Discussion:
Confusion -- just enough MDL
(too old to reply)
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through. The original Zork isn't for the
faint of heart, and neither is Confusion; it is only available in
source form, with minimal instruction (which follows).
The source is available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/confusion-src.tgz>
It is written in C++, though about 99% is pure C. To build it, you
will need the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector for
C. <http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/>
Some Linux distros have this as a package, called "gc-dev" or
similar. For the Mac, you'll need the very latest version
(7.2alpha2), for Linux, 6.8 appears to work. For Windows... I
recommend running Linux in a virtual machine. It might build under
cygwin, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Once you have the GC, a simple "make" will build the interpreter.
The Zork sources, somewhat modified for the limitations of this
interpreter, are available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/mdlzork.tgz>
To play Zork, unpack this directory, change directory to the new
"mdlzork" directory", run the interpreter with the parameter "-r
MDL/MADADV.SAVE"
. e.g. "../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE".
You should be at the white house:
$ ../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE
This Zork created July 6, 2009.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front
door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
The HELP and INFO commands do not work, as I do not have those files.
I have played Zork all the way through, however, I have made some
changes since then to make the interpreter easier to build. If the
interpreter crashes, let me know. (note that there are bugs in the
game; if you get dumped to a MDL LISTEN prompt, this might not be an
interpreter bug)
If you modify the MDL sources, you can re-build the game by running
the interpreter with no parameters in the mdlzork directory, and
typing
<FLOAD "run.mud">
This will rebuild the MDL/MADADV.SAVE file and start the game.
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Post by Matthew Russotto
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through.
Nifty!
Post by Matthew Russotto
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
To repeat a general plea... please consider uploading stuff like this
to the Archive. Too often, the community turns around, it's five years
later, the original author has vanished and so has his web server. And
we really no longer want to accept files uploaded without the original
author's knowledge.
Source code contributed to the Archive does not have to be
open-source. Our basic statement is that the contents of the Archive
can be copied to mirrors, and downloaded by anybody for personal use.
If you're okay with that, we'll take it.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Post by Matthew Russotto
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through.
Nifty!
Post by Matthew Russotto
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
To repeat a general plea... please consider uploading stuff like this
to the Archive. Too often, the community turns around, it's five years
later, the original author has vanished and so has his web server. And
we really no longer want to accept files uploaded without the original
author's knowledge.
I will if and when I put it under an open source license. I'd prefer
to put it under GPLv2 or LGPLv2, but that's not compatible with the garbage
collector, and I haven't decided what to do about that.
For now I'd prefer it stay off the archive.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Post by Andrew Plotkin
To repeat a general plea... please consider uploading stuff like this
to the Archive. Too often, the community turns around, it's five years
later, the original author has vanished and so has his web server. And
we really no longer want to accept files uploaded without the original
author's knowledge.
I will if and when I put it under an open source license. I'd prefer
to put it under GPLv2 or LGPLv2, but that's not compatible with the garbage
collector, and I haven't decided what to do about that.
(Switching from Archive maintainer hat to hacker hat...)
As a matter of sheer, grotesque practicality, you could set it up to
build without garbage collection, and just warn people that in that
mode it'll leak like a macrame teakettle. :)
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Post by Andrew Plotkin
To repeat a general plea... please consider uploading stuff like this
to the Archive. Too often, the community turns around, it's five years
later, the original author has vanished and so has his web server. And
we really no longer want to accept files uploaded without the original
author's knowledge.
I will if and when I put it under an open source license. I'd prefer
to put it under GPLv2 or LGPLv2, but that's not compatible with the garbage
collector, and I haven't decided what to do about that.
(Switching from Archive maintainer hat to hacker hat...)
As a matter of sheer, grotesque practicality, you could set it up to
build without garbage collection, and just warn people that in that
mode it'll leak like a macrame teakettle. :)
tie rope to itself
After several hours of creative work, you complete a macrame
teakettle. It is liable to leak.
Post by Andrew Plotkin
throw away macrame teakettle
Sorry, there is no garbage collection service here.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
>tie rope to itself
After several hours of creative work, you complete a macrame
teakettle. It is liable to leak.
>throw away macrame teakettle
Sorry, there is no garbage collection service here.
*chuckle!*
That deserves its own game.
I will if and when I put it under an open source license. I'd prefer
to put it under GPLv2 or LGPLv2, but that's not compatible with the garbage
collector, and I haven't decided what to do about that.
Just out of curiosity, what about the GC license is incompatible with
the GPL? It reads like a standard BSD derived license to me. And if
it's free enough for Debian to include as a package, it doesn't seem
like there would be any trouble.
I will if and when I put it under an open source license. =A0I'd prefer
to put it under GPLv2 or LGPLv2, but that's not compatible with the garba=
ge
collector, and I haven't decided what to do about that.
Just out of curiosity, what about the GC license is incompatible with
the GPL? It reads like a standard BSD derived license to me. And if
it's free enough for Debian to include as a package, it doesn't seem
like there would be any trouble.
I thought it was BSD with advertising clause. But now that I check
again it appears it only requires the notice appear in the code, so it
is GPL-compatible. That solves that, now I just have to add the
license.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
On my Linux system currently awaiting a replacement Ethernet card after
lightning toasted it, I have a DEC-20 emulator running TOPS-20. Among the
programs installed is the original mainframe Zork. I think both the help and
info files are there. If I can figure out where they're stored on the system
(I'm not very familiar with TOPS-20) I could probably grab them for you if
you want, just to make the experience more authentic.
Jayson
Post by Matthew Russotto
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through. The original Zork isn't for the
faint of heart, and neither is Confusion; it is only available in
source form, with minimal instruction (which follows).
The source is available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/confusion-src.tgz>
It is written in C++, though about 99% is pure C. To build it, you
will need the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector for
C. <http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/>
Some Linux distros have this as a package, called "gc-dev" or
similar. For the Mac, you'll need the very latest version
(7.2alpha2), for Linux, 6.8 appears to work. For Windows... I
recommend running Linux in a virtual machine. It might build under
cygwin, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Once you have the GC, a simple "make" will build the interpreter.
The Zork sources, somewhat modified for the limitations of this
interpreter, are available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/mdlzork.tgz>
To play Zork, unpack this directory, change directory to the new
"mdlzork" directory", run the interpreter with the parameter "-r
MDL/MADADV.SAVE"
. e.g. "../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE".
$ ../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE
This Zork created July 6, 2009.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front
door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
The HELP and INFO commands do not work, as I do not have those files.
I have played Zork all the way through, however, I have made some
changes since then to make the interpreter easier to build. If the
interpreter crashes, let me know. (note that there are bugs in the
game; if you get dumped to a MDL LISTEN prompt, this might not be an
interpreter bug)
If you modify the MDL sources, you can re-build the game by running
the interpreter with no parameters in the mdlzork directory, and
typing
<FLOAD "run.mud">
This will rebuild the MDL/MADADV.SAVE file and start the game.
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Post by Jayson Smith
On my Linux system currently awaiting a replacement Ethernet card after
lightning toasted it, I have a DEC-20 emulator running TOPS-20. Among the
programs installed is the original mainframe Zork. I think both the help and
info files are there. If I can figure out where they're stored on the system
(I'm not very familiar with TOPS-20) I could probably grab them for you if
you want, just to make the experience more authentic.
Cool.
The files should <MDL>MADADV.INFO, <MDL>MADADV.DOC, and
<MDL>MADADV.HELP, I believe.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Hi again,
I've found where the help and info files are on my emulated DEC-20.
Unfortunately, the host system has no Ethernet and I'm having problems
getting Ethernet to it after our lightning hit, way too involved to get into
in this message. Anyway, I'd just copy them over somehow if I knew how, or
knew enough about TOPS-20. Twenex might have these files, but no user
account probably has access to them. The files you want are in <games> and
the names are madadv.doc for the docs, madadv.help for the help, and
madadv.info for the info file. If I get Ethernet running to my Linux box
I'll FTP the files over from my emulated 20 and send them if you still need
them.
Jayson
Post by Matthew Russotto
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through. The original Zork isn't for the
faint of heart, and neither is Confusion; it is only available in
source form, with minimal instruction (which follows).
The source is available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/confusion-src.tgz>
It is written in C++, though about 99% is pure C. To build it, you
will need the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector for
C. <http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/>
Some Linux distros have this as a package, called "gc-dev" or
similar. For the Mac, you'll need the very latest version
(7.2alpha2), for Linux, 6.8 appears to work. For Windows... I
recommend running Linux in a virtual machine. It might build under
cygwin, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Once you have the GC, a simple "make" will build the interpreter.
The Zork sources, somewhat modified for the limitations of this
interpreter, are available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/mdlzork.tgz>
To play Zork, unpack this directory, change directory to the new
"mdlzork" directory", run the interpreter with the parameter "-r
MDL/MADADV.SAVE"
. e.g. "../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE".
$ ../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE
This Zork created July 6, 2009.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front
door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
The HELP and INFO commands do not work, as I do not have those files.
I have played Zork all the way through, however, I have made some
changes since then to make the interpreter easier to build. If the
interpreter crashes, let me know. (note that there are bugs in the
game; if you get dumped to a MDL LISTEN prompt, this might not be an
interpreter bug)
If you modify the MDL sources, you can re-build the game by running
the interpreter with no parameters in the mdlzork directory, and
typing
<FLOAD "run.mud">
This will rebuild the MDL/MADADV.SAVE file and start the game.
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Hi,
Finally got my Linux box on the net again. So here are the Zork docs,
right from my emulated DECsystem-20 running TOPS-20.
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/zorkdocs.zip
This file contains madadv.doc, madadv.help, and madadv.info. Enjoy.
Jayson
Post by Matthew Russotto
For those poor souls still stuck in dawn of IF history, I present
"Confusion" -- a MDL interpreter which works just well enough to play
the original Zork all the way through. The original Zork isn't for the
faint of heart, and neither is Confusion; it is only available in
source form, with minimal instruction (which follows).
The source is available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/confusion-src.tgz>
It is written in C++, though about 99% is pure C. To build it, you
will need the Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative garbage collector for
C. <http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/>
Some Linux distros have this as a package, called "gc-dev" or
similar. For the Mac, you'll need the very latest version
(7.2alpha2), for Linux, 6.8 appears to work. For Windows... I
recommend running Linux in a virtual machine. It might build under
cygwin, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Once you have the GC, a simple "make" will build the interpreter.
The Zork sources, somewhat modified for the limitations of this
interpreter, are available at
<http://www.russotto.net/~mrussotto/confusion/mdlzork.tgz>
To play Zork, unpack this directory, change directory to the new
"mdlzork" directory", run the interpreter with the parameter "-r
MDL/MADADV.SAVE"
. e.g. "../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE".
$ ../confusion-src/mdli -r MDL/MADADV.SAVE
This Zork created July 6, 2009.
West of House
This is an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front
door.
There is a small mailbox here.
A rubber mat saying 'Welcome to Zork!' lies by the door.
The HELP and INFO commands do not work, as I do not have those files.
I have played Zork all the way through, however, I have made some
changes since then to make the interpreter easier to build. If the
interpreter crashes, let me know. (note that there are bugs in the
game; if you get dumped to a MDL LISTEN prompt, this might not be an
interpreter bug)
If you modify the MDL sources, you can re-build the game by running
the interpreter with no parameters in the mdlzork directory, and
typing
<FLOAD "run.mud">
This will rebuild the MDL/MADADV.SAVE file and start the game.
The interpreter probably won't be developed further; it was pretty
much intended just to play Zork. Please do not redistribute it at the
moment; I may put it under an open-source license in the future, but
for now it is for personal use only.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
Post by Jayson Smith
Hi,
Finally got my Linux box on the net again. So here are the Zork docs,
right from my emulated DECsystem-20 running TOPS-20.
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/zorkdocs.zip
This file contains madadv.doc, madadv.help, and madadv.info. Enjoy.
Jayson
Thanks; I'll try to get them into the archive on my site soon.
--
It's times like these which make me glad my bank is Dial-a-Mattress
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