Excellent news. Thank you for making this happen. -- Will
On Apr 28, 2016 1:22 PM, "Jay West" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Several years ago, Lyle Bickley began negotiations with S&H Computer Systems > to release TSX-Plus (a 3rd party Multiuser Operating System for PDP-11's) as > free software for personal use. As is often the case, this process can take > a lot longer than one would expect. > > Once Lyle obtained an initial agreement from the owner of TSX-Plus, he then > had to await the approval from S&H's Board of Directors. Initially, S&H > chose to only release the source code listings for TSX-Plus (which are now > on Bitsavers.org). Unfortunately, the machine readable source code itself > had been accidentally lost when S&H changed PDP-11 computer systems > in-house. > > Eventually, Lyle was able to obtain the original SMD hard drive from S&H > containing the latest versions of TSX-Plus, and the layered products > COBOL-Plus and RTSORT (and other software that remains private to S&H > Computer Systems). He transferred the TSX-Plus, COBOL-Plus, and RTSORT files > to an RL02 disk - and using S&H's proprietary licensing software created a > "personal use, serialized version" of TSX-Plus. This version has ALL the > capabilities and features of the commercially licensed version of TSX-Plus. > > Subsequently, Lyle was authorized to release this "Personal Use" TSX-Plus > distribution only to individuals that he could vouch for as being > non-commercial users. > > After another year or so, he was able to obtain the current agreement and > license to make this "Personal Use" TSX-Plus distribution generally > available for non-commercial use. > > Please note that TSX-Plus is NOT public domain software; S&H retains all > rights including ownership. They have provided a free personal use license > available through Bickley Consulting West. There is still a paid commercial > use license available directly from S&H. > > We all owe a big "Thanks!" to Harry Sanders at S&H Computer Systems and his > Board of Directors for making this release a reality for all vintage > computer folks! Also, the hobby owes huge thanks to Lyle Bickley for > tirelessly pursuing this for us all! I've always been a huge fan of TSX-Plus > and I'm thrilled there's now a personal (hobbyist) license thanks to Lyle. > > The distribution is at http://tsxplus.classiccmp.org > > Best, > > J > >
