Episode 138 - Interview with Hans Franke, VCF Europe and Computeum

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays

Sponsors:

• 8-Bit Classics 

• Arcade Shopper  

Hello, and welcome to Episode 138 of the Floppy Days Podcast for April, 2024!  My name is Randy Kindig and I host this podcast about beautiful, obsolete, extremely interesting computers of 35 to 45 years ago, when computer diversity was abundant.

This episode is an interview show, where we talk with Hans Franke. Hans is very active in the classic computer community, being an organizer of the European Vintage Computer show AND curator of a computer museum!  We discuss both of these things with Hans and learn more about the vintage computer scene in Europe.

I actually have several interviews completed and queued up to publish.  So, while I continue to work on covering the next computer in the timeline, expect several interviews in the near term.  I won’t go into details, but these are great interviews that I think you will enjoy.

I also wanted to mention those listeners who appreciate the show enough to donate through patreon.com.   I really appreciate you guys and it helps offset the cost of running the podcast.

What I’ve Been Up To

• Indy Classic Expo - http://www.indyclassic.org 

• 8-Bit Classics - http://www.8bitclassics.com 

• 80 column card for Atari 1090XL at Tindie from Brian Reifsnyder 

New Acquisitions

• Coco MPI mention on an earlier episode (Episode 131) 

• Cloud-9 - http://www.cloud9tech.com/ 

• Texas Instruments TI58 & TI59 calculators coverage on an earlier episode (Episode 3) 

• TI58/59 battery pack mod from Bob Wolfson 

• 2.4A power adapter for Atari XL/XE - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xl-xe-2-4a-amp-power-adapter/ 

Upcoming Shows

• The 32nd Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! - May 4-5, 2024 - Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago-Carol Stream (Wheaton), Carol Stream, Illinois - https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ 

• The Festival of Portable Computing - May 18-19 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72231/The-Festival-of-Portable-Computing-18th-19th-May-2024/ 

• CorgsCon (Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society) - June 1 - Kasich Hall – Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/ 

• Game Not Over 2024 - June 8-9 - Dunstall Park Racecourse in Wolverhampton, U.K. - https://retro.directory/browse/events/326-game-not-over-2024 

• VCF Southwest - June 14-16, 2024 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at UT Dallas - https://www.vcfsw.org/ 

• Boatfest Retro Computer Expo - June 14-16 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info 

• Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 22 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html 

• Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 22-23 - Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start 

• Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - June 29-30 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/ 

• KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 16-21 (in-person), July 27-28 (virtual) - University of Illinois in Springfield, IL - https://www.kansasfest.org/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 19-21,  2024 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ 

• Nottingham Video Game Expo - July 20-21 - The Belgrave Rooms, Nottingham, U.K. - https://www.nottsvge.com/ 

• Fujiama - July 23-28 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2024/  

• Vintage Computer Festival West - August 2-3 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-west/  

• VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ 

• VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/ 

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/ 

• Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/ 

• AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/ 

• Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/  

• Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/ 

• Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/current-year-vintage-computer-show-schedule 

Interview with Hans Franke 

• VCF Europe (VCFe.org)

• Computeum (Computeum )