Jason Scott Launches DISCMASTER 2, a Semantic Search Engine for Classic CD-ROM Compilations
Pulling data from the Internet Archive, DISCMASTER lets you view hundreds of millions of files buried in ISOs and BINs.
Jason Scott, self-described "free-range archivist" at the Internet Archive, has announced the launch in full of DISCMASTER 2 — a platform that lets you search for, and view, individual files from a broad range of floppy disk and CD-ROM images stored on the platform, complete with automatic file conversion for modern browsers.
"In 2022, I introduced the project DISCMASTER, which is a unique project to make the internals of tens of thousands of 1990s-2000s CD-ROMs findable in a semantic search," Scott explains. "Today, I'm announcing the team has now made DISCMASTER 2, a ground-up rewrite with so much improvement. If you missed it the first time, DISCMASTER does semantic search after analyzing hundreds of millions of files locked deep down inside ISOs and BINs of CD-ROMs from the era when the CD-ROM reigned. We've already found long-lost media, buried citations, and forgotten applications and items."
The Internet Archive is a non-profit library dedicated to no smaller goal than the preservation of all knowledge. It runs the Wayback Machine, which ingests archives of websites in order to provide a way to visit sites as far back as the 1990s, and also provides a means to upload and share digitized documentation, art, audio, films, and software.
It's the latter on which DISCMASTER is focused. Launched in 2022 but shut down in 2023 before relaunching last year, DISCMASTER is a database of files found within floppy disk and CD-ROM images on the Internet Archive — but rather than just pointing you to the image itself, it allows you to view the files you discover directly in-browser. Archaic formats, or files that otherwise wouldn't be viewable in a modern browser, are converted on-the-fly to make discovery as easy as possible: just enter your search terms and see what shows up.
"The new system will also be ingesting new CD-ROMs," Scott adds, after the original DISCMASTER had gone read-only. "How many? There are 20,000 it is beginning the process of adding. Within a few months, DISCMASTER will have a grip on so much material that otherwise would be endless time for researchers and fans to find. It's going to be amazing."
DISCMASTER 2 is now available on its dedicated and pleasingly web-one-point-oh website, which is accessible even in vintage browsers lacking CSS, JavaScript, and HTTPS support.