Give me browsable online Archives of… Stuff
May 22, 2018 4:53 PM Subscribe
As a kid of the 90s, I used to love browsing FTP archives for old DOS/shareware games and programs. There's a sense of discovery I get in being able to poke through curated, or at least categorized, items in search of new shiny things.
Can any people of Metafilter point me to similar sorts of places? Software and gaming stuff certainly isn't all I'm after, anything which can give me a hierarchy of categories to drill through in hopes of finding things of interest would be wonderful. The Internet archive, as vast as it is, doesn't seem to have quite the thing, I haven't found a great way to browse it, and the user interface is kind of an accessibility nightmare anyway.
Can any people of Metafilter point me to similar sorts of places? Software and gaming stuff certainly isn't all I'm after, anything which can give me a hierarchy of categories to drill through in hopes of finding things of interest would be wonderful. The Internet archive, as vast as it is, doesn't seem to have quite the thing, I haven't found a great way to browse it, and the user interface is kind of an accessibility nightmare anyway.
www.textfiles.com
posted by Sebmojo at 5:45 PM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 5:45 PM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
oh in that vein, also /A/N/N/A/R/C/H/I/V/E
and if you're into demoscene stuff, there's pouet.net
posted by juv3nal at 5:51 PM on May 22, 2018
and if you're into demoscene stuff, there's pouet.net
posted by juv3nal at 5:51 PM on May 22, 2018
For more random FTP searching, Napalm FTP indexer still exists, but there's a good deal of Downloader Beware.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:34 PM on May 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by filthy light thief at 6:34 PM on May 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Archive.org msdos games
Their emulators are rapidly improving to allow people to play the games in browser.
posted by nickggully at 6:45 PM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Their emulators are rapidly improving to allow people to play the games in browser.
posted by nickggully at 6:45 PM on May 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
You'd probably enjoy /r/opendirectories.
posted by reductiondesign at 7:15 PM on May 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by reductiondesign at 7:15 PM on May 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
If you are looking for software, look at winworldpc.com. It's a treasure trove of pre-XP Windows, DOS, CP/M and other abandonware. There’s a decently generous daily download limits and active forums.
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on May 22, 2018
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on May 22, 2018
How about HathiTrust—many of the same texts as the Internet Archive but with a different organization system.
posted by XMLicious at 5:16 AM on May 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 5:16 AM on May 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love looking at archives of stuff too. I feel like when I do, the cogs on the gears in my brain all fall into place. Here are some that I look at when I need that feeling:
- Estate Sales
- The Cooper Hewitt Museum has some great online archives. I love the wallpaper one.
- the Goodwill auctions site has some great stuff as well. One day I'm going to buy 100 lbs of Legos, yes I am.
posted by dawkins_7 at 7:27 AM on May 29, 2018
- Estate Sales
- The Cooper Hewitt Museum has some great online archives. I love the wallpaper one.
- the Goodwill auctions site has some great stuff as well. One day I'm going to buy 100 lbs of Legos, yes I am.
posted by dawkins_7 at 7:27 AM on May 29, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by juv3nal at 5:08 PM on May 22, 2018