DG Tapes: Nova Fortran IV

The short version of the story is... EMC still considers all of its Data General 16-bit software intellectual property, subject to license restrictions and not available for any non-approved distribution. There is no "hobbyist" or "educational use" or "non-commercial use" exceptions at this point. The one-of-a-kind RDOS license for use with SIMH is truly a thorn in the EMC legal department's side, and they state that it applies to that specific version and copy of RDOS (i.e. does not extend to any other flavor of RDOS, such as Eclipse, or Mapped Eclipse, or Mapped Nova, or Mapped Nova 3, or...). Perhaps the upcoming year will see a change in the official EMC position... ;-) If you were looking at compilers, then the DG FORTRAN 5 could be compared to the FORTRAN IV. The F5 compiler was a very impressive piece of software, and dwarfed the FIV product in almost all aspects. And if you wanted an even better sample of what could be done in a 16-bit environment, then look at the original DG ALGOL, and its subsequent DG/L compiler. In fact, the DG F5 compiler was written in ALGOL. Truly a fantastic, under-appreciated 16-bit computer implementation. Bruce Bruce Ray Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc. bkr at WildHareComputers.com ...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Wiegand" <ics65 at sbcglobal.net> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech at classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 02:04 PM Subject: Re: DG Tapes: Nova Fortran IV