Playing Original Eamon Adventures
in Your Modern Home Computer
by Matt Vigor (March 1999)I was introduced to Eamon
adventures by my four-year-older cousin, Joe. The year was 1984 and I was nine
years old. We bought our 5 1/4 inch floppy disk copies of Eamon Adventures from
a mail-order company called the Apple Avocation Alliance for $4 each. At the
time there were already 90 games and four utility disks. Obviously we didn't
have the budget for a complete set. I remember loving games such as Cave of the
Mind, The Sewers of Chicago, and The Jungles of Vietnam. I also loved to copy
and reprogram the master disk so that I would automatically get advanced
statistics. I have so many wonderful memories of my old Apple IIc.
But kids get new toys, and I got a new
computer. I've had six or seven different computers since 1984. Modern computers
have so much more power that it's easy for them to emulate an Apple IIc, II+, or
even an Apple IIgs. In this article I will show you just how easy it is.
An emulator is a software program that
performs most of the functions of a piece of hardware, usually out-of-date
hardware. An Apple II emulator is a software program that will run on your PC or
Macintosh computer that will let you use Apple II software. However, you can't
run the software right off of the original disks, that would be difficult
considering that no new computers in the last four years have had 5 1/4" disk
drives. Instead of floppy disks, you use "disk image" files. More on those
later.
The Apple II emulator program that I
prefer to use on my Windows computer is called ApplePC and it was
programmed by David Ellsworth. ApplePC will run from the command prompt if you
don't have Windows. When you start ApplePC, you will see a screen full of
options. It is from this option screen that you "load" the virtual disk drives
of the Apple II computer with files called "disk images." Disk images can be
made for 5 1/4" disks, 3 1/2" ProDOS volumes, or even 32MB ProDOS formatted hard
drive volumes. If you no longer have an Apple II, you don't have to make your
own disk images, you can just download them from the internet at sites like
ftp://ftp.gmd.de. Please observe copyright law when downloading
non-public-domain software.
After starting ApplePC, press 'M' to
change the emulated Apple's mode. The default is Apple II+, but you get best
emulation with Apple IIe. To play an Eamon adventure, on ApplePC's option
screen, press 'D' for Drives. Notice that you now get a new screen listing two
drives in the virtual Apple computer's "Slot 6." If you want to play from a 5
1/4" disk image, press '1' for drive 1, and then select the name of the disk
image file that you want to load, the Eamon Master Disk. If you want to play
Eamon adventures from the ProDOS hard drive image that I have made, press 'S'
for Slot and the load "Slot 7, Drive 1" with the hard drive files. Press ESC to
begin the emulation.
The screen goes blank and then the
familiar Apple II startup screen is displayed. Soon, you see the Eamon Dragon.
From here on out, you wouldn't know the difference between your computer and
your old Apple II, except depending on the speed of your computer, your virtual
Apple II will run MUCH FASTER than a real Apple II.
You can create a character, take him
through the Beginners Cave, and even save your game. If you want to go on
another adventure, though, ApplePC's emulated Apple II will prompt you to insert
another adventure disk. Simply press F10 to bring the ApplePC menu back onto the
screen, "load" a disk image file into whichever virtual drive it is needed in,
and press ESC again to resume the emulation.
I have prepared a ProDOS hard drive
image that contains many of the ProDOS Eamon adventures. I am currently in
search of someone who would be willing to make disk images for me for several
dozen ProDOS adventures that I do not have.
ApplePC and its related files, the
virtual hard drive disk image, and several 5 1/4" disk images can be found on my
Internet website, located at: http://www.zip.com.au/~alexm/faq/emu3.html
(Address no longer valid)
(Editor's note: the "missing" Eamon
adventures that Matt wants to obtain are the redundant 40-column ProDOS Eamons.
Every 80-column ProDOS Eamon has a corresponding 40-column predecessor. When I
made and uploaded the Eamon ProDOS "DSK" disk images to the Internet, I made a
complete DOS 3.3 set and a complete ProDOS set. However, since emulators do a
beautiful job of displaying the 80-column Eamons, I saw no reason to supply
their less-enjoyable 40-column counterparts. Matt is not missing any Eamon
titles, but he desires to have a complete set of every existing ProDOS Eamon,
even the redundant ones.
I should also perhaps add that ApplePC
is not the only Apple II emulator available for the PC. While ApplePC is the
most versatile emulator, it is also DOS-based and has a correspondingly steep
learning curve. PC users who are uncomfortable using a DOS program might prefer
another emulator named AppleWin. AppleWin is a pure Windows program with
a familiar Windows graphical interface. However, AppleWin does not support large
virtual ProDOS volumes, but only supports two 5 1/4" virtual drives. In sum,
ApplePC is the better emulator, but AppleWin is somewhat friendlier to use.
On the Mac side, an emulator called
Bernie II the Rescue does an awesome job of fully emulating an Apple
IIgs. I don't have a Mac, but I've seen amazing accounts of the power of this
emulator. - Tom Z)
Eamon on the Macintosh: a guide to
Apple II emulation for Mac users with Web connections
by Henry Haskell (September 1996)
We've all watched as Apple let the Apple
II line slowly decline. But optimism reigns supreme, and not even Apple can
suppress old II users' love of Apple's now-disinherited line.
Those of us with internet connections
and 33 Mhz 68030 or better Macs can still have and use their favorite Apple II
programs. The Macintosh line has two well-finished Apple II emulators as well
as a few under development, including a pair that hope to bring the //gs to a
Power Mac.
You may know about the $125 Apple IIe
emulation card, which can be plugged into certain Macs, and requires a 5.25"
drive. But what I describe here is a simple Mac application that can use Apple
II disk "images," which abound on the internet, and work just like the old
5.25"s they are made from, except they are documents.
The two best emulators are "IIe,"
currently in version 2.0.3, and "STM" ("StopTheMadness") now in version 0.88r.
IIe emulates the Apple //e (surprise!) and STM emulates the ][+. Both emulators
can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~gkt/apple2/.
Here are a few comparisons that reflect
my experience. STM needs about 1 MB of RAM, and IIe needs at least 1.35 MB; STM
requires that your computer be in 256 color mode, but IIe requires only color of
any sort. IIe emulates a 128k IIe, expandable to 1M. STM emulates a 48k ][+,
expandable to 64K. If you want to run programs that require an enhanced //e, go
straight to IIe. However, DON'T expect EITHER program to run PRODOS. Even though
I think they should, I cannot get them to run it yet. Hopefully, this is just
my own obtuseness, but I'm flummoxed. Another comparison is financial: STM is
freeware, while IIe is $25 shareware, with an annoying enforcement mechanism.
Finally, IIe runs a bit slower than STM.
I find these comparisons less important than the fact that
IIe is more versatile in small things, like its superior joystick support, and
in one BIG thing -- it can read and write more easily to more kinds of disk
images than can STM.
STM can read the standard ".dsk"
emulator disk image. It cannot save to such disks, however, but saves only to
the "nibbleized" format, by creating an entirely new disk first -- this process
is slow, and easy to forget. STM's option of creating a memory image of STM's
processor and RAM, is not compatible with some programs, particularly the
Graphics Main Hall. On the other hand, IIe can utilize every kind of disk image
I have ever found (choose compatible 5.25" read/write in the preferences.)
You'll need some Eamon adventures to try
these emulators out on. The EAG supports one ftp site:
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/appleII/eamon/ guild/dsk/. For old
favorites other than Eamon, try asimov at
ftp://ftp.asimov.net/pub/apple_2/. Disk images are usually compressed with
Gzip, and must be unpacked with MacGzip, available at
http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/General/gente/spd/gzip/gzip.html.
STM and IIe both have specific
instructions in their documentation that direct you to assign a certain program
type and creator to every disk image. If these are not set right, the emulator
will not recognize the disk image, even though it is there on your desktop! You
can set these with MacGzip while unpacking them. If you make a mistake, a
control panel called Snitch 2.0.2 is an easy way to change these settings --
look it up on The Mac Hack Page at
http://members.tripod.com/~Buzzguy/z.
Emulators are not yet very polished, not
even IIe 2.0.3, and it takes a little practice to get used to them. Be prepared
to read the manuals even before booting a disk -- that is, a disk image. But
the pains are worth it, if only because we now have a way to carry Eamon and our
other old favorites into the future with us.
Addendum - September 1998
I saw your
blurb on emulation in the latest newsletter and it reminded me to send in my
thoughts on Catakig 1.10b. It's a newish Apple ][, ][+, and //e (you get to
take your pick) emulator for the Mac. It gets high marks from me for
simplicity, reliability, capability, and best of all, being freeware NOT
shareware. It's at least as reliable and has as many features I care about as
other emulators I've tried, but the simplicity of configuring it is unusually
good. (I know this sounds like it can't be: but if there are any features I
haven't noticed that are gone from catakig, I never used them.) Eamonauts who
aren't running system 8 yet on their macs can probably do just as well with a
previous version of catakig (like 1.03), since catakig 1.10b relies on
appearance manager, a control panel which helps give system 8 its look. (I use
system 7.5, and I easily downloaded appearance manager, but now it looks like
half my computer's in system 8. Which makes me even more of a Luddite than if I
never downloaded the appearance manager in the first place.) Anyone who's
interested in Catakig can get more information, plus the program itself, at
http://www.emulation.net.
A lot has changed since 1996. Catakig is still
around, and better than ever – it’s up to version 1.16 for classic OS; for Mac
users who are now running OS X (like me), version 2.00b4 is available. Both can
be downloaded for free here:
http://catakig.sourceforge.net/
However, the best apple ][ emulator for Macs – and
the one I currently use – did not exist when I last wrote. It’s virtual apple
][, an Apple //e emulator. It is native to OS X. It’s shareware, but costs only
$19, and in my opinion, is well worth it. A demo mode is also available, but if
you can’t afford the fee, you’ll probably be happier sticking with Catakig.
Virtual Apple ][ can be downloaded here:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/VirtualII/
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