About

Why I Created DLCC

What DLCC is about? Daniel’s Legacy Computer Collections is a representation of, what else?, my collections of vintage computer software, hardware, and miscellaneous related items. But more than just a site listing old software titles and showing photos of old computers, DLCC features what has become worldwide popular items, visited by people from over 200 countries — my legacy software Screen Shot Gallery, and my Microsoft® Bob™ Exhibit. And DLCC also features photos of some of my rarest “computer artifacts'” — items so rare that many are nearly impossible to find anymore.

But don’t look at only these items, come and see what the whole site has to offer!

My Inspiration

Endangered species: 20th Century computer software media In 1999, being a nostalgic fan of older, “legacy” computer software, I noticed that many older software titles were beginning to disappear off the face of the earth due to people and businesses discarding them. While some organizations and museums have preserved many computer hardware systems, the historical value of the software that runs on them has not been appreciated in the same way.

The “Golden Age” of computing. For me, the early 1980’s to the mid 1990’s were the “Golden Age” of computing. There was never an experience like it before, and there will never be an experience like it ever again. In that era of computing history, computers were not “on every desk,” the World Wide Web did not exist, and most average home dwellers did not own a computer. Mainframes were the dominant business computer systems at this time. There was a “magic” in the air when standing in a large mainframe computer room or using a personal computer, whether it was a “dumb” mainframe terminal, a Commodore 64, an IBM PC XT, or a Macintosh 512K because in the 1980’s the general public was just beginning to have access to computer systems. For many people it was a new concept and a new experience. Those people were the first to experience the evolution of personal computer hardware and software. During that time there were thousands of commercial software programs written for these computers, an incredible diversity of functionality and user interfaces and some of the most unique “splash screen” art ever developed. It would never happen again. If you have grown up with computers, cell phones, and the Internet you probably can’t appreciate this “golden age” in the same manner I do.

The end of an era. That “golden age” of computing began to draw to a close beginning in the mid-1990’s. That was a time that was seeing the death of the mainframe. More and more businesses were turning to client/server computing. It was also the time when personal computers became a commodity, like microwave ovens. More and more people were using computers in their homes, laptops were becoming more affordable, and the age of the Internet was born. Gone were the days of text-based computing. Everything was “point-and-click.” And the diversity that was present only a few years earlier in the software industry was reduced to a handful of big software companies that either bought up their competition or put them out of business. The diversity of thousands of different kinds of computer software was reduced to a few dozen. Everything blended into a common graphical look and feel. While this was good from a usability standpoint, the flair of all that unique software was lost. And the fewer choices of available software suddenly made those “old” programs valuable from a historical perspective.

Apple ][, BeOS, Commodore, CP/M, DeskMate, DESQview, DOS, GEM, GEOS, GeoWorks, Mac OS 6, 7, 8, 9, OS/2, PC/IX, Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, NT 3.x, and other “platforms” of the 1980’s and early 1990’s — their time was gone. It wasn’t coming back. And this meant that “old” and “obsolete” software was going to be discarded and destroyed.

Trying to preserve a part of computer history. I decided to undertake a personal project to collect and preserve the original media of as many 20th Century legacy computer software titles as I could find within the means of my humble budget. My goal is to preserve a part of computer history from being lost forever, and allow future generations to look back and appreciate the history of this software and actually be able to see and run it on compatible systems.

My Project & Goals

First and foremost, my primary goal is to collect, digitally image, and preserve fully usable 20th Century non-game computer software. I collect and image the physical, original title media.

The legacy commercial software titles I collect meet the following criteria: – The titles have a copyright date of 2000 or earlier – The media is original and complete – The media has no read errors, physical defects, etc. – The media is “clean,” containing no malware – The media can be fully installed on compatible systems – The software title can be run with all its functionality on compatible systems

Every legacy software title I acquire is tested to meet the above criteria. If it fails even one check it is not included in my collection.

The rarest of legacy shareware and freeware. While my primary collection focus is on original, physical commercial legacy software media, I have also collected several vintage 20th Century non-game shareware and freeware software titles. There were hundreds of thousands of 20th Century shareware and freeware programs created from the 1980’s to 2000. I choose to collect the oldest and rarest titles I can find.

Game on. In addition to collecting non-game 20th Century software, I have found many 20th Century computer games. I have collected the original, physical media of many commercial legacy games, and also found some rare shareware and freeware games. If I find legacy games that interest me I add them to my collection. The games I primarily collect are from the mid-1990’s and earlier.

Legacy software I do not collect includes: – Software titles with copyright dates of 2001 or later – Non-original, illegal, pirated, “cracked,” or “warez” copies – Software titles with missing media – Software titles with unreadable media – Software titles with unremovable malware – Adult-oriented software, games or images – Software to conduct illegal activities

The authentic legacy software I collect is historically valuable. There is no value in illegal software. I just say NO to “warez.”

Preserving the Past for the Future

Fading, bit by bit, every day. The magnetic signal embedded on the media contained inside floppy disks degrades slowly over time. One day, the magnetic signals on the floppy disks I have collected will become weak to the point their data will no longer be readable. Data on CD-ROM discs also degrades over time and one day their data will also be lost. If I only collected and stored these media disks there would come a time when their information would be lost and could not be retrieved.

I can’t store it all physically, but what can be imaged is preserved digitally. Being a personal collector with limited financial and storage resources, I do not have the capability to preserve every software title box set or even all the physical media of the software titles I collect. But every title I collect whose media is able to be digitized is preserved in a collective archive. While I may not have the physical area to store every disk, I have the digital capacity to preserve the equivalent of warehouses of physical media.

Image is everything. The best method of preserving this legacy software in vast quantities and against the deteriorating effects of time is to digitally encode the data on its media and save it to storage media in a standard format that can be written back to its original media formats. This digital encoding method is known as “imaging,” or creating digital disk images of the original software media.

Each disk is read with disk imaging software and a digital disk image file is created containing all of the disk’s encoded data — partition and sector size, boot sector information, file table information, and all of the files and file information contained on the disk. The disk image file is then saved to storage media. This process is repeated for every media disk in the software title. If a software title has 10 disks, the disk imaging software creates 10 digital disk images.

I created my first disk image on September 16, 1999. The digital disk images I have made, from the legacy software titles I have collected, form my digital archive. This archive is also backed up to additional storage media.

This digital archive does not reside on a server or “cloud,” and is not accessible from the Internet or via mobile devices. It is isolated off-line.

When your image just can’t be saved. Unfortunately, not every legacy software title I collect is able to be imaged. Exceptions to imaging include 8″ floppy disks, copy-protected 5¼” & 3½” floppy disks whose copy protection schemes do not allow imaging, and factory shrink-wrap box sets from which, obviously, the media cannot be accessed to image.

In these cases, the only methods of preservation are to store this media in a protective environment and make back up copies of the copy-protected 5¼” & 3½” floppy disks that specialized software can duplicate.

Special Appreciation for the Generous Donors To DLCC

When I first founded DLCC, I never expected such a generous outpouring of donations. I created DLCC in 1999 (originally known as “Dan’s 20th Century Abandonware”) to let the world rejoice in the nostalgia of a time that will never come again. What I didn’t expect was to be contacted by people and businesses wishing to donate legacy computer software, hardware, and computer-related items to my preservation project.

Thanks to these kind people, I have been able to collect and preserve many more legacy computer items than I would have ever been able to find on my own. Hundreds of legacy software titles, dozens of legacy computer hardware systems and components, and dozens of rare computer publications and manuals have been donated to be preserved.

My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation goes out to each and every person who was kind enough to consider DLCC to donate their portions of computer history to. You have helped make these collections what they are today.