Read this interesting article: https://plus.google.com/111194416487291 ... JTjsNmaTBZ
For the TL;DR folks, the android version of BardsTale includes all three original games... and the android games simply run on a KEGS emulator. the Apple 2 GS emulator. KEGS v 0.91... which is no different from whats been available for years...
which means that a GS edition of the 3rd game now exists???
More fun reading: http://bhtooefr.org/blog/2012/10/26/bar ... then-some/
Kegs is GPL, all derivatives of GPL software are also GPL...which *should* mean the source to BT3 should now be available? (His version of the GPL interpretation... not mine).
Either way... I'm wondering if anyone has tried running that .so file on a PC to get BT3 running on something besides an android machine?
BT3 for Apple 2 GS???
Unfortunately the version of Bard's Tale 3 shipped in the repackage of the 2004 "The Bard's Tale" game is for the Apple II, as in IIe, IIc, etc. (Not sure if II+ and so on were supported). It's not a IIgs port.
This actually causes practical problems because the Bard's Tale 3 shipped (Apple IIe-ish) can't make sense of the IIgs Bard's Tale 2 character disk, which I think is an emulated 800k 3.5incher, and anyway the IIgs used a proper named file in the filesystem while the IIe version just had ided tracks and so forth.
So some third parties have written character transfer utilities.
I too wished for a IIgs bt3, but nope.
This actually causes practical problems because the Bard's Tale 3 shipped (Apple IIe-ish) can't make sense of the IIgs Bard's Tale 2 character disk, which I think is an emulated 800k 3.5incher, and anyway the IIgs used a proper named file in the filesystem while the IIe version just had ided tracks and so forth.
So some third parties have written character transfer utilities.
I too wished for a IIgs bt3, but nope.
Btw, no, the GPL does *not* work like that.
First, shipping an emulator with software to run on the emulator is not going to qualify as a combined work. Yes, the caselaw might be ill defined here, but I'm going to guarantee you that over the long haul copyright decisions would not consider it a combined work. For example if you ship some images and a viewer, no one would expect the copyright of the viewer to cover the images.
Second, linking and shipping non-GPL software with GPL software doesn't change the license of the non-GPL software, it just means you haven't followed the GPL license. That means you didn't have the right to distribute it since no license granted you that ability, which means you're in a state of sin. I mean copyright infringement. That leaves you open to legal remedies such as cease and desist, lawsuits, and potentially damages (though its rare for free software to actually have any standing to sue for damages since it's usually not a for-profit activity.) So the worst outcome would be that inXile would be injuncted against such that would have to remove the emulator from their package immediately, and possibly pay some amount of money to the KEGS author. Realistically the KEGS author seems MIA lately, so it's quite possible that nothing will happen at all.
What SHOULD happen is inXile should just post the sources for KEGS on their website like good citizens. It's possible they already did this. But they should also put a clear URL in the package so it's easy to find.
First, shipping an emulator with software to run on the emulator is not going to qualify as a combined work. Yes, the caselaw might be ill defined here, but I'm going to guarantee you that over the long haul copyright decisions would not consider it a combined work. For example if you ship some images and a viewer, no one would expect the copyright of the viewer to cover the images.
Second, linking and shipping non-GPL software with GPL software doesn't change the license of the non-GPL software, it just means you haven't followed the GPL license. That means you didn't have the right to distribute it since no license granted you that ability, which means you're in a state of sin. I mean copyright infringement. That leaves you open to legal remedies such as cease and desist, lawsuits, and potentially damages (though its rare for free software to actually have any standing to sue for damages since it's usually not a for-profit activity.) So the worst outcome would be that inXile would be injuncted against such that would have to remove the emulator from their package immediately, and possibly pay some amount of money to the KEGS author. Realistically the KEGS author seems MIA lately, so it's quite possible that nothing will happen at all.
What SHOULD happen is inXile should just post the sources for KEGS on their website like good citizens. It's possible they already did this. But they should also put a clear URL in the package so it's easy to find.
That's pretty much how I understood the GPL as well. The "Game Engine" (KEGS) is GPL, and its source should be available. The "Data Files/Disk images" however are a separate part of the program, and are protected by copyright. Their separation can be easily proven by showing that KEGS will work without them.
It would be interesting to see the massive amount of permissions they had to get for that release. Kegs also requires a ROM image, and a GSOS bootable disk... two distribution rights that I'm sure Apple didn't give up easily (or at least cheap).
It would be interesting to see the massive amount of permissions they had to get for that release. Kegs also requires a ROM image, and a GSOS bootable disk... two distribution rights that I'm sure Apple didn't give up easily (or at least cheap).