Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: blakespot on February 19, 2006, 04:41:16 PM
-
I just took a look for the first time in a while and it seems back2roots.org is .. gone. Are they shut down??
ARGH how foul that is. I donted $100 to them, too, a couple years back. Quite a loss, if it's not a temporary thing.
:-(
blakespot
-
There have been a few threads about this already. It's been down for ages. Their subdomains still work, and the FTP server is still up, but there is no commercial software on the FTP site.
It's not looking good :-(
--
moto
-
Maybe they were going for a new server. I seem to remember before they went down there was a note on the homepage about accepting donations for one.
-
Been down for weeks now :cry: Is suprising that no one has any info about the reason yet. It will be a sad day if it is gone permanently, since no other site has the rights for distributing all this commerical software for free. It also has a pretty big demoscene collection.
back2roots and aminet has been the most important software archives for me.
-
blakespot wrote:
I just took a look for the first time in a while and it seems back2roots.org is .. gone. Are they shut down??
ARGH how foul that is. I donted $100 to them, too, a couple years back. Quite a loss, if it's not a temporary thing.
:-(
$100 won't keep anyone in bandwidth indefinitely...
-
NoFastMem wrote:
$100 won't keep anyone in bandwidth indefinitely...
No but it's a start. With that attitude, nobody would donate anything :roll: Good on Blakespot for his donation I say - I bet it's more than most users of the site donate.
--
moto
-
NoFastMem wrote:
$100 won't keep anyone in bandwidth indefinitely...
Well, they were raising money and I felt that $100 was a respectable amount for "doing my part."
Also, it's not commercial apps/games I liked about it - but demos. I liked their synopsis of ECS/AGA demos that was updated about every month - tho it's been a while since such updates were regular.
What's the address of the FTP site?
blakespot
-
ftp://ftp.back2roots.org/ (http://ftp://ftp.back2roots.org/)
--
moto
-
Ah!
It's the weekly "where's b2r" thread. I've missed it so.. :)
Wayne
-
Wayne is there any chance of paga on Amiga.org which list web sites which are down? And any info of why they are down and ideas of when it is coming back on-line?
-
The simple fact of the matter is, there are more Amiga sites now down or dead than there are live ones. Keeping up with such a list would be a bit superfluous.
Wayne
-
I think its gone the way of the Do-Do!!!
But look where i've been! :idea:
http://planetemu.net/index.php?section=menus&machine=31
Hope this helps all those ADF leechers! (Like Me)
Cheers!
:lol:
-
I hope they get it back up soon! Back2Roots is such an incredible collection, all legal and with screenshots. Surely the publishers have it all backed up on CDs, one hopes.
Haven't we reached the technological point where we can offer a website like B2R with P2P technology from a few people with broadband connections? Understand what I mean? Like a dynds (sp?) site that hits whoever of the group is online and serves the webpage and ADF image?
The guy who gave $100 gave a generous contribution. I wanted to give a contribution but I didn't use nor want to use Paypal at the time I was browsing B2R a lot. So I emailed them "well, can I just send a check or cash" but they said IIRC they weren't set up to accept that.
-
I kinda feel bad for donating as well.
Not that i have a paypal account and a paying job at the moment..
I understand that alot of amiga sites get shutdown these days, but i dont understand why there was no warning/notice about it before it happened.
-
I have emailed ztnet.com, who are shown as the registrants on the whois record for the domain. Their web site seems to have status reports for some of the domains they host (but not b2r) so I'm hoping they can shed some light on what's going on.
If I get a response, I'll post it here.
--
moto
-
It is at times like these I wouldn't mind having had someone downloaded the entire site, just in case. I know that most sites do their best to keep their bandwidth low and this by using bot-tracking applications and so on (sometimes when I had donwloaded more than 3-4 files in a row from Back2Roots I was left out in the cold for a while since the site believed I was a bot). But, it so often happens with sites that all that one is left with in the end, if shutdown, is Wayback Machine... and I hate it.
Even though I've always enjoyed Back2Root and their efforts, I've come to seldom use it today since the games hosted are in most cases the cracked ones which often works so-so with WHDLoad. If IPF were aimed at, so much the better even though it would be hard to manage to get the games written back to disk for those who would want to do that. But, anyways, the point is, if gone for good it would be a site which I would miss, although rarely visited.
In fact, I've come to the conclusion that I hate most things hosted on the web, since the web in most cases only is a temporary way of storing things. Hall Of Light, for example, I wouldn't mind paying the authors like €50, or maybe even a little bit more, to have on a DVD with the entire site just to ensure that I won't wake up one day not being able to access the site ever again. People ALWAYS get fed up developing sites, and for some reason they seldom want to hand over their work to someone else for continued support, and in most cases they don't want to sell their work either, which leaves nothing at all to the public in the end. I can fully understand people who tries to download entire sites, because if they don't, chances are the sites will be lost forever at one point or another.
It is a bit like emulation. If the emulation scene hadn't come up with the GoodTools (no matter how much I hate those damn GoodTools and their bad dumps, their alternative dumps and their overdumps and all the people obsessed with obtaining all the roms just for the sake of it, not caring about legality or whatever), and the applications alike, how many games wouldn't have been lost in the sands of time? Now prototypes, really hard to get hold of releases and only god knows what have been preserved for the future. This would never have happened if it wasn't for the sake of the emulation scene. The companies themselves would have, with time, lost the sources to some of the games and eventually not having had been able to offer the games to the public in any way, commercial or not. It not for no reason at all C.A.P.S. started back in the days. Or others doing the same thing as C.A.P.S. does (Yes, I do know they've changed their name now).
Oh.
Well.
Anyways.
-
Thats why a team should handle a site. A team needs a leader that motivates the team. If someone looses interest he finds another member of the team. But the leader needs to be a good guy and not an asshole because then you will have problems.
Just look at Zophar's Domain, one of the oldest emulation sites on the net. Their leader is an asshole not wanting to lift his finger for making his site better. One solution is for the team to start up a new site. Same thing will happen with back2roots I think. But to be honest with you, who cares about 12 year old cracked games these days?
-
Just look at Zophar's Domain, one of the oldest emulation sites on the net. Their leader is an asshole not wanting to lift his finger for making his site better. One solution is for the team to start up a new site. Same thing will happen with back2roots I think. But to be honest with you, who cares about 12 year old cracked games these days?
This new team would have to start all over again then with mostly public domain games only, as back2roots is pretty much the only site that actually got permission to host alot of commerical games for free. This new site would have to again ask all those companies for permission to host those files, which i doubt will be a easy task to say the least. It took many years before back2roots got the point where it is today.
And believe it or not, alot of people are still interested in 12 year old games be them cracked or not. I myself often find myself firing up a old classic atleast once a week.
-
Hopefully if someone is taking over back2roots.org, they can buy the name and the goodwill and keep the agreements that were held by the original back2roots.org
-
Like I said earlier, this is one of the reasons I dislike the internet... sites that are getting way too big and way too important might just disappear, especially annoying, it is, when they don't offer some kind of alternative way of downloading "all" the material on the site (like P2P, or with torrents just like OverclockedRemix offers where you can download their entire collection of hosted remixes).
I would cry me a river if Hall Of Light were to disappear. I would cry me a river if Exotica were to disappear. I would cry me a river if many other sites were to disappear, and I constantly have this fear of sites that I care for might disappear one day... and Back2Roots did. Everything feels so extremely temporary, and I FULLY understand people that wants to download all the material there is to be found on certain sites... because the next day it might all be gone. When sites disappear it is all so final. If a magazine stops being produced, all that they have done is still available in one form or another, and can legally be bought... all the written reviews, all the presented maps and solutions, everything, is still there. But with a site, it is all gone. Imagine GameFAQ's closing down. Imagine ALL the manhours spent on the material that is to be found on that site... gone... or at least shattered (in some cases, to reappear on some various sites).
Why on earth can't Back2Roots announce why they are offline? What is the problem? Do they tend to resolve the problem (if there is a problem) or do they just not care about the site anymore? If, when, why, what (courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys)? The silence will certainly not help them to keep their userbase (if they tend to return). A simple announcement would be enough, but as of today... nothing?
Oh, well, whatever...
I can live without Back2Roots, but it was a really nice site anyways... and it is a shame that it does seem to be gone, and especially a shame not knowing why...
Shame on them...
Shame...
-
It has been down for months.. It just partly went down without any notice whatsoall and then a month later the domains also went down.
The roumors say that the admin did it because he was feed up with the lack of support/donations from the amiga community.
I tried sending mail to the other sites using the back2roots domain, but no response whatsoever.
I personally think it is a bit childish if the rumours are true, as they could atleast make a notice about it.
-
mantisspider wrote:
Hopefully if someone is taking over back2roots.org, they can buy the name and the goodwill and keep the agreements that were held by the original back2roots.org
I dont think that is legally possible.. :-(
This is why it sucks so damn much, since no one is ever gonna be able to get permission for all these games again.
Which is also why i am fuc*ing feed up with people trying to shutdown sites who host abandonware, as there is really no other way to get this games as they are no longer being sold. So this means they will fade away and will only be a distant memory...
-
Legerdemain wrote:
I would cry me a river if Hall Of Light were to disappear. I would cry me a river if Exotica were to disappear.
Don't worry!
ExoticA is not going to disappear. Also we are working on the next "version" of the site, which is wiki based (With the databased areas like UnExoticA being managed by a custom wikibot). Due to the the size of the project and the old site being less and less maintainable, we decided it would work better if everyone could contribute. It will not look pretty on Amiga browsers though, unless one with some css support is made.
-
Gamers should visit Amiga Games That Weren't as you can read about and in some cases download games that were never released. This website might ease your suffering until we learn whether Back 2 Roots will re-appear.
http://agtw.abime.net/
AF
-
@AF
Words cannot express the excitement I felt when I saw the ADF download of Putty Squad, and the disappointment when I realised it was just the demo :-(
--
moto
-
@motorollin
You could always download and play the full version of Super Tennis Champs from EAGER. I always found a game of tennis quite fun.
http://eager.orgfree.com/Download/stcDL.html
AF
-
everything in the universe have a born and die
you,me,your family,the planet earh,the sun,the roman empire,the mayan,babylon,your country
and everything is forgetted
so nothing strange have happened with back2roots site
on 70 years all the amiga ppl and websites will be dead
cause ppl that used the amiga will be dead and underground
cause the new generation will not be interested on old computers or old games
so boys:
stop cry like stupids chicks
BACK2TO THE REALITY
ok
Motorolling,
there's a full version of the game putty squad on SNES platform and is a good one,however the music is better on the amiga demo version
Play the game on any SNES emulator and forget the miggy version cause never was realesed
bye, Laser
bye, Laser
bye, Laser
-
It seems like the domain name and the ftp servers is back up and running again atleast... the main site is still as down as always though :-(
-
was it a demo archive, try this instead: http://kestra.exotica.org.uk
-
It was demos and games and mods and other stuff. Mostly emulation orientated.
Most of the files should be available elsewhere though.
Still it's always a shame to see sites disappear..
-
Laser wrote:
everything in the universe have a born and die
you,me,your family,the planet earh,the sun,the roman empire,the mayan,babylon,your country.
Laser you are a breath of fresh air.
Keep em comming bud !!
Browny
-
Is back2roots.org coming back? :-D
There is a new message when you open the site:
Working, wait some mins...
Are they going to rebuild the site ... or is it a message that means nothing? Does anyone know more about it?
-
well then there is still some hope..
-
still no news???...
________
LovelyWendie99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)
-
"Working, wait some mins..."
It seems a joke...
-
You can kiss back2roots farewell...
It's forever gone...
:-(
-
Good thing I leached off that mofo like there was no tomorrow! lol
-
I just found a bunch of subdomains....No adf's though. (http://www.iamiga.info/?cx=002218398616714700785%3Awfjswecfzy0&q=inurl%3Aback2roots.org&sa=Search&cof=FORID%3A11)
Edit:> This link should work with all browsers (http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-0987631822357778&channel=1773060945&cof=FORID%3A1%3BAH%3Aleft%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.iamiga.info%3BCX%3AiAMIGA%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.iamiga.info-a.googlepages.com%2FiAMIGAmodified.jpg%3BLH%3A52%3BLP%3A1%3BLC%3A%230033FF%3BVLC%3A%23FF0033%3BGALT%3A%23666666%3BGFNT%3A%23AAAAAA%3BGIMP%3A%23AAAAAA%3BDIV%3A%23FF0033%3B&q=inurl%3Aback2roots.org&btnG=Search&cx=002218398616714700785%3Awfjswecfzy0)
-
Zener wrote:
"Working, wait some mins..."
It seems a joke...
Only done just to piss us all off... Good thing i never got to donate.
-
From discussion at polarboing it seems it's possible to get the site up again, but that some people are not willing to do so because "it downloaded the entire aminet mirror every day"...?
I don't quite know what's up with that, but when so many people want the site back I think it should go back up, regardless of some person's personal issues.
I guess if people want the site back up, they need to ask nicomen (Nicolas Mendoza) nicely if he would like to help out.
-
Hmmm.....Well, at least in the interim, Ami Sector One still seems to be up. Not as big a site but something, anyway...
kevin
http://www.amigau.com
-
Yup, viewing the web page source code also gives "Working, wait some mins..". Strange that the web page is still hosted, but they do nothing with it. Never mind, time for a :pint:
-
a pint ? at 9:40am.. ?!?
*good idea* ;-)
-
@Ideal
I have no affiliation with Back 2 Roots. So asking me wouldn't help getting it back up really.
-
I guess I misunderstood, I thought there was something you could do?
-
Anyone knowing any contact info for any back2roots people?
And where was that polarboing discussion; link please.
-
It looks like its long gone. Lucky i got my own private archives :-)
-
It has been a year or two since I last visited back2roots but I remember wishing I could buy the website contents on CD/DVD for when something like this finally happened.
-
Damnit. Just when I was getting back into the Amiga..
On another note, I do have some free webspace I am willing to convert to an Amiga software Archive. If you are interested, send me a list of games (and who made them!), so I can perhaps **try** to get permission to host them. Of course, whilst my collection is extensive, they are not all, errr, original versions. I might need some help!
As for all the negativity regarding websites/archives that shut down, I think the best way to circumvent this is to have a community based site.
-
Everything seems to be available there on FTP.
-
Wow, you're right. Too many files to download manually, though, and I couldn't get wget to dload them either... :/
-
Back
but wheres the game download links
-
They seem be reorganizing slowly (and the partial access to games via FTP isn't there atm).
-
@Disparil
You did read back2roots AUP, right?
- Don't use mass downloading tools or accelerators or you trigger our Robot Defender (http://www.back2roots.org/Docs/Howtos/Robots/).
-
Its not that, loks like downloads not enabled yet, there is an explanation to why the site has been down on the site
-
Don't use bots, if their website keeps getting hammered they will close it.
-
ADF downloads seems to be finally back as well. :-D
I hope more people donate this time..
People using bots was also one of the main theories as to why they shutdown in the first place, so i hope people stop being that selfish. They should implement some quota per day for each host or something..
-
Perhaps they need more mirrors too! How much storage space is needed?