Elite / Frontier The Elite Archives

ozoli · May 13, 2014

Greetings Commanders!

We have just launched the alpha version of the Elite Archives website.

The Elite Archives is a personal project which aims to acquire and document every version of Elite and its successors.

The website is currently built using a trial version of Sandvox which limits us to five webpages. If the site provides good usability and functionality we will purchase the full license to allow significantly more pages and better site organisation.

We currently hold over 46 different variants of Elite and its successors and once we have a full website up and running we will periodically release a new version to the Archive's public viewing area.

Feel free to drop by, have a look around, and let us know what you think

Steph · May 13, 2014

Good luck with your quest!

Mobius · May 13, 2014

do you have the Spectrum version there?

Bumvelcrow · May 13, 2014

Nice - I could browse that site all day, and probably will when it's finished!

B

Gauntlet · May 13, 2014

Cool, you can't have too many Elite resources

Rafflez · May 13, 2014

Great work! I like the layout.

FYI: There is also a US Commodore 64/128K disc version that has "Fly to Britain Competition" instead of the "G GOLD" on the bottom right of the box.

ozoli · May 14, 2014

Cheers all, thanks for the kind words.

It has taken a long time to build the collection and just today I received an email confirming that the C64 German Version was also released on cassette! If anyone has a spare copy, please let me know

@Steph - Thanks! It's been a long (and expensive) journey building up the collection so far!

@Mobius - I have both the early and late cassette versions for the spectrum. AndyJ provided a good overview of the two versions here. There is also an Opus disk version that I am trying to track down. If anyone has a spare copy, well, you know the deal!

@Bumvelcrow - Glad you like the site, but a word of caution - don't wait until it is finished because I suspect I will be tinkering for a long time

@Gaunlet - Agreed!

@Rafflez - Thanks! Glad you like the layout. It took a while for me to find something that had the right look. Thanks too for the comment about the "other" USA version. There certainly is a "Fly to Britain Competition" version! I hadn't mentioned it on the website earlier, but I have now included the details. The "Fly to Britain Competition" version is essentially the same as the "G Gold" version except that the "G Gold" version has a sticker applied over the "Fly to Britain Competition" text, and did not include the competition form. These changes were made after the competition ended. If you open this image of the second USA version and zoom in you can just make out the competition text underneath the sticker

Thanks again to everyone who has provided some additional information on various versions. As the Archives' homepage alludes to, the site will eventually cover more than just the games. We will also look at magazine articles and reviews, posters, promotional material, t-shirts, Elite badges, official fiction (old and new) and of course Elite: Dangerous!

Right on Commanders!

Steve · May 14, 2014

Rafflez said:
Great work! I like the layout.

FYI: There is also a US Commodore 64/128K disc version that has "Fly to Britain Competition" instead of the "G GOLD" on the bottom right of the box.

Didn't know that! I have the Apple II version of Elite which offers the same prize

Rafflez · May 14, 2014

Thanks for the info Ozoli; I didn’t know that

A question for you please:

How many different Apple versions do you have?

I have two boxes, one with the “APPLE II/IIc/IIe” label and the other with Just “APPLE II”. The box lid on the APPLE II is also different on one side.

I’m missing the floppy disc from the APPLE II box and have been trying to find out if this is a different software revision, or just a different box design.

Do you have any idea on this please?

@Steve - Another Apple version! I'll have to add that to my lists of 'wants' now!!

Steve · May 14, 2014

By the way, I'm kinda thinking this thread belongs in the Elite/Frontier section, rather than Elite: Dangerous Fan Creations because... well... it's about Elite rather than Elite: Dangerous!

Any objections to it being moved, from the OP, or anyone else?

ozoli · May 17, 2014

Rafflez said:
Thanks for the info Ozoli; I didn’t know that

A question for you please:

How many different Apple versions do you have?

I have two boxes, one with the “APPLE II/IIc/IIe” label and the other with Just “APPLE II”. The box lid on the APPLE II is also different on one side.

I’m missing the floppy disc from the APPLE II box and have been trying to find out if this is a different software revision, or just a different box design.

Do you have any idea on this please?

I know of 3 different boxes for the Apple versions of Elite being the APPLE II/IIc/IIe with the competition sticker, the APPLE II/IIc/IIe without the competition sticker, and the APPLE II/IIc/IIe version which has black APPLE II/IIc/IIe text instead of the normal white text. I have not yet seen an APPLE II version and would appreciate if you could either post or send me a picture.

Regarding disk versions, I know of two different disk labels but am unsure whether the software versions are different. The main difference between the two labels are the same as those shown for the C64 labels on the Archives website - the alternate version of the APPLE II/IIc/IIe disk can be identified by the words "APPLE II" running across the top of the disk's "GOLD EDITION" logo. This may be the disk that goes with your APPLE version.

I am currently working offline on the Elite Amstrad CPC page, but after that I will collate what we have on the APPLE versions and put that page up on the Archives website.

ozoli · May 17, 2014

Steve said:
By the way, I'm kinda thinking this thread belongs in the Elite/Frontier section, rather than Elite: Dangerous Fan Creations because... well... it's about Elite rather than Elite: Dangerous!

Any objections to it being moved, from the OP, or anyone else?

The Elite Archives website will cover all versions of Elite and its successors, including Elite Dangerous, however I suspect that this thread will primarily be used to discuss the pre-ED versions so yes, happy with the move!

Rafflez · May 17, 2014

Thanks ozoli.

I will email some pictures to the archive email address.

ozoli · May 18, 2014

Rafflez said:
Thanks ozoli.

I will email some pictures to the archive email address.

Pictures received

That is definitely a different box. I haven't seen it before. The warranty card references New Jersey so it looks like a USA version, perhaps their early release? The Elite logo on the 'spine' of the box is also set in a different position.

It looks like I too have another Apple version to hunt down

ozoli · Jun 15, 2014

Attention Commanders!

The Archives have now obtained full access rights and will commence forthwith releasing new game details from the Vault on a semi-periodic basis.

The first of the newly released versions is the Merlin Software conversion of Elite for the Tatung Einstein which can be found HERE.

Check out our Twitter feed for a clue as to the next version that will emerge from the Vault in the coming days...

Steve · Jun 15, 2014

ozoli said:
The first of the newly released versions is the Merlin Software conversion of Elite for the Tatung Einstein

Bah, the only version I still can't get to emulate, even under MESS. Mind you, I can't even get the latest versions of MESS to run anyway

ozoli · Jun 15, 2014

Yeah, the Einstein version appears to have some nifty copy protection as I have been unable to find anyone who can get it to run on any emulation software.

There are multiple reports of the copies circulating the net being transferred successfully back onto a 3 inch disk and running on a genuine Tatung Einstein machine. I have not been able to confirm this though.

I wonder of any of the other Einstein software has similar protection?

Styggron · Jul 1, 2014

Looking good there ! Fantastic work !

gunbladelad · Jul 2, 2014

You should probably put on the "Amstrad Action" issue 100 covertape release of Elite for the CPC. The cover-art for the cassette's case is visible here There's a slightly better image over here though, but it includes the whole magazine cover. (AA always had the cassette art on the corner of the magazine where the covertape was sellotaped to).

If I can find pictures of the tape itself then I'll link you to them. I believe it was plain black with grey text, however.

ozoli · Jul 2, 2014

gunbladelad said:
You should probably put on the "Amstrad Action" issue 100 covertape release of Elite for the CPC. The cover-art for the cassette's case is visible here There's a slightly better image over here though, but it includes the whole magazine cover. (AA always had the cassette art on the corner of the magazine where the covertape was sellotaped to).

If I can find pictures of the tape itself then I'll link you to them. I believe it was plain black with grey text, however.

Great work Commander!

Yes, the AA tapes were black with white/grey text printed directly on the cassette.

AA issue #3 also has a good two-page story on the Amstrad Elite.

In other Archives' News, we have a leak in the Acorn Electron Vault and many details are now appearing on the main Acorn Electron page...