#softwarepreservation — Public Fediverse posts

here’s an obscure bit of software preservation that has been completely forgotten:

i learned recently that back in the late 90s in North America, Kellogg’s partnered with MS to cross promote cereal and educational software. it was a ridiculously good deal: inside any box of cereal was a coupon for a $5 CD-ROM for the *full* version of a MS educational or reference program.

these were some of their flagship educational programs like Dinosaurs, Oceans, Explorapedia, Dangerous Creatures and Entertainment Pack 3. considering that these were $50-$60 at a couple of years earlier, it was a ridiculously good price.

i wonder how many kids unknowingly grew up with a Kellogg’s CD version of these, because their parents ordered copies from the cereal box?

#cdrom #multimedia #digiPres #softwarePreservation #win95 #macintosh #vintageApple

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

a quick tour of Electronic Arts' Information Resource Centre (IRC) in Burnaby, BC. this is the internal library that EA employees could use to research games/movies/magazines for development and marketing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTm3b1CR9E0

my copy of Ultima VI came directly from the old library at Distinctive Software, before it was bought by EA and added to the IRC.

link courtesy of [email protected]

#canada #softwarepreservation #history #libraries

speaking of #digitalPreservation and #softwarePreservation , today in my Pratt class we are gonna play the CURATE game: https://schreibman.eu/digcurv/curate-game/

@remram44 printed custom game pieces for me on the 3d printer!!!!

very excited to play test!!

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

OldVersion is Back, and Better than Ever

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/04/01/oldversion-is-back-and-better-than-ever/

The Winter #Olympics continue! ⛷️

🏂 Celebrate gaming history by revisiting 1985’s "Winter Games" from our classic software collection ❄️

💾 #SoftwarePreservation is how we go for the Gold! 🥇

🕹️ Play it on your favorite vintage platform ⤵️
https://archive.org/search?query=winter+games&and%5B%5D=mediatype:%22software%22

#8bit

software mystery: does anyone have an archived copy of Case Western University's "FreePort" Free-Net software?

this is the collection of server daemons and scripts that, collected together, formed the backbone of most FreeNets. despite the tools being free, the collected package and scripts were not free, and were sold and licensed to freenet operators.

(chebucto appeared a few years later as a free replacement (and it is still available for download) - but it's not the same software package as FreePort.)

boosts very welcome.

#digiPres #softwarepreservation

RE: https://mstdn.social/@swheritage/115932187489013105

We’re excited to welcome @swheritage to the #DPGRegistry 🎉

As an Open Data DPG, Software Heritage collects, preserves, and shares all public software source code, ensuring it remains accessible for everyone in the long term.

https://www.digitalpublicgoods.net/r/software-heritage

#DigitalPublicGoods #OpenData #OpenSource #SoftwarePreservation #DPGs

Love the excitement of everyone involved in this Unix V4 find and the data retrieval. They are all up in the sky, and I completely understand it. And it shows how reliable magnetic media can be if stored well. That is the spirit of what makes vintage computing so fascinating to me. Great that the channel gave this so much air time.

https://youtu.be/m-3RJaKcw_4?si=_5FXAdBYFB57N-a4

#vintagecomputing #computerhistory #softwarepreservation #unix

I have been working on regenerating the (long-lost) source code for Nodes of Yesod, a game I wrote for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985. I have been picking away at this Z80 disassembly for nearly 20 years, starting with IDA and later moving to Ghidra.

While the project has been technically complete for some time (it reassembles to a binary identical to the shipped game), my goal is to release a fully documented codebase that is actually readable for future developers and historians.

To that end, this weekend, I compared the Claude Code CLI and the Gemini CLI for the specific task of identifying and defining symbols for methods, labels, and constants. In the past, I've run into context memory issues with the web interfaces, but the CLI tools seem to handle this single 30K+ line file very well.

Here is the breakdown:

Claude Code CLI: It is faster and understands the Z80 context with very few mistakes. However, it is significantly more expensive for this volume of work, running into Pro plan rate limits relatively quickly.

Gemini CLI: This allows me to work much longer before hitting rate limits on the Pro plan. It requires more iteration to get the output right, but it is a great workhorse.

The screenshots below show an example of the results, including some ASCII art Claude generated directly from the raw sprite bitmap data, and a section of code constants where both the name and comments were determined or augmented by Claude.

#SinclairSpectrum #OdinComputerGraphics #OldDogNewTricks #RetroDev #RetroGames #ReverseEngineering #SoftwarePreservation #ClaudeCodeCLI #GeminiCLI

I have been working on regenerating the (long-lost) source code for Nodes of Yesod, a game I wrote for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985. I have been picking away at this Z80 disassembly for nearly 20 years, starting with IDA and later moving to Ghidra.

While the project has been technically complete for some time (it reassembles to a binary identical to the shipped game), my goal is to release a fully documented codebase that is actually readable for future developers and historians.

To that end, this weekend, I compared the Claude Code CLI and the Gemini CLI for the specific task of identifying and defining symbols for methods, labels, and constants. In the past, I've run into context memory issues with the web interfaces, but the CLI tools seem to handle this single 30K+ line file very well.

Here is the breakdown:

Claude Code CLI: It is faster and understands the Z80 context with very few mistakes. However, it is significantly more expensive for this volume of work, running into Pro plan rate limits relatively quickly.

Gemini CLI: This allows me to work much longer before hitting rate limits on the Pro plan. It requires more iteration to get the output right, but it is a great workhorse.

The screenshots below show an example of the results, including some ASCII art Claude generated directly from the raw sprite bitmap data, and a section of code constants where both the name and comments were determined or augmented by Claude.

#SinclairSpectrum #OdinComputerGraphics #OldDogNewTricks #RetroDev #RetroGames #ReverseEngineering #SoftwarePreservation #ClaudeCodeCLI #GeminiCLI

I have been working on regenerating the (long-lost) source code for Nodes of Yesod, a game I wrote for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985. I have been picking away at this Z80 disassembly for nearly 20 years, starting with IDA and later moving to Ghidra.

While the project has been technically complete for some time (it reassembles to a binary identical to the shipped game), my goal is to release a fully documented codebase that is actually readable for future developers and historians.

To that end, this weekend, I compared the Claude Code CLI and the Gemini CLI for the specific task of identifying and defining symbols for methods, labels, and constants. In the past, I've run into context memory issues with the web interfaces, but the CLI tools seem to handle this single 30K+ line file very well.

Here is the breakdown:

Claude Code CLI: It is faster and understands the Z80 context with very few mistakes. However, it is significantly more expensive for this volume of work, running into Pro plan rate limits relatively quickly.

Gemini CLI: This allows me to work much longer before hitting rate limits on the Pro plan. It requires more iteration to get the output right, but it is a great workhorse.

The screenshots below show an example of the results, including some ASCII art Claude generated directly from the raw sprite bitmap data, and a section of code constants where both the name and comments were determined or augmented by Claude.

#SinclairSpectrum #OdinComputerGraphics #OldDogNewTricks #RetroDev #RetroGames #ReverseEngineering #SoftwarePreservation #ClaudeCodeCLI #GeminiCLI

I have been working on regenerating the (long-lost) source code for Nodes of Yesod, a game I wrote for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985. I have been picking away at this Z80 disassembly for nearly 20 years, starting with IDA and later moving to Ghidra.

While the project has been technically complete for some time (it reassembles to a binary identical to the shipped game), my goal is to release a fully documented codebase that is actually readable for future developers and historians.

To that end, this weekend, I compared the Claude Code CLI and the Gemini CLI for the specific task of identifying and defining symbols for methods, labels, and constants. In the past, I've run into context memory issues with the web interfaces, but the CLI tools seem to handle this single 30K+ line file very well.

Here is the breakdown:

Claude Code CLI: It is faster and understands the Z80 context with very few mistakes. However, it is significantly more expensive for this volume of work, running into Pro plan rate limits relatively quickly.

Gemini CLI: This allows me to work much longer before hitting rate limits on the Pro plan. It requires more iteration to get the output right, but it is a great workhorse.

The screenshots below show an example of the results, including some ASCII art Claude generated directly from the raw sprite bitmap data, and a section of code constants where both the name and comments were determined or augmented by Claude.

#SinclairSpectrum #OdinComputerGraphics #OldDogNewTricks #RetroDev #RetroGames #ReverseEngineering #SoftwarePreservation #ClaudeCodeCLI #GeminiCLI

I have been working on regenerating the (long-lost) source code for Nodes of Yesod, a game I wrote for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985. I have been picking away at this Z80 disassembly for nearly 20 years, starting with IDA and later moving to Ghidra.

While the project has been technically complete for some time (it reassembles to a binary identical to the shipped game), my goal is to release a fully documented codebase that is actually readable for future developers and historians.

To that end, this weekend, I compared the Claude Code CLI and the Gemini CLI for the specific task of identifying and defining symbols for methods, labels, and constants. In the past, I've run into context memory issues with the web interfaces, but the CLI tools seem to handle this single 30K+ line file very well.

Here is the breakdown:

Claude Code CLI: It is faster and understands the Z80 context with very few mistakes. However, it is significantly more expensive for this volume of work, running into Pro plan rate limits relatively quickly.

Gemini CLI: This allows me to work much longer before hitting rate limits on the Pro plan. It requires more iteration to get the output right, but it is a great workhorse.

The screenshots below show an example of the results, including some ASCII art Claude generated directly from the raw sprite bitmap data, and a section of code constants where both the name and comments were determined or augmented by Claude.

#SinclairSpectrum #OdinComputerGraphics #OldDogNewTricks #RetroDev #RetroGames #ReverseEngineering #SoftwarePreservation #ClaudeCodeCLI #GeminiCLI

Warm yourself by the virtual fireplace in this cosy 8-bit #Christmas scene. No MS-DOS or floppy 💾 drive required to stoke this very 1980s hearth. Thanks to software preservation, the flames are still crackling on the Internet Archive.

✉️ Open the full 1986 Sierra On-Line "A Computer Christmas" card ⤵️
https://archive.org/details/sierra-christmas-card-1986

#RetroComputing #VintageComputing #8bit #SoftwarePreservation #ComputerHistory

❄️ ’Tis the season to celebrate with Sierra On-Line’s 1986 "A Computer Christmas." ❄️ Thanks to #softwarepreservation, this retro holiday classic is now a perennial gift for new generations of holiday revelers. 🎄

See all the animated sequences ⤵️
https://archive.org/details/sierra-christmas-card-1986

#DigitalArchive #TechHistory #retrocomputing #retrogaming

OldVersion.com Archive Facing Shutdown Due to Financing Issues https://hackaday.com/2025/11/07/oldversion-com-archive-facing-shutdown-due-to-financing-issues/ #softwarepreservation #digitalpreservation #SoftwareHacks #News

OldVersion.com Archive Facing Shutdown Due to Financing Issues - Finding older versions of particular software can be a real chore, all too often o... - https://hackaday.com/2025/11/07/oldversion-com-archive-facing-shutdown-due-to-financing-issues/ #softwarepreservation #digitalpreservation #softwarehacks #news

#libraries #softwarePreservation

anyone else remember the html code you could add from icq to show your on/offline status on your homepage 😅

source:
https://web.archive.org/web/19980212183219/http://www.icq.com/respondpanel/

#icq #1990s #softwarePreservation

today's buried treasure:

an interview with john henry thompson on the history of Macromedia Director. it's one of the only interviews ever recorded on the subject.

as the lead programmer and creator of Lingo - the OO scripting language used in director - he relates intimate knowledge of its origins. i was delighted to learn that he borrowed much of the grammar from Hypertalk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqISbaJ7qug

#macintosh #vintageApple #macromedia #softwarePreservation #programming

bbs enthusiasts might remember the name Telegard - a bbs server written based on wwiv's source code and hugely popular with the ibm pc/ms-dos crowd

telegard had a long and tumultuous history by its authors, and its own source was eventually leaked and was modded into many more popular (pirate-friendly) ms-dos boards like Renegade, Oblivion and Iniquity.

while i was doing research a few months ago on the history of those systems, i found out that telegard.net - the original home of tg - was taken over by a domain squatter in 2010, populated with ads for the past 15 years.

two months ago, i noticed that the squatter had not renewed the domain, and it went into the long grace/redemption/auction/expiry cycle. i checked on it every single morning, and to my absolute delight, it was released this morning for purchase. 💸

the domain will be used purely for historical preservation of telegard and its many descendants

update: restored the old site from the WBM archived version to https://telegard.net

#bbs #warez #softwarePreservation

TIL a toy company released a line of Independence Day toys in the late 90s; each toy included a different "mission disk" floppy with a multimedia program on it for windows 3.1

toy collector @eisnerguy1 managed to collect all 11 of the toys and uploaded disk images to IA 🙏

https://archive.org/details/iD4_Independence_Day_Mission_Disks

#retroComputing #softwarePreservation #win31 #toys

SIMP_SND.DLL contains every sound used in the berkeley systems simpsons after dark screensaver

it turns out to be a long chain of unsigned 8-bit RIFF waveform 11025hz files

extracted here for your pleasure

#simpsons #macintosh #softwarePreservation

til about japan's Nifty-Serve online service, which was designed to be japan's answer to CompuServe.

while renown for its online forums, i was impressed to see that it was also a shareware distribution service. you could pay for and download registered versions of utilities and games, and the creators were paid directly by nifty.

while the service shut down in 2006, it was revived for one year as a museum of sorts for people to login and poke around. there was even an iOS app.

did anyone happen to archive a copy of the app?
https://web.archive.org/web/20110721053135/http://www.appbank.net/2011/07/20/iphone-application/278566.php

it originally was downloadable here - if that helps to track it down:
http://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/id447556735?mt=8

#japan #retroComputing #softwarePreservation #shareware

as promised, the treasure trove of US Robotics dialup ISP software is now available on IA. Please note that while I've done my best to describe the software, none of it has been tested. If you're planning on doing something like firmware upgrades, be 100% sure it's the right equipment and firmware.

and if you're one of those lucky 9 people that has a USR Total Control device, i'd love to hear your results.

USR Total Control SNMP Manager MIBs:
https://archive.org/details/tc-mibs

US Robotics SNMP Total Control Manager 2.0.1 and 4.13 Upgrade DIsks
https://archive.org/details/usr-tc-nmc-snmp

COM/US Robotics Total Control NetServer 8/16 Manager and Utilities
https://archive.org/details/usr-tc-netserver8-manager

US Robotics Total Control Modem Pool 8/16 Firmware:
https://archive.org/details/usr-tc-mp16-firmware

Novell NetWare Services Manager 1.1
https://archive.org/details/novell-nsm-1.1

US Robotics Total Control SNMP Manager for NetWare NMS:
https://archive.org/details/usr-tc-snmp-extras

US Robotics Modem Software Downloader 1.7 & USR Sportster Modem Firmware upgrade
https://archive.org/details/usr-sportster-upgrader

US robotics hardware upgrade offer document for dial-up ISPs. This is just a marketing document, but it's a fun read:
https://archive.org/details/usr-x2-offer

#retroComputing #dialup #softwarePreservation #digiPres

i just ftp'd into a public ftp server running in Ecuador, and discovered an absolutely critical piece of US Robotics ISP modem pool software that has been missing for 20 years

thank you from the bottom of my heart, rolando felix of Educational Unit 10 De Agosto, for leaving your departmental computer ftp wide open ❤️ you just preserved some insanely useful and important dial-up ISP history. (don't worry rolando - i didn't peek too deeply into your ms-dos games and music folders)

the story:
in the mid-90s i was a teenager who had a summer job at a dial-up isp. we had 32 incoming lines which were handled by 32 external USR Courier modems, which were fed into a super chonky Livingston Portmaster terminal server. all of the support hardware took up an entire rack - just to let 32 people call in for internet service at 28.8kbaud. it ate a ton of power, and made a lot of heat.

then, in 95-96, US Robotics delivered two insane appliances: the Total Control Modem Pool. these were *tiny* devices that offered 16 dial-up modems at 33.6kbaud. if you paid a bit more, you could buy the NetServer version, which gave you a terminal server too. an entire isp in a box the size of a network switch.

the modems had buggy firmware. so USR offered firmware updates via their ftp site. you could even upgrade some of the modems to "x2" 56k service with a firmware patch. they supported it for years, and when 3com bought USR, they kept the ftp site running for years. and then, 3com shut down their ftp site. and no one thought to mirror it.

after 3 hours of searching, i was able to track down a single filename thanks to WBM: mpv90an.zip. not a single site on the web had it - not even IA or discmaster. on a hunch, i plugged it into the Napalm FTP Indexer (https://www.searchftps.net) and... unbelievably, there it was, sitting on an ancient box in someone's university office in Quito, Ecuador.

the most amazing part was how slow the server was. at 250 ms pings, it was like digging through a public ftp on a 14.4k modem in 1994.

tomorrow i'll be uploading these files to IA. for now, sleep.

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #ISP

way back in 2017, jackson lango started writing a dev log about his passion project: an ascii/ansi adventure called Terminal Rain.

i was instantly in love with his lighting and animation. in an era overloaded with knockoff cyberpunk aesthetics, he had a keen eye for atmosphere and mood

it broke my heart when the blog went defunct a year later, and then disappeared entirely by 2020. waybackmachine sadly didn't archive any of his artwork.

these two images are the only surviving examples of his game as it existed back then.

#softwarePreservation #indiegames #cyberpunk

if you were a kid in the 90s or early 2000s, you very likely goofed around with some of this educational software at school, or if your parents hated you sufficiently, at home.

a few months ago someone generously sent me an educational software catalog that their father - who was a teacher - had kept from the 90s. i finally got around to scanning it in, and now you too can goggle at the insane prices schools had to pay for multi-seat game licenses.

this is the catalog your teachers browsed in the summer, before unsuccessfully trying to convince the principal to lay down $495 for an Incredible Machine 3 lab pack.

(fwiw, does anyone really trust an edutainment company that can't spell brussels sprouts?)

pdf and original (400 dpi) scans here:

https://archive.org/details/software-plus-1996

#softwarePreservation #digiPres #retroComputing #retroGaming #edutainment

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary

I tuned in for a nostalgic visit to a game that I loved playing (that I also found mildly terrifying).

What I didn't expect-- but was thrilled to also experience was-- the journey of self-learning, community collaboration, and a bit of the retro game mod process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuoUSDBVac

GH Repo: https://github.com/synamaxmusic/sinistar
Playable via InternetArchive: https://archive.org/details/arcade_sinistar_synamax

#sinistar #videoGames #softwarePreservation

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary

I tuned in for a nostalgic visit to a game that I loved playing (that I also found mildly terrifying).

What I didn't expect-- but was thrilled to also experience was-- the journey of self-learning, community collaboration, and a bit of the retro game mod process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuoUSDBVac

GH Repo: https://github.com/synamaxmusic/sinistar
Playable via InternetArchive: https://archive.org/details/arcade_sinistar_synamax

#sinistar #videoGames #softwarePreservation

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary

I tuned in for a nostalgic visit to a game that I loved playing (that I also found mildly terrifying).

What I didn't expect-- but was thrilled to also experience was-- the journey of self-learning, community collaboration, and a bit of the retro game mod process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuoUSDBVac

GH Repo: https://github.com/synamaxmusic/sinistar
Playable via InternetArchive: https://archive.org/details/arcade_sinistar_synamax

#sinistar #videoGames #softwarePreservation

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary

I tuned in for a nostalgic visit to a game that I loved playing (that I also found mildly terrifying).

What I didn't expect-- but was thrilled to also experience was-- the journey of self-learning, community collaboration, and a bit of the retro game mod process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuoUSDBVac

GH Repo: https://github.com/synamaxmusic/sinistar
Playable via InternetArchive: https://archive.org/details/arcade_sinistar_synamax

#sinistar #videoGames #softwarePreservation

Resurrecting Sinistar: A Cyber-Archaeology Documentary

I tuned in for a nostalgic visit to a game that I loved playing (that I also found mildly terrifying).

What I didn't expect-- but was thrilled to also experience was-- the journey of self-learning, community collaboration, and a bit of the retro game mod process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuoUSDBVac

GH Repo: https://github.com/synamaxmusic/sinistar
Playable via InternetArchive: https://archive.org/details/arcade_sinistar_synamax

#sinistar #videoGames #softwarePreservation

back in the early and mid-90s, getting on the net meant you were a university student, or had corporate access through a big company. getting online wasn't easy.

worse, even if you had a dialup number and login, there was no such thing as a tcp/ip stack built-in to Windows 3.1.

even if you *did* have a winsock stack, you'd still need a file downloading protocol, gopher client, world wide web client, ftp client, email client. just getting your machine off the ground was nearly impossible unless you could grab these from a local BBS

to make things simpler, universities began offering dial-up internet software packages to their students and staff.

in 1994, my mom was an undergrad student at the University of Alberta. our family had just bought an IBM PS/1 with a 2400 baud modem, and i was abusing the hell out of our single phone line at night visiting local BBSes.

she somehow found out that the university was selling internet dial-up software for $10 to students, and brought home the diskette pack with her. along with a USR Sportster 14.4k modem, she gave me the install diskettes as a valentine's day gift.

it had a slick setup program that enabled SLIP using Trumpet Winsock, and provided a local (free!) dial-up number for access.

after 25 years, i finally tracked down a few versions of those diskettes. i've imaged them and uploaded them all to IA.

the first version of the dial-up package in 1994 was called WinSLIP. it had no PPP support yet, but contained some really cool shareware internet utilities like HGopher and NCSA Mosaic. this would have been the earliest programs offered for Windows 3.1

WinSLIP/MSKermit 1994/95:
https://archive.org/details/ua_winslip

The second version of the software was renamed to NetSurf. It stripped out most of the obscure shareware sadly, and replaced them with Netscape 2 and Eudora Light. The new version of Trumpet Winsock offered PPP which was a huge improvement:

NetSurf 1996/97:
https://archive.org/details/ua_netsurf_96

Now well into the Windows 95 era, the 1997/98 software was shipped on a CD with a hilarious "multimedia" installer/help program designed in Macromedia Director:

NetSurf 1997/98:
https://archive.org/details/netsurf-97-starter-kit

I hope this brings back some memories for fellow U of A alumni :)

#softwarePreservation #webPreservation #win31 #worldWideWeb #yeg #bbs #alberta

Eelco Vriezekol, the admin of the marvelous #Signetics2650 page, added the audio from the #Instructor50 #cassette I recently digitized. He also did a transcription of the spoken parts!

https://ztpe.nl/2650/hardware/signetics-instructor-50/

#RetroComputing #SoftwarePreservation #Assembly #AudioTape #Programming