Welcome to The DEC Connection!
The DEC Connection is an association dedicated
to preserving the unique culture of Digital Equipment Corporation by
reuniting the Digital family through face-to-face events, intra-personal and
group communications, and joint activities. We want to preserve
Ken Olsen's cultural, technical and
management legacies. We promote events of local ex-DEC clubs. Membership
is open to all former employees and contractors -
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News At A Glance |
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Go to our online Newsletter archive. |
DEC Tech Talks
via Zoom

Kerry Bensman
Our last speakers:

Gale "Jake" Jacobs

Link to amazon.com where you can buy Avram's book |
This is shaping up to be a great and well-received
series!
Tech Talk #7: February 23, 2023,
1 pm Eastern/12 pm Central/10 am Pacific - Kerry Bensman
We recently enjoyed the discussion from
Avram Miller about the Professional 3xx Series of Personal Computers, with
references to the two complementary Digital products in the personal
computing space. One was the Rainbow 100 Personal Computer, a product
about which Kerry Bensman can tell us quite a lot! Kerry,
who at the time worked for the late Barry James Folsom, will share the
history of the Rainbow 100, DEC's relationship with Microsoft, and his own
anecdotes about the PC industry in the early days.
Kerry's background: After graduating from
M.I.T. with a B.S. in E.E., Kerry joined DEC in December 1969. As a mill
rat, he spent a couple of years in TOPS-10 and then transferred to Denver as
a Software Specialist, covering one fourth of the U.S. He was promoted to
Northern California District SWS Manager in Northern California and then
Northeast Regional SWS Manager in Waltham. After a short stint in Customer
Services Marketing, he joined the Rainbow Group as Group Product and
Applications Manager. He was responsible for the Rainbow 100B and CP/M and
MS-DOS.
After the cancellation of the Rainbow, Kerry
moved on to TOEM as the Basic Industries Manager and left the company in
1990, a few months after completing the Harvard Business School
International Senior Managers Program. He then spent a couple of years at
Wang Laboratories and later relocated to Boulder, CO as Director of Software
Business for IBM's Printing Systems Division. After leaving high tech,
Kerry served six years as a City Councilman for Lafayette CO, and now lives
in the St. Louis MO area.
_____________________________________________
To sign up for any Tech Talk, email us at info@decconnection.org.
Provide your name and email address for the Zoom invite (which will be
emailed about a week ahead of the event). We now ask that, to attend
the Zoom session, you be a paid-up member of DEC Connection.
Here is where you
can join or renew.
Generally, these sessions have run about an hour - 30-45
min. talk, 15-20 min. Q&A/discussion.
_____________________________________________
To sign up to deliver a DEC Tech Talk, please email info@decconnection.org
with your name and a bit about your Digital background and what you'd like
to present. We do have a few in the queue so you have a while to work on
your pitch!
See the
Tech Talks page for
links to the video recording and presentations.
|
Reunions |
|
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Dec 9, 2022: Acton MA Information
Technology Reunion
-
Oct 17, 2022: Last Colorado Springs CO
Reunion
-
Oct 1, 2022: Pittsburgh PA
-
Sun., June 19, 2022:
Afternoon BBQ at
the WooSox Baseball Game
-
Sun., Sept. 19, 2021: Maynard
MA Sesquicentennial (150th Birthday)
-
11:30 am - Tour of Mill for paid-up
members only
-
1-4 pm, Parade/Maynard
displays and events
-
4-7 pm, DECconnection Dinner
at Maynard Elks Lodge with
Ray Humphrey
-
Videos of events have been added to
this page.
-
For EVENT
WRAP-UP, CLICK HERE.
-
Fri. July 30, 2021,
summer get-together at Kimball Farms.
-
Sat., 2 Nov. 2019,
Phoenix AZ
luncheon
-
Recap from our
Summer Italian Festa in Marlborough MA at Bob Alessio's home
Sat., August 17, 2019
-
Sun., 2 June 2019
Management Sciences Consulting Group
-
Thu, 25 Apr. 2019, Colorado Springs
Annual
-
DEC Connection Summer BBQ-Picnic on Sat. afternoon, Aug 18,
2018 in Marlboro at
the Hunters' house
-
Maynard Mill get-together at the
Battle Road Brewery House was Sunday, May 20, 2018.
See the writeup and photos here.
-
Sun.,
Aug. 20, 2017 Kimball's Summer Get-together
-
Sat., Oct. 8, 2016 BBQ and Tour of
Mill and Main
CLICK HERE FOR RECAP and
Photos.
10/18/16 Beacon-Villager coverage of our Event
Visit "Mill and Main" online:
http://maynard.wickedlocal.com/article/20150618/NEWS/150616023
http://mill-and-main.com/
|
|
Memorials
click on link above for details |
-
John
Lamb,
Montreal
ON,
23
January
2023
-
John Shebell, 75, Stow MA, 7 December
2022
-
John
Kowall,
84,
Mobile
AL,
23
November
2022
-
Sherri
(Long)
Murdoch,
Colorado
Springs,
16
November
2022
-
Leta S. Levett, 70, Colorado
Springs,
11
November
2022
-
Denny
(Denzil
J.)
Doyle,
90,
Ottawa ON
Canada,
26
October
2022
-
Kanailal Raha,
Kolkata,
India,
26
October
2022
-
Colonel
Anthony (Tony) M. Jezior, USA, (Ret.), 88, Cary NC,
14
October
2022
-
Ron
Holton,
Colorado
Springs,
20
September
2022
-
Bill
Burns,
79,
Wilmington
MA,
19
September
2022
-
Ruth
Armknecht,
89,
Atlanta
GA,
5
September
2022
-
Ted
Sares,
85,
North
Conway
NH,
30
August
2022
|
Info |
David Mark's Zoom lecture on
Digital History (14 June 2021) -
here is link to
recording on YouTube. About 200 DECcies tuned in.
Link to their stories in the zoom chat is on our DEC
Stories web page.
Medicare 2021 - Materials updated
Where to Sell or Donate your old Digital
hardware
Where to purchase
official Digital logo products - from
DEC Connection member Jack Rahaim
DONATING OR RECYCLING COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
It's that time of year when you may be thinking of
donating older electronic equipment to a Charity. For those who have
already done this, let us hear from you on the organizations you would
recommend. For Massachusetts readers, it has come to our attention that
there is a local cancer charity that you may want to put on your list. This
charity is 100%
run by
volunteer cancer scientists, survivors, and information technologists.
The name of the organization is
Recycle Computers4 Cancer [www.recyclecomputers4cancer.org]
and it donates all proceeds to help Cancer patients and their families
through the SMCAC (Scientific & Medical Coalition Against Cancer). They have
securely erased all data on hard drives that are donated for the past 12 years,
including major pharmaceutical companies, banks, individuals, law firms, and
financial institution. Also, all computer donations are tax deductible with
no donation considered
too small or large.
Equipment
can be dropped off or arranged to be picked up. Items accepted for
donation are listed at
www.recyclecomputers4cancer.org/items-accepted-donations-recycle-computers-4-cancer/
For free pickup, fill out and send in the donation form at
www.recyclecomputers4cancer.org/free-pickup-request-form/
The contact for RC4C is Eric Grund at
eric@smcac.org.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
VAX and PDP-11 still live!
-Thanks to
Sue Yarger for
sending in this note from the UK Register:
NASA dusts off
FORTRAN manual, revives 20-year-old data on Ganymede - Analysing Galileo's
Jovian moon results
-And thanks
to Jack MacKeen
for this gem, same source:
Das blinkenlights
are back thanks to RPi revival of the PDP-11 Retro computing fans wrap
classic DEC fascia round world's fave hobby machine
--------------------------------------------------
HAPPY
60th ANNIVERSARY DIGITAL!
See article in the Telegram for pics and nostalgia. |
HP Connection |
and
click on the link under “US Alumni Product Purchase Program”. Then
follow the instructions to register for the program.
HP Alumni also
suggests reading feedback:
There are lots of moving parts involved in HP
product discounts (and discounts on non-HP products).
Suggest you refer your members to the HP Alumni Association
pages on discounts:
https://www.hpalumni.org/discounts
|
 |
Digital_Man/Digital_World
The first PBS showing of Digital_Man/Digital_World
was 21 Feb 2012 in Indianapolis - here is a link to the 57-minute video
on their website to watch on your computer!
http://video.wfyi.org/video/2282149336/
The DVD of Digital_Man/Digital_World is no longer available. |
|