Games: FAQ

Virtually all the games on the Info pages weren't designed to run on the LX palmtops. As a precaution, you should always ensure that you have an up-to-date backup before running a new game (or indeed any other new program) on your palmtop.

One of the biggest problems with the LX palmtops is the screen. The size and nature of the LCD display can makes things far more challenging than the game designer ever had in mind! The following key combinations are very useful to know:

• "ON" and "/" (forward slash) - Inverts the screen
• "ON" and "*" (star) - Changes the colour palette, which can often help with readability
• "ON" and "+" (plus) - Increases the contrast
• "ON" and "-" (minus) - Decreases the contrast

With games (and indeed any other programs) that run in text-only mode, there is a program called CGAHLP available from the S.U.P.E.R. archives which attempts to increase the readability and may help in many situations.

Another point to note is that with many older games, it was assumed that you were booting from the floppy disk which contained the game. Thus, in some cases, there is no way to exit short of "turning off" the computer (which means rebooting in the case of the LX). There are, however, certain popular keystrokes which you can try at first:

• Ctrl - Break (Menu)
• Ctrl - X
• Ctrl - Q
• Ctrl - C (often works with games programmed in BASIC)
• Alt - X
• Alt - Q
• End (Fn - Right)
• Scroll Lock (Fn - Backspace)
• Escape
• No harm in trying the Function keys if you still can't exit!
• And if you're still firmly stuck in the game, try anything else that springs to mind!

None of the above worked? If you're running under System Manager, you can try pressing an application key. If you can successfully load some applications (e.g. Memo, Lotus 1-2-3), the palmtop should eventually bring up a message box saying that it is out of memory, and you will have the option to close the program of your choice. At this point, you should highlight the command.com option to kill the offending game.

If all that fails, however, you can attempt to reboot the palmtop (Software Carousel users could always try to "kill" the relevant work area) by pressing Ctrl - Alt - Delete. If that doesn't work, press Ctrl - Shift - On and, importantly, answer "n" (no) to the question which asks whether you want to initialise the RAM disk. (If you have an upgraded palmtop, this question might not be legible, so be careful - if you answer "y" (yes), you will erase all the data on your palmtop!). If you do have to resort this last method, occasionally you might find that the date has been reset to 01-01-80, and you will have to reset it to the correct date.

All files downloadable from this site are supplied in ZIP format, which means that they are compressed. To decompress (unzip) them, you will need a suitable program, such as Unzip, a shareware DOS-based program that works on the palmtop and is downloadable from S.U.P.E.R., or WinZip (shareware, for Windows).

When downloading from this, or any Internet site, it is highly recommended that you use a virus scanner - the chances are low, as most sites (including this one) check any files before making them available to download, but there is still a possibility that a virus might have escaped detection. A free anti-virus program, InnoculateIT, is available to download courtesy of Computer Associates.

This is often because they are commercial software and, strictly speaking, it would be illegal for me to make them freely available. The reality of the situation, however, is that there are plenty of "abandonware" sites around who take the view that such games are "abandoned" (as they are longer being sold or supported by their publishers), and consequently offer them as free downloads.

Unfortunately, the attitude of many software companies to their older titles doesn't inspire confidence that the situation will change anytime soon - you might want to take a look at the Abandonware page to see why.

When it comes to the 100LX and 200LX palmtops, a reasonable number of games have been specifically written for these machines, and can be found at the wonderful S.U.P.E.R. site. You can browse the file collection in its entirety or search by category - there is, of course, a Games category!

Alternatively, there are a huge number of DOS games which aren't listed on this site - while the Info pages may be exhaustive to the point of exhausting (well, it certainly was typing them up!), it is by no means a definitive and complete list. There are many games out there which will work on the palmtop - the main problem is that they are no longer available in the shops, having been discontinued a long time back. An excellent site for finding out information on older games is MobyGames.

To search for DOS games, or a specific title (or, of course, anything else that takes your fancy!), you can try the following search engines:

• AltaVista
• Yahoo
• Hotbot
• Northern Light
• Excite

Many useful DOS programs are included in C|Net's Shareware.Com download site; likewise, ZD Net's download section also offers a huge selection of files.

You might also wish to enquire about DOS games on the comp.misc.games newsgroup, although this is mainly devoted to postings about modern games.

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