BassGuitari Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I understand the TRS-80 Model 2 was pretty much strictly a business machine, and that as such, no game software was ever released for it (to my knowledge). But has anyone ever converted games or game code for other systems (TRS-80 Model I?)to run on a Model 2? How feasible would it be to convert the code of standard BASIC games of the day (Star Trek, Blackjack, Hammurabi, etc)? I just got one of these beasts (actually a "Tandy 2," along with a Disk Expansion unit...three 8" floppy drives, yikes!) this weekend and I'd like do have some fun with it. I need to track down a BASIC boot disk or something, first, anyway -it boots to "insert diskette"- but I'm curious as to what the possibilities of playing games on this machine might be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I don't think there were. It was strictly a business system and had a different OS. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Ira may be of great help... http://www.trs-80.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) Sure there were games for the TRS-80. Scroll down the left side column to see some examples They were in black and white or green and were really nothing to write home about but they existed. Many of the games also later appeared on the Coco. EDIT - Sorry, didn't read that you were talking about the Model II. Yep, that's the business one. It sucks. Edited July 19, 2011 by AtariLeaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I seem to recall that an early version of Nethack (Hack?) was available on the Model II (or perhaps that was the Model 16, it's been a long time...). Can the Model II run CP/M? If so, this would expand the selection of text-mode games a bit. Getting new software onto the machine may present a challenge, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Can the Model II run CP/M? If so, this would expand the selection of text-mode games a bit. Yes, it can. I don't have any CP/M boot disks yet, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatherer of Data Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 (edited) According to one of the Adventure International catalog scans I have, the Scott Adams adventures were ported to the Model 2. Adventure 1-12 on one disk for a mere 129.95$. Probably rather rare. I wouldn't rule out that there are more games. Infocom for example apparently didn't bring out specific versions of their games though, this was probably one of the systems that was supposed to run their CP/M releases. Edited July 26, 2011 by Gatherer of Data 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I just got one of these beasts (actually a "Tandy 2," along with a Disk Expansion unit...three 8" floppy drives, yikes!) this weekend and I'd like do have some fun with it. I need to track down a BASIC boot disk or something, first, anyway -it boots to "insert diskette"- but I'm curious as to what the possibilities of playing games on this machine might be. Ohh but do indeed post some pics of this find! My daddy used to have one of these. I clearly remember playing a lunar lander game on it. But otherwise gaming was next to non-existent here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draikar Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yes, it can. I don't have any CP/M boot disks yet, though. Good luck finding CP/M on a 8 inch disk, even a copy of a copy is hard to get. I have not found one yet so I will be adding a 5 inch drive for my Model 2 or 16 computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper378 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Resurrecting this thread in the hopes of resurrecting the TRS80 Model 2 I found at my parents place, that I used to play with when I was a few years old. A Does anyone have any clue on where to source a boot disk? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorne Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I have the images and can make you one (CP/M or TRS DOS). Where are you located? Send me a private message, and we can converse that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green3 Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 There was a Star Trek game released for it, and seemingly legitimately licensed as well. See page 64 of the 1980 TRS-80 Applications Software Sourcebook: STARTREK (TM) FOR THE MODEL II MIN REQ:MOD2-64K-1DISK A LARGE VERSION WITH GRAPHICS DESCRIPTION: TM DESIGNATES TRADEMARK OF THE PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION SOURCE: CLM ASSOCIATES 53 WESTWOOD AVENUE BRIDGETON, NJ 08302 PHONE: (609) 451-7964 SUPPLIED AS: CASS ----- DISK PRICE: 19.95 SOURCE LIST ----- I haven't been able to find any other information about it. Interesting that back in that time, providing the source code was still so common that it was a normal field in a listing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHaensel Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 The Model II archive has some TRSDOS games: https://github.com/pski/model2archive/tree/master/Software/Games The Xenix prebuild image also has some games but could be tough to load on a real machine. https://github.com/pski/model2archive/tree/master/Software/Xenix/700-3039 - XENIX Multi-User Operating System/v03.03.00/HD_Images https://github.com/pski/model2archive/tree/master/Software/Xenix/Xenix_Games Wheel of Fortune (wof) is pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green3 Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Found some more in page 33 of the H&A CompuTronics Catalog #12: (24) COMPUTER GAMES (SBSG) Mean Checker Machine. Star Trek III. Concentration. Treasure Hunt. Banco. Dog Star Adventure ........ $74.95 (25) INTERACTIVE FICTION ... is a story-teller using a computer, so that you, the reader, can actually take part in the story instead of merely reading.... $49.95. Then on page 42, it lists the following as available on 8" disks for CP/M machines: Bridge Master BRIDGE MASTER is our most popular DYNACOMP program -- a comprehensive bridge program designed to provide hours of challenging competition. The program plays the North hand as your partner and East-West as your opponents. Bidding features include the Blackwood convention, Slayman convention, pre-emptive openings, and recognition of demand bids and jump-shift responses. After playing a specific hand you may replay the same hand, with the option of switching cards with your computer opponents. This feature allows you to compare your bidding and playing skills to those of the program. A unique feature of BRIDGE MASTER is its scorekeeping capability. Points scored for each hand are calculated and bonuses for game contracts and slams are awarded as in duplicate bridge. Doubled contracts are scored based upon a computer-assigned vulnerability. Individual hand scores are tabulated and an accumulative score card is displayed at the conclusion of each hand played. The score card displays a summary of total hands played, total points scored, number of contracts made and set, and % bids made. The program saves the scores to a disk file and can display the last hand played -- so you can come back to a game at any time. Requires 24K memory (48K on Atari). Price: $29.95 (diskette), $32.45 (8" CP/M disk). Blackjack Coach Learn and practice your blackjack skills with the "Coach" giving advice. Test various playing and betting strategies. Program will analyze just which parts of your strategy work and which do not. Includes 30-page tutorial manual. Price: $29.95 (cassette), $33.95 (diskette), $36.45 (8" CP/M disk). Flight Simulator This realistic mathematical simulation allows you to take off, fly, navigate, and land an airplane.· The FLIGHT SIMULATOR realistically portrays the problems associates with stalls, land.ing with the nose wheel first, crosswinds, etc. You can practice touch-and-go landings, take a cross-country trip, or just practfce exercising the flight controls; flaps, trim, elevators, ailerons and throttle. All versions run in 16K memory. Price: $19.9'5 (cassette), $23.95 (diskette), $26.45 (8" CP/M disk). Starbase 3.2 This is a new and exciting program related to the classic "Star Trek" type computer simulations of interstellar warfare, with many significant enhancements. Your tactics and strategy are put to the ultimate test as you direct your forces in a conflict on a battlefield that stretches across light-years of space. Price: $13.95 (cassette). $17.95 (diskette). $20.45 (8" CP/ M disk). Oh, and bear in mind that a June 1983 US dollar is worth $3.10 in January 2024 dollars. So that first item, "COMPUTER GAMES", in today's money cost $232.34 plus another half-cent (but who's counting??) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 I dimly recall that the Flight Simulator game was the subject of an article in Byte magazine in about 1982. It may have published the listing or just reviewed the game. I do not have the issue handy to verify. The Bridge game seems really complex. I wonder how many copies were sold of such a very niche title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green3 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Found two more listings on Page 200 of the Applications Software Sourcebook Vol. 4 from 1982. It looks like three listings at first but the first two are duplicates, so I've skipped the redundancy. That first listing is a package of four games. Model II Graphics Games for 1 or 2 players Min Req: Mod 2 64K - 1 Disk Description: You are in the space frigate Toramo. Escape from the deadly alien in the maze of the ship's superstructure. Nerve-shattering pressure. This plus 3 other exciting, arcade-like games of skill. Source: LDA (also given as LDA Associates) 11078 Viacha Dr. San Diego, CA 92124 Phone: (714) 292-5924 Supplied as: CASS: -------- DISK: 55.00 SOURCE LIST: ------- And here's the second listing: Model 2 game by The Information Utility Min Req: Mod 2 64K - 1 Disk A quality action game for beginners or experts. 1 or 2 players. Features include automatic speed up. 5 speed levels, on-screen scoring. Strategy is required. Surround your opponent or play alone and beat your record. Source: Larry A. Coulter Box 441 Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 Phone: (218) 568-4449 Supplied as: CASS: --------- DISK: 55.00 SOURCE LIST: ---------- This sourcebook was open access. Anyone could pay $10 to get a program listed in it. It's funny how either the submitters, or Tandy's data entry people, seemed to put a description of the game, rather than the title, in the TITLE field of the database or form, so we may never know what the actual names of these games were! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 7/18/2011 at 9:03 PM, AtariLeaf said: EDIT - Sorry, didn't read that you were talking about the Model II. Yep, that's the business one. It sucks. LOL! My only experience with Model IIs was in high school. They were mostly used by the teaching staff for recording grades and printing. Luckily we the students got to use the Model IVP in the typing/computer lab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rietveld Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 i have a bunch of games on my m2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Pedersen Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 My dad used this computer to run his Chiropractic practice. I remember playing a game called 13 ghosts. I remember one night after work he presented me with my first foray into text adventure games. He loaded up Zork and I was sucked into a whole new world. It was so cool to explore. I just recently introduced my kids to Zork on a nasty weather weekend and after hearing them bemoan the lack of graphics, I had to smile as they got into it. Now we are resurrecting every text adventure we can get our hands on. It's wonderful seeing them use thier imagination and not just mindlessly pound buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green3 Posted October 9 Share Posted October 9 On 9/1/2024 at 8:18 AM, Thomas Pedersen said: My dad used this computer to run his Chiropractic practice. I remember playing a game called 13 ghosts. I remember one night after work he presented me with my first foray into text adventure games. He loaded up Zork and I was sucked into a whole new world. It was so cool to explore. I just recently introduced my kids to Zork on a nasty weather weekend and after hearing them bemoan the lack of graphics, I had to smile as they got into it. Now we are resurrecting every text adventure we can get our hands on. It's wonderful seeing them use thier imagination and not just mindlessly pound buttons. That was almost certainly not the Model II, but rather the Model I, III, or 4. The Model II used eight-inch floppy disks that seem huge to people today. They were inserted vertically. The Model I, III, and 4 used the 5 and a quarter inch floppies that are more familiar to most people, although the 3 and a half inch "floppies" inside the hard plastic case are probably the most familiar. The Model 4 is pictured below. The Model III looked very similar. At least when using the built-in floppy drives, disks were inserted horizontally. The original TRS-80, retronymed the Model I after the Model II came out, looked like this: Without the expansion interface that let it use an external floppy drive, it used a cassette drive and looked like this: Which one did your Dad have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green3 Posted Tuesday at 09:55 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 09:55 PM Found another Model II games ad, from page 90 of the March 1983 issue of 80-U.S. Journal. Color Computer Archive link. Internet Archive link. Relevant text: Introducing Model II-16 20 Games on One Diskette Only Cn.$82.95 Includes 3.00 p&pl. B.O.S.S. Computer Group Ltd. 4136 Burke Burnaby, B.C. VBH 1B1 (604) 984-6625 (604) 430-4612 So all you're told is that the disk has 20 games; nothing else about them, not even their names. Pretty thin information when the advertiser was charging a whopping $82.95 Canadian. In today's money (October 2024) that's $227.65 Canadian or $163.58 US. Anyway, there it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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