Yeah, MPSIMS was one long thread . . . because we only had two forums:
Ed said you could divide up the whole world that way and that was sufficient unto the day for the message board.
And that’s how it remained for a long time.
I should mention that I have in my possession zip disks . . . atleast 50 of them . . . with transcripts of chats and old AOL message board posts.
Now of course I’m waiting for the new guys to tell me what to do with them but at some point I’d like to put them up for all of you to see. I have no idea if/when I’ll be able to do that as this is copyrighted material and I have no permission (yet) but I am hopeful to be able to turn this loose at some time in the future.
I’ll also need to find another Zip disk machine, do they still make those things, even? I have two but they’re SCSI; my first desktop machines were SCSI. (How’s that for old stuff, I bet nobody has any of that anymore either. Memories, memories.)
Actually I have an ISO interface SCSI card. It goes to the scanner that wasn’t supported past WIN95. I did throw out the 2 GIG tape backup with parallel port interface this winter. I still have a couple ISO Video cards too. I throw out some 1 Meg simms for 486dx or 486sx processor motherboards too.
Interesting. That would mean I got there a little earlier than I thought. My first month or so on the message board the only moderator was Ed. Then he posted a message that he was looking for others to moderate, and Jane (JK Fabian was her screen name I think) became the first Board Goddess. Then a short time later you joined the official Goddess ranks, then in some order I don’t remember came Jill, Lynn, Euty, Dex, etc.
So maybe I was there as early as August ‘96. Man, time flies when you’re old and senile.
I still have working Zip drives in both SCSI and IDE interface. The SCSI interface drives are the 100 MB capacity, while the IDE interface drive is one the last generation that were 200 MB max capacity. I even have one of the real early drives that used the parallel port interface.
So if the time comes to use them, I can help. In fact, we may want to talk soon and get the files copied to CD before the zip discs get any harder to read, even if all you do with them is put them back in storage.
Minor nitpick, I think you mean ISA (Industry Standard Architecture), not ISO, which is the often misunderstood abbreviation used for the International Organization for Standardization.
I have a 100MB Zip drive with a parallel port. Unless it was somehow damaged when I moved last October it still works. I haven’t bothered hooking it up to my computer at the new location, since I don’t have anything stored on Zip disks that I need to access. I keep telling myself that someday I’m going to copy those files onto CDs, or at least check to see if I still want them; IIRC they’re mostly downloaded porn.
I just realized what I typed and knew it would already be corrected. Too much time with ISO standards has affected my brain.
Yeah, I need to archive these better, no doubt about it; they’re currently in an old Macintosh bag in the bottom of my closet. (But that’s another story, my house is like the elephant graveyard for old 'puters, I need to get real and throw most of them out, I tend to keep 'em around for parts, I got frankenputers here.)
These disks were all made off my Win machine, though. Burn them to CD?
The thing is do you have software that can read the data files any longer?
Zip tools? Yep.
Oh, and it’s all 32-bit here, no danger of newish technology. 
This is a good point. If the files were just copied to the zip discs as text files, then they can be read by pretty much anything. But if you used a backup program to save them, you almost have to have the corresponding restore program to make get them back.
I don’t remember now what Zip Tools did, I always just used the zip discs as raw storage and used other programs to read and write them. Although I think I do still have a copy of the Zip Tools disc around. Did it have a backup/restore program?
In any case, it’s probably a good idea to think about copying the files to a storage media that is more supported by current hardware and software. I’d copy them to multiple CDs, both in their original format and as straight text if they’re not in that format now.
I know we’ve got a bunch of dopers around, including myself, who would be glad to help if need be. I guess one question would be what is the Reader’s take on letting someone else have access to the data to accomplish the transfer.
I don’t mean can the files be taken from the zip disks, though that could be of concern also. I mean can they be accessed once they are transfered. Places archive data and switch to newer software, and don’t always keep software that can read the archived data. The new stuff doesn’t read the old data either. You have good data files and no way to access the data.
I should be able to retrieve them – I think they’re stored as text.
Not a factor right now anyway as this will be just one of the decisions for the new guys. They have lots of stuff before they get to this too, it’s not the first thing on the menu. So hang on until I find out more.
More on all of this as we get to the more appropriate place with it.
Yep. Although, strictly speaking, I don’t think the white house is actually a part of the GUE, just the entrance to it. In the real world, I live in Fort Worth, Texas.
Just don’t go into the dark without the lamp or torch, and you’ll be ok.
No sweat. Let me know if I can help.
I do remember being on the AOL board in some way but I’m not sure I was involved in the chat room there. ( I was into AOL chat rooms but not the SD one). It is a VERY clear memory HOW I found the Dope on AOL. On the front page for some period of time, the banner we all love and live for was used as a hyperlink to the board ( room? ) of the Straight Dope. It was around this time that there was something of a t.v. presence. Unless I am insane and there was never a t.v. part of The Dope. TubaDiva? Am I insane?
Read the books on a whim in Coliseum Books in the late 1980’s. At least whatever book was out at that time. I clearly remember laughing so hard and so often in bed that it was the source of immense irritation to my spouse. Classic early Cecil exchange? That’s easy. ( paraphrased )
To die for.
I do remember early fun and informative posts from TubaDiva, Peepinatrix and JilLGat.
Ahh, the good old days. When hanging around Midway Airport on a foggy weekday evening one was likely to find Cecil himself at the bar, soiled legal pad and badly gnawed collection of pencil stubs before him, a cadre of empty beer steins and pretzel crumbs spread around.
Slug tended bar. TubaDiva was in the back, slinging hash and bon mots.
-sniffle-
I would expect Tuba to be slinging bon bons, more likely (unless she was hogging all the chocolate to herself… :eek: ).
I remember reading a long time ago that the SDMB AOL board still exists, but it’s inactive, and it’s very well hidden; there’s no links from the outside world. True? If so, what’s the URL?