MAME 0.151 ROMs

[Ian B Manners]

From the internet archive,
https://archive.org/details/MAME_0.151_ROMs

MAME (an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines; the ability to actually play the games is considered "a nice side effect".

MAME_0.151_ROMs.zip = 42.8 GB
Internet where I am has gone downhill fast, so as much as I'd like to d/l this one, it will have to wait.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Ian.

I read that news on Slashdot.org - http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/12/28/0351206/archiveorg-hosts-massive-collection-of-mame-roms
I wondered if the copyright of that ROMs expired so they can all be public now and on a serious site like Archive.org.

That makes we wonder, when can we post the installers of OS/2 1.x, 2.x, Warp 3 and Warp 4 to be preserved there too ?

By the way, I'm using archive.org a lot to recover old OS/2 related URL sites.

Regards

[Martin Iturbide]

I also found the "World of OS/2" shareware CD preserved there:
https://archive.org/details/cdrom-worldofos2

Maybe it can be interesting to preserve other shareware CD on Archive.org.

[Martin Iturbide]

When I got time I need to sit down, relax and read this.

Reviewer: Evan Edwards - - December 29, 2013
Subject: Clarification
Melody, Bryce and Martin, while your zeal for legality is laudable, the Internet Archive petitioned the Copyright Office of the US and in October 2003 received a set of clarifications and exemptions specifically for abandoned software (sometimes called "abandonware"). This applies to the United States jurisdiction, and may not apply to you all.

Details on the ruling and exemptions can be found here: http://archive.org/about/dmca.php and http://www.copyright.gov/1201/docs/librarian_statement_01.html

[Martin Iturbide]

This can be interesting:

I also checked this source about DCMA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware#DMCA

Also here: http://archive.org/about/dmca.php

Following deliberation, the Copyright Office ruled in late October 2003 that four exemptions should be added to the anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA, to be valid until the next Copyright Office rulemaking in 2006, including two that are related to the Internet Archive's original comments:

- Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
- Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.

"Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access."... under that idea, it means that on the US it is "possible" to include the OS/2 installers on archive.org.
1) OS/2 1.x, 2.x, 3.x and 4.x that cames in diskette format, which is a obsolete format, may apply.
2) OS/2 Warp 4.52 only runs on older hardware, or in VirtualBox (just like the ROM runs in MAME). This means that OS/2 Warp 4.52 requires an obsolete hardware to have access to it.

Under that idea, maybe it can be legal to have all the IBM OS/2 installer published on archive.org and it will be legal only in the US.

I don't think that this will harm Mensys business or eComStation, since they have all the copyrights on ACPI, and they focus is to sell eCS for newer hardware, but please let's discuss this idea or any other possibility.

(by they way, if this can be possible, I first need to finish my other project (open source OS/2 repository) first, so I don't think I will have time for this on 2014).

[ivan]

Martin, you mention ACPI as being almost the prime mover for eCS but I have to ask what good does it do on a desktop computer or a server? 

We are running 2, 4, and 6 core processor desktops and servers using the old os2apic.psd seeing all cores and not seeing any problems while a friend was having problems with his new 4 core desktop and the eCS acpi psd.  When we changed it to the OS/2 psd the problems went away.

Yes, I can see where it might help with a laptop, assuming the suspend/ resume works reliably but I don't see it as the game changing application so mant people make it out to be. 

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Ivan.

Well, my point is that I'm trying to make a case that IBM's OS/2 installers can be turned for public preservation on archive.org. (and in a legal way)

If anybody will like to discuss this point of view I will welcome it.

Regards

[Dave Yeo]

Hi Ivan.

Well, my point is that I'm trying to make a case that IBM's OS/2 installers can be turned for public preservation on archive.org. (and in a legal way)

If anybody will like to discuss this point of view I will welcome it.

Regards

Considering that the bank machine at my bank seems to use OS/2 along with various other pieces of infrastructure and such also using it I doubt that it would be considered obsolete.  Same with the hardware,  floppy drives are still sold and hardware isn't that much different then what OS/2 is designed to use, as eCS shows it just needs updated drivers and it runs well.
Compare to the Mame roms which I understand mostly ran on specialized arcade systems that haven't been made in years and often the company itself is long gone.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Dave

Good points, but it can be debatable.
- ATMs running OS/2 are legacy ATMs, the new ones with newer processor will not run it.
- Even that a diskette drive can be bought, I don't think that it will make it non-obsolete.

But I think that it will be good to ask someone at archive.org with more experience on this. I will see if I can find someone.

Any more discussion to be prepared is welcome.

Regards