8086 Software Choices

[cgrape2]

I recently aquired my first functional 8086 machine.(A Zenith SuperSport)I was wondering what people's favorite software choices were for this vintage?
What games work well,what Productivity programs etc...
It has a CGA B&W LCD display,640K and a 20MB MFM HD.Currently,it's running Zenith DOS 3.3.
Thanks!
cgrape2

 

[per]

I recently aquired my first functional 8086 machine.(A Zenith SuperSport)I was wondering what people's favorite software choices were for this vintage?
What games work well,what Productivity programs etc...
Thanks!
cgrape2

First of all, you need the operating system named DOS (you problably already got it, preferable DOS 3.3 or something like that).

For games, I really don't know. It all depends on what you like. Of course you can try some of the standard ones like "Alley Cat" or "Microsoft adventure", but there is a ton of better games out there. I especially like one called "Sopwith".

Other software you would want to just keep a copy of to match the style of sutch an old computer; are "Word Perfect" (the most famous word-processor in the '80s), and "Lotus 123" (the most famous spreadsheet in the '80s).

 

[Jorg]

I especially like one called "Sopwith".

My God, I can't believe it. Another Sopwith addict..

@TS: Also an important point is what graphics card/ Monitor you have installed- as this for a big part determines what runs.

MDA, Hercules, CGA, EGA?

EDIT:
I see you edited your post and put it in. Now I have to edit and write this to avoid looking stupid :D

So, CGA it is. That helps a lot. Productivity, see above; I'd include Harvard Graphics.
Games- so many, you'd need to point us to a category.
TestDrive should work nicely, Blockout (3D Tetris), etc.

 

[per]

My God, I can't believe it. Another Sopwith addict..

@TS: Also an important point is what graphics card/ Monitor you have installed- as this for a big part determines what runs.

MDA, Hercules, CGA, EGA?

BTW, I'm not addicted...

It's actually the only graphical old game (that runs well on a 8088) I really have tried (except DONKEY.BAS of course). If you have any other game, please suggest it imedately.

 

[paul.brett]

Games of 8086/8088

Games of 8086/8088

I like a text mode game called Beast. It involves pushing blocks around a game area, while avoiding the titular 'Beasts'.

Paul.

 

[hargle]

here's a list of games that work on 8088/8086 class CPU for DOS.

http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,64/p,2/

you've got some serious hours of gaming ahead of you.

 

[barythrin]

Some classics I remember playing, although in color CGA not b&w that ran well on my Zenith and were fun:
Sopwith (of course)
Castle (maze/dungeon game, much easier than Rogue or other D&D games)
Rogue - if you have some time and like more difficult D&D games
Sleuth - Pretty much Clue. Entertaining game interviewing folks and looking around rooms for evidence to find the murderer before they find you.
FleetSweep - good space alien ship shooter
Striker - fun little side scrolling helicopter game
Pango - little maze game while trying not to get killed by enemies
Digger - eat the crystals and dig your path but watch out for enemies
Centipede - always fun and simple

Those are a lot I remember playing.

 

[per]

Sopwith (of course)

If anybody are interested, I got the drivers you need in order to play it in multiplayer mode over a RS-232 line (AKA: serial line, null-modem line, async. data line, etc..).

 

[Fallo]

Pango - little maze game while trying not to get killed by enemies

Not sure if this was an official port of Pengo or a clone. The death animation always disturbed me a little.

Centipede - always fun and simple

There are two different Centipede games for the PC. One is in a file called CTP.EXE and is an unofficial clone. It uses the cyan/magenta/white palette. The other is the official Atarisoft port, and uses the red/green/brown palette.

I could also add:

Archon (fine in of itself, but the graphics only look good on a composite monitor, the sound is weaker than on the C64/Atari/Amiga/NES, and two-player games are only feasible if you have two joysticks)
Ms Pac-Man (very good conversion and has composite support)
Cosmic Crusader (a harder Galaxian clone). Avoid the real Galaxian for the PC unless you can find an original disk, as all the DOS conversions of it on the net throw the monitor out of sync (even on real CGA).
Moon Patrol
Montezuma's Revenge
Dig Dug (the PC port is easier than the arcade game, though).
Arkanoid
3-Demon
Donkey Kong

 

[ahm]

Does anyone remember a train simulator called PC-RR?
I suppose it should run on an 8086.

Andy

 

[Jorg]

Is there a Burnin' Rubber for PC? And a good Defender clone?

 

[barythrin]

I'm not sure I've played anything like those but I'm not familiar with "Burnin Rubber" (googling it mostly came up with a swf game). There was a game called Street Rod which was fun but I think I played that on a 386 or 486 at the time. Street Rod 2 had much more graphics and was more difficult. I wasn't in to many car games but that one did get my attention.

Not sure how I forgot SpaceWar, one of my favorites as well.

Janitor Joe is a nice one if you have a joystick.

Elite! - was a cult classic and plays on an 8088. This is a time zapper and I never played it originally (I came in quite a bit later and found TradeWars (BBS door) as my first space trading game to get addicted to).

 

[carlsson]

Burnin Rubber is a bit like Spy Hunter, if I recall correctly.

 

[Lawrence Woodman]

Quite a few of the early games were real odd-balls. Particularly those released as Public Domain or Shareware. Bouncing Babies is a classic example, although I must say that it is quite fun to play.

Also, I would definitely look into some of the text-based games such as versions of ADVENT (adventure), rogue, trek, etc.

 

[Ole Juul]

Perhaps I missed something (again), but I'm not sure the OP was looking exclusively for games.

After looking around the net for a while I still can't determine the year of the SuperSport but I'm guessing around 87 or '88. Personally I'd be looking for utilities from the era by scouring Garbo or Simtel. The PCMag utilities are '92 and earlier and are totally suitable for a 2 floppy system but perhaps they're hard to find anymore because PC mag changed their mind and forced sites to take them down, but I'm sure some people have copies. Also, doesn't the SS have a built in 2400 modem? I've got a copy of MTE from '88 which is an MNP terminal emulator and has the classic look and feel of the the days of 2400.

I don't play games, but I save things. How about a 1985 copy of Castle?

Edit: I just noticed the year in the title. What a novel idea to make the title informative!

 

[Jorg]

Its very possible I'm mixing up early PC games with C64 games- even with console games. Things get foggy..

No I think the TS did not only targetted games, but well, that is a popular subject.
And with WP, 123, Harvard Graphics- whats left?
Dbase III+ should run ok.

Burnin'Rubber I meant this:

but I don't think it was PC now.

 

[Ole Juul]

And with WP, 123, Harvard Graphics- whats left?

Lots!!! I've never been much interested in applications so perhaps I'm not normal, but what about screen snapshots, batch utilities, and cut and paste? I don't know the age of MON.COM, but it is only 1173 bytes, so it is in the ballpark - and it saves 8 screens! BATCHMAN.COM is 1988 and does almost 50 different functions in about 6K. My favourite cut and paste utility SNIPPER.COM is under 2K and dated 1987. In my world the most used command is DM. Mefford's masterpiece views any file and is the perfect e-mail front end. That's 8K from 1988.

I guess it all depends on how one uses a computer.

 

[per]

No I think the TS did not only targetted games, but well, that is a popular subject.
And with WP, 123, Harvard Graphics- whats left?
Dbase III+ should run ok.
but I don't think it was PC now.

Why doesn't anybody mention Paradox (database program)?

I got version 3.0 on 360Kb disks (15 of them!), but I really got no idea how I actually use the program... Maybe that should be it's own thread...

 

[barythrin]

Yeah, it's merely what's more interesting to most folks (games vs productivity). SuperCalc was popular for being one of the first successful commercial applications for home computers.

Boy.. trying to think of anything I did that was productive at that age.. I mean, basica or gwbasic and other programming languages were popular and we used. But really, IMHO I think that was the fascination and desire behind a home computer was programming and writing your own software.

Stacker isn't a productivity app plus a lot of folks had bad luck with it (I had it work fine on my Zenith 8088 and gained 20MB for a whopping 60MB out of our 40MB drive).

Procomm plus I used for dialing into BBSes which I liked, I was younger so the zapping of menus was amusing too for friends to watch in disbelief.

Dr. Halo if you were young lol was an early drawing application, with pattern fill, etc and then you could print a banner or ad for something.

MC (midnight commander) --or was it called something else for dos? .. was popular for easier file browsing if you weren't as familiar with dos CLI.

 

[Lutiana]

Stacker isn't a productivity app plus a lot of folks had bad luck with it (I had it work fine on my Zenith 8088 and gained 20MB for a whopping 60MB out of our 40MB drive).

Yes, I played with that, lost alot of data and gained very little space. But it is fun to play with.

MC (midnight commander) --or was it called something else for dos? .. was popular for easier file browsing if you weren't as familiar with dos CLI.

I think you mean Norton Commander (the original orthodox file manager). For an 8088 you could run any version up to 3.0. I run 3 on my 8088 and 5.5 on my 386. A free alternative that works great on the XT is DOS Commander, but I am not sure where I got it.