Sometimes I feel I do nothing more than to waste my life tediously pointing out that just because something is old, it doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Sometimes, however, even I have to admit that society has moved on. Slapping hot girls on the arse with no warning is no longer an acceptable part of society, and nor are public domain libraries. Going through a catalogue, selecting your discs, filling out the order form, writing out a cheque, popping it all in the post, and waiting for a week has been replaced by the simple click of a mouse.
However, going through yet another of my boxes recently, I found my old paper catalogue for BBC PD; a BBC Micro public domain library. It’s catalogue no. 15, from June 1993; vague memories tell me it was the penultimate one before the library closed down, but I can’t confirm. As I can’t find any scans online, I thought some of you might find it interesting. As ever, apologies for the bad state of the source material and my terrible scanning:
BBC PD Summary Catalogue No. 15 (PDF, 32MB)
Sadly, the library closed down before I could order more than one set of discs. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, however, most of the library is available from 8bs.com – search the page for “BBC PD Library”. (The disc-based version of the catalogue is also available.) Finally, I can hear all that music removed for copyright reasons…
One comment
Nick on 14 October 2010 @ 1pm
It’s a beautiful stained sight. I recall a great Amiga PD library in the 90s… first time I placed an order I asked if they had any implementations of Conway’s Life, and when my disks arrived there was a torn-out corner of a magazine with a suitable app circled. I was very impressed that they’d defaced their magazines, because I was then in the habit of filing them carefully away in the misguided notion that people would be interested in ancient computer paraphernalia in the far-flung future.
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