The Don Maslin Software Archive

[Vernon Wright]

For any newbies to the group:

1. Don Maslin (San Diego, CA) collected what I 
believe is the largest and most complete archive 
of CP/M/S100 operating systems amongst us 'hobbyists'.

2. Don died 28 August 2004, leaving no plans
for his archive.

3. Because his widow Winnie was distressed with 
the enquiries from those in our community regarding 
Don's archive (of which she knew nothing), after 
discussing this with her, with her heartfelt 
appreciation and agreement, it having been read 
to her before posting and sent to her in letter 
form, as Don's friend and collaborator of some 
15 years, I published the following statement 
on ClassicCmp and comp.os.cpm on 22 September 2004:

			*

"I have of course talked with his wife Winnie, and 
she has asked that people interested in Don's software
archives and his hardware collection hold off on 
contact until further notice through this list.

"Within a reasonable time I will locate his archives,
and I will personally guarantee that the archives will
be duplicated and copies deposited with people and
institutions which will honor the attitude that Don
put into this effort - one of love for old stuff and
and of service to the community.

"In time his hardware collection will also be made
available to the community.

"I ask you to consider Mrs. Maslin's position and not
attempt to intervene at this time."

(You can see the full text in the ng or ClassicCmp
archive.)

			*

Many of you have enquired of me in private e-mail as
to the status, many have made generous offers of time,
energy, web hosting space, etc., and Winnie has been
left free of bother.

I NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT I CAN KEEP MY PERSONAL
GUARANTEE THAT THE ARCHIVES WILL BE SAVED. I MADE THAT
PROMISE IN GOOD FAITH, ON THE WORD OF WINNIE MASLIN.

My intent was to locate the base archive, gather the
materials not yet incorporated, make certain the 
structure was fully documented and sensibly usable,
and 
write it off to CD-ROM - to be distributed to computer

museums, universities, and to be hosted on web sites
so 
that all could download the full archive, guaranteeing

that it would never be lost.

I seemed to be the logical one to do this - close by,
long association with Don, his project having come out
of the Dina-SIG which I founded, and a feeling for his
work habits.

I have talked with Winnie at least four times since
Don died, and with a member of the family who has 
understanding of modern Windoze computers. I wrote an 
'Appreciation' of Don for Sellam's last Vintage
Computer Fair (did you use it, Sellam? you never told 
me), with a photo of Don and Winnie supplied by that 
member of the family.

I HAVE GOTTEN NOWHERE.

The weekend following Thanksgiving was suggested by a 
family member as good time to enter the garage and 
find the archive and take first stock of Don's
'stuff'.
Winnie said no, she was too busy.

Sometime around Christmas was again suggested as a 
good time, as a family member would be available to
move things so that my wheelchair could get to Don's 
machine. Again, Winnie said no, she was too busy.

She told me that she would contact me after the 
holidays, and that she still intended to have me do
the
job. When I had not heard from her at the end of 
February, I called again.

She said she was angry with Don for never having told 
her of the major intellectual work of the last 15
years
of his life, for having left no instructions. Of 
course, she had no interest in his computer life and
he
would not have tried to explain this to her. She knew 
that he sent and received disks - but never had the 
interest to ask about them.

>From Winnie's view, Don left her with a burden that
she
does not want to deal with.

In my last talk with her, I repeated my offer to 
inventory the contents of the garage, remove the 
contents to a storage facility of my own, do the 
archival work, get rid of the junk machines, and sell 
the valuable machines FOR HER ACCOUNT, ON MY OWN 
NICKEL.

The sentences I recall most vividly from that 
conversation are "you will just have to wait until I 
decide. After all, what else can you do?" And, "I'll 
have Debbie [a family member who uses computers in her

work life] call you sometime - but she's very busy."

Her manner with me was unsupportable; I made an 
sgreement which kept her free from annoyance, and she 
will not honor her part. It's been 8 months now, time 
to keep her part of the agreement. No, she hasn't the 
slightest idea what an operating system or what the 
archive is and, despite extended explanations, will
not
learn or care. I believe she cannot understand that
any
adult could be interested in old computers.

I believe the day will come when she will simply call
a
trash man and have her garage cleared. I do NOT
believe
that she will honor her committment to me.

			*

So - where do we go from here? I have done all I can.
I
have agonized over this statement, wanting to release
a
progress report, unable to do so when there was no 
progress to report. But now, I have to do this. 

As I see it, there are four likely possibilities.

1. The community decide to inundate her with letters
requesting her to allow me to do as I have said I
would
do.

2. A reputable member of the community (I would
suggest
Jay West) approach her and try to get her to see
reason
and work out some arrangement.

3. Allow Don's archive to go to the trash bin when she
finally decides to have her garage cleaned out.

4. Allow the sharks to go after her, trying to get 
their hands on the stuff in Don's garage.

			*

I AM NOT SUGGESTING ACTION AT THIS POINT. I AM
SUGGESTING A DISCUSSION WITHIN THIS GROUP (WHERE DON
SPENT MOST OF HIS ONLINE TIME), FOLLOWED BY A GROUP
DECISION TO BE IMPLEMENTED. (For that purpose, I will 
be turning on individual messages instead of the
digest
form in which I read this group.)

I WOULD STILL SAY THAT, UNTIL CLASSICCMP HAS ACHIEVED
A
CONSENSUS OF THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION, 

        DO ***NOT*** CONTACT WINNIE MASLIN.

I will send a copy of this message to Winnie by post.

Vern Wright

vern4wright at yahoo.com



		
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