kabos666 wrote on 2026-07-06, 15:23:

G'day all 😀 does anyone knows this or had it before?

it's probably the chatbot software from 1988, that was put in public domain . Was conceptualized by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966. Some info from a website: https://liacademy.co.uk/the-story-of-eliza-th … oled-the-world/

Also see Communications of the ACM; Volume 9 , Issue 1 (January 1966): p 36-45

This seems to be the last IA capture of the author's page before it went offline: https://web.archive.org/web/20051025010945/ht … celiza.cjb.net/

This isn't bad for the 1990s. Version 4.09 is actually useful.

It is also like Dr. SBAITSO, which was bundled with all Soundblaster cards.

I have tried and tried, but I can't get Dr. SBAITSO to work with SBEMU / VSBHDA. The program always gives "DMA error". I'd love to be able to use it again in bare metal DOS with sound. It won't run unless it detects a "valid" Soundblaster card.

zyzzle wrote on 2026-07-07, 01:29:

This isn't bad for the 1990s. Version 4.09 is actually useful.

It is also like Dr. SBAITSO, which was bundled with all Soundblaster cards.

I have tried and tried, but I can't get Dr. SBAITSO to work with SBEMU / VSBHDA. The program always gives "DMA error". I'd love to be able to use it again in bare metal DOS with sound. It won't run unless it detects a "valid" Soundblaster card.

I found out Eliza had a basic version, (maybe ibm basic) according to an ad in the April 1983 edition of pc world. section 329/382 in pdf file.... page 325... they also have a python version on github.

When I attended University (mid 70s) - I went to "University of New Brunswick" (Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada)

UNB had an IBM 360/370 mainframe, and while I was there, they installed "VSPC" an interactive terminal system mainly focused on BASIC which allowed 100s of users across the campus to use the mainframe via "remote" terminals.

One of the "demo" programs you could run was "Eliza" - which portrayed a psychologist asking you questions and incorporating information from you answers in it's further questions - I'm sure it was "cutting edge" at the time, but it would sometimes go down weird "rabbit holes" (usually with copious help from we "players" 😀 )

I do recall the first time I saw "Dr Sbaitso" - thinking "this is a clone of Eliza"

zyzzle wrote on 2026-07-07, 01:29:

I have tried and tried, but I can't get Dr. SBAITSO to work with SBEMU / VSBHDA. The program always gives "DMA error". I'd love to be able to use it again in bare metal DOS with sound. It won't run unless it detects a "valid" Soundblaster card.

FWIW: I just tried and SBTALKER\SBAITSO.EXE works well in DosBox (the one on my site - a derivative of MB6)

I had one of these Eliza programs for DOS back in the day. White text on blue background is all I remember about it.

I don't like AI but did have some fun asking Cortana* what happened to her friend Eliza.

ETA: I mean CoPilot ofc, Cortana is long gone to the clanker scrapyard

Even on C64 in 1985 😉 https://csdb.dk/release/?id=97503