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Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative


Farb

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49 minutes ago, Zarxx said:

Small collection of around 50 disks from eBay. (Number 5)

Thanks for taking the time to dump these, @Zarxx

 

17 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Just a reminder that this is for preservation of original disks that are not pirates or copies for the most part

Just to make sure it's clear, we are still interested in copies if they retain the original copy protection. They can be helpful for verification purposes especially when we have originals that have corrupted data.

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4 minutes ago, Zarxx said:

No problem. Noted. In future I'll check and filter the menu & verified images.

Sorry, just realized my comment seemed like it was directed at you -- it definitely was not. I just wanted to make sure _The Doctor_'s comment wasn't misinterpreted by anyone to mean we weren't interested in backup copies of originals.

 

However you want to contribute what you dump is fine. We can do any necessary filtering on our side ?

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Yep, keep those images coming to these guys, without this sort of great effort we cannot know if what is out are 100% what they should be, verifiable 100% dumps are critical..There's so much floating around that are poorly cracked, incomplete proper images and simply damaged images going around as ok ones that this effort will hopefully allow for an archived perfect set.

 

Edited by Mclaneinc
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1 hour ago, rcamp48 said:

Are you guys interested in original Atari ST disks, I must have 30 or 40 of them, mostly wargames scarcer that hen's teeth.

The AtariST forum will greet you very warmly if you say things like that in there!

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20 hours ago, Farb said:

Sorry, just realized my comment seemed like it was directed at you -- it definitely was not. I just wanted to make sure _The Doctor_'s comment wasn't misinterpreted by anyone to mean we weren't interested in backup copies of originals.

 

However you want to contribute what you dump is fine. We can do any necessary filtering on our side ?

 

Cool, although all the collections I've imaged have contained a chunk of cracked/menu games. Most of which are the same popular titles which are probably no use to anyone. eg. Dropzone on a menu.

I've always included them for people to check in case there is something special and as they are normally just small atr's. But if I see something like the example above in future, I'll probably leave it.

 

I think also there's a little bit of nostalgia, as I remember my own little collection fondly and then I get to image someone else's (albeit mostly junk now).

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It's not junk and you are correct, sometimes there is a gem in there, a fix or a find. Don't be down about it, sometimes a pirated copy is all that's left of a piece of software.. It's terrific to have that. We might never find the original... and when someone sees the dodgy copy it could inspire them go dig up that original they knew they had but couldn't remember the name of or give it a though about until they saw it again and it clicks  'I have/had that!' they track it down and next thing you know it's found and brought out for preservation. It wouldn't be the first or last time something along those lines had happened. :)

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On 6/17/2019 at 10:18 PM, CharlieChaplin said:

Hmmm,

 

there are complete and incomplete tape versions of "Phantom" (maybe incomplete disk versions also).

 

I copied three tapes of Phantom:

 

- release by Tynesoft, 14 stages, sides a+b, seems to be complete ?!?

- release by Micro Value, 13 stages, one tapeside only, seems to be missing the last part ?!?

- release by Zeppelin Games, 13 stages, one tapeside only, seems to be missing the last part ?!?

 

Not sure about the disk version(s). Never get very far in this game (screen 1 or 2) with standard number of lives.

 

Think the comments at atarimania say something else, but that's how I have written it down (on my paper-notebook)...

 

 

My Phantom tape version that was part of the "Four Great Games vol. 3" compilation (Micro-Value) is indeed incomplete. Each of the four locations (Ye Olde Inn, Dungeon, Mansion & Castle) is a separate load and the fourth location load is not complete (only a few blocks before it is cutoff instead of the 43+5 blocks like the other three locations). Each location consists of 4 levels so thats why you probably wrote 13 stages in your notebook (but with 4 levels per location you would expect 12 stages with only three locations and 16 stages with four locations).

 

AtariMania has only the incomplete tape version (same .cas file for both the Phantom stand-alone version and the Four Great Games version) so I wonder if a complete tape version is available somewhere. The disk version on AtariMania is complete, so possibly the tape could be fixed by extracting the fourth location from the disk version.

 

Robert

 

PS. To cheat add address $3C8A to Altira's cheater which ensures you cannot die (BPM) and $3C50 to get unlimited energy.

 

 

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1 hour ago, rdemming said:

 

My Phantom tape version that was part of the "Four Great Games vol. 3" compilation (Micro-Value) is indeed incomplete. Each of the four locations (Ye Olde Inn, Dungeon, Mansion & Castle) is a separate load and the fourth location load is not complete (only a few blocks before it is cutoff instead of the 43+5 blocks like the other three locations). Each location consists of 4 levels so thats why you probably wrote 13 stages in your notebook (but with 4 levels per location you would expect 12 stages with only three locations and 16 stages with four locations).

 

AtariMania has only the incomplete tape version (same .cas file for both the Phantom stand-alone version and the Four Great Games version) so I wonder if a complete tape version is available somewhere. The disk version on AtariMania is complete, so possibly the tape could be fixed by extracting the fourth location from the disk version.

 

Robert

 

PS. To cheat add address $3C8A to Altira's cheater which ensures you cannot die (BPM) and $3C50 to get unlimited energy.

 

 

possible, or it's on the tape but distorted etc... I am sure one of the tape/audio wizards here could do something with it.

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16 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

possible, or it's on the tape but distorted etc... I am sure one of the tape/audio wizards here could do something with it.

I'm pretty sure the sound on the tape just cuts-off (no sound at all) and it wouldn't surprise me if they used a tape that is too short (I should retrieve my "Four Great Games" Phantom tape from the attic to see if that is indeed the case). With the 4 locations that are loaded separately, the total loading time is quite a bit longer than the game (Cannibals) on the other side of the tape (51KB for incomplete Phantom and 14KB for Cannibals).

 

Robert

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/30/2019 at 11:40 PM, rdemming said:

AtariMania has only the incomplete tape version (same .cas file for both the Phantom stand-alone version and the Four Great Games version) so I wonder if a complete tape version is available somewhere. The disk version on AtariMania is complete, so possibly the tape could be fixed by extracting the fourth location from the disk version.

 

 

For the A8 Preservation project @Atarigrub and I have taken a look. It is exactly what CharlieChaplin described. Incomplete version on Four Great games and also on Zeppelins rerelease. The only tape I could find that has the full version is Tynesofts original tape release. You can see the difference right away, because the Tynesoft tape has the game on the A-side and the levels on the B-side. So the message after loading the main part is different:

 

Four Great Games & Zeppelin rerelease:

micro_value_zeppelin.thumb.jpg.959b992200007ab4da8f78ed7c862b76.jpg

 

Original Tynesoft release:

Tynesoft.thumb.jpg.a7924d0fd86fbca30841d9ac7b0e8805.jpg

 

The good news is that I dumped the original Tynesoft version for the a8 preservation project. So the original version will be available through the torrent soon ? 

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Thanks Fred, and of course to the preservation project team...

 

Must check the site for a donation button, happy to give a little towards the purchase and costs, it would not be much but it would help a little..

 

Edit: Just looked at the page and see the only contributions are software and scans etc which I don't have the actual games for these days...Wish there was a paypal button....

Edited by Mclaneinc
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Thanks Fred, I'm sure some of us would like to chip in that way as for other reasons we can't do much else...I have zero time these days with the two people I look after with dementia so apart from the early morning I have no real time set as free, already had 38 skype calls from one of them starting at 7am...All over him not having any PJ's to wear and to make it worse, before he got dementia he never wore any....Dementia, nasty thing, bloody hard on people..

 

But yes, if you ask Farb about a donation side as long as he's not offended I'd be happy to send a few quid every so often to help fund the cause...

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2 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

Thanks Fred, I'm sure some of us would like to chip in that way as for other reasons we can't do much else...I have zero time these days with the two people I look after with dementia so apart from the early morning I have no real time set as free, already had 38 skype calls from one of them starting at 7am...All over him not having any PJ's to wear and to make it worse, before he got dementia he never wore any....Dementia, nasty thing, bloody hard on people..

 

But yes, if you ask Farb about a donation side as long as he's not offended I'd be happy to send a few quid every so often to help fund the cause...

Get all the assistance you can as early as possible. Speak to a social worker to find out all the resources that are available. If, as so many unexpectedly find themselves, you are in a position of dealing with this for years, without help it will sap the life from you before you know it and may leave you embittered.

Edited by GlowingGhoul
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 I have two disks for the preservation project, originals of Ninja and Ghostbusters, I backed up both of them with my Speedy drive (I just got the board from Nezgar and put it in no problem , it is the Mini Speedy board the newest one). I  just copied the Speedy software from the archives and boy does it ever write fast,I might do a video of it copying a double density disk in a few minutes. Its in my 1050 now. Russ

 

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4 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

But yes, if you ask Farb about a donation side as long as he's not offended I'd be happy to send a few quid every so often to help fund the cause...

Thanks for the offer, Mclaneinc. We don't have anything in place to accept donations at the moment but I do appreciate the gesture. Sounds like you have your hands quite full... I hope you can find ways to get assistance and GlowingGhoul mentioned.

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are you ready for a torrent? I think you are...

 

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:e7fa4e5ddb3dd136fd99a407af5b8abb5a22ebf4&dn=Atari8bitPreservedSoftware2019-07-09

 

do you want to find a specific preserved item to compare? sure you can...

 

Super duper http file server

 

It was time for a decent update for the archivist and preservationist cause!

Edited by _The Doctor__
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Thanks GlowingG and Farb, not meant to be about me but I have been in contact with all the services who support my friend and my mother in law and it is tough but its the physical help I find the hardest as I'm not too well myself on that side. We will give help until it reaches a point that its too much for us (my wife and I) but as they have no one else we can't see them left to rot.

 

@Farb, if you do get a donation button sorted then let me know and I'll honour my offer..

 

@Doc, thanks for the torrent, missed the last one...

Edited by Mclaneinc
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15 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

are you ready for a torrent? I think you are...

 

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:e7fa4e5ddb3dd136fd99a407af5b8abb5a22ebf4&dn=Atari8bitPreservedSoftware2019-07-09

 

do you want to find a specific preserved item to compare? sure you can...

 

http://64.121.128.183:8080

 

It was time for a decent update for the archivist and preservationist cause!

The magnet isn't loading for me here, and using a Torrent search doesn't seem to turn up any results, either. Is anyone else getting a working torrent from the link?

 

--Tim

 

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Yes, had to hand paste the actual magnet code underneath the link and off it went..Downloading now

 

I suspect the actual link is on a blocked in certain regions page..I'll look at it in Tor and see if it goes to a blocked page..

 

Tor didn't like it either but the magnet code does work, just about to start seeding the files in around 6mins..

Edited by Mclaneinc
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