long@ittatc.ATC.ITT.UUCP (H. Morrow Long [Systems Center]) (06/17/85)
> But much of that won't work on my poor old System III system. So my > question: is there someone out there who keeps, tracks, and catalogs > the software that is posted to the net?...................... > ...... > * Steven List @ Benetics Corporation * (415) 940-6300 > * {cdp,greipa,idi,oliveb,sun,tolerant}!bene!luke!steven A colleague of mine (Ken Nawyn) and I have been pondering this question for awhile and I would like to present to the Usenet community an idea (to get feedback). We were discussing what we could do to help the Unix community (and bring about widespread Unix usage, Utopia in the third millenia, the usual things, etc., etc.) and came up with the idea of maintaining a public domain Unix Software catalog or list. This sprang from an precursor project (a list of publicly available device drivers and contacts) maintained here by a previous employee here (Alan S. Watt), we would enlarge upon this concept to encompass the entire range of pd software. We would be performing the necessary editing and maintenence on our own time as a free service; we cannot distribute software source for conflict of interest and proprietary reasons. Here is the general scheme: Authors of public domain source would send an entry to a mailbox alias on our system in a specified form with several predefined fields. We would collect, sort and edit the entries into a catalog or list format. Once in a blue moon (say every six months or a similar frequency) we could post the assembled file to net.unix, net.sources or provide it to the moderator of mod.unix or mod.sources. ONLY ENTRIES WITH AUTHORS WHO HAVE PROVIDED A CONTACT ADDRESS, ARE WILLING TO SEND SOURCES TO ANY REQUESTOR AND WILL PROVIDE (SOME MINIMAL LEVEL OF) SUPPORT WOULD BE LISTED. We would not guaruntee that the listed programs work (or even compile on some systems) and would assume no liability for any aforesaid programs. We could also set up an program on our 'uucp' front-end machine to mail a copy of the current catalog to any user requesting it (who would mail to a specified alias). It might also be possibly to produce the document in a format such as the Berkeley ~/mbox format, to allow the user to read it with 'mail -f' and reply to contacts directly. Please tell us what you think and suggest additions, improvements, etc. to this scheme. Send mail directly to ittvax!long and ittvax!nawyn. Is this a good idea? What should the form contain? Where should it be posted and how frequently? What format would you like to see the output catalog in? Here is a sample prototype entry input form: ======================================================================= Program Name: Vegamatic game Program Type: Game (other classes could be Education, Driver, Editor, General Application, Business, System Software - OS, Compilers, Emulators, Utilities, Mailer, Kludges and Cute Hacks) For CPU type: Litton (tm) Microwave Oven embedded system (or any MC68000/Multibus or Ixian machine) For UNIX type: Uni+ 2.4 (maybe v7 and 4.1bsd) Availability: From site 'foo' via anon ftp, uucp or kermit. Terms & Cond.: Documentation and a test program are available. Contact: Foo Bar Mumble c/o House Atreides CHOAM Ltd. 1 Fremen Sietch Arrakis, Imperium 1-(xxx)-xxx-xxxx Ext.xxxx EM Addr: kremvax!astro!spacguild!choam!dune!atreid3!muad-dib (or PaulA@Tabr.Atreides.Duchy.House@bene.ARPA) Last (up)date: 01/01/5018 After Butlerian Jihad (23:59:01 Galactic Standard Time) Current vers.: S5R2V2.4.3 Description: This (3D bitmapped if displayed using a suspensor-globe display) program is based on a crude merging of two ancient Earth games: Rogomatic(tm) and Global Thermonuclear War. It will play against itself and plot strategies utilizing actual battlefield conditions. It can (optionally) make use of Laser Satelites and Particle Beam Weapons in Geo-Synchronous Orbit, hunter-seeker Tleiaxu missiles or even Family Atomics. Best played in real-time after large spice consumption. Special debug mode allows folding space and 'cheat mode' gives player prescience. ======================================================================= -- H. Morrow Long ITT-ATC Systems Center, 1 Research Drive Shelton, CT 06484 Phone #: (203)-929-7341 x. 634 path = {allegra bunker ctcgrafx dcdvaxb dcdwest ucbvax!decvax duke eosp1 ittral lbl-csam milford mit-eddie psuvax1 purdue qubix qumix research sii supai tmmnet twg uf-cgrl wxlvax yale}!ittvax!long