rconn@brl.arpa (04/18/83)
From: Rick Conn <rconn@brl.arpa>
The New York Amateur Computer Club, Inc, has published a
series of DOCUMENTATION catalogs of the public domain software.
There are 7 catalogs so far, each containing over 200 pages of
documentation on public domain software. This documentation is
almost exclusively copied from the documentation files on the
public domain disks themselves.
I skimmed through all 7 catalogs this afternoon, and they
seem to be quite worthwhile to get. As I see it, they provide
three main services:
1) they provide a good overview of the public
domain software in SIG/M and CP/M UG; more than just listing the
names of the files/programs on these disks, the documentation is
included, so you can scan the documentation to see what you real-
ly are dealing with before you acquire the disks
2) they provide a HARD COPY of the documentation;
once one obtains a disk of software, he usually wants to print
out the documentation anyway; these catalogs are in good,
letter-quality print and contain tables of content
3) they consolidate the information on public
domain software and are provided at a reasonable cost (the NYACC
sells them at just slightly above cost, and the profit is used to
fund club activities)
Several people have been expressing concerns about the
ZCPR2 and SYSLIB documentation. Among other things, the last
three catalogs contain ALL of the ZCPR2 and SYSLIB documentation.
The catalogs contain the following information:
Book 1 (204 pages): CP/M 1 to 49; SIG/M 1 to 18
Book 2 (214 pages): CP/M 50 to 54, 78, 79 (CP/M 55 to 77 are reissues of
SIG/M 1, 2, 11, 4-10, 13-25 resp); SIG/M 19 to 42
Book 3 (217 pages): SIG/M 43 to 60
Book 4 (210 pages): CP/M 80 to 84; SIG/M 61 to 76
Book 5 and Book 6 (400+ pages): SIG/M 77 to 106 (ZCPR1 is in SIG/M 77
and ZCPR2 is in SIG/M 98 to 108; SYSLIB is in SIG/M 88 to 90,
106 to 108)
Book 7 (200+ pages): SIG/M 107 (SYSLIB documentation)
For those interested in ZCPR2 and SYSLIB, Books 5 to 7
contain good hardcopies of all of the documentation.
Each book costs $10 (including shipping) in North America
and $15 (via airmail) overseas. All orders must be prepaid in US
Funds. The address to write to for ordering the books is:
New York Amateur Computer Club, Inc
PO Box 106
Church St Station
New York, NY 10008
Note: the NYACC is a non-profit organization.