Where to upload old software extracted off old floppies? \ VOGONS

Where to upload old software extracted off old floppies?

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First post, by dekkit

Posted on 2024-03-26, 04:19

dekkit Offline

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HI all,

I've found a few boxes of old IBM PC 5.25inch and 3.5inch disks with a lot of software that may or may not be worth extracting and uploading somewhere (i.e. typing tutors, graphic viewers, early word processors etc)

Usually this sort of thing comes in handy once in a while when you're looking for something to open a file.

While most of the games are already available online, I'm not sure about some of the other stuff which is why I'm wondering if it's worth extracting or is it just wasting time and effort?

Then the question of where to upload it to help preserve it and so it's discoverable (archive.org seems the most obvious spot if not here)

Looking for advice or if there is another thread that discusses this (or some other active archival project that is collecting utils etc) then please point me in the right direction.

Thanks all,
Dek

Reply 1 of 12, by StriderTR

Posted on 2024-03-26, 05:47

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Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data.

I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. 😀

REMOVED

EDIT: Here's a much better example of one of the best floppy disk archives REMOVED

Retro Blog: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
Archive: https://archive.org/details/@theclassicgeek/
3D Things: https://www.thingiverse.com/classicgeek/collections

Reply 2 of 12, by dekkit

Posted on 2024-03-26, 13:23

dekkit Offline

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Ta, will get to work. Its interesting going back seeing all this stuff and using dosbox to quickly see what's on them.

We take so much for granted now days.

Reply 3 of 12, by matti157

Posted on 2024-03-26, 13:37

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Make an image of the floppies with winimage and upload the image to internet archive! You would be doing a welcome thing to many people

Reply 4 of 12, by gerry

Posted on 2024-03-26, 13:57

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dekkit wrote on 2024-03-26, 13:23:

Ta, will get to work. Its interesting going back seeing all this stuff and using dosbox to quickly see what's on them.

We take so much for granted now days.

nice to do that, hopefully will come in useful for some

true about taking things for granted , one of the things i realised what archive org itself - what would happen if they stopped!? we sure use them a lot

Reply 5 of 12, by ldeveraux

Posted on 2024-03-26, 17:05

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StriderTR wrote on 2024-03-26, 05:47:
Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent […]
Show full quote

Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data.

I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. 😀

REMOVED

EDIT: Here's a much better example of one of the best floppy disk archives REMOVED

What was removed here and why?

Reply 6 of 12, by konc

Posted on 2024-03-26, 17:13

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ldeveraux wrote on 2024-03-26, 17:05:

StriderTR wrote on 2024-03-26, 05:47:
Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent […]
Show full quote

Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data.

I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. 😀

REMOVED

EDIT: Here's a much better example of one of the best floppy disk archives REMOVED

What was removed here and why?

A link to a specific archive.org page with software to download.

Reply 7 of 12, by StriderTR

Posted on 2024-03-26, 17:31

StriderTR Offline

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konc wrote on 2024-03-26, 17:13:

ldeveraux wrote on 2024-03-26, 17:05:

StriderTR wrote on 2024-03-26, 05:47:
Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent […]
Show full quote

Create a free https://archive.org/ account and archive your finds there. That's what a majority of people do. It's an excellent resource for hard to find data.

I just started mine as well, only has a few things on it at the moment, until I have time to start going through all my disks. 😀

REMOVED

EDIT: Here's a much better example of one of the best floppy disk archives REMOVED

What was removed here and why?

A link to a specific archive.org page with software to download.

Yep, that's what I get for posting and not thinking in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping. 😜

Retro Blog: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
Archive: https://archive.org/details/@theclassicgeek/
3D Things: https://www.thingiverse.com/classicgeek/collections

Reply 8 of 12, by Tripredacus

Posted on 2024-03-26, 19:25

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Along these lines, what programs are recommended for making the disk images?

Reply 9 of 12, by dekkit

Posted on 2024-03-27, 00:22

dekkit Offline

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Tripredacus wrote on 2024-03-26, 19:25:

Along these lines, what programs are recommended for making the disk images?

I used specific hardware PCB 'greezeweazle' PCB (v4.1) which has a bunch of scripts and front end to extract .img files using flux transitions (it avoids the PC floppy controller and connects via USB(

Then 7zip to poke around the img files and see what's in there.

If using a standard PC with a floppy drive I'm sure there are dos utils out there (I think freedos has some, and probably a heap available on various windows).

If there some weird copy protection, I'll probably create multiple formats (.img,zip,raw) otherwise just simple .zip files to make it easy use with emulators.

Reply 10 of 12, by Matchstick

Posted on 2024-03-27, 04:58

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dekkit wrote on 2024-03-26, 04:19:

Then the question of where to upload it to help preserve it and so it's discoverable (archive.org seems the most obvious spot if not here)

Thanks all,
Dek

I suggest you join Digitoxin's PC Game Preservation Discord

Last edited by Dominus on 2024-03-27, 14:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reason: Warez discord link

Reply 11 of 12, by Dominus

Posted on 2024-03-27, 14:14

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Please don't post links to warez sites or Discords,or similar. Archive.org is already questionable.

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 12 of 12, by matti157

Posted on 2024-03-30, 21:44

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Tripredacus wrote on 2024-03-26, 19:25:

Along these lines, what programs are recommended for making the disk images?

winimage

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