Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Boraxman to Kaelon on Wed May 04 2022 08:41 pm

That is such a shame... I've moved away from proprietary software and propreitary formats, to storing important data in as an accessible format as you can. Plain text, or markup, or some schema that is still plain text (ie, XML or even an Emacs ORG mode file).

You may lose the software which manages it, but a text editor can still reveal the data.

I love this, and it's so true. I have a lot of WordPerfect 5.1 documents that, fortunately, I can still read on DOSBox, but if I just save them in standard plain text, I'll at least never have to worry about having to access that content through an interpreter that may, for all we know, suddenly stop working in some not-so-distant future.
_____
-=: Kaelon :=-

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Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Nightfox to Kaelon on Tue May 03 2022 03:55 pm

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Kaelon to Nightfox on Tue May 03 2022 03:23 pm

When I took my original BBS down in 2000, I burned a backup of it onto
a CD-R. Last I checked (just a few years ago), that CD-R is still
readable.

Consider submitting it to the Internet Archive. They readily accept data donations, including software and underlying packages, for posterity.

That's an idea. It has registered copies of some software though (including RemoteAccess, a FTN mail tosser, and a copule registered BBS doors which I still run on my current BBS).

Be sure to wipe passwords, phone numers, etc. too.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #81:
Telenet = Proprietary packet switched network (variant on X.75)
Norco, CA WX: 74.1øF, 48.0% humidity, 2 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Kaelon to Digital Man on Tue May 03 2022 10:45 pm

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Digital Man to Kaelon on Tue May 03 2022 10:16 pm

2. The family tree software, which was legacy DOS and never ported or migrated, is impossible to find now and it's a relic. He may have it in

Family Tree Maker by chance? I had the same/similar experience.

Actually, I think that's the one. I'll have to check with my dad; he's off on a geriatric escape with fellow old fogeys to Spain, and I know he's thinking about the family tree stuff.

I wonder what, if anything, we can do to read the data and convert it. Definitely a project worth him undertaking and me helping him out; the insights there are priceless.

My grandmother, in my case, collected all the data and stories into a word processor (Galaxy) and FTM. We helped her to print the entire tree on a dot matrix printer and then taped the pages together. Fun project, but not sure how much of that effort remains in a useable form. Now with 23andme and Ancestry, they can automate much of that work (through bloodlines, at least).
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #16:
Karl Childers (to Doyle, re: lawn mower blade): I aim to kill you with it. Mmm. Norco, CA WX: 74.1øF, 48.0% humidity, 2 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Digital Man to Kaelon on Wed May 04 2022 11:18 am

My grandmother, in my case, collected all the data and stories into a word processor (Galaxy) and FTM. We helped her to print the entire tree on a dot matrix printer and then taped the pages together. Fun project, but not sure how much of that effort remains in a useable form. Now with 23andme and Ancestry, they can automate much of that work (through bloodlines, at least).

Yes. I am definitely a big fan of those services and enjoy using them to trace my European lineage.

One of the reasons why we interviewed all of our elderly relatives, including great grandmother and great aunts and uncles on all lines, is that all of my family lines lead back to Spain by way of Cuba. Unfortunately, Ancestry.com and 23andMe largely rely upon North American census and service records, whereas much of the Caribbean and Mediterranean world relies upon handwritten -- and un-indexed! -- Church records, namely, baptisms, marriage certificates, and the like.


_____
-=: Kaelon :=-

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MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

@MSGID: <627231D5.1252.dove-int@bbses.info>
@REPLY: <6271866E.5586.dove_dove-int@digitaldistortionbbs.com>
Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Nightfox to Boraxman on Tue May 03 2022 12:45 pm

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Boraxman to Kaelon on Tue May 03 2022 06:34 pm

I still have some data from the 90s and 2000's, but most people I would wager, don't, and if they do, it is lost, obscure, opaque. Look at all the BBS's that existed in the 80's and 90's, how many of those are now lost forever?

When I took my original BBS down in 2000, I burned a backup of it onto a CD-R. Last I checked (just a few years ago), that CD-R is still readable.

it's readable until it isn't. it depends on that day in the factory,
the media type, your drive, and the environment it's in.

even in a perfect environment i had cds rot

Mine are all good, including DVD's, except for a few which have deteriorated around the edges. A bad lot from one spindle.

But the last time you checked, may be the last time you could have ever read the disk, so it is best to move them to Hard Drive and make a backup of the Hard Drive if you don't want to lose the files.

--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ MS & RD BBs - bbs.mozysswamp.org

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Boraxman to MRO on Thu May 05 2022 08:36 pm

MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

@MSGID: <627231D5.1252.dove-int@bbses.info>
@REPLY: <6271866E.5586.dove_dove-int@digitaldistortionbbs.com>
Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Nightfox to Boraxman on Tue May 03 2022 12:45 pm

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Boraxman to Kaelon on Tue May 03 2022 06:34 pm

I still have some data from the 90s and 2000's, but most people I wo wager, don't, and if they do, it is lost, obscure, opaque. Look at a the BBS's that existed in the 80's and 90's, how many of those are n lost forever?

When I took my original BBS down in 2000, I burned a backup of it onto a CD-R. Last I checked (just a few years ago), that CD-R is still readable.

it's readable until it isn't. it depends on that day in the factory, the media type, your drive, and the environment it's in.

even in a perfect environment i had cds rot

Mine are all good, including DVD's, except for a few which have deteriorated around the edges. A bad lot from one spindle.

But the last time you checked, may be the last time you could have ever read the disk, so it is best to move them to Hard Drive and make a backup of the Hard Drive if you don't want to lose the files.

A couple of years back I noticed that Flagnet had a Facebook page. I was on there from 1991 to 1994, when they moved from Michigan to Indiana, and
dropped their local call in number. There were five or six BBS in my area
that I had continued using until 1997 when they finally moved to websites on the internet. Flagnet was primarily a Commodore user's site but open to anyone. It was all run on an Amiga. The operator took it down around the same time others took their BBS' down in 96-97, but kept his machine in storage. Later on he brought it back out to access through Telnet, and began having problems due to bad capacitors and a leaky battery. A few years passed
and he found another Amiga locally. I don't know what he did wrong, but he somehow lost information when he hooked his external drives back up. He
thouht he had CD backups, but they all went bad too. Lat time I asked him about it, he has made no plans to build up a new BBS from scratch.

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þ Synchronet þ The Cave BBS - Since 1992 - cavebbs.homeip.net

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Wed May 04 2022 11:16 am

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Nightfox to Kaelon on Tue May 03 2022 03:55 pm

Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Kaelon to Nightfox on Tue May 03 2022 03:23 pm

When I took my original BBS down in 2000, I burned a backup of it onto
a CD-R. Last I checked (just a few years ago), that CD-R is still
readable.

Consider submitting it to the Internet Archive. They readily accept data donations, including software and underlying packages, for posterity.

That's an idea. It has registered copies of some software though (including RemoteAccess, a FTN mail tosser, and a copule registered BBS doors which I still run on my current BBS).

Be sure to wipe passwords, phone numers, etc. too.

i wouldnt recommend uploading a bbs onto the internet archive unless you want some moron just taking it and running your bbs. i had a telegard bbs i ran zipped up for people to learn from. a guy just ran it because he said it was "just like" his old bbs. i'm sure it was not just like it. the guy was just lazy. he didn't change one damn thing, he didn't write any mods using my examples either.
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Re: Resurgence of non-mainstr
By: Boraxman to MRO on Thu May 05 2022 08:36 pm

Mine are all good, including DVD's, except for a few which have deteriorated around the edges. A bad lot from one spindle.

But the last time you checked, may be the last time you could have ever read the disk, so it is best to move them to Hard Drive and make a backup of the Hard Drive if you don't want to lose the files.

maybe flash drives are the way to go. one winter one broke off my keychain at work and through the whole season it was buried in snow and salt.

i found it months later and it still worked!
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