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Path: utzoo!utcsri!ubc-vision!alberta!calgary!andrews
From: andrews@calgary.UUCP (Keith Andrews)
Newsgroups: net.games
Subject: Re: infocom games and ms-dos
Message-ID: <179@calgary.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Feb-86 11:43:29 EST
Article-I.D.: calgary.179
Posted: Tue Feb 25 11:43:29 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Feb-86 16:43:50 EST
References: <632@hounx.UUCP>
Organization: University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Lines: 30

> I recently purchased amfv and as far as i can tell it is a true
> ms-dos game.
		...
> Joe Wilkes

I was going to hold off posting to the original query for a few more days
(to see if anyone else had a better response), but Joe's posting about AMFV
made me change my mind.  Here's why:

First, the INFOCOM games labeled "IBM and MS-DOS compatibles 64K required"
*will* run on any MS-DOS machine.  I guess INFOCOM finally came to their
senses and realized that not all MS-DOS machines are IBM clones.  There is a
setup program included with each game to configure the game to the appropriate
machine (# of lines, ANSI support, etc).  There are installation scripts for
both floppies and hard disks as well.

Second, AMFV is labeled for "IBM and PC-DOS 128K required".  The reason
that PC-DOS is stipulated is that unlike the MS-DOS varieties, AMFV make
calls to the IBM BIOS.  Actually the only BIOS call is an INT 10H (video)
for scrolling the screen.  Some not-too-compatibles support the IBM BIOS
calls if nothing else and will work, others (such as my Zenith Z-100) just
get a wild interrupt when the call is issued.  In order to get AMFV to work
on my machine, I had to write a program to sit in the background and
intercept the INT 10H call.

I guess the main point of the message is that non-clone users should be
cautious when purchasing "PC-DOS" software.

						Keith Andrews
					   alberta!calgary!andrews