NFrotz is a Z-Machine interpretor (virtual machine) for text mode
interactive games. It is an ncurses-based synthesis of the Windows
version of frotz ("WindowsFrotz") with the Unix one, adding support for
the Quetzal savefile format, Blorb and iFiction support, and Unicode [*]
output on terminals that support it. It supports zcode specification 1.1,
including all versions v1 thru v8 (except for some v6 [graphical] games).
[*] unicode output not yet enabled on cygwin, because that requires
a wide-char version of libncurses, which we do not yet have.
This release includes a bundled version of the great grand-daddy of them
all, "Colossal Cave Adventure" (aka Adventure). The original, written
in Fortran in 1975 by Will Crowther, was expanded by Don Woods in 1977
to a 350 point version, which was the most widely-distributed variant.
This was then ported DOS MS Fortran, which was itself re-implemented
using the TADS virtual machine interpreter. Finally, the TADS version
was ported to zcode -- and now you have it!
The more-or-less public domain version of the original MIT Zork (aka
"Dungeon") is installed as zdungeon. This was the original mainframe
version, which was later modified and divided into the Zork Trilogy. It
was ported to zcode from the 1981-era PDP-10 MDL source by Ethan Dicks:
http://www.penguincentral.com/retrocomputing/zdungeon/
Note that there ARE gameplay differences between Dungeon and similar
situations/locations in the Zork Trilogy.
There is also a script `/usr/bin/zork-config' which can be used to
download and install the Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, and Zork: The
Undiscovered Undergound games. These four games were released gratis,
but not libre, by Infocom/Activision as part of the promotional campaign
for Zork: Nemesis and Zork Grand Inquisitor. However, the license for
these games prohibits redistribution, so they are not directly bundled
here. Instead, use the script to download directly from the (unofficial,
now that Infocom is dead) Infocom homepage.
[[ compiled using gcc-4.3.4-1 ]]
--
Charles Wilson
volunteer nfrotz maintainer for cygwin
====================================================================
To update your installation, click on the "Install Cygwin now" link
on the http://cygwin.com/ web page. This downloads setup.exe to
your system. Then, run setup and answer all of the questions.
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