| A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304110] |
Wed, 04 November 2015 08:41  |
N.N. Thayer
Messages: 49
Registered: May 2013
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Last weekend, I drove up to Belmont, MA to rescue a load of stuff from a former BCS member that was cleaning out his attic. What I got included:
- About 150 Mac 3.5" disks
- Couple dozen Apple II 5.25" disks
- Several dozen Kaypro 2 5.25" disks
- A working Kaypro 2
- BCS journals, magazines, meeting notes
- NEAT (New England Apple Tree) newsletters
- Mac software catalogs
- Tons of other documents I haven't looked at yet
The Apple II disks I took care of in short order, and sent them to Asimov. I listed the contents at the end of this post.
The rest of it... oof. I had thought the Mac disks would be a breeze, as I had a Power Mac 7600/132 and PowerBook 520c sitting around, but ran into some difficulties. I've since reached out to Mr. Finnigan of the Mac GUI Vault (btw, sir, the contact form on your site returns an error when used!), who I imagine would be far better equipped than I to handle these disks. A glance at the disks revealed an enormous variety of data: homebuilt programs, BCS meeting notes and newsletters, tons of HyperCard stacks (described as "the HyperCard deck run at the BCS Resource Center"), commercial software, technical notes, all kinds of things, many of which I'm sure are irreplacebale.
The newsletters, many of which are from NEAT (New England Apple Tree, a Mac and Apple II user group), have been the most fascinating so far. Not only are they time capsules, but they've revealed some information that was new to me - like the fact that Steve Jobs demonstrated the NeXT Computer at a BCS meeting prior to its release. I'd like to these and the rest of the paper documents scanned in; days ago, I contacted both the Internet Archive and Jason Scott to see if they would be interested in providing any resources toward that end, but haven't received a response. If push comes to shove, I have access to some pretty slick scanners at work, but then the question would remain of who would host all the data. From what I can see, none of this material has yet been digitized by anyone.
Here's the cover of one of the newsletters: http://i.imgur.com/oy0ofN9.jpg
The Kaypro 2 stuff I've posted about elsewhere; it's my first CP/M machine, and I'm sure I'll thoroughly enjoy learning to use it. Getting the data off all those disks will be an interesting challenge.
Anyway, I've barely scratched the surface. I can't wait to see what else is in here!
ListWorks v1.2b.dsk
Northern Virginia Apple Users Group - ZAP Disk Sector Edit.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #1.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #10.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #2.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #3.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #5.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #7.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #8.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Education #9.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #1.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #10.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #2.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #3.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #4.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #5.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #6.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #7.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #8.dsk
Apple-Boston Software - The Boston Computer Society - Graphics #9.dsk
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304112 is a reply to message #304110] |
Wed, 04 November 2015 08:50  |
David Schmidt
Messages: 994
Registered: October 2012
Karma: 0
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On 11/4/2015 8:41 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
> I had thought the Mac disks would be a breeze, as I had a Power Mac 7600/132 and PowerBook 520c sitting around, but ran into some difficulties.
You want to find a copy of DiskDup+. It is exceptional at reading (and
recovering) marginal floppies on old world Mac hardware. I use it
regularly even for non-Mac disks due to its capacity to retry a sane
amount and move on if a sector is hopeless. It is the Secret Sauce in
the 3-1/2" disk imaging business.
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304113 is a reply to message #304112] |
Wed, 04 November 2015 08:57 |
N.N. Thayer
Messages: 49
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
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On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 8:50:37 AM UTC-5, schmidtd wrote:
> On 11/4/2015 8:41 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
>> I had thought the Mac disks would be a breeze, as I had a Power Mac 7600/132 and PowerBook 520c sitting around, but ran into some difficulties.
>
> You want to find a copy of DiskDup+. It is exceptional at reading (and
> recovering) marginal floppies on old world Mac hardware. I use it
> regularly even for non-Mac disks due to its capacity to retry a sane
> amount and move on if a sector is hopeless. It is the Secret Sauce in
> the 3-1/2" disk imaging business.
The disks themselves were actually in exceptional shape, thanks to their apparently being stored in optimal conditions - out of hundreds and hundreds of files, I only ran into two that refused to copy off. But I do think that, overall, others can better handle these better than I...
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304114 is a reply to message #304113] |
Wed, 04 November 2015 09:14 |
David Schmidt
Messages: 994
Registered: October 2012
Karma: 0
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On 11/4/2015 8:57 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 8:50:37 AM UTC-5, schmidtd wrote:
>> On 11/4/2015 8:41 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
>>> I had thought the Mac disks would be a breeze, as I had a Power Mac 7600/132 and PowerBook 520c sitting around, but ran into some difficulties.
>>
>> You want to find a copy of DiskDup+. It is exceptional at reading (and
>> recovering) marginal floppies on old world Mac hardware. I use it
>> regularly even for non-Mac disks due to its capacity to retry a sane
>> amount and move on if a sector is hopeless. It is the Secret Sauce in
>> the 3-1/2" disk imaging business.
>
> The disks themselves were actually in exceptional shape, thanks to their apparently being stored in optimal conditions - out of hundreds and hundreds of files, I only ran into two that refused to copy off. But I do think that, overall, others can better handle these better than I...
For sure, it's a labor of love when 150 disks are involved. I've
curated bankers' boxes of loose floppies before, and it's a lot of work
to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304163 is a reply to message #304113] |
Wed, 04 November 2015 15:43 |
gids.rs
Messages: 1395
Registered: October 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 7:57:58 AM UTC-6, N.N. Thayer wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 8:50:37 AM UTC-5, schmidtd wrote:
>> On 11/4/2015 8:41 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
>>> I had thought the Mac disks would be a breeze, as I had a Power Mac 7600/132 and PowerBook 520c sitting around, but ran into some difficulties.
>>
>> You want to find a copy of DiskDup+. It is exceptional at reading (and
>> recovering) marginal floppies on old world Mac hardware. I use it
>> regularly even for non-Mac disks due to its capacity to retry a sane
>> amount and move on if a sector is hopeless. It is the Secret Sauce in
>> the 3-1/2" disk imaging business.
>
> The disks themselves were actually in exceptional shape, thanks to their apparently being stored in optimal conditions - out of hundreds and hundreds of files, I only ran into two that refused to copy off. But I do think that, overall, others can better handle these better than I...
Au Contrer!
It is very easy to make backups of a copy of the entire disk collection.
Use DiskCopy 6.3.3 to make a disk image. I would recommend making one the size of a cd (650 Mb) so once the copying is done, then just need to burn the image to a real cd.
Once the disk image is made, then mount it on the desktop on the Mac you choose to use. Insert each floppy disk and once it mounts on the desktop, just drag the floppy's disk image onto the disk image you created with Disk Copy. It will prompt you to replace (obviously you cant replace a 650 Mb image with an 800 or 1.6 Mb image), or add the contents to a folder.
By adding the contents to a folder, (I am assuming all the disks are copyable?), the various disks then can be organized in groups. Or you may need to create subdirectories on the Disk Copy image to organize them.
After all is said and done, the Disk Copy image can be compressed for faster downloads.
I am a fan of the old Macs, so let me know if I can be of some service to you.
Rob
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304224 is a reply to message #304111] |
Thu, 05 November 2015 05:44 |
Aaron Daughtry
Messages: 227
Registered: July 2013
Karma: 0
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On 2015-11-04 13:48:07 +0000, N.N. Thayer said:
> I forgot to mention that there were a handful of Apple IIGS 3.5" disks
> included in this haul as well - all commercial software, from the looks
> of it. Maybe all of it already exists at the Mac GUI Vault and What Is
> The Apple IIGS... but maybe not!
What titles were they? Always interested to know what IIGS disks are
out there in case we've missed something, or perhaps there are newer
versions (still looking for newer versions of The Manager, Transprog
III, Kangaroo, Universe Master to archive).
- Alex
http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304242 is a reply to message #304224] |
Thu, 05 November 2015 09:55 |
N.N. Thayer
Messages: 49
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
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Member |
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On Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 5:44:38 AM UTC-5, Alex Lee wrote:
> On 2015-11-04 13:48:07 +0000, N.N. Thayer said:
>
>> I forgot to mention that there were a handful of Apple IIGS 3.5" disks
>> included in this haul as well - all commercial software, from the looks
>> of it. Maybe all of it already exists at the Mac GUI Vault and What Is
>> The Apple IIGS... but maybe not!
>
> What titles were they? Always interested to know what IIGS disks are
> out there in case we've missed something, or perhaps there are newer
> versions (still looking for newer versions of The Manager, Transprog
> III, Kangaroo, Universe Master to archive).
>
> - Alex
> http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za
I'll take a look when I go home for lunch today.
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304248 is a reply to message #304224] |
Thu, 05 November 2015 11:30 |
N.N. Thayer
Messages: 49
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
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Member |
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On Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 5:44:38 AM UTC-5, Alex Lee wrote:
> On 2015-11-04 13:48:07 +0000, N.N. Thayer said:
>
>> I forgot to mention that there were a handful of Apple IIGS 3.5" disks
>> included in this haul as well - all commercial software, from the looks
>> of it. Maybe all of it already exists at the Mac GUI Vault and What Is
>> The Apple IIGS... but maybe not!
>
> What titles were they? Always interested to know what IIGS disks are
> out there in case we've missed something, or perhaps there are newer
> versions (still looking for newer versions of The Manager, Transprog
> III, Kangaroo, Universe Master to archive).
>
> - Alex
> http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za
GraphicWriter (DataPak Software, Inc.)
Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - /SAMPLER1.APW1 - 9 Dec 88
Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - /SAMPLER1.APW2 - 9 Dec 88
Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - Sampler1 MPW IIGS Source - 9 Dec 88
Apple IIGS System Disks v4.0, disks 1-2 - 18 Aug 88
Apple IIGS System Disk v3.1 (unsure if these are disks 1-2, or just x2) - 27 Aug 87
Photo: http://i.imgur.com/XdaUm33.jpg
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| Re: A haul from the Boston Computer Society (and lots of archiving ahead)... [message #304416 is a reply to message #304248] |
Sat, 07 November 2015 05:47 |
Aaron Daughtry
Messages: 227
Registered: July 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 2015-11-05 16:30:56 +0000, N.N. Thayer said:
> On Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 5:44:38 AM UTC-5, Alex Lee wrote:
>> On 2015-11-04 13:48:07 +0000, N.N. Thayer said:
>>
>>> I forgot to mention that there were a handful of Apple IIGS 3.5" disks
>>> included in this haul as well - all commercial software, from the looks
>>> of it. Maybe all of it already exists at the Mac GUI Vault and What Is
>>> The Apple IIGS... but maybe not!
>>
>> What titles were they? Always interested to know what IIGS disks are
>> out there in case we've missed something, or perhaps there are newer
>> versions (still looking for newer versions of The Manager, Transprog
>> III, Kangaroo, Universe Master to archive).
>>
>> - Alex
>> http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za
>
> GraphicWriter (DataPak Software, Inc.)
> Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - /SAMPLER1.APW1 - 9 Dec 88
> Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - /SAMPLER1.APW2 - 9 Dec 88
> Apple IIGS Source Code Sampler v1.0.1 - Sampler1 MPW IIGS Source - 9 Dec 88
> Apple IIGS System Disks v4.0, disks 1-2 - 18 Aug 88
> Apple IIGS System Disk v3.1 (unsure if these are disks 1-2, or just x2)
> - 27 Aug 87
>
> Photo: http://i.imgur.com/XdaUm33.jpg
Thanks for letting us know - all are archived and accounted for, so no
need image any of these.
- Alex
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