Acorn Archimedes LISP

[acorn]

Hi!

Is this disk image and scans available for download somewhere?

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/21518/LISP/

Many thanks!

[RobC]

Unfortunately, I don't think so. I have the equivalent C, Fortran and ISO-Pascal packages but no Lisp.

However, it may be descended from the ARM Evaluation system Lisp which is here with the manual here.

[acorn]

Unfortunately, I don't think so. I have the equivalent C, Fortran and ISO-Pascal packages but no Lisp.

However, it may be descended from the ARM Evaluation system Lisp which is here with the manual here.

Thank you! This is why I find it very intriguing: arthurcnorman has open sourced reduce, which is built on CSL Lisp too. Looks active almost daily.

If only he could also do the same with the Norcroft C compiler used to build RISC OS...

[acorn]

I’m a little sad, that Acorn Lisp for the Archimedes (SKL14) could not be archived last week during the Acorn World and ABUG meetup. It really seems to be a very rare piece of history.

Apparently, it is a single ADFS disk, although the manual is purported to be 150 pages. According to legend, it has an s-expression editor sedit, a function editor fedit and does fast load (FASL) too. It can handle iostreams and it is compatible with Cambridge Lisp (see Atari): as both seem to be descended from Portable Standard Lisp (PSL), versus the old Owl code for 6502. Actually, PSL compiles to C code. As such, some releases had a compatibility package for Common Lisp (CL). I wonder which PSL Acorn Lisp is ported from, and if there is a CL package for it. CL first appeared in 1984 and Acorn Cambridge Lisp in 1987.

[Arcadian]

I’m a little sad, that Acorn Lisp for the Archimedes (SKL14) could not be archived last week during the Acorn World and ABUG meetup. It really seems to be a very rare piece of history.

I spoke to Jason (CFCH founder) about archiving requests over the weekend. In future, if we can give the museum as much notice as possible (i.e. several weeks) this will mean their staff can nip up and rummage through the multitude of storage boxes whenever they have quiet moments in the run-up to a gathering.

My understanding is that the list of cassettes was provided well in advance - and I believe all requested tapes were located and provided for archiving - however the final list of hardware/utility/other requests weren't sent over until a few days before.

Obviously, the staff have responsibilities during open days hence it's understandable that they can't just drop everything to go hunting down items for archival, especially during a particularly busy opening like the Acorn World weekend.

I was guilty of some rather excessive grovelling in terms of making a case for the location of Knight Orc (which I suspect they went and found just to shut me up!) but again, just to emphasise, Jason made it very clear that they're totally supportive of any archival initiatives, they simply need plenty of advance notice.

Perhaps if an individial or group of people local to Cambridge were to approach the museum with regards to arranging a mini archiving meetup, I'm sure it's something they'd consider if a comprehensive list of desired items could be provided at the same time. You wouldn't necessarily need to wait for the next Cambridge ABug...

Alternatively, I wonder if they'd be open to a trusted member local to Cambridge collecting (and later, returning) any flagged items immediately prior to the Camberley ABug in November - which would mean Stardot members could archive/scan everything at the meetup. Would anyone in Cambridge attending the November event be willing to step forward? If so it's worth an ask!

[acorn]

Perhaps if an individial or group of people local to Cambridge were to approach the museum with regards to arranging a mini archiving meetup, I'm sure it's something they'd consider if a comprehensive list of desired items could be provided at the same time. You wouldn't necessarily need to wait for the next Cambridge ABug...

Alternatively, I wonder if they'd be open to a trusted member local to Cambridge collecting (and later, returning) any flagged items immediately prior to the Camberley ABug in November - which would mean Stardot members could archive/scan everything at the meetup. Would anyone in Cambridge attending the November event be willing to step forward? If so it's worth an ask!

Please don’t get me wrong: I am very thankful for all the really hard and impressive work people do here voluntarily. Especially you and the other regulars of the forum.

It would be wonderful if Archimedes Lisp and its documentation could be archived sometime in the future, just like Atom Lisp and BBC Micro Lisp have been. I wish I could be in Cambridge.

But obviously, the whole CCH (yes, I’ve seen the footage) needs to be digitised, etched on a nickel disc in Southampton and shot to the Moon. At least in an ideal case. Short of that, archive.org could be the next best thing...

[matt_nottm]

Perhaps if an individial or group of people local to Cambridge were to approach the museum with regards to arranging a mini archiving meetup, I'm sure it's something they'd consider if a comprehensive list of desired items could be provided at the same time. You wouldn't necessarily need to wait for the next Cambridge ABug...

Although not local to Cambridge, I would be interested in a mini archiving meetup; principally interested in scanning some of their Econet and associated Acorn networking material. I would therefore be happy to scan other material as well, I can bring my own scanner and laptop. I can be flexible with dates including weekdays. I've chatted to lcww1 before about this when he kindly provided the L4 Fileserver manual scans.

[Arcadian]

Ok thanks for the reply Matt, I'll sound a few other people out to see if they'd be interested in joining, then I'll probably make a new thread so as not to clog up this one!

[acorn]

I would be interested in a mini archiving meetup;

Wow, that would be very nice, if someday Archimedes LISP could be archived this way! In any case, thank you

[sirbod]

Ok thanks for the reply Matt, I'll sound a few other people out to see if they'd be interested in joining, then I'll probably make a new thread so as not to clog up this one!

I also need to arrange some archiving with Jason, if you need numbers.

[matt_nottm]

I would be interested in a mini archiving meetup;

Wow, that would be very nice, if someday Archimedes LISP could be archived this way! In any case, thank you

No worries, I've got a Kryoflux, so certainly happy to help in a new archiving thread for a volunteer session.