after months of behind the scenes coding, i'm happy to announce the re-launch of my podcast: CD-ROM Safari!

if you're new to the show, it's a friendly and welcoming look at multimedia software of the 1990s.

i've rebuilt the entire site to use kiki, my php-based homepage construction kit. it now generates podcast RSS feeds on the fly, along with nice cover art and episode metadata :D

prior episodes (from 2018 to early 2026) have been archived into season 1.

the new episode, posted 5 minutes ago, is the first episode of season 2. it's a relaunch of the show, along with a whole new website to facilitate software preservation for educational games, edutainment and multimedia.

the website: https://cd-rom.ca/podcast

podcast rss 2.0: https://cd-rom.ca/podcast.xml

apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cd-rom-safari-podcast/id1393890581

enjoy the show :D

#multimedia #cdrom #retroComputing #retroGaming #dosGaming #msdos #macintosh #vintageApple #kiki #softwarepreservation #podcast

here’s an obscure bit of software preservation that has been completely forgotten:

i learned recently that back in the late 90s in North America, Kellogg’s partnered with MS to cross promote cereal and educational software. it was a ridiculously good deal: inside any box of cereal was a coupon for a $5 CD-ROM for the *full* version of a MS educational or reference program.

these were some of their flagship educational programs like Dinosaurs, Oceans, Explorapedia, Dangerous Creatures and Entertainment Pack 3. considering that these were $50-$60 at a couple of years earlier, it was a ridiculously good price.

i wonder how many kids unknowingly grew up with a Kellogg’s CD version of these, because their parents ordered copies from the cereal box?

#cdrom #multimedia #digiPres #softwarePreservation #win95 #macintosh #vintageApple

really happy to have discovered something hiding in plain sight for several years: robyn & rand miller's original Myst pitch document from 1991.

it's a succinct work of art in itself. i'm surprised at how much of the world design was already on paper.

as all of the copies found elsewhere online are heavily compressed webp/jpeg, i've uploaded the robyn's original PNGs to IA here:

https://archive.org/details/myst_proposal

originally from robyn's site:

http://www.robynmiller.net/video-games-films

#digiPres #softwarePreservation #archival #gamedev #myst #cyan

a quick tour of Electronic Arts' Information Resource Centre (IRC) in Burnaby, BC. this is the internal library that EA employees could use to research games/movies/magazines for development and marketing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTm3b1CR9E0

my copy of Ultima VI came directly from the old library at Distinctive Software, before it was bought by EA and added to the IRC.

link courtesy of [email protected]

#canada #softwarepreservation #history #libraries

speaking of #digitalPreservation and #softwarePreservation , today in my Pratt class we are gonna play the CURATE game: https://schreibman.eu/digcurv/curate-game/

@remram44 printed custom game pieces for me on the 3d printer!!!!

very excited to play test!!

several years ago I began archiving educational software. Dangerous Creatures had the BEST Win95 Plus! Pack theme. 😻

edit: I totally misremembered. The dangerous creatures theme with the cougar deskop was sorta ok. the BEST theme was called Jungle. it came with the Plus! For Kids Pack

for @david_bardos

#multimedia #softwarePreservation #digipres #win31 #win95

How do we preserve software and keep digital content accessible? 💾

Join our Software Preservation & Emulation Showcase for lightning talks and discussion exploring real-world approaches, from floppy files to virtual worlds.

🗓️ 28 April 14:00–16:00 (UTC)
💻 Online
🎤 Case studies + panel discussion

🔗 Register here: https://www.dpconline.org/events/eventdetail/770/-/every-object-an-orchestra-a-software-preservation-emulation-showcase

#DigitalPreservation #Coalition #DPC #SoftwarePreservation #Emulation #digipres #community #JoinUs

OldVersion is Back, and Better than Ever

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/04/01/oldversion-is-back-and-better-than-ever/