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 🇨🇦Mar 16

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.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

This "Games 2" disk is written in Dad's printing, so it's one of our own compilations.

In addition to KidPix, Print Shop, and SuperClock, which are written on the label - it's also got a copy of Let's Get Tanked and Morse Code Tutor.

These are all archived on the Garden already - however - the Morse Code Tutor is version 1.2, and the Garden only has 1.1, so I'll archive the newer version.

edit: v1.2 archived! https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/morse-code-tutor

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

These two disks are ones that I am especially excited to archive - not to the Garden, because of personal information - but just to my own personal archive.

It's a copy of my "home folder" from my childhood. Dad gave every member of the family their own folder under the hard drive root to store our documents in. Mine has old school work, greeting cards and labels I printed for family and friends, some custom icons I made, recordings of my piano practice, and lots of HyperCard stacks (some of which play recordings of my voice!)

And I even made an installer for it because I knew I was going to be a software developer someday, lol 😂

So yeah, not making this one public, but I'll share a few screenshots.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 22

More updates to the Garden, from the Everything-You-Need System 7 disk:

New Apps:
- AntiFinder: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/antifinder
- Finder 7 Menus: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/finder-7-menus
- Fkey Extend: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/fkey-extend
- FreeGeneva: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/freegeneva
- MountAlias: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mountalias
- OpenFolder7: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/openfolder7
- Trash Chute: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/trash-chute

Added Missing Versions:
- Compact Pro 1.32: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/compact-pro
- Helium 2.0.2: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/helium-211
- Just Click 1.0.2: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/just-click
- PixelFlipper 1.3.3: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/pixelflipper
- PwrSwitcher 1.0a5: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/pwrswitcher
- SCSIProbe 3.3: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/scsiprobe
- VirusDetective 5.0: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/virusdetective

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 25

Remember these two HyperCard disks I posted last week (as part of a stack of System 7 disks)?

Turns out they're not quite identical!

Oh, the contents are identical, as are the front of the labels. But if you flip them over...

...the one on the left says that "HyperCard is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc." (and stops there). But the one on the right says that "HyperCard is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc., licensed to Claris Corporation."

So it would seem, sometime in 1991 is when HyperCard was transferred to Claris - with one of these disks being printed before the transition, and one after. Neat!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 25

For today's archiving efforts, we start with this copy of Norton Utilities. The Garden has version 2.0, but I've got a slightly newer version 2.0.6 (which someone was actually requesting in a comment) - so that's been uploaded now:

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/norton-utilities-20

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 25

Next, a bunch of OS disks:

- a backup copy of System 7.1 - no need to archive. I actually remember my Dad making this copy, and running out of green labels on the last disk 😂

- StyleWriter 1.1 installation disks. I think these came from my aunt. The Garden only had the 1.2 installation disks, so I've uploaded 1.1: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/stylewriter-installation-12-original-stylewriter

- HyperCard 1.2.2 installation disks. These might have came with our IIfx? The Garden only had 1.2.5, so I've uploaded 1.2.2: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/hypercard-125

- an incomplete copy of System 6.0.3 disks. System Tools is missing, might be in another box. No need to archive these though, they were on Apple's FTP site for years and have made their way all over the net already!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

I have these "Program" and "Utilities 2" installation disks for Word 4.00D - but I'm missing the "Utilities 1" disk, so it's not a complete set 😞

I've uploaded them to the Garden anyway because they didn't have any original Word 4 disks at all - and my version (4.00D) is newer than the original 4.0 copy they had in a preinstalled folder.

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/microsoft-word

Hopefully someone can find and archive the complete set!

Scott Small 🇨🇦

Next is a copy of CD-ROM Toolkit from FWB Software.

(no picture, because there's a label affixed to the label with some PII. A few of the upcoming disks have this)

My copy is version 1.09, the latest on the Garden was 1.56 so this is a much earlier version that I was able to upload!

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/cdrom-toolkit

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

These are the installation disks for the StyleWriter 1200. I know these ones came from my aunt, when she replaced her LC with a PowerMac G3 in the late 90s, she bought a new StyleWriter 1200 printer to go with it.

These disks are already on the Garden, so I don't have to do anything with my copy.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

A couple more disks that I'm not going to post a picture of because they have sticky labels on them with PII.

The first is labelled "RAM Doubler 1.6" and contains just that. Although, if I remember correctly, RAM Doubler could only be installed from its original disk due to some copy protection, so I don't think this disk actually works. Nonetheless, it's already on the Garden, so nothing for me to do here.

The second is labelled "APPLE HD SETUP / HARD DISK TOOLKIT / 1994" in Dad's printing. And just like it says on the label, it contains a copy of Apple HD SC Setup and a copy of FWB Hard Disk Toolkit PE. I checked the versions and both are on the Garden already, so once again, I can safely ignore this disk.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

This is the companion disk to the "Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh" book, which you can read online here: https://vintageapple.org/macbooks/pdf/Internet_Starter_Kit_for_Macintosh_2nd_Edition_1994.pdf

I bought the book new when it came out. Dad bought a USRobotics 14.4 modem and told me to figure out how to get on the Internet. But then he stopped me when we realized trying to use the bundled offer in the book would involve dialing long distance into the USA!

A few weeks later we got set up with a local Internet provider and then were actually able to use the software that came with the book!

The included software on the disk is:
- Anarchie 1.2
- Eudora 1.4.3
- InterSLIP 1.0.1
- MacPPP 2.0.1
- MacTCP 2.0.4
- MacWAIS 1.2.9
- MacWeb 0.98a
- TurboGopher 1.0.8b4

and I've uploaded it to the Garden here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/internet-starter-kit

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

Well, you knew this moment was going to come... pour one out for the first casualty of my archiving project. 😢

This is the companion disk for "Macintosh Programming Techniques", which can be read online here: https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Macintosh_Programming_Techniques_1994.pdf

I don't remember this book, so I'm not sure where I got this disk from.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The disk shows up in the Finder, containing one file (a self-extracting archive). Trying to image the disk with Disk Copy gives a read error roughly 90% of the way through - irregardless of which format I select. Trying to copy the archive directly from the Finder fails as well.

This disk isn't on the Garden - but I'm hoping it's archived somewhere else and just hasn't found its way there yet. Given that it came with a published book, I'm sure there's a copy floating around out there, somewhere...

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

For some reason, young me decided to back up the installers for the demo versions of StrataType 3D, and QuicKeys.

Fortunately, the Garden has the full versions of both apps, so I don't need to archive these.

It's funny to see that both disks have my 8-9 year old printing, crossed out, and replaced with my 12-13 year old printing 😂 (if anything, my nearly-40-year-old printing is even worse since these days we type everything!)

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

Super Solvers: Midnight Rescue is a game so nice, I backed it up twice!

"In this game, the Master of Mischief plans to use disappearing paint to make the Shady Glen School vanish into thin air. Disguised as one of his five robot helpers, he hopes to complete his mischief by midnight. Only your best deductive reasoning and reading skills can save the school in before midnight."

This version is already on the Garden, so no need to wait for me to upload, go play it yourself: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/super-solvers-midnight-rescue

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

I don't know what this unlabelled disk is doing with all my Mac stuff, it's formatted for DOS and contains a shareware copy of Jazz Jackrabbit 😂

(and now the Jazz Jackrabbit theme is playing in your head, you're welcome)

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

Number Munchers (heck, the whole Munchers series) is another really fun edutainment game: https://macintoshgarden.org/games/number-munchers

You run around a board gobbling up numbers that match some condition (i.e. "multiples of 3" or "prime numbers") while trying to avoid the Troggles who are also running around the board trying to gobble you up!

I was starting to archive these disks (since the labels read 1.1, and the version on the Garden is 1.2). But when I actually tried installing the game from my images, it installed version 1.2. So the disks themselves have an updated version, but an old label! That's just the kind of mischief a Troggle would cause!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

Another disk with a copy of Kid Pix on it. And before I learned how to spell "colour" correctly!

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

This is the companion disk to the book "Desperately Seeking Solutions", which can be read online here: https://vintageapple.org/macbooks/pdf/Desperately_Seeking_Solutions_1993.pdf

It contains the following software:
- Disinfectant 2.9
- SCSIProbe 3.5
- TattleTale 1.6
- System Errors DA 3.1
- System Picker 1.0

This disk goes with another book that I definitely remember owning at some point, but I don't remember what happened to the book. I do remember it being pretty easy for a kid to follow, and it certainly helped develop my troubleshooting skills!

I've uploaded it to the Garden here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/desperately-seeking-solutions

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

This disk contains a copy of After Dark 2.0x - and not just the Fish and Flying Toasters modules, but all of the standard ones. I don't recognize the printing, so I'm not sure where I got this disk from.

Of course, it's archived on the Garden already so I don't need to touch it.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

The three companion disks to the second edition of Macworld's Mac & Power Mac Secrets - one of the few Mac books that I still have my copy of!

Some of the programs I originally discovered on these disks I still use with my Macs to this day, notably DriveLight and Open-Wide.

These disks are already on the Garden, so I don't need to archive my copies.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

Lastly, we have these mysterious six disks!

I know exactly what these are, though. One of my friends in elementary school also had a Mac, and one year he gifted me these six disks as a birthday present. They're full of shareware and freeware games!

These ones will take a bit more time to go through, to see if any games are missing from the Garden (or particular versions are missing), so I probably won't do that tonight. But the images are up on my GlobalTalk share if you want to explore them.

And with that, we've completed exploring and archiving the first of my four floppy disk containers! So I'm calling it a night here. Only three more to go... 😅

EDIT: I lied, there were only three games in this collection that needed missing versions uploaded, so I just went ahead and did them now:
Per.Oxyd - added version 4.0 https://macintoshgarden.org/games/per-oxyd
Dome Wars - added version 1.0.3 https://macintoshgarden.org/games/dome-wars
Koji the Frog - added version 1.0.2 https://macintoshgarden.org/games/koji-the-frog

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

On the top: a set of installation disks for MacDraw Pro 1.5v2.

On the bottom: a set of installation disks for AutoCAD Release 12.

Both needed to be archived - the Garden had MacDraw Pro 1.5v1 and 1.5v3 only, and it's copy of AutoCAD R12 had patch c3 installed, my copy was of the original release.

And both of these were a huge pain in the ass - because Dad decided to rename the disks when he originally made these backups, which caused the installers to break when running under emulation.

In the case of MacDraw Pro - when the installer is looking for a disk named "Install", but sees a disk called "MACDRAW PRO INSTALL" instead, it will eject that disk and prompt you to insert the correct disk. Now, on a real Mac with physical disks, you simply re-insert the disk, and it will ignore the name as long as the contents are correct. So I can install this on my IIfx just fine - but when working with disk images, you can't "re-insert" the disk in the middle of the installation, so it gets stuck.

The solution is to create the disk images in DiskCopy 6 format as read/write, mount them, change the disk names to the expected names, unmount them, then convert the images back to DiskCopy 4.2 read-only format.

AutoCAD is more challenging and I don't have a great solution for it. It has all the same problems as MacDraw Pro's installer - but once you rename the disks to the correct name, it gives you a new error that says "This is not the correct installation disk". Works fine with the actual physical disk, and you can just reinsert it again - but doesn't work at all when running from Disk Copy.

I uploaded it to the Garden anyway, since you can write the images back to physical disks and it should work fine. Or, maybe someone can crack the installer to not care if the disk is perfectly original or not.

Anyway, enjoy the uploads:
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/claris-macdraw-15v1
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/autocad

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

Next up is a copy of MacDraw II and the extremely rare Claris Graphics Translator.

Unfortunately this copy is mislabelled and possibly corrupted. The MacDraw II disk itself is OK, as is one of the Claris Graphics Translator disks. However the second CGT disk is a copy of the first one, and the third one just comes up blank.

Fortunately, the Garden has both of these archived already, so I don't need to take any action. Although the Garden's copy of CGT isn't on its own page, it's on the page for Claris CAD (download links #8 and #9). And they've got the same version as me already.

But the thing that's really interesting to me about these disks is that Dad labelled them Oct/Nov 1991. I didn't think we got our IIfx until 1992, but clearly we had it the year before. I was just 6 years old then so it's no surprise my memory from that time isn't quite as sharp 😁

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/claris-macdraw-ii-11v2
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/claris-cad

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

So when I started this archiving project, this is one of the two programs in mind that I 100% knew weren't on the Garden.

It's an early CRM solution from Symantec called "ACT!". It's mostly a contact management database, but it also includes a calendar, event scheduler, text editor with basic mail merge features, and a phone dialer.

The Garden has version 2.5 and version 2.8 uploaded already. This is version 1.1, which is much older, so it definitely needs to be archived. But there's something about this copy that makes it even more special and important to archive:

This version is the CANADIAN EDITION 🇨🇦 Yes, that's right, ACT! is one of the few apps that actually sold a separate version in Canada than in the USA. Now, I'm not sure what's different between this and the US version, as it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere (maybe postal codes instead of zip codes?), but it says it's the Canadian Edition in the About dialog 😁

Now uploaded here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/act-25

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

Ah, PowerPoint 2.0. I used this quite a bit in the later years of elementary school.

The Garden had version 2.01D, but I've got a later version 2.01F, so up it goes!

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/powerpoint-20

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

White Knight is an early piece of telecommunications software from the author of Red Ryder. Back in the day we used it to dial into the public library to put books on hold and search the catalogue.

(this disk is mislabelled, it's version 11.0 not 2.0)

Already on the Garden, so nothing for me to do here!
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/white-knight

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

Microsoft Excel 4.0 - the disks were all labelled as "Excell" 😂
Already on the Garden (and their version isn't personalized already): https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/microsoft-excel-40

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 31

Symantec Anti-Virus (SAM) 3.5.1 was one of those apps which we had both at home and at school - it was a pretty popular antivirus product back on the day.

Although I remember being particularly annoyed by it as a kid because every time I inserted a floppy disk, the disk would have to go through a virus scan before you could use it from the Finder. And the scans were so slow.

Never managed to pick up a virus though - at least not that I can remember, so it did its job!

Already on the Garden here so I don't need to archive my copy: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/sam-av-35
(note: the page says 3.5 but the download is actually 3.5.1, yes I checked)

theirongiant Mar 31

@smallsco - you're doing yeoman's work. Thank you.

@smallsco These posts are so much fun! Thank you.

@smallsco jazz had such a bangin soundtrack

David Reed Mar 26

@smallsco this game is a core childhood memory for me, on the Mac SE and Mac II. Time to spin up the emulator!

@smallsco Wait a minute: is this the correct way up to write floppy labels? Did I write them all the wrong way around??

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

@rynltylr I just tried to line the writing up with any other writing on the label and shield of the disk. I don't think there's any "correct" way 😂

@smallsco I have a GreaseWeazel we could try using to make a flux scan of it. It has recovered some badly bit-rotted floppies.

Scott Small 🇨🇦Mar 26

@spike Thanks - I may take you up on that if this can't be found anywhere else online. We'll see how many bad disks I end up with when this project is over...