[TUHS] Floppy to modern files for Usenet maps

[Grant Taylor]

On 6/23/19 5:10 PM, Mary Ann Horton Gmail wrote:
> Hunting around through my ancient stuff today, I ran across a 5.25" 
> floppy drive labeled as having old Usenet maps. These may have 
> historical interest.

Intriguing.

> First off, I don't recognize the handwriting on the disk. It's not mine. 
> Does anyone recognize it? (pic attached)
> 
> I dug out my AT&T 6300 (XT clone) from the garage and booted it up. The 
> floppy reads just fine. It has files with .MAP extension, which are 
> ASCII Usenet maps from 1980 to 1984, and some .BBM files which are ASCII 
> Usenet backbone maps up to 1987.
> 
> There is also a file whose extension is .GRF from 1983 which claims to 
> be a graphical Usenet map.  Does anyone have any idea what GRF is or 
> what this map might be? I recall Brian Reid having a plotter-based 
> Usenet geographic map in 84 or 85.

Hum.

> I'd like to copy these files off for posterity. They read on DOS just 
> fine. Is there a current best practice for copying off files? I would 
> have guessed I'd need a to use the serial port, but my old PC has DOS 
> 2.11 (not much serial copying software on it) and I don't have anything 
> live with a serial port anymore. And it might not help with the GRF file.

I wonder if you could get away with something as simple as a null modem 
cable and the following commands:

Source:

copy a:\file COM1

Destination:

copy COM1 c:\file

Does the source machine have a hard drive?

Do you have a blank (sacrificial) floppy disk?

Can you copy the files anywhere so that they are in more than one place?

Do you have a printer that you could create a (hexadecimal) printout?

Do you have a machine that can accept a USB-to-Serial adapter?

What about something like a Raspberry Pi?  It has a serial port (though 
it needs a level shifter).

> I took some photos of the screen with the earliest maps (the ones that 
> fit on one screen.) So it's an option to type things in, at least for 
> the early ASCII ones.

I'd be interested in seeing them.  Do you have a place that you can 
upload them to?



-- 
Grant. . . .
unix || die

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