• Tag Archives commodore

  • Grappler CD (Commodore 64)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    Source: Commodore Power/Play – June July 1984



    This ad is from the June/July issue of Commodore Power/Play and advertisers an add-on for the Commodore 64 that most people don’t think of being an add-on today (because it isn’t usually). It’s for a printer interface.

    The Commodore 64 did not provide a standard printer port out of the box. However, it had a user port that could be adapted to a number of uses, including as a printer port. Unfortunately, this required buying a separate adapter. These typically cost in the neighborhood of $30-$50 depending on the brand and time period we are talking about.

    There were printers by Commodore and other 3rd party vendors that would connect directly to your Commodore 64 without an adapter but your choices would have been very limited. Adapters like these would allow you to connect your Commodore 64 to most major printers of the time. These would have been printers that connected to a parallel port (this was pre-USB) and usually either dot matrix or daisy wheel though an expensive laser printer was also a possibility.

    I never heard of this particular printer interface and have no idea what the “CD” stands for in Grappler CD. However, Orange Micro was a major vendor at the time so I assume this would have been a quality product. I had a different and I think more generic brand but it always worked okay for me.


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  • Adventureland (VIC-20)

    Posted on by Azrael 1 Comment


    Adventureland (VIC-20)

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/187900971025/twentiethcenturykid-8-bit-dreaming-dungeon

    When you think of text adventure games (or interactive fiction as it is sometimes referred to), you probably think of Zork. However, Zork was not the first text adventure to show up on home computers. That distinction goes to Adventureland which was also Scott Adams first text adventure. It was originally released in 1978. It’s true that Zork appeared the previous year but it was originally only available on mainframes. Adventureland beat it ever so slightly to the home computer market.

    Adventureland was a new type of game for most people at the time of its release. Most people had not yet heard of Zork. While pretty primitive, even for text adventures, it was one of a kind at the time and got very positive reviews for the most part. Adventureland accepted one word commands (e.g. North would move you North) or two word combinations (e.g. light lamp). It recognized about 120 words. The ultimate goal of the game was to collect thirteen treasures.

    Adventureland was ultimately available on a wide variety of platforms including the TRS-80, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TI-99/4A, Commodore PET, Commodore 64, IBM PC (DOS), VIC-20, and others. Screenshot and box art above are from the VIC-20 version of the game.

    Scott Adams and the company Adventure International which he co-founded went on to produce many more text adventures. While these haven’t seen any modern re-releases, similar to the Infocom games there are more modern interpreters, including a Java interpreter, that will allow you to play these games on modern machines with the appropriate data files. And as always, you can always emulate your favorite vintage platform.

    The screen-shot and box art above are from the VIC-20 version of Adventureland.



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