Re: NetHack on the II (was Re: *Karateka*)

[jeffr@bmerha2a.bnr.ca (Jeffrey Robertson)]

In article <Cv1F0G.9q7@actrix.gen.nz>,
David Empson <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
>
>Unless the original was poorly written and was lazy about memory
>allocation!

No comment, but given the general high quality of the game, I'd
doubt that.

>> 4Mb memory is also a reasonable requirement.  After all, haven't most
>> GS owners got 4 or 8Mb?  And certainly a pretty hefty hardrive too.
>
>The vast majority of IIgses will be bare-bones machines, used by
>schools, with 1 MB of RAM and no hard drive.

And they are hardly in the market for a game, no?  If these wimpy
boxes are bought by private users, they tend to upgrade.

>Among the on-line IIgs community, there will be a much higher
>proportion of "expanded" machines.

True.  And _this_ is the market.

>Another point to consider: requiring 4 MB of AVAILABLE memory (or
>anything close to it) may be unreasonable.  I have well over a
>megabyte of desk accessories, INITs, etc. installed, plus an 800k RAM
>disk.  In my 5 MB total RAM, I have just over 2 MB available in Finder.

I don't know how much of my 4.25 Meg is "free".  But I'd be happy to
lose the RAM disk, or even Shift-boot, in order to play NetHack at
home.

Now, I don't know anything about Amigas, but they've got a port.
Do they tend to have more memory?  Or more free memory?
-- 
-------------------------------------+----------------+-----------------
Jeffrey Robertson                    |  jeffr@bnr.ca  |      BNR, Ottawa
"I speak for myself, not BNR" - Me   +----------------+       (Meriline)
"Verbing weirds language" - Calvin                      OC-48 FiberWorld