Interpreters Long before Java, VB, and even Perl, the Infocom story interpreter was leading the platform independence pack. Infocom games ran on a wider range of computers than probably any other pieces of software ever. The games themselves were "compiled" for a virtual computer archtitecture called the Z-Machine. Infocom games could be played on any computer which implemented the Z-Machine.
Listed below are a number of interpreters which can play Infocom story files. Many of these interpreters can be found at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/ or ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/doc/misc/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/. Both Frotz and ZIP cover the largest number of Z-Machine versions. I personally use XZip under Linux.
Platform | European Download | N.A. Download |
Acorn Archimedes | Frotz, ITF, ZIP | Frotz, ITF, ZIP |
Amiga | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP, ZorkMachine | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP, ZorkMachine |
Apple IIGS | ZIP | ZIP |
Apple Newton | YAZI (DOS), YAZI (Mac) | YAZI (DOS), YAZI (Mac) |
Atari | ZIP, ITF, Jzip, Jzip source, ZorkMachine | ZIP, ITF, Jzip, Jzip source, ZorkMachine |
BeBox | Jzip | Jzip |
DOS | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP |
Gameboy | INFGMB | |
HP-UX | Frotz | Frotz |
Java 1.0 | Zax | Zax, ZPlet |
Linux (source) | ZIP (patch) | ZIP (patch) |
Macintosh (source) | ZIP | ZIP |
Macintosh 68K | ITF, ZIP Infinity | ITF, ZIP Infinity |
Macintosh PPC | ZIP Infinity | ZIP Infinity |
OS/2 | Frotz, ITF, ZIP | Frotz, ITF, ZIP |
PalmOS | Frotz, ZIP | |
Psion Series 3 | ITF | ITF |
Psion Series 5 | Frotz | Frotz |
SGI | ZIP | ZIP |
Unix (source) | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP | Frotz, ITF, Jzip, ZIP |
VMS (source) | Jzip, ZIP | Jzip, ZIP |
Windows 3.1 | ITF, WInfocom, WZip | ITF, WInfocom, WZip |
Windows 95/NT | WinFrotz | WinFrotz |
Windows CE | Frotz | Frotz ZipCE |
X Windows (source) | XZip | XZip |