The Portable Computer We Forgot
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2018
- "I’ve been to Zork today. Tomorrow, I will take a friend. Together we will unwrap the cloaks of mystery surrounding this most excellent and memorable work of computerized fiction. And when we have extracted from this land every drop of adventuring that can be obtained, we will likely not be kept waiting. A sequel is nearing completion, even as this is being written. Somebody, please, let me know when it’s done."
-Bob Liddil, Byte Magazine, Feb 1981
*** CREDITS ***
Produced, Edited, Hosted and Co-Written by Kevin Lieber
Instagram: / kevlieber
Twitter: / kevinlieber
Twitter: / vsaucetwo
Facebook: / vsaucetwo
Cinematography and VFX by Eric Langlay
/ ericlanglay
Contributing Researcher, Co-Writer & Script Editor Matthew Tabor
koala.fm/
Sound Design by Jay Pellizzi
jaypellizzi.com/
Special Thanks Austin Evans
/ duncan33303
Special Thanks Retro System Rescue
retrosystemrescue.com/
/ @retropcrescue
Select Music by Jake Chudnow
/ jakechudnow
Special Thanks Paula Lieber
/ pixichuu
Special Thanks Hannah Canetti
/ hannahcanetti
Vsauce Website: www.Vsauce.com
Curiosity Box: www.curiositybox.com/
** SOURCES **
Twisty Little Passages: An Approach To Interactive Fiction by Nick Montfort
www.amazon.com/Twisty-Little-...
Play Zork I
classicreload.com/zork-i.html
Play Colossal Cave Adventure
grack.com/demos/adventure/
Equipment Load and Weight Breakdown Dark Souls 2 | WikiGameGuides
• Equipment Load and Wei...
Nintendo NES Classic Sales
time.com/4759594/nes-classic-m...
Zork Maps
oldsite.ironrealms.com/sites/d...
oldsite.ironrealms.com/sites/d...
Zork on the PDP-10
www.filfre.net/2012/01/zork-o...
www.filfre.net/2012/07/the-zo...
The Enduring Legacy Of Zork
www.technologyreview.com/s/60...
Old Computers Zorba
oldcomputers.net/zorba.html
Zorba Equipment Preservation Society Website
www.zorba.z80.de/
Daves Old Computers Zorba
www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/zo...
Infocom Zork
www.infocom-if.org/downloads/d...
Zork & Infocom - Video Game Years
• Zork & Infocom (PC, 19...
Get Lamp: The Text Adventure Documentary
• GET LAMP: The Text Adv...
Infocom: The Documentary
• Infocom: The Documentary
MC Frontalot - It Is Pitch Dark
• MC Frontalot - It Is P... - Věda a technologie
WORTH IT
Austin Evans
Hey guys this Austin and as always thanks for watching
I like how, in the disc, the link to your channel is "duncan33"
Jose Ugarte 11:32
Hey Austin this is guys
Zorba Video incoming from you soon Austin?
>be me 1984
>playing Zork on my 22 lbs Luggable computer
>this has to be the peak of technology there's no way people can design something better than this
>be me 2018
>playing Skyrim SE on my 2lbs Laptop
>this has to be the peak of technology there's no way people can design something better than this
>be me 2051
>inside Edegal GOTY edition on my Omnirig full body VR suit
>this has to be the peak of technology there's no way people can design something better than this
>be me 2084
>the earth is a wasteland
>all humans have left their lives behind to live together in VR pods that are casting a virtual reality that is being controlled by an AI named "Lilac" on to our retinas
>this has to be the peak of technology there's no way people can design something better than this
>be me 2118
>the "C-plane" as we had come to call the VR world has been corrupted now that Lilac was destroyed in the 5th World War
>humans have crawled out of their pods now forever changed by the VR experience that was the majority of their lives
>it is time to rebuild
>going through the rubble that was a city known as "New York" in the days before the C-plane
>find something in the rubble
>it's a computer
>I boot it up
>"Zorba" it says in bright green letters
>there's a floppy disc in it
>"Zork"
>I boot it up
>it's a game
>neat
You have seen the future. And it is glorious.
You would be pretty damn old grandpa
>I boot it up
>it's a game
>neat
>this is now the peak of technology there's no way people will design something better than this ever again
lol
Find something in the rubble
It's a i boot it up
Zorba it says in bright green letters
There's a floppy disk in it
"Zork"
I boot it up
"Error"
I restart
"Error"
More realistic
Fun story about Zork actually; it's probably single-handedly responsible for my existence. My parents were in the same church growing up, and at a youth event my mom and a few friends were messing around with a computer trying to get past the dragon.
Every time you type "attack dragon" or something to that effect it responds with "What, with your fists?" and everyone was convinced that there was a sword or similar weapon hidden in the nearby maze. My dad meanwhile got on, typed "punch dragon" and out of frustration answered the followup question with "Yes" at which point the game said "okay" and he knocked the dragon unconscious.
That ladies and gentlemen, is how babies are made.
Loved this story, that had to be one of the earliest and most successful GG's in gaming history
I'm oddly provoked by this and I feel I must overthrow your father. What a madman!
You are the earliest form of saying GG 😂😂😂
lol
@@thepiperandthedrummer7826 it means that it caused an event directly and by itself
This is AWESOME
You deserve 100.000.000 likes and subs
Nani?
ZORBAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Vsauce2 error
ZOOOOOOOOOOOOORK
You have been eaten by a grue.
Hackerman aproves this message
I'm having the nostalgic mental equivalent to an orgasm right now.
I love this gamer geek side of Kevin!
I wanna more videos like this!
ColoniaContraAtaca Yeah, him going back to his roots. Before he met Michael, he ran a gaming channel where he played a video game reviwer character called Jerry Bloop, à la TAVGN.
Vsauce3 has more video game stuffs
carai olha o wilso aqui
Belo inglês
Nice english lel
*I'm finally going to subscribe to the Curiosity Box.* I've been on the fence about it, but this video reminded me of why. _It reminded me of my grandfather._
I have a 30+ year old Miata PC that belonged to my grandfather. It ran MS-DOS and was one of the first IBM-compatible home computers. He taught me to use DOS commands before I was 3 years old.
We played DOS games together... a lot, including the first Microsoft Flight Simulator which was "3-D" and mapped practically every key to a flight control.
The things my grandfather taught me, including that early exposure to technology, have had an immensely profound impact on me. He was my hero, my role model, my co-pilot, and my best friend.
My grandfather passed away two years ago. He had Alzheimer's, the human analog of running out of memory due to bad sectors.
On a dedicated desk in my home, there's an old, beige brick of glass and plastic that somehow still works. A reminder that technology and people both age and obsolesce, but the lessons they can teach us are nonetheless important.
Sorry for your loss - your grandfather sounds like an awesome dude. Thanks for watching my video and hope you enjoy The Curiosity Box. Peace, Elliot.
This is the most beautiful thing I've read all day.
Elliot Grey you just made me feel so nostalgic about my childhood. it was my dad, and it was a Commodore 64, but same story.
That's a powerful and moving comment. I'm sorry for your loss, and thank you for sharing with us.
Thank you for sharing your story.
"No one is reviving zorc"
AI Dungeon: Am I a joke to you?
I love it, more ancient tech please
We meet... again.
Yeah I'd love to see some videos on ancient technology, like roman aqueducts, the colosseum
If that's ancient you're going to be blown away by writing systems.
the romance of human civilization. Such a beautiful vid
Your production quality has always been fantastic. The music and how well it goes with the everything, the camera work, the stories, the effort it took you to go out and find a Zorba AND a coby of the software AND a copy of Zork. And yet you still don't feel like it's all been overproduced. The paasion for your content is evident. Great video. I can't wait to see more.
Thanks, Daniel. I really appreciate that!
You joke about Zork being 70's Skyrim but Bethesda just made a joke trailer about playing Skyrim as a text adventure on an Alexa
Super Smash Dolls its a reality
minecraft can't even calculate weight
Skyrim Very Special Edition is one of the best games I have ever played
The first computer game I ever played was Galactic Trader, 1980, which I think predated Zork. I believe I did play Zork on an Osbourne 1 and Galactic Trader on a Tandy TRS-80 with tape drive. My goodness. I'm ancient. I worked on mainframes and minis and was all-in when the first PCs came out and was one of the very first IBM PC dealers. Loved this video!
Sheldon, you can still play it!
www.gamingmuseum.com/gal-trader.html
+Vsauce2 -- OMG! Had to set up Telnet, which is another thing I haven't used in years, but I'm now playing Galactic Trader. Talk about a walk down memory lane. Thanks for the tip.
Wow, this takes me back. When I was a kid, my dad had a Tandy computer from Radio Shack. The command line prompt was daunting for my brothers and I to use, so my Dad wound up learning how to code his own text-based "graphical" user interface to make it easier for us to navigate. One of the games we tried playing back then was a text-based Star Trek game, that we could never wrap our brains around because we were too young. My dad liked to throw swear words at it, to see how the characters would react. More graphically advanced games like Below the Root, Lunar Lander, Arctic Adventure, Monuments of Mars, and Space Wars are among my first gaming memories, and are sadly all but forgotten to the ether in the modern day. 30 some years later, I'm now a software developer myself, coding back-end systems for web applications, with a cellphone several magnitudes of order more powerful than the computers I played on as a kid. I wasn't old enough to know about Zork growing up, but watching this video reminded me of how simplistic computers used to be back in the day, and just how far things have come.
My first games were Warcraft, Orcs and Humans on MS:DOS, Starcraft, and X-wing vs Tie fighter. Oh, the 90's, good times. I grew up in South Africa, so we didn't really have games until they had already taken off in the US.
dude the only reason to why i love your show is how impactful your scripts and your explain and you do not talk like a maniac trying to talk 200 word per sec. The pause in your thought process was nice. Its nice to see someone who can take breaks from talking every few sec.. Like how many youtuber or anyone else can shut up for 1 freaking sec without bardbombing use with words.
It's the vsauce way of speaking. Adding dramatic pauses
True, so many people nowdays trying to sound professional that its end up hard to understand what they're saying
The Legend of Zorba:
Breath of the Zork
YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE EATEN BY A MOBLIN
@@ratbabyy3117 wut
Forgotten? I almost flunked out of college because I couldn't stop playing Zork. I'll never forget it.
WORTH IT
In 1986, we had one ZORBA on the back of a shelf at Computer Rents in Sherman Oaks, CA. I was there for two years, and nobody ever rented it. However, the Compaq luggable was very popular.
People who were writers would rent the Mac Plus. Garry Shandling and Bernie Brillstein were big clients.
Banks would rent the PC or XT.
Our "big" machine was a 25MHz Turbo AT, with 640K of RAM, a 30MB Western Digital hard drive, and an optional Hercules graphics card. That machine rented for about $550 per month.
Ok, that story is AMAZING. Thinking of Garry Shandling looking at a Zorba on the shelf and thinking, "Yeah... no."
I played the Zork text adventures and a lot of other text based games after playing some of the more "modern" versions of Zork in the 90s. I loved all of its iterations.
I had Zork for Commodore 64. It was downright baffling for me. But we had no instructions. I didn't know people made maps for it.
You really are our refreshing glass of lemonade. Nice!
You are likely to be eaten by a grue........
This makes way too much sense lol.
They were never as detailed as the ones you showed, but I remember actually drawing out maps for early text games! I can't claim to have played Zork, however...
PS. That couldn't look more hipster...grabbing your Zorba stepping up off your bungee cord chair, haha
and it runs on the world's most powerful graphic chip, "Imagination" - Sheldon Cooper
This was like five or six years before I was born. This blows my mind. I'm not even that old, and this is how quickly modern technology has progressed. What kind of unimaginably advanced technology will be commonplace when I'm 80?
That ending was hilarious! Packing up fail
This is probably one of the best videos you've ever made.
This has only been out 2 days but I've already watched it like 4 times. Well done
That Austin Evans cameo was great, i love your videos.
Don't you mean Stan Lee?
YES! THE PROPHESY HAS COME TRUE, SOMEONE USED YOUR CORRECTLY!
BY THE WAY:
Anybody noticed the " A:/ " on the screen there?
Yeap. That is why your PC's HD default's on C:/. Because of old computers that had 2 slots (A and B) for floppy disks. The storage was expensive at that time and didn't came with it. But soon they would become the main operating system(DOS) and the main storage device.
that's interesting!
I'm going to be pedantic and point out CP/M didn't show the trailing slash, or indeed the colon when you were viewing the directory ;)
Except, one of the differences between MS-DOS and CP/M is that the meaning of A and C is reversed.
In CP/M if you have a hard disk it will be drive A, while in MS-DOS, a hard disk is never drive A or B.
@KuraIthys
That's not fully correct.
It's true that if you boot CP/M from Harddisk this device will be assigned to "A".
But there are many examples where CP/M is set into ROMs and there the media detection order defines the Enumeration of the devices.
So the first found device will be "A" for the user.
Things like this always make me misty eyed. I think of the first nerds and their contributions to all of the humanity. Book nerds trying to make electronics work for their fantasies. I think of how underestimated and underappreciated they would had been and still are today... Salute to you my creative, like-minded, "nerddom" forefathers!
n3rds4lyfe
Vsauce2 agreed.
This is quite possibly one of the best videos I've seen in a long time
*through a megaphone* I LOVE OLD COMPUTERS
*Through megaphone miles away* SAME!
It’s weird to think that my digital watch is more advanced than that beast
Way, way more advanced. And cheaper!
Vsauce2
That was a slick roast
Thanks for making me feel OLD! I learnt Visicalc at school when I was about 12/13 ... I remember those screens so much still!
Time to load a VisiCalc emulator... ;)
never knew where the Grue reference came from. thanks kevin
This was one of your best videos yet. Much enjoyed
I had one of the Zork choose your own adventure books by Infocom. #4: Conquest at Quendor
While I already knew about Zork (and only heard about the Zorba), this video was probably one of my favorite Vsauce2 videos. Wow! Thanks! Its also funny to watch you try and mess with the Zorba. Kids today have no idea how massive, clucnky and painful it was to mess with past "Computers". Heck, CRT monitors alone were the size of the Deathstar. And disposing of them was a pain. They also had tons of other issues. Not even talking about the PC cases themselves. Ribbons anyone?
That's some sick scripting and editing - a gem of CZcams
Your videos are always great and you figure out a way to end every one exceptionally well. Usually connecting the topic back to people or each of us individually in some way and how we think, act, or live and make me question and contemplate things. Excellent work as usual and thank you.
Duuuude!! I love Zork!! I'm nerding-out so much!!!!!!
I remeber watching my Uncle play Zork on the TRS-80.. The whole color computer series has so many good memories attached with it.
Me and my 64 playing Zork 1, 2 & 3 was simple the best. Thanks for the memories.
Great channel. I especially love the "paradox" ,"theorems" and "riddles" videos. Good job :)
Wow. Just really enjoy how you take something so random and forgotten and use it as a window into human experience. We take so many things for granted...like a sense of wonder. We use and discard so quickly. Love your channel because it reminds me to take the time to wonder and marvel.
That's why I love old games. Old games had crappy visuals and sound effects, so you were completing the visual and audio experience with your brain.
this was one of my fave vsauce2 vids. thank you!
I had no idea this existed! Thank you for all the amazing videos!
now I really want to try Zork
Do it! Lots of free emulators online. See you in 40 hours when you've almost beaten it!
Wow ^^ didn't expect a response :D thank you!
Just started playing Zork and its very extensive and difficult. Even made one of my friends play along with me ^^
_The captain conceals the Jade key_
_in a dwelling long neglected_
_But you can only blow the whistle_
_once the trophies are all collected_
Incredible man, best video I've seen all week! The spreadsheeting looked wicked cool too :D
*Z O R B A W A V E*
This is the best thing I've seen on youtube.
Loved the topic with the old hardware history and retro gaming history. Thank you for making.
Perfect work! Very worth it and thanks for this Kevin
Wow, that was an amazing one, Kevin! Tks!
Love the video, Kevin is always learnin me something just wicked cool every video. This is probably one of my favorites to date. Keep it up!
I want to play Zork now
Give it a try, tons of free emulators online!
I tried to attack a tree with a leaflet I found in the mailbox, the game thinks I'm strange now
this blew my mind. thank you, great video
Amazing video as always!
Love seeing videos on old tech. It’s always neat seeing what use to cutting edge.
Shiverskill be*
There's even a song about "you are likely to be eaten by a grue " by MC Frontalot - It Is Pitch Dark
It's awesome -- and so is the Get Lamp documentary about the development of text adventures!
czcams.com/video/4nigRT2KmCE/video.html
i have no words, that was absolutely fantastic. The script writing, the video effects, Austin Evens Cameo. This video deserves an award.
Not forgotten by my brothers, myself, and most of our friends. We loved Zork.
Zorba is the name of a male underwear company here in Brazil.
Even better (?) :p
Brasil em todos os lugares... Kkkk
nenhum lugar está seguro!
blackcorvo - also the name of a fictional "Greek" in the form of a novel, movie, and musical.
Gotta abZORBA these ball sweats
There is an alternate dimension where, instead of mismanaging the company to the ground, we would all be running Commodore computers in our homes. I'm always just a tad let down when computer history is spoken about, and Commodore's place is never mentioned.
The stories of Infocom, Commodore, and others are fascinating... such an incredible era where it was hard to know how to make a company work. So many mistakes, so many people stumbling onto amazing things way ahead of their time.
One of the best videos on this channel
This is a beautiful video. I love seeing old technology. And the innovation behind it.
I played the hell out of Zork 1, 2, and 3, on my Atari computer when I was a kid. It's worth mentioning that their legacy became some of the first online games; MUDs (multi-user dungeon). There are still playable MUDs available online.
If anyone is interested, last I checked there's some websites that you can play the original three Zork games on.
Yep! And let's not forget Themudconnector, a wonderful listing site for MUDs, MUCKs and MUSHes.
And here I go and mention MUDs (being a fan of them) and look down the comments to see I'm not the only one in the comments to know what those are.
And CMDR Kyzrath, that takes me back a few years, Running on Dialup in the middle of the night listening to the three CD's worth of MP3s that I had (on the old Winamp) and scrumming through TMC trying to find entries that where not horribly out of date....
It's super cool to know those kind of history. I'm emotionally attached to Zorba now. I think this kind of objects should be always remembered, so we can be aware that what's impossible now isn't the same in the future
I spent my teenage years not understanding why older people had sentimentality for objects from their past-they're just objects, not people or anything important. But I know now that the simple objects which were a major part of my childhood are deep wells of memories that I would otherwise never pull from again. When I think about those memories, I relive the emotions I had with them as a kid, and sometimes I don't want bring myself back to the present in fear I'll never return to these memories.
Nostalgia is a powerful force. Its very name comes from two Greek words: *nostos,* which means "returning home", and *algos,* which means... "pain". It's an ache that feels like it can only be treated by going back to your roots.
Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for taking us on that journey through early gaming.
this was literally one of the best vsauce videos i have ever seen thank you kevin
I remember my boss showing off the Osborne travelling computer back in 83-84 . I just turned 50 so this quite the flashback 😁
AMAZING.
I remember text based games when I was a kid, but I never heard of Zork. An amazing video, Kev! Thank you!
Although I was never born or even grew up around text adventures, I actually really love them.
I had one of those, in 1986, gave it away to a friend back in 2005 and it was still working. Sold the printer and printer paper to my employer in 1999. Thanks for posting this.
Just finished watching the first minute of this video on a 13 inch iPad Pro using cell data in 2018 and I can’t stop laughing.
Sell it and get a Zorba.
Ha!! I haven't seen one of those in ages! I used one in 1987, when I worked for Vancouver's Tenant's Rights Coalition, doing word processing and spreadsheets mostly. Never played that game, but did play others like it (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Larry Niven's "Ringworld" were my favs. I think I might still have all the floppies to Ringworld in a box, in my back room...).
You used an actual Zorba? Awesome.
They made a text adventure for Ringworld? Whelp, I know what I need to go find now.
I would love more stuff on old computers and software. This was great!
You are my favorite Vsauce, every video is interesting without fail.
wow this is a really, really powerful video
One of the best videos you have produced.
Very well put
Awesome content as usual!!!
Damn kevin your videos get better and better everytime.
Big ups my dude
*Vsauce Unbox Therapy....*
slash lgr
Wonderful episode!
Great video, I especially like the intro with Austin Evans lol! This reminds me of when I use to play on my dad's Tandy Vision 2 game console. Too bad it took a dirt nap years ago otherwise I'd make a video of it working.
Fantastic job Kevin! The length you went to make this video, you made me travel in time. Did not know Zork, but did play quite my share of king’s quest. Loved it. Like for books replaced by CZcams today, something imaginary has been lost in the progress. Thanks again and keep the great work of Vsauce (all 3 of them)!
Thanks, Richard! If you liked King's Quest, you'll like Zork -- you should give it a try.
Zorks been forgotten? Now I feel old. Has rogue been forgotten too except as a genre?
By some but not by us "old people".
I mentally protested every time he said Zork was forgotten, but by the end of the video I had come to terms with how it's not very well-known to the new young generation of gamers. Rogue, though, gets to keep its legacy thanks to the genre being named after it, so hopefully we don't have to do much if we want to preserve its place in history.
Ahhhh the good ol' days of personal computing. It's nice to look back, but I don't miss it. Much. Awesome video tho. I was 21 in 1984 & thought a computer you could actually take with you was so cool. How far we've come in just a few decades. Wow, now I feel old.
I have fond memories of the Zorba. I worked at Modcomp on the Zorba computers when production started. The computer was capable of running a ton of CPM software and also some games. I remember playing some interactive games at the time. I can't remember the name but one of them was a side scrolling game where you shot enemies flying in from the right of the screen. It used characters and symbols for the spaceships. It was fun. The Zorba design was purchased from Telcon Industries and produced by Modcomp (a minicomputer company) under the name of Modular Micros.
reading ready player one so this is perfect
I first played Zork after breaking out of the chair in Black Ops 1.
Shagazelle same
is that zork?
Shagazelle same, i thought it was mindblowing at the time. Waay more interesting than the actual game, mainly because i was very young
Your channel is amazing!
The production quality was a nice improvement over other Vsauce2 videos, nice work!
Step 1: Bring Zorba to Starbucks
step 2: Automatically become Hipster King
Zorba is phone.
Zork is life.
Something it didn't have that we all take for granted is a hard drive. Sure it had two floppies, but one had to be used for the system disk, so you really only had one. Anything you loaded into memory would disappear when you turned it off and had to be reloaded when you turned it back on again. Same is true for current computers; but we hardly think about it now, because the system files (and a lot of other stuff) are stored on the hard drive and get loaded automatically, without our even knowing about it.
I remember Zork, though I don't remember ever playing it. But I did play other text adventures. And the first so-called "graphic adventures" were just text adventures with pictures accompanying the descriptions.
The Zorba was clunky, but when compared with other computers of the day, it was extremely portable. I wouldn't say laptops wouldn't exist if not for the Zorba, but it was the first in a line of portable computers. So while it is heavy and funny-looking, I admire it and its creators.
this was an awesome video thank you