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Looking for DOS Spacewar game

Erik

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Way back in the day I had and loved an old Spacewar game that ran on my IBM PC or AT in DOS. It was black and white and did a pretty good job of simulating the original PDP-1 version.

I am looking for a copy of that for use at the Maker Faire next month. If anyone has it or can point me to it I'd be eternally grateful! :)
 
Spacewar seems like a difficult game to master! I played it the other night when I was giving my Atari 400 a workout.

Tez
 
Spacewar seems like a difficult game to master! I played it the other night when I was giving my Atari 400 a workout.

Tez

I played the game against a compaq luggable back in the ninties and the computer was just too fast. Every game would end with the computer having fired one shot that nailed me in about one second. Is it that fast on the Atari? I played it on the Vetrex but the aiming was imprecise and you had to be about three centimeters from your opponent to hit him.

It would be nice to have Spacewar on a 360K floppy along with something to slow the PC, XT, or AT down.

Sean
 
Awesome that someone remembers this shareware copy... I put more hours into this than I'd care to admit on a PS/2 Model 25 back around 1991... :) Still have the game filed away in my "must-haves" for a new OS install... along with nyet (an old tetris clone that runs quite as well on an 8088 as it does on a 486)
 
Mo'Slo is another DOS program that'll do this. I've got to use it to make the wheel on Price Is Right go at an acceptable speed, and so I can actually hear the music.
 
Spacewar seems like a difficult game to master! I played it the other night when I was giving my Atari 400 a workout

Well, I've played it on a PDP-1 against the guy who wrote it... but I agree it's tough! :D
 
I was just happy as hell to shake his hand when I was there. I used to play that all the time on my 8088. Definitely one of my favorite games, although I'm not sure who's port it was.
 
Well, I've played it on a PDP-1 against the guy who wrote it... but I agree it's tough! :D

The arcade version was easy. The gravity well wasn't too steep and a novice could maneuver and shoot without worrying too much about falling into the star. My lotto dream is to have one of those machines (but please see my post in the "Wanted" section for the PC version). Here is a site with a Java applet that will run a close reproduction of the original on a modern machine: http://spacewar.oversigma.com/

Oh, and Erik? Maybe you could find time to write a book? Or a narrative story that you publish on your website and some mirrors, with an arrangement to transfer the rights so this history will be accessible to future generations? Military radio collecting goes back to the first world war. I'm sure there will be a handful of enthusiasts that far in the future who manage to keep some of this equipment going. Maybe there will be a way to make custom ICs by then when one stops working.

Sean
 
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The arcade version was easy. The gravity well wasn't too steep and a novice could maneuver and shoot without worrying too much about falling into the star. My lotto dream is to have one of those machines (but please see my post in the "Wanted" section for the PC version). Here is a site with a Java applet that will run a close reproduction of the original on a modern machine: http://spacewar.oversigma.com/

That link didn't work for me. Not sure why... The page loads, but the applet comes up as a dreaded red x.

Oh, and Erik? Maybe you could find time to write a book? Or a narrative story that you publish on your website and some mirrors, with an arrangement to transfer the rights so this history will be accessible to future generations? Military radio collecting goes back to the first world war. I'm sure there will be a handful of enthusiasts that far in the future who manage to keep some of this equipment going. Maybe there will be a way to make custom ICs by then when one stops working.

A book about what? :D I barely have time to write posts!

Steve Russell, Peter Samson and I are are docents at the Computer History Museum in CA. I've recently been privileged to join the PDP-1 team so that I can present and run the world's only running DEC PDP-1. I know that the museum has done extensive oral histories with both of them and their exploits have been well documented.

I don't think that anyone is going to be restoring any other PDP-1s, though. I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if there is enough of a whole one outside of the CHM to restore...
 
That link didn't work for me. Not sure why... The page loads, but the applet comes up as a dreaded red x.



A book about what? :D I barely have time to write posts!

Steve Russell, Peter Samson and I are are docents at the Computer History Museum in CA. I've recently been privileged to join the PDP-1 team so that I can present and run the world's only running DEC PDP-1. I know that the museum has done extensive oral histories with both of them and their exploits have been well documented.

I don't think that anyone is going to be restoring any other PDP-1s, though. I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if there is enough of a whole one outside of the CHM to restore...

Erik,

Just find a groupie who is willing to learn stenography and dictate it. You can do it on speakerphone or, better, get a headset.

When I said people (a "handful") would keep computers running for a long time I was thinking about IBM PCs. Although there was that guy who built a copy of the Apollo flight computer (it was more of a transistorized calculator with some fancy features). He said building it really taught him a lot about how computers work.

Oh, on the website, all I know if that I get the same result but the last time I posted the link it worked for people. I'll try to notify the webmaster.

Sean
 
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