Lyle scores a WIN for our hobby!

Several years ago, Lyle Bickley began negotiations with S&H Computer Systems to release TSX-Plus (a 3rd party Multiuser Operating System for PDP-11's) as free software for personal use. As is often the case, this process can take a lot longer than one would expect. Once Lyle obtained an initial agreement from the owner of TSX-Plus, he then had to await the approval from S&H's Board of Directors. Initially, S&H chose to only release the source code listings for TSX-Plus (which are now on Bitsavers.org). Unfortunately, the machine readable source code itself had been accidentally lost when S&H changed PDP-11 computer systems in-house. Eventually, Lyle was able to obtain the original SMD hard drive from S&H containing the latest versions of TSX-Plus, and the layered products COBOL-Plus and RTSORT (and other software that remains private to S&H Computer Systems). He transferred the TSX-Plus, COBOL-Plus, and RTSORT files to an RL02 disk - and using S&H's proprietary licensing software created a "personal use, serialized version" of TSX-Plus. This version has ALL the capabilities and features of the commercially licensed version of TSX-Plus. Subsequently, Lyle was authorized to release this "Personal Use" TSX-Plus distribution only to individuals that he could vouch for as being non-commercial users. After another year or so, he was able to obtain the current agreement and license to make this "Personal Use" TSX-Plus distribution generally available for non-commercial use. Please note that TSX-Plus is NOT public domain software; S&H retains all rights including ownership. They have provided a free personal use license available through Bickley Consulting West. There is still a paid commercial use license available directly from S&H. We all owe a big "Thanks!" to Harry Sanders at S&H Computer Systems and his Board of Directors for making this release a reality for all vintage computer folks! Also, the hobby owes huge thanks to Lyle Bickley for tirelessly pursuing this for us all! I've always been a huge fan of TSX-Plus and I'm thrilled there's now a personal (hobbyist) license thanks to Lyle. The distribution is at http://tsxplus.classiccmp.org Best, J