The Model Train Magazine Index is down

[NEMMRRC]

Joe Fugate met with some higher ups while at the NMRA convention in Milwaukee and he is confident that the NMRA could end up with the index. Joe is recruiting techies to help unravel the code and get it moving forward. Here is Joe's message from over at the MRH site:

We have progress
Submitted by joef on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 20:16.
Okay, after talking to the powers that be in the NMRA, they agree they want to resurrect the index and they will talk with Kalmbach about donating it to the NMRA. They will work on getting access to the digital assets.

However, from the sounds of it, this app is a home-grown, near machine-code level application that runs on MS DOS. The data structures use a custom written binary structure that will need reverse engineering to recover.

What I need is for volunteers to step forward who can help disassemble this app and recover the data. This is a call for highly technical volunteers who can assist with this once we get access to the app and data.

Please pass the word - this index is too valuable to just let it die - and the NMRA officials are very interested in taking ownership of this index if we can muster the technical savvy to resurrect it. I would say today's talks were a success and the wheels are now in motion to start pulling this together.

Hooray!

Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

The entire thread at MRH is found here:
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/disc ... ment-23389

Joe's comment above is found in page 2 of the thread (penultimate post on page 2):
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/disc ... dex?page=2

Jaime

[NEMMRRC]

It is on!

Joe Fugate is collecting resumes for a lead to take this project to fruition.

Next steps
Submitted by joef on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 11:52.
Okay, the next step is to solicit "resumes" for someone to lead this effort. I have the ability, but I don't have the time. I'm willing to help get the organization effort started and then hand it off to someone willing and able to lead the charge.

So consider this the official notice for resumes of those willing to lead this initiative. Use the "contact us" section on this site and notify us using the other option - and hand your resume to me. I will collect the resumes and decide on a lead for this effort and officially hand it off to them.

Please post to other boards and forums that we're looking for someone to lead this effort and that we're accepting resumes. This is a totally volunteer effort, and the idea is whether or not Kalmbach agrees to release the assets, we will stand up a comprehensive model railroading magazine index and turn it over to the NMRA.

The NMRA has agreed the resulting index will be publically available to all and not behind a login, which I believe is a key goal of this effort. The index must not be a propriety offering and it must remain forever freely available to all.

Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine

MRH Thread.

Jame

[Night Train]

I'm not a programmer and have never played one on TV but I think Jeff told me he wrote the program in Pearl. When Bob Hayden and then George Drury were creating the data every month they said they loaded it into the program as a plain text file formatted a certain way. That's all I know but it seems to me that the data should be able to be extracted.

[bparrish]

So how big of a file are we talking about here? What if Kalmback / NMRA put it out for any and all to grunt around into something that might function? Sounds to me like there are enough out there who are willing to try and recode it. My limited experience with data files is that they have become fatter the closer they are to current. That is, old MSDOS or what ever it might be can't be that large of a file. It may be archaic and all like that but it can't be as large as stuff created today. So put it out here and see what comes of it.

see ya
Bob

[deemery]

Clint Hyde and I (mostly Clint) have a prototype implementation that we're going to try to move to my public server in the next couple of days. All open source based on widely available free stuff (e.g. Apache web server)

dave

[jbvb]

Dave, let me know the URL when you want testers. And ask if you want help from a networking guy who doesn't know web admin that well.

[NEMMRRC]

Dave,

I'd like to help. At work I'm good at finding the weak spots in applications

Jaime

[bitlerisvj]

Hi Dave,
I saw Martin Brechbiel this past weekend and he told me that you and Clint were working on this. I bet we (meaning YOU ) certainly can do something that would work, especially using open source pieces. I also would bet that you would get hundreds if not thousands of volunteers that would review their vast magazine libraries and enter the data in some format that you guys define to provide to you for inclusion into the DB. If each person would do 10 years of a magazine, it would not take that long. I will be the first to volunteer Model Railroader from 1950 though 1959. That is an example, but you get the drift. I suspect we would get so many volunteers to enter the data, that we may only need 1 to 5 years worth of entries from each individual. I have never done any DB programing, so don't ask me to be a code or design reviewer. At best, I may be able to do a bit of project management in this arena. But, for sure count me in as a data provider.
The reason I am implying the above as a "start from scratch" piece of work, is beacuse, quite frankly, I doubt Kalmbach would provide the Index to the NMRA any time soon and even if they did, it would probably stall somewhere in the NMRA for a long time.
GOOD LUCK and regards, Vic Bitleris

Clint Hyde and I (mostly Clint) have a prototype implementation that we're going to try to move to my public server in the next couple of days. All open source based on widely available free stuff (e.g. Apache web server)

dave

[mscwolf]

Anyone listen to Tony Koester's interview on the Scotty Mason show this month? He addresses this pretty articulately...

R/,
Norm