The Don Maslin CP/M collection consists of software and published documentation ranging from 1973 to 1996, with the bulk being from 1977 to 1984. About half of the collection consists of software in floppy disk and cassette formats. Most of this portion of the collection pertains to CP/M and applications that were written for the CP/M operating system. The other half of the collection contains text documentation such as reference manuals and user guides for a variety of software and hardware. A significant portion of the text is related to hardware, some of which was donated with this collection and is cataloged separately. Notable companies in this collection include Advanced Computer Design, Advanced Digital Corporation, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, MicroPro, and Tektronix.
Biographical/Historical Note
Donald Albert Maslin was born November 2, 1927 in Whitneyville, Connecticut. Son of Albert J. and Margaret L. Maslin, Don was the younger brother of Robert and older brother of Margaret Anne. The family soon moved to Pennsylvania, where his first job was working for the Pennsylvania Railroad during WWII, tamping gravel and carrying ties and sections of rail. He got his driver’s license shortly after his 16th birthday, and then bought a 1931 Ford Model A California Coupe for $120. It was to be just the first of 23 cars he would own.
Maslin graduated from high school in 1945 and enlisted in the Coast Guard. After completing his service, he went into pilot training, where he got his license and bought a Fairchild PT-19 trainer. He attended the University of Michigan for two years and then transferred for a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University. He moved to San Diego in 1954 to work for CONVAIR in the Engineering Flight Test Department, where he worked on the F102 and F106. Additionally, he pioneered the use of water ballast instead of sand bags for flight testing the CONVAIR 880 transport plane. In 1958, Maslin purchased a Lotus-11 racing car and raced on the amateur circuit, where he met a woman named Winnie, and they married in 1959. Maslin left CONVAIR in 1960.
He subsequently worked for Electro Instruments, where in close cooperation with Robert Mason & Associates, they achieved a WESCON Award of Excellence in Industrial Engineering for the company's Model 300 X-Y Plotter. Later, he was employed by Cohu Electronics and Dolphin Engineering, where he worked for Robert “Bud” Hull, who also had a race car. Maslin and Hull reportedly did some stunt driving for the TV show “Route 66,” as well as Ronald Reagan’s last movie, “The Killers.”
In 1964 Maslin went to work for the Naval Support Center, Pacific, where he was the combat systems department head. The majority of his naval service was spent in the Department of Defense.
After retiring, Maslin was heavily involved in the CP/M community in San Diego and was one of the main archivists of CP/M floppy disk distributions. He was active in the comp.sys.cpm newsgroup and would make copies of the diskettes when people needed them to get their vintage computers going. Maslin was admired in these niche communities, as is evidenced by testimonies about his generosity: “the quiet, no-nonsense support he gave, doing something that desperately needed doing if these old systems were going to be kept running, but with no fanfare, no business angle, no glory.” “Don helped a lot of people with his services, and he had the respect of his peers.” “He will be missed by all who want to keep the efforts of… many pioneers alive.”
Maslin frequently submitted letters to the editor of the local newspaper. His hobbies included travel, fine wines and cheese. Don Maslin passed away August 28, 2004 in La Jolla, California.
