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

[Matthew Kirschenbaum]

Yeah, I thought about the Babbage Institute too. I agree that it's worth a shot.

I also came across this photograph taken at the 1995 launch of Oregon
Trail II at the Mall of America (which seems unintentionally ghastly),
and I'm willing to bet that's the source code one of the MECC guys is
holding:

http://www.citypages.com/photoGallery/index/1740595/1/

Devin, fwiw, I'm interested in the context of the Preserving Virtual
Worlds research Henry and I are both involved in. OT is in our case
set, and we're interested in looking at the game across a range of
different versions and platforms. Getting a look at the mainframe
source code would be a real asset; reimplementing the code in an
emulator (to recreate the teletype interface) would be an even bigger
coup. Matt



On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:44 AM, Henry Lowood <lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:

> Devin,

>

> Since MECC was in Minnesota, maybe the archives are at the Charles Babbage

> Institute 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 continued here 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> 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

>> http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

>>

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>>

>

>

>

> --

> Devin Monnens

> 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

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

> game_preservation at igda.org

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation

>

>




-- 
Matthew Kirschenbaum
Associate Professor of English
Associate Director, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH)
Director, Digital Cultures and Creativity (DCC, a Living/Learning
Program in the Honors College)
University of Maryland
301-405-8505 or 301-314-7111 (fax)
http://mkirschenbaum.net and @mkirschenbaum on Twitter