
Apple ][ game server - steveb
http://asciiexpress.net/gameserver/
======
bruce511
Awesome doesn't begin to describe this! Sure it's completely useless but is a
monster 10 on the cool scale. It's just perfect on so many levels...

Alas my Apple 2 has let its magic smoke escape, otherwise I'd definitely give
it a try!

Way cool dude, way cool....

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jaysonelliot
I've been using the Asimov FTP site, a PC, ProTerm, and a null modem cable /
Super Serial Card to achieve this result.

This is amazing—so much simpler! My Apple //e sits right next to my laptop on
my desk, so for me, this is giving it a whole new lease on life.

Here's a picture, just for the hell of it:
<https://p.twimg.com/AiV8lqjCIAICETx.jpg>

~~~
rbanffy
I loved those Amdek monitors. Never got one for myself. Now that I am a
grownup who can afford such eccentric hobbies, I got myself a pair of
<http://tulip-house.ddo.jp/digital/SDISK2/english.html> and one
[http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CF...](http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php)

Worth every penny.

~~~
jaysonelliot
You mean I could put my library of software on an SD card and convince the
Apple computer that it was reading from a floppy drive?

Wow.

~~~
rbanffy
The sdisk is not that clever - I got it for a clone that has an onboard disk
II and no slot 7. For the more Apple-like I got the CFFA, which is _very_
smart and can emulate an HDD controller and a disk II

~~~
jaysonelliot
Thanks for the tip. I emailed the CFFA guy to get on the list for the next
batch.

How much did it cost? I can't see a price on his site.

~~~
rbanffy
I think it, complete, was about US$ 160. What really hit me was the Brazilian
import tax. :-(

It hits me all the time, BTW.

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rbanffy
Many people who work with me got their first contact with a computer in the
ADSL age and never even heard a modem handshake. Two people here used cassette
tapes for storing programs, I for my Apple II, the other guy with his Sinclair
and, later, his MSX. Some time later I wrote a program that dumped a floppy
into a cassette tape for backup.

In case you wonder what are you hearing, it's the audio modulation of a memory
dump. If you pay close attention, you can distinguish between program (noise-
like) strings (less noisy) and graphics (more rhythmic sounds). Try the lo-fi
link for maximum vintage feel.

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aw3c2
Dad? I need our german Apple ][ clone from the attic right now! Remember when
earlier today (seriously, we did, what a coincedence!) we talked about how in
the German Democratic Republic they had programming lectures on the radio and
were transferring the code over the air like this? Well, someone made a
website where you can play the sounds of some games like that.

~~~
rbanffy
São Paulo's University radio had a program like this too. On Saturday
afternoons, during interviews, one of the audio channels was transmitting
programs (MSX-only, sadly)

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umjames
I will be trying this out when I get home tonight! My ][e is as fully
functional as it was in the early 80s when I got it.

I'm glad someone remembers these games. I still have a good chunk of these
games (some legit copies, others pirated via Copy II+ sector editing). Really
glad Bilestoad made the list.

Wish list:

Aztec (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_(video_game)>)

Below the Root (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_the_Root_(video_game)>)

Championship Load Runner
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Lode_Runner>)

Captain Goodnight and the Islands of Fear

Conan: Hall of Volta

~~~
boneheadmed
Nice. Anyone remember a game where essentially little paratroopers fall down
from the sky and you have a cannon rotating on a turret to shoot them down?
When you hit the little paratroopers they blew into little green pieces all
over the screen. That was a blast.

My sister sold our Apple IIe at a yard sale for like $8.00 in the mid 90's :(

~~~
jaysonelliot
Yes - that game was called Sabotage. You could play it with keyboard,
joystick, or paddle, but paddles were the best way to win.

I remember that you lost points if you just fired indiscriminately, as well.

Here's a vid: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHW66AbzHA>

~~~
andrewflnr
Wow, is that actually letting the player shoot out the parachutes?

~~~
shubber
Yes it is. IIRC, extra points for shooting the parachute, then shooting the
guy who was otherwise falling to his death. Simple and classic.

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Urgo
So very very cool! I bought an apple iie off ebay a year and a half ago since
it was the first computer I ever used and had been meaning to get some games
for it but just haven't had the time. When I saw this post today I was like a
kid all over! I searched frantically for a cable to plug my phone into the
apple iie but ended up having to go out and buy one but it was so worth it :)

Anyway I put up a video about it as well and figured I'd share it here as
well. Thanks so much for this!

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_e8wYEC72I>

~~~
datajerk
Excellent. Thanks. I added your video to the README page. Bummer HIFI didn't
work for you. Try again with max volume or a different computer. It's not your
Apple II.

~~~
Urgo
Oh cool, thanks :) I tried from both my phone and my netbook and it started
off loading (it recognized the game name) but then spit out an ERROR and
stopped. I'll try a different laptop later.

~~~
datajerk
I boosted the volume of the sound files from 50% to 75%, that should hopefully
solve your problem (others have it too). Check in an hour or two for v0.5 to
be up with the new audio files.

Thanks again for testing.

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bockris
David Beazley did something similar with his Superboard II computer.

[http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/08/using-python-to-encode-
ca...](http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/08/using-python-to-encode-
cassette.html)

[http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/08/decoding-superboard-ii-
ca...](http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/08/decoding-superboard-ii-cassette-
audio.html)

[http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/09/using-telnet-to-access-
my...](http://dabeaz.blogspot.com/2010/09/using-telnet-to-access-my-
superboard-ii.html)

Pretty sweet hack, IMO

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tlack
From the domain name, is it safe for me to eagerly await a port of an Ascii
Express software to Linux so we can once again enjoy the pleasures of
extremely low tech but completely anonymous communication, via telnet this
time instead of 1200 baud modems?

Plus I desperately miss ASCII art..

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onedognight
For those without their own hardware, you might want to try this Apple ][
emulator, built using JS / WebGL, <http://porkrind.org/a2/> . Don't forget
PR#6 to load a floppy image!

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stewars
Very cool. I had a flashback this fall after discovering an old book I made
for some school project about programming the Apple 2. Code looked horrible
(to my 2011 eyes) but with an emulator I was able to get it working. Those few
old pages were the only traces left of my childhood programming.

Put the book and code up on github if anyone is interested:
<https://github.com/markstewart/ProgrammingIsFun>

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endgame
I tried to do this with my TI 99/4A and an MP3 player years ago, with no
success. I suspect the conversion to MP3 wrecked the signal in ways that my
ear could not detect.

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wiradikusuma
I remember a couple of years ago, I was on a bus and there's an old lady
sitting next to me. We had a chat, then she said that she owned a "useless old
computer called Apple 2." She really wanted to get rid of it in exchange of
small amount of money.

I said, "Cool, let me see what I can do, here's my email."

I was an idiot, really. I forgot that she might not know how to use email, and
I didn't ask her contact.

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rumblestrut
In my Steve Jobs memorial ([http://www.ericjgruber.com/blog/2011/10/thank-you-
steve-jobs...](http://www.ericjgruber.com/blog/2011/10/thank-you-steve-
jobs/)), I opined about the Apple IIe and one of my favorite games growing up,
Montezuma's Revenge. And sure enough, it's there.

Seeing this made me wish I could play it again. Excellent job.

~~~
zak_mc_kracken
<http://www.virtualapple.org/montezumasrevengedisk.html>

~~~
rumblestrut
Well I know what I'm doing today. Thanks!

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paulgerhardt
Wow, I just used my iPhone to stream a game over AirPlay to an Airport Express
jacked into my //e. Incredible.

Before this I had to download programs through Chris Yerga's
ftdi/gameport/twitter client setup.
<http://atomsandelectrons.com/blog/2010/04/apple-t/>

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agentgt
Where is the hell is Oregon trail? I could have sworn that was Apple 2 maybe
it was 2e.

~~~
landyman
I think it was Apple 2 as well. This was the first thing I looked for.

~~~
datajerk
Sorry guys. The Apple Game Server can only stream single binary RAM-only
games. Disk-based games can be streamed to disk at
<http://asciiexpress.net/diskserver>. I added Oregon Trail.

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ww520
Using the speaker of iPad/iPhone to emulate the Apple ][ cassette tape is
brilliant.

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jashmenn
So I am basically clueless on how to transfer bits via audio without data loss
(doesn't noise corrupt the bits?)

Does anyone have any links or resources on how to do a 'hello world' of audio-
based data transfer?

~~~
jeffbarr
Back in the old days, my young friend, we had these awesome devices called
modems. They translated digital data to sounds (and back) for transmission
across telephone lines. I'm sure you can find a picture and complete technical
details somewhere.

~~~
jashmenn
_facepalm_ I sure left myself wide open to that one. fwiw your comment led me
to find minimodem is exactly what I was looking for!

<http://www.whence.com/minimodem/>

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wazoox
OMG, I'd almost cry of joy. One of the reason I don't use my faithful Apple
//c is that it's so cumbersome to swap these floppies... but this is
wonderful.

~~~
thought_alarm
Apple removed the cassette port in the Apple //c.

If only they had known then what we know now...

~~~
Sherlock
Wow, my dad bought an Apple //c when I was around 4 y.o. and it was kept at
home until I was ~8, but I couldn't remember seeing a cassette port. At least
I'm at peace now.

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erickhill
You've upgraded my weekend - big time. Nice work!

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samstave
Wow that is damn awesome.

Although, no Ultima / Ultima II in the game list :(

That was the first game I played on the Apple...

(The Bards Tale would be another great one...)

~~~
Ogre
The cassette loading method is going to limit this to games that fit entirely
in RAM and never access their disk once loaded. That's going to rule out a lot
of games. Obviously anything that needs more than one floppy, but even a lot
of games that do fit on one side are still going to want to access the disk
they came on.

Nevertheless, awesome!

~~~
ZenPsycho
Would it not be possible to load a disk-writer program into ram, which prompts
you to insert a blank disk, and then proceeds to buffer and write subsequent
audio data onto the disk, such as a disk image?

~~~
datajerk
Yes. Visit <http://asciiexpress.net/diskserver>. That is exactly what it does.
It's in beta now. I plan to have 1000s of disk images soon.

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christkv
This is 100% awesome :) Now I wish I had an apple 2 around to try it.

