I've been going to the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest (https://vcfmw.org) for a few years, and for several years I've brought my box of calculators since they're neat little computers. I've never had a formal exhibit before, though, it's always just been the box, and me telling people about them if they're curious.

This year I'm thinking of doing something a little more concrete with the calcs - at least a poster/sign with hardware specs, and probably some interactive exhibits.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who have done this kind of thing before; I'm still going through the search results/news for the previous makerfaire exhibits.

Things I'm particularly interested in and not sure what the best option is:
- Making sure things don't wander off
- Particularly good/engaging exhibits, programs, demos, or anything else
- any other insights
TheLastMillenial did an interactive exhibit at OpenSauce around 2 months ago, it’s on his YouTube channel. I haven’t heard of vcfmv.org, but I assume that it’s pretty similar to OpenSauce, you might want to check that out if you haven’t already.
guywithathing wrote:
TheLastMillenial did an interactive exhibit at OpenSauce around 2 months ago

Indeed, he did, and I posted some thoughts in one of his threads about this that are perhaps even more relevant to VCFMW than OpenSauce:

I wrote:
This con definitely has a hardware-hacking bent; to feed into this, it would be nice to have a printout of a labeled PCB which shows what the various parts of the PCB are for. I seem to remember one floating around for the CE (possibly made by Dnar in like 2018?), though this is far more interesting for the calcs which are not all baked into an ASIC.
Some extra thought should be given to market this to people who used to have experience tinkering with Z80 computers, as well as those who might have done some BASIC programming in a different dialect.
I'd also recommend reading the posts iphoenix linked.

I'd highly recommend getting at least one other person to help you exhibit. That way you can keep the booth running while one person uses the bathroom or explores the exhibition. Even someone with no experience with calculators can run a booth if given a few talking points.

To answer some questions directly:

- Making sure things don't wander off
Covering the calculators with acrylic will stop any overly curious visitor. If you want a bit more security, I ran steel wire through my prototypes or attached the wire to a battery door screw. That might be overkill for this sort of exhibition though.

- Particularly good/engaging exhibits, programs, demos, or anything else

I don't know exactly what calculators you're bringing but if any run Doom that's a solid demo to show. Really any commonly known game will attract people.

If your calculators have poor viewing angles, get a sheet of wood or something and angle it so visitors can stand at a comfortable distance and still read the screen.

Having some sort of brief plaque for each calculator that just says their name and why they're interesting are useful for people who are just looking around and don't feel like talking. (they're also extremely useful if your voice dies)
I laser cut mine out but I'd actually recommend just printing them on regular paper so they're more legible and easy to change.

I'd recommend a banner (or any prominent sign) that gives visitors an easy talking point to initiate a conversation. I just named my booth 'calculator hacking' and I often heard "so what calculators are you hacking?" as the first thing visitors asked. I think it just helped people know ahead of time whether they'd be interested in hearing more.

- any other insights

A cheap ($2) tablecloth from the dollar tree can make your booth look a lot more complete. They're super thin so if this exhibition is multiple days, get two. You can use the spare one to cover up the exhibit while it's unattended.

Bring hot glue and duct tape. Something is guaranteed to break so be prepared. Best case: you'll get to be a hero and fix someone else's booth.

Definitely make time to see the other booths! If it's just you presenting, ask your booth neighbor to keep an eye on your stuff while you browse.
TheLastMillennial wrote:
I'd also recommend reading the posts iphoenix linked.

I'd highly recommend getting at least one other person to help you exhibit. That way you can keep the booth running while one person uses the bathroom or explores the exhibition. Even someone with no experience with calculators can run a booth if given a few talking points.

To answer some questions directly:

- Making sure things don't wander off
Covering the calculators with acrylic will stop any overly curious visitor. If you want a bit more security, I ran steel wire through my prototypes or attached the wire to a battery door screw. That might be overkill for this sort of exhibition though.

I'm going with a group which will also be running the analog phone system. There'll always be someone in the area to watch over things. Of course with calcs being pocket sized I do want an additional layer.. I'll probably make some sort of box with an acrylic cover and hinges.. squeaky if possible.
EDIT: I will be using my old LACK rack with a shelf and acrylic cover built into it, and a VAX and probably an ethernet switch on the back. probably phone stuff will also be attached to the rack, though I'm beginning to get a bit vertical and I may build another display section for phones.

TheLastMillennial wrote:

I don't know exactly what calculators you're bringing but if any run Doom that's a solid demo to show. Really any commonly known game will attract people.

I was thinking at least Doom on Nspire CX and Fruit Ninja on some sort of 83+. I want to see what I can do with Prime, but I don't think I have any with decent batteries...
TheLastMillennial wrote:

If your calculators have poor viewing angles, get a sheet of wood or something and angle it so visitors can stand at a comfortable distance and still read the screen.

I was thinking that for at least one demo I would have a lightbox behind a ViewScreen. or possibly just an overhead projector, if I can find one that I can borrow.

TheLastMillennial wrote:

Having some sort of brief plaque for each calculator that just says their name and why they're interesting are useful for people who are just looking around and don't feel like talking. (they're also extremely useful if your voice dies)
I laser cut mine out but I'd actually recommend just printing them on regular paper so they're more legible and easy to change.

Ack.
TheLastMillennial wrote:

I'd recommend a banner (or any prominent sign) that gives visitors an easy talking point to initiate a conversation. I just named my booth 'calculator hacking' and I often heard "so what calculators are you hacking?" as the first thing visitors asked. I think it just helped people know ahead of time whether they'd be interested in hearing more.

hmm, I wonder if I can get my dot-matrix printer to work with BSD banner(or something modern like toilet)... I know i had it working a few years ago, but I think some capacitors in the printer may have gone out by now
EDIT: ImageWriter II is working with linux. It's got weird flow-control issues though xon/xoff works. I may set up a frog.tips box or something.
TheLastMillennial wrote:

- any other insights
A cheap ($2) tablecloth from the dollar tree can make your booth look a lot more complete. They're super thin so if this exhibition is multiple days, get two. You can use the spare one to cover up the exhibit while it's unattended.
Bring hot glue and duct tape. Something is guaranteed to break so be prepared. Best case: you'll get to be a hero and fix someone else's booth.
Definitely make time to see the other booths! If it's just you presenting, ask your booth neighbor to keep an eye on your stuff while you browse.

I believe the conference and/or venue has tablecloths, though I'll double check since it's a new venue this year.
My mobile repair kit is imho pretty good. I always bring a soldering iron and related tools, my box of "random small electronics stuff". For hot glue I don't usually bother with a whole gun setup. I've found that the 1/4" sticks can be heated up with a lighter and applied as needed. Duct tape lives on my water bottle and I know the phone folks are going to have a few rolls of gaffer tape or whatever the conference center allows on their floor.

(I'm definitely going to refer back to this post, and might edit/reply to it a few times if needed for my own reference)
As the show approaches, I'm going to double post.

I built this out of scrap wood in my garage this morning. I think it turned out pretty well.


I should have room for explanatory text for all the calculators except possible the DOOM nspire (not shown, charging) which will have the wifi hat. I'll figure something out.

In any case, I'll have hinges on the acrylic and a microswitch that will trigger an unnecessarily complicated alarm via the phone system.

Other exhibits will include:

    MicroVAX II running 4.3BSD and hopefully X11 if I can get a modern X server running
    ImageWriter II to print out random stuff. Hopefully hooked to the vax but BSD is weird
    early Protel Payphone
  
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