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EaaSI (Emulation as a Service initiative)

Demo instructions

Introduction

EaaSI (Emulation as a Service Initiative) is a digital preservation initiative from Yale University that allows users to emulate operating systems and software in the cloud. EaaSI's Ethan Gates has created a special instance for UMaine Digital Curation students and shared the following instructions for testing the system.

Choose software to emulate

Your instructor will email you with credentials for an account shared by your current classmates. Use this to sign in to the EaaSI dashboard.

Once signed in, you can search for and run any combination of operating system and software that is pre-installed on EaaSI. Examples:

WordPerfect (1980s-era word processor)

WordPerfect was the dominant word processor of its day; emulating this precursor to Microsoft Word offers a sense of how interfaces and other features have changed over time.

• Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for wordperfect.
• Use the bento box selection from the search results to pick the "Mac OS 7.5 + WordPerfect 3.5.1" environment.
• Click Run in Emulator on the sidebar menu that opens automatically; you can now interact with the emulator with OS 7.5 and WordPerfect already installed.

HyperCard (1980s-era hypermedia)

HyperCard was a precursor to the World Wide Web that allowed users to navigate a "stack" of "cards" with graphics and text. HyperCard authors created non-linear works of fiction and nonfiction, some of which are now classics of electronic literature.

• Find a HyperCard stack you want to explore in the Internet Archive's collection and download it as an ISO file/image.
• Back in EaaSI, use the Import Resource menu to upload your installation media as a Software resource.
• Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for hypercard.
• On the Explore and My Resources pages, select and add both the Software resource you just uploaded and an appropriate/compatible operating system environment (eg, Mac OS 8.5 + HyperCard 2.1) to the Emulation Project menu. Click Add to Emulation Project from the sidebar menu that pops up.
• On the Emulation Project menu, make sure both your Environment and Software are active (radio buttons are selected).
• Navigate to Emulation Project and click Run.
• Explore the emulated software. When you're done, you may have to press Escape to release your cursor.
• Click Exit Emulation to leave the system without saving changes.

Your own choice of software (harder)

If you want to emulate software not already in the system, you can upload it to EaaSI and run it under a particular operating system by following similar steps to the one required for the Hypercard example above.

Tips

• Environments explicitly labelled "Base" represent generic OS installs and are a good place to start.
• It's also possible on an individual account to save your changes so you can rejoin the session in the future.
• Have fun reliving our digital past!

Give feedback

The EaaSI team would appreciate hearing about your experience using their system and any suggestions you have for them. You can do this via the form linked in the course #reference channel.

Learn more

EaaSI has a well documented user handbook as well as step-by-step videos on using the system.

This exercise is a resource for the University of Maine's Digital Curation program. For more information, contact ude.eniam@otiloppij.