For the really tough stuff I have magic in the form of a catweasel Mk3. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Individual_Computers_Catweasel
On Fri, 2011-02-25 at 10:53 -0700, Gustin Johnson wrote: > I may take you up on it. We have known that it is possible, but there > is a certain effort vs reward calculation that has not been favorable. > > I'll let him know and now that he is sort of retired he may choose to > pursue this. There is no rush as he has been living without this data > for some time. I know that he bought an Apple IIc on ebay something > like 10 years ago, but I don't think he has gone much further than > merely booting it. > > As an academic exercise, it would be interesting to see if it is > possible to get the AppleWorks data (word processing documents and > primitive database) imported into more modern applications assuming we > can move the bits to a modern PC. > > On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:38 AM, John Jardine > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> My dad has a box of floppies for his Apple IIc, that has databases and > >> word processing files. How easy is it for him to get that data on to > >> his modern PC? > > *cough* I may be able to help you there. > > > > On Thu, 2011-02-24 at 18:51 -0700, Gustin Johnson wrote: > >> If they were well known or named formats it would not be a problem. > >> Simon's example is excellent. There is a sea of dead and extinct > >> formats from the late 70s through the early 90's. I use the word > >> format loosely, as some of these systems were one offs for people like > >> libraries, school systems, and mid to large size companies. Perhaps > >> you are lucky in that seismic data can be read 50 years later, but > >> this is not the norm. > >> > >> How many of your digital files from the 80s or 90s can still be read? > >> My dad has a box of floppies for his Apple IIc, that has databases and > >> word processing files. How easy is it for him to get that data on to > >> his modern PC? I have personally used utilities like strings to get > >> data out of old formats (assuming that I was lucky enough to have data > >> in a format that used good ol ASCII) for files I created myself and I > >> am only 35. Most of my early university papers are mostly unreadable > >> in modern word processors. Ironically, the ones I did in TeX/Latex > >> would still be readable if I had kept them. > >> > >> On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 6:00 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Obsolete formats? Please advise which. > >> > > >> > It happens to everyone in the end... even NASA had issues reading > >> > magnetic > >> > tapes containing digitised high resolution images from the Lunar Orbiter. > >> > > >> > That is until some determined engineers got obsessed with the project: > >> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_Image_Recovery_Project > >> > > >> > Simon > >> > > >> > > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > clug-talk mailing list > >> > [email protected] > >> > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > >> > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > >> > **Please remove these lines when replying > >> > > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> clug-talk mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > >> **Please remove these lines when replying > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > clug-talk mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > > **Please remove these lines when replying > > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
