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1986-10-31
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7KB
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162 lines
con:0/0/640/200/ICPUG & THE AMIGA LIBRARY
THE INDEPENDENT COMMODORE PRODUCTS USERS GROUP
----------------------------------------------
The only recognised Users' group for Commodore products in the UK, ICPUG can
offer many advantages for the Commodore user:
░ Over 70 local groups with regular meetings
░ Superb newsletter - 80+ pages every two months
░ Free software library for nearly every Commodore machine
░ Help and advice
░ Wide ranging discount scheme
1986/7 UK subscription is ú10, although overseas members have different
subscriptions which reflect different postal rates. For details, please
send a stamped & addressed envelope to the Membership Secretary:
Jack Cohen,
30, Brancaster Road,
Newbury Park,
ILFORD
Essex IG2 7EP
||
THE ICPUG AMIGA LIBRARY
-----------------------
There is a range of freely distributable software for the AMIGA, and ICPUG
has collected, checked and sorted the items from a range of sources. The
principle one being the so-called FISH disks, a collection of programs
collected and checked by Fred Fish, from California. This has led the
ICPUG library to be nick-named "Filleted Fish".
There are other sources of such software, including databases such as
Compuserve, DELPHI and BIX in the USA and Compunet and PRESTEL in the UK.
Software companies may also release disks with demonstrations or
documentation and, of course, ICPUG members may contribute.
In general, most of the material in the ICPUG library is "public domain"
(that is, copyright has been waived to allow free distribution or
modification of the software) - however, many authors retain copyright on
their creations, although they are happy for them to be freely distributed
PROVIDED that the copyright notices are preserved.
||
As a matter of policy, only items known to be freely distributable are
included in the library. This will be the case if they:
contain explicit copyright notices permitting redistribution.
contain an explicit notice placing them in the public domain.
were posted to a publically accessable bulletin board and did not
contain any copyright notice.
were posted to a widely disseminated electronic network, thus
implying their author/poster intended them to be freely distributed
but only if they contain no notice limiting distribution.
have been provided by the author or distributor with written
confirmation that they may be freely distributed.
Any items subsequently discovered to have had copyright notices removed, or
were provided outside these guidelines, will be removed immediately from the
library.
||
ICPUG AMIGA LIBRARY - ORGANISATION
As far as possible, applications/programs are contained in their own
directories together with source code and documentation when available (in
README, .DOC or POSTER files), with some disks having separate directories
for different sub-categories. Executable programs may have .LATTICE or .MANX
(or similar) suffixes to indicate the compiler used.
All disks include library-related files, including this file (_about.ICPUG)
_about.this.disk (details of files on the disk) plus s/startup-sequence
devs/system-configuration and .info files. Apart from the "s" and "devs"
directories, all these files begin with "_" (underscore) to separate them.
Some programs are only executable from the Command Line Interface (CLI).
This is usually done by typing the directory name followed by the program
name. For instance, the program FILEZAP may be executed by the sequence:
df1:filezap/filezap filename
BASIC programs are generally restricted to AmigaBASIC (MicroSoft's BASIC
for the Amiga) and these may be suffixed .MSB.
||
ICPUG AMIGA LIBRARY - ORGANISATION
Library disks are divided into several broad categories, and disks will
normally contain as detailed a collection of files as possible. However, a
GENERAL category is used for those not interested in source code. As far as
possible, these disks will be configured for running directly from WorkBench.
Utilities disk, file, C, graphics, printer, system, general
Text including text processing and formatters
Audio digitised sounds, audio demos & speech programs
Pictures hi- medium- & lo-res pictures (most in IFF format)
Languages compilers & interpreters and associated utilities
Recreation Entertainment, including games
Examples programming examples in C, BASIC etc.
Comms including terminal emulators & comms utilities
Documents misc documentation files (generally fairly advanced)
Demos misc demonstrations (use from WorkBench)
Graphics variety of graphics programs
Copies of the executable files should be put onto the user's own disks as
it is NOT intended that the ICPUG library disk be used as a working disk.
||
The "about.this.disk" file (readable through WorkBench or CLI) contains
details of the programs as in the following example from UTILITY_1:
disk/DiskSalv/ by Dave Haynie (Fish 20)
DiskSalv Makes a valiant attempt at copying a corrupted
disk - recreates directories as required
DiskSalv.c Source Code
POSTER detailed documentation
The first line contains the directory path to get at the file (in this
case the files are in the DISKSALV subdirectory of DISK) - the author(s)
names and the source of the software (in this case, Fish disk number 20).
The executable file(s) are given first (with brief description), followed
by the source files (of which there may be MANY!) and finally, details of
the documentation provided.
Occasionally, MAKE files are included, and these are intended for use with
MAKE utilities during compilation.
||
ICPUG AMIGA LIBRARY
Any contributions to the Amiga library are welcome. Please send them, with
as much documentation (on disk!) as possible, and include source code where
possible, details of how the program should be compiled and a statement of
the status of the program as far as copyright is concerned. Address them to:
Mike Todd,
27, Nursery Gardens,
Welwyn Garden City
Herts AL7 1SF
Details of the complete ICPUG Amiga library and how to obtain copies of the
disks can be obtained from the same address (include a stamped and addressed
envelope please). The general rule is that up to five disks (they do not
need to be formatted) should be sent to the appropriate librarian with return
packaging and postage included.
It is very difficult for ICPUG to answer detailled enquiries regarding the
library disks - but we would welcome reports of serious problems that may
be encountered with the software.