Ramblings of a File Format researcher
By the title you might think this was a post about racing. But this is a file format blog, so we will keep on that topic. When I was in school many years ago, I remember using desktop publishing tools like PageMaker for the first time. When I got a job working for a local Read more
There was a lot of CAD programs in the 1980 s through the 1990 s. Some titles might be TurboCAD, DesignCAD, Generic CADD, KeyCAD, SwiftCAD, CADKEY, VersaCAD, MiniCAD, EasyCAD, and of course AutoCAD. Also, many file formats. Some had chosen the common DXF exchange format, but most chose their own way to do things. AutoCAD is software Read more
In honor of the 25th of May, aka #525FloppyDay, I have a few thoughts on 5.25 Floppy Disks, more specifically, the sleeves that protect them. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 5.25 Floppy Disk. Prior to 1976, Floppy Disks were a massive 8 inches square which also used sleeves. It wasn t until the Read more
I found myself in the same situation again with a colleague asking me for help identifying an unknown file. The file in question did not have an extension and to make things harder, the file could not be shared with me, only the header. So not having much to go on I started with some Read more
If you remember the older post about Cafe Beef, you ll appreciate the file format we explore in this post which uses using the Hex values BE DEAD . I guess they jinxed themselves because the software didn t survive a refresh in 2009 and died. At one point the software was considered remarkable software being awarded 4.5 Read more
With all the different file formats that are found in everyday computing, most formats which find their way to my archive have historical value. We know we can t keep everything and have to assign value to all we decide to keep in for the long term. Some files have sensitive data and we have to Read more
It seems to be a common theme through the history of software that some titles, get bought, sold, rebranded, integrated, and discontinued by a number of companies. I find it interesting to find out a popular software title s humble beginnings. Often when a piece of software gets bought, the file formats don t change much, at Read more
The main subject of these posts is about Obsolete software and file formats. I prefer to focus on older software titles and collect them when I can. I have also found older Macintosh software to be particularly interesting as many of the qualities of early Macintosh use is lost today. In researching a very early Read more
Many of us lived through the Word Processing Wars of the late 1980 s and early 1990 s. It was an overwhelming time of many options to choose from, each providing new features with each update, trying to become the leader in the word processing game. Early DOS versions had steep learning curves which built loyalty to Read more
Without divulging any youthful indiscretions, I recently was going back through some of my personal archives and came across a disc I burned around 2002 with some music stored on it. Normally I would find MP3 files, but in this case the file had a ACE extension. I remembered the format as an alternative to Read more