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Comment by graton | Hacker News Reader

I have to admit I find this type of article about old computer/software quite interesting as recently I discovered a backup of mine that contained source code I wrote in 1993. I was writing assembly language back then. Using a really great library called Spontaneous Assembly. First version 2.0 and then 3.0. SpontaneousAssembly 3.0 added support for easily writing TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) code.

Back in the early 1990s I was in college and working in the computer lab. So I wrote various little DOS utilities to help us better manage the computers and the interaction with Novell Netware.

Due to this reminiscing I have even purchased a few tech books from that time. MS-DOS Encyclopedia, Peter Norton's Programmers Guide to the IBM PC, and some others.

I only wish I still had a copy of SpontaneousAssembly 3.0 as it would be fun to recompile some of my old code!

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For those who got curious like me have a look at: http://300m.us/docs/computing/SA-3.0a/TOC.htm

I am not familiar with how libraries work in the US. Can anyone get a library card with Library of Congress? They have the floppy images:

https://www.worldcat.org/title/spontaneous-assembly-for-cc-a...

EDIT: http://300m.us/docs/computing/ Has a link for purchase which 404 but to an existing site. Maybe Kevin is the friendly type?

Anyone can get a reader card at the Library of Congress if they have a photo id and are at least 16 years old. I'm not sure how you access computer files there, though. The reader card has to be obtained in person. With the Library of Congress closed to visitors because of COVID-19, I imagine it's not possible right now.

Yeah I have emailed Kevin Crenshaw but he stated the project is "abandonware" at this point. He said to search for it online. So far no luck with version 3.0. It would have been fun to try playing with some old code in a VM :)

I don't live anywhere close the the Library of Congress, so not easy for me to get a copy there :(

As others have noted, the software is available at the Library of Congress. It's marked as "by appointment" in their catalog:

https://lccn.loc.gov/95790208

I go to the Library of Congress every once in a while and could ask for this. In my experience, to get items like this you use the Ask a Librarian link on the right and they'll work with you from there. Send me an email at the address here and I'll try this the next time I go: http://trettel.org/contact.html

(Unfortunately my next Library of Congress trip might not be for a year or more at this point due to COVID-19 and life.)

I could make disk images with GNU ddrescue, or another software if you prefer. Note that I don't have a floppy drive at the moment but will ask them if they have an external USB drive.

Looks like you can download it here now: http://300m.us/docs/computing/

After a bit more searching and an email I found out it (Spontaneous Assembly 3.0) is posted here: http://300m.us/docs/computing/ :)

It looks like there's a copy in the library of congress [1]. Unclear how one would go about making a copy.

1: https://www.worldcat.org/title/spontaneous-assembly-for-cc-a...

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