Any chance of labelling telesoftware?

[BigEd]

Apologies if this has come up before...

At least one game on the Complete Archive was (also) published as telesoftware. Any chance of labelling games published that way, presuming there are a few?
This is the one: Super Green Gloop Gulper (AKA Gloop Gulp)
And it's on disk 8 of this 16-disk collection:

Code: Select all

05-08-88            (24)
Drive:0             Option 00 (Off )
Dir. 05-08-88       Lib. "Unset"

ALG-UG     WR (03)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  00005BC2  00054D
ALGINON    WR (02)  00001B00  FFFF8023  00001554  000537
CURSOR     WR (17)  FFFF1900  FFFF8023  000006B7  000354
DOCTOR     DLR(12)  0005C4
ELIZA      DLR(11)  0005BF
EX1        WR (04)  00001B00  FFFF8023  0000005A  0005A9
EX2        WR (05)  00001B00  FFFF8023  00000078  0005AA
EX3        WR (06)  00001B00  FFFF8023  000000B2  0005AB
EX4        WR (07)  00001B00  FFFF8023  00000063  0005AC
GLOOP      WR (01)  FFFF1900  FFFF8023  00001443  000522
IDSDUMP    WR (15)  00000800  0000802B  00000C7F  000654
SPOOL      WR (19)  00000400  00000400  00000100  000661
STAT1      WR (08)  00001B00  FFFF8023  0000039F  0005AD
STRIP      WR (20)  00000400  00000400  00000100  000662
T/DFS00    WR (21)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  00006EFE  00068F
T/SWR05    WR (24)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  00002784  00017F
T/SWR_OLD  WR (23)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  00002784  0006FE
TFILE      WR (10)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  000000F6  0005BE
UNIPLOT    WR (09)  00001B00  FFFF8023  00000C7C  0005B1
V/INFO     WR (18)  00000000  FFFFFFFF  00001876  000676
VERIFY     WR (16)  00000800  0000802B  00001142  000664

Although having said that, I notice the program length is different, so perhaps a different version.

Perhaps Jon Welch would allow uploading his collection into the Complete Archive?

[lurkio]

What would be the official name of the publisher of software that was downloadable from Teletext BITD? Would it be "Ceefax" or "Telesoftware" or "Ceefax Telesoftware" or..?

Was it only Ceefax that distributed Telesoftware? (I'm presuming that "Ceefax" equals "BBC" (as in BBC TV).) Or did Oracle/ITV also do it?

My memory is vague on the details.

[BigEd]

I think I'd go for Release Type "Telesoftware", and Publisher "BBC (Ceefax)"

I had a quick poke around the Teletext Museum for orientation, but didn't quite get any answers.

Edit: see also https://zxnet.co.uk/spectrum/ttx2000s/ for the sinclair spectrum + channel 4 story
and https://zxnet.co.uk/teletext/viewer/?channel=3&page=460

[lurkio]

Thanks, BigEd.

But to add to the confusion, I've found a page from an issue (Spring 1989) of LOGON magazine, which seems to have been a magazine all about the fee-charging(?) service Micronet. The page presents a number of "Telesoftware Gateway — Top 5" lists: lists of the five most popular pieces of software for various different computers of the day (Beeb, Amiga, PC, CPC, Spectrum). The software could be downloaded from Micronet's "Telesoftware Gateway":

Here's another page from the same mag which talks about the operation of said "Telesoftware Gateway":

I suspect that at least some of the software that was downloadable from Micronet's Telesoftware Gateway was stuff that had been, er, acquired freely from Ceefax..?

We were contacted via bbcmicro.co.uk by the author of PooperPig, the top Beeb game listed on the first mag page, above, and he says he's 90% sure he sold his game to Ceefax rather than directly to Micronet.

Does anyone remember exactly how Micronet's Telesoftware Gateway worked? Where did they get their software from?



EDIT: Added a link to a thread with more info direct from the author of PooperPig.

[BigEd]

Very interesting - I see that article describes that the software they carried was purchased by them, so hopefully all above board.

Also I see this on Wikipedia's Micronet 800 page

For Micronet, Denton negotiated that the interested parties would all agree to adopt the CET, Council for Educational Technology, format for telesoftware - one of two then competing formats. Telesoftware allowed users to download software directly from the Prestel site. Micronet then negotiated with hobbyist computer groups to provide applications and utilities that would be listed on, and be downloadable from, the Micronet 800 site. Approximately 50% of software - for Sinclair, Apple, BBC Micro, IBM, etc. - was available at no cost, and the other 50% was paid for by the automatic addition of the cost of the software to the subscriber's telephone bill.

I recall Prestel was a pay-per-page setup, with some pages free. From wikipedia

This follow-on frame facility was exploited extensively by the implementation of telesoftware on Prestel whereby computer programmes, notably for the BBC Micro, were available for download from Prestel. Generally speaking, the first two or three frames acted as header pages. For example, one such programme was described on frame 70067a and 70067b, while frame 70067c gave the number of subsequent frames containing the programme, and a crosscheck sum. Special software enabled this crosscheck sum to be compared with a value calculated from the result of downloading all the required frames in order to verify a successful download. The actual telesoftware programme started on frame 70067d. In the event that the check failed it was necessary to download the entire programme again starting from the beginning.

we also learn that the IPs were charged per-minute for editing time!

[1024MAK]

Tele means distant, at a distance, so telesoftware cannot necessarily be considered to be unique to teletext or television distribution systems.

Software downloaded via a modem, or ADSL telephone line or indeed via any broadband “line” or radio transmission system could be described as telesoftware…

So you could just expand the name to “telesoftware (teletext)” for example.

Not sure what the best name to use for the Channel 4 TV service where the software was broadcast as audio sound (as part of a normal TV broadcast) and people recorded this to cassette tape. Which you could then play back into your computer to load it.

Mark

[Bobbi]

I also remember some short-lived scheme whereby one could attach a photosensor to one's micro, stick it to the TV screen and download programs encoded as a flashing square. What was that called?

[BigEd]

Visicode, apparently:

• Retro Computers | Sending Data Electronically | Four Computer Buffs | 1985 (6 minute segment from ITV program)

via

Edit: see also page 164 of PCW, 1985 July.

Edit: hang on, a simpler and slower system debuted in March - that's the system shown in the clip above.

[Bobbi]

Ah Visicode! I remember reading about it in PCW. Never had the stick-on photosensor though.

EDIT: BBC Micro was used for generating the Visicode 'blob' encoding, apparently.