How to prepare for the CoCoFEST!
- Q) How do I reserve some booth space?
- Go to https://www.tandylist.com/ and login and click the 2023 CoCoFEST! icon at the top of the page.
- How do I reserve time to give a presentation?
- Contact Grant Leighty. He can be reached at: https://www.glensideccc.com/about-us/
Q) What should I bring?
A1) Musical instruments.
A2) We hold two auctions, so bring stuff you want to keep out of landfills to go into the auctions, and bring some spending money to spend on auction items to add to your collection that you didn’t have a chance to purchase when you were younger. The money from the auctions goes to help pay for the CoCoFEST! Buy books, manuals, software, cables, joysticks, disk drives, computers, fanfold paper, and such. If you bring an item and it does not sell, then consider taking it back home with you. Printers generally do not sell and no one wants to be stuck with them.
A3) People are selling hardware and software (outside of the auction) so bring some spending money for that.
A4) Charge the battery in your camera and bring it.
A5) Bring hardware you want repaired or upgraded.
A6) If you have a booth, then bring extension cords, power strips, and tape to hold them down.
A7) Bring your ideas.
A8) Chicago has toll roads but you can no longer bring some change to drop in the tollbooth change accepter basket. Instead you can pay by plate by signing up at https://www.getipass.com/ Or use your GPS and avoid toll roads altogether.
A9) An ice scraper for your car, just in case.
Q) Is Wi-Fi available to all at the CoCoFEST?
A) Yes!
Q) What kind of computer should I bring to show at the CoCoFEST?
A1) CoCos, Tandy, TRS-80, Radio Shack, and clones.
A2) Anything that runs a Motorola 6809, Hitachi 6309, Motorola 68k, Zilog Z80, Intel 8080, Intel 8008, Intel 4004
A3) Southwest Technical Products Corp. (SWTPC)
A4) Tomcat, MM/1, AT306, Delmar System IV/ Peripheral Technology PT68K-4
A5) FPGA, Microprocessor, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and such.
A6) Calculator, adding machine, slide rule, and abacus.
A7) Analog computer
A8) Mechanical computers
Q) Would people want to see NitrOS-9/6809 driving a teletype machine, teleprinter, paper terminal or silent 700?
A) Yes!
Q) Would people like to see a plain old telephone bulletin board system in operation using 300 baud?
A) Yes!
Q) Can I arrange for my booth to be next to someone else?
A) If you sign up early enough then you can select the tables you want. This is done on TandyList.
Q) What is the attendance like?
A) 50 to 100 people are likely to attend and 95% of them are male.
Q) Will there be an opportunity for non-vendors to swap/trade/sell hardware?
A) The entire event consists of trading, swapping, buying and selling software, hardware, other stuff, stories, anecdotes and knowledge. I think you would be hard pressed to not find time to do this.
Q) How do I get from the airport to the hotel?
A1) You can take a rental car, taxi, Uber, or limo.
A2) If by taxi, I would recommend American Taxi (AT).
Q) What should I wear?
A1) A Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans would be fine.
A2) A CoCoFEST shirt and wash pants are also fine.
Q) How do I know I am getting a good room rate at the hotel?
A) Check out the link below:
Q) When should I arrive?
A) Get there before dark on Friday. Sunset is 7:40 PM.
Q) When can I set up my booth/table?
A) It may be possible for a few people to set up on Friday evening between 5:00-11:59 PM. Otherwise you can set up on Saturday morning between 8:00-9:00 AM.
Q) What are my options for gluten free food?
A1) Jimmy John’s sells a lettuce wrap.
A2) Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, Schaumburg, IL
A3) Pizzeria Uno, Schiller Park, IL
Q) How do you know how many people are coming to the catered dinner?
A) You can signup for the dinner on TandyList.
Q) Is the CoCoFEST! in a high crime area?
A) No! Absolutely not!
Q) Is this a busy area?
A) Busy is a relative term. Downtown Chicago is very busy. Carol Stream is half or a third as busy. And parking is free.
Q) What if I have more questions?
A) Go to the About Us portion of our website.