Count me in for a CD set as well.
-- Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: <CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 12:22 PM
Subject: RT-11/RSX-11/RSTS freeware CD-ROM
> Hi -
>
> Some of you may recognize me - an occasional contributor
> to CLASSICCMP - as the maintainer of the PDP-11 freeware archives
> at
>
> http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/
>
> In between the RSX-11, RT-11, RSTS/E, and PRO stuff there, there's
> well over a gigabyte of PDP-11 freeware available for downloading,
> spanning 3 decades of sources. Others on this list have contributed
> software to the archives, and I can't thank them enough for their efforts.
>
> Recently, the idea of distributing a collection of the PDP-11 freeware
> on multiple CD-ROM's has come up. (It'd be at least 2 CD-ROM's,
> possibly more.) In part, this idea is motivated by the easy
> distribution that CD-ROM affords (it sure beats lugging around
> a few hundred 9-track reels), and it is also motivated by the fact that
> CD-ROM drives are easily connected to Q-bus or Unibus PDP-11's through
> a SCSI host adapter. I frequently make PDP-11 filesystem CD-ROM's
> for my commercial customers who are converting from old media to
> emulator disk images, and freeware tools for PC's (such as
> John Wilson's PUTR) allow convenient access to RT-11 filesystems on
> CD-ROM's. Of course, it's also possible to burn ISO9660 CD-ROM's
> with disk or tape images, and it is in fact I have made "mixed
> format" CD-ROM's that have both a ISO9660 directory structure
> (for access on a PC-clone or Unix/VMS workstation) and a PDP-11
> directory structure (in the higher-numbered partitions of the CD-ROM.)
>
> My question is: would it be worthwhile for me to package up
> the PDP-11 freeware collection on multiple CD's (probably one CD for
RT-11,
> one CD for RSTS/E, and two CD's for RSX-11 & POS) and distribute them?
> Would folks be willing to pay, say, $15 each for duplication and
> distribution costs, or is this completely out of line? Of course,
> the network-accessible archive at metalab.unc.edu will still be
> available for free. While it's clear that CD-ROM is a convenient
> distribution medium, it's also clear that most folks on the 'net are
> cheapskates and won't pay a dime to get something they could download
> for free, so it's not obvious that if I had a batch of CD-ROM's made up
> that anyone would ever actually pay a nominal amount for them.
>
> If anyone has any comments, experiences, suggestions, etc.,
> I'm all ears!
>
> --
> Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
> Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
> 7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
> Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
>
>
>
Received on Thu Jul 29 1999 - 06:50:26 BST