[The Spectrum ROMs collection]
I e-mailed Datel with:
From: Philip Kendall <pak@ast.cam.ac.uk>
To: postmaster@datel.co.uk
Subject: Disciple and +D disk interfaces
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 10:13:19 +0100
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you as I believe your company manufactured the
`Disciple' and `+D' disk interfaces for the Sinclair ZX
Spectrum. Please accept my apologies if this is not the case.
As part of my involvement with the ZX Spectrum emulation scene, I have
collected together the ROMs for the various Spectrum models which were
produced, and placed these online at:
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~pak/spectrum/roms/html
I have obtained permission from the copyright holder for some of the
ROMs available on that page to be distributed (notably from Amstrad,
who bought the rights to the Spectrum from Sinclair Research), but am
also attempting to gain permission for the other ROMs.
There are four ROMs on the above page which I believe your company
owns the copyright to:
* `disciple.rom': the ROM from the Disciple interface.
* `disciple-plusd.rom': the ROM from the +D interface.
* `disciple-epson.rom': the ROM from the Disciple interface, with
code for printing to Epson printers preloaded; this file is
distributed as part of the `Z80' Spectrum emulator.
* `disciple-hp.rom': as above, but for HP printers.
What I am trying to do is to obtain your company's permission to
distribute these ROMs; I am not asking for the copyright to the ROMs,
but just for the right to distribute the ROMs free of charge. Of
course, if you do not wish the ROMs to be distributed, I will remove
them from my site.
Many thanks,
Philip Kendall
And they replied with:
From: "Francesca Barker" To: <pak@ast.cam.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Disciple and +D disk interfaces Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 17:05:09 +0100 Dear Philip We do hold the copy rights to the products you are enquiring about I've have asked our MD and he has said that you may distribute our ROM's Unfortunately as they are an old discontinued product we will not be able to give any technical support to any one that you distribute them to. This is because we no longer have records of common quires or recurring faults If you have any further inquires to do with this E-mail or any other general quires please do not hesitate to contact me at [Address removed - Phil] Regards Francesca Barker
Further communication with Datel clarified the term "you may distribute our ROM's": their position is that anyone may distribute the ROMs, but they would prefer that they be informed before anyone does so.