ScuzzBlog: Diaries July 2025
Entry 4th July 2025: Post 1: Central Licenceware Register PD - What are the chances?
Central Licenceware Register PD - What are the chances?
When I received the request the other day for a disk reference
CLE 06 I didn't hold out much hope for finding it. First port of
call is my own register of disks searching through 13500 plus
disks. Whilst not finding the exact disk I did find a cross-match
of CLE and the Central Licenceware Register which suggested the
disk was a Public Domain disk so I tried CLR without much luck.
I did have a list of software without register names and the
name TAMI did show. Next I delved through my ADF and miscellaneous
disks and that is where I found the disk. Had I not found it
there I would have sifted through my PD CD's.
There were in the day hundreds and hundreds of PD houses and each
had catalogs of thousands of disks. All disk were generally
referenced with an internal code or number. Because such disks
were obtained by snail mail in the post for the cost of a disk
the disk boxes of Amigans in the day would contain a sprinkling
of various PD disks. Having a full collection would be pretty
much an impossibility. And so tracking down a disk today is going
to be a mighty challenge.
Lots of disks repeated from house to house so places like 17Bit
are likely to have most of the disks, but not guaranteed. To my
knowledge there is not a concise list of all disks and houses.
What would be useful is to at least collect all the CAT disks
for disk listings.
For my part I gave up pretty early on collecting PD disks. I just
did the maths from studying magazine listings and realised I was
never going to even scratch the surface.
Anyhoo I pulled a couple of my disk boxes and photographed a clutch
of disks that surfaced from the house of Central Licenceware Register.
And not surprising an astronomy, cross-stitch and Fred Fish selection.
I have to say that PD disks are the most difficult to track down,
but in truth the content was on the whole quite uninspiring. Best
bet is to get a set of 1000 Fish and a bag of 17Bit CD's and you're
good to go.
Central Licenceware Register PD - What are the chances?
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