> I decided that it was my game and there was nothing wrong with continuing development on it after a four-decade break--especially since it's unclear whether anyone managed to get it running in 1981.
The TRS-80 was my first home computer. I do vividly remembering typing in the whole of Artic Adventure, cursing that I had made a mistake, and painfully checking over every character to find I had put it in identically.
However, bug-checking a typed program was also a common experience. Most of the BASIC games I re-typed from magazines had unplayable flaws in them, so I did actually manage to get it running... Eventually.
Debugging typed in programs is how I learned programming. Actually understanding the code I was typing in instead of trying to get everything typed in perfect made debugging so much easier, plus I could make my own customizations. I only typed in a couple of text adventures because the process of typing them in often gave away most of the mysteries in the game, which wasn't an issue with action type games.
It was the only practical way to learn programming if you didn't go to college. The manuals for those early micros were somewhere between useless and wrong most of the time, magazine articles (and 101 basic computer games of course).
Somewhat unrelated to that, after I had learned programming and been to University, the most educational experience I had was re-compiling sources for software on Unix machines that weren't quite mainstream. Porting TeX / LaTeX to a Pyramid was super educational, plus a fascinating insight into the mind of Donald Knuth.
Oh man. This brings me back to Return to Pirate's Isle. Damn... if you didn't put on your glasses within the first few steps, the whole game did not make any sense!
I had to wait 20 years for the internet and sites that had walkthroughs before I was able to finish that game.
The original TRS-80 Model 1 did not implement the lowercase letters of ASCII. Skimming, this was written on a Model 3.
The TRS-80 Model 16 was the fastest-selling UNIX machine of it's time, using Microsoft Xenix on a 68k. Bill Gates mentioned his Xenix sales from time to time in later years.
> The TRS-80 Model 16 was the fastest-selling UNIX machine of its time, using Microsoft Xenix on a 68k. Bill Gates mentioned his Xenix sales from time to time in later years.
Microsoft in the 1970s-early 80s was apparently pretty amazing: bringing BASIC to inexpensive PCs, CP/M to the Apple II, and UNIX to your local electronics/stereo/toy shop (RIP RadioShack.) Their logo was cool back then too.
I guess it's not surprising then for Microsoft to offer WSL/ Ubuntu for Windows!
We're pretty lucky to have Linux (and BSD Unix) on a $35 Raspberry Pi, but it's basically a (much) tinier, cheaper, and more powerful version of what you could get at Radio Shack in 1983. (Reading the specs, apparently you could add up to 9 serial terminals to it in addition to the built-in console!)
(Xenix could run on Apple's Lisa as well, but the Lisa was more expensive and presumably its primary appeal was the Lisa Office System rather than Unix.)
Shame that Xenix PCs died out in the 1980s, really. I imagine an alternate universe where Apple and Radio Shack sold UNIX/Xenix "workstations" in the 1990s, with LisaOS X and Microsoft Windows for Xenix.
[+] [-] shakna|4 years ago|reply
The TRS-80 was my first home computer. I do vividly remembering typing in the whole of Artic Adventure, cursing that I had made a mistake, and painfully checking over every character to find I had put it in identically.
However, bug-checking a typed program was also a common experience. Most of the BASIC games I re-typed from magazines had unplayable flaws in them, so I did actually manage to get it running... Eventually.
[+] [-] Mountain_Skies|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackeyacky|4 years ago|reply
Somewhat unrelated to that, after I had learned programming and been to University, the most educational experience I had was re-compiling sources for software on Unix machines that weren't quite mainstream. Porting TeX / LaTeX to a Pyramid was super educational, plus a fascinating insight into the mind of Donald Knuth.
[+] [-] tclancy|4 years ago|reply
The Trash 80s were something we had in school, never at home.
[+] [-] empressplay|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] musicale|4 years ago|reply
I wish we had the same thing for Python or JavaScript! :D
[+] [-] alfiedotwtf|4 years ago|reply
I had to wait 20 years for the internet and sites that had walkthroughs before I was able to finish that game.
[+] [-] zxcvbn4038|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aptmiguk|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chasil|4 years ago|reply
The TRS-80 Model 16 was the fastest-selling UNIX machine of it's time, using Microsoft Xenix on a 68k. Bill Gates mentioned his Xenix sales from time to time in later years.
[+] [-] musicale|4 years ago|reply
Microsoft in the 1970s-early 80s was apparently pretty amazing: bringing BASIC to inexpensive PCs, CP/M to the Apple II, and UNIX to your local electronics/stereo/toy shop (RIP RadioShack.) Their logo was cool back then too.
I guess it's not surprising then for Microsoft to offer WSL/ Ubuntu for Windows!
We're pretty lucky to have Linux (and BSD Unix) on a $35 Raspberry Pi, but it's basically a (much) tinier, cheaper, and more powerful version of what you could get at Radio Shack in 1983. (Reading the specs, apparently you could add up to 9 serial terminals to it in addition to the built-in console!)
(Xenix could run on Apple's Lisa as well, but the Lisa was more expensive and presumably its primary appeal was the Lisa Office System rather than Unix.)
Shame that Xenix PCs died out in the 1980s, really. I imagine an alternate universe where Apple and Radio Shack sold UNIX/Xenix "workstations" in the 1990s, with LisaOS X and Microsoft Windows for Xenix.
[+] [-] tamaharbor|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boboche|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anthk|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mproud|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fellowniusmonk|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitwize|4 years ago|reply