Below is a description of a system with some data to be rescued.
I've already responded to the people mentioned, so there's no need
to respond again. I asked for more details, if they had any:
when was it used, what software did it run, whether the disk is
soft- or hard-sectored.
I have no idea, though, what kind of system this was. Does "AES"
ring a bell with any Canadian readers?
- John
>>Sent from: Gilles Poitras <cowpunk_at_sirius.com>
>>
>>This is from a mailing list for theological librarians that I am on.
>>
>>Can anyone help out?
>>
>>>"Accelerating obsolescence" strikes again.
>>>
>>>Professor Dr Hans Rollmann, who supervises one of the more elegant and
>>>elaborate sites on the WorldWideWeb for the Department of Religious Studies
>>>at Memorial University in Newfoundland, has found some important primary
>>>data that he hopes to mount with other texts on the site. These data are
>>>imprisoned on 8-inch computer disks that were made on an AES computer,
>>>apparently in the 1980s. No printed record of the material survives; only
>>>the 8-inch disks remain. No AES computer or 8-inch drive exists at Memorial
>>>University; the technical services people from the Computing Sciences
>>>Department tried to build an 8-inch drive from spare parts, but came up
>>>short. The intellectual content frozen in this "obsolete" technology
>>>remains unreadable.
>>>
>>>Does anyone know the whereabouts of an intact AES computer? Failing that,
>>>is there any available information about these machines? What did the
>>>acronym AES stand for? Where was it built? Most important, what operating
>>>system did it use? What word processing software might have been loaded?
>>>
>>>Has anyone preserved any computer with an 8-inch disk drive? As I recall,
>>>both Commodore and Atari used 8-inch drives.
>>>
>>>Anyone who has useful information on this problem can communicate with
>>>Professor Rollmann at
>>>
>>> hrollman_at_morgan.ucs.mun.ca
>>>
>>>Those who may be interested in his religious studies web site can begin
>>>sifting through its many layers at
>>>
>>> http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~hrollman
>>>
>>>Professor Rollmann will be grateful for any assistance anyone can offer.
>>>The rest of us need to be sure that any intellectual material we
>>>"catalogue" can also be "read."
Received on Thu Oct 08 1998 - 11:25:16 BST