[game_preservation] hard copy of original Oregon Trail mainframe code?

[Henry Lowood]

Devin,

Since MECC was in Minnesota, maybe the archives are at the Charles 
Babbage Institute <http://www.cbi.umn.edu/> at the Univ. of Minnesota?  
Have you contacted them?  I don't see that a finding aid for MECC is in 
the collection, but it's possible that this collection is still 
unprocessed.   Worth a shot.

By the way, have you seen this article 
<http://www.citypages.com/content/printVersion/1740595/> continued here 
<http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/01/oregon_trail_th.php> on 
Rawitsch, et al.?  It just came out on the 19th and 21st of this month.  
Includes video, the emulated Apple II version, the iPhone app, etc.

Henry

On 1/30/2011 9:38 PM, Devin Monnens wrote:

> The short answer is there were three versions of the code. The first 

> was from (December) 1971 and was played in the classroom. Rawitsch 

> stated in an interview with me that he copied the code onto the MECC 

> system in 1974. In 1976, Rawitsch modified the game using more 

> accurate data as part of his graduate research, but the overall flow 

> of the game reflects the original. This code was later published in 

> Creative Computing in 1978. The 1973 date is incorrect and appears to 

> be the result of a misquote in David Ahl's BASIC Computer Adventures 

> book where he writes it as being made 1972-1973 (a lot of Ahl's 

> information is actually incorrect though it was written to the best of 

> his knowledge, so you should take whatever he writes with a grain of 

> salt). Ahl republished the game there as Westward Ho! with revisions. 

> The code from Creative Computing (with one correction - an added ") is 

> below. I don't know which flavor of BASIC this runs in.

>

> http://deserthat.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/oregon-trail-ver-3-basic-3-1-1978/

>

> I'll e-mail Don to see if he knows what happened to the original 

> printout, but my guess is it found its way into the MECC archives. Now 

> if anyone knows what actually happened to the MECC computer program 

> archives, I'd love to hear that! They had what must have been the 

> largest collection of educational games at the time.

>

> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 9:00 PM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu 

> <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>> wrote:

>

>     Matt,

>

>     Devin reported to the SIG not long ago that he had access to it,

>     but there is a discrepancy in dates.  Here is what he said:

>

>     "BTW, what's the status on Preserving Virtual Worlds II? Aren't

>     you working with the Oregon Trail? I've already got an interview

>     from Don Rawitsch and the source code for the 1973 version, but I

>     still need to contact his associates... Geez, it's been almost a

>     year!"

>

>     He writes 1973, so I'm not entirely sure you are talking about the

>     same version.

>

>     Anyway, you and Devin will figure it out.

>

>     Henry

>

>

>     On 1/30/2011 7:40 PM, Matthew Kirschenbaum wrote:

>>     Does anyone know the whereabouts of the hard copy of the original

>>     (1971) Oregon Trail mainframe code? Its existence, but not its fate

>>     (printed "on a long roll of yellow computer paper"), is detailed here:

>>     http://www.citypages.com/content/printVersion/1740595/

>>

>>     I'd love for someone to tell me it's safe in a Minnesota historical

>>     society somewhere. Matt

>>

>>

>

>     -- 

>     Henry Lowood

>     Curator, History of Science&  Technology Collections;

>         Film&  Media Collections

>     HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall

>     650-723-4602;lowood at stanford.edu  <mailto:lowood at stanford.edu>

>     http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood  <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

>

>

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>

>

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.


-- 
Henry Lowood
Curator, History of Science&  Technology Collections;
    Film&  Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

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