Archiving 8-bit Atari -How, who,what, Where?

[Gearhead Lu]

Hello,

Long time Atari owner, new to this site.

I have an Atari 800 and a small software collection that I bought back in the early 80's, but with taking on other hobbies , it has been stored away for years.

I posted some of what I have in the Show Us Your Collection topic.

A couple years ago, I thought I was going to loose the Atari collection, and everything else in the house when we were evacuated for the wildfires. We were lucky. This year looks like another drought year. ??

So now with the shelter in place, I have had some free time to setup my Atari and get everything working (thanks to the information I found here).

I have been backing up nearly all my software titles and manuals from Atarimania, Homesoft and other Atari sites. Thank you so much to those that are archiving and keeping  Atari alive. In searching for tittles, I found that I may have some of the manuals, disks and a tape listed as missing. 

I would like to help the archiving effort with any software or manual that I have that may be needed, but how does that work?

 

I don't have the capability or know how to dump my protected disks to image files. 

Who can create the image files (dumps) from original disks?

 

What images, manuals are needed for the archives? Is there a wanted list? I am starting an excel sheet list of what I have along with manuals.

 

Where would I send items?  Are the files shared between the archives? Most of the images and manuals I downloaded were from Atarimania because they are easy to find on the site and with google search. I would like to help them to give back, but it would be great if the files are shared to other sites.

 

Thank you

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[evilmoo]

A lot of work has been done on this thread: 

 

[+DjayBee]

39 minutes ago, Gearhead Lu said:

I would like to help them to give back, but it would be great if the files are shared to other sites.

Welcome on board. 

 

@www.atarimania.com is part of the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative.

@Farb probably can tell you whom you could send your stuff for preservation. 

[www.atarimania.com]

Thanks for reaching out.

 

@Farb is definitely your best bet if you want your software archived. Both sites collaborate so no jealousy but the Atari Software Preservation Initiative is more focused on commercial titles from original disks / tapes / carts and very in-depth analysis. Atarimania does a bit of everything and is also interested in PD / freeware / shareware / magazine programs. 

 

If you have an additional list of copied disks, please feel free to post it as well as this is often where you find rare programs.    

[Gearhead Lu]

OK, glad to hear they collaborate.

I will ask Farb over at the topic that the evilmoo suggested.

These are all original store bought retail disks and tapes.

Thank you all.