Wouldn't make more sense to move it to "Marvin"? Since they are about the drivers for the hardware discussed in "Marvin".

Malik wrote:

...
So many stuff to do... 😁

Good work Malik! Your efforts are very much appreciated! 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

Malik wrote:

...
So many stuff to do... 😁

Good work Malik! Your efforts are very much appreciated! 😀

Thanks for the kind words. Our buddies here are really helpful for the common good. In fact, they're doing all the hard work. I'm just collecting and putting 'em in one place.😁

Good point. Thanks everyone! 😁

Malik wrote:

...

I hope I can place some more files like the univbe, vbe, unirfrsh, slowdown utils, vesa utils, icd, ice, floppy boot disks to help load old troublesome games, bios flashers, bios utils, cmos utils and so on there too. All under respective threads.

...

I am sure that a lot of people would really appreciate this. IMHO, I think it would be a good idea to see a permanently closed section called "Arcade" with 0 posts in it removed, to be replaced with your "old drivers" section idea. People wouldn't have to visit driverguide so often then! 😉 😀

If this idea is not possible, then I still think it would be a great idea to continue your "old driver collecting", and to post them in the Marvin section. One day, I'd really like to see an old driver collection for classic sound cards.

Are all those things legal to link to ?
especially boot floppies and things like that...

I am not really sure if I want even more old hardware related stuff on the board. Vogons is afterall for old games on new systems.
Having said that, if more old hardware related stuff is going to be on vogons then I'd definitely want/need another moderator on the team to moderate that/those sections.

Qbix wrote:

Are all those things legal to link to ?
especially boot floppies and things like that...

Well, drivers are just software for interfacing a device with what OS you are running. Considering that most companies host even legacy drivers for free download anyway, I doubt they would have a problem with it. As for the boot floppies... better safe than sorry.

Qbix wrote:

I am not really sure if I want even more old hardware related stuff on the board. Vogons is afterall for old games on new systems.
Having said that, if more old hardware related stuff is going to be on vogons then I'd definitely want/need another moderator on the team to moderate that/those sections.

Well I'd hate to break it to you, but Vogons is likely one of the largest knowledge bases of old hardware related stuff, so it's not going away; It'll only get bigger.

Also, I agree with you getting another mod on this forum.

The chances of a link that points to an ancient hardware driver for some clapped out piece of junk being illegal has got to be nil. My vote goes to Malik, to be a new moderator for a classic hardware driver section. 😀

Drivers are software and have a copyright, so there is a chance this is not the best. But there hasn't been a witchhunt against driver downloads AFAIK. so linking here is a grey area but should be ok. Boot floppies otoh should be avoided.

well the mod position would be for marvin as well.

Hmm; Software with copyright that isn't cared about.... Somehow that reminds me of a term that some people call abandonware....... So it is definitely a grey area, although it is different from the games thing.

For the record, I still haven't agreed to having this hardware drivers section. So don't run ahead of yourselves with big plans etc.

I don't think another mod would work. I think a whipcrack to dosfrake would do the trick though

Qbix wrote:

Hmm; Software with copyright that isn't cared about.... Somehow that reminds me of a term that some people call abandonware....... So it is definitely a grey area, although it is different from the games thing.

I certainly can appreciate the need for caution, but one big difference is that drivers are mostly useless without the hardware that they were written for. Granted, that hardware is sometimes emulated, but for the Marvin folks it is the actual hardware. This is not to advocate for the driver posts, just an observation. May be that the best solution would be a third party site to archive the drivers and just link to it from Marvin.

It may be good to remove the extra, non driver software that often was included with the drivers. This would be closer to "abandonware" than just drivers.

Making old games run on "modern" OS's often require you to find a particular version of a driver for your hardware as newer drivers tend to be less suited for "obsolete" hardware and, apart from people like us here, nobody cares about these old drivers.

That said, if such a section is ever created, I'll upload the ActionMedia II drivers I downloaded from the Intel webpage before they deleted it.

I can't say I've ever heard of a copyright takedown claim related to someone reposting an old driver. I suppose it's possible to happen, but it's not as if places like Driverguide get the manufacturer's permission to post every single driver, it simply wouldn't be feasible, so if copyright was a problem, I'd figure it'd be more widely known by now.

However, an open drivers section in the forum would have a major flaw that I see: 95% of posts would be 'drive-bys' from new registrants, all to the effect of "gib driverz pls", half of them looking for drivers completely unrelated to vintage hardware. That's what all driver-related messageboards seem to devolve into, and I really don't think that's something anybody wants here.

Sadly, that's already beginning.

There is a point there. Same as the drive by registers only wanting to buy/trade/sell that seemed to happen...

Whoa! Cool down guys! 😁

I don't know anything about moderating, especially for an important site like Vogons. 😅

It's just a request cum suggestion. 😀

I've been collecting creative labs' drivers ever since my cousin took away my actual Sound Blaster 32 PnP driver disks, which he later "misplaced" and were lost forever. That and I see many friends requesting and benefit from these drivers, and the reason that I grew with Sound Blasters instilled the interest in collecting them as a hobby. And I make them freely available for whomever that need them.

My interest is in the Creative Labs drivers. I'm sure there are others with great interest in Gravis Ultrasound series, which I'm not familiar with.

Others can start collecting and posting the Gravis stuff drivers and utilities and so on.

Anyway, just a suggestion. It's alright if such a section cannot be created. You can always find the drivers following my signature, right? 😀

Just that, the dormant "Arcade" section has been itching my curiosity to do something about it! 😁

Anyway, all's well, cool, and Cheers!

better idea... why not make the section hidden only to registered users and lurkers won't even see the section on the index? unless of course you want to make the drivers section open to guest posters, but that brings the "drive bys" and spam problem

there isn't an easy solution to this, but hidden unadvertised access might be the way... maybe even require certain post count/registration age to even "unlock" it... in order to prevent "drive bys" and post whoring

TheMAN wrote:

better idea... why not make the section hidden only to registered users and lurkers won't even see the section on the index? unless of course you want to make the drivers section open to guest posters, but that brings the "drive bys" and spam problem

there isn't an easy solution to this, but hidden unadvertised access might be the way... maybe even require certain post count/registration age to even "unlock" it... in order to prevent "drive bys" and post whoring

We kinda had the same arguments floating around with the WTB/WTS thingy just a month or so ago?

And anyway, this EMU Audio Production Studio CDs looks kinda like a fake or at the least should've been a pm.
Feel free to ignore those.