Original issues of the Ambrosia Times Library

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2014, August 5 - 12:37pm

Kitchen2010

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Original issues of the Ambrosia Times Library

Ambrosia Software had from 1995-2000 an interactive online company newsletter, The Ambrosia Times. Originally released in DOCMaker format, they have ported the text graphics, and sounds of the later issues over to an HTML format so it could be read over the Internet (link to the HTML archive
).

The links to the original issues don't work any longer and could not be archived via wayback machine.
I feel it would be nice to have the original files archived, too (e.g. Issue July 1994).

Has anybody downloaded those newletter files in the original form (*.hqx, *.bin) and can supply a copy to Macintosh Garden ?

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2014, August 5 - 4:12pm

Temporary Joe

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If they're ported to HTML and are still in the real Internet today, I wouldn't be too concerned with their endangered properties, if you ask me (though they should be downloaded completely)

2014, August 5 - 8:44pm

Gary

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Did you try writing to Ambrosia and asking for them?

Gary

2014, August 5 - 10:37pm

MikeTomTom

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There's one issue on this page, its .hqx - Ambrosia Times, April 1997
And four on this page, also .hqx - Jul, Aug, Nov, 1996 & Feb, 1997

Search for ambrosia on either page and you'll find them.

2014, August 6 - 1:32am

kataetheweirdo

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They can all be found in their original forms on Ferazel Wand's CD-ROM. It wasn't until July '98 that they switch to HTML completely.

2014, August 6 - 9:29am

Kitchen2010

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Did you try writing to Ambrosia and asking for them?

@Gary: I searched all over their webpage, but could not find any real email address, only contact forms for requesting serial numbers for their products

There's one issue on this page, its .hqx - Ambrosia Times, April 1997
And four on this page, also .hqx - Jul, Aug, Nov, 1996 & Feb, 1997
Search for ambrosia on either page and you'll find them.

@MikeTomTom: Thank you for pointing me to this archive, I will upload them to MacGarden (EDIT: done, look here).

They can all be found in their original forms on Ferazel Wand's CD-ROM. It wasn't until July '98 that they switch to HTML completely.

@kataetheweirdo: Thank you for the notice, but unfortunately there is only the demo of Ferazel Wand available. Could you extract the Ambrosia Times issues from the CD and upload them ? You could upload the whole .iso file file to the Ferazel's wand page !

2014, August 6 - 12:12pm

Gary

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>but could not find any real email address

Like a lot of vendors, Ambrosia has moved to a web form to contact them rather than a direct email address. I suspect they did that to cut down on the junk mail that pervades the net.

I saw a General Inquiry style option under their "Support" button.

Gary

2014, August 7 - 12:20am

MikeTomTom

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"I feel it would be nice to have the original files archived, too (e.g. Issue July 1994)."

Discovered I had this (vol 1, issue 1, Jul 1994) - it was on a MacFormat CD I own - I've upped it to the page you've created.

2014, August 7 - 2:48am

MikeTomTom

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"...files in the original form (*.hqx..."

A friendly warning about ".hqx" files and Mozilla variant browsers (Firefox, SeaMonkey, etc):

These browsers will corrupt ".hqx" files if you left-click a link to a ".hqx" archive. This is a known bug with these browsers

You must right-click to get a DL dialog, to be able to safely DL ".hqx" files to your PC if using a Mozilla variant browser.

For example, (using SeaMonkey to DL) the ".hqx" I upped to the ATL page...

Left-clicked to DL - md5 checksum & file size:
8bff8a1ca4ee6e795f1e37bff3da516e *ambrosia-times-11.hqx <--- 288KB & fubar

Right-clicked to DL - md5 checksum & file size:
300be728062ea6d4ce4e12021721182f *ambrosia-times-11.hqx <--- 335KB & OK, same as what I upped.

For further info, read comments on this garden page

You may want to note this for the Ambrosia Times page, should folks start complaining about broken files.

2014, August 7 - 7:42am

(Reply to #9) #10

Kitchen2010

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@MikeTomTom:
Thanks for the information ! I used Safari to download and upload the *.hqx files. Is it OK ?
Regarding the problems of the Mozilla/Firefox browsers with *.hqx files, I would suggest to create a central How-to webpage with the information and to link to it if necessary. So you can keep information easiliy up-to-date. You are welcome to create such a page, as you know the most of the problem, I think.

The issues that I uploaded were from the supplied links above. If you have some of the missing issues on some CD or in your archive, please consider to upload them to MacGarden to save them for the future, thanks.

2014, August 7 - 12:25pm

(Reply to #10) #11

MikeTomTom

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I used Safari to download and upload the *.hqx files. Is it OK ?

I don't use Safari, but I DL'd one you put up and it was OK, so it looks to be alright.

Its possible that I have other ATL issues. MacFormat had them on their magazine CD's, but only as they came out, not as an archive of the lot. I'm waiting to see if the content of Ferazel Wand's CD turns up (which would save a lot of searching). If not I'll probably be able to find one or two more (I still have a few of the old MacFormat CDs in my collection).

2014, August 8 - 8:36am

#12

themacmeister

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Sorry! The Page You Requested Could Not be Found

The page you are looking for has been moved or no longer exists.
To report an error, email webm...@AmbrosiaSW.com

ouch!

2014, August 8 - 11:54am

(Reply to #12) #13

Gary

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>Sorry! The Page You Requested Could Not be Found

About a year ago Mr. Welch laid off most of his staff. Perhaps Ambrosia has finally gone out of business.

I bought Snapz Pro many years ago but when I found that the license key "expired" after only a month, I decided to NOT purchase anything else from Ambrosia. 98% of all software companies don't survive past 10 years so I knew that eventually Snapz Pro would be worthless because I could NOT obtain a license key that was viable.

Gary

2014, August 9 - 2:04am

(Reply to #13) #14

kataetheweirdo

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If Ambrosia SW's site is still up, I'd think they would still accept registrations. As for the CD, I can't rip the whole thing since they still accept orders for it. I could try to rip the issues off the CD, but it's a bit difficult with a 64-bit Windows OS (I use Sheepshaver. It works best with a 32-bit OS, since the CD-ROM driver works with those OSes).

2014, August 9 - 3:18am

(Reply to #14) #15

MikeTomTom

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Yes, Ambrosia's backlog of old shareware is generally still sold by them, even their classic Mac shareware, including Ferazel's Wand.

It would be OK to get the issues from the CD tho', if you can manage it. I've looked at what I have on old MacFormat issues and it looks like I have about 5 at least that I can add to the ATL page, which I'll probably do later today.

2014, August 10 - 2:15am

#16

MikeTomTom

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I've added what I had on the MF discs, about 7 issues in all, including issue 1 vol 1

2014, August 11 - 6:50am

#17

Kitchen2010

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Many thanks for the effort !

2014, August 11 - 8:47am

(Reply to #17) #18

kataetheweirdo

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Took a while, but I got the issues now. I should have them ready soon. A couple are missing, but these are mostly the final issues in HTML format.

2014, August 12 - 3:46am

#19

kataetheweirdo

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I uploaded 1.1 to 5.3 in their original forms. The original forms for 5.4 onward were all the HTML pages seen above. They're on the Ferazel's Wand disc, except for the last two issues.

2014, August 12 - 7:53am

(Reply to #19) #20

Kitchen2010

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Thank you very much for the issues 1.1 to 5.3!

I noticed that from the issue 5.4 onward, in the Ambrosia Times Library webpage, the original files are hided inside the HTML pages (the second page after the cover page, being named "Info.html"). The original files are called e.g. for issue 5.4 "AT_5.4.bin" and so on.

If the issues 5.4+ are also on the CD, can you please look inside the HTML pages or search for the "AT_*.*.bin" files ? It would be nice to have them all online, if you cannot upload the whole CD image.

2014, August 12 - 11:27am

(Reply to #19) #21

MikeTomTom

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Thanks for taking the time to do this. Its great having them all in a single 10MB DL, too.

Perhaps the previous single item uploads can be quietly deleted.

2014, August 13 - 8:15am

#22

baku

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While we're on the subject, does anyone have a CD image for Pillars of Garendall?

I also found this rare Cythera hintbook on replacementdocs. http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.9531

2014, August 25 - 2:47am

#23

themacmeister

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I searched my backup for Ambrosia, and only found one Ambrosia Times (4.2). Do you know if the original archives names were abbreviated? This might help me find some more, as I'm sure I read most of them...

2014, August 25 - 4:57am

(Reply to #23) #24

MikeTomTom

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No need to keep looking for this, tmm. - kataetheweirdo uploaded the entire collection, bar the later html versions (which are still located online at Ambrosia's ATL site). The entire collection is the last DL on the Ambrosia Times page, a 10MB+ DL

I'm inclining towards removing the large list of individual downloadable issues on that page and leaving just the entire collection in the single archive for DL. Any thoughts about this?

2014, August 25 - 1:53pm

(Reply to #24) #25

IIGS_User

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I'm inclining towards removing the large list of individual downloadable issues on that page and leaving just the entire collection in the single archive for DL.

Looks like a good idea to clean up the page.

2014, August 26 - 5:38am

(Reply to #25) #26

themacmeister

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I agree, I don't think there is a need for individual issues.

2014, August 26 - 5:58am

(Reply to #24) #27

themacmeister

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@MTT, I cannot access the HTML versions on Ambrosia's site, are you sure they are still available?

EDIT: I found the "Ambrosia Times", but it seems to be just news snippets going back to 2006. Does this sound like the right place?

2014, August 26 - 6:37am

(Reply to #27) #28

MikeTomTom

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They're available for viewing online, tmm. Not available to DL is all.

The HTML versions that weren't DocMaker files began July or Sept. 1998 and ended Jan. 2000. They're all accessed via this page, including the earlier DocMaker files (rendered as HTML).

2014, August 26 - 7:51am

#29

Kitchen2010

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@MikeTomTom:
It's ok to remove the individual download links if the issue is in the single archive file. But we should keep the contents descriptions.

@MikeTomTom, the macmeister:
We have the DocMaker files of the issues 1.1 to 5.3 (= May 1998) available so far. These issues was only available in the DocMaker format. The Later issues from 5.4 (= July 1998) to 7.1 (= January 2000) was both available in DocMaker and converted HTML format. After these they switched completely to e-Mail newsletters (HTML only).

We should still try to find the original DocMaker files for the issues 5.4 to 7.1. As they are the better format to be kept for the future and because the online HTML issues already have many pictures missing !
The DocMaker files links were on the second page of the converted online HTML issues (e.g. http://www.ambrosiasw.com/Ambrosia_Times/July_98/Info.html)

2014, August 26 - 11:34am

#30

themacmeister

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My apologies, I only clicked on the first link, which is missing. It appears all the other issues are there, sans some graphics.

2014, August 27 - 4:12am

(Reply to #30) #31

MikeTomTom

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All of them are there - Except for the 7.1 (January 2000) issue, which has a borked link. Not even the wayback machine could help.

But, I used a little logic and found that it was still available at the Ambrosia site. I added a link to it (and for the others missing from the current archive) on our Garden's Ambrosia Times page.

2014, August 27 - 5:06am

(Reply to #31) #32

themacmeister

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way to go MTT

I read a few, and they are quite interesting. I absolutely loved that company, and actually BOUGHT four or five of their games! (Chiral, Avara, Bubble Trouble, Barrack and Apeiron) All from OS7/8 days.

2014, August 27 - 5:07am

#33

themacmeister

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These guys went the hard yards, and sent me my activation codes 16 years later! It's worth dealing with them simply for that level of service.

2014, August 27 - 12:55pm

(Reply to #33) #34

Gary

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>sent me my activation codes 16 years later

That's not what I experienced. I bought Snapz Pro in 2000. I still have the original email. But when I tried to install it recently on a newly purchased G4 I got a message stating that the serial numbwr was expired.

So I wrote them and got a reply back stating that I was not on file. I sent a copy of the original email. But they refused to send me a valid serial. Well actually they simply didn't respond.

Gary

2014, August 27 - 8:06am

#35

Kitchen2010

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@MikeTomTom:
You made a good job at reorganising the entry page and finding the online HTML 7.1 issue.

But as already said, the missing issues in DocMaker format would be nice to have, as the online HTML issues seem to loose the pictures with the time.
Unfortunately, the issues were not directly linked but by a dynamic link created by a perl script just-in-time. So there were no chance for the waybackmachine to archive them.

Probably our only hope is that they were archived on some Ambrosia's game CD. So please look into these game CDs, if you got some and report back.

2014, August 28 - 7:43am

#36

themacmeister

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I must admit that this was probably about a year ago, and those codes will probably expire again too...

I think their expiring password baloney has caused more people into casual piracy than it was meant to stop...