Terence EdenHow did you get your copy of Mastodon?
Shareware version on cover disk
Paid for by sending cash & a stamped envelope
Pirated with a separate file containing crack.exe
In-store purchase to get the colour manual
Poll ended at .
David Njoku@Edent I was conned! I thought this CD, which I got from last month's copy of Computer Weekly, had AOL on it. Turned out it was Mastodon.
Dan@davidnjoku @Edent I keep getting Mastodon CDs in the mail I just use them as coasters.
Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Did you know that if you hang a Mastodon CD from a branch with string, it'll help keep squirrels away from your bird feeders?
:David Campey@theogrin @ill_logic @davidnjoku @Edent the is the scrat you need to worry about with your acorns, not the mastodon.
geraldew@Edent what, no option for "looked at it then wrote my own one"?
Mike P@Edent I hacked into Gargron's computer and stole all the source code.
Tanquist
Deborah Pickett@Edent Typed it in from two issues of COMPUTE!’s Gazette.
mhoye@Edent I had to retype it from the printout in the magazine like a normal person.
Justin Mason
Chris Gerhard 
@Edent I typed in the hex from a printout that was listed in a magazine.
Linux and praxis: part of the resistance 🇵🇸 ☮️@Edent Infected usb stick.
Steffen Voß@Edent My local computer store has catalogs of public domain software and shareware. You can copy them and pay by the floppy disk. That is were I got my first version of Mastodon together with a nice little text adventure and a tool that converts imperial to metric system.
Marc Etienne@kaffeeringe @Edent lucky you. I got mine out of Compute! Magazine, and it took me forever to type it in.
RolingMetal@Edent In the same way, as how I got a copy of Twitter.
AlisonW ♿🏳️🌈♾️@Edent
Erm, ✅ None of the above! 🤣
Erm, ✅ None of the above! 🤣
mORA@Edent Found a copy on a microdrive in my QL software collection.
MicroBlog Castellano
Dan@Edent got it from a public domain retailer at my local computer convention. A bargain at only 50p special con price
Fabian N. T.@Edent The Shareware version, but mine is feature-limited after a certain time so I have to set my PC clock to May 1st 1996 after each reboot 😔
Area_651
rdm@Edent
I got mine from the DECUS NOPSiG tapes.
I got mine from the DECUS NOPSiG tapes.
Padraig 🌈@Edent It came with the Sunday newspaper on a CD that also included a music CD full of weird 90's music and featured "bonus tracks" of small indie bands.
Dr Colin Jacobs@Edent Got the BASIC code from a book and slowly typed it in.
Dragon-sided D
jleedev@Edent my older brother biked to the library to download it onto floppy disks
NMDoernerThe source code was printed in a computer magazine!
I typed in the hex code, 42 pages, no less, and compiled it 😎🤗
Donswelt@Edent I flew 90 minutes to Hutton Orbital in Elite Dangerous. Instead of a free Conda, I got a copy of Mastodon.
SkjeggtrollDownloaded from the secret file area on a BBS whose Admin I'm friends with.
smorks@skjeggtroll @Edent i was hoping someone had a BBS reference here. sometimes i feel nostalgic and want to try and play some door games again, but it wouldn't be the same without tying up the phone line for hours on end, haha.
🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 🐧 🥦Went to a URL, made an account, and I read it in Firefox on a desktop computer.
Jonathan Bennett@Methylcobalamin @Edent Are you, by any chance, under 40 years of age?
Elen Le Foll 🇫🇷 🇬🇧 🇩🇪@Edent None of the above because John Mastodon is a regular at my dinner parties. The first 15 people to turn up usually get a free floppy with the latest version.
europlus 
@Edent @billgoats typed in the dot matrix BASIC program badly reproduced in BYTE magazine.
Hedders@Edent Typed it in from a magazine listing.
ꙮ 𝄃𝄁𝄂𝄀𝄀𝄁𝄃🇫🇯🇱🇨🇱🇧@Edent stole somewhere pack of punchcards
Szescstopni@Szescstopni @Edent hahaha masz rację 😂
@Edent I got mine from CDs received in the mail. Each month I get 500 free minutes of Mastodon.
Benjamin@Edent Mine came on a demo disc in a box of Nutrigrain.
mosttoast@Edent I bought winrar too. I always make sure to purchase software for my pc computer right from the source.
Vesipeto Vetehinen@Edent the boot sector of the floppy of Twitter that I traded at a swap meet was infected with it.
Iain Collins@Edent Shareware version on cover disk ...with pro version unlocked using serial number from astalavista.box.sk
I miss reading game manuals on the way home from the store.
Mark Down@Edent 5 1/4 floppy with a hand-written label.
Fardels BearI clipped out the coupon in my local paper.
seanhecking@Edent Napster
Bubba Harrison@Edent Ten years ago it mysteriously showed up on my MacBook along with a copy of U2's most uninspiring album.
@Jwharrison @Edent Same thing happened to me except it was 20 years ago and it was WindowsXP and it was the Talking Heads
Xerø@Edent I remember when some of these were the easiest ways for me to get Linux distros.
EDIT: I first found a boxed copy of Red Hat Linux in the basement of a Barnes and Noble in Forest Hills Queens. Later on I would have different distros mailed to me from an old school website.
GrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸@Edent I got my copy on 12 3.5" disks from a guy with an eye patch living under a bridge calling himself J. Roger. It includes the crack.exe though...
Michael Stanclift@Edent camped outside the office and went dumpster diving for developer copies.
samir, actually the xkcd top hat guy@Edent I copied the BASIC code from a magazine. Had to fix a few bugs but I got it running.
masonjars@Edent the keygen had really cool music.
Steve Scott@Edent chmod +x crack.exe
Advanced Persistent Teapot@Edent hand entered the code serialised across the monthly editions of a magazine, on my BBC Master 128 with dual 5¼ floppy drive and 512kb RAM
John Maxwell@Edent - That's what I tell people, but really I hacked the author's machine.
pieceofthepie 
@Edent Wasn't a coverdisk though, was a 3.5" floppy in a cardboard envelope.