Shareware Professionals

[Juancho]

As I've been slowly setting up this vintage Compaq LTE 5000 laptop
with Jvaqbjf 3.1 (not Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf, mind you) and Internet
access, and furnishing the machine with the period-correct software
which is needed to make it tick, I've found a name I had last heard
more than 25 years ago: "The Association of Shareware Professionals"
(a.k.a. ASP).

Oh, the memories! Anyone around here used to be affiliated with them?

[Gary Barnes]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2024 21:28:53 +0100, Juancho
<***@notreally.com> wrote:
: As I've been slowly setting up this vintage Compaq LTE 5000 laptop
: with Jvaqbjf 3.1 (not Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf, mind you) and Internet
: access, and furnishing the machine with the period-correct software
: which is needed to make it tick, I've found a name I had last heard
: more than 25 years ago: "The Association of Shareware Professionals"
: (a.k.a. ASP).
:
: Oh, the memories! Anyone around here used to be affiliated with them?

No, but I do remember when shareware was a thing.

I never got any money directly from users for DiscContent, but I did get
paid by Amstrad Action for the publishing rights.

Eventually, when I threatened to set lawyers on them.

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=14996

It was written in C, and I recall that I computationally generated the
copyright notice, so you couldn't just search and replace it in the binary
file.

Cynical? Moi?

Gaz

[Juancho]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2024 16:09:51 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
I never got any money directly from users for DiscContent, but I did get
paid by Amstrad Action for the publishing rights.

I arrived to the diskette-distributed PC-based shareware-scene in its
last hours, but I do remember buying a 720 KB 3.5" diskette with the
Bio-Menace game for DOS (it came inside a colorful, giant cardboard
blister), and having a blast with that minimalistic game.

Other than that, I never bought any shareware, as I was too young to
use the computer (an IBM PS/1 with a 486SX and 4 MB RAM) for anything
but exploring what was available software-wise.

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:40:47 +0100, Juancho
<***@notreally.com> wrote:
: On Tue, 16 Jan 2024 16:09:51 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes
: >I never got any money directly from users for DiscContent, but I did get
: >paid by Amstrad Action for the publishing rights.
:
: I arrived to the diskette-distributed PC-based shareware-scene in its
: last hours, but I do remember buying a 720 KB 3.5" diskette with the
: Bio-Menace game for DOS (it came inside a colorful, giant cardboard
: blister), and having a blast with that minimalistic game.
:
: Other than that, I never bought any shareware, as I was too young to
: use the computer (an IBM PS/1 with a 486SX and 4 MB RAM) for anything
: but exploring what was available software-wise.

DiscContent was written to use 3" floppies, but was distributed on cassette.

Fuck me, I'm old.

Gaz

[Juancho]

On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:03:12 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
DiscContent was written to use 3" floppies, but was distributed on cassette.

On cassete! Now, that *is* vintage.

[Gary Barnes]

On Mon, 15 Jan 2024 01:55:43 +0100, Juancho
<***@notreally.com> wrote:
: On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:03:12 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes
: > DiscContent was written to use 3" floppies, but was distributed on cassette.
:
: On cassete! Now, that *is* vintage.

Oh, a computer with a built-in tape drive was cutting-edge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464

Gaz

[Roger Bell_West]

Post by Gary Barnes
Oh, a computer with a built-in tape drive was cutting-edge.

Spectrum people, back in the day: "oh, you have to buy a special tape
drive, I can just use any old tape recorder I find lying around."

Commodore people (including me): "I have never had to fiddle with the
volume."

[Gary Barnes]

On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 10:18:27 -0000 (UTC), Roger Bell_West
<roger+***@nospam.firedrake.org> wrote:
: On 2024-01-17, Gary Barnes wrote:
:
: >Oh, a computer with a built-in tape drive was cutting-edge.
:
: Spectrum people, back in the day: "oh, you have to buy a special tape
: drive, I can just use any old tape recorder I find lying around."
:
: Commodore people (including me): "I have never had to fiddle with the
: volume."

The speccy people always knocked the lead after 20 minutes and had to rewind
and start again...

I hated the Spectrum. Ghastliest keyboard ever, and what was with each key
being a word, not a letter? Gah.

My first computer? TRS-80 CoCo 2.

Cartridges for the win!

Oh, gods, this takes me back:

https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Manuals/Games/Wildcatting%20(Tandy).pdf

Gaz

[Michel]

Post by Gary Barnes
On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 10:18:27 -0000 (UTC), Roger Bell_West
: Spectrum people, back in the day: "oh, you have to buy a special tape
: drive, I can just use any old tape recorder I find lying around."
: Commodore people (including me): "I have never had to fiddle with the
: volume."
The speccy people always knocked the lead after 20 minutes and had to rewind
and start again...

Friend of mine with a C=64 must've had a picky one then.

I remember knocking the lead type errors, and having to turn the telly
off whenever the tape drive was in use, ideally with us retreating to
the far side of the room. Step away from the keyboard and your software
*might* load.

In the end we found that one solution for that problem was to suspend
the tape drive from under a shelf using those big postie rubber bands.
Things loaded just fine after that.

[Juancho]

Post by Michel
In the end we found that one solution for that problem was to suspend
the tape drive from under a shelf using those big postie rubber bands.
Things loaded just fine after that.

Loading a game from cassete tape was not fun. I remember my friend
manually rewinding one using a BIC penball, while the other tape was RUN"

[Satya]

Dang, almost top-posted....

On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 15:27:25 +0100, Michel wrote:
[spectrums... spectra?]

Post by Michel
I remember knocking the lead type errors, and having to turn the telly
off whenever the tape drive was in use, ideally with us retreating to
the far side of the room. Step away from the keyboard and your software
*might* load.

EM interference?

Post by Michel
In the end we found that one solution for that problem was to suspend
the tape drive from under a shelf using those big postie rubber bands.
Things loaded just fine after that.

Ah, yes, dampen vibrations.

I try not to move when I'm using my (consumer-grade, but going fine after 20
years) flat-bed scanner.

[Michel]

Post by Juancho
On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:03:12 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
DiscContent was written to use 3" floppies, but was distributed on cassette.

On cassete! Now, that *is* vintage.

I remember taping stuff off the radio for the Acorn Electron.

And I also vaguely remember a friend with an Atari who had
software distributed on a record.

[The Horny Goat]

Post by Michel

Post by Juancho
On Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:03:12 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
DiscContent was written to use 3" floppies, but was distributed on cassette.

On cassete! Now, that *is* vintage.

I remember taping stuff off the radio for the Acorn Electron.
And I also vaguely remember a friend with an Atari who had
software distributed on a record.

My Apple II+ came with several casette tapes but since I paid $700 for
their 143k floppy drive (yup - floppy not hard) they gathered dust. I
assume I got rid of these cassettes when my II packed it in.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by Gary Barnes
No, but I do remember when shareware was a thing.

I suspect I may be one of the very few people in the world who paid
the registration fee for John Bradley's `xv` <s>pr0n</s> image viewing
tool. Don't recall what it was, but I got a printed manual and a code
to define on the compiler command line to remove the "UNREGISTERED"
watermark in the UI. I remember using Procomm in the PC-DOS days but
I don't recall whether I persuaded my family to register it or not.

-GAWollman

[Claudio Calvelli]

Post by Garrett Wollman
I suspect I may be one of the very few people in the world who paid
the registration fee for John Bradley's `xv` <s>pr0n</s> image viewing
tool. Don't recall what it was, but I got a printed manual and a code
to define on the compiler command line to remove the "UNREGISTERED"
watermark in the UI.

I still use an "unregistered" copy of XV even though I once did send the
money, but I since lost the code to remove teh "unregistered" watermark.

Since full sources are available it wouldn't be too difficult to "cheat"
and remove the watermark anyway. But of course one doesn't.

C

[Stephen Harris]

Post by Gary Barnes
I never got any money directly from users for DiscContent, but I did get
paid by Amstrad Action for the publishing rights.

Not shareware, but postcardware, and published by "PC Plus" on one of
their cover disks. Kinda symlinks for DOS executables to keep your PATH
small.

I lost the code for a long time then found out that I'd also submitted
it to SIMTEL20 and so found a copy there :-)

https://www.sweharris.org/post/2012-06-01-exelink/

I have no idea if anyone except me ever used it. But I really wrote it
for myself and got a cheque from PC Plus, so it's all good!

[Rob Adams]

Post by Juancho
As I've been slowly setting up this vintage Compaq LTE 5000 laptop
with Jvaqbjf 3.1 (not Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf, mind you) and Internet
access, and furnishing the machine with the period-correct software
which is needed to make it tick, I've found a name I had last heard
more than 25 years ago: "The Association of Shareware Professionals"
(a.k.a. ASP).
Oh, the memories! Anyone around here used to be affiliated with them?

I had something sitting in atari.archive back in the day, was published
as postcardware, and I did actually receive one postcard some years later.

It was a system reboot app, you had to place it in the auto folder on
the floppy to make the system reboot and run from the HDD instead
becasue the HDD hadnt become active the first time past.

[The Horny Goat]

Post by Juancho
As I've been slowly setting up this vintage Compaq LTE 5000 laptop
with Jvaqbjf 3.1 (not Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf, mind you) and Internet
access, and furnishing the machine with the period-correct software
which is needed to make it tick, I've found a name I had last heard
more than 25 years ago: "The Association of Shareware Professionals"
(a.k.a. ASP).
Oh, the memories! Anyone around here used to be affiliated with them?

Only Jvaqbjf 3.11 was ever called Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf and was the
first version to include a very rudimentary networking ability.

I was never affiliated with them ohg qvq trg zl Zvpebfbsg
Pregvsvpngvba sbe Jvaqbjf 95 which basically re-did the networking
abilities of 3.11 fairly functionally and improved on it with 98.....

[Juancho]

Post by The Horny Goat
Only Jvaqbjf 3.11 was ever called Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf and was the
first version to include a very rudimentary networking ability.

There are traces on the Internet of this:
https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/wfw-31

But I didn't ever see it in the wild. In fact, I never saw anything but
plain 3.1, as I was just a home user without any LAN and the Internet
was not in my radar.

Post by The Horny Goat
I was never affiliated with them ohg qvq trg zl Zvpebfbsg
Pregvsvpngvba sbe Jvaqbjf 95 which basically re-did the networking
abilities of 3.11 fairly functionally and improved on it with 98.....

In plain 3.1 there is no networking support at all, the NIC drivers
are loaded in DOS/autoexec.bat before loading the "win" command. And
that is precisely what I am doing: DOS packet driver, Windows, Trumpet
Winsock, Apps.

[Satya]

Post by Juancho

Post by The Horny Goat
Only Jvaqbjf 3.11 was ever called Jvaqbjf sbe Jbextebhcf and was the

I never dealt with this professionally, yet I can read those without the magic
ring decoder.

Post by Juancho
https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-3/wfw-31

V guvax V unir sybccl qvfx vzntr svyrf fbzrjurer. Pbhyqa'g svther bhg ubj gb
trg vg vagb n IZ gb cynl byq tnzrf, gubhtu.

Jryy guvf vf whfg fnq:
/ova/onfu: yvar 1: /hfe/tnzrf/ebg13: Ab fhpu svyr be qverpgbel

Uzz, ncg vafgnyy ofqtnzrf? Ba zl Linux? Ab jnl!

[Gary Barnes]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2024 11:59:04 -0000 (UTC), Satya
<***@satyaonline.cjb.net> wrote:
: Jryy guvf vf whfg fnq:
: /ova/onfu: yvar 1: /hfe/tnzrf/ebg13: Ab fhpu svyr be qverpgbel
:
: Uzz, ncg vafgnyy ofqtnzrf? Ba zl Linux? Ab jnl!

Fortunately, slrn has it built-in, and my finger-macroes hit ESC-r before I
even realised what I was doing.

Gaz

[Juancho]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2024 13:44:50 -0000 (UTC), Gary Barnes

Post by Gary Barnes
Fortunately, slrn has it built-in, and my finger-macroes hit ESC-r before I
even realised what I was doing.

slrn indeed has it buil-in. But this beautiful, *beautiful* Forte Agent
1.93 program for 16-bit Jvaqbjf also has it - bound to the Ctrl+3 hotkey.

In fact, now that I think of it, there is nothing I *really* care about
which I cannot do in this vintage Compaq LTE 5000 running Jvaqbjf 3.1.
Email, Gopher, FTP, Usenet, IRC, SSH, WordPerfect 5.1? - Got that covered!

I may try to install Jvaqbjf AG 3.51 on this machine, because it's
somewhat annoying that WinPlay3 stops playing for 40 seconds straight when
I use PuTTY to connect to my main Yvahk battlestation. Clearly Jvaqbjf 3.1
scheduler is not the best of the pack, it has to pay its duties to the
underlying ZF-QBF core it runs on.

[Rob Adams]

Post by Gary Barnes
Fortunately, slrn has it built-in, and my finger-macroes hit ESC-r before I
even realised what I was doing.

Unfortunately Guhaqreoveq seems to have absolutely no concept on how to
handle this.