Re: Ancient w3 browsers

Thanks Dan! And apologies for the slow reply. If you do ever come across code for your browser, I would love to archive a copy of it.

For everyone else on the list:

I’m working on archiving the earliest browsers. (By “earliest” I mean, somewhat artificially, pre-Mosaic 1.0.) I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here when I say that these are important artifacts in web history. Putting together this archive is a relatively urgent task, since much of this code is/was housed on FTP servers that are being taken offline, rendering the earliest versions of the earliest browsers at risk of being lost entirely.

Right now the archive is on a personal page, but if/when appropriate I would be interested in moving it into an institutional home – recommendations gratefully received.

http://9p.sdf.org/who/tweedy/ancient_browsers/ <http://9p.sdf.org/who/tweedy/ancient_browsers/index.html>

YOUR HELP REQUESTED: I’ve searched exhaustively for every version of these browsers that I can find; below is a summary of what’s currently missing. *Please* let me know if you have copies of anything listed: e.flanigan@lmu.de or tweedy@gmail.com.

Missing browsers:
------------------------

FineWWW (Tom Fine); w3 Browser (Jim Whitescarver); Dckc/Convex X11 Browser (Dan Connolly)

Missing versions:
------------------------

WorldWideWeb/Nexus: pre-0.12
LineMode: 0.9 and earlier
Viola: pre-July 1992 versions
Erwise: does anyone know if there was more than one release? There’s confusion between v 0.1 and v 1.0
Midas: pre-1.0
TkWWW: 0.8 and earlier
MacWWW/SAMBA: 1.02 and earlier
Lynx: 2.0.12 and earlier
Mosaic (X11): 0.13 and earlier

Unknown unknowns:
------------------------

Any other ancient browsers I’m not even aware of?

Regards and thanks to all!

Tweedy Flanigan


> On 22. Aug 2022, at 15:24, Dan Connolly <dckc@madmode.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi. Always great to meet a fellow web history buff...
> 
> I'm struggling to find source code for that X11 browser from the Convex days. When Jim first asked me about it, I didn't remember doing it at all, but I found some status reports to my manager at Convex, and sure enough, I did report building something like that. Ah... here's a message to TimBL:
> 
> ----
> To: timbl@nxoc01.cern.ch (Tim Berners-Lee)
> Subject: X/motif browser status
> Date: Fri, 22 Nov 91 22:34:18 CST
> From: connolly@pixel.convex.com
> 
> 
> The AVS help system is all but finished.
> 
> I went back tonight and tried browsing WWW files.
> My html2rtf converter is still a little rusty, but
> other than that, it works well.
> 
> Features I've implemented since I last wrote you:
> 
> * multiple fonts (with menu options for changing them)
> * colored text
> * full color raster images
> 
> I've been considering the idea of building this thing on a Sparc
> and sending you the binary for evaluation. I _might_ have time
> before the end of the year. Would you have time to look at it?
> Is it worth bothering, considering we don't have an agreement
> about the source?
> 
> I used to keep up on the hypertext newsgroups, WWW, and WAIS mailing
> lists, but for about two months now, I've been too busy. The AVS project
> is winding down. I should be able to start thinking about using WWW or
> WAIS technology (or both) some time soon.
> 
> Keep in touch.
> 
> Dan
> ----
> 
> I know I got a copy of my files (on a tape!) when I left Convex, and I copied them to a zip drive at one point. Unfortunately, I don't recall where I put the zip drive.
> 
> As to FineWWW, I expect others here in the Web History Community Group know better than I do.
> 
> Continued good luck with your search...
> 
> -- 
> Dan
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2022 at 10:48 AM Edmund Tweedy Flanigan <e.flanigan@lmu.de> wrote:
> Hi Dan
> 
> I’m working on an archive of the earliest Web browsers, which you may have heard about a couple of weeks ago via Jim Whitescarver (who I’ve been in touch with). I’m on the hunt for early versions of early browsers, which are at risk of being lost as FTP servers continue to be taken offline.
> 
> I’m also looking in particular for a couple of possibly “lost” browsers, including the X11 browser you were working on while an employee of Convex. Do you happen to have a copy of that browser, or know where one might be found? I realize it’s a long shot (I know you uploaded a version of MidasWWW, so I figure you might have done so already if you had the source to your own browser as well) but I thought it was worth asking!
> 
> I’m also on the lookout for Jim’s w3 browser and Tom Fine’s FineWWW, if you’ve seen those anywhere or happen to have them kicking around on an old drive. Additionally, I’m holding out hope that the sources for Nicola Pellow and Robert Cailliau’s Mac browser might still be held somewhere, alongside pre-1.0 versions of mosaic, pre-0.8 versions of tkWWW, pre-2.0 versions of Viola, and any version of LineMode before 0.11.
> 
> Here’s the archive at present:
> http://9p.sdf.org/who/tweedy/ancient_browsers
> 
> Many thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> Best wishes,
> Tweedy Flanigan 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dan Connolly
> http://www.madmode.com/
>

Received on Sunday, 4 September 2022 15:45:17 UTC