spacewar source code

[Mike Sachs]

Greetings!,  I have a shiny new pidp8i running spacewar.bin on the vc8 emulator.  Works great!  I would like to start hacking around the source code but as a baseline I need to be able to compile the spaceware.pa file that was used to generate the binary that is included in the latest pidp8i image file from tangentsoft.  I have search top to bottom and do not see it anywhere in the release image.  Of course I have found many SPCWR3 files around the internet but none run properly on the pidp8i.  Could someone tell me where the correct source code file is located or perhaps the exact build instructions to start with any of the public domain SPCWR3.pa files and produce a binary that can be verified to run on the pidp8i.

Thank you very much,

Mike Sachs

www.viscience.com

[Ian Schofield]

Hi Mike,

I also had a lot of trouble finding a working version on the web. I am not sure where the attached file originally came from.

There are various versions that were designed to use the SR to control the ships.

The VC8 app sends a packed copy of the virtual SR to the PiDP8I and the Spacewar requires some extra code to use this data.

I have attached a working copy of the app and I hope you can rebuild it.

NB: The boot script for the PiDP8I also needs a change. I assume you are using OS/8 to host the app. ie Start pidp8i with the instruction field switches = 0.

The boot process will then use script.0 in /opt/pidp8i/share/boot. Replace the line 'set tty 7b' with 'set tty ksr'.

If you do not do this, the Spacewar command interface will not work. To test, press 'F' and the display should fill with stars,

Good luck, Ian.