Question
What is GoldED?
GoldED is a classic message editor from the FidoNet and BBS world. It is part reader, part writer, part workflow tool for people living inside echomail, netmail, and large sets of message areas.
History. Source. Archive.
The FAQ answers the obvious things once, clearly, and without chatbot brochure smoke.
This page is where the recurring questions belong: what GoldED is, what the current ports are, what still works, what is archival, and why the site is split across history, code lines, and archive material.
Signal
Basic orientation page.
Core questions now filled.
Still room for sharper answers later.
Question
Why does this site exist now?
Because GoldED left more behind than a source tree. There is legacy code to preserve, a modern macOS port to track, a Laravel-based reinterpretation in progress, and archive material worth presenting properly.
Question
What is the difference between GoldED3, the macOS port, and the Laravel port?
GoldED3 is the historical released code line. The macOS port carries that lineage into a current desktop environment. The Laravel port is a greenfield reinterpretation that keeps the editor instincts while rebuilding the software in a very different stack.
Question
Is GoldED still usable?
Parts of the lineage are still usable, but “usable” depends on the code line, the operating system, and the FTN setup you are trying to plug into. That deserves per-project answers, not one mystical yes or no.
Question
What counts as archival on this site?
Archived material includes historical docs, old `goldware.dk` captures, older source history, and message-base artifacts. Active material includes the current ports and any living code or build notes that still matter today.
Question
Why are message-base formats and FTN artifacts part of the story?
Because GoldED did not exist in a vacuum. The software made sense inside the wider FTN ecosystem of packets, tossers, scanners, and message-base formats. If the site hides that, it explains the software badly.
Question
What is the archive page supposed to become?
A curated set of `goldware.dk` snapshots plus downloadable zip bundles grouped by archive format, each with a short explanation of what the format is and why it matters.