The Simtel CD Collection (1994-2001)

Used to have some of them in my BBS in Uruguay in the early 90s, before internet got there. They (and CDs included with magazines and things like that) drove the shareware/freeware movement around here back then.

Yeah I remember those CDs. Never had them, they were quite expensive in Europe IIRC.<p>Back in those days having 700MB of stuff was HUGE :P On packet radio it would take me all night to transfer a file of 1-2MB. In fact it was a lot quicker to grab my bicycle and take a floppy over to the friend I was downloading it from. Sneakernet was actually a thing :D<p>I&#x27;ll have a look through these archives.

SAC is also worth mentioning. It was my source of utilities back then, distributed on CDs included with a computer magazine (still did not have access to the net for a couple of more years). <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sac.sk&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sac.sk&#x2F;</a>

I remember Prime Time Freeware. It was like a book + cdroms full of software.<p>Here&#x27;s the closest description I could find:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.linuxjournal.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;1243" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.linuxjournal.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;1243</a>

Nostalgia. I still have a &quot;Shareware Bonanza&quot; compilation CD from Tons &amp; Gigs from 1992 with 20,000+ programs on 3 CDs, about 1.5GB of compressed files (more than 3GB uncompressed after them), which was huge. I had a 32MB hard drive back then (before I bought a new PC with a 120MB hard drive the following year).<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;Shareware_Bonanza_Tons_and_Gigs_1992" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;Shareware_Bonanza_Tons_and_Gigs_...</a>

See also:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;walnutcreekcdrom" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;walnutcreekcdrom</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ftp.sunet.se&#x2F;mirror&#x2F;archive&#x2F;ftp.sunet.se&#x2F;pub&#x2F;simtelnet&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ftp.sunet.se&#x2F;mirror&#x2F;archive&#x2F;ftp.sunet.se&#x2F;pub&#x2F;simteln...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;exodos.the-eye.us&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;exodos.the-eye.us&#x2F;</a>

I had some of those CDs. In the early 90, before broadband Internet, they were a godsend. That site parent directory is worth a look too, lots of memories over there.

Why does Simtel come up so much lately? <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26157165" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=26157165</a>

Also see also:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ittnnet.com&#x2F;downloads&#x2F;downloads.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ittnnet.com&#x2F;downloads&#x2F;downloads.html</a>