Note: Despite the English descriptions below, most talks will be in German. However, some speakers might use English slides.

The presentations are streamed and the recordings will be released on media.ccc.de afterwards.

How do virtual presentations work? You can watch the presentation itself in the Stream. If you want to ask questions after the presentation, you can enter the Q&A room in BBB (link to the rooms underneath the presentation entries on this page). All you need for that is a current web browser, e.g. Firefox or Chrome. If you have a microphone (and optionally also a camera), you can directly ask your question. The other way is to use the text chat in the room. Q&A sessions are never recorded.

Welcome, information on the festival.

Language: German
Eva Kudrass and Dr. Dr. Stefan Höltgen

This talk shall be a general introduction to the topic. The following questions shall be discussed: Who collects? What is collected? Why do people collect? Where do their old computers come from? Who do I ask, with whom do I discuss, where do I find my social group? How much are old computers worth? Old computers as a financial investment? What shall I do if I inherit old computers? Which arrangements can I put in place for my old computers so they are cared for after I have died?

Language: German
Fritz Hohl

To the Q&A session

DOjS is an integrated development and execution system for Javascript programs on MS-DOS. In addition to the built-in text editor, the system offers an interface to hardware that is typically found in DOS-PCs, such as SVGA graphics cards, mice, keyboards, sound cards and even 3D Voodoo graphics accelerator cards. While the primary development focus is the creation of electronic art, the system can also be used for game development and is intended for beginners and advanced programmers alike.

Language: German, slides: English
Andre Seidelt

To the Q&A session

From the juke boxes of the 18th century to todays smart devices: The collection of the German Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) is, both from a time and topic point of view, very diverse. The focus of this talk (in German) will therefore be collection- and documentation strategies that help to structure this diversity. In addition, historical computers from the depot of the museum will be shown that are otherwise not accessible to the public.

Language: German
Eva Kudrass

To the Q&A session

Already in the 1840s Charles Babbage designed a maschine that included almost all significant element of today's computer systems. In doing so, he was ahead of its time by incredible 100 years. Unfortunately, the Analytical Engine remained a theoretical concept and could never be implemented. In this presentation we first illuminate Charles Babbage the person and will then talk about the history of his theoretical machine. Afterwards, we will the function of the machine in detail. Finally, we will report on the ambitious "Plan 2B". In it our English colleagues will try to implement the Analytical Engine for its 200. anniversary using Charles Babbage's original notes. The presentation was originally recorded for the VCFe 2020 which was unfortunately cancelled.

Language: German, English
Michael Holzheu und Dr. Stefan Stein

To the Q&A session

Recently, I found a minimal Z80 system in a dumpster which was obviously a wire wrap prototype board. Obviously, the system did not work anymore. Based on the integrated circuits on the board assumptions are made what the system can do and which operating voltages are required. Furthermore the EEPROM will be read and disassembled and the glue logic will be analyzed to generate a rough memory map. Based on this a systematic error search will be done with a Hameg oscilloscope of the time. We will search for defect IC outputs, short circuits between connections and many other things that can happen as well.

Language: German
Klemens Krause (Computer Museum of the University of Stuttgart)

To the Q&A session

The mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage wrote 26 programs between 1836 and 1841 for the unfinished "Analytical Engine" (AE). The code is embedded implicitly in tables summarizing program traces. In this talk, I present the programming architecture of Babbage’s mechanical computer based on the first code written for the machine. The AE had a processor separate from memory, and worked using a kind of dataflow approach. The stream of arithmetical operations was independent from the stream of memory addresses. Special "combinatorial" cards allowed the processor to execute FOR and WHILE loops. Combinatorial cards also allowed independent looping through the stream of memory addresses. Quite sophisticated computations were possible and illustrate why Babbage talked about the possibility of doing "algebra" with his machine. The programs I will discuss predate by several years the account published by Menabrea in 1842 and translated later by Lady Lovelace with notes of her own.

Language: German, slides: English
Prof. Dr. Raul Rojas

To the Q&A session

The annual general assembly of the Vintage Computing Festival Berlin e.V. is open to interested non-members, unless decided otherwise at the beginning of the meeting. The meeting will not be recorded.

Language: German

To the meeting

What exactly is 'Open Source'? What differentiates 'Open Source' from 'Closed Source', which one came first and what is the significance of open source for the development of computers until today? What motivated developers in the early days to participate in open source projects? How were open source projects organized and why were they successful? Which specific challenges did open source present? What can we learn from open source projects of the past for the future and perhaps generally for new forms of collaboration? This talk will discuss all these questions based on historic examples like the GNU project.

Language: German
Ansgar Kückes

To the Q&A session

Computers are natural companions in our everyday lives. We use them to communicate with each other, for education, for entertainment but also to engage in society and politics. In their free time, the members of our association help people with a low income or who are in financial difficulties to get access to these possibilities.

Language: German
Mac and Ben

To the Q&A session

We will present the collection approach of the museum with the example of the Commodore 64. How does the Heinz Nixdorf Museum handle donation offers, what kind of work is required in the museum when an object is accepted and how an object gets into storage or the exhibition.

Language: German
Dr. Christian Berg

To the Q&A session

The Analog Computer Museum in Hettenhain (Wiesbaden/Frankfurt area) presents a tour through their collection where selected machines will be demonstrated live (Audience questions are very welcome). The collection currently consists of more than 70 exhibits, from small electromechanical analog computers over classical table top analog computers up to large systems like the EAI 680, EAI Pacer 700, Telefunken RA 700, and more.

Language: German
Dr. Bernd Ulmann

To the Q&A session

The "DIGI-COMP 1" is a mechanical learning 'computer' created in 1963. Pushers, springs and panel sheets form a 3-bit memory and an arithmetic unit for binary operations, similar to what is known from the Zuse Z1. Despite its simple construction, the DIGI-COMP 1 can be programmed flexibly and still enjoys support by its fans. I have equipped my DIGI-COMP with a motor and I will demonstrate it in action and talk about its functions.

Language: German
Jörg Hoppe

To the Q&A session

In 1991, the famous game "Another World" was published for the Commodore Amiga. It achieved cult status mainly for its visionary art style. But also technically it was quite interesting, as it was based on a game-specific bytecode language executed by a virtual machine interpreter. Eric Chahi, the author of "Another World", six years earlier had written the game "Infernal Runner" on the Amstrad CPC. The game, published by the French company Loriciels, was rated fairly mediocre by the press, was rather simple, and also still had some bugs. Nonetheless, the game is cool from a software architectural point of view. Like "Another World", it is largely not written as a conventional Z80 program, but in a specifically designed bytecode language. This language is interpreted by a virtual machine supporting "parallel" execution of up to 255 tasks by a simple multitasking scheduler. This nice concurrency feature enabled a very elegant design of the various enemies and animated game levels. The talk will cover the essentials of this bytecode language, the virtual machine interpreter, and the process scheduler. Some code examples from the game will be shown, as well as a port of the virtual machine to JavaScript to make the game playable in a web browser. The talk tries to also give you some insights into the reverse engineering process and how much fun this was.

Language: English
Norbert Kehrer

To the Q&A session

The "Signallabor" of the faculty of media sciences of the Humboldt University Berlin collects old computers. However, as only a working computer is a real computer, many old devices have to be repaired before they can be used for research and teaching. Thomas Fecker, student employee and studied electronic technician will perform a live repair during the talk. While the head of the Signallabor (Stefan Höltgen) films the procedure, he will show the most important measurement tools and repair techniques and will muse about what he is doing.

Language: German
Thomas Fecker

To the Q&A session

We will offer an insight into our exhibition and depot of our museum and report how a private collection became a museum. The OCM was founded in 2008 and exhibits computer systems, game consoles and arcade systems from the 1970's, 80's and 90's.

Language: German
Thiemo Eddiks

To the Q&A session

Disk drives and disks were an important part of the early personal computing era. This talk focuses on the disk technology of the 5.25" disk drive "Commodore 1541", known as 'the disk drive for the Commodore 64'. After a historical classification (tape drives, disk platters, 8 inch disk drives) I will discuss the structure of drives and disks, the low level recording format (tracks, sectors, SYNC markers, GRC coding) and their implementation in the drive's firmware. This is followed by a discussion of the file system format and the data transmission between the drive and the C64. We will also discuss fast loaders, which replace the drive's firmware with optimized code to read data, as well as copy protection systems, that combined non-standardized formats with obfuscated read routines. And finally we will discuss solutions to read data from old disks without errors with modern hardware.

Language: German
Michael Steil

To the Q&A session

Released in 1972, Pong was the first commercially successful video game. In the time it took for hardware video games to be superseded by computer technology, Atari released a number of video games with very interesting and teachable circuitry. This presentation will cover the Pong, Space Race, Pong Doubles, Rebound and Quadrapong devices and will look at replica production, regeneration of original circuit boards, partial replicas and historically interesting components. The hardware will be shown and demonstrated live, supported by video, images and documentation.

Language: German
Wolfgang Nake

To the Q&A session

Review on the VCFB 2020. Drawing of the winner of the Benchmark Competition. Awarding the Audience Award for the two most popular exhibitions.

Language: German
Eva Kudrass, Anke Stüber, and Carsten Strotmann

To the Q&A session

This workshop introduces the Forth programming language based on a Forth-83 system (VolksForth, Forth for the people). For the C64, Atari ST, Atari 8-Bit, CP/M, Schneider CPC, Apple 2, Apple 1, MS-DOS. Other Forth-38 or ANSI-Forth systems are also possible. We will not look at FIG-Forth or Forth-79. The workshop explains the first steps with a computer and a Forth-83 system and we will develop a small application. No prior knowledge is necessary. To participate, a retro computer with a Forth-83 system is required. Alternatively, an online CP/M emulator www.tramm.li/i8080 can be used. Max. 20 participants.

Language: German
Carsten Strotmann

To the workshop room

This workshop will teach the basics of the BASIC programming language, based on the BBC-BASIC flavor. In addition to the principle commands, functions and structures of BASIC, an introduction will be given on the operation of BASIC interpreters, the history of the language and the diverse implementations and dialects. No prior knowledge is required for the workshop. All work will be done in the web browser, no installation is necessary.

Language: German
Dr. Dr. Stefan Höltgen

To the workshop room

There is a time when technology collectors ask themselves if their collections should serve a higher goal than just their own interests. Museums exist and is it not their goal to inform and educate the public? One could donate the collection to a museum, they surely must be happy to at least get the rare artifacts!? This Q&A session focuses on this subject and tries to answer how museums collect and which possibilities exist for collectors to be useful for a museum. The talk will be organized as an interactive question and answer session in which the moderator and the public can ask questions to the participating curators from a number of museums.

Language: German
Dr. Carola Dahlke (Curator of the Information Science and Cryptology Department, German Museum)
Thiemo Eddiks (1st Chairman OCM e.V., Computer Museum Oldenburg)
Eva Kudraß (Head of the Mathematics and Information Science Collection, German Museum of Technology)
Dr. Jochen Viehoff (CEO, Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum)
Moderator: Dr. Fritz Hohl

To the workshop room