Archive

Hi all. OK - here's the scoop so far on the Archival of classic computer stuff. Please give your input so that we can get the standards settled. The UW has graciously given me permission to attach a personal server to the network full time for ClassicCmp, so the underwork for the project is pretty well taken care of. I have a system that I'm working on setting up for the job - it will be a 486/66 with 32 MB of RAM and 3 GB of disk space. I am currently planning to set it up with linux. As you all know I am terribly slow about getting things done so it will probably be a couple weeks before it goes online. In the meantime we will continue to use the current FTP site which has plenty of space available. The particulars for how things will be stored are listed below for your review. Remember that the primary purpose of the archive is to store these items so that _someone_ can access them and make them available. It's probably not possible to always find a format that everyone can use, but if the data is here you can be pretty sure that you will be able to get it one way or another. System Software System software will be stored in a variety of formats. The preferred format will be disk images for those machines for which the means to create such an image has been developed. Examples are the Apple II/III (.dsk, .do, .po files) and C64 (.dsk files). The alternate format will be disk images created with a Central Point Option Board [1] which will read almost any 5.25" or 3.5" diskette. Those with such a board will be able to simply download and use the images. Those without will need to arrange to get a copy through regular mail. It's not a perfect solution but I can't come up with anything better. This will not cover 8" disks and I don't know how to deal with them as yet. General Software Non-booting software will be stored in the preferred compressed archival format for each machine (GZip where available). Firmware (ROMS, PROMS, PALS(?), etc...) I still don't know what a standard format for this should be. Anything which can be dumped to a file I'm willing to go with. My (limited) gizmo calls the format that it dumps to my PC "RAW". I assume that this is just the contents bit-for-bit. If anyone can read/write in raw format I'd recommend going with that. Documentation/Books/Magazines Text: Text should be presented in plain text, RTF, or PostScript. I will convernt submis- sions to conform to all three formats. Line Drawings: Should be formatted in either TIFF or PostScript format. Images: Should be formatted as either JPEG or PNG (Portable Network Graphic). I will convert PNG to JPEG on submission. Tag Files Each item will require a tag file to cover it's identification. This file is currently DS-form.txt located in the docs directory on the FTP site. It is probably not yet specific enough on the technical details - I will need recommendations on what to add. It does cover all the legal issues I wanted to address. Retrieving Files These files will be made available by FTP. Most will be easily downloadable by anyone. Some (Firmware, System Software) will be more difficult and will require physical assistance. I will generally be willing to create and mail disks for those who need them and can provide the media. I am poorly equipped to take care of firmware. Those without the neccesary gizmos will need to rely on the kindness of the group. [1] The Central Point Option Board is a device for an ISA bus PC that will read almost any standard floppy. They are still fairly commonly available for $20 or so. Bill Whitson