20 Jun
2000
20 Jun
'00
5:51 a.m.
I have a variety of Apple II machines (I used to make my living on them
long, long ago) and my little brother, an avid thrifter, found a IIgs
for me this week. ISTR there are multiple varieties; this one appears
to be fairly old. It has a memory card inside with 256K of RAM soldered
down, and spaces for another .75Mb. The ROM is version 1.0.
Just playing around, I figured out how to get into the config menu and
set background colors, 80 column, etc. I happened to have an external
5.25" Laser drive I got with my $15 IIc+ and was able to boot up the
only DOS 3.3 disk I could find - Zork I.
So... now that I have two machines that want to have 3.5" drives and
no copies of DOS 3.3 on that medium, is it possible to aquire it anywhere?
I have Macs, etc., so I can make a 3.5" disk from an Apple disk image
if that's what it takes.
Also, are there any ways I can expand this puppy? I happen to have a
couple of old Apple double disk drives (the kind that came with the IIe);
does anyone know of a diagram to make an adapter for the 19-pin connector
that the newer computers take?
Thanks,
-ethan
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20 Jun
20 Jun
8:58 a.m.
New subject: Zork on Apple II, wanted for PDP-11 (was Re: Thrift Store find: Apple IIgs)
and was able to boot up the
only DOS 3.3 disk I could find - Zork I.
Minor nitpick: Zork I doesn't use DOS of any version. It was originally
shipped on a bootable 13-sector diskette, and later on 16-sector, which
is what you have.
The earliest Zork I release was buggy as all heck. Once I managed to have
in my inventory about 20-30 "rooms".
In the early-to-mid 1980s, Infocom used to offer a bunch of their games
for the PDP-11. Naturally I didn't get my first -11 until after that.
If anyone has a copy of Zork (or the other games) for the -11, I'd
certainly love to get a copy.
The -11 processor would do a good job of implementing the Z-machine.
21 Jun
21 Jun
3:07 p.m.
New subject: Zork on Apple II, wanted for PDP-11 (was Re: Thrift Store find: Apple IIgs)
There is an alternative. Before Infocom was even formed, a DEC Field
Engineer person (I think fondly known as "The Translator") translated the
original MDL (pronounced "muddle") (which predates ZIL) into FORTRAN. The
game was known as "Dungeon" at that time. (It was known as Zork before
that and after that).
See http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/dungeon.html for a good history.
In fact, you can take the data files that are in the FORTRAN version on
that site, combine them (being careful to set up DTEXT.DAT as a fixed
length 80 byte record file) with the VAX port available from
http://www.montagar.com/freeware/DUNGEON/ (the data files on the Montagar
site are, unfortunately, currently corrupted) and have a running port of
Dungeon on a VAX. I did this just this past weekend.
The version that was originally ported to the PDP-11 in FORTRAN was
submitted to DECUS. I played it under RSX-11 on a PDP-11/23 at one point,
and have a copy on an RSX-11 pack that, last I tried it a few years ago,
still worked. (Requests will currently be sent off to /dev/null -- too
busy. 8-) ).
Unfortunately, the DECUS archive at
http://www.decus.org/software/index.shtml does not seem to be currently
available.
Playing one of these older versions would suit the vintage of your PDP-11
better, IMHO, than running one of the later Infocom ZIL version (even
though those might be closer to the original source).
Jay Jaeger
At 05:58 PM 6/20/00 +0000, Eric Smith wrote
In the early-to-mid 1980s, Infocom used to offer a
bunch of their games
for the PDP-11. Naturally I didn't get my first -11 until after that.
If anyone has a copy of Zork (or the other games) for the -11, I'd
certainly love to get a copy.
The -11 processor would do a good job of implementing the Z-machine.
---
Jay R. Jaeger The Computer Collection
cube1(a)home.com visit http://members.home.net/thecomputercollection
6:12 p.m.
New subject: Zork on Apple II, wanted for PDP-11 (was Re: Thrift Store find: Apple IIgs)
On Wed, Jun 21, 2000 at 07:07:08PM -0500, Jay Jaeger wrote:
The version that was originally ported to the PDP-11 in
FORTRAN was
submitted to DECUS. I played it under RSX-11 on a PDP-11/23 at one point,
and have a copy on an RSX-11 pack that, last I tried it a few years ago,
still worked. (Requests will currently be sent off to /dev/null -- too
busy. 8-) ).
I'm surprised this isn't kicking around the net some place. Well I've got an
executable+data files for RT-11 on an 8" floppy (or two) somewhere, if anyone
wants a copy and it isn't already on an FTP site somewhere, drop me a line.
Playing one of these older versions would suit the
vintage of your PDP-11
better, IMHO, than running one of the later Infocom ZIL version (even
though those might be closer to the original source).
I dunno, I'm so tickled by the idea of someone seriously trying to sell games
for the PDP-11 that I'm certainly willing to forgive a 5-10 year difference...
It's *all* ancient history by now anyway. And it was certainly a nice fit,
I remember one of my roommates having trouble solving a puzzle in one of the
games because his C64 couldn't display backslashes correctly, no problem on
a VT52 though, and the speed was a lot better.
John Wilson
D Bit
20 Jun
20 Jun
9 a.m.
New subject: Zork on Apple II, wanted for PDP-11 (was Re: Thrift Store find: Apple IIgs)
I forgot to answer the other question:
So... now that I have two machines that want to have
3.5" drives and
no copies of DOS 3.3 on that medium, is it possible to aquire it anywhere?
I have Macs, etc., so I can make a 3.5" disk from an Apple disk image
if that's what it takes.
Apple never supported DOS on 3.5". There were some third-party hacks, but
I've never obtained copies.
10:29 a.m.
Also, are there any ways I can expand this puppy? I
happen to have a
couple of old Apple double disk drives (the kind that came with the IIe);
does anyone know of a diagram to make an adapter for the 19-pin connector
that the newer computers take?
The I/O controller boards sell for $5 or less on eBay, and expansion is
limited only by your budget. ;)
Come to think of it, I have both the new controller cards AND the adapter
cables for the old drives (I think).
8803
days inactive
8804
days old
5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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cube1＠home.com -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com -
mikeford＠socal.rr.com -
wilson＠dbit.dbit.com