Re: what info should a dsk image archive store?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

jonnosan wrote:
> Thanks for all the good ideas.
>
> Here's a summary of suggestions so far:
> ###############################################################
> CATALOG INFO:
> - Application Name
> - Application Publisher
> - Application Author(s) (if known)
> - Year of publication
> - what type of protection was used?
> - what group/cracker released the disk?
> - media type (5.25 / 3.5 / HD image / cassette?)
> - disk format (DOS, ProDOS, Pascal, CP/M, custom)
> - total number of disk sides (Wizardry is 2, Time Zone is 10)
> - platforms supported ("any", "enhanced //e or later", "IIgs")
> - how much memory is needed to run it (ie. 4KB, 48KB, 64KB, 128KB,
> 2MB)
> - supports Mockingboard sound (y/n)
> - input devices required (joystick, paddles, mouse)
> - original legal status (freeware, shareware, commercial
> - current status as some have been reclassified as public domain,
> freeware or shareware
>
> DOCS:
> - Documentation should include both official and cracker docs, if
> available
> - link to Wikipedia or other relevant articles
>
> DSK IMAGES:
> - Include supplemental disks such as dictionary/thesaurus modules for
> word processors, or picture libraries for The Print Shop
> - For games with multiple releases (such as Akalabeth), an image of
> each release
> - For games cracked by multiple groups, include an image of each
> crack
> (or better to have one archive for each crack or version, but have a
> 'related works' item to record relationships?)
>
> CATEGORIES:
> - Application Category (needs to have some kind of constrained and
> structured list of categories e.g. "Applications/Word Processor"
> "Games/Arcade"
> - Include a category for "underground" software such as Hayes
> Hackamatic and Phantom Access
> - Include a category for user-group disks (old electronic
> newsletters,  program compilations, etc.)
>
> COMMENTARY:
> - Notations about issues with emulators, e.g. Wizardry 1 only runs
> properly in AppleWin if you open it as read-only, Galactic Prospector
> doesn't boot at all
> - personal notes on where disk came from
> ###############################################################
>
> Next question: if this info was in a file to be included in a zip (or
> similar format) file along with docs and dsks, would it be easier to
> have the file in an XML format or something easier to create by hand
> in notepad?

I think what Matt was getting at in suggesting XML was creating a
machine-understandable format.  From a practical perspective, this
suggests a "packaging tool" that prompts the submitter for all the
relevant information and properly incorporates it into XML.

Anything done with a text editor is going to allow lots of non-
standard "keywords" and other data, inevitably.

BTW, I half-humorously suggested a "parallel bit vector" to
indicate whether the corresponding "compatibility bit" was
valid.  A better approach is to make the compatibility field
something besides a Boolean.  Likely values might be: "certainly
incompatible", "possibly compatible", "certainly compatible",
and "unknown".

You get the idea.  Lots of desirable attributes of images will
not be known by submitters, and this must be explicitly represented
rather than forcing a likely erroneous choice.

"Bad information drives out good", so you want to do everything
possible to preserve the best information.  Otherwise, its value
will be undermined and it will not be used.

-michael

Parallel computing for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/mjmahon

"The wastebasket is our most important design
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