Retro/pcjs
Watch
1
0
Fork
You've already forked pcjs
 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

Updated "Adventures in Math" README

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
Jeff Parsons 2017-06-15 09:09:35 -07:00 • committed by Jeff Parsons
commit 5285e78f1f
1 changed files with 26 additions and 8 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

32
apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md
View file

@ -193,14 +193,32 @@ which translates to:
b: [switch to drive B:]
a:basica castle [run BASICA on drive A: and load CASTLE.BAS on drive B:]
This is the preferred way of "demo'ing" software with PCjs: loading unmodified disk images using the minimum
"system requirements" and automatically performing the same series of commands that the original owner of that
hardware and software would have performed.
This is one of the preferred methods of demonstrating software in PCjs: loading unmodified disk images into machines
that match the system requirements as closely as possible, powering the machine, and then automatically executing
the same series of commands that an owner of that hardware and software combination might have executed.
An alternative approach, adopted by the Internet Archive, involves creating customized disk images and machine
configurations for each application. This offers some simplicity, because the software has been modified to work
in a common configuration, but it becomes difficult if not impossible to isolate the original software distribution
or run it in other machine configurations.
The other preferred method is to use a machine state file, which restores the machine to a state where the software is
already running. This is the fastest approach, and it is useful when the software has an involved installation
process, but it takes more effort to set up. The [VisiCalc (1981)](/apps/pcx86/1981/visicalc/) demo operates this way,
but it does so purely for convenience (and because it predates the "autoType" feature).
An alternative approach, adopted by the Internet Archive, involves modified disk images (eg, with custom batch files)
loaded into tightly coupled machine configurations. While this approach offers ease of use, it's difficult for the
user to download or inspect the software exactly as it was originally distributed, or to load the software into any
machine configuration other than the "mystery" configuration chosen by the Internet Archive.
The failure to archive software exactly as it was originally distributed, generally as one or more disk image (IMG)
files along with scanned (PDF) copies of the documentation, is the most serious problem we collectively face. I don't
blame the Internet Archive, because in most cases, they're simply archiving what someone else archived before them,
and those earlier "archivists" often didn't take the time to thoroughly preserve and document everything.
On the other hand, the Internet Archive could do a better job of cataloging its holdings, recording the provenance of
everything they have archived, maintaining a clear separation of original material from subsequent modifications (including
any modifications created solely for ease of emulation), and providing more control over machine configurations.
In addition, I would hope that anything the Internet Archive "archives" itself (ie, from original distribution media)
is duplicated and preserved according to a *much* higher standard than any files, documents, etc, it has simply scraped
from the Internet.
References
----------