Dosbox And .pnd-File Video ... Posted!

[namx]

OMG!!!!

What about x-wing or tie fighter? it would be just incredible to play those games on my pandora

 

[Chip]

I think all these games are abondonware

Both games you mentioned have been released as freeware by their rightsholders. That is not the same as "abandonware". Legally, there's no such thing.

 

[Wheels]

I think all these games are abondonware and can be downloaded freely on the net if you want to give any a try.

There's no such thing as "abandonware." It's not a legit label for old software for you to get your hands on, it's a term people came up with to rationalize distributing ROMs without permission.
Unless whomever holds the rights to the software explicitly releases it to the public for free downloading (open source it, freeware it, or public domain it), chances are you don't have permission to download it. I really wish it were otherwise, but that's how things are and people need to abandon the idea of "abandonware" until such a thing actually exists in copyright law.

*edit* durn, ninja'd!

 

[Spinja12]

Thanks for the info on abandonware. I never really looked into it. I guess you can't really "abandon" software.

At least they are both freeware now.

 

[DasFool]

Dosbox is usually configured to mount a directory as drive C.. I just setthe conf to be /dosbox on the sd.. So the pnd Included the emu and some
confs only, with the games on the sd in their own dirs

jeff

Sounds great. Pretty much how I expected it to work.

 

[second exodous]

I always thought 'abandonware' meant that the company that owned the software went under and it wasn't clear who owned the copyright as games are made by large groups, not individuals. Or when the company was bought up and the new owners have no recored of buying rights to software there for no one know who owns it, so suing people downloading the software would be impossible anyway.

I think all the abandonware sites know that it is still copyrighted by someone, but no one knows who and if those people are still around to claim it. If the company disappears and someone dies that should own it and didn't pass on the copyright then it should enter public domain, but there is no source code, and like I said above, software is written by groups not individuals. Software is not as clear cut books and to this day it confuses 'the powers that be' as to what it is exactly.

Bottom line that you do run a risk by downloading abandonware but its sketchy what that risk is or who will come after you. Most of the time there is no one to come after you, and those that can don't even know they can. So download at your own risk and hope if someone does come after copyright infringers they go after the sites that host the files rather than the people doing the downloading. Or buy a legal copy off of ebay if you can find it, that's always the best.

EDIT: Yeah, I scrolled up to what Chip linked and I'm mostly correct. Abandonware is not a leagal term but more of an effort to preserve history. I never thought about it but the media some of this software is stored on is in no way archival quality so if it wasn't classified as 'abandonware' by some then it would just cease to exist because the people that might own it don't know they own it or are even aware that it exists.

So yeah, do some research on each title before downloading, try to find out who owns it before you download. If the company just went under then you could/might be safe, not because the copyright is not in effect but because there is just no one to come after you. Do your research though.

 

[Wheels]

Most of the time the music industry won't come after you at all either, but that doesn't make it alright to swap tracks over Usenet.
The point is that "abandonware" isn't really an out if you care about copyrights at all. Seeing as how copyright is the only thing that, among other benefits, makes GPL and open-source licensing work, I'd rather support it and try to change the ridiculous bits through legitimate means than ignoring it whenever it'd be convenient for me. I'd also rather people didn't get the wrong idea about how it works.

 

[second exodous]

Most of the time the music industry won't come after you at all either, but that doesn't make it alright to swap tracks over Usenet.
The point is that "abandonware" isn't really an out if you care about copyrights at all. Seeing as how copyright is the only thing that, among other benefits, makes GPL and open-source licensing work, I'd rather support it and try to change the ridiculous bits through legitimate means than ignoring it whenever it'd be convenient for me. I'd also rather people didn't get the wrong idea about how it works.

I agree, it's morally wrong and I said do some research first. Really, you can't justify it by crying preservation because it has already been preserved by someone if you're downloading it obviously.

 

[Awakening]

L B A !

I hope it runs well on Pandora. I just love that game, and I wish I could play LBA2 on my Pandora as well.


Edit:
Now I got the urge to connect my laptop to my TV and plug in a PS2 controller and play all day long

 

[Dead1nside]

Oh I'm glad there's fellow LBA lovers here, there was a Playstation version of the first one so hopefully that'll run. LBA2 was really my very first game that I completed, it was awesome.

 

[Awakening]

Two of the best games ever made, perhaps not the smoothest controls or even perfect gameplay but genuinely a lot of fun to play with great adventure elements and story. Probably the only action adventure games worthy of being compared to the Zelda games, but providing a whole different feel.

I can still sing the Ferry Man song from LBA2

 

[SNESFAN]

www.*************.net

the motherload of abandonware a site I frequent every now and agian

 

[ashdjones]

Time till link deletion...

 

[mali]

That site doesn't look illegal, tbh. It doesn't provide direct download links, just google search strings.

 

[Grench]

Master of Magic
XCOM


XCOM was always a touchy one to try to get to run in the CMD prompt from Windows 98, XP, etc...

The most recent version of it, downloadable through steam, actually downloads DOSBOX onto a windows machine to then play the game - rather hilarious in my book.

 

[SNESFAN]

Time till link deletion...

read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Underdogs
and (see below) there are still alot of good titles for download, it once was a very nice site, they let it go and most of their database has to be rebuilt.

Look around, there are still plenty of good games for download directly from their site.

The site claimed to be more of a museum than a download site, offering what were by them considered "great" games that never received due attention upon their initial releases. It was also asserted that the site was careful about copyright concerns, so if a game available for download became once more available for purchase, or if a game's copyright holder so requested, the downloadable files were removed and replaced with a link to the site selling the game, if applicable. The site has also removed a number of ESA/IDSA members' titles from its download archive.

 

[ashdjones]

That site doesn't look illegal, tbh. It doesn't provide direct download links, just google search strings.

So it does! I haven't actually used the site in about ten years, so forgive my ignorance.

 

[Prometheus]

Look around, there are still plenty of good games for download directly from their site.

Are they games that they're legally allowed to redistribute?

 

[Paradox]

I think all these games are abondonware

Both games you mentioned have been released as freeware by their rightsholders. That is not the same as "abandonware". Legally, there's no such thing.

not in america, anyway. america isn't the whole world remember. contrary to what some people think.

 

[relapse808]

Another huge LBA fan here. I would really love to see LBA2 on the pandora. I doubt dosbox has the power to do it.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/twin-e/

Maybe this would be possible to port to pandora but I am not sure.