For review

[Michael Schwendt]

On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 08:14:05 +0100, Paul F. Johnson wrote:

> Assembler was also accessed through BASIC. For the Spectrum, this mean
> typing in the raw hex. None of this LD A,&#51, but &61,&3C which was
> then put directly into memory.

There is common confusion about "assembler, assembler language, and
machine code". When you don't program the machine with any mnemonics at
all, like LDA, STA and others, but only with hex numbers stored directly
into memory, it is machine code (processor instructions), not assembler
language. You are directly at the level of the CPU/MPU. On the contrary,
if you work with mnemonics and most likely even with text source files,
you come closer to the assembler level, where you feed the assembler
program with your source to create machine code. The simplest form of an
assembler being the most common one in the eighties.  Direct input and
validation of mnemonics plus disassembling of memory contents.  Advanced
assemblers (working with source files, a preprocessor for macros, labels,
include files) for home computers became common near the end of the
eighties.

[...]

On the general subject of "emulators", I second Greg's earlier reply,
particularly this piece of it:

    If it's intended to play ROMs that are not licensed for
    redistribution, then providing the emulator is an act of contributory
    infringement.

[...]

We've had VICE (the Commodore 64/128/../foo) emulator package in fedora.us
Extras, _including_ various Basic [1] and Kernal [2] ROM files. These
files are copyrighted and not freely redistributable. Additionally, the
"Commodore" trademark has been sold several times to companies who had
money to burn and believed that the trademark still has a marketing value
(see list archives, IIRC) and is not just kept alive by fans of computer
nostalgia. A few web sites, who had offered images for old games and
programs, are known to have received cease and desist letters, although
some software companies have put old games into the public domain. It would
be irresponsible for all IANAL type of people to accept a full-blown
Commodore emulator in Fedora Extras. Without the ROM images, it is
useless, and most likely would still be seen as contributory infringement
(not just if it contained links to web sites offering RAM and ROM images).

With regard to rpm.livna.org, it is not the place where to put stuff that
bears risks [for the people who provide the infrastructure]. Licencing
issues and patents are one thing, infringement is another.

-- 
[1] Microsoft Basic
[2] Yes, the original spelling