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Opened a box to memory lane - Vintage computer games. — Parallax Forums

Opened a box to memory lane - Vintage computer games.

RobotWorkshopRobotWorkshop Posts: 2,307
edited 2012-02-09 05:38 in General Discussion
I started going through some old boxes that I had stashed over at my parents place for years and opened up a box that immediately took me back to the early 80's. I can't even begin to add up all the time I spent on the old TRS-80 system playing games and then making up new ones for the system. I took a picture of just some of the old programs I found in the box.....

vintagesoftware.jpg


It crossed my mind to post them on ebay for sale but I'm just not ready to part with them. Instead it would be pretty cool to try and see if the DracBlade running the TRS-80 Emulator could be made to try and load up some of these old cassette tapes to play these games again. I haven't looked up all the titles but there may be titles here that aren't posted anywhere else.

Just thought some of you may enjoy seeing a preserved collection of forgotten games for an early computer.

Robert
vintagesoftware.jpg
1024 x 722 - 111K

Comments

  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2012-02-07 16:59
    ...I may just have to join in with my collection (small) of Atari game cartridges!
  • Dr_AculaDr_Acula Posts: 5,484
    edited 2012-02-07 17:02
    Some nice games there.

    How would you get the data from the tape into a game? Would the bell modem prop object work? If it did, maybe there is a way of porting the data into a file so it can be shared?
  • propMakerpropMaker Posts: 65
    edited 2012-02-07 17:21
    I wouldn't sell them. I buy more vintage games from my childhood than new games. Tape storage for the prop would be cool, sd cards are over rated.
  • RobotWorkshopRobotWorkshop Posts: 2,307
    edited 2012-02-07 17:53
    Dr_Acula wrote: »
    Some nice games there.

    How would you get the data from the tape into a game? Would the bell modem prop object work? If it did, maybe there is a way of porting the data into a file so it can be shared?

    The ROM code should already be in the TRS-80 Emulator to support it. As I recall the tape use the Kansas City standard tones to act as 1's and 0's. I think it would just take either some circuits like the original used to decode the tones or perhaps do that with another propeller. I suppose it should be possible as long as the data on the tapes is still readable.

    I just found an original Service Manual for the Model III system that was stored with these and that could be a good reference.

    Robert
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2012-02-07 20:33
    RobotWorkshop wrote: »
    The ROM code should already be in the TRS-80 Emulator to support it. As I recall the tape use the Kansas City standard tones to act as 1's and 0's. I think it would just take either some circuits like the original used to decode the tones or perhaps do that with another propeller. I suppose it should be possible as long as the data on the tapes is still readable.

    I just found an original Service Manual for the Model III system that was stored with these and that could be a good reference.

    Robert

    Having the data readable may be the main problem in this case. From what I can (very faintly) recall of it the Kansas City standard was fairly straight forward so it should not be too hard to build the circuitry or program a micro to do the decoding. The condition of the tapes will determine the rest.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-02-09 05:38
    I might suggest using a decent quality cassette tape player to play these TRS-80 tapes on one time whilst recording the audio into your PC. Be sure the record level is nice so as to get a good looking signal with no clipping. Then you can decode recorded signal on the PC at your leisure. This will save wear and tear on the tape. Assuming the tapes still have a good signal after all this time.
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