VOGONS


First post, by SoftPCMuseum_

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Hello, I'm a user of a few sites on the Internet, but first, I would like to ask a few questions before posting my first topic....

1. From looking at this site before, it appears that the site refuses to allow the sharing of links to commercial software due to copyright issues, which I respect entirely and which I have no problem with at all.

However, what is this site's stance on sharing of copyrighted ROM images for emulators? For example, BIOS ROM images for various IBM PC models, as well as COMPAQ, American Megatrends, Phoenix Technologies, Award Software, etc...? Would those be allowed, or would links to those also be disallowed due to copyright rules?

2. I also have a website that I would like to link to in my profile. Would linking to it in your user account profile be allowed if the website in itself contains links to copyrighted software, or would that be considered the same as posting links on the forum itself?

The reason for why I ask these questions is that I am the developer of a new emulator which I would like people to try out, however, I am not sure as to which parts of it can be made available here. I have three copies of it, one being the "full" version (with all of the ROM images and software that originally shipped with each machine), another being a less complete version with all of the ROM images but no software provided, and the final one being completely free of all potential copyright issues since it has no software OR ROM images included at all. And as you can probably see here, I really am not sure as to which versions of my emulator would be allowed on this site, and the extent to which the distribution of copyrighted ROM images is acceptable here.

So if possibly one of the "higher-ups" could provide an answer here as to whether the distribution of copyrighted ROM images is permitted on this site, and whether it would also be allowed to link to your own personal site in your user account profile regardless of its own position on copyrighted software, then it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Reply 1 of 2, by Dominus

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Rank DOSBox Moderator
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DOSBox Moderator

I have no idea what our stance is on these ROMs. We don't allow the Mt32/CM32/64 ROMs here but not sure about those others...

Moved it to Milliways, since that's the right forum. Also reported the topic that the powers higher up don't miss it 😉

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 2, by SoftPCMuseum_

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Well, if there is any chance that the ROM images would not be allowed here either, then I'll at least make the version of the emulator without the ROM images available on this site.

I'll start a new topic for my new emulator, which will cover the status of development as well as new features for each build.