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Updated "Adventures in Math" README

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Jeff Parsons 2017-06-15 09:57:02 -07:00 • committed by Jeff Parsons
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apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md
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@ -205,7 +205,20 @@ but it does so purely for convenience (and because it predates the "autoType" fe
An alternative approach, adopted by the Internet Archive, involves modified disk images (eg, with custom batch files)
loaded into tightly coupled machine configurations. While this approach offers ease of use, it's difficult for the
user to download or inspect the software exactly as it was originally distributed, or to load the software into any
machine configuration other than the "mystery" configuration chosen by the Internet Archive.
machine configuration other than the "mystery" configuration chosen by the Internet Archive.
Also, the Internet Archive's overall "emulation experience" is often not very faithful. Their rendering of "Adventures
in Math" gives the impression that the game ran *much* faster than it actually ran on a 4.77Mhz IBM PC.
While the Internet Archive's emulator can be configured operate at different speeds, it's unclear which of their
holdings have already been "tuned". As a fallback, they do provide some user controls:
> "While the program is running, press CTRL-F11 to slow the program down. Pressing CTRL-F11 repeatedly will slow it
down further, until the speed is more reasonable. (Pressing CTRL-F12 repeatedly will attempt to speed things up.)"
but in general, the user has no idea what speed they have currently selected, or what the target speed should be.
For users who simply want "to play the game," that may be fine, but an historian would probably prefer to see how the
game originally operated and how each screen was painstakingly rendered, to better understand both the original user
experience and the challenges that early software developers faced.
The failure to archive software exactly as it was originally distributed, generally as one or more disk image (IMG)
files along with scanned (PDF) copies of the documentation, is the most serious problem we collectively face. I don't
@ -214,7 +227,9 @@ and those earlier "archivists" often didn't take the time to thoroughly preserve
On the other hand, the Internet Archive could do a better job of cataloging its holdings, recording the provenance of
everything they have archived, maintaining a clear separation of original material from subsequent modifications (including
any modifications created solely for ease of emulation), and providing more control over machine configurations.
any modifications created solely for ease of emulation), providing more control over machine configurations, and
enabling the use of third-party emulators -- like PCjs -- that may be able to do a better job running and rendering
some software packages.
In addition, I would hope that anything the Internet Archive "archives" itself (ie, from original distribution media)
is duplicated and preserved according to a *much* higher standard than any files, documents, etc, it has simply scraped