Date   : Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:35:30 +0000
From   : pete@... (Pete Turnbull)
Subject: {OT] Decoding a Sparkplug file

On 10/01/2009 22:10, Adam Sampson wrote:
> Steve Inglis <sai2791@...> writes:
> 
>> Does anyone have any utility that runs on windows, linux or mac  
>> that decodes a file that encoded for the archimedes.
> 
> You probably want nspark (non-free, but source included):

Since when is it "non-free"?  That's not possible.  It always used to be 
public domain, and the version I have says in the source:

"THIS PROGRAM IS *FREE* -- YOU MAY DO WHAT YOU LIKE WITH IT AS LONG AS
  THIS FILE REMAINS INTACT, AND YOU DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM IT!  IF
  YOU MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO THIS PROGRAM THEN PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THE
  SOURCES TO THE MAINTAINER OF THAT VERSION OF THE PROGRAM.

  nspark is a rewritten version of !Spark for UNIX. The original version
  of spark (sometimes known as "cark") was based upon the BASIC program
  "bark", written by David Pilling, and was improved and fixed by the
  following people:

       Philip Colmer (pcolmer@...),
       Alun Jones (auj@...),
       Andy Duplain (duplain@...),
       Martin Percival (martin@...),
       Denis Howe (dbh@...)."

Note the part about not making any money from it.  I don't see anything 
in the files on demon that attempt to contradict the free status, though 
I've not unpacked the tar files themselves.

If anyone needs nspark, I have version 1.7.5 (which is not a beta) and 
am happy to make it available for free -- as the authors intended.

I seem to remember finding a bug in it, but I think I corrected it in 
the tar file I have here, and I recall submitting a patch.

-- 
Pete                                           Peter Turnbull
                                               Network Manager
                                               University of York