Finding TADS for UNIX
(first off, if any of these links are broken just go to the executables directory in the IF archive - it's likely that a binary was updated and I haven't got around to updating this list yet.)

TADS has been ported to several 32-bit UNIX architectures. Some are up to version 2.5.1; some are not. (those that are not are largely unsupported and no longer maintained) You can find various the binaries at the IF-archive:

TADS 2.2.6 for AIX 3 (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.6 for AIX 4 (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.5.1 for BSDI (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.0.5 for the DECStation MIPS (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.5.1 for FreeBSD (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.1.0 executables for IBM RT (cannot play 2.2 games) (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.5.5 for Linux (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.0.5 for NeXT (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.5.1 for IRIX (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.0.5 for Sun 4 (Sparc) running SunOS (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.0.5 for Sun 4 (Sparc) running Solaris 2 (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.5.1 for Sun (WUSTL mirror)

TADS 2.2.0.5 for Sun 3 (WUSTL mirror)

Note that these are all text-only binaries - they don't support any GUIs.

Note also that Mike Roberts has officially released the source code to TADS as freeware. This means that you can compile your own TADS interpreter for your favourite weird UNIX OS that isn't listed above. Be sure to get Dave Baggett's version of the source code distribution, which has been rewritten to support 32-bit UNIX OSs.

TADS Source Code directory (WUSTL mirror)

Decoding TADS for UNIX
If you're using UNIX I'm going to assume you're a clever lad or lass who doesn't need instructions how to decode tar, compress, Gunzip, etc., files.

Running the Interpreter
In the appropriate TADS directory you'll find an executable labeled "tadsr". This is the interpreter program that lets you run TADS games. Simply execute it, specifying the TADS game that you want to play as the argument.

Note that you don't need any of the other files in the folder. The other stuff (tadsc, various documentation files) is only really important if you intend to write your own TADS game.

Have fun!

---

This page copyright © 1996-2001 tela design.

It should go without saying, but because we live in an overly litigious world I feel obliged to mention that all trademarked names on this page remain the property of their respective owners.