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Thoughts on VCF East so far

werdna

werdna

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2024
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18
Location
USA
I've had lots of fun at VCF East so far and thought I'd share some thoughts. I hope this is the appropriate place to post this thread.

It's my second VCF East - I last went a long time ago, I think it was '08. The area isn't the most convenient for me to get to, so I really had to plan this visit out in advance. In some ways, things have really changed. Last time, from what I remember, the consignment area was in Location 2C. It took up around half the room. (I forget if there were any other areas dedicated to it at the time.) Now, the consignment area takes up an entirely separate building. The line at 9:00 felt like the length of a short city block and I was told people had gotten there several hours earlier! It's crazy how things have changed.

Despite the growth, the exhibit areas are just how I remember them. In many regards, things feel pretty much the same: a ton of monitors and systems of all shapes, sizes, and OSs, spread out across tables in the various rooms. Behind those tables were many great people eager to talk about the systems on display. Over the past two days, walking around the campus, I've made some new friends, and I even met a few familiar faces from YouTube.

At consignment, I got my hands on one of the several HP TouchPads that were for sale - there were only a few! Ironically, to get a hold of it I had to miss John Wise's talk on webOS, which was going on while I was waiting in line and browsing. Hopefully it will be uploaded to YouTube and I'll be able to watch it soon. I always wanted to get into webOS but never knew the right place to start... but here I am now!



Also, because of consignment, I ended up missing the soldering class, but I got a little practice in on Friday on a junk board with the help of the folks at the Glitch Works maker space. So that was fun!

I also found this bad boy...

IMG_0438.jpeg

I just need to find an appropriate keyboard and stylus. I'm having trouble finding information on the exact keyboard protocol for the Stylistic 500 - is it PS/2? If anyone knows please tell me... This was quite a weird find; I couldn't find any other early-90s pen-tablets. Maybe someone found one first in the half hour when I was waiting outside in the cold before I finally got into the consignment area. If so, comment here and let me know what I missed!

There was so much tempting stuff I could have bought... what stops me is the limits on my spare-time. As I'm sure many here know, each new system can become a rabbit hole of time and money. Things need to be cleaned and fixed. Additional peripherals need to be purchased. If the platform is relatively new to me, or one I don't use often, I have to familiarize (or re-familiarize) myself with the software library. And then, there's all the weird quirks of a system you need to learn to use it effectively. All part of the hobby, of course, but there's only so much I can do at once!

I also managed to sell most of what I brought with me. Hopefully the rest will sell tomorrow. What matters is things are going in the hands of people who will appreciate them. More importantly, it's less for me to lug home!

Here's hoping Sunday will be a good day!
 
I'm sure to get some opinions on this, and I respect very much other folks that might feel differently. But my history is with the old Ham Conventions, where you might get entry for a nominal 5 or 10 dollars. The price at the door for 3 days at VCF East was $80! What? Sure, that might be something that is justified for various reasons, but I might point out that VCF Midwest is probably about the same size or bigger and is completely free except for donations (to the best of my knowledge). Even the age old 'swap meet' had the organizers taking an 18% cut. So, not being a hater, but maybe I'm just old school.

I would rather it was less monitized, even if that meant that some of the youtubers, speakers, and the like stayed at home, but maybe I'm in a minority there.
 
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I agree 80 felt high, but even then the cost of transportation and lodging has dwarfed that for me.
 
bsd64 said:
VCF Midwest is probably about the same size or bigger and is completely free except for donations (to the best of my knowledge).
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VCF Midwest also somehow manages to get the big YouTubers to attend/speak. This year they will (for the first time) be charging to have a booth, no word on the cost but I'm not expecting it to be more than $50 (hoping, anyways) guess we'll see.
 
Glad you're enjoying yourself! It seems like people are having a good time - I have a couple of friends out there who have been sending photos. I wish I was out there, it looks like a good time! I'll be looking out for the panel recordings when they land on Youtube.

That Stylistic tablet is really cool - there used to be a computer shop near here back in the 90s, they had one of those on display. Teenage me was absolutely in awe!


I'm not going to judge the price, I get where people coming from, but if I dropped in - the flights and hotel are going to be my big cost. $80 for a ticket is high for a 2-day event is just going to fade into the noise.
Around my neck of the woods the benchmark is £45 for a weekend comic-con ticket, which I'd consider to be a broadly similar event.
I mostly do small enthusiast events - someone mentioned hamfests, at least around here (when we still had them) they were mostly funded by trader tables. That's harder to do these days.

Sadly a lot of venues ratcheted their prices and rent-seeking up after being closed for two years.. and now that's the "market price"...
 
bsd64 said:
But my history is with the old Ham Conventions, where you might get entry for a nominal 5 or 10 dollars. The price at the door for 3 days at VCF East was $80! What? Sure, that might be something that is justified for various reasons,

I would rather it was less monitized, even if that meant that some of the youtubers, speakers, and the like stayed at home, but maybe I'm in a minority there.
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You have to understand that this is a primary fundraiser for VCF. This supports the maintenance of the computer museum and pays for the constant evolution of the space which has grown tremendously since it’s inception. Small things like painting the walls cost money which has to come from somewhere. Upgrading the exhibits to make a more attractive experience costs money. While all the physical work is done by volunteers, equipment & materials must still be purchased. The museum is a vital resource in educating the public about the roots of modern computing.
 
jgalinat said:
You have to understand that this is a primary fundraiser for VCF. This supports the maintenance of the computer museum and pays for the constant evolution of the space which has grown tremendously since it’s inception.
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As with other complaints I've seen about the VCF, complaints about admission prices look to me to be something that could be mitigated with better communication. I just had a look at https://vcfedthe right thing.".org/ and, while there's information about how to give money to the VCF there, there's nothing obvious about how it is used.

Perhaps if people could easily see that of the $80 ticket price, $X went to covering the costs of the event, and the remainder contributed to the total $Y raised by the event that went towards the $Z in yearly costs to do A and B and C, people would be more sanguine about how much they are paying.

There are good reasons why people tend not to believe others who say just, "trust us, we're doing good stuff." If you want trust, a much better way than asking for it is to actively work to make sure that others have the information that shows what you are doing, and let them make their own judgements about whether you're "doing good stuff." Remember, external observers can't easily (or sometimes at all) tell the difference between "we're trying to hide something" and "we're just not communicating very well."

Just a suggestion.
 
cjs said:
As with other complaints I've seen about the VCF, complaints about admission prices look to me to be something that could be mitigated with better communication. I just had a look at https://vcfedthe right thing.".org/ and, while there's information about how to give money to the VCF there, there's nothing obvious about how it is used.

Perhaps if people could easily see that of the $80 ticket price, $X went to covering the costs of the event, and the remainder contributed to the total $Y raised by the event that went towards the $Z in yearly costs to do A and B and C, people would be more sanguine about how much they are paying.

There are good reasons why people tend not to believe others who say just, "trust us, we're doing good stuff." If you want trust, a much better way than asking for it is to actively work to make sure that others have the information that shows what you are doing, and let them make their own judgements about whether you're "doing good stuff." Remember, external observers can't easily (or sometimes at all) tell the difference between "we're trying to hide something" and "we're just not communicating very well."

Just a suggestion.
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I was formerly a volunteer who assisted in the setup of the new museum space, things like painting, spackling, moving machines, setting up displays, etc so I got a small glimpse of what was involved. I have since moved to AZ from NJ. You may want to address any issues with transparency with the VCF showrunner as there is no way I can address these concerns.
 
jgalinat said:
You may want to address any issues with transparency with the VCF showrunner as there is no way I can address these concerns.
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I'm not too worried about it myself; I live in Japan and so my interactions with the VCF are limited to using this forum. I'm just giving an entirely unsolicited opinion based on the various reactions from people who seem to be wanting to give the VCF side of various complaints that I've seen.
 
Honestly, I don't consider 26.66 per day to be all that expensive for both admission to the event and the museum. I really don't get the complaints on this in particular.
 
I made it the first time on Saturday, to be honest I went mainly for the consignment and I came home happy! Nabbed a Mac SE 1MB/SC20 drive for $79 (thanks to the seller if you are watching!), clean, boots, and came with a Apple 3.5 disk. Sadly I was dealing with a pounding headache while in there and moved quickly, forgot to grab a mouse at least to enjoy it while I wait for the Wombat which I order Sunday.

With that if some jerk in a Mets had passed you in the register line that was me and I'm sorry, that was rude. Headache or no...

Coming back next year and plan to bring at least one or two of my kids, that place was pretty cool (not to mention the military stuff around)!
 
For folks commenting on cost, I’m not going to do into detail, but a couple of notes:
1) VCF does not pay anyone to attend, including speakers
2) VCF has to pay for the use of the facility
3) There are a large number of event costs, including such basics as chair and table rental, that have to be covered

VCF Midwest folks run an amazing show, and I attend that one myself. Anyone who can get there should attend that show at least once.

- Alex
 
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