There is a program to extract arc format files under Linux. http://sourceforge.net/projects/arc/ You might be able to port it to Windows using Unix style libraries.

There are also programs that will do zoo and other obscure and obsolete formats in Linux.

I have run a few of the old DOS games under DOSBOX in Linux. Works great. Playing Darkseed after 23 years makes me feel real old.

As for old DOS programs, I have 6 large cases of old 3.5" floppies, and a number of large boxes of 5.25" floppies. I need to archive them. Some go back to DOS 2.01.

I also have a number of old shareware collections on CD ROMs. I need to archive those as well.

nyamada wrote:

Hope you can let archive.org know about this archive -- they would be interested, I'm sure...

They know.

https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/590921233165852672
https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/590921661907607552

https://archive.org/details/frostbyte_1980s_DOS_collection

Heck the archive.org link is in the first post. :p

Foxhack wrote:

Heck the archive.org link is in the first post. :p

Originally it pointed to a dropbox, but was later edited to the archive.org link we see now.

Foxhack wrote:

They know.
https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/590921233165852672
https://twitter.com/textfiles/status/590921661907607552

This is awesome.

Beegle wrote:

Foxhack wrote:

Heck the archive.org link is in the first post. :p

Originally it pointed to a dropbox, but was later edited to the archive.org link we see now.

Yes, DropBox suspended my share the next morning for hogging bandwidth, which is ironic given the nature of the share and the speeds at which people used to download this stuff.

frostbyte wrote:

Beegle wrote:

Foxhack wrote:

Heck the archive.org link is in the first post. :p

Originally it pointed to a dropbox, but was later edited to the archive.org link we see now.

Yes, DropBox suspended my share the next morning for hogging bandwidth, which is ironic given the nature of the share and the speeds at which people used to download this stuff.

"Dropbox: We've got unlimited storage! Until you use too much, then you can go to hell!"

Thanks for your hard work on this.

Very cool...thanks for this.

so... anyone found anything cool in the files?

keropi wrote:

so... anyone found anything cool in the files?

Found this gif:

😎

Anyways... I haven't really looked that in-depth at all the files yet. In my brief skimming earlier, I mainly dug around for games. Found that Maxell 688 Attack Sub demo someone mentioned earlier, also I found a few true classics, including everybody's favorite Pac-Man clone...???

Okay, maybe not. Also found Paratrooper which makes this whole thing worth it for me.

Gotta say, the speed at which Archive.org dumped the apps/utilities into their online Em-Dosbox thingy and started screenshotting it all was remarkable. 😀

How about some monochromatic railroading with PC-RR (RRGAMES.ZIP)?

As advertised in the 1984 Infoworld magazine:

I love this one

Stiletto wrote:

Gotta say, the speed at which Archive.org dumped the apps/utilities into their online Em-Dosbox thingy and started screenshotting it all was remarkable. 😀

is there an index page of this for these specific files?

keropi wrote:

Stiletto wrote:

Gotta say, the speed at which Archive.org dumped the apps/utilities into their online Em-Dosbox thingy and started screenshotting it all was remarkable. 😀

is there an index page of this for these specific files?

https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_m … ownloads&page=1

You can refresh daily and watch it add screenshots to Frostbyte's collection 😀

Another thing to note is that some of these folders have *.LOG files which likely include descriptions direct from the BBS for the file names. In a few cases it might be a file like ALLFILES.ZIP which contains the file descriptions (for example, \SOUR\ALLFILES.ZIP) but as with anything old and haphazard like this collection, your mileage may vary.

Wow! Hope there's something good in there.

thanks Stiletto , I could not find it - getting older and crap 😁

A couple were detected as viruses.

frostbyte wrote:

How about some monochromatic railroading with PC-RR (RRGAMES.ZIP)? […]
Show full quote

How about some monochromatic railroading with PC-RR (RRGAMES.ZIP)?

pc-rr_000.png

As advertised in the 1984 Infoworld magazine:

pc-rr.gif

I had that train game back in the days.. Was really awesome..

I had also downloaded this archive and found a full version of PC-RR inside: floppysharware/BOUT/RAILROAD.ZIP it has also the editor inside.

catchaserguns wrote:

A couple were detected as viruses.

That's not useful information. I mean, what files were detected as viruses? What were the viruses called? What scanner are you using, etc?

Tested this archive with ClamAV after unzipping all packages and found 5-6 viruses.
Using virustotal.com should confirm.
Others viruses could be found with other unviruses.

USCX/DOSUT-20/CDSECRET.COM Win.Trojan.VGEN-238
USCX/DOSUT-16/HIDE_CD.COM Win.Trojan.VGEN-238
USCX/GRABBAG/EATERS.COM Win.Joke.Screeneater-1
USCX/GRABBAG/DRAIN.EXE Win.Joke.Waterdrive-1
LUNACY/ST110290/CPRINT.COM Win.Trojan.Vgen-91
KAND/FPROT116/BOOTVIR.TXT Win.Trojan.B-194
GLEN/LAUGH2/APRIL.EXE Win.Joke.Pani-1
GLEN/LAUGH2/DRIP.COM Win.Trojan.Drip-1
GLEN/LAUGH2/ALIENMES.EXE Win.Trojan.Bombardment-1
GLEN/VIRUSIMU/DENZ-SIM.COM Win.Trojan.Denzuk-1
GLEN/VIRUSIMU/FUM-SIMD.COM Win.Trojan.Denzuk-1
GLEN/VIRUSIMU/CASC-SIM.COM Win.Trojan.VGEN-246
GLEN/LAUGH1/EATERS.COM Win.Joke.Screeneater-1
WLAX/BUGMESS/BUGS.COM Win.Joke.Screeneater-1

Under Linux, you can use unar to extract files from .ARC archives.