The Freeware Hall of Fame Enters Its 20th Year (freewarehof.org) 41
After our story about the ongoing development of FreeDOS, long-time Slashdot reader reybo shares another valuable resource that's been "All free, all the time since 1984": Younger FreeDOS users may not know of the Freeware Hall of Fame, a source of old DOS freeware some of which is on-line 24/7 at www.freewarehof.org . This file base of free programs was begun in 1984 to help small businesses enter the world of computers. It became an international file base distributed to BBSs around the world via floppy disc until Bobbie Sumrada in Memphis gave it a home on CHEERS, her premier BBS.
The entire history is on the FreeHOF web site. Also there are downloadable copies of PCBoard, one of the great BBS platforms of all time. Anyone can create a dial-up BBS with this to see what they were like, so long as they have a DOS partition for it. I think MS DOS is also there to download, version 5.n or 6.n. Something you won't find at this site is games. FHOF never distributed games.
"No Flash, no Java, no goddam rollovers..." reads one page, which notes that in the mid-'90s they were picked as one of the world's 25 best BBSs by Boardwatch magazine.
The entire history is on the FreeHOF web site. Also there are downloadable copies of PCBoard, one of the great BBS platforms of all time. Anyone can create a dial-up BBS with this to see what they were like, so long as they have a DOS partition for it. I think MS DOS is also there to download, version 5.n or 6.n. Something you won't find at this site is games. FHOF never distributed games.
"No Flash, no Java, no goddam rollovers..." reads one page, which notes that in the mid-'90s they were picked as one of the world's 25 best BBSs by Boardwatch magazine.
Not really supported (Score:3)
I ran it in a VM and was disappointed with it's lack of vmware driver support. I won't bother running it on hyper-V as a type1 hypervisor uses more native hardware drivers.
Dosbox is a little more modern
Nice website (Score:2)
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the person who wrote that huge block of text and picked those fonts, colors and graphics lives in an enchanted land.
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I was expecting it to be part of a webring...
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It will be, but right now, it's under construction.
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Not to mention the retro attitude towards Shareware, which was novel back in the day but is now more-or-less how most commercial software is distributed. As a former Shareware author myself, which morphed into a more commercial version, the vitriol is puzzling, especially in this day and age.
People back then were used to buying software as if it were a physical good: you got a book, media such as floppies or a CD, and perhaps a box to put it all in. But by golly if that same software was something you coul
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Today it seems like the only software people are willing to pay for are games, super expensive high end tools, and Microsoft Office. Everything else people expect for free.
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That site hurt my eyes! Oh my word.
Also, does he remind you of the timecube guy? http://www.freewarehof.org/myt... [freewarehof.org]
20th Anniversary (Score:1)
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Y2K thing. Or it's Intel's fault [wikipedia.org]...
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... To think it will all have to end next year, when TTIP and TPP outlaw freeware forever.
[citation needed]
Mind you, I'm not defending TTIP or TPP, but please...
Dialup was real P2P (Score:1)
I wish we could do the same with DSL
Oh My God, Really? (Score:2)
That web site... 1990's GeoCities... Really? You know what's missing? Headlines with the FLASH tag...
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get it right
Pfh! .... The kids these days ... everything's gotta happen so fast for them ... they speak before they've finished thinking, and before they've finished speaking they've moved on to the next thing because apps.
Back when we were on dialup everything was so slow we really made sure that 120 byte file was right before starting the zmodem upload cos it all took so long and phone bills were so high^G5S2%^^^&%NO CARRIER
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Well, the homepage explicitly states 'No Flash, no Java, no goddam rollovers."
Free, but no source (Score:1)
Since source distribution was never part of the DOS culture, most of these programs are just garbage, poorly documented and impossible to fix bugs or make to work on a more usable OS.
No Jazz Jackrabbit? (Score:2)