_The Doctor__ Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) We still want people to host the zip and torrents to keep from overtaxing IA though... correct? The more the merrier... and less chance of loss. Don't wanna eat up bandwidth or have the dearth of a thousand cuts going on. Edited April 2, 2020 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 I don't think there's much chance of overtaxing the Internet Archive but the more places hosting the data and the more alternative methods of downloading it the better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 I'm talking to @Farb now about doing the same for the scanned content but it appears there is some that is to be kept private and there's no easy way to identify it so that's a work in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manterola Posted April 4, 2020 Share Posted April 4, 2020 (edited) Hi All, I got a bunch of original diskettes and I realized that Gauntlet and Gauntlet deeper dungeons are not available in atx in Atarimania. If someone has a kyroflux to read these diskettes and send them to Atarimania, the community will appreciate it. I have no idea if the floppies are all in good condition but I am scared of destroying the data by testing them. I am located in the east coast of USA close to Washington DC. Edited April 4, 2020 by manterola 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheonix Posted April 4, 2020 Share Posted April 4, 2020 I can & will 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted April 4, 2020 Share Posted April 4, 2020 4 hours ago, manterola said: Hi All, I got a bunch of original diskettes and I realized that Gauntlet and Gauntlet deeper dungeons are not available in atx in Atarimania. They may not be on Atarimania, but they are already part of the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 (edited) but for verification purposes the more the merrier! we need multiple originals for this and if there were version fixes etc... Edited April 5, 2020 by _The Doctor__ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 (edited) You guys are on a roll tonight. How about multiple copies of BBS Pro! BBS*.COM file. We need to compare different copies of the same version. The more copies and versions, the merrier. Edit: Compare with a sector / hex editor / disassembler. Edited April 7, 2020 by Kyle22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffRacer Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 (edited) My guy started (extremely high quality) scanning. https://archive.org/details/@hubz Looks like he's starting with the big black and greys, should get to the more unique/obscure stuff later. He'll should be able to upload any of the software you want too for more obscure ones, as long as you don't get greedy and say "everything." Edited April 8, 2020 by CliffRacer 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 The A8SP stuff will no longer be hosted at the Internet Archive, the current collection will disappear over the next couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 29 minutes ago, Mr Robot said: The A8SP stuff will no longer be hosted at the Internet Archive, the current collection will disappear over the next couple of days. I remember there was a torrent with the full collection. Is it still alive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabar Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 What will be disappear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle22 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 torrent / magnet link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 @Mr Robot Where is it going? Did the hammer drop on someone? sigh. -Thom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 1 hour ago, tschak909 said: Where is it going? Did the hammer drop on someone? I raised concerns about how the new page was to be maintained going forward without creating confusion regarding the latest versions of our dumps. I also had concerns about the strong association back to the a8preservation.com site (for legal reasons) and the usage of my real name rather than my handle. The raising of those concerns was intended to start a conversation. @Mr Robot decided to remove the content (which the project did not ask him to do) while we have that conversation. For some reason, the previous uploads of the preservation archive (e.g. https://archive.org/details/Atari8bitPreservedSoftware2019-07-09) are no longer up there. I am not sure why that has happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 (edited) Well, why we don't ask Kim.COM to host the archive as of 2019 at Mega and then add just 2020-1...-2....-3....-n ? So, there won't be that big traffic for all? At the end of each year, we can make a whole update and provide the complete archive with the year in numbers behind the file name? Else on an USB-Stick and exchanging during the meetings? @CliffRacer > 1,000 uploads to archive.org!!! Uff Giga-Thanks! ? Edited April 10, 2020 by luckybuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, luckybuck said: Well, why we don't ask Kim.COM to host the archive as of 2019 at Mega and then add just 2020-1...-2....-3....-n ? So, there won't be that big traffic for all? At the end of each year, we can make a whole update and provide the complete archive with the year in numbers behind the file name? People have also expressed concerns specifically about not trusting Mega ? Some are afraid of torrents, some are afraid of Mega, some don't like having to download over 1Gb of data each time there is a new release. When I proposed killing the torrent and distributing individual files via direct download, some didn't like it because it would put work on them to keep their collections up to date. I think no matter what solutions we choose, someone will be unhappy with it. This is just life and it's pointless to try to make everyone happy. Oh, and the reason we don't do incremental releases currently is because I haven't yet built the automation to make that approach sustainable. The fact of the matter is, I don't want to let distribution of our content take valuable time away from actually doing the preservation work. That is our top priority and will remain so. For folks that feel like our current distribution mechanisms are insufficient, I welcome them to volunteer to collaborate with us to improve them in a manner that is consistent with the project goals and ways of working. And that means helping to do the actual work. @remowilliams has been generous enough to help with Mega links and @thedoctor has been kind enough to help with torrents and I thank them both for that. Since @Mr Robot has also shown initiative in this area, I've invited him to work with us as well. I think archive.org is an amazing site and I wholeheartedly support what they are trying to achieve. I just want to make sure we leverage it in a manner that doesn't create confusion, risk or unnecessary overhead for the project. 1 hour ago, luckybuck said: Else on an USB-Stick and exchanging during the meetings? As you already know, we do this ? But that only distributes it to a very small subset of the community. Edited April 10, 2020 by Farb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 1 hour ago, luckybuck said: @CliffRacer > 1,000 uploads to archive.org!!! Uff Giga-Thanks! ? Oh, and agreed, fantastic work on this. Thank you for making it available! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckybuck Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 "Oh, and the reason we don't do incremental releases currently is because I haven't yet built the automation to make that approach sustainable. " What I have in mind is to outsource this to the users. There must be a central storage place for the yearly updates. Before uploading the user has to check the latest number and increase that by 1. My fault: you all have to check the upload, which is not that cool. Sorry, I did forgot. "As you already know, we do this ? But that only distributes it to a very small subset of the community." Well, yes and no. Let's learn from Corona, who fast this can go. Further, we can charge the one who receives it, to give it at least to one further. From general assemblies or big meetings, e. g. Atari East, to local "governors" and from there to local ones... Just loud thinking... But the way you do already this, is to my mind fully sufficient, just a litlle patience from the users, they will get all the updates, sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 I agree with all the concerns. However, I believe there has to be a middle ground. In today’s terms, the total size of the complete archive isn’t *that* large. Just this week I had to download a 7GB patch to a single modern PC game for the latest content additions. The complete archive we’re talking about for our A8 machines just isn’t that large. Personally, I would be happy with annual or bi-annual (twice yearly) updates. These could be provided to Archive dot Org; a torrent; whatever with a simple naming convention (“Spring 2020”) appended or pre-pended to file names or the name of the archive as a whole. No need to update the entire set every time a single file gets added or an alternate version of an existing file is found. Let the preservation work continue with as little interference as possible while still satisfying the community user base’s desire for convenience and ease of access. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilheim Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Hi, all! Here's attached a patched version of the ATX image of Karateka, that had a bug on the demo. Maybe it would be useful to add it into the Preservation library. The bug comes from the desencryption routine while booting the game. Maybe the encryption came after the release of the game from the programmer and the bug slipped away. Hope it helps. Regards! Karateka (1985)(Broderbund Software)(US)[a][!] - v2.atx 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farb Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 (edited) Thanks @Wilheim. I assume this is a patch you applied to our ATX? If so, this is certainly interesting to the community. Thanks for sharing. EDIT: Could you describe the bug in more detail so we can add it to the site? Edited April 21, 2020 by Farb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilheim Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Yes, it's a patch form the ATX on this collection. I patched the cracked ATR first, then the ATX, which was the same modification needed. Here is what I did: I noticed the bug a long time ago, and I noted also that it doesn't happen in the XEX, Homesoft and cartridge versions. That caught my curiosity to understand what's happening. I saw also that the bug occurs when it first boots, but it's fixed when you play and die and starts over again. To solve that, I decided to run step by step the ATR and the cartridge versions on two sessions of Altirra. That way, after a while I could notice that the games reads the address $D0 and decides what values to put on the floor with the sprites. I look into $D0 on both versions, and I figure out that there are different values on address $D0 ($E1 on ATR and $00 on cartridge), so I decided to look for a place to initialize $D0 with a $00. Problem was that the address is used on a decryption routine, so I had to put a $00 AFTER the decryption process. To solve that, I noticed that the address $80 was used after the decryption process to move 3 pages from $5e00 to $900 (a new disk loading routine), giving a value of $00 after the process. I decided then to change the address counter from $80 to $D0, so it will have a $00 value after all the process. That way, I could have a $00 on the address $D0. I tested then, and it worked! I also tested the whole game until the protagonist rescues the princess, and as I could see, I didn't notice any further bug. Regards! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E474 Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Hi, I would vote for a torrent, if the filename includes a year-month-day part as a timestamp, I can download everything with only a few clicks. I've noticed that after a 6 monthly update (or so) is posted, it gets uploaded onto archive.org quite quickly by someone else anyway. Having a running total type folder on Mega where newly preserved images are added would also be nice, but I am wondering how much more there actually is to be preserved - that is, are a lot more files being added in each 6 monthly update anyway? Many thanks to everyone who has spent time, money and/or effort on this project, it benefits the whole community and I think we are all advantaged by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 You have no idea how much more there is to do, verification is forever, and a good deal of new material has been showing up... prolly as folks have more time, discover a parents, treasure, or retire... good time for Atari! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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