Diskette Containing .IDC files

[RobertUCD]

Hello Everyone,

I had a friend send me 5 3.5 diskette's containing .IDC files. The dates on these diskettes indicate they were taking in 1989. These diskettes are all structured the same as they contain SLIDEDIR.IDC on each disk then start as IMG002.IDC to IMG010.IDC. The diskettes are labeled to contain photos and the structure in hex editor seems to be structured as a photo but I can not determine how to view these files or what they we captured on. I am pulling my hair out any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BradS]

a quick google search for ".idc file format" returned this...

https://www.reaconverter.com/convert/idc.html

I have no association what-so-ever with that company or its products.

Welcome to Photrio.

 

[RobertUCD]

Hey Brad, I appreciate the response and the suggestion!! Unfortunately, I've tried that as well as I have tried XnViewMP and Classic converter with al the plugins with no luck so far. Still digging into it!

 

[koraks]

Hi @RobertUCD , welcome to Photrio!

That's an interesting question. Is it possible to upload one of these files online so that people could have a look at them? I'm not sure what the risk of disclosing any privacy sensitive information is; you're in a better position to make an estimate of this. But it might help figuring out what kind of format these files really are.

 

[RobertUCD]

Hello Koraks, Thank you!

I appreciate your interest in the subject! When I first saw these file types I was over confident this would be easier than it has been!

In the interest of privacy for my friend, I would prefer to stray away from uploading a file without being to verify its contents. I unfortunately understand this is going to not aid in the process of figuring this out...

 

[koraks]

I understand, and don't worry. It's a valid concern.
I also did some googling, but mostly found references to MS Visio using this file extension. But this was only introduced in 1997, so it postdates the files you have there, assuming they do date back to '89.
Btw, those 3.5" floppies were fairly modern back then. Many people were still stuck with 5.25" discs who really earned the name "floppy"!

 

[perkeleellinen]

Interesting problem, an example of digital obsolescence, I think. Nothing to really add here but I wonder could these be vector files rather than photo files and if so, could some digging into '80s era drawing packages bring up any leads?

 

[RobertUCD]

Interesting problem, an example of digital obsolescence, I think. Nothing to really add here but I wonder could these be vector files rather than photo files and if so, could some digging into '80s era drawing packages bring up any leads?

Yea I beginning to thing this "technology" was released and used for a very short window then died.. Lucky Me!!

Currently exploring that rabbit hole now of using vector programs to view... Just tried installing Corel 5.0 onto a windows 98 machine thinking with this being a program from the late 80's to early 90's be able to render them but no luck..... The thing that keeps kind of throwing me off is the SLIIDEDIR.IDC like a program or hardware uses that to inventory to then display, but who knows...

 

[MattKing]

Does this site assist?: https://filext.com/file-extension/IDC

 

[perkeleellinen]

I wonder how accurate that '89 date is. I suppose the files may have originated / been edited then and much later transferred onto the 3.5" floppies from an ageing computer, maybe.

 

[koraks]

The "slidedir" file does suggest that this may be some sort of presentation media type; an early PowerPoint predecessor of sorts.
What kind of sizes are those image files?

 

[Bushcat]

Since you can look at the hex, can you paste the first 10 or 20 hex characters here?

 

[RobertUCD]

I have Installed Harvard graphics on a DOS Machine running on old hardware hoping it would accept this file type with no luck. Got another potential piece of info from my friend, there is a chance the diskettes came from somewhere over towards the U.K.

@perkeleellinen These do appear to be diskettes from 89 nothing would indicate that they were reproduced on these at a later date.

The saga continues!

 

[Anaxagore]

Did you try an old version of JASC PaintShopPro? I remember that as a kid, I used that program for viewing images as it had the largest number of supported file formats..

 

[Bushcat]

If the files are Core IDC, then Xnview would read/convert them.

 

[RobertUCD]

@Anaxagore I will be working on trying to get that program in stalled on the old OS! thanks for the insight!

@Bushcat I have tried Xnview with all the add-ins and plug-ins installed with the format still not recognized by it. I think these might predate the time of "core IDC" files.