To run Will Crowther's original version of Colossal Cave Adventure, also known as 'ADVENT', or 'ADV', on the SIMH PDP-10 emulator we need two items: 1) the SIMH emulator suite, which includes the DEC PDP-10 emulator, and 2) a TOPS-10 pre-built package, which includes the Colossal Cave Adventure game. Below you will find the instructions that I found in several places on the Internet. The relevant links to the original information will be given as well. 1. Installing the PDP-10 emulator --------------------------------- Go to https://github.com/simh and download the source code of the latest version of the SIMH emulator suite. Also visit http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ for more information. Unpack the archive that you downloaded. For example: $ unzip simh-master.zip cd into the source tree. $ cd simh-master There is a makefile supplied, and we can simply do $ make pdp10 If all goes well, there should be an executable named "pdp10" in the ./BIN subdirectory. Alternatively, see if there is a pre-made version of SIMH offered in the repositories of your distro. 2. Running TOPS-10 on the PDP-10 emulator ----------------------------------------- TOPS-10 is an operating system for the PDP-10, on which Colossal Cave Adventure can run (but I don't know if the game was actually developed on that operating system). Visit the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOPS-10 for more background on TOPS-10. Go to https://www.steubentech.com/~talon/pdp10/ to download a TOPS-10 pre-built package (version 1.4; see bottom of that webpage). This package contains to necessary disk images, dskb.dsk and dskc.dsk. These should be copied to the same directory as the one where the pdp10 binary resides. Go to the relevant directory and start the emulator $ ./pdp10 The following is a copy of a transcript, provided as a .txt file on https://www.steubentech.com/~talon/pdp10/. It shows the commands we have to enter to arrive at a state in which we can play the game. 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - PDP-10 simulator V4.0-0 Current simh git commit id: 5e59c604 sim> at rp0 dskb.dsk %SIM-INFO: RP0: Amount of data in use in disk container 'dskb.dsk' cannot be determined, skipping autosizing sim> at rp1 dskc.dsk %SIM-INFO: RP0: Amount of data in use in disk container 'dskc.dsk' cannot be determined, skipping autosizing sim> set tim y2k sim> set dz 8b sim> at -am dz 2020 %SIM-INFO: Listening on port 2020 Modem control activated Auto disconnect activated sim> boot rp BOOT V3(47) BOOT> [Loading from DSKB:SYSTEM.EXE[1,4]] VNW 10-14-99 Why reload: sched Date: Time: Startup option: quick [Rebuilding the system search list from the HOMe blocks] [Rebuilding the active swapping list from the HOMe blocks] [Rebuilding the system dump list from the HOMe blocks] VNW 10:24:16 CTY system 4097 Connected to Node (0) Line # 12 Welcome to TOPS-10 7.03 Steuben Technologies Distribution Revision 1.4 Installed software: BASIC,COBOL(68 and 74), FORTRAN, ALGOL10A ,BLISS-36 V4.2, SORT, RMS, APLSFV2,KERMIT(K10MIT 3(136)), SED DBMS V5A, IQL3A V30, Message System V11CK, HAUNT, ADVENT Although the software is installed, not all of it is tested. and some of it like DBMS and the message system needs to be set up. refer to the software notebooks and the documents on the distrobution tape extracted files for the products you need. at pdp-10.trailing-edge.com For more information,updates and to report bugs or make comments please go to http://www.steubentech.com/~talon/pdp10 or email me at wschaub@steubentech.com to login as a normal user type login public to login as operator login as 1,2 password mcp to run advent type r dsk:adv under the public account (42,42) to remove this message login as 1,2 and delete sys:notice.txt .LOGIN 1 [CCPWFD Waiting for file daemon to start] ,2 .R OPSER [OPRPAF Processing auto command file] ?OPRALF LOOKUP failure 0 *%%TTY STOMPER - Starting *^C 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - Complete the lines appearing on your terminal as they appear using the transcript. After mounting dskb.dsk and dskc.dsk there will be a warning. It seems that these can be ignored. After the first "BOOT" prompt, hit the key. After the line "*%%TTY STOMPER - Starting" has appeared, type -C. 3. Starting and stopping Colossal Cave Adventure ------------------------------------------------ We continue where we left off: 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - .r dsk:adv PAUSE INIT DONE Type G to Continue, X to Exit, T To Trace. *G WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!! WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS? 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - 8< - - - We are now playing ADV. Note that commands must be typed in CAPS. Use -C to leave the game. Use -E to stop the PDP-10 emulator, and then type "quit" to return to the command line. More information can be found at https://wiki.livingcomputers.org/doku.php?id=tymcom-x-simh and also in the discussion at https://alt.sys.pdp10.narkive.com/kLg55GWJ/simh-please-help-idiots-guide-to-running-pdp-10-games.