It has been difficult to figure out exactly what to do with these Indys, and I never expected this to become such a polarizing issue. Lots of people want me to leak the source code online, but that exposes me to serious copyright infringement liability. The CEO of Night Dive Studios, Stephen Kick, has been in touch with me since last week expressing his interest in the materials, and perhaps also to put me on friendly notice that as a current IP rights holder he is aware that it's in my possession.

As was my intention from the beginning, I'm going to sell these systems on eBay, despite the harsh criticism from folks who are all butthurt about it. It should be perfectly legal to do so on account of First Sale / Exhaustion copyright doctrine, so I won't be exposing myself to a lawsuit (or at least, not one that I couldn't win on the merits with a few counterclaims thrown in for good measure). And I sincerely believe it's both moral and ethical to do this - I'm not hurting anyone, lying about anything, or taking advantage of anyone. I bought these computers, I discovered that they're more important than anyone ever realized, and I'd like to profit (*gasp!*) from my efforts. Anyone who has a problem with that should get a life.

I will be speaking with some of the more knowledgeable associates / partners at my law firm tomorrow to get a clearer picture of the copyright situation, but as it stands now the systems will be posted to eBay, everyone will have an opportunity to bid on them, and 20% of the proceeds will go to charity directly via eBay's payment system. I posted the first system for sale last night.

In the meantime, I'll continue to dig through the Indys for more interesting content, which I'll post to Twitter & YouTube.

Oh, and Pentium, if you're reading this, eat a bag of dicks.

SiliconClassics wrote:

and I never expected this to become such a polarizing issue.

Unfortunately, entitlement knows no bounds.. least of all the concept of a personal risk to others.

Inb4 the lock.

I really don't see the big deal with selling them. More then anything it's all the free advertising that we would be upset about. We aren't lossing anything by the systems being sold, we didn't have the content of the hdds to begin with.

SiliconClassics wrote:

Oh, and Pentium, if you're reading this, eat a bag of dicks

Interesting find. I fear a DMCA notice of similar. And I hope eBay doesn't block the sale or Paypal doesn't withhold your funds. Both companies love to screw sellers.

But who is Pentium and why should he eat a bag of penises?

Well, I've gone ahead and posted the Indy with the Turok source to my eBay account. We'll see what happens next. One way or another, it should be interesting.

As for Pentium, I know him from Nekochan.net forums, a site for Silicon Graphics collectors. He was just posting shit about me over on Facepunch. I fully expected to get crap for selling the Turok Indy, but he was making it exceedingly personal.

SiliconClassics wrote:

It has been difficult to figure out exactly what to do with these Indys, and I never expected this to become such a polarizing i […]
Show full quote

It has been difficult to figure out exactly what to do with these Indys, and I never expected this to become such a polarizing issue. Lots of people want me to leak the source code online, but that exposes me to serious copyright infringement liability. The CEO of Night Dive Studios, Stephen Kick, has been in touch with me since last week expressing his interest in the materials, and perhaps also to put me on friendly notice that as a current IP rights holder he is aware that it's in my possession.

As was my intention from the beginning, I'm going to sell these systems on eBay, despite the harsh criticism from folks who are all butthurt about it. It should be perfectly legal to do so on account of First Sale / Exhaustion copyright doctrine, so I won't be exposing myself to a lawsuit (or at least, not one that I couldn't win on the merits with a few counterclaims thrown in for good measure). And I sincerely believe it's both moral and ethical to do this - I'm not hurting anyone, lying about anything, or taking advantage of anyone. I bought these computers, I discovered that they're more important than anyone ever realized, and I'd like to profit (*gasp!*) from my efforts. Anyone who has a problem with that should get a life.

I will be speaking with some of the more knowledgeable associates / partners at my law firm tomorrow to get a clearer picture of the copyright situation, but as it stands now the systems will be posted to eBay, everyone will have an opportunity to bid on them, and 20% of the proceeds will go to charity directly via eBay's payment system. I posted the first system for sale last night.

In the meantime, I'll continue to dig through the Indys for more interesting content, which I'll post to Twitter & YouTube.

I would do the same, list them on ebay and let it be someone else's problem in deciding if they want to leak them or not. And so what if you make a little money off of them, people do need to get a life.

Bidding on the turok system, probably will not win it, I'm abit shy on computer stuff funds at the moment and really only want it to say I own it and maybe be a dick about it 😈 . Spent way to much over the last few weaks. But I'll give it a shot! Would be cool to own it. Now if we were talking about the code to the PC version then I'd be all over it and make sure I won it.

So what's the reserve set at ? If you don't mind be asking?

$150, just to make sure these Indies don't sell for less than the fair market price of the hardware. Not that there was much reason to suspect they would.

This is amazing, I wish I could find stuff like this

This is AMAZING!!!!

SiliconClassics: You could always have chosen a different name than the one you are using here, over at ASSEMbler, but calling that forum a P2P/Filesharing site, I actually think you have no clue what ASSEMbler is all about. In fact calling it a filesharing site is an insult. Sorry for counter answering you. In fact the ASSEMbler games forum is VERY helpful. But then again, you started shouting towards some Pentium human being, that some of us have no clue about. And since you are an attorney/lawyer/barrister . Well, you should be well aware of the homophobic slur (aka. "eat a bag of dicks") you used about the Pentium human being. What if he or she feels that is not okay, and sues you for libel and what not ?

Anyway, if you are easily offended , then do not read the reddit thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/n64/comments/5o5wv5/ … _is_lost_again/

What would be cool would be to find is a repository of several game source codes on one of these machines. But only 1 - 2 GB hard drives...

WolverineDK wrote:

...calling that forum a P2P/Filesharing site, I actually think you have no clue what ASSEMbler is all about. In fact calling it a filesharing site is an insult.

I didn't mean to classify it as a filesharing site, and you're right, I don't know much about Assembler. No offense intended.

WolverineDK wrote:

Well, you should be well aware of the homophobic slur (aka. "eat a bag of dicks") you used about the Pentium human being. What if he or she feels that is not okay, and sues you for libel and what not ?

That's not how libel works. And I won't bend to PC policing. And the phrase EABOD is not homophobic. I think you're barking up the wrong tree with this point.

WolverineDK wrote:

Anyway, if you are easily offended , then do not read the reddit thread...

🤣 trust me I've read it and even replied to a couple of messages. It's a bunch of butthurt.

This whole situation has given me some mixed feelings.

Personally, I would release the source code. If anyone came to my door, I would have told them to go eat shit and die. That said, I have practically nothing to lose (monetary) at this point in my life so the risk is minimal. However, if I was in your shoes with a respectable job and friends, I'd probably do the same.

That said, as an Internet troll, I can't help but enjoy the cyclone of butt-hurt circling around you. Intentionally or otherwise, you've created a massive amount of publicity for the situation and then put it on ebay. If these were blank machines, they would hold average value. But now, you've made sure everyone who might be interested in the DATA now can fight over it on ebay. I wouldn't do the charity part, but I can't fault you for it either.

Also, I would not be surprised at all if you still had a copy of the data. So you could still release it discretely if you desired to.

Well played sir. Well played.

I'm not really fallowing what's all going on out side vogons, but he did say he imaged the drives.

As long as the hard drives have been imaged and the data stored on something safe, which is what it sounds like, I'm happy.

But please, send that code to someone you trust with the proper tools so they can back it up. No reason not to have multiple backups in case disaster strikes. The important thing here is to preserve the data. That doesn't necessarily have to entail a public release.

luckybob wrote:

...everything luckybob said above...

Some good points.

I love your channel and all the videos you've uploaded thus far, you seem to care about the history of computing and video games. Which is why I find it odd that this is the course of action you have selected. You are essentially freeing yourself off of any responsibility. It is a little sad, since there have been many collectors in the past that just hang on to stuff like this and never release anything for some odd reason.

I am siding with luckybob, hopefully this is what you're planning to do in the end. 😉

In addition to luckybob's comments, whoever buys the INDY also has the anonymity, ergo they can release the source without fear of reprisal (small though that may be, it isn't insignificant). The source is worth nothing because it's someone else's property. The hardware is worth a mediocre amount. The combination is the golden egg. Read between the lines, folks.

Just in case anyone wants a link to the auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/162360925581

Shipping is too high for me, so I wont be bidding. 🙁

It would not surprise me if people are bidding just to fuck with you. I hope not, but dont let it surprise you.