DOS Games Discussion

I can download and play the games from this site on my OS Windows ME - I would like to copy the games I download onto 3 1/2" floppy discs to use on the hand me down computers I get from my relatives with $$$

I have tried just copying over to the disc but it doesn't read on my computer or the other one. Is there a relatively simple way to do this. The other computer is not connected to the internet, otherwise I would have downloaded right on to it.

PS I am DOS literate...more so than windows. I learned on an old Texas Instrument and then progressed to my 8088 which is still working by the way.

Many thanks.

Is the problem that the file is too big to fit on one floppy ?

hi Mom of 3 boys, I'm a mom of 1 girl and 1 boy. Nice to see another mom here.

What games are you tring to get on the Floppies and where have you downloaded them from?

Hey there,
Thanks for responding so quickly.

I downloaded the game from this site and it works fine on my PC
Aldo's Adventure David and Benjamin Ibach, 1987 (17k)
I saved it to a folder - it had 2 icons 1) Word Read Me file 2) the active game file
I only copied the active game file to the floppy.
In general - it is a simple matter to just "send to" the floppy drive so I assumed I could do the same with a simple game. I'm not looking to xfer big games just the small ones.
I did format the disc before transferring and the icon does appear when you look at the content directory of the disc -

I guess I should have signed in first...

if you have a cross over cable or a hub simply network these two computers.. If you dont have anything to do with a LAN well i would suggest getting something like it

I was hoping to avoid connecting the computers...I know it makes sense to share info and internet connections.
I am on a pretty tight budget so that's why.
What would I need to do know in order to go into a store and get what I need? ie. connection type, OS, etc.
I am willing - just have no experience in connecting 2 computers together to talk to eachother.
Many thanks to you all.
- Jan

How about leaving the downloaded files zipped, copy them to floppy, make a directory ('md Aldo'), copy the zipped file to that directory and then unzip them with pkunzip? Pkunzip can be downloaded free and here's how to install it if you're not sure..

http://www.eurekais.com/brock/zipold/wunzip.htm

That's what I do anyhow. Hope it helps.

I got it to work!
After I saw that the old Windows 95 computer didn't have Winzip - I thought to try to download the game directly to the 3 1/2" floppy unzipped - voila!

I was making it too complicated by saving it to my PC then copying it over.
Simple is always better for me!
Many thanks again.

PS any suggestions on games (preferrably non violent, perhaps even eductional) suitable for boys aged 7-10 that would fit onto a floppy would be much appreciated!

My children loved Commander KEEN , all of them,when they were young and innocent...long time ago...
And of course for younger children:Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.
Jill of the jungle is also a nice one( not to violent, learns them handyness on the keyb)
Duke Nukem 1 &2.
Crystal Caves.

And so many others ,that certainly others will fill you in....

[EDIT]
And they fit on a floppy.

Mostly on the internet, files avaiable for downloading are in the zipped format to save space on the host server as well as to allow user to download faster. Thus usually one has to save in harddisk before transferring to floppy if one wants to play directly on floppy.

Finding games to fit into a floppy may not be difficult. Long ago, I used to liked fitting as many games as possible on a floppy and giving them away to children as incentive. On I managed to squeeze 11 games.

Below are some non-violent and can fit into a floppy.

For puzzles:
Zeek the Geek (quite a well-liked game for children who like puzzles - the download is a self-extracting zip file. After you extract on your harddisk, you can copy the files into a floppy as the expanded size is less than 700KB. You even have space to save the game.)

Brix (Brix is a nice game if you're more into thinking, it has 112 levels)

For platform games,
Besides Crystal Caves that dosraider mentioned, Secret Agent is also nice. Both are in similar style.

Troy (a nice platform game although it has no sound, it has 100+ levels), find it here.

Others:
CD Man (interesting pacman type game)

Alley Cat (Do cat things like catch fish, mice etc)

The list can go on. Depends what genre your kids like.

Actually some emulated games like for Sega Genesis / Super Nintendo can also fit on a floppy (can fit 1 to 3 games) but that is another story.

I've found tons of stuff on www.the-underdogs.com. One little game called Think Quick! that looks 20 years old had my daughter on the edge of her seat.

There's some educational stuff on that site but I find the games my daughter has learned the most from have not been educational. RPG's like Might and Magic; World of Xeen have given map and compass skills for instance. I don't mind games that have some violence as long as I'm right there with my daughter playing and we can talk about it.

www.riverdeep.com has some excellent demos for windows ('free demos') that my daughter loves and http://www.humpherlinks.co.uk/ has links to all kinds of freeware.

dosraider wrote:Is the problem that the file is too big to fit on one floppy ?

:

One of my favourite puzzle games was 'blockman': a guy (kind of looks like mario) pushes blocks around to get to the end.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions and tips from you own experience.
I will be sure to check them all out!
- Jan

Jan -

Just a note if you like games yourself. There's an excellent forum at
www.womengamers.com where there are lots of female and mom gamers.