the question asked, I would say pre-2005 at this point.
What attracts you most to computing? I would say the historical aspect. It is fascinating to see why something was added (or not added) to the machine, especially if it takes a 'deep-dive' to figure it out. It's great fun discovering the stories behind the system that I haven't heard. Built on that, when I (or the viewers) use the machine, we see that history in front of us. The machine you have becomes an artifact that is meaningful because it has a story. It's even more cool if you have a personal history with the machine, because you lived that history. (I'm hogging the microphone at this point.. next...)
What modern technology are you excited about? Blue SCSI and FloppyEmu… It’s this.. like... box that becomes a modern solid state hard drive... well, look it up yourself, it's crazy-cool! (the panel and audience are uncomfortably silent in response)
Favourite printer? StyleWriter, just from a design standpoint
Best and worst computer deal you had? Not including stuff that I was just given for free. I would say the 8100/100AV (not working) in trade for 4 keyboard mouse sets... or maybe the four Power Macintosh 6100's for a case of beer. Both became foundations for videos. The worst is just when you pick something up and it's got a defect you couldn't see in the pictures. Just coming away with a sense of disappointment, but, there's always that potential to figure-out how to fix it!
What computer design philosophy differences do you see between the mid-90’s and now? Obviously, computer design was very open in 1995 and it's not now. There was a lot more creativity allowed on the user's part to change the machine to meet their needs.
Least favourite OS? Windows ME
Could you sign my 5 1/4" diskette? No.
What is your favourite computer game and what platform do you play it on? Marathon on Power Macintosh
Finally, John Goodman stepped up and asked, "I enjoy fixing vintage computers, but don't know what to do with them after I'm done. They just sit on the shelf. What do you suggest?" I would say to sell them at that point, especially if it has no trophy value to you, or you have no room for it as you keep accumulating these finished projects.
That's it! Thanks for checking out my responses and I hope to read yours!
If you want to watch the real discussion it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMDGuDHLQbw&t=5053s
Comments
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It sounds like I’d be in good company.
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That was you? Great delivery on that question. I’ve had a turbulent history with Windows XP, but I can respect what they accomplished with that release. Also Tiger is a good pick as one of those few “reference releases” of the Mac OS.
Corbin Johnson
Glad you enjoyed! I enjoyed reading your responses to the questions as well in your original post. Because I got into vintage computing post-pandemic I have come to particularly enjoy the parts of your videos about how cheap (or even free) these Macintoshes were pre-pandemic.
superstar64
Yeah I was the one that asked about favorite operating systems, and yes, mine is Windows XP. I could also make a case for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger though.
superstar64
I definitely saw you there then. I was the guy who had the Macintosh Centris 660av that a number of attendees signed.
Avery G
You should go! Ive been going to MW for the better part of 8 years. Its a blast.
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Wow! Only 10 minutes away? I am 5 hours away and I still considered going. I just need to commit and plan for it. That’s great to hear a bit about the show from you. I’m glad you were able to vend some Macs and make some other folks happy in the free pile. I always had a soft spot for the IIsi, so I’m glad to hear you do too. A much easier machine than most to walk around and get signed. Happy to hear there were some positive discussions about my channel! Thanks for letting me know. Nice job banging out answers to the questions so quickly. Enjoyed reading that! That’s a great idea doing a poll featuring the first iPhone. You’ll be able to mark me down for ‘vintage’. Your poor iMac G3! I think I told the story on here about the Apple Color Monitor that was completely black inside the back shell from smoking and the CRT burned in with Solitaire on the screen. Thanks Corbin!
Corbin Johnson
I had the fortune of not only living about 10 minutes from VCF Midwest 19 this year but also being a vendor there. I bought a fairly large lot of Macintosh IIsi, Quadra 610, 630, 650's and several Pre-G3 Power Macintoshes in November last year and wanted to clear out the excess and VCF was the perfect place to do that. Despite it being a fairly down year for sales (as I was told by several attendees), I had an amazing time talking to people and selling about half of what I had acquired. I had the privilege of meeting many on this panel (Steve from Mac84, Sean from Action Retro, Adrian from Adrian's digital basement, The Macintosh Librarian and others) and having them sign my first collected vintage Macintosh: a IIsi! Thank goodness for the free pile! I probably put 8-10 battery-bombed or otherwise not-in-sellable-condition machines in the pile and I was surprised how quickly they got scooped up (to be fair one of the machines I put in the free pile was a battery-bombed Quadra 650 so maybe I shouldn't be surprised). I did pick up a battery-bombed IIci from the free pile and I've managed to get it to at least show the power light on so I have hopes of fully restoring it... Your YouTube channel did come up in a fair number of conversations. You are viewed as one of the peak Macintosh YouTubers by the way :-) I'll take a crack at answering couple of questions: What do you consider vintage: If I attend as a vendor next year, I'm tempted to bring my Wife's original iPhone to the show and have a little whiteboard set up where people can vote on whether or not they feel it is Vintage (yet). 2005 does indeed feel like the right cutoff especially since it was the last year of mainly PowerPC Macs. Most frustrating teardown: Right now I'm working on finding and fixing a fault in a IIsi logic board. I'm probably 15 hours into it and I just don't know if I can stomach putting any more time into it. I've learned a lot but I already have a working one and I'm just not sure if it's worth the effort at this point. Favorite vintage computer game: Sim City 2000. I grew up on it on windows but would play it at my Great Aunt's on Macintosh as a kid. It's a bit of a bummer that the GOG copy I have of it running on my current M1 MacBook Air is just a VM running the DOS version. I play it on my G4 tower with my oldest sometimes though in classic mode and that's a hoot. He's also taken a liking to CrossCountry USA (I understand there's a Canadian version of this too!) and Storybook Weaver which we do play on my Quadra 650. One last addition: best/worst deal: I bought a lightly-battery-bombed Macintosh TV with its keyboard, mouse and (slightly dog-chewed remote) for $200. if I can get it working then I'd say that's a good deal. even if I can't I think the keyboard and mouse are worth it alone at that price. The IIsi I eluded to earlier I got for $50 which also came with a mouse and Keyboard (a AEK II no less!) so despite the IIsi needing a recap of the power supply and logic board (which they all need anyway), I'd say the $50 was worth it for the Keyboard alone! I also did get a broken Macintosh SE in trade for some light labor on sprucing up a working Macintosh SE. worst deal? early in my collecting days I bought a lime green iMac G3 (Rev B?) for $200. Probably worth half of that but it too came with the original keyboard, mouse and power cable. Unfortunately, it came from a smoker's house which I didn't realize until after I got home from buying it. I did (painstakingly) clean it inside and out and the smell is gone (thank goodness).
