Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 5:45 AM, dmccunney dennis.mccun...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Alex alxm...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 12:58 AM, Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com wrote: El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. And don't forget Lua. It's very simple and quite powerful at the same time. An excellent language indeed. But it's specifically intended for embedding within other programs as a script language. (There are an assortment of text editors (like SciTE) that embed Lua in that fashion. You don't write stand-alone apps in it. True, Lua is optimized for being embedded, but you can also write stand-alone applications. There are lots of extension modules that give you lots of functionality for everything. -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
i was thinking along the lines of straight logical thinking, no sector/segment stuff, just a straight address bus, straight data bus and straight memory (and other) bus(es). and, of course, all this needs to run at an extremely high speed, and also operate synchronously at that same very, very high speed. that way there would be no bottlenecks to reduce the speed, with reed-solomon error correction in real time, too! (and the machines stackable for transputing.) (as close to a turing machine as *really* possible, incl. no concessions to cost control etc. etc. etc.) as far as i can see no one is really doing this commercially. aren't economics wonderful? no! . eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com .. --- On Mon, 4/2/12, Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com wrote: From: Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software To: freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net Date: Monday, April 2, 2012, 6:58 PM El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Mark Brown eufdp...@yahoo.com wrote: as usual, we all need more and better freeware, and like the gnu flag says, free thinking... maybe someday someone will invent an operating system that promotes user programming instead of suppresses it. blink Linux does. It's open source. You can get the code and modify it, or create complete new code. So does Android (which is based on a Linux kernel.) For that matter, the APIs for Windows and OS/X are [published, and you can create code to run under them. Thousands of people do. Of course, you *do* have to learn to program, and *no* OS can relieve you of that. __ Dennis https://plus.google.com/u/0/105128793974319004519 -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. -- -- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Marco A. Achury Tel: +58-(212)-6158777 Cel: +58-(414)-3142282 Skype: marcoachury http://www.achury.com.ve -Inline Attachment Follows- -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev -Inline Attachment Follows- ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
Hi all, mateusz (mate...@viste-family.net) wrote: An alternative would be to distribute not the application/program itself, but just a small *.torrent file... ;) I wonder if it would really all that much of a risk if we post links of copyrighted programs (which are already hosted on other websites/FTP servers). For most users, links would be much easier than torrents. I am not familiar with the laws. Would linking to a pirated software be considered a copyright violation or aiding and abetting a crime? Anyhow, I would be very surprised if someone tried to prosecute us for posting a link over a DOS-era program that is hosted somewhere else. Seriously, what are the chances? --- Jim Hall (jh...@freedos.org) wrote: Probably the FreeDOS wiki would be the best place for this, since that's already there and an obvious place to have descriptions of legacy DOS applications. Absolutely. Wikis are very convenient. What about a Software Listings and Reviews section of the wiki? -- Eric Auer (e.a...@jpberlin.de) wrote: Recommending the best could be done without mention of places for downloads, so some sort of review-of- DOS-classics could probably be done by FreeDOSers. Recommending the best was actually the core of my proposal. Yes, even without hosting the programs or linking to them, a simple list of the best programs for each category is very useful. Finding the programs is so easy these days, with Google... Please, let us not this idea die. Who is interested in working on the wiki-based Software Listings and Reviews project? I am willing to cooperate, in the non-games area. I think the first step would be to define the broad categories, and their subcategories. We could get inspiration from other websites (simtel, tucows, etc) Alex -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
Hi, On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 6:23 AM, Alex alxm...@gmail.com wrote: mateusz (mate...@viste-family.net) wrote: An alternative would be to distribute not the application/program itself, but just a small *.torrent file... ;) I wonder if it would really all that much of a risk if we post links of copyrighted programs (which are already hosted on other websites/FTP servers). For most users, links would be much easier than torrents. I'm pretty sure that even links themselves would be considered bad also, and you'd certainly get a few cease and desist emails, at minimum. I wouldn't recommend it. I am not familiar with the laws. Would linking to a pirated software be considered a copyright violation or aiding and abetting a crime? Anyhow, I would be very surprised if someone tried to prosecute us for posting a link over a DOS-era program that is hosted somewhere else. Seriously, what are the chances? The chances are fairly high as there are lots of companies and watchgroups and laws that are against such things. Even though it's obsolete, they will still fight it to death. :-( Eric Auer (e.a...@jpberlin.de) wrote: Recommending the best could be done without mention of places for downloads, so some sort of review-of- DOS-classics could probably be done by FreeDOSers. Recommending the best was actually the core of my proposal. Yes, even without hosting the programs or linking to them, a simple list of the best programs for each category is very useful. Finding the programs is so easy these days, with Google... Finding stuff legally would be more worthwhile and useful, IMO. If something is truly classic, I don't know ... we'd have to probably raise some money (Kickstarter?) to free (or rewrite) it. Keep in mind that I too would love a maintainable online archive of old freeware, but it's not really a popular idea these days. While it's easy to say, Just use FOSS, sometimes there isn't any direct equivalent (and most effort goes into other OSes anyways). Please, let us not this idea die. Who is interested in working on the wiki-based Software Listings and Reviews project? I am willing to cooperate, in the non-games area. I think the first step would be to define the broad categories, and their subcategories. We could get inspiration from other websites (simtel, tucows, etc) I would only suggest to review stuff that is truly classic or (better) easily available (e.g. Amazon, Gog.com, eBay). There already exist a few people on YouTube (Blip.tv, etc.) reviewing old games, but perhaps we could enlist people here to (via email) list their top ten favorite DOS apps (of all time, of last five years, etc). What was DOS most famous for? Visicalc? Lotus 1-2-3? Turbo Pascal? Doom? Desqview? Brief? VBDOS? PKZIP? QModem Pro? Compushow? Fast Tracker 2? Norton Commander? GEM? 4DOS? -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
as usual, we all need more and better freeware, and like the gnu flag says, free thinking... maybe someday someone will invent an operating system that promotes user programming instead of suppresses it. .. eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com ..-- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Mark Brown eufdp...@yahoo.com wrote: as usual, we all need more and better freeware, and like the gnu flag says, free thinking... maybe someday someone will invent an operating system that promotes user programming instead of suppresses it. blink Linux does. It's open source. You can get the code and modify it, or create complete new code. So does Android (which is based on a Linux kernel.) For that matter, the APIs for Windows and OS/X are [published, and you can create code to run under them. Thousands of people do. Of course, you *do* have to learn to program, and *no* OS can relieve you of that. __ Dennis https://plus.google.com/u/0/105128793974319004519 -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. -- -- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Marco A. Achury Tel: +58-(212)-6158777 Cel: +58-(414)-3142282 Skype: marcoachury http://www.achury.com.ve -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 12:58 AM, Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com wrote: El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. And don't forget Lua. It's very simple and quite powerful at the same time. An excellent language indeed. -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 6:58 PM, Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com wrote: El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Mark Brown eufdp...@yahoo.com wrote: as usual, we all need more and better freeware, and like the gnu flag says, free thinking... maybe someday someone will invent an operating system that promotes user programming instead of suppresses it. blink Linux does. It's open source. You can get the code and modify it, or create complete new code. So does Android (which is based on a Linux kernel.) For that matter, the APIs for Windows and OS/X are published, and you can create code to run under them. Thousands of people do. Of course, you *do* have to learn to program, and *no* OS can relieve you of that. But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. And if you want to progress beyond writing simple programs for DOS, you must still learn another OS or so, *and* one or more other programming languages. You're probably better to learn a language that is cross platform to begin with, like Python or Java, or perhaps go for HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, where all you need is a browser to view your results. You probably *aren't* concerned with total control of the hardware, unless you're in the embedded space. The development of programming languages has been toward increased abstraction, and freeing the programmer from being concerned with the hardware. DOS is a lot of fun to play with. If you want to seriously learn to program, where you will be creating software for *other* people to use, it's *not* where you *start*. Marco A. Achury __ Dennis https://plus.google.com/u/0/105128793974319004519 -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Alex alxm...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 12:58 AM, Marco Achury marcoach...@gmail.com wrote: El 02/04/2012 03:35 p.m., dmccunney escribió: But is easier to learn how to write DOS programs than Windows or Linux programs. DOS is a great OS to introduce programming. A simple programming language as Qbasic or Euphoria give you near total control over your hardware and OS functions. And don't forget Lua. It's very simple and quite powerful at the same time. An excellent language indeed. But it's specifically intended for embedding within other programs as a script language. (There are an assortment of text editors (like SciTE) that embed Lua in that fashion. You don't write stand-alone apps in it. __ Dennis https://plus.google.com/u/0/105128793974319004519 -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
At 08:45 PM 4/2/2012, dmccunney wrote: And don't forget Lua. It's very simple and quite powerful at the same time. An excellent language indeed. But it's specifically intended for embedding within other programs as a script language. (There are an assortment of text editors (like SciTE) that embed Lua in that fashion. You don't write stand-alone apps in it. Neither would you do that with Javascript, HPTML5 or CSS3... Also, Lua can run very well as a standalone interpreter, there is even one guy who seems to update a versions including binaries (Lua itself is officially only distributed as plain ANSI C source, though highly *ix centric) specfically for FreeDOS.. Ralf -- Better than sec? Nothing is better than sec when it comes to monitoring Big Data applications. Try Boundary one-second resolution app monitoring today. Free. http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, Jim Hall jh...@freedos.org mailto:jh...@freedos.org wrote: At least in the US, this is still an issue for proprietary programs where the parent company may have gone out of business. (Also referred to as abandonware.) The copyrights are often bought out as intellectual property and the new IP holder would have control of that copyright. There is nothing wrong with these proprietary program if that is what you prefer. And back in the day, I had my own licensed copies of Wordperfect, Aseasyas, Doom, Procomm, QuickC, Borland C, and other proprietary DOS programs. But these programs are non-free and may not be redistributed (except Doom Aseasyas, which may be redistributed in their original, unmodified shareware zip files.) I've not kept up with Embarcadero's site since I switched to Linux, but at least in the days of CodeGear, there used to be a museum from which old versions of Borland software were downloadable - from memory, there was Turbo Pascal 1.0, 3.0 and 5.5, and Borland C++ 5.0. Brian. -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
There is nothing wrong with these proprietary program if that is what you prefer. And back in the day, I had my own licensed copies of Wordperfect, Aseasyas, Doom, Procomm, QuickC, Borland C, and other proprietary DOS programs. But these programs are non-free and may not be redistributed (except Doom Aseasyas, which may be redistributed in their original, unmodified shareware zip files.) I've not kept up with Embarcadero's site since I switched to Linux, but at least in the days of CodeGear, there used to be a museum from which old versions of Borland software were downloadable - from memory, there was Turbo Pascal 1.0, 3.0 and 5.5, and Borland C++ 5.0. Not sure if the Borland Museum is still there, but I did download TurboC from them once they made it available in the museum, until I later switched to OpenWatcom's C. jh -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
Hi, On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 8:35 AM, Jim Hall jh...@freedos.org wrote: I've not kept up with Embarcadero's site since I switched to Linux, but at least in the days of CodeGear, there used to be a museum from which old versions of Borland software were downloadable - from memory, there was Turbo Pascal 1.0, 3.0 and 5.5, and Borland C++ 5.0. Not sure if the Borland Museum is still there, but I did download TurboC from them once they made it available in the museum, until I later switched to OpenWatcom's C. Turbo C 2.01 is still a nice classic DOS compiler in several ways, but it's not ideal in licensing. IIRC, Embarcadero still lets you grab it if and only if you give them your name, address, phone number. And that doesn't count Turbo C++ 1.01, which I think they only give to registered users of their modern Windows C++ tool (!!). Anyways, they don't allow us (FreeDOS) to redistribute further, so it's moot and defeats the point (almost). Hence OpenWatcom is less restricted in distribution. http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20841 http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/21751 -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
i used to be a paralegal, and my specialty was not Intellectual Property, but i will offer that the contract that purchased the proprietary rights of defunct companies may not be as extensive or conclusive as you think it is -- the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM, Jim Hall jh...@freedos.org wrote: At least in the US, this is still an issue for proprietary programs where the parent company may have gone out of business. (Also referred to as abandonware.) The copyrights are often bought out as intellectual property and the new IP holder would have control of that copyright. There is nothing wrong with these proprietary program if that is what you prefer. And back in the day, I had my own licensed copies of Wordperfect, Aseasyas, Doom, Procomm, QuickC, Borland C, and other proprietary DOS programs. But these programs are non-free and may not be redistributed (except Doom Aseasyas, which may be redistributed in their original, unmodified shareware zip files.) -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
Hi, I have an idea which may prove fruitful for many FreeDOS users: creating a catch-all shared pool of old (or even new) DOS programs. I know, there are already websites with legacy software collections, but what I have in mind would be something better, and more organized, and above all managed by FreeDOS users. Many of us probably have our 'private collections' of DOS software. My proposal is that we contribute our old programs, possibly with a one-line (or more) description for each program, and that we neatly arrange the software into categories and sub-categories. Then, for each category, we hand-pick the best programs, those that may still serve some practical purpose today. I have noticed that the Software List section on the FreeDOS website is rather limited, considering the huge amount of DOS program that are in circulation. But I guess that is because of a deliberate choice. My proposal is: either to expand the Software List area, or we create a separate, more extensive repository to host all our programs. Would the FreeDOS website be willing to host such a repository? That would be the optimal solution. The only stumbling block that comes to my mind is copyright laws. I believe that most old non-free DOS programs are technically still under copyright, and in the worst case scenario we may have to store our repository somewhere else. In that case, what alternatives do you suggest? Please share your thoughts on this proposal. Alex -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
Hi. You hit on the sticking point: copyright. It is illegal in many countries (including the US, where FreeDOS is hosted) to distribute non-free, proprietary software in the way you propose. And much of the legacy software you refer to is proprietary. Even hosting copies of these proprietary files elsewhere but maintaining an index on the FreeDOS site is likely to enter us into legal trouble. The US DHS has shut down other sites that did this, even those that linked to such sites, and confiscated their domains. We do not have the funds or energy to fight that kind of legal battle. At least in the US, this is still an issue for proprietary programs where the parent company may have gone out of business. (Also referred to as abandonware.) The copyrights are often bought out as intellectual property and the new IP holder would have control of that copyright. There is nothing wrong with these proprietary program if that is what you prefer. And back in the day, I had my own licensed copies of Wordperfect, Aseasyas, Doom, Procomm, QuickC, Borland C, and other proprietary DOS programs. But these programs are non-free and may not be redistributed (except Doom Aseasyas, which may be redistributed in their original, unmodified shareware zip files.) That is why it is important to focus on Free and open source software that may be used by all. Our FreeDOS software list includes only programs that meet this criteria. jh On Mar 28, 2012 5:16 AM, Alex alxm...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, I have an idea which may prove fruitful for many FreeDOS users: creating a catch-all shared pool of old (or even new) DOS programs. I know, there are already websites with legacy software collections, but what I have in mind would be something better, and more organized, and above all managed by FreeDOS users. Many of us probably have our 'private collections' of DOS software. My proposal is that we contribute our old programs, possibly with a one-line (or more) description for each program, and that we neatly arrange the software into categories and sub-categories. Then, for each category, we hand-pick the best programs, those that may still serve some practical purpose today. I have noticed that the Software List section on the FreeDOS website is rather limited, considering the huge amount of DOS program that are in circulation. But I guess that is because of a deliberate choice. My proposal is: either to expand the Software List area, or we create a separate, more extensive repository to host all our programs. Would the FreeDOS website be willing to host such a repository? That would be the optimal solution. The only stumbling block that comes to my mind is copyright laws. I believe that most old non-free DOS programs are technically still under copyright, and in the worst case scenario we may have to store our repository somewhere else. In that case, what alternatives do you suggest? Please share your thoughts on this proposal. Alex -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Catch-all Repository for legacy DOS software
I would be happy to have an open, editable directory of legacy DOS software, including screenshots descriptions. I think that part is a great idea. But we would be unable to host or distribute any files, nor link to sites that have them unless they are original shareware or other distributable software. Probably the FreeDOS wiki would be the best place for this, since that's already there and an obvious place to have descriptions of legacy DOS applications. We'd need to be careful about linking to warez sites. I'd like this to be editable by more people, though- our friends at Sourceforge have the wiki locked down, and we are limited to change that. (I wonder if we need to have our own wiki? That's going to be a lot of work to keep updated/patched.) jh On Wednesday, March 28, 2012, mateusz mate...@viste-family.net wrote: Hello, As Jim pointed out, the problem is about copyright of all these oldish DOS applications. Such site as you describe *could* exist, but it should be limited to a list of software (possibly categorized and subcategorized) + one or two screeshots of the application + a description of what the program/application/game do. The program itself would not be allowed to be stored (and distributed!) on such site, maybe only in its shareware version (if such version exists). An alternative would be to distribute not the application/program itself, but just a small *.torrent file... ;) Still, such website would require some work to be put together, and continuous maintenance. I doubt any FreeDOS fan have enough time to manage such project :) Mateusz On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:15:11 +0200, Alex alxm...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, I have an idea which may prove fruitful for many FreeDOS users: creating a catch-all shared pool of old (or even new) DOS programs. I know, there are already websites with legacy software collections, but what I have in mind would be something better, and more organized, and above all managed by FreeDOS users. Many of us probably have our 'private collections' of DOS software. My proposal is that we contribute our old programs, possibly with a one-line (or more) description for each program, and that we neatly arrange the software into categories and sub-categories. Then, for each category, we hand-pick the best programs, those that may still serve some practical purpose today. I have noticed that the Software List section on the FreeDOS website is rather limited, considering the huge amount of DOS program that are in circulation. But I guess that is because of a deliberate choice. My proposal is: either to expand the Software List area, or we create a separate, more extensive repository to host all our programs. Would the FreeDOS website be willing to host such a repository? That would be the optimal solution. The only stumbling block that comes to my mind is copyright laws. I believe that most old non-free DOS programs are technically still under copyright, and in the worst case scenario we may have to store our repository somewhere else. In that case, what alternatives do you suggest? Please share your thoughts on this proposal. Alex -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
