The Don Maslin Software Archive

For any newbies to the group: 1. Don Maslin (San Diego, CA) collected what I believe is the largest and most complete archive of CP/M/S100 operating systems amongst us 'hobbyists'. 2. Don died 28 August 2004, leaving no plans for his archive. 3. Because his widow Winnie was distressed with the enquiries from those in our community regarding Don's archive (of which she knew nothing), after discussing this with her, with her heartfelt appreciation and agreement, it having been read to her before posting and sent to her in letter form, as Don's friend and collaborator of some 15 years, I published the following statement on ClassicCmp and comp.os.cpm on 22 September 2004: * "I have of course talked with his wife Winnie, and she has asked that people interested in Don's software archives and his hardware collection hold off on contact until further notice through this list. "Within a reasonable time I will locate his archives, and I will personally guarantee that the archives will be duplicated and copies deposited with people and institutions which will honor the attitude that Don put into this effort - one of love for old stuff and and of service to the community. "In time his hardware collection will also be made available to the community. "I ask you to consider Mrs. Maslin's position and not attempt to intervene at this time." (You can see the full text in the ng or ClassicCmp archive.) * Many of you have enquired of me in private e-mail as to the status, many have made generous offers of time, energy, web hosting space, etc., and Winnie has been left free of bother. I NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT I CAN KEEP MY PERSONAL GUARANTEE THAT THE ARCHIVES WILL BE SAVED. I MADE THAT PROMISE IN GOOD FAITH, ON THE WORD OF WINNIE MASLIN. My intent was to locate the base archive, gather the materials not yet incorporated, make certain the structure was fully documented and sensibly usable, and write it off to CD-ROM - to be distributed to computer museums, universities, and to be hosted on web sites so that all could download the full archive, guaranteeing that it would never be lost. I seemed to be the logical one to do this - close by, long association with Don, his project having come out of the Dina-SIG which I founded, and a feeling for his work habits. I have talked with Winnie at least four times since Don died, and with a member of the family who has understanding of modern Windoze computers. I wrote an 'Appreciation' of Don for Sellam's last Vintage Computer Fair (did you use it, Sellam? you never told me), with a photo of Don and Winnie supplied by that member of the family. I HAVE GOTTEN NOWHERE. The weekend following Thanksgiving was suggested by a family member as good time to enter the garage and find the archive and take first stock of Don's 'stuff'. Winnie said no, she was too busy. Sometime around Christmas was again suggested as a good time, as a family member would be available to move things so that my wheelchair could get to Don's machine. Again, Winnie said no, she was too busy. She told me that she would contact me after the holidays, and that she still intended to have me do the job. When I had not heard from her at the end of February, I called again. She said she was angry with Don for never having told her of the major intellectual work of the last 15 years of his life, for having left no instructions. Of course, she had no interest in his computer life and he would not have tried to explain this to her. She knew that he sent and received disks - but never had the interest to ask about them. she does not want to deal with. In my last talk with her, I repeated my offer to inventory the contents of the garage, remove the contents to a storage facility of my own, do the archival work, get rid of the junk machines, and sell the valuable machines FOR HER ACCOUNT, ON MY OWN NICKEL. The sentences I recall most vividly from that conversation are "you will just have to wait until I decide. After all, what else can you do?" And, "I'll have Debbie [a family member who uses computers in her work life] call you sometime - but she's very busy." Her manner with me was unsupportable; I made an sgreement which kept her free from annoyance, and she will not honor her part. It's been 8 months now, time to keep her part of the agreement. No, she hasn't the slightest idea what an operating system or what the archive is and, despite extended explanations, will not learn or care. I believe she cannot understand that any adult could be interested in old computers. I believe the day will come when she will simply call a trash man and have her garage cleared. I do NOT believe that she will honor her committment to me. * So - where do we go from here? I have done all I can. I have agonized over this statement, wanting to release a progress report, unable to do so when there was no progress to report. But now, I have to do this. As I see it, there are four likely possibilities. 1. The community decide to inundate her with letters requesting her to allow me to do as I have said I would do. 2. A reputable member of the community (I would suggest Jay West) approach her and try to get her to see reason and work out some arrangement. 3. Allow Don's archive to go to the trash bin when she finally decides to have her garage cleaned out. 4. Allow the sharks to go after her, trying to get their hands on the stuff in Don's garage. * I AM NOT SUGGESTING ACTION AT THIS POINT. I AM SUGGESTING A DISCUSSION WITHIN THIS GROUP (WHERE DON SPENT MOST OF HIS ONLINE TIME), FOLLOWED BY A GROUP DECISION TO BE IMPLEMENTED. (For that purpose, I will be turning on individual messages instead of the digest form in which I read this group.) I WOULD STILL SAY THAT, UNTIL CLASSICCMP HAS ACHIEVED A CONSENSUS OF THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION, DO ***NOT*** CONTACT WINNIE MASLIN. I will send a copy of this message to Winnie by post. Vern Wright vern4wright at yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Make Yahoo! your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs