[COFF] Archived A Couple 5ESS Training Programs

I've just uploaded a couple new items to archive.org that folks may find interesting: https://archive.org/details/5ess-2000-switch-es5431-office-data-base-1998 https://archive.org/details/5ess-2000-switch-es5432-system-analysis-1998 Linked above are the ES5431 (Office Data Base Installation) and ES5432 (System Analysis) training CDs as produced by Bell Laboratories (Lucent era) for the 5ESS-2000 switch. Among other things, these CDs contain a 5ESS simulator which you can see a screenshot of here: https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=28001.msg269652#m… I was able to successfully get it to run on Windows 98 SE in a virtual machine, although did break one rule of archiving optical media in that I didn't take iso rips. I intend to throw an old FreeBSD hard disk in that computer sometime soon and do some proper rips with dd(1). In the meantime, this means using the above archives presents only a partial experience in that the Training section of the software appears to depend on the original discs being inserted. In any case, the simulator interests me greatly. I intend to do a little digging around in it as time goes on to see if there may be traces of 3B20 emulation or DMERT in the guts. I'm not holding my breath, but who knows. Either way, it'll be interesting to play with. Thus far I've only verified the simulator launches, but have done nothing with it yet. Picked up Steele's Common Lisp (2nd Edition) in the same eBay session so time will be split between this, learning Lisp, and plenty of other little oddball projects I have going, but if I find anything interesting I'll be sure to share. Given that Nokia is shedding 5ESS stuff pretty heavily right now (or so I've heard) I have to wonder if more of this stuff will start popping up in online market places. Word over on the telephone forum is that some folks in Nokia do have an interest in preserving 5ESS knowledge and materials but are getting the expected apathy and lack of engagement from higher ups. Hopefully this at least means Nokia doesn't mind too much this stuff getting archived if they don't have to do any of the footwork :) - Matt G.