Infocom text adventure CP/M interpreters + (unrelated) terminals question.
Linards Ticmanis
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Hi,
does anybody in these groups maybe have the infamous CP/M interpreter for
Infocom games ? If yes, the attached text explains how to customize it for
your terminal. It seems that there were at least versions for the Kaypro
II, Osborne 1 and DEC Rainbow, and probably also a couple of other
dinosaurs as well. It would seem these are V3 interpreters only (Infocom
abandoned CP/M in 1987) although maybe some CP/M+ V4 interpreter existed
as well. (probably not though - the original IBM PC interpreter for V4
needs about 72K of free RAM to run, which CP/M+ couldn't offer on any
machine, it was more like 58-62K normally.)
Anyway 40 Characters mode for V3 games is ugly on a Commodore 128, so
maybe does somebody have it ? I'd need the STORY.COM file from any game
for any system, compression should be unnecessary as I guess it won't be
more than about 12-15K or so.
Also, can somebody point me to a list of capabilities and codes for the
more common CP/M terminals that's a bit easier to read than the usual
suspects (i.e. Unix termcap files ) ?
Linards Ticmanis
The Master said, "The business of laying on the colors follows the
preparation of the plain ground."
If you post a follow-up, I'd appreciate an e-mail copy very much.
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Robert Hudson
Linards Ticmanis <ro...@dialup.rwth-aachen.de> wrote:
>does anybody in these groups maybe have the infamous CP/M interpreter for
>Infocom games ? If yes, the attached text explains how to customize it for
>your terminal. It seems that there were at least versions for the Kaypro
>II, Osborne 1 and DEC Rainbow, and probably also a couple of other
>dinosaurs as well.
Hmm.. Your best bet would be to look on either the OAK archive or
Walnut Creek's CP/M CDRom.
I know I've run into the interpreter for Linux
Rob
Shawn Sijnstra
The text file you posted has some extra bits in it that I haven't seen
before but it's also missing some things (I think). Should get a comprehensive
file together at some stage......
Shawn
Linards Ticmanis
No, I mean the original Infocom-made interpreter. As it's technically
still copyrighted, it's probably not in one of those places. The linux
interpreter(s) (there are several) are freeware fan products, made long
after the demise of Infocom.
--
Graham Nelson
In article <Pine.LNX.3.96.970908161211.190B-200000@pc79157>, Linards Ticmanis
<URL:mailto:ro...@dialup.rwth-aachen.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> does anybody in these groups maybe have the infamous CP/M interpreter for
> Infocom games ? If yes, the attached text explains how to customize it for
> your terminal.
Interestingly, like the author of your attached text, I am another
G. Nelson who once had a CP/M interpreter. I used it on an Amstrad
CPC 464, a cheap British 8-bit micro of the mid-1980s whose
manufacturer was too cheap to write an operating system and so
used CP/M instead. (But hey, it worked for the IBM PC.)
Specific Amstrad versions of the V3 Infocom games were sold, but I
suspect all that was Amstrad about them was the disc encoding. In
particular I can vouch for the existence of Amstrad versions of
Enchanter, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, Ballyhoo and Cutthroats.
--
Graham Nelson | gra...@gnelson.demon.co.uk | Oxford, United Kingdom
Fortran Dragon
[This followup was posted to rec.games.int-fiction and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]
My glass typewriter shows Linards Ticmanis saying...
> This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,
> while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.
> Send mail to mi...@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info.
>
> ---494297777-426514082-873730050=:190
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Hi,
>
> does anybody in these groups maybe have the infamous CP/M interpreter for
> Infocom games ? If yes, the attached text explains how to customize it for
> your terminal. It seems that there were at least versions for the Kaypro
> II, Osborne 1 and DEC Rainbow, and probably also a couple of other
> dinosaurs as well. It would seem these are V3 interpreters only (Infocom
> abandoned CP/M in 1987) although maybe some CP/M+ V4 interpreter existed
> as well. (probably not though - the original IBM PC interpreter for V4
> needs about 72K of free RAM to run, which CP/M+ couldn't offer on any
> machine, it was more like 58-62K normally.)
> Anyway 40 Characters mode for V3 games is ugly on a Commodore 128, so
> maybe does somebody have it ? I'd need the STORY.COM file from any game
> for any system, compression should be unnecessary as I guess it won't be
> more than about 12-15K or so.
I have the CP/M Versions of Zork 1 - 3 for the DEC Rainbow. Zork 1
is Revision 75, Serial Number 830929. Zork 2 is Revision 23, Serial
Number 830411. Zork 3 is Revision 16, Serial Number 830410.
The Rainbow uses a unusual version of CP/M: CP/M-86/80 v2.00 (1.1).
It is this 16bit and 8bit versions combined, which works since the
Rainbow has both a Z80 and an 8088 CPU.
I didn't see any story files on my disk, just the following files:
ZORK1.CMD <=== 16bit CP/M executable
ZORK1.DAT <=== data files
ZORK2.CMD
ZORK2.DAT
ZORK3.CMD
ZORK3.DAT
Let me know if you need any further information.
--
Fortran Dragon -==(UDIC)==- | "There isn't enough darkness in the world
-=={MDLAM}==- | to quench the light of one small candle."
Hidalgo Trading Company: http://www.ponyexpress.net/~xyzzy/index.html
Linards Ticmanis
Fortran Dragon wrote:
>
> I have the CP/M Versions of Zork 1 - 3 for the DEC Rainbow.
>Zork 1
> is Revision 75, Serial Number 830929. Zork 2 is Revision 23, Serial
> Number 830411. Zork 3 is Revision 16, Serial Number 830410.
>
> The Rainbow uses a unusual version of CP/M: CP/M-86/80 v2.00
>(1.1).
> It is this 16bit and 8bit versions combined, which works since the
> Rainbow has both a Z80 and an 8088 CPU.
>
> I didn't see any story files on my disk, just the following
>files:
> ZORK1.CMD <=== 16bit CP/M executable
> ZORK1.DAT <=== data files
> ZORK2.CMD
> ZORK2.DAT
> ZORK3.CMD
> ZORK3.DAT
>
> Let me know if you need any further information.
Duh. I want it for a Commodore 128, which doesn't have one bit of an
8088 CPU. (Guess they though two of them, 8502 and Z80A, were enough for
anybody.) So I fear those won't work. However, the author of the text I
attached to the original message stated he bought a CP/M version for DEC
Rainbow, and didn't say anything about it not working on his Kaypro.
Unless that machine also had an extra 8088, this would imply it should
work. If you can lift it off the original disks to a netted machine,
maybe you can send it to me anyways so I can try it out. I don't need
any .DAT files as I already have those.
Thanks for the response. So you're not all playing Ultima Online 24/7 it
seems ?
Linards Ticmanis
Graham Nelson wrote:
> Interestingly, like the author of your attached text, I am another
> G. Nelson who once had a CP/M interpreter. I used it on an Amstrad
> CPC 464, a cheap British 8-bit micro of the mid-1980s whose
> manufacturer was too cheap to write an operating system and so
> used CP/M instead. (But hey, it worked for the IBM PC.)
>
> Specific Amstrad versions of the V3 Infocom games were sold, but I
> suspect all that was Amstrad about them was the disc encoding. In
> particular I can vouch for the existence of Amstrad versions of
> Enchanter, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, Ballyhoo and Cutthroats.
Interesting that you speak so harshly of those. In Germany many people
thought they would kick Commodore out of the market. I always figured
the main reason for their failure to do so was their non-existence in
the USA, thus no US software, which was often better or at least more
complex than the UK stuff (no insults intended.) Of course they had a
shitty screen editor (along with a rather good Basic interpreter), slow
text display and terrible sond abilities as well, plus they couldn't be
hooked up to a TV, you needed to buy one of their monitors along with
it. What finally did them in was probably the genial idea to use 3 inch
(no typo) floppy drives, so it isn't even possible to lift infocom
interpreters off them on a PC drive (which would of course disqualify
any system. ;)
Ok enough irrelevant stuff.
Eric J. Korpela
In article <5v4jur$ntc$1...@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca>,
Tim Shoppa <sho...@alph02.triumf.ca> wrote:
>Are the contents of ftp://ftp.update.uu.se/pub/rainbow/cpm/games the
>same ones you remember being at gatekeeper? Planetfall, Starcross,
>and Zork I are all there.
Yep, those are the ones. I'm assuming the interpreters are CP/M-86 versions,
rather than CPM-80.
Eric
--
Eric Korpela | An object at rest can never be
kor...@ssl.berkeley.edu | stopped.
<a href="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/mofo.ssl.berkeley.edu/korpela/w">
Click here for more info.</a>
Tim Shoppa
In article <5v4jmk$l...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
Eric J. Korpela <kor...@islay.ssl.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> I have the CP/M Versions of Zork 1 - 3 for the DEC Rainbow. Zork 1
>>is Revision 75, Serial Number 830929. Zork 2 is Revision 23, Serial
>>Number 830411. Zork 3 is Revision 16, Serial Number 830410.
>>
>> The Rainbow uses a unusual version of CP/M: CP/M-86/80 v2.00 (1.1).
>>It is this 16bit and 8bit versions combined, which works since the
>>Rainbow has both a Z80 and an 8088 CPU.
>
>gatekeeper for the longest time. I don't see anything Rainbow related
>at ftp.digital.com these days.
Are the contents of ftp://ftp.update.uu.se/pub/rainbow/cpm/games the
same ones you remember being at gatekeeper? Planetfall, Starcross,
and Zork I are all there.
Tim. (sho...@triumf.ca)
Jason Compton
Linards Ticmanis (Linards....@post.rwth-aachen.de) wrote:
: it. What finally did them in was probably the genial idea to use 3 inch
: (no typo) floppy drives, so it isn't even possible to lift infocom
: interpreters off them on a PC drive (which would of course disqualify
: any system. ;)
You can build interfaces for those old 3 inch floppy drives: the Amstrad
and Oric emulators for the Amiga document how. I would have to think
someone was enterprising enough to figure out how to do it for the PC as
well.
--
Jason Compton jcom...@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine Anchor, Amiga Legacy
http://www.cucug.org/ar/ http://www.xnet.com/~jcompton/
There are only dreams... ...like any other.
Eric J. Korpela
> I have the CP/M Versions of Zork 1 - 3 for the DEC Rainbow. Zork 1
>is Revision 75, Serial Number 830929. Zork 2 is Revision 23, Serial
>Number 830411. Zork 3 is Revision 16, Serial Number 830410.
>
> The Rainbow uses a unusual version of CP/M: CP/M-86/80 v2.00 (1.1).
>It is this 16bit and 8bit versions combined, which works since the
>Rainbow has both a Z80 and an 8088 CPU.
I remember the CP/M-86 versions of several Infocom games used to be at
gatekeeper for the longest time. I don't see anything Rainbow related
at ftp.digital.com these days.
Eric
Richard Plinston
In message <<ant090907f7fM+4%@gnelson.demon.co.uk>> Graham Nelson <gra...@gnelson.demon.co.uk> writes:
>
> Interestingly, like the author of your attached text, I am another
> G. Nelson who once had a CP/M interpreter. I used it on an Amstrad
> CPC 464, a cheap British 8-bit micro of the mid-1980s whose
> manufacturer was too cheap to write an operating system and so
> used CP/M instead. (But hey, it worked for the IBM PC.)
>
> Specific Amstrad versions of the V3 Infocom games were sold, but I
> suspect all that was Amstrad about them was the disc encoding. In
> particular I can vouch for the existence of Amstrad versions of
> Enchanter, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, Ballyhoo and Cutthroats.
As I recall the CPC464 it has its own 'OS' and Basic in ROM
just as various similar machine had, such as the Commodore64,
Atari, Sinclairs, etc.
I think that the 464 could not run CP/M at all and could only
use a cassette tape. The later 664 and 6128 also has their
own ROM system and also could use CP/M, just as the Commodore
128 could.
Now I don't know if the Amstrad version of the games ran
directly to the ROM system or whether it required to load CP/M
first but it certainly is not true that Amstrad 'were too
cheap to write an OS and so used CP/M instead'.
Cheap they may have been (almost certainly) and it may be that
the ROM system could not be called an OS, but they were not
CP/M based machine and had it as an option on the later, better
machines only.
If the games ran on a 464 they would almost certainly be cassette
based and not use CP/M.
Alan Cox
In article <Pine.LNX.3.96.970908161211.190B-200000@pc79157>,
Linards Ticmanis <ro...@dialup.rwth-aachen.de> wrote:
>does anybody in these groups maybe have the infamous CP/M interpreter for
>Infocom games ? If yes, the attached text explains how to customize it for
>your terminal. It seems that there were at least versions for the Kaypro
Can you upload this to the if-archive at ftp.gmd.de as well. That is where
the great archive of infocom trivial, tools and info lives.
>Anyway 40 Characters mode for V3 games is ugly on a Commodore 128, so
>maybe does somebody have it ? I'd need the STORY.COM file from any game
>for any system, compression should be unnecessary as I guess it won't be
>more than about 12-15K or so.
Another approach would be to write an interpreter. All the info on this is in
the public domain. Im playing my games right now on Unix using free
interpreters.
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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postm...@uu.net secu...@uu.net fr...@uu.net spam-co...@uu.net //
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Malcolm J. Hutchison
Richard Plinston (rip...@kcbbs.gen.nz) wrote:
: As I recall the CPC464 it has its own 'OS' and Basic in ROM
: just as various similar machine had, such as the Commodore64,
: Atari, Sinclairs, etc.
: I think that the 464 could not run CP/M at all and could only
: use a cassette tape. The later 664 and 6128 also has their
: own ROM system and also could use CP/M, just as the Commodore
: 128 could.
The CPC464 could run CP/M 2.2 but had a small TPA of 41k. You
got CP/M when you bought the external 3inch floppy and interface.
The 664 had a built in floppy drive and was shipped with CP/M 2.2
The 6128 also had the 3inch drive but came with CP/M 3 (with GSX)
and 2.2
: Now I don't know if the Amstrad version of the games ran
: directly to the ROM system or whether it required to load CP/M
: first but it certainly is not true that Amstrad 'were too
: cheap to write an OS and so used CP/M instead'.
You had to load CP/M to play infocom games.
: If the games ran on a 464 they would almost certainly be cassette
: based and not use CP/M.
They did not run on bogstandard 464's, you had to get the disk drive
etc.
IIRC there were two versions of the Infocom interpreter, one for
machines with 64k (and thus the small TPA) eg 464+DD and vanilla 664
and another for 128k machines.
--
Malcolm...loco, malvedo y parcialmente calvo!
Fortran Dragon
My glass typewriter shows Linards Ticmanis saying...
> Duh. I want it for a Commodore 128, which doesn't have one bit of an
> 8088 CPU. (Guess they though two of them, 8502 and Z80A, were enough for
> anybody.) So I fear those won't work. However, the author of the text I
> attached to the original message stated he bought a CP/M version for DEC
> Rainbow, and didn't say anything about it not working on his Kaypro.
It might have worked if he was running the 16bit version of CP/M
(CP/M-86) on the Kaypro.
> Unless that machine also had an extra 8088, this would imply it should
> work. If you can lift it off the original disks to a netted machine,
> maybe you can send it to me anyways so I can try it out. I don't need
> any .DAT files as I already have those.
Check out directory /pub/rainbow/cpm/games at ftp.update.uu.se.
They have Planetfall, Starcross, and all three Zorks in ZIP files.
> Thanks for the response. So you're not all playing Ultima Online 24/7 it
> seems ?
No. I'm not really interested in Ultima Online that much. It just
doesn't have the things that make the Ultima games so fun (unique NPCs
and a good storyline).
Jason Compton
Alan Cox (al...@snowcrash.cymru.net) wrote:
: Another approach would be to write an interpreter. All the info on this is in
: the public domain. Im playing my games right now on Unix using free
: interpreters.
Compiling a program on a modern Unix system is a little easier than doing
it for the C-128. My guess is that if one were to attempt implementing an
interpreter for the 128 or the 64, a good place to start would be talking
to Bryan Scattergood, who did the low-memory consumption Psion
interpreter.
Paul Herdeg
If possible, someone mail me the address of these files...i use Win 95
but have a DOS computer.
Reach me at her...@stratos.net
--
I can be contacted via e-mail at her...@stratos.net.
Alan Cox
In article <3297252.1...@kcbbs.gen.nz>,
Richard Plinston <rip...@kcbbs.gen.nz> wrote:
>As I recall the CPC464 it has its own 'OS' and Basic in ROM
>just as various similar machine had, such as the Commodore64,
>Atari, Sinclairs, etc.
The CPC464 was like most machines of that era, Z80 based, tape
drive with optional disks later on and a ROM BASIC environment
with limited OS support included.
>directly to the ROM system or whether it required to load CP/M
>first but it certainly is not true that Amstrad 'were too
>cheap to write an OS and so used CP/M instead'.
Amstrad used CP/M on their other product line (the PCW9512 and friends)
>If the games ran on a 464 they would almost certainly be cassette
>based and not use CP/M.
The disk based x64's had very CP/M like behaviour
John Elliott
Linards Ticmanis (Linards....@post.rwth-aachen.de) wrote:
: No, I mean the original Infocom-made interpreter. As it's technically
: still copyrighted, it's probably not in one of those places. The linux
: interpreter(s) (there are several) are freeware fan products, made long
: after the demise of Infocom.
ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/cpm/amstrad/hitchike.pma
- contains a v3 zmachine and the datafile.
You will need a CP/M platform on which to decompress the .pma file.
------------- http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/index.html --------------------
John Elliott |BLOODNOK: "But why have you got such a long face?"
|SEAGOON: "Heavy dentures, Sir!" - The Goon Show
:-------------------------------------------------------------------------)
Edan Harel
Paul Herdeg <anony@mous.e> writes:
>> Check out directory /pub/rainbow/cpm/games at ftp.update.uu.se.
>> They have Planetfall, Starcross, and all three Zorks in ZIP files.
>Wait a minute---they released Planetfall and Starcross?
Here's an excerpt from the planetfall file(there are actually two, the datafile and a
planetfal.cbm):
PLANETFALL: INTERLOGIC Science Fiction
Copyright (c) 1983 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
PLANETFALL and INTERLOGIC are trademarks of Infocom, Inc.
Release 26 / Serial number 831014
^^
In case anyone's interested, This version isn't listed in the XYZZY bug list w/ the lists
of versions. (Well, I know one person who is interested, but I've lost his e-mail address).
The only versions listed there are 20, 29,37 and the SG 10.
It's the lost file of infocom! :)
Here are the others:
STARCROSS: INTERLOGIC Science Fiction
Copyright (c) 1982 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
STARCROSS and INTERLOGIC are trademarks of Infocom, Inc.
Release 17 / Serial number 821021
ZORK I: The Great Underground Empire
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Revision 75 / Serial number 830929
ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
Copyright 1981 by Infocom, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ZORK is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 23 / Serial number 830411
ZORK III: The Dungeon Master
Copyright 1982 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
ZORK is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 16 / Serial number 830410
None of which haven't are new versions.
Edan
-Who wonders how many other lost storyfiles are out there...
--
"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked
at it the right way, did not become still more complicated." -Poul Anderson
"For every problem, there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong."
-H. L. Mencken
Paul David Doherty
In article <5vp1ou$s...@remus.rutgers.edu>,
Edan Harel <edh...@remus.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>
>Edan
>-Who wonders how many other lost storyfiles are out there...
My estimation: about a dozen (unless you count beta versions). In fact,
with the release of the next version of the Infocom Fact-Sheet I'm
planning to offer a small reward for people who discover a lost version.
I'm not sure what it will be - maybe $10 or an old, original Infocom box
or something like that.
-- Dave
Edan Harel
h014...@joker.rz.hu-berlin.de (Paul David Doherty) writes:
>My estimation: about a dozen (unless you count beta versions). In fact,
>with the release of the next version of the Infocom Fact-Sheet I'm
>planning to offer a small reward for people who discover a lost version.
>I'm not sure what it will be - maybe $10 or an old, original Infocom box
>or something like that.
Perhaps I shoulda kept my mouth shut till then... ;-)
Edan Harel
j.r. pierce
>-Who wonders how many other lost storyfiles are out there...
I have a handfull of PC/XT generation Infocom games in my dusty archives
somewheres... If I run into them, I guess I could version check them.
They are all on 360k 5.25". I have no way of knowing which interpreter
they'd require.
Hmm. quick scan locates only the following two items...
Leather Goddesses of Phobos, single 360k disk.
labeled (c) 1986. IBM PCDOS 2.0 and MS-DOS 2.0.
pd-ic1-04
includes:
a 3D comic book, "Lane Mastodon"
red/blue 3D glasses
genuine Leather Goddesses of Phobos scratch-n-sniff card
'parchment' 2 sided 5x7" map of 'secret catacombs map'
Bureaucracy (also single 360k disk)
IBM PC-DOS 2.0 or higher
(c) 1987
includes:
"You're ready to move!" by Fillmore Fiduciary Trust
a letter from "Happitec" addressed to 'occupant' welcoming you
to your new job
form G-IC2-FIT, Fillmore Better Beezer Card application.
a glossy flyer for "Popular Paranoia" magazine.
I *know* I had pcdos versions of Planetfall, Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy, Starcross,
Hey, here's a 86 vintage(?) Infocom catalog... claims the following
games were available on cp/m 8" 48k:
Zork I, II, III
Enchanter
Sorcerer
Witness
Planetfall
Deadline
Starcross
Suspended
Infidel
Seastalker
in addition to the above, the following were available for Kaypro II
cp/m
Wishbringer
Spellbreaker
Suspect
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cutthroats
uh oh. the very last page of the catalog describes the beginning of the
end of Infocom... their greatest folly, "Cornerstone", their attempt at
a Relational Database System. Ah, and the back cover describes them as
a member of the Activision software group.... ooops!
-jrp
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