The Laffer Utilities (DOS/Windows)

[Kroagnon]

Although not *technically* a "game", this was a spinoff from the Leisure Suit Larry adventure games by Al Lowe (and published by Sierra On-Line), The Laffer Utilities was a "spoof"/parody of then-current productivity and printshop software.

The DOS version is available as proper disk images here at Vetusware. I own the DOS floppy 1.44mb version personally, too, and could image my disks if need-be.

The Windows (3.x) version is available directly from Al Lowe's own website here, though it's just a "rip" and not the original disks, sadly.

While it's not so much a game as a "joke app" designed to be fun rather than actually useful, I suggest it being uploaded here in the interest of keeping all the classic Larry games/products here on LegendsWorld, especially as it's a lot harder to come by (recent digital collections don't include it) than the other games in the series, especially in disk image format.

[Scaryfun]

We have images on site already -
http://www.legendsworld.net/adventure/game/9150

[Kroagnon]

Awesome! I presume those are disk images of the DOS version and not the Windows one?

No idea why it didn't show up in my searches here! Sorry!

[Scaryfun]

Yes, those are DOS. Funny thing...just now, I found the Windows 3x ISO. I'll post it on tomorrow's update.

[Kroagnon]

Wow, that's awesome! Where on earth did you find those? I've been looking for years!

[rihanna]

Yes, those are DOS. Funny thing...just now, I found the Windows 3x ISO. I'll post it on tomorrow's update.

my F5 key is getting pressed many times over here!

i loved those larry games, can't wait to check it out.

thanks again for all these great uploads

[Scaryfun]

It was found with a mixture of my google fu skills and some luck.
You're

[Kroagnon]

Good work!

Was this an official release, though? I've never seen a physical copy of the Windows version, or even scan of the box, but I'd always assumed it was a floppy release with a Windows 3.x-era 16-bit installer. This ISO seems to be the installer from the later collection releases, possibly custom-built from one of those cds with everything else stripped out.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to have it here in a form that doesn't require people to download the whole 500mb+ collections just to get the Windows version, but as someone who's been looking to find an "untouched" copy of this for ages, I'm curious how "authentic" it is? Was there actually a standalone CD-ROM release of the Windows version? What does the floppy version even look like? The fact there are six "sol" files for the installer suggest to me it was spread over six floppies but used an older/different install program maybe.

[Scaryfun]

You're probably right that it may have been created from floppies, I don't know. Or could have been taken from some compilation.

[Egon68]

It's homemade or at least not untouched. Look at the Volume create date.

The following information was collected by CD/DVD Diagnostic
Copyright 1997-2005, InfinaDyne

Table of Contents
There are a total of 1 file systems on disc
No manufacturer information was returned for this disc
Track 1 occupies 4599 sectors (1 Min, 1 Sec, 24 Frames)
This track contains data using Joliet file system(s)
Lead-out track starts at sector 4599
---------------------------------------------
Joliet file system in track 1 recorded as part of session 1
Volume create date 10.2.2014 22:24:31 GMT 0
Root directory timestamp: 10.2.2014 22:06:36 GMT0
The publisher field in the ISO 9660 header contains other than "a" characters
There are 20 accessible files and 1 directories contained in this file system
The post-gap for this track is either missing or invalid. 0 trailing sectors found
---------------------------------------------
There are one or more conditions that make replication of this disc questionable


The following information was collected by CD/DVD Diagnostic
Copyright 1997-2005, InfinaDyne

Joliet data track
Volume ID: LAFFERUTIL
System ID:
Volume size: 4599
System use: %/E
Volume set size: 0
Volume in set: 1
Block size (bytes): 2048
Path table size (bytes): 30
Path table (L): 2214
Optional path table (L): 0
Path table (M): 2215
Optional path table (M): 0
Root directory sector: 2211
Root directory timestamp: 10.2.2014 22:06:36 GMT 0
Volume Set: 20140210_2206
Publisher: MagicISO v5.2 COPYRIGHT (C) 2001-2006 MagicISO, Inc.
Data preparer: MagicISO v5.2 COPYRIGHT (C) 2001-2006 MagicISO, Inc.
Application:
Copyright file:
Abstract file:
Bibliography file:
Volume created: 10.2.2014 22:24:31
Volume modified: 10.2.2014 22:24:31
Volume expires: *** Date not set ***
Volume effective: *** Date not set ***
---------------------------- Big-endian format fields -----------------
Volume size: 4599
Volume set size: 0
Volume in set: 1
Block size (bytes): 2048
Path table size (bytes): 30
Root directory sector: 2211

[Kroagnon]

Thanks for the confirmation. I didn't think there was a CD release! My search for the Windows version floppies continues...