PC-98 & FM Towns sub-forums?

[RobIvy64]

I know I know, another lame request for more sub-forums, but hear me out on this one!

It's no secret that this forum is THE source of X68000 knowledge for Westerners. Through this forum and it's members, some amazing things have been accomplished, making the X68000 a far more accessible and user friendly machine.

Many of these X68000 collectors, myself included, also collect other obscure Japanese computers. I have owned a Fujitsu FM-Towns PC, and currently own a NEC PC-9821.

There are no easily accessible single sources of knowledge for these computers that is available to Westerners. Tokugawa Corp rarely approves new accounts, so you are left dredging through old threads hoping to find the answer to your particular problem.

I think NFGgames has the opportunity to become a single source of information for two additional major Japanese computing platforms.

Besides, where else would I share my PC-98 HDD image? We could always sacrifice "PC Hackery" to fulfill this need!

[NFG]

Alright, I'll give it a shot.

If it fails I'm billing you for all the time it took to set it up.

Done.  So...  like, 60 seconds?  Keep that in mind. 

[RobIvy64]

Send all billing inquiries to BlueBMW 

[BlueBMW]

 

Hopefully the forums get some interest.  I need to dust off my old Towns PC at some point...

[RobIvy64]

PC-98 forums are bringing in some new members! 

Lawrence, what are your thoughts on sharing a HDD image. I think we have some talented people here who can put together an awesome universal image, similar to what we have with the X68000.

I ask because the PC-98 image will run MS-DOS, which is still not freeware.

[NFG]

I'm tempted to allow it in the name of preservation.  However, if you could look into alternative DOS options, that'd be great.  Even if we have to rule it out, I'd like to be able to say we used some copyrighted works because there were no other ways to protect history.

[RobIvy64]

I'm investigating it, but I don't see how that would work. Most games require programs like emm386 to run, which is a Microsoft program.

The image would only be useful on other PC-98s. No IBM compatible would be able to use it.

[NFG]

I'll leave it to you then.  I'll host it, and worry about it if anyone complains.

I'm going to re-tool the file archive over the next few days.  Currently it's hardwired to X68k content, so I'll put some new stuff in there to accommodate the new systems.  Who wants the honour/punishment of maintaining the archive?

[NFG]

Archive update: preliminary work is complete, headers will now change for X68, PC98 and FMTowns directory listings.  Headers are not yet complete, FTP is not yet configured. 

Also I fixed an annoying oversight where paths with spaces would show%20between%20words.  Should get the rest done tonight.

[RobIvy64]

Thanks! Fixing a couple of bugs with the base image and then I will turn it over to the forum gurus to polish

[NFG]

Progress report!  There's a ton of changes to the code.  Since it was all hardwired to the X68000 directory I had to add all kinds of directory checking to change what was sought and displayed to the user.  This was fun!  I love to code.

  - these directories now exist:
    http://nfggames.com/PC98
    http://nfggames.com/FMTowns

  - The new PC98 and FMTowns header images exist and display appropriately.

  - When viewing X68000, FMTowns or PC98 there's a link to the appropriate forum at the bottom of the directory listing.

  - The option to go up a directory to the root of nfggames.com no longer exists if you're at the top of any of these three directories.

  - The system now checks each directory (PC98, FMTowns, X68000) for the existence of the appropriate WhatsNew.txt and shows it, if it exists  (but only at the top of each directory).

The UPLOAD facility for each directory still shows X68000-specific info, and all files go to the same X68000 directory.  I'll get to that next.

[eidis]

Who wants the honour/punishment of maintaining the archive?

Hi Lawrence !

Can I volunteer ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[NFG]

Upload facilities are complete, each X68/FMT/PC98 section has its own upload script and FTP logins now. 

I'll be adding FTP admins to maintain the order of the respective sections shortly.