Rescuing and preserving old software

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Mr Nathan Wade Lanier Technical College Oakwood, Georgia Georgia Technical College of the year - 2014 . The home of both the 2014 and 2015 Technical College Teacher of the Year.

Transcript of Rescuing and preserving old software

Page 1: Rescuing and preserving old software

Mr Nathan Wade Lanier Technical College Oakwood, Georgia

Georgia Technical College of the year - 2014 .The home of both the 2014 and 2015 Technical College Teacher of the Year.

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Emulation - Rescuing and Preserving Old SoftwareSAVE OUR DIGITAL HERITAGE!

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Why preserve?• Preserve historical software from volatile storage and neglect

• Analog Tape storage• Audio dropouts

• Diskettes• “Bit-rot”• Dust

• Punch cards and tape

• Revive old programs and games on systems no longer supported on either actual systems or emulators

• Programmers can learn code and make new homebrew programs for old systems

• Sometime old hardware is rare and hard to find in good condition

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Who is• The Old School Emulation Center (TOSEC) is an

organization that is dedicated preserving and cataloging hardware, software, and firmware images for microcomputers and game consoles.• Database includes:• ROMs and firmware images• Software from different types of media• Manuals and magazines

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Internet Archive Software CollectionThe Internet Archive Software Collection is the largest vintage and historical software library in the world.It provides instant access to millions of programs, CD-ROM images, documentation and multimedia. Software

Shareware CDs, playable computer games, TOSEC files Magazines (in Text section)

Family Computer, Byte, Creative Computing Magazine Cover Discs

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Digital Millennium Copyright Act

An exemption is granted to the Internet Archive by the D.M.C.A for archival software. This software is free for the public to download. (http://archive.org/about/dmca.php)

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Two types of emulatorsSTAND ALONE MESS

• Multiple OS’

• Dedicated to one system

• May not be up to date or abandoned

• Multiple systems in one program

• Up to date

• Not all working

What is an “emulator”?A program that acts like a particular system that will run program images for that system.

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DOSBox

• Emulates x86 computer• Used mainly to play DOS-

based games• Can run Windows up to

3.11, WordPerfect, and other applications

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D-Fend Reloaded - DOSBox-Frontend Reloaded

• An open source frontend for DOSBox, ScummVM and Windows games

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ME SSultimulatoruperystem

• Emulates computer systems and game consoles back to the late 60’s

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Daphne

• Laserdisc Arcade Emulator• Will legally load commercial

versions of Dragon’s Lair, Dragon’s Lair 2, Space Ace, and Thayer’s Quest from Digital Leasure.

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Legal Hurdles• Downloading emulators is legal • Roms and software programs may not be legal to download

• This depends on the author or company

• Shareware and legally purchased software remain legal

• Copyright red-tape – hard to find who owns the copyright on ancient software• Commercial software unsupported but still owned by a viable company

• Sierra On-Line• Apple

• Commercial software owned by a company no longer in business• Interplay• Radio Shack

• Software with license keys/dongles/DRM

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Further reading and links…• The Ex-files: how long will our software last?

• http://www.blog.still-water.net/2013/05/the-ex-files-how-long-will-our-software-last/

• Preserving.exe: Toward a National Strategy for Preserving Software• http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/preservingsoftware2013.html

• Preserving.exe: A Short List of Readings on Software Preservation• http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2012/11/preserving-exe-a-short-list-

of-readings-on-software-preservation/

• The Geeks Who Saved Prince of Persia’s Source Code From Digital Death• http://www.wired.com/2012/04/prince-of-persia-source-code/

Author
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• Abandonware FAQ• http://www.abandonwarering.com/?Page=FAQ

• Why Preserving Old Computer Games is Surprisingly Difficult• http://mentalfloss.com/article/68930/why-preserving-old-computer-games-surprisingly-

difficult

• How to use DOSBox to run Dos Games and Old Apps• http://www.howtogeek.com/104725/how-to-use-dosbox-to-run-dos-games-and-old-app

s/

• Installing Windows 3.1 in DosBox• http://www.howtogeek.com/230359/how-to-install-windows-3.1-in-dosbox-set-up-drive

rs-and-play-16-bit-games/

• Computer History Museum Makes Electronic Arts DeluxePaint Source Code Available to the Public• http://www.marketwatch.com/story/computer-history-museum-makes-electronic-arts-d

eluxepaint-source-code-available-to-the-public-2015-07-22

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• Copyright Law Is Eating Away At Our Cultural History: And It's Time To Fix That• https

://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150129/06091629847/copyright-law-is-eating-away-our-cultural-history-its-time-to-fix-that.shtml

• An Exemption to the DMCA Would Let Game Fans Keep Abandoned Games Running• https://www.eff.org/let-game-fans-keep-abandoned-games-running

• Old-Computers.com• https://www.facebook.com/oldcomputers

• DosBox• http://www.dosbox.com/

• TRS-80 Color Computer Archive• http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/