Best repository for very old DOS games? How to contribute? \ VOGONS

Best repository for very old DOS games? How to contribute?

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First post, by Subjunctive

Posted on 2012-03-07, 15:30

Subjunctive Offline

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Joined: 2007-10-31, 21:22
Location: Connecticut

I have a few DOS games from the early-to-mid '80s, the standalone executable kind, that I haven't found in any online archive. I did a lot of Googling for the filenames, too.

In my searching, I did come across a few sites like this one that didn't look like permanent fixtures.

So I guess my questions are: where would be the best place for me to contribute my files (assuming someone is interested in them), and is there any single "authoritative" repository for games of this age? There are a lot of places from which to get all the popular shareware titles of the '90s, but it seems that once you get much older than that, availability drops off dramatically.

Last edited by Subjunctive on 2012-03-07, 19:59. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 2, by Jorpho

Posted on 2012-03-07, 16:11

Jorpho Offline

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Unfortunately, regardless of what others may tell you, copyrights on software take a very, very long time to expire, and the distribution of copyrighted software is illegal. Even much of the contents of the Asimov FTP server are technically illegal, if I'm not mistaken.

Of course, as companies go bankrupt and copyrights change hands, the situation may well arise that the actual copyright holder for a given piece of software might not even know it owns the copyright, much less care if someone copies the software. Nonetheless, there is a great eagerness to avoid any association between DOSBox and the illegal distribution of copyrighted software.

While there are some "authoritative" repositories for console games (particularly cartridge ROM dumps), as well as sites like Lemon Amiga and Lemon 64, no such thing exists for old PC software. However, it's quite likely that whatever you have on hand is in fact readily available if you look deeply enough. You can PM me if you want; this thread may well end up being locked soon.

Reply 2 of 2, by Subjunctive

Posted on 2012-03-07, 16:13

Subjunctive Offline

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Location: Connecticut

My bad. Sorry. 😒

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