I consider the original Apple IIe Akalabeth to be the only "authentic" version of it. To my knowledge it was not ported to DOS until ages later.

GOG has two versions of Akalabeth, both for DOS, one of them designated "1998." I've played the 1998 version before; it came bundled with some Ultima collection. I recall it added color, music (from Ultima III I think), and quicksaving, but was missing the intro graphics, and some aspects of presentation weren't quite the same. But overall a more convenient experience than Garriott's Apple IIe version.

What's up with the other version? It seems to be more of a bare bones port. Do we know when it was created, and by who? Differences I noticed right away are no intro, no color, no sound, and no saving.

GOG's default version is Finire Dragon's port. I'm not sure why; the 1998 version seems to be a more faithful port overall (despite additions like music and saving).

I'm guessing the reason they made the earlier port the "main" GOG version is that it (I've heard) retains the procedural dungeon level generation of the original (if it asks you to input a lucky number at the beginning, that's what that number's for: it's the randomization seed). According to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akalabeth:_World_of_Doom]the Akalabeth's Wikipedia page[/url], the levels in the official 1998 port are pre-created (nonrandom).
Please note, however, that I have not yet played any version of this game, and most of what I know about it has been gleaned, from various sources, in the last day. :)

The dungeon layouts only matter if you aren't planning on making heavy use of Ladder Up/Ladder Down anyway.

In the "main" one, it doesn't seem the lucky number does anything. The world map is different every time using the same number and the dungeon maps are also different. Additionally, I haven't been able to properly complete a quest. I kill the correct monster, but Lord British doesn't seem to recognize it

Okay so the quests not completing aren't just my problem.

I don't know much about the lucky number but I do know this is / was the first rogue type game.. I think. Everything should always be different. I had to really force myself to beat Ultima 1 so this is going to be the same, but hey, I've been looking for a copy of this for over 25 years just for novelty sakes.. I'm stoked

I'm playing it right now and I dont see a save function or how it's even used...I think it wasn't in this fan made version.