![]() ![]() The labels on these disks suggest that they contain early Mechner work that has not seen the light of day in decades.įirst, Diaz tests a couple of non-critical disks to make sure that his setup is working up to snuff. Mechner has another shoebox full of floppies that he wants to try out. Underneath, he plugs in a modern Dell laptop to serve as the receptacle for whatever treasures the crew manages to unearth.īefore the team tackles the big question of the Prince of Persia source code disks, they start with some lighter warm-ups. That’s why they need Diaz’s Gordian knot of boxes and cables and not just any old Apple II – because Diaz has wired his computers into a network via Ethernet cable. ![]() Today is about getting that old code out of its magnetic tomb and getting it onto the internet. The geek squad’s goal is not simply to find out if Mechner's old disks work. He begins conjoining the beige plastic cases of Apple II computers, disk drives and monitors into an impressive stack of near-ancient technology. On the wall nearby, someone has taped up a sign: “Don’t sit at the computer thinking of what to do next.”ĭiaz begins to set up his gear on a broad, wooden table. Mechner’s work space sits in one corner, an orderly desk with a large Apple monitor. Inside, there’s a leather couch for entertaining clients, surrounded by bookshelves stacked high with screenplays and awards. Like any good Hollywood writer (in addition to working on games, Mechner is writing graphic novels and screenplays these days), he’s converted the guest house into a home office. Nestled in the backyard is a small guest cottage. Mechner, Scott and Diaz haul the gear from the truck around the back of Mechner’s house. Scott’s presence here today underlines his commitment to rescuing old games and production materials from their dusty, magnetic tombs. “You help them realize its value.” Organizations like Stanford University, the Library of Congress and the Strong Museum of Play have departments dedicated to preserving software. “To them, it's just old stuff,” Scott says. Jason Scott, an archivist from The Internet Archive, has flown out from New York City with a KryoFlux disk reader, a piece of kit popular with software preservationists for making images of old magnetically stored data. Some of his equipment may not look pretty, but thanks to his expertise it’s all in working order after all these years. But Diaz knows what he's doing the man can field strip an Apple II floppy drive and refurbish the thing in under an hour. The metal on the top of some of the gear is rusty and weathered. If those disks have information on them, he’s going to extract it. He’s brought everything that might possibly be necessary today. From the bed of his pickup, he unloads crate after crate of old Apple II computers, drives and cable. He made the 80-mile drive up from Oceanside to help Mechner mine his old floppies for their lost treasures. ![]() Jordan Mechner’s house is nestled at the base of the Hollywood hills on one of those Los Angeles streets so verdant and well-maintained that you’d never know that the smoggy grime of Hollywood Boulevard was mere blocks away.Ī white pickup truck pulls up and parks on the street enter vintage computer collector Tony Diaz. Mechner followed his lead and dialed up his own personal geek squad, calling them to his Los Angeles home one Monday morning in April. When Fox Mulder, X-Files agent, had a technical problem, he called in his cadre of geeks, The Lone Gunmen. ![]()
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