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Run the very old InterLisp program

I have some proprietary data (civil engineering models) stored in binary files. It also has some InterLisp sources and a kernel dump file (I think this is what Lisp compiles ... for some reason). I am told that the program is a graphical interface for managing models and exporting and importing data.

I am looking for advice on how to get data from a binary format. Is there an InterLisp interpreter that will work on a modern OS? If not the best option for porting code to a newer Lisp platform?

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I got the Interlisp environment running on my machine using QEMU and older Debian images before (see screenshot ). Here are the steps:

  • Download and install the Debian 3.0r2 installation on the virtual machine (or on the physical machine if you have an old spare). Get the disk image from the archive .

  • Get the LFG software from the PARC FTP server (the link is on the page), which includes the Interlisp environment. The FTP server also has a Linux emulator called lde to run the image.

  • Use lde to run the Interlisp image ( lfg.sysout IIRC) inside the virtual machine.

All this works with software distributed on the Internet. You can also find old hand held scanners Interlisp. Ideally, I would just introduce a working VM image, but since this is not free software, I do not want to distribute it informally.

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Interlisp is either the Interlisp language (which during its life has been ported to several different machines), or Xerox's extensive Interlisp-D environment.

The Interlisp-D emulator was (is it?) Available here commercially: http://top2bottom.net/medley.html

Here is the Interlisp interpreter (language) written in C for Linux and Windows: http://algorithms.us/software/lispf4/index.html

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