Mastodawn

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

So, here's my actually-planned-for-this-year #MARCHintosh project. Attached is a photo of four very dusty containers full of floppy disks. These are the actual disks from my childhood IIfx!

Most of these disks aren't original. The originals lived at Dad's workplace. He would periodically bring home software from work, make a copy of the disks, and return the originals to work. These were, I'm told, the "off-site backups", in case there was a fire at the workplace or something like that. But we also had all this software installed on the family IIfx so Dad could read any files that he brought home from work with him.

Of course, we also bought our own software for the home, and those are mixed in with these disks as well. And that stack of CD-ROMs in the top left are my MacAddict cover disks - those are already archived.

Anyway, because these are just consumer-grade diskettes, they degrade quicker than the professionally-manufactured original ones. I've already lost a few, so I want to get these archived! And of course, anything that doesn't already exist on the Garden will be uploaded there and shared on #GlobalTalk as well.

(expect this to be a long-ass foone-style thread with lots of updates over several days)

#RetroComputing #VintageMac #Apple #Mac #MacOS #ClassicMac

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

OWLS. DO NOT COPY.

I have no idea what's on this disk or where I got it from 🦉 so this seems like a great place to start!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

Okay we're starting with a banger (volume up!)

So this is a HyperCard stack created by the University of Victoria and IBIS Software (and it looks like a prerelease version, which is why they didn't want it copied) about the Owls of Vancouver Island!

It has pages for six different types of owls, and for each one you can see a map of their range, notes about their habits, notes on how to identify one, and an audio clip of that specific owl's call.

Then there's a quiz at the end where you have to match the owl's call to the correct owl.

I don't remember this at all! But it's definitely getting archived!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

I've created a new folder on my GlobalTalk public share called "Disk Images" where you can find the archived disks!

I'll put them on the Garden later as that requires taking screenshots, capturing the author information and whatnot.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

Next up: a set of System 7.0 install disks, and two copies of a HyperCard Program disk. They all have the "7" branding and are all high density disks.

Of course, they're already archived, so nothing for me to do here other than verify if they work or not. They all seem to (but Disk Tools made some funny noises).

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 15

These three disks are entitled "Games 1", "Games 2", and "Games 3". And they all have their quirks.

The "Games 1" disk seemed to work fine, but Disk Copy would get read errors when I tried to image it in DC4.2 format. On a whim I then tried DC6 format and it worked fine...so then I removed the disk and used the Convert function to convert the DC6 image to DC4.2.

It has a bunch of super-old games, a few of which crash my IIfx when I try to launch them. I suspect they need System 6 or earlier, might not be 32-bit addressing compatible. Note to self - try these on the SE later.

I _think_ these disks came from my aunt, who used to own a Mac LC that she bought second-hand.

The "Games 2" disk reads fine, but every file on the disk is individually compressed with DiskDoubler 😧 so that'll be annoying to try what's on there.

The "Games 3" disk is the same as "Games 2" in that everything is DD-compressed, but it also seems to duplicate some of the games from "Games 1". Weird.

Anyway, the images are saved to my GlobalTalk share. I assume these games are all archived already, but I'll double check the Garden to see if anything is missing.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 16

Alright - I've identified the games from the disks that weren't archived, and have uploaded them to the Garden (following a lot of testing on Infinite Mac since even System 6 was too new for some of them):

Fire Zone - https://macintoshgarden.org/games/fire-zone
Mac Pong - https://macintoshgarden.org/games/mac-pong
Space Artillery - https://macintoshgarden.org/games/space-artillery
MacFlip - https://macintoshgarden.org/games/macflip

and the one you've all been waiting for,

Owls of Vancouver Island - https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/owls-of-vancouver-island

Scott Small 🇨🇦

Oh, forgot to mention, I also updated the Dave Dickel Blackjack page with version 4.0 (only 3.1 was archived previously): https://macintoshgarden.org/games/blackjack-dave-dickel

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 16

This is a copy of the Apple CD-ROM Setup disk that came with an AppleCD 300e drive, which my Dad bought for our IIfx back around 1993 or 1994.

It's slightly newer (5.0.1) than the copy on the Garden (which only has version 4.0.2). However just like the copy on the Garden, it is incomplete, and is missing the corresponding QuickTime floppy. It's possible that floppy will show up later, though.

Anyway, for now it's on my GlobalTalk share in the disk images folder.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 16

Next up we have "The NetPICT Disk". It looks like this disk originally came bundled with a book called "Live Wired" (read here: https://archive.org/details/mac_Live_Wired_Networking_Made_Simple_1993/mode/2up)

I don't have the book that it goes with though, so I'm not sure where I originally acquired this disk from.

This is an interesting one, though. It comes with a whole bunch of PICT files showing off stacks for various Mac networking hardware, software, and protocols. I opened up a few that may be of interest to #GlobalTalk folks and took a screenshot.

It also comes with a HyperCard stack that supposedly lets you view the PICTs, but I couldn't get it to work - so I just used good ol' MacDrawPro.

I couldn't find this one on the Garden either, so I'll see about getting it uploaded there later today. For now, it's on my GlobalTalk share in the disk images folder.

Live wired : a guide to networking Macs : Anders, James K., 1955- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Live Wired Networking Made Simple 1993

Internet Archive

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 16

DinoPark Tycoon! I played the heck out of this game with my brother as a kid. It's a simulation game in a similar vein to SimCity, only you're building and running a theme park full of dinosaurs. It's loads of fun 🦖

These disks are for version 1.2 - the Garden only has the 1.1 disks and the 1.2 CD version, so I guess I'll need to upload these there as well? I'm not sure how important preserving the correct media is when they already have the same version available, but it won't hurt.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

Mario Teaches Typing! Another game I played a lot as a kid (we had this at both home and at school). Let's face it, having Mario teach you how to type is much, much cooler than Mavis Beacon 😂

The Garden has version 1.3.1 but does not have the floppy images at all, only a pre-installed copy.

These are the original v1.0 floppies, so they'll be imaged now and uploaded later tonight!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

This disk, I think, is another one that came from my aunt's LC. And just like it says on the label it comes with a copy of Crystal Crest, Strapeo, and Carmen's World.

Or rather, it comes with a copy of Crystal Quest, Stratego, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego 😂

I checked the versions of each and they're the same as what's archived on the Garden already, so no need to archive this disk.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

As an aside... when I ran Stratego to check which version it was, it started playing a little animation, bouncing the flag around my screen (and transforming everything beneath it to black and white). And hey, I recognize that name in the about box…that's a neat little QuickDraw demo @_the_cloud !

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

Next up is Scrabble Deluxe. I got this for my 9th birthday, I think? A little over 30 years ago now 😅

The Garden has this (and the same version), but it looks like they only have one of the three disks. So I'll make sure these get archived and uploaded later tonight as well.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

"The Mac Shareware 500" is a book that reviews 500 different pieces of Macintosh shareware. And it comes with a number of companion disks full of wonderful shareware for you to play with as well!

I remember buying this from the bookstore as a kid and being super excited because it also came with software 😂 Still have the book in my collection too!

You'll notice that it reads "4 diskettes enclosed" in the top right corner of the book, but there's only two here (labelled 1 of 2 and 2 of 2). The two 1.44MB disks here are from the second edition of the book, the first edition contained 4 800k disks. I am still tracking down the 800k disks from the first edition...they're in another box, I think.

Surprisingly, I can't find this collection on the Garden either, so it's going to get archived/uploaded as well. I'm making a lot of work for myself with this project and we're only 1/4 through the first box of disks! 😅

Oh - and despite the labelling, disk 2 doesn't _just_ contain AOL, it's got other goodies as well.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

Alright, the Garden's been updated with today's archiving efforts:

Mario Teaches Typing - v1.0 install disks added: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/mario-teaches-typing
DinoPark Tycoon - v1.2 install disks added: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/dinopark-tycoon
Scrabble Deluxe - v1.0 install disks added: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/scrabble-deluxe
AppleCD 300 - v5.0.1 install disk added: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/applecd-300300i-cd-rom-software
The NetPICT Disk - new upload: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/the-netpict-disk
The Mac Shareware 500 - new upload: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/the-mac-shareware-500

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 18

Today's #MARCHintosh archiving effort is this pile of 12 disks. These disks come from my local Macintosh User Group, VMUG, that Dad and I used to attend back in the day.

At the monthly meetings, they would sell a "disk of the month" or "DOM" for $5.00. We bought a few back in the day, if the disk had any goodies we were interested in.

They're archived on my #GlobalTalk share in the "GlobalTalk Public -> Disk Images -> VMUG DOMs" folder.

I expect most of the individual apps to be archived on the Garden already, but I'll double check and of course upload anything that may be missing. I'm not going to bother uploading these compilations as-is there, though.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 18

Turns out that today's 12 disks alone are going to be a multi-day effort. I managed to identify 45 pieces of software from them that were either missing from the Garden entirely - or didn't have the specific version uploaded. I'll see if I can get them properly archived there over the next couple of days.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 21

Spent the last hour updating a bunch of apps on Macintosh Garden with missing versions.

These are all apps that already had pages on the Garden, with at least one version uploaded. I still have another 19 apps to upload that don't have a page on the Garden yet at all, those are going to be a bit more effort 😅

All of the below are sourced from the VMUG disks I imaged a couple days ago:

- CDIconKiller 1.3.1
- Click, there it is! 1.0.6
- Copland WDEF 1.0d7
- Fallacy Tutorial 1.3
- FileBuddy 3.1.1
- FindText 1.3.2
- Folder Icon Maker 1.2
- GifBuilder 0.4
- HoverBar 0.9
- Menuette 2.01
- Møire 3.02
- MooMooEncode 1.5
- MPj Astro 1.2
- PlugMaster 1.4.1
- PowerBar Pro 2.0
- Program Switcher 4.0.0
- SimpleText Color Menu 2.0
- SmartKeys 3.0
- Smashing Windows 1.02MW
- SoundApp 2.0
- TechTool 1.0.6
- Tex-Edit Plus 1.7
- The DiskTools Collection 3.3.2
- URL Manager 1.2v7

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

And there we have it. Spent another 2 hours capturing screenshots and creating new pages on the Macintosh Garden for the following software, which had not yet been archived at all:

- AnimalTracks font: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/animaltracks-font
- ComicsCartoon font: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/comicscartoon-font
- Cool Cursor: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/cool-cursor
- Coool Aberrations: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/coool-aberrations
- Crystal Cursor: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/crystal-cursor
- Easy Convert: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/easy-convert
- Folder Icon Cleaner: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/folder-icon-cleaner
- Funny Insults: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/funny-insults
- Little Icon People: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/little-icon-people
- Mauro's Desktop Patterns: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mauros-desktop-patterns
- Pi's Cursor: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/pis-cursor
- PPPremier Timer: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/pppremier-timer
- PPP Thang Lite: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/ppp-thang-lite
- RandomDot: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/randomdot
- SmartSaver: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/smartsaver
- Startup Quotes: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/startup-quotes
- Stones: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/stones
- The ICON Wizard: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/the-icon-wizard

I'll be honest, when I started this project, I thought I'd only have like 2 apps that weren't on the Garden already 😅 This is way more effort than I expected, but I'm glad the software is getting archived.

Anyway, with that, the VMUG disks are finally complete - on to the next disks!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

The Diner Disk is the companion disk to the 1993 book "The ResEdit All Night Diner", which can be read online here: https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/The_Res_Edit_All_Night_Diner_1993.pdf

Of course, I've got the physical copy 😁 I bought this book when I was 8 years old. Yes, seriously. I didn't know a thing about programming at the time but I loved messing around with ResEdit and changing icons and patterns. And the humour in this book combined with step-by-step tutorials makes it surprisingly accessible to children, even though that wasn't the intended audience for it.

(Fun fact: in second grade I brought a copy of ResEdit to school for show-and-tell. I'm surprised my parents let me because it definitely cemented me as the "nerd" and ruined my social life lol)

Anyway, I've just uploaded the disk to the Garden - though you'll need the book for the tutorial instructions that go with it: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/the-diner-disk

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

"The Everything-You-Need System 7 Disk" is another disk that, if I recall, goes with a book. I'm pretty sure I had the book at one time, but I don't have it any more - and I don't remember what the name of the book was.

However, this disk is just a software compilation like my VMUG disks. So I'm not going to upload it to the Garden directly, but I will check the individual software on it to see if anything isn't archived, including different versions.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Not much to say about this game that hasn't already been said - this is the original, black and white version from 1992. I got it for Christmas, I remember it came with a copy of the World Almanac that was used for copy protection.

This was a popular game and the version I have is already archived, so nothing for me to do here.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

"Software for Symantec C++ Programming for the Macintosh" is the companion disk to "Symantec C++ Programming for the Macintosh", which can be read here: https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Symantec_C++_Programming_For_The_Macintosh_1993.pdf

This is another book I bought as a kid, some time after the ResEdit book. But I flew too close to the sun with this one - it was definitely over my head at the time. I wanted to learn C, but was spoiled by the simplicity of HyperCard and ResEdit, and this book just frustrated me.

I've managed to keep it all these years though, so one of these days I'll get around to learning C & C++ and the Mac Toolbox proper 😅

This one's already on the Garden as well, so no work for me to do here either.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

BYTE's Mac Programmer's Cookbook - another companion disk to a book that I don't have. This one's already on the Garden though 🙂

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

This disk contains exactly what it says on the label: a copy of Math Rabbit 2.0 - the old, black & white version that doesn't run on System 7 or later. I remember playing it in elementary school.

It's already on the Garden. The Garden entry notes that they are looking for an original disk still - unfortunately my copy is just the loose application file, so there's nothing further to archive.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

These disks feature the games Solarian II and Patriot Command - both games that I played quite a lot of back in the day.

I bought these disks at K-Mart (if you remember when Canada had K-Marts, sorry about your back pain 😂) from a stand called "Explore the World of Macintosh" that sold a bunch of different shareware games on disk.

Both games are archived on the Garden already, with the versions I have.

@smallsco You’re so lucky to still have all those disks from when you were a kid!

AFAIK, my stash is all long gone.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

@pierrenick When I moved out of my parents' place, I took the boxes of disks with me. I just wish I'd also taken my stash of hardware, and my collection of MacAddict and MacWorld magazines...

@smallsco I think it all went away before I moved away (moved out late haha).

@smallsco Aww haha I’d have been friends with the kid who took ResEdit to show-and-tell haha

I broke so many things with ResEdit.
I mean who hasn’t—

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

@pierrenick It was quickly copied from my classroom's Mac to all the other Macs in the school - students in higher grades, who I didn't know, made changes to the icons and desktop background in their classroom's computers, it spread like a virus 😂

Next year the administration bought At Ease and installed it on all the Macs at school...but they gave me the admin password for it since they wanted me to help troubleshoot problems (in third grade lol)

@smallsco 3rd grade Mac admin, wow, haha. Never had any Mac labs in school until I was much older.

In elementary, we just had Mac Pluses (like 5) to teach typing?

In secondary, just Windows 3.11, then 95, then 98 PCs

In Cégep, there was a lab of Power Computing desktops! I remember it used Assimilator by Stairways Software https://www.macintoshrepository.org/24928-assimilator

Then a nice lab of brand new multi-coloured iMacs!

Then just Windows 2000 and XP in university.

Assimilator - Macintosh Repository

Assimilator is designed for situations where you wish to make a large number of Macintoshes look virtually identical. Typically this is in an...

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

@pierrenick For elementary school, we had LCs in grades 1-4, and a IIgs in the library (which is now my IIgs - they gifted it to me when I graduated). Then in grades 5-7 we had PCs - 386s with Windows 3.1. But no one liked them as much as the Macs. I think shortly after I left, they replaced all the computers with iMacs.

In Jr High (grades 8-10) we had one computer lab filled with early Pentiums (around 133Mhz) and a couple more in the library. A mix of DOS, Win3.1, and Win95 machines.

In Sr High (grades 11-12) it was the same thing pretty much - except that the library now had a lab's worth of computers in it (around 20 or so) for students to use. All running Win95, but to use them you had to log on to a WinNT4 domain with your student ID.

At university we had iMacs in the library, mid-range PCs in the common labs, and a mix of Windows 2000 and Solaris high-end workstations in the engineering labs.

@smallsco Wow they gave you the IIgs, that's nice! Graphics and sound!

Oh man, I started uni just when I think they had just replaced the Solaris lab with Windows (Sun was sponsoring the lab but I think they mostly just cared that they teach us Java haha).

My 2nd internship was at Ericsson, using the CDE on Solaris though so I still got a fair taste :D

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

@pierrenick They did, and the IIgs sat on a shelf between 1998 and 2021 when I finally decided to restore it properly 😂 I still have the card catalogue software for it on a 5.25 floppy, I need to figure out how to archive that (if it needs to be)...

Hah our Solaris lab got replaced with a Linux lab as well, around 2005. I wonder if it was sponsored by Sun originally and the sponsorship wore off - or if they just recognized that Linux was becoming more common.

I certainly don't miss CDE 😅

Sam Johnson Mar 22

@smallsco Wow! Kudos for taking the time to get all of these archived!

@smallsco wow, well done! that's a big workload.

@smallsco Thank you so much for your service! 🫡

💾 🇿🇦Mar 21

@smallsco you sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Karl Baron Mar 21

@smallsco I skim-read this as "with missing vowels" 😂

The future thanks you for your work!

David Nelson Mar 22

@smallsco Was Copland WDEF the extension that skins System 7 with the Platinum look? I remember running that before I got my hands on Mac OS 8. So cool. 😎

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

@dmnelson It's one of them! The other, more-well-known one is Aaron.

David Nelson Mar 22

@smallsco Oh yeah. I remember that one. Not sure which one I actually ran, it’s been so long now.

@smallsco @dmnelson I remember running it on our family Performa 638 when System 7 was still the latest and 8 was just right around the corner. I think I got it off of a MacAddict CD or something…

Ken McLeod Mar 17

@smallsco Yes, v0.95 was written on a 512Ke and didn't know about color depth yet.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

@_the_cloud It's a delight to see that it works at all!

Many games of similar vintage crash my IIfx on System 7.1.1 in various ways. There was one that I archived last night which wouldn't run on anything later than System 4.1 - I had to use Infinite Mac to get it to run and capture screenshots.

Ken McLeod Mar 17

@smallsco Version 1.1.1 (on Cloudbusting:Puppet Head) knows about color screens.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 17

@_the_cloud Nice! Looks like this version doesn't have the flying flag when you pull up the About box, though.

Ken McLeod Mar 17

@smallsco Nope, but if you have a staring contest with the Spy in the about box, he'll usually blink first.

@smallsco @_the_cloud ‼️
Love Stratego, one of my fav. Macintosh games ever! I think about it often, haha. As in, it’s been decades I’ve played.

Grant Hutchinson Mar 18

@smallsco I have images for QuickTime 1.0, 1.5, 1.6, and 1.6.1 … would any of those help? Not sure if any of those disks accompanied CD-ROM Setup, but I apparently have both the 4.0.2 and 5.0.1 Setup images as well.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 18

@splorp Take a look here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/applecd-300300i-cd-rom-software

They say that the full installation of the AppleCD 300 software requires a QuickTime 1.5 floppy, but the image that's on the QuickTime 1.x page doesn't work, so perhaps it's a special disk that only goes with the AppleCD 300 installer.

I'm not actually sure if my 5.0.1 image expects a QuickTime disk or not, I didn't actually try to install it 😅 but the 4.0.2 image does. So if you've got the two disks that go together, you should definitely upload them!

(Also, if you have 5.0.1, you should overwrite the image I uploaded since yours is from an original disk and mine's not).

@smallsco and to Internet Archive, too?

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 16

@europlus Just the Garden. I'll leave it to others to upload any of it to IA or elsewhere if it's not already archived in those places.