🚀 go-pugleaf

On 10 xxx -1, Daniel Finster wrote:
      ^^^^^^
You need to fix the date on your machine.  All your messages are coming
from the month "xxx" in the year "-1".  I didn't even know that they had
computers back then, much less supported SMTP. (fnord!)

>     Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 05:57:25 +0000 (GMT)
>     From: James Achtung Crippen <james@fredbox.com>
> 
>     In browsing some of the older parts of the archives of the SLUG mailing
>     list I noticed references to the `SLUG Tapes'.  I presume these contain
>     all sorts of goodies written in {Zeta,Common}Lisp.  Does anyone have a
>     copy of these tapes in an FTPable form?
> 
> I have a copy of a SLUG Tape from around 85.  Its mostly old Release 4
> and 5 stuff that, while historically interesting, is not immediately
> useful.  It could probably be made useful without too much sweat.  At
> the moment, it is not in FTPable form.

Well, for things that old the immediate relevance of the software isn't
a particularly important point.  Its historical interest however is highly
interesting.  I'd love to see that put online somewhere.  Please make this
available at your earliest convenience -- I'm sure all the slugs out there
would enjoy browsing through this code.
 
> Does anyone have anything newer?
> 
> Also, I've been meaning to ask: is there any objection to old SLUG
> materials in general being put on the web?

I can't really see why this would be an issue.  SLUG materials were pretty
widely distributed in the first place, and I don;t think there's much of a
copyright issue here, right?  I mean, the respective copyrights that each
piece of software has holds for any form of its distribution; at least
that's how I'd interpret the situation.  Any other people care to comment?
(I'd guess that if nobody has anything to say that you should put
everything you have out for public consumption without worry.)
 
>     Mabry has already mentioned that
>     he might still have the tapes, but not online.  I think it's pretty
>     important that we put them online since magnetic media will be beginning
>     to go bad by now (it's been about eight years or so, I believe).  I'm
>     willing to volunteer a stable location for the archives if nobody else
>     wants to.
> 
> I have successfully read many 15-year old tapes.  Still, you are
> absolutely right that we must get anything we can find preserved soon.

I don't remember exact dates, but people at MIT-AI were reading tapes from
the seventies not too long ago.  That doesn't mean that it's a good idea
-- something you should do only if you have to.
 
>     As a side note, does anyone know of an archive of Symbolics user-produced
>     software other than the general Lisp archives (CMU-AI, AI Attic, etc)?  If
>     one doesn't exist then perhaps the same location which houses the SLUG
>     tapes should also provide archive space for new code.
> 
> I don't know of any real collection anywhere, but if you look around,
> you can find a few things scattered around here and there on odd FTP
> sites (the BOXER programming environment, and a drawing package by AI
> Architects Inc being the most significant things on the top of my
> head... oh, and SNePS).
> 
> I've actually been trying to put an archive together for some time.
> I have a number of tapes of interesting hacks and stuff by various
> people, but I really need to get their permission to put the stuff
> online.  Carl Shapiro and I have been planning an elaborate LispM
> freehold for a few months.  Hopefully some of this will be coming to
> fruition soon.  But generally, I think, everybody who can should try
> and put as much stuff as they can online.  

That random packages are scattered across the network in no coherent
fashion is IMO a good indicator that a repository should be constructed.
 
> If anyone has stuff that should be online and you don't have the
> capability or time to do it, please email me and I will take care of
> it for you.
> 
>     Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 06:05:57 +0000 (GMT)
>     From: James Achtung Crippen <james@fredbox.com>
> 
>     What Symbolics realted websites are out there that people have or know of?
>     I've already found the obvious ones:
> 
>     [ ... ]
> 
>     I'm curious to know if anyone has any more that I haven't seen before.
>     I'd like to put together a comprehensive-as-possible link page, and
>     possibly make a new section on the Open Directory Project for Symbolics
>     stuff.  (I already manage the Scheme, Discordianism, Memory Management,
>     and Compiler Theory subjects (not that I'm an expert in any of these, mind
>     you)).
> 
> This sounds like an excellent idea fnord.  Unfortunately I can't think
> of any URLs off the top of my head.  There is a TI Explorer worship
> page somewhere where they have this Explorer decked out with xmas
> decorations.  I'll look up the URL and send it to you.

Ah, that particular page belongs to Shriram Krishnamurthi at Rice.  He has
a TI Explorer which is decorated for various holidays, pictures of which
are online.  The "Seasonal Lisp Machine" is at
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~shriram/LispM
 
> I look forward to seeing your collection.

I'm actually gathering enough stuff to bother putting up on a page.  I'll
try to find a suitable location and post a message to the list when the
page is available.
 
cheers
'james