************************************** * Floppyshop Gold Volume Four CD-ROM * ************************************** The files in this folder are a complete directory listing of the above named CD-ROM. All programs on the disc are fully catalogued on the CD, the files in this archive are merely directory listings. Here's some background information on the Floppyshop Gold Collection... **************************************************************************** It all began back in April 1987 when the STFM was released and Steve Delaney bought a 520 STFM with mono monitor and a handful of PD disks from ST Club and STar UK. Within three months, he taught himself the basics and launched the Floppyshop User Group and its popular bi-monthly newsletter, Floppyshop News. The PD library (originally only available to members) started out with a mere 88 single-sided disks and grew at the rate of 80-120 disks every couple of months for the next few years. A lot has happened between then and now, including Floppyshop News' runner up placement in the first National Desktop Publishing Awards, several successful commercial releases, Irene Lamb joining Floppyshop and taking over much of the day to day running of the business, Steve's various spells as news editor of three leading Atari publication, the launch of the world's first (perhaps only) PD Library for the Atari Falcon and much more.... Throughout the years, Floppyshop's detailed catalogue gained the respect of customers and by early 1998, it could safely be said that they were the last "active" Atari PDL in the world. Three or four others remained contactable, but none were actively updating their collection. By mid-1998, the ST Catalogue had around 3900 disks and there were almost 900 disks in the Falcon catalogue. When the market does eventually dry up, what will happen to this impressive software collection? Will it be lost forever? With this sobering thought in mind, combined with the fact that an increasing number of Atari owners now have access to CD-ROM drives (either connected directly to their Atari or to a PC at work), it made sense to release the entire Floppyshop collection on CD-ROM. And thus, Floppyshop Gold was born...... Floppyshop Gold is a collection of seven CD-ROM discs which feature every single disk from the current (July 1998) Floppyshop ST and Falcon catalogues. Each comes complete with its own catalogue, detailing every program on every disk, just as you would expect. In addition, each CD contains directory listings from the other six, making it easy to track down the programs you need. Most programs are ready to run, those few which are archived were supplied in that format to enable them to be re-distributed on floppies. We decided to leave them as is, to enable you to copy them to floppies to swap with friends or exchange on-line in sensible sized chunks. The first five volumes are primarily for the ST, though much of the software will also run on the TT and Falcon. Volumes six and seven are specifically for the Falcon 030, though there's a lot of excellent JPEG and GIF images on volume seven which could be used equally well on any computer. Volume five is an oddity as it can be used on an ST, PC or Macintosh (see below for details) but not a TT or Falcon. All CDs contain approximately the same amount of data, but the number of categories on each varies due to the differing sizes of each category. Here's a brief overview of what's on the various CDs:- **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME ONE - Contains all the UTILITY, WORD PROCESSING and PROGRAMMING disks along with our popular Floppyshop Compilation Disks featuring the best software from all categories. **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME TWO - Contains all the ART and GRAPHICS programs along with all the FONT disks from the library. **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME THREE - Contains all the GAMES, MIDI, MUSIC, EDUCATIONAL and COMMUNICATION software from the catalogue. **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME FOUR - Contains the widest range of software from CLIPART to SOUND files, with everything in-between including the YOUR SECOND MANUAL support disks, PRODUCT DEMOS, PICTURES, ASTROLOGY and DISK MAGAZINES. You don't get much more diverse than GOLD CD 4! **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME FIVE - The ST became "famous" for its demos and demo coder achieved the status of "cult heroes". This CD is dedicated exclusively to these people. It contains all the demos in our collection, archived using the Magic Shadow Archiver (supplied). Many demos had to be archived as they ran directly from the bootsector and could be stored in any other format. The Nostalgia and PowerST Atari emulators on the Macintosh and the Pacifist emulator on the PC all recognise MSA archives and can boot from them as if they were real floppy disks. These emulators are supplied on disc, allowing owners of PC and Macintosh computers to run the demos straight from the CD. Unfortunately ST owners will have to restore them to floppy disks first! **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME SIX - Contains the first half of our Falcon collection. Categories on this CD are ART & GRAPHICS, COMMUNICATIONS, EDUCATION, FONTS, MUSIC, PRODUCT DEMOS, PROGRAMMING, SOUND files and UTILITIES. **************************************************************************** FLOPPYSHOP GOLD VOLUME SEVEN - The remaining categories of this bumper collection can be found here. They are CLIP ART, ENTERTAINMENT DEMOS, GAMES and PICTURES. **************************************************************************** We are certain you will enjoy owning (and indeed using) this unique collection just as much as we have enjoyed collecting it..... Floppyshop, PO Box 273, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. AB15 8GJ. Tel: 01224 586208 (Intl +44 1224 312756) email: floppyshop@cyberstrider.org