I want to port the Frotz z-machine interpreter to the Amazon Kindle. Is this even possible?

Question

I want to be able to play works of interactive fiction on an Amazon Kindle 2. In order to do this, I would need to port the Frotz interpreter to the Kindle. So far, I have not been able to find anywhere that Kindle application development is discussed. Does such a thing exist? Where can I find more information?

There are other z-machine interpreters for Unix than Frotz: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/interp.html — bzlm, Mar 22 '09 at 22:32

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 29 '09 at 19:36

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There's already a web app. Does the kindle support javascript? If so this might be worth a try: http://parchment.toolness.com/

answered Oct 29 '09 at 19:36

Ian

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parchment works great - even offline. You only have to load the javascript once into the browser and don't navigate away... – rdmueller Jun 01 '11 at 14:00

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '10 at 17:50

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Yes the KDK allows for apps like this, you just have to write it in Java (1.4) but other than that you are free to do this (and it would be a cool use of the KDK, you should apply to the beta program)

answered Feb 26 '10 at 17:50

Jason Sperske

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@sblom How's the porting going? – bzlm Jan 14 '11 at 22:41

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 22 '09 at 22:17

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This blog reversing everything is about kindle hacking. (it's a linux box after all)

answered Mar 22 '09 at 22:17

Luis Melgratti

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 13 '11 at 16:10

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Aswell as parchment, there is also http://www.web-adventures.org

This is a very minimal HTML only site that should render well on any device including the Kindle.

answered Jan 13 '11 at 16:10

Andrew

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 08 '10 at 21:30

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Since the Kindle Development Kit (KDK) is Java-based, perhaps a good starting point is a Java-based Z-machine interpreter like http://zmpp.sourceforge.net/

answered Sep 08 '10 at 21:30

IvanGoneKrazy

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 19 '10 at 11:43

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There is an open source project going on here: http://adq.livejournal.com/109224.html But it is outside the KDK since the KDK is not widely available.

answered Oct 19 '10 at 11:43

Douglas

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 02 '09 at 14:54

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You could build it as a web app and use the Kindle browser to play.

http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/kindle-formatting-for-web-geeks

answered Jun 02 '09 at 14:54

mwilliams

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 29 '12 at 02:35

Looks like Jimmy Maher of Antiquarian Productions has completed a port of the Z-Machine to the Kindle and in fact has a book for sale: http://maher.filfre.net/King/

Unfortunately (well, partly unfortunately), it looks like his is a commercial venture and he won't be releasing source code for his port for others to play along even on a jailbroken Kindle.

I want to port the Frotz z-machine interpreter to the Amazon Kindle. Is this even possible?

8 Answers8