The Internet Archive Software Collection is the largest vintage and historical software library in the world,
(You can submit your collection, can use sources and help them whole heatedly
Source collected from https://archive.org)
Source collected from https://archive.org)
providing instant access to millions of
programs, CD-ROM images, documentation and multimedia.
The collection
includes a broad range of software related materials including shareware,
freeware, video news releases about software titles, speed runs of actual
software game play, previews and promos for software games, high-score and
skill replays of various game genres, and the art of filmmaking with real-time
computer game engines.
Some highlighted collections:
is a retrocomputing initiative dedicated to the
cataloging and preservation of software, firmware and resources for
microcomputers, minicomputers and video game consoles. The main goal of the
project is to catalog and audit various kinds of software and firmware images
for these systems. TOSEC catalogs over 200 unique computing platforms and
continues to grow. The project has identified and cataloged over 450,000
different software images/sets, consisting of over 3.60TB of software, firmware
and resources. The goal of the TOSEC project is to maintain a database of all
software and firmware images for all microcomputers, minicomputers and video
game consoles. In addition to this, the project also catalogs other computing
and gaming resources such as software and hardware manuals, magazine scans and
computing catalogs.
collects thousands of Shareware and Cover CD-ROMs from the heyday of
the CD-ROM (late 1980s to mid 2000s) and provides ISO images as well as links
inside these collections of software. With over 2,500 discs now hosted, the
archive allows access to a wide range of historical collections, including
curations by defunct groups like Walnut Creek and Linux/Unix distributions of
the past. Other CD-ROMs include images and digitized music, documentation sets
and game modifications. Most of these CD-ROMs can be downloaded as .ISO or .CDR
files, as well as browsed online through the Internet Archive's file listing
interface.
is a curated collection hosting over 4,000
classic PC-based games from a quarter century. The collection contains
shareware, freeware, and demo programs, all DOS or Windows-based.
is a collection of various FTP sites from around the internet,
gathering what were once the dominant form of file transfer online but which
have fallen to the wayside in favor of other update servers and cloud-based
storage. From the mid 1980s to the late 2010s, FTP sites would gather various
needed patches, programs, utilities or information and make it available in a
quick, seamless fashion. This boneyard contains many prominent FTP sites of the
past, including MPOLI.FI and its ancient machine drivers, ftp.netscape.com and ftp.lotus.com.
In all, many gigabytes of historical files are
located here.
Many times,
contributions and collections come in the form of a disk drive, or the output
from a single hard drive's contents. Instead of delaying these items until they
can be curated, the Disk Drives collection provides access to these large
file repositories. In most cases, these collections can be browsed online,
allowing access to all manner of user-created software writing dating from the
1980s-1990s period.
Built from the cache
of an ISP that stopped providing a mirror after many years, the Linux Distributions collection contains many Linux and other Free OS distributions going
back to the dawn of open-source operating systems. The collection primarily
contains ISOs of the original CD and DVD-ROMs.
Many other groups
are working hard to save and provide easier access to vintage software. Besides
preserving the data off the original medium, these groups also classify,
curate, and describe the software for historical context. In some cases,
additional programs are provided to analyze the works and allow modern
computers to access the material. The vintage software contains the many different efforts put out by these groups.
Be sure to browse
the Software Sites collection, which gathers a number of
now-dormant mirrors and collections to allow continued access to the older
materials. Among the highlights are a 2004 TUCOWS mirror,
a 2012 GITHUB gathering of deleted files, and others.
Finally, do not miss
the Open Source Software Collection, which is the default contribution space for the
users of the Internet Archive to keep copies of software available to all. Tens
of thousands of programs, distributions and provisions are located here.
The Software
Collection primarily provides the actual binary data for programs, as well as
the original storage archives for files. If you are looking for manuals, books,
or printed information, there are a number of other collections at the archive,
including sections for manuals, computer magazines, computer newsletters and computer books.
Please contact Jason Scott, software curator
at the Internet Archive, with questions, suggestions or possible donations to
the collection.
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