i went into a 5 HOUR HYPERFOCUS SIDEQUEST because i HAD TO KNOW if this scene was accurate
So, I wondered after the last time I watched this scene couple days ago (yes, still The Net from 1995): how real is it?
The question: Is it valid 68k/PPC ASM? Is it from the game itself?
The setup Basilisk II, Quadra 900, 68030+FPU, 128MB (!) RAM, System 7.5.3 Because Basilisk is finnicky, to put it very, very very mildly, I couldn't trigger MacsBug directly, so I used MacNosy II to debug. Alongside this, I got ResEdit to complete the software kit to tear Classic Mac OS software down.
The process
- Get Wolf3D for Mac OS.
- Do the satanic incantations to get MacNosy to run. I don't know shit about what I did, or how I should do anything, but I opened the Data Table. I mean, there's some ASM there.
The results
- If you crop the window to the first 3 icons on ResEdit, it matches the icons!
- The instructions, at least the ASCII, indeed is valid 68k ASM!.
- Is it from the game? I dunno, couldn't make it run any further. Maybe if I had more braincell reception I could go further but it's 01:30am.
Some extra observations
- It looks like it's running on a Power Macintosh 8xxx. On the final retail version of Wolf3D you have fat binaries. If I ran it on SheepShaver as a PowerMac, it would've defaulted to the PPC version for obvious reasons. This is why I used Basilisk II and a Quadra ROM instead.
- If you get an A/ROSE unimplemented trap, it's because it installed an extension for the Apple Real Time Operative System Extension (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/ROSE). It came with the networking drivers. Delete it before rebooting, or don't install networking support.
- About A/ROSE, it's a fucking Real Time OS, with pre-emptive multitasking when the host OS didn't even have it. And even funnier, it's meant to run on 68k's inside NuBus cards to "make it easier to develop NuBus expansion cards for the Mac." I find it so hella overengineered to have such a level of computer exuberance and debauchery for your stupid Ethernet card. Truly a fascinating sidequest to someday come back to.
- I'm surprised about the accuracy of this film to System 7's UI. They had to have someone coding or recreating every scene, or they indeed had some real systems analyst doing the scenes. You can see real Chooser menus, real MacsBug, real Windows 3.1 terminals. Now, of course you have some mocked up things on top... but they look convincing enough for someone that knows and notices those details.
- Yes the monitor there is, indeed, a Radius monitor. Gotta have the best gear for hacking!
- I could go on but the bf would complain that I stayed up too late. Oh well...
