21 Nov
2013
21 Nov
'13
8:20 p.m.
I'm currently pulling the CIS-local code out of DECWAR in aid of installing
it on the DECsystem-1070 (KI-10 #587) running at the museum. It would be
very helpful to (1) talk to someone who programmed in Macro-10 on the CIS
systems, or (2) at least find someone with UUO and programming environment
manuals. (I don't see either CIS or CompuServe on Bitsavers, but I may be
missing something.)
Does anyone reading CCtech/CCtalk want to confess to having experience in
these matters? Privately or publicly?
Thanks,
Rich
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
7 Jan
7 Jan
1:53 p.m.
Just closing this out:
From: Rich Alderson
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 5:20 PM
I'm currently pulling the CIS-local code out of
DECWAR in aid of installing
it on the DECsystem-1070 (KI-10 #587) running at the museum. It would be
very helpful to (1) talk to someone who programmed in Macro-10 on the CIS
systems, or (2) at least find someone with UUO and programming environment
manuals. (I don't see either CIS or CompuServe on Bitsavers, but I may be
missing something.)
I received a private reply from a long time net.friend, who put me in touch
with some very helpful folks from CompuServe. I just wanted to acknowledge
their help in the DECWAR project, which was essentially complete before the
Winter Solstice. I've been away since then.
Best,
Rich
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
8 Jan
8 Jan
10:21 a.m.
On Tue, 7 Jan 2014, Rich Alderson wrote:
I received a private reply from a long time
net.friend, who put me in touch
with some very helpful folks from CompuServe. I just wanted to acknowledge
their help in the DECWAR project, which was essentially complete before the
Winter Solstice. I've been away since then.
Rich, I know this is a long shot, but is there ANY possibility that the
CompuServe SIG areas got saved some place? I'm especially intersted in
the CP/M and Commodore SIG file and message data.
tnx!
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
2:19 p.m.
From: geneb
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 7:21 AM
Rich, I know this is a long shot, but is there ANY
possibility that the
CompuServe SIG areas got saved some place? I'm especially intersted in
the CP/M and Commodore SIG file and message data.
Gene, I can't speak for CompuServe in any way. I was able to talk to some
people who used to work there a long time ago, but we restricted ourselves
to the programming environment (and a bit to the physical hardware).
As a SWAG, I would say no, but the only people who could really answer the
question are at AOL. Sorry.
Rich
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/
4:13 p.m.
On Wed, 8 Jan 2014, Rich Alderson wrote:
From: geneb
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 7:21 AM
Rats. It was worth a shot. Thanks!
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
Rich, I know this is a long shot, but is there
ANY possibility that the
CompuServe SIG areas got saved some place? I'm especially intersted in
the CP/M and Commodore SIG file and message data.
Gene, I can't speak for CompuServe in any way. I was able to talk to some
people who used to work there a long time ago, but we restricted ourselves
to the programming environment (and a bit to the physical hardware).
As a SWAG, I would say no, but the only people who could really answer the
question are at AOL. Sorry.
13 Jan
13 Jan
3:15 p.m.
At 09:21 AM 1/8/2014, geneb wrote:
Rich, I know this is a long shot, but is there ANY
possibility that the CompuServe SIG areas got saved some place? I'm especially
intersted in the CP/M and Commodore SIG file and message data.
Certainly many people have wondered. Maybe it was just too much data
for any one person to have kept. Maybe their backups were in a format
that wasn't easily used outside of CIS's own systems. Maybe a few forum
operators kept their own stuff, but certainly many didn't.
From '86 until '94 or so, in all my CIS and BBSing, I set my telecom
program (Pro-YAM) to automatically save the ASCII transcript of what
I did online. I was free-flagged on several forums. Out of concerns
for file space, I did bother to edit out the parts I didn't find relevant
at the time.
I've often thought I could write a parser to convert all those transcripts
into at least a slice of forum message traffic on the ones I visited, and
load the messages into a database and web interface for perusal. It would
take time to refine the parsing, and I'd want to review the results to
insure nothing personal escaped. It could separate messages from the
file area descriptions, and rebuild the file archives. In theory, it
could be loaded with the public messages from anyone else who kept
transcripts, too.
- John
3:29 p.m.
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014, John Foust wrote:
At 09:21 AM 1/8/2014, geneb wrote:
It's more likely that some drooling MBA ordered it thrown in a dumpster.
Rich, I know this is a long shot, but is there
ANY possibility that the CompuServe SIG areas got saved some place? I'm especially
intersted in the CP/M and Commodore SIG file and message data.
Certainly many people have wondered. Maybe it was just too much data
for any one person to have kept. Maybe their backups were in a format
that wasn't easily used outside of CIS's own systems. Maybe a few forum
operators kept their own stuff, but certainly many didn't.
From '86 until '94 or so, in all my CIS and
BBSing, I set my telecom
program (Pro-YAM) to automatically save the ASCII transcript of what
I did online. I was free-flagged on several forums. Out of concerns
for file space, I did bother to edit out the parts I didn't find relevant
at the time.
I'd love to see all that! It would certainly be interesting!
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
4 p.m.
At 02:29 PM 1/13/2014, geneb wrote:
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014, John Foust wrote:
Well, we have the evidence that their business model didn't seem to
consider old messages to be valuable. Forums had fixed amounts of
file storage space. Forums had limited numbers of messages - do we
know if the limit was in megabytes or in number of posts? The oldest
messages disappeared. I don't remember hearing anything about
archives of old messages.
- John
that wasn't easily used outside of CIS's
own systems. Maybe a few forum
operators kept their own stuff, but certainly many didn't.
It's more likely
that some drooling MBA ordered it thrown in a dumpster.
4:33 p.m.
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014, John Foust wrote:
At 02:29 PM 1/13/2014, geneb wrote:
Well it's not just the old messages - it's the file areas too. That's
the
area I was hoping had been saved some place.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014, John Foust wrote:
Well, we have the evidence that their business model didn't seem to
consider old messages to be valuable. Forums had fixed amounts of
file storage space. Forums had limited numbers of messages - do we
know if the limit was in megabytes or in number of posts? The oldest
messages disappeared. I don't remember hearing anything about
archives of old messages.
that wasn't easily used outside of CIS's
own systems. Maybe a few forum
operators kept their own stuff, but certainly many didn't.
It's more
likely that some drooling MBA ordered it thrown in a dumpster.
5:38 p.m.
At 03:33 PM 1/13/2014, you wrote:
Well it's not just the old messages - it's the
file areas too. That's the area I was hoping had been saved some place.
I bet 85% of the forum operators are still alive and could be found.
There were hundreds of forums and the file sections changed rapidly.
Which snapshot in time were you hoping for? Is there no web where
someone has recorded the tales of CIS and its forums?
- John
14 Jan
14 Jan
9:54 a.m.
On Mon, 13 Jan 2014, John Foust wrote:
At 03:33 PM 1/13/2014, you wrote:
Not that I've ever seen.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://scarlet.deltasoft.com - Get it _today_!
Well it's not just the old messages -
it's the file areas too. That's the area I was hoping had been saved some place.
I bet 85% of the forum operators are still alive and could be found.
There were hundreds of forums and the file sections changed rapidly.
Which snapshot in time were you hoping for? Is there no web where
someone has recorded the tales of CIS and its forums?
3916
days inactive
3969
days old
10 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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geneb＠deltasoft.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
RichA＠LivingComputerMuseum.org