Reviving CD-ROM material [was: Re: Livecode and interactive video]

[Colin Holgate]

Between Feb 1992 when I moved to the US, and May 1995, most of the floppy disks and CD-ROMs I programmed were done in HyperCard. Any of those would be easy enough to hack. I had been doing the Mac version, and other companies would do the PC version. From May 1995, being cross platform right away was more important, and so I started using Macromedia Director. For those CD-ROM I would either keep the document files in their editable format, or I would have a folder on the CD that included the editable files. The way I looked at it was that I had thousands of backup copies of the source files. I did do 10 CD-ROMs using Oracle Media Objects, which was another way to make cross platform HyperCard like titles.

That still all predates Revolution. By the time Run Rev were sitting on top of MetaCard we were doing more web activities, all in Macromedia Director. Then by 2000, three years before Run Rev acquired MetaCard, I had to start using Macromedia Flash for the web work. The documents Flash produced were not easily editable after being published.

Some day I’ll find time to recreate the HyperCard products in LiveCode!


> On Jan 23, 2022, at 7:18 AM, Richmond via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a good dozen CD-ROMs which my boys got a lot of mileage out of when we stayed in the UAE.
> 
> The first thing to do is to extract all the media - and this can be a right-pain-in-the-bum as quite a lot of
> these CDs were authored using MacroMedia products where the media are embedded in a way which seems
> to make them inaccessible.
> 
> After that . . .
> 
> Run up LiveCode stacks that mimic the FUNCTIONALITY of the original CDs (this is surprisingly easy).
> 
> I have a horde of Dorling-Kindersley CDs that contain stuff that really rocks (well, up to the point
> that media authored for a Mac Performa 5700 is of a far, far lower quality and size than what is
> the norm nowadays).
> 
> I wrote to them twice and they never bothered to reply
> 
> they did not "essentially" ignore me: they IGNORED me. This is nonsense as, presumably, there is no obvious way
> they can make the odd bob out of ancient CD-ROMS; and if they had a bit of nous they might realise that they could
> climb into bed with you to mutual advantage . . .
> 
> so I would merrily chant my favourite mantra:
> 
> "abandonware, abandonware"  and make sure that anything I did with media ripped off from those
> 
> CDs was splattered with disclaimers and released on a not-for-profit basis.
> 
> Richard Gaskin will probably now come after me with the castrating irons.  :)
> 
> Even if he doesn't, his knowledge of what-you-can and what-you-cannot get away with is
> both invaluable and far, far more extensive than mine it.
> 
> On 23.01.22 14:57, Graham Samuel via use-livecode wrote:
>> I know I’m old enough to be the father of the average LiveCoder, and maybe the grandfather of quite a few, so I clearly remember CD-ROMs. I had a favourite cross-platform one which contains some very attractive material, and I have often thought of reviving the contents using either an LC standalone, or (as is presumably now possible), an LC-generated web app. Sadly I have never been able to have a sensible conversation with the copyright owner (they’ve essentially ignored me), so this would begin as a private project. I’m still wondering what the best technical approach should be. The material includes videos (not interactive) and synchronised text and audio files. After thinking about it for years, I still think it would be fun to do.
>> 
>> Has anyone any ideas about how to approach this conversion (or re-purposing, or whatever term you want to use)?
>> 
>> Graham
>> 
>>> On 21 Jan 2022, at 19:56, Jim Lambert via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> A quarter of a century ago, we called this Interactive Multimedia.
>>> It was usually delivered on a CD-ROM.   Ask your parents! ;)
>>> 
>>> ______________________________________________
>> 
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