> I know there are files created
> by 1950s computers with old software (not video files, of course) that
> can be read only with difficulty or not at all. Their software runs
> only on computers that no longer exist, bascically.
You might be surprised what can still be made to work. There are user communities devoted to retro-computing and emulation. These are small non-commercial groups, not totally unlike the experimental film community except they are more on the engineering side than the artistic side. If you want to emulate a Commodore 64 on a modern computer, you can do it. There's an 'abandonware' site called Macintosh Garden, where you can get started on compiling everything you need to run Pagemaker 1 on a Windows 7 laptop (or, more importantly Dark Castle).
http://www.macintoshgarden.org/ According to Wikipedia, around 50% of all the films ever made are now lost. Twas ever thus, "The lone and level sands stretch far away." What is amazing is how much survives in the nooks and crannies. Software has it's Rick Prelingers.
djt (who has a fully funtional Mac SE in his basement)
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Received on Wed Jun 29 2011 - 17:55:01 CDT
