I always enjoy when this resurfaces. I wrote one of the files on there when I was a teenager. And it'll outlive me.
I exist in one of the files on the site. Kinda fun.
Apple II Textfiles
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#12Re: Apple II Textfiles
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
How were the files compiled and distributed before they ended up on this website? How did your opportunity to contribute to them come about?
I wrote it by myself, there was a certain program I was using (pirating) and nobody else had the manual for it. And you really didn't scan things into PDFs back then. A disk only held 140KB. So I spent a weekend and figured things out by trial-and-error and wrote it up. Did it in a text editor and uploaded it to my favorite BBS. Distribution happened lots of ways. A BBS might trade files with a friendly BBS somewhere…
I also authored some of these in the 1980s (before PDF, CDs, OCR, and scanners in the home). Typed into word processor software (that can save as text files, not binary) or just a text editor.
Mine and many others were distributed on file sharing sites called AE Servers. And yes, BBSs, too.
Some of the more popular files were the ones typed up from The Anarchist’s Cookbook, and peoples’ variations on those (bomb making, lock picking, etc). I never knew that was a real book until many years later.
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#14These this always reminds me of x2ftp.oulu.fi. One of my biggest influences as a teenager. Soo much info
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#15I was kind of expecting this to be about the fact that beginning with the Apple ][ and running up to (and maybe even a little past) the introduction of OS X, text files on Apple computers used ^M as the line delimiter as opposed to ^J on Unixes and ^M^J on DOS.
^M = Carriage Return
^J = Line Feed
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
How were the files compiled and distributed before they ended up on this website? How did your opportunity to contribute to them come about?
I wrote it by myself, there was a certain program I was using (pirating) and nobody else had the manual for it. And you really didn't scan things into PDFs back then. A disk only held 140KB. So I spent a weekend and figured things out by trial-and-error and wrote it up. Did it in a text editor and uploaded it to my favorite BBS. Distribution happened lots of ways. A BBS might trade files with a friendly BBS somewhere…
I didn't know what BBS was until I Googled. So to save a question/google:
A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS),[1] is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through public message boards and sometimes via direct chatting. In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet were developed to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet-based email.[2]
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#17I was kind of expecting this to be about the fact that beginning with the Apple ][ and running up to (and maybe even a little past) the introduction of OS X, text files on Apple computers used ^M as the line delimiter as opposed to ^J on Unixes and ^M^J on DOS.
^M = Carriage Return ^J = Line Feed
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#18Cracking has changed a lot, but also not so much. I love how the basic form is: let the target program load into memory then dump it to disk. Basically the same idea applies to older software protections like ASPack...find the original entry point (where the original executable is loaded up without protection), steal a few bytes to jump to a code cave, and patch whatever you want to patch from the code cave.
also, memory dumpers that can rebase an exe from memory given the original entry point
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wrote it by myself, there was a certain program I was using (pirating) and nobody else had the manual for it. And you really didn't scan things into PDFs back then. A disk only held 140KB. So I spent a weekend and figured things out by trial-and-error and wrote it up. Did it in a text editor and uploaded it to my favorite BBS. Distribution happened lots of ways. A BBS might trade files with a friendly BBS somewhere…
I didn't know what BBS was until I Googled. So to save a question/google: A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS),[1] is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages w…
The sharp intake of breath you hear is a bunch of us oldies being reminded we're old...
By the by, in the UK local calls were billed, whereas (I think) they are/were free in the US so BBSs were much thinner on the ground as they were so much more expensive to connect to - and to run if the owner offered FidoNet etc.
Re: Apple II Textfiles
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wrote it by myself, there was a certain program I was using (pirating) and nobody else had the manual for it. And you really didn't scan things into PDFs back then. A disk only held 140KB. So I spent a weekend and figured things out by trial-and-error and wrote it up. Did it in a text editor and uploaded it to my favorite BBS. Distribution happened lots of ways. A BBS might trade files with a friendly BBS somewhere…
I also authored some of these in the 1980s (before PDF, CDs, OCR, and scanners in the home). Typed into word processor software (that can save as text files, not binary) or just a text editor. Mine and many others were distributed on file sharing sites called AE Servers. And yes, BBSs, too. Some of the more popular files were the ones typed up from The Anarchist’s Cookbook, and peoples’ variations on those (bomb maki…
Files from Anarchist's Cookbook were always a hit with the kids. Imagine all the rebellion and havoc you could cause! I tried some of the recipes and nothing ever really worked. But it was a lot of fun to read.