Sad day for Mxsmanic

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wrote:

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Umm.. not for nothing, but I still have my Apple IIe, and runs
great, especially if I want to play a good game of Karateka or Zaxxon!

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
Unix Systems Administrator, |
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
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On 2009-02-23, wrote:
Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

There's plenty of that type of hardware that retrocomputing addicts
still have in working order.

In any case, there are quite a few emulators around for 8 bit systems.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.

In article ,
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:
John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software doesn't
wear out.

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Emulators, my good man! You can find them for nearly any system. There
are plenty of good Apple II emulators out there, good enough to run
pretty much any software made for them. There are even emulators for old
DOS machines that will run in Windows that will do a much better job of
running old software than Windows itself will: check out DOSBox for that
one.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

Mike Ash wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:
John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software doesn't
wear out.

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Emulators, my good man! You can find them for nearly any system. There
are plenty of good Apple II emulators out there, good enough to run
pretty much any software made for them. There are even emulators for old
DOS machines that will run in Windows that will do a much better job of
running old software than Windows itself will: check out DOSBox for that
one.

RSTS/E, RSX-11, RT-11, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, VMS...

PDP-6, PDP-8, PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX...

That's just one company.

How about a GE 150, Burroughs B2500, Honeywell H316, SDS 900?

CPU's, OS's and their libraries go obsolete and become unsupportable.

The software is on EBCDIC punch cards, got an emualtor to read those?



--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

In article ,
wrote:

Emulators, my good man! You can find them for nearly any system. There
are plenty of good Apple II emulators out there, good enough to run
pretty much any software made for them. There are even emulators for old
DOS machines that will run in Windows that will do a much better job of
running old software than Windows itself will: check out DOSBox for that
one.

RSTS/E, RSX-11, RT-11, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, VMS...

PDP-6, PDP-8, PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX...

That's just one company.

How about a GE 150, Burroughs B2500, Honeywell H316, SDS 900?

CPU's, OS's and their libraries go obsolete and become unsupportable.

The software is on EBCDIC punch cards, got an emualtor to read those?

Many of your systems do have emulators or simulators available, in fact.
(This page has a whole bunch: http://simh.trailing-edge.com/) True
enough that some don't, as far as I could find with a cursory search.
But it took a *very* long time for that to happen, and none of them had
anything like the ubiquity of the Microsoft platform. I would fully
expect Windows software to be usable until the very end of time. People
might not care about writing emulators for such hardware, but Intel x86
emulators and Windows API translation layers will probably be maintained
forever.

Even if they're not, it's going to take decades at the least before a
new copy MSFS stops being usable.

I have to say, while MX is the king of disputing anything and everything
just because he can, a lot of the people who reply to him aren't much
better. Perhaps when he said that "Software doesn't wear out" he failed
to apply the proper caveats and qualifiers to this statement, but his
overall *point*, that MSFS still works and will still works even though
it's no longer being developed, was entirely sound, and really didn't
merit an argument.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

On 2009-02-23, wrote:
RSTS/E, RSX-11, RT-11, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, VMS...

PDP-6, PDP-8, PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX...

All of those are emulated, and the smaller PDPs and VAXen aren't all
that hard to come by as actual hardware. (I even have a MicroVAX of my own).
The old IBM systems are emulated by Hercules (so EBCDIC is also something
that's available in an emulated system).

While not every hole will be filled, any system that has a modicum of
popularity will be emulated, especially the type of machine people had
at home in large numbers. For example, the Sinclair Spectrum (a popular
1980s 8 bit system in the UK) is emulable on most modern platforms from
the Nintendo DS and Wii to a 64 bit UltraSPARC server, and almost the
entire software catalogue of well over 10,000 items of software is
avaialable on modern media.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.

Mike Ash wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:
John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software doesn't
wear out.

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Emulators, my good man! You can find them for nearly any system. There
are plenty of good Apple II emulators out there, good enough to run
pretty much any software made for them. There are even emulators for old
DOS machines that will run in Windows that will do a much better job of
running old software than Windows itself will: check out DOSBox for that
one.

I've even found CDC 6600 emulators!

On Feb 24, 9:12*am, Blanche wrote:

I've even found CDC 6600 emulators!

I have a couple of TRS80 emulators and no floppy ancient enough to
read the floppies

"Blanche" wrote in message
...
Mike Ash wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:
John Godwin writes:

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm

Existing copies of MSFS will continue to run indefinitely. Software
doesn't
wear out.

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Emulators, my good man! You can find them for nearly any system. There
are plenty of good Apple II emulators out there, good enough to run
pretty much any software made for them. There are even emulators for old
DOS machines that will run in Windows that will do a much better job of
running old software than Windows itself will: check out DOSBox for that
one.

I've even found CDC 6600 emulators!


Man I was just digging that I can play Duckhunt on my computer!

writes:

Yep, all the software for DOS and an EGA display, not to mention the
Apple II stuff is still running, assuming you can find hardware that
still runs outside a museum.

Well-behaved MS-DOS applications do indeed still run today. And of course
MS-DOS itself still runs.