ZX Fireboot CD

snori_piper · June 2007

Hi,

I would like to share with anybody who is interesting in with the ZX FIREBOOT CD.

The objective was to create a small, easy-to-download, CD-bootable ZX distribution,
which could be run on old and new PC's, even without a harddisk.
So , If you have an old 486 PC hidden in your basement,
you can use it as a reborn ZX Spectrum.
A soul matters, not a body.

This bootable CD includes:

1. R80 Spectrum emulator by Raul Gomez Sanchez (freeware)
2. Caldera DR-DOS (GPL Free licence)
3. My collection of 42 best Spectrum games

As far as I know all attached games are free available from www.worldofspectrum.org.
I did not attached the games, which distribution was prohibited by vendors,
according to description on World of Spectrum sites.

The ZX FIREBOOT CD is available here:

http://www.dudziarz.art.pl/zxspectrum

It has only 6 MB, so it should be easy to download.

I hope you will find it useful

Best regards

Pawel
pawel.dziemski@gmail.com

Philip Kendall · June 2007

R-Type is denied. I suspect your link will be removed by the moderators very soon unless you remove that.

snori_piper · June 2007

Thank you for your comment. I did remove R-Type and uploaded current iso to www.dudziarz.art.pl/zxspectrum .

Laser · June 2007

I've got nothing against your creation, but I should point out that WoS have been given permission to carry the game images. You cannot necessarily assume that means you have permission to distribute them as well.

Now, of course, in reality people are distributing the images all over the place and nobody cares. However, I wouldn't make mention of WoS permissions to justify your own distributions, lest someone take exception.

:)

DEATH · June 2007

Laser wrote: »

I've got nothing against your creation, but I should point out that WoS have been given permission to carry the game images. You cannot necessarily assume that means you have permission to distribute them as well.

Now, of course, in reality people are distributing the images all over the place and nobody cares. However, I wouldn't make mention of WoS permissions to justify your own distributions, lest someone take exception.

:)

Now that, Mr Laser, is a very valid point. The only thing that's stopping me putting games like Elite into my PD library is the fact that I assume WoS has been given exclusive permission. If I find out this isn't the case, Alchemist Software's file count is gonna rocket (but very slowly - it takes time to disk all those games :( )! I already have permission for DK'Tronics, Gremlin, Atlantis, Gargoyle, Incentive and LERM.

Assuming Martijn is reading this, what's the story morning glory (as we sometimes say in the UK)? And yes, I would really like to know :D

snori_piper · June 2007

Laser and Death - you both gentlemen are right from the legally point of view.
But from the other side - there is no sense to make DOS live CD without game images, because the user is not able to download images, because of lack of internet support in DOS.

Of course you can use Linux, XFuse and some web browser, but the smallest linux live-cd i have heard about is Damn Small Linux 50 mb.

Considering the legal conditionings, the idea of this CD is much less clear.

I am waiting for your opinion. Maybe whole issue is so illegal, that I should remove the ZX Fireboot CD from internet.

Best regards
Pawel

DEATH · June 2007

snori_piper wrote: »

Laser and Death - you both gentlemen are right from the legally point of view.
But from the other side - there is no sense to make DOS live CD without game images, because the user is not able to download images, because of lack of internet support in DOS.

Of course you can use Linux, XFuse and some web browser, but the smallest linux live-cd i have heard about is Damn Small Linux 50 mb.

Considering the legal conditionings, the idea of this CD is much less clear.

I am waiting for your opinion. Maybe whole issue is so illegal, that I should remove the ZX Fireboot CD from internet.

Best regards
Pawel

No, you don't have to do that - all you do is look at the permission given - if it's WoS exclusive, don't include it - else, do so, but do not make any money from it or else you could so easily ruin everything for other people.

Look at InfoSeek - if it says "Distribution denied", then don't include it. If somebody says "You can't distribute that game because it's mine", obey them. If it''s free to all though, include it! Follow the link in my signature, go to the games section and download whatever the hell you like - it's public domain, freeware or "freely distributable", which means you can distribute, but don't charge (in a nutshell). Copyright stays with the author and you're not allowed to blah blah blah.......

You carry on mate, just be sure not to piss people off is all - :)

Philip Kendall · June 2007

Laser wrote: »

I've got nothing against your creation, but I should point out that WoS have been given permission to carry the game images.

Not in the vast majority of cases. Permission hasn't been explicitly denied, which is a very different thing.

DEATH wrote: »

The only thing that's stopping me putting games like Elite into my PD library is the fact that I assume WoS has been given exclusive permission.

Permission to distribute certainly does not equal public domain in any case.

WhizzBang · June 2007

Thank you, this is an excellent idea. Is it difficult for me to make my own CD and add more games? Can I simply copy the files off the CD, add some more games and then burn to a new CD?

snori_piper · June 2007

Hi WhizzBang,

I am happy that the CD is useful for someone except me :)

Adding own snapshots is very easy. If you are using Windows just open the ZXfirebootCD iso file with program called MagicISO (http://www.magiciso.com/download.htm) and add the game files to folder "games". Then burn your modified iso.

If Linux is your OS, you can use IsoMaster (http://littlesvr.ca/isomaster/). MagicISO works very well on Wine by the way.

zxbruno · June 2007

Thanks for this.

You mention it can be used in old computers. What about modern laptops?

snori_piper · June 2007

HI zxbruno,

It works well on my new IBM Lenovo ThinkVantage T60, so I suppose that it should work fine on any laptop.

DEATH · June 2007

Philip Kendall wrote: »

Not in the vast majority of cases. Permission hasn't been explicitly denied, which is a very different thing.

Permission to distribute certainly does not equal public domain in any case.

Phil, you've taken my comment out of context - read the rest too, which goes on to mention the "freely re-distributable" bit also. At no point do I mention these titles are in the public domain.

Whilst it's certainly true that I refer to my library as being a "PD library", there are plenty of titles that are simply not PD - and text that went on the cover of the catalogue (that was) goes to great pains to point this out. The ex-commercial games are also clearly stated as such, copyright belonging to original authors etc.

I apologise if any confusion has arrisen (even if the confusion is yours), but I simply have not said these titles are PD.

Philip Kendall · June 2007

DEATH wrote: »

Phil, you've taken my comment out of context - read the rest too, which goes on to mention the "freely re-distributable" bit also. At no point do I mention these titles are in the public domain.

They're linked from a page describing itself as "The largest collection of ZX Spectrum PD/Shareware software in the UK". Nowhere is it stated that a large number of these programs are not in fact, either PD or shareware. How on Earth should people interpret that?

DEATH · June 2007

Philip Kendall wrote: »

They're linked from a page describing itself as "The largest collection of ZX Spectrum PD/Shareware software in the UK". Nowhere is it stated that a large number of these programs are not in fact, either PD or shareware. How on Earth should people interpret that?

DEATH wrote: »

No, you don't have to do that - all you do is look at the permission given - if it's WoS exclusive, don't include it - else, do so, but do not make any money from it or else you could so easily ruin everything for other people.

Look at InfoSeek - if it says "Distribution denied", then don't include it. If somebody says "You can't distribute that game because it's mine", obey them. If it''s free to all though, include it! Follow the link in my signature, go to the games section and download whatever the hell you like - it's public domain, freeware or "freely distributable", which means you can distribute, but don't charge (in a nutshell). Copyright stays with the author and you're not allowed to blah blah blah.......

You carry on mate, just be sure not to piss people off is all - :)

The catalogue as was makes the situation clear. Again Phil, I think you are taking my words slightly out of context. Whilst you are right that the banner on my site does indeed state what you say, it IS a work in progress. Now you've mentioned it, I will add the section from the old paper catalogue that states the situation

The website is there as a work in progress - I have some webspace to use as I wish, so rather than waste it, it's getting used - mostly for the convenience and benefit of fellow WoSsers.

/edit

Have now updated the site - ex commercial stuff is now clearly marked. If I've missed a few, tell me and I'll fix it.

dekh · June 2007

DEATH wrote: »

just be sure not to piss people off is all - :)

I believe this is impossible. I could be wrong. Quite frequently, I am.

piters · June 2007

Instead legal crap (sic), I recommend to snori_piper that add Z80 to Fireboot CD. It is now free. Still the best DOS Speccy emul. If want may ask permission from Gerton Lunter...

nickc · June 2007

snori_piper wrote: »

Laser and Death - you both gentlemen are right from the legally point of view.
But from the other side - there is no sense to make DOS live CD without game images, because the user is not able to download images, because of lack of internet support in DOS.
Pawel

There is a DOS web browser called Arachne http://home.arachne.cz/ that seems to work quite well.

jp · June 2007

DEATH wrote: »

Now that, Mr Laser, is a very valid point. The only thing that's stopping me putting games like Elite into my PD library is the fact that I assume WoS has been given exclusive permission. If I find out this isn't the case, Alchemist Software's file count is gonna rocket (but very slowly - it takes time to disk all those games :( )! I already have permission for DK'Tronics, Gremlin, Atlantis, Gargoyle, Incentive and LERM.

Assuming Martijn is reading this, what's the story morning glory (as we sometimes say in the UK)? And yes, I would really like to know :D

You have some LERM titles that are not in the WOS archive?

DEATH · June 2007

jp wrote: »

You have some LERM titles that are not in the WOS archive?

No, all the LERM titles I have were given to Martijn.preservation team long ago. Tape Utility D and Z80 Toolkit will soon be in the library - I don't see the point putting an earlier version of the tape utility since the later version can cope with more stuff.

There's a thread in the Adverts section I started a little while ago that'll tell of any updates done to the web site :)

hikoki · November 2017

Is this of use on modern PCs ?
I've found this blog where bootable usb images are provided for Caldera DR-DOS with improved drivers : https://www.codehosting.net/blog/BlogEngine/?tag=DR-DOS
Is development of DOS emulators abandoned? FreeDOS is meant to support modern hardware in the next versions. What are the advantages of emulation under DOS ?

Arjun · November 2017

We have something better! Pi + ZX Baremulator. No other hardware required. Ok maybe a monitor/tv. And a keyboard + mouse or controller.

hikoki · November 2017

Arjun wrote: »

We have something better! Pi + ZX Baremulator. No other hardware required. Ok maybe a monitor/tv. And a keyboard + mouse or controller.

I know. Maybe there is some mini-pc stick or tv-box based on Intel or AMD. Intel tvboxes can be found for 70£ currently.

Timmy · November 2017

If you have to spend (much) money to even set up such a system, then it's better to skip it and get a Pi and a cheap TV.

hikoki · November 2017

What I meant is that so far Intel-like small tv-box mini-pcs or hdmi sticks do not compete on price with the equivalent ARM devices or the Pi.

kgmcneil · November 2017

Id like to think that DOS emulation does still have a place, but then Im biased and still using Windows XP... Its been a while since I looked into this, but I used to use Grub as a boot loader, and the interesting thing about that, is that GRUB allows you to load floppy disk images. If you create a disk image with DOS and a small DOS emulator like X128, for instance, you can have GRUB boot straight into it, and load up your ZX emulator in double quick time... Used to do that when I wanted a quick game playing session without waiting for Windows to boot up... ;)

hikoki · November 2017

@kgmcneil
Zxbaremulator is great to boot as fast as in the original machine.
I thought this was an interesting alternative as Freedos (still maintained and planned to support modern hardware) is nowadays used to build arcade machines (see distro Arcados) and small minipcs compatible with this platform could be cheaper in the future.
By the way, I provided a link above where you can find bootable floppy,cd and usb images for the same OS used on the original post, Caldera Drdos.
R80 was the emulator I used on the 2000’s. I have to try Z80, X128 and RealSpectrum which are said to be really good. The author of X128 seems to be the only one active around here ;)

ZX Fireboot CD

Comments