The Bally Astrocade Hardware Guide: Plans, Prototypes and Production (Incorporating Thorough References to the Classic Newsletters) By Michael White Version 1.06 March 21, 2006 Introduction ------------ I quickly realized that a list-type format was not good enough to make this guide comprehensive, as the hardware items evolved with time; even the Arcade itself underwent several changes during its history! So a HISTORY of each item was called for. That made the size of this effort multiply, and it made the difficulty increase as well! In light of all that, if there turn out to be errors or misleading sections, I (the author) will not be surprised. However, before I'm to be hanged for this, I plead the following three cases: One: I'm a (normal?) klutz who isn't perfect by any means! I do copy page numbers wrong, etc. Two: I plead ignorance in a lot of cases because I simply don't own -- or have never even seen -- the greater part of this stuff! I do own a Blue RAM, 64K RAM Board, NEC printer and Blue RAM interface, as well as a pair of Radio Shack CTR-51 Tape Recorders, two spare Arcades, and an EPROM burner. And THAT'S ABOUT IT! Three: No one who knows (or owns) more has come forward and volunteered to help with or add to this history, so I've had to "WING IT," using the newsletters as guides! Bibliography/Source Materials ----------------------------- In reading this, you'll notice that the newsletters, etc. haven't proven infallible, either! As a result, if you KNOW of a misstatement or mistake in this history, please let us know and we'll correct it in a future edition. The sources used to create this are as follows: - The Arcadian - The Cursor - The BASIC Express - The Niagara Bug Bulletin - The AstroBugs Newsletter - The 300-Baud Taping Interface Instructions - The Sourcebook - The documentation to the "BALCHECK" device Also used are a few things (mostly programs on tape) from my own private collection. Some materials that haven't been used -- because they are unavailable to me -- are the AstroBugs Newsletters between July 1982 and March 1983, and the Sourcebooks other than the Spring '83 issue. One "hardware" category that has been omitted is the list of books and other published material that relates to the Arcade in any way! The exceptions are the two service manuals and the two other books on hardware hacking (see "MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS" near the end). I don't feel that I'm qualified to do an all-encompassing bibliography; others could do better justice to that aspect of the Arcade's history. How to Read This Guide ---------------------- The following history, while broken into sections concerning the general types of hardware, is presented item-by-item, each concerning a particular item or small group of related items. Examples of these grouped items are the "SPECIAL HAND CONTROLLERS," where you'll read about more than just the "SPECTRE" hand controller and "BARE KEYBOARD INTERFACE." There is a list of schemes as long as the roster of hackers who made them work! And did I mention the "MISCELLANEOUS" section at the end? (Well, seems I just did!) The name of each item is followed by an IDENTIFIER THAT INDICATES THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE THAT THE ITEM REACHED. The three identifiers are as follows: [plan] indicates one of two things: The item was proposed but never made to work, or the project plan (schematic or instruction set) was printed in one of the newsletters (or actually advertised as being for sale!). [proto] indicates that at least one but no more than a dozen working prototypes are known to exist, but also that no actual production runs were initiated and no schematic or plan appears in any newsletter. These items may usually be obtained directly from their creators. [prod] indicates that the item was mass-produced and sold (even if only to about a dozen buyers). The plans or kit were sometimes made available as well! A combination of any two or three identifiers indicates that there is more than one actual item covered in that particular section, with each item having arrived at a different ultimate stage of development. Footnotes are used nearly every time the specific page of a newsletter is referred to as source material. The numeric symbol (3), for example, means that you can jump ahead to the third note in the long list at the bottom of this guide for the newsletter title, volume number (when more than one exists) and page number from which the annotated fact has been taken. The rare exceptions to this footnote format are those paragraphs in which it's been deemed easier on the reader to just include the volume and page numbers within the actual sentences. This is a rhetorical decision that especially works when ads, diagrams or photos are being referred to in detail within those sentences. For those unfamiliar with the standard footnote format, it should be explained that the abbreviation "Ibid." means "the same title and volume as the last note." The reader will notice that these footnotes are conspicuously absent in some sections (most notably the one outlining the history of the "ADD-ON"). The reason for the inclusion of page numbers within the actual sentences in these sections is twofold: The narrative directly involves the sequence of newsletter announcements regarding this device (meaning that many sentences would have to be butchered in order to render footnotes at all appropriate), and the actual issue number being referred to rarely changes. How Much Did This Stuff Cost, Anyway? ------------------------------------- Prices varied from source to source, month to month and even sale to sale, so although most prices are given here, some are not. In addition to referring to the prices given below, you might want to seek out supplementary information. I didn't include every detail, as I figured this thing was getting long enough! So, without further ado: Hardware: The Consoles ---------------------- ARCADE [prod] The BALLY PROFESSIONAL ARCADE (BPA) was released in 1977 and sold through JS&A as BPA1200. Later, it appeared at Montgomery Ward as BPA1000. Still other retail outlets carried it as BPA1100. The only difference between these different models was seen in the logo on the cartridge-rack cover (1). All later console alterations did not result in changed model numbers, even those Arcades that came with four controllers rather than the customary two! The occasional early model had a plastic red or silver [RESET] or [EJECT] button, and sometimes even a red cartridge slot! All of this ended when the "White Top" units appeared, with "BALLY COMPUTER SYSTEM" logos on them. Production of this "White Top" Arcade only ran for a few months in 1978 (2), and its on-board ROM contained a single chip, rather than the customary four- chip set (3). The ROM was also rewritten so that a "GUNFIGHT" player could achieve a 99,999 score instead of only 99 (see the docs for "BALCHECK")! This single-chip ROM had five different addresses from its predecessor (4). Yet another ROM change made the date appearing in the menu increase from 1977 to 1978! Further, the light-pen jack in the "White Top" console contained a more universal connector, beginning with serial number 19000 (see the docs for the 300-baud cassette interface). When Astrovision took over production of this model, the RF shield was reduced and parts were relocated for better heat dissipation (5). These changes appeared in the "Arcade Plus" (6), which came with "Astro BASIC" (abbreviated "AB") in the box. All of these changes transpired before the end of 1981. After that, Astrocade seemed to use any logo, etc. that happened to be in stock at any given time. Prices had begun to drop starting in January of 1981 (7); they continued to do so until June of 1985 (8). 120,000 Arcades had been sold by August of 1983 (9), but the first hint of the system's imminent demise can actually be detected on p. 8 of Arcadian Vol. 1 (12/4/78). Discontinued in 1984 (10), it's still interesting, fun, and -- to some -- quite a pleasant surprise! Hardware: The Accessories ------------------------- HAND CONTROLLERS [prod] These were the first accessories to be sold. At first, all three BPA models came with all four controllers for $329.00, or with only two for $299.00 (11). When the "White Top" Arcades appeared in 1978, the $329.00 package disappeared (12). When Astrovision took over, the hand controllers were made available for around $45.00 per pair. These came numbered 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 (customer- specified). Ads placed the controllers at $54.95 (13) or $20.00 (14) per pair. Re-sale ads can also be found (15). It's notable that some of these re-sale ads contain actual consoles that come with six or more controllers (some obviously being extras)! Also note that when the Arcade reached the $34.95 price range, people began to buy entire spare units instead of just extra controllers (16). However excellent Bally's hand-control design, it didn't do everything! Work therefore began on: SPECIAL HAND CONTROLLERS [plan][proto][prod] Page 3 of the November 1983 edition of AstroBugs refers to a change in wire routing; prior to this, the August issue asks, this time on page 4, for an adapter that allows Atari controllers to be used with the Arcade (Atari had numerous types of controllers, while the Bally Astrocade did not). One approach was to build a custom hand controller that could do everything that some of the odd Atari controllers could. The first of these appears on page 84 of Arcadian Vol. 1, where one can see a drawing and description. This first custom controller went for $34.95, plus $9.95 for an optional tutorial package. These items were sold by Tim Hays of Seebree's Computing. Page 85 of Arcadian Vol. 4 introduces us to the "SPECTRE" hand controller (by Marian Nalepa, Brett Bilbray, and Mike Toth). One appears for re-sale on page 20 of the following issue, but no description appears in either of these instances! On page 140 of that fifth Arcadian, "Wireless" joysticks are offered by Bear Services (Curtis D. Johnson) for $85.00 a pair, plus $15.00 for a converter (or $95.00 complete). It's even been rumored that Astrocade itself boasts a "New Technology" controller on page 61 of Arcadian Vol. 6. Finally, Niagara Bug Bulletin touted a special joystick on pages 6, 11, 12 and 13 of Arcadian Vol. 2, complete with photos and a wiring diagram (this, I believe, being manufactured by Kevin O'Neal). SERVICES AND SERVICE ITEMS -------------------------- Hand controllers were perhaps the first things to break, but they were by no means the last! Centers were set up for: REPAIRS [prod] Hand-controller repairs were frequently offered (17). The main repair centers worked on the entire Arcade as well! Ads to this effect appear quite often as well (18). However, problems were so rampant (19) that fix-it-yourselfers surfaced. It was no wonder, as the items made available to them included: SPARE PARTS [prod] Salvaged motherboards (fully loaded) were available for $25.00 if they didn't work, or $70.00 if they did (20). New power transformers and RF modulators were also sold (21), as well as TV/Game switch boxes (22). Hand-controller replacement cables were also available (23). The plastic controller halves (and keypad) could be "home-repaired" with the proper glue (24). Another scheme allowed the home-spun repairman to "jump- out" the on/off switch (25), and yet another involved using a working Arcade to troubleshoot a bad one (26). One fix-it-yourselfer wanted to trade for the custom chips (27), while two others put out want-ads for broken Arcades (28)! A simple procedure that achieves a better color picture is described on pages 40-41 in Vol. 2 of the Niagara Bug Bulletin. The service manual for the Arcade, with the schematic, was also available (29), while the mere system description booklet was offered on page 11 of the BASIC Express; its re-sale ads can be found throughout the Arcadian library. If you get into repairing your Arcade seriously, you'll surely need: BALCHECK [prod] The request for a self-diagnostic cartridge can be read on pages 19 and 27 of the Arcadian, Vol. 2, but the plea isn't answered until page 84! The parts layout can be seen even later on page 93, but there is no wiring diagram. Page 11 of the following issue asks if anyone wants to burn the diagnostic program into a 2k EPROM (2716); Tom Wood is selling this very software for $6.50 on the next page! Richard G. Belton (of RGB Electronics) steps into this little drama on page 88 of Vol. 3, confusing the reader with an article that fails to clearly state whether or not the program is, in fact, in actual cartridge form. Lo and behold, the cartridge arrives on page 91 at $69.00 wired (30)! On page 56 of Vol. 5, the changes are shown for both ROM configurations {the 3164 and the 3159}. Two re-sale ads turn up on pages 22 and 170 of the same issue, while one "wanted" ad appears on page 81 of Vol. 7. Hardware: Enhancements ---------------------- MOTHERBOARD CHANGES [plan][proto][prod] Vol. 2, page 61 of the Arcadian and Vol. 2, page 7 of the Niagara Bug Bulletin boast pictures of the Arcade's motherboard layout! The possible alterations range from turning the Arcade into a musical organ (31) to simply fixing a heat-sink problem (32). Models built before Astrovision changed the board for better heat dissipation could be "upgraded" with a "Kludge" board kit (33) that went for $4.25, or "sped up" with a clock modification ($9.00 for a kit or $11.00 wired). All of this is offered by the Z80 MINI-COURSE man, Barry Ellerson. Astrocade later announced that a new chip was to be added to Arcades going overseas (34). Other additions included a power indicator (35), another on/off switch (36), a hand-controller ground wire (37), RF shield changes (38) and custom chip heat-sinks (39). Any repairs done by Home Arcade Electronics include these heat-sinks (40). Also provided is a sneaky way to reduce the chances of static damage (41). Speaking of which, Arcade owners would be wise to find this article if possible, and console buyers should beware! The Arcade you buy at a flea market, etc. could be damaged in this manner. HI-RES [plan][proto] Asked for (42), hinted at (43) and finally announced (44), this "add-on" wasn't witnessed until Cursor Magazine displayed it on page 81; but only the Perkins "add-IN" (45) actually achieved results! Software- selectable {believe it or not} from low resolution (160x102) and medium (160x204) to high (320x204), this latter kit was offered at $250.00 (or $300.00 wired)! 39 additional chips had to be added to the motherboard (in a manner that thankfully still allowed the top of the Astrocade case to be reinstalled), but your newly upgraded console would still run all the current software, even in 320x204 mode! Unfortunately, only the prototype is known to exist. However, "HI-RES" does exist in the... UV-1 [prod] First announced as the "new Bally computer" (46) and finally produced as the DATAMAX UV-1 (47), this component sold for $2,495.00! Astrovision thought they would be able to market it (or a clone) as the Z8000 (48). Tom Meeks, the Astrovision sales rep, owned one (49), and Astrovision even passed one off as an "ADD-UNDER" at a CES (50)! Extended BASIC ("EB") actually uses some of the commands developed for the UV-1 (51). There were only about 300 made, so if you want one...join the club (52)! Only the UV-1 and the "ADD-IN" accomplished "HI-RES" by exploiting the custom chips; but a "work-around" method was featured in the: ADD-ON [plan][proto] This would-be item changed itself more than a chameleon; it appeared on the first page of the first Arcadian, and its first delay is witnessed on page 2! Great start, huh? The full package was described as having a disk drive, printer output, cassette interface, hook-up for a film camera, IEEE bus output (whatever that was), 16k ROM, 16k RAM, modem, compiler, cross-compiler link and a too- optimistic June 1979 delivery date. It was also supposed to come with the "ZGRASS" language, "Marching Men" (where did we finally see this? Hmmm...), a drawing and animation feature and a HI-RES scheme whereby the video signal would be sent out the 50-pin connector on the back of the Arcade and mixed with another signal, which would be generated by the ADD-ON (at a higher resolution) for word processing (in black and white monochrome only) (53). All this for between $600.00 and $750.00! The price was set at $650.00 on page 17 of the first Arcadian, where a mini-floppy baud rate of 2400 was also mentioned. The drawing and animation feature was demonstrated using a Lite Pen and the likeness of an airplane {I've seen VIDEO STORY BOOK do this trick; it IS possible!}. However, the "spec sheet" on page 21 of the same issue showed a stereo sound output and a software-selectable baud rate (up to 19.2k) on the RS232 serial port (where a "duel" mini-floppy could be attached); the previously mentioned 2400 baud rate now actually referred to the "duel" cassette port (with motor control). Also, 32K of ROM was mentioned, but only an 8K RAM appeared! The following page favorably compared the ADD-ON to other systems of the era, while the first of many name-changes occurred just one more page later. The "PROGRAMMING KEYBOARD" now had a 16K RAM and could be connected to a "Micropolis Reader" (whatever that was)! A photo can be seen on page 29 (we're still in the first Arcadian) with a "White Top" Arcade, while a cut-down, $300 version was proposed for the "penny pinchers" on page 31! Page 37 finishes the list of "ZGRASS" commands begun way back on page 14 (ah, simpler days), which is apparently a copy of page 36 from a different publication. This entire project went on hold pending the FCC's decision about TVI and RFI standards, an attempt at answering a challenge made by Texas Instruments (54). A Jameco JE610 was expected to be the keyboard attached to the replacement memory addition, should the "PROGRAMMING KEYBOARD" fail to appear (55)! Dealers started to bail out just as the TVI standard was done away with. Arcadian continued the story on page 19 of the second issue, with high hopes regarding the pending deal with Fidelity; Cursor also showed optimism on pages 9 and 10. But hope faded when the Fidelity deal fell through (56). Astrovision bought the Bally Consumer Products Division on September 19, 1980 for 2.3 million dollars (57), and it was on again! The third issue of the Arcadian resumed the saga on page 2 with a name- change to "ADD-UNDER", now expecting a mid-1981 delivery date, "TERSE" or "FORTH" language, the Lite Pen, tape drives, printer output and 16K RAM. Page 73 of Cursor (issued the same month) listed Microsoft BASIC, 32K RAM, "ZGRASS", 2 RS232 ports, onboard DOS, 2000-baud taping, a keyboard, HI-RES and a whole different name ("ZGRASS 32" this time). Later, on page 74, a demonstration at the forthcoming CES was forecasted! Page 31 of Arcadian's third issue re-affirmed the $600.00 price range. The publicity sheet boasted 32K RAM, 24K ROM, a keyboard, "ZGRASS", a $599.00 price tag, a "Scientific Math" package, a printer for screen dumps, the Lite Pen, a bit-pad digitizer, an 1800-baud dual cassette with motor control, disk storage, a slide copier and a sound system; omitted this time were HI-RES, Microsoft BASIC and 2000-baud taping. Page 50 of the same issue more hopefully predicted an August 1981 delivery date, while page 56 told of another demonstration in Dearborn, Michigan. The article on pages 64 and 65 (where "macros" are explained) actually narrated the outcome of the Dearborn showing! Let's take a look: It says here that the scratch-pad was kept OUTSIDE the Arcade, and that the CUSTOM CHIPS WERE ACCESSED by the ZGRASS 32! Over the course of its first seven pages, BASIC Express confirmed CP/M compatibility and described the "ZGRASS" language -- as tested by Tom Meeks, UV-1 owner! Page 66 of the third Arcadian mentioned a "TERSE" unit (with no price)! The first pre-release ad from SPF stated that the full-blown unit now had 64K RAM and a built-in assembler! Confused yet? Hang on -- it gets worse! Page 13 of BASIC Express confessed that all three prototypes used for the January 1981 CES were UV-1's, borrowed for the demonstrations; so the three most recently listed groups of specs were evidently all hot air! The following page gave a January 1982 shipping date, in spite of the bad news! Page 91 of, again, the third Arcadian announced a "talking voice interface" and brought the RAM back down to 16k, but announced that it was expandable to 128k! Ten pages later, it's announced that a Votrax SC-01 voice chip will come with the "ADD-UNDER" (the "ZGRASS 32" name apparently forgotten for now). Pg. 127 reaffirmed the 16k RAM and 32k ROM, now trumpeting the initial work on the circuit-board layout and predicting a demonstration at the imminent spring CES. Page 28 of BASIC Express dropped the CP/M compatibility and disk drives. Arcadian Vol. 4 opened with a history of the Arcade and changed "ADD-ON" to "ADD-UNDER." The second page announced an expected delivery date of March 1982 at $600.00. Another pre-release ad appeared on page 12, while page 13 mentioned that the "ZGRASS" language was described in a commercial magazine article. Page 22 claimed that the circuit-board design was finally complete, and readers learned on the following page that the board had been sent to the FCC for approval. The number of disk drives remained in dispute -- this entire fourth issue went from one to two and back. Page 36 announced that 50,000 "ADD-UNDERS" per year were planned. But on page 55, Astrovision became Astrocade, the "ADD- UNDER" got yet another name (the "ZGRASS 100"), the voice was omitted, and the RAM was back up to 64k! Page 79 of the same issue pushed the delivery date to the end of 1982, listing the same specifications as earlier but bringing back the CP/M compatibility. Six pages later, the reader learned that John Perkins had gotten involved with the design of the circuit board (which had supposedly been finished way back on page 22!). On page 1, the July 1982 issue of AstroBugs confirmed Perkins's involvement. Page 105 of the fourth Arcadian mentioned a film promoting "ZGRASS", but page 116 called the unit the "KEYBOARD/MEMORY ADDITION." Just what we needed: another name! Believe it or not, there's more! Arcadian Vol. 5 -- the November issue -- resumed with this mess on page 2 by announcing that the delivery was at "T- Minus 3 Months and Holding," then stating that the unit would be available "before X-Mas"! If you're not confused by now, you're not human! Home Arcade Electronics, which hosted the film, began to run pre-release ads all along the first 36 pages of the fifth Arcadian; but Astrocade went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on page 45, and the unit's deletion announcement appeared on page 66! Rumors of another party (the third so far) who was interested in finishing the project surfaced before the end of the same issue! By this time, one began to wonder if the thing was even meant to be taken seriously. However, the original builder finally revealed his name and intentions (58), proudly announcing the "ZGRASS VIPER" (that's right: yet another name) to be manufactured by a new company called Alternative Engineering! It would ostensibly feature the "ZGRASS" language, 64K RAM, 32K ROM, two RS232 serial ports, two motor-controlled cassette ports, an 81-key keyboard, a math co-processor (with 4k of RAM in the same chip) and a four- channel disk controller! A printer, modem or voice could supposedly be added through the RS232 serial port. ABC HobbyCraft began running pre-release ads for this new incarnation (59), while Home Arcade Electronics resumed their ad run (60). Page 121 of the fifth Arcadian announced a 4048 processor to handle keyboard denouncing, while a "no-frills" unit was introduced on page 135. The first page of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin touted the disk drive controllers, but it was then stated on page 4 that the "no-frills" unit wouldn't even come with the drives! Page 4 of the 11/83 AstroBugs forecasted a $700.00 price tag, while page 149 of the fifth Arcadian claimed that the four or five prototypes were soon to ship to the software producers (whoever they were). ABC HobbyCraft then changed the name in their ads yet again. The "ZGRASS 1200" and its newly shrunken 53-key keyboard appeared on page 155 of the fifth Arcadian, as well as on page 11 of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin. When the "Game Player" rejected extended-memory systems as too expensive for his taste (61), it influenced the purchasing of his readers. All extended-memory systems took a "hit" from this player, the "ZGRASS 1200" included. Page 163 of that same fifth Arcadian provided information about the now larger power supply, while the second ad ever to be placed by SPF appeared four pages later. On page 170, a book on "ZGRASS" commands was announced forthcoming. Page 7 of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin gave a $500.00 to $600.00 figure, claiming that the first few units WERE SHIPPED through ABC HobbyCraft to the "software producers"! To this day, I know of nobody who has one of these things! Where did they go? That ain't all of it yet, folks! Page 12 of that first Niagara Bug Bulletin announced that orders were being taken by ABC HobbyCraft at $700.00, boasting about "this 5-processor wonder"! Page 173 of the fifth Arcadian upped the ante with FOUR disk-drive controllers, 256k of RAM, HI-RES, new "ZGRASS" commands, and other features! The ad to sell the book introduced on page 170 turned up on page 173: 300 pages for $27.50. Page 18 of the first Niagara BB (and page 174 of the fifth Arcadian) showed the same photo of the "ZGRASS 1200," listing 64k of RAM, the re-enlarged 81-key keyboard, an 8048 de-bounce processor with a 1k ROM decoder, and an 8321 math processor. Just one page previous, Alternative Engineering was said to have subcontracted the construction -- but to whom is not specified. Arcadian Vol. 6 began with the announcement that Astrocade had emerged from chapter 11 -- a little moral uplift, if nothing else. On page 21, the unit was simply called the "ZGRASS SYSTEM." ("Perhaps," you're thinking, "all of the possible weird names had finally been used up." Perhaps you are wrong.) The first page of the second Niagara Bug Bulletin provided a list of "ZGRASS" commands, while page 6 announced a new BASIC cartridge with an audio interface and a keyboard plug! Back to the sixth Arcadian: Page 32 somewhat validated the above announcement by offering a "BARE KEYBOARD" with the BASIC cartridge and keyboard interface, for later upgrade to the "ZGRASS SYSTEM." (One wonders how they got the keyboard to work from the cartridge slot while sharing a tape interface and some form of BASIC.) MUSIC MAKER apparently shared a 2000-baud taping interface with its 8k program, while CREATIVE CRAYON was touted to contain a 1k RAM chip in the cartridge, as well as a taping interface and the program itself! Seven pages later, a review column mentioned the "ZGRASS UNIT" in passing, while two units appeared on page 41, one with a nearly empty cabinet at $495.00 and the other with a 96tpi, double-sided, quad- density disk drive at $1495.00. Page 15 of the second Niagara Bug Bulletin confirmed this and even added a cassette machine, announcing that Alternative Engineering had begun taking orders themselves! Page 51 of the sixth Arcadian claimed that the sales fliers were still at the printers but coming soon. They never came! In fact, everything stopped dead cold, and remains so to this day. A postscript to this section: One can witness a long-time Bally user selling his entire outfit on page 128 of that same Arcadian issue, due to the fact that he "gave up on the ADD-UNDER!" The first page of Vol. 7 tells of the demise of Astrocade (and Alternative Engineering as well). The third Niagara Bug Bulletin claims on page 7 that the "ZGRASS KEYBOARD" will be given top coverage in Vol. 7 of the Arcadian, but the only mention of it there is found at the top of page 90: Leroy Flamm is looking for one. One can turn to Pages 10 and 11 of that same Niagara BB for a tutorial about "bank-switching," the technique used to get past the 64K-limit imposed by the Z80. Yes, Mr. Flamm did eventually get his hands on a unit. In 1988, he acquired one that looked like the one on page 29 of the very first Arcadian, rather than the one in Vol. 5. It had a hard drive (inside the case!). Hardware: Peripherals and Interfaces ------------------------------------ PROJECT ONE [plan][proto] This started out as a board with 32k of RAM, a keyboard connector and an S-100 interface, all for $75.00 (62). An optional EPROM burner was mentioned, but no price was given. An August 1980 delivery date was announced, was moved up to June, and then got pushed to August again (63), the board being called the "S-100 INTERFACE" in the latter instance. The release date was then moved back up to June (64) before the board disappeared without a trace. PROJECT TWO [plan] I can't even find a reference as to what this was! It may not have been announced in the newsletters at all, or it might have been one of the items below (some more likely than others, as you'll discern). One possible candidate for this second project brings us back to March of 1980: MODEM [plan][proto] The speaker-to-microphone link on page 18 of the first Arcadian featured the first mention of this peripheral, which was described as "crude." On page 58, however, a Radio Shack 42-30 telephone amplifier (plus a few spare parts) was shown to work as a data coupler, while an addition appeared on page 88 so the coupler could be used with GTE equipment. The program for "TONE DIALING" was listed on page 65 of the same issue, but a correction appeared on page 90 of the following issue. On page 19 of this second volume, Bob Fabris asked for the project to begin (in earnest). Eight pages later, it duly came in fifth by popular vote in regards to most- wanted upcoming items. A transmission between two tape records was accomplished on page 30. Page 67 announced plans for building a true modem! Introduction to THE SCORCE (via Bally) can be witnessed on p. 30 of Vol. 3, while page 3 of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin called for a volunteer to get Astro BASIC to transmit over phone lines! The Arcadian and the Niagara Bug Bulletin invited anyone with a modem to ring them up (65)! The first page of the third Niagara Bug Bulletin reported success in hooking up a pair of tape recorders with some alligator clips and capacitors! Page 7 of the seventh Arcadian promised more, but nothing was ever printed. The only other modems mentioned had to do with the "ADD-ON" or "PROJECT 4" (Blue RAM). MONITOR INTERFACE [plan][proto] Page 19 of the second Arcadian asked for a read-out without a TV. Although not a monitor, it wouldn't use the RF modulator. On page 28, the black and white monochrome schematic can be seen. Pages 33 and 34 of Cursor added the installation instructions (after one presumably made the safety check on page 37 of the second Arcadian!). The color schematic (66) and final hook-up (67) were subsequently provided. Reviews of its actual usage finally appeared (68), and an Arcade modified for monitor use was put up for sale (69)! Page 33 of BASIC Express explained how to make titles on video tapes with a direct hook-up through a VCR, using the camera jacks. The only other VCR hook-up mentioned in these newsletters can be found on page 71 of the second Arcadian. Another project begun around this time (during the winter of 1980) was the... COMPUTER EAR [prod] Vocal communications was first mentioned on page 19 of the second Arcadian, but it received a poor response eight pages later. Ads (70), reviews (71) and a price correction that amended the original $59.95 tag (72) appeared. Page 42 of Cursor invited anyone interested to a demo at their "open house," then listing a Computer Ear program called "DISCO" twelve pages later! Re-sale ads can be found as well (73). Although this was not a possibility for PROJECT 2, it's listed here because Hoover-Anderson Research and Development {H.A.R.D.} was the party selling these as well as developing a PROJECT 2 candidate -- the next item: LITE PEN [proto] This was asked for on page 19 of the second Arcadian and mentioned on page 37 (along with its apparent problems). Three schemes were promised in print! The Blue RAM ad on page 68 was the first, while the write- up on the "ZGRASS 32" on page 82 of Cursor (74) was the second. The third was on page 85 of the fourth Arcadian, where the "CREATIVE CRAYON WITH LITE PEN 4005P" turned up. None of these ever materialized! Greg Anderson demonstrated one that he built (75), later listing one in the Sourcebooks as "THE COMPUTER EYE" by H.A.R.D.; but no ad appeared in any of the newsletters! Two "bugs members" were said to have working prototypes on the second page of the 3/84 AstroBugs; the page later appeared as a copy in the Arcadian (76). The only other unit I know of was made by Leroy Flamm, who wrote his own software to make it work (77)! PLOTTER HOOK-UP [proto] This was mentioned on pages 19 and 27 of the second Arcadian, but it disappeared until Vol. 7 came along, listing this so-called "DRIVE PROGRAM" on page 28. Page 59 described it as "unique," so I kind of doubt that this was PROJECT 2! More likely {in my opinion} was the following item: EPROM BURNER [proto] A brief description on page 11 of the second Arcadian was followed by a mention on 19, plus a tutorial (which described the device in some detail) on 38. A burning service from Perkins Engineering (for 2532 or 2732 EPROMs) was advertised for $20.00 per burn (78)! A different party -- P.S. Specialties -- offered production runs for up to 5000 units (79)! The only ads for the unit itself appeared in conjunction with the Blue RAM (80). Only seven of these are known to have been built: two by Leroy Flamm and the others by Perkins Engineering. An even more likely possibility for PROJECT 2 was: BARE KEYBOARD INTERFACE [plan][proto] First announced on page 47 of the first Arcadian, this device's completion by Ed Larkin was heralded thirty pages later. A set of plans was made for sale on page 84 for $10.00. Two more schemes followed on page 85, these drawn up by Jerry Tindle and Ed Mulholland. The schematic for the Mulholland scheme could be found on pages 4 through 6 of Cursor, and an improvement was featured on page 69 of the second Arcadian. Cursor then offered their own keyboard package at $125.00 wired, even printing a program that utilized it (81)! Another ad was run by Paul Gannett (82), in which he warned the potential customer, "you must complete [building the device yourself]." The MLM supposedly contained software that allowed access to these keyboards (83), and an oak base appeared for sale (84). The second Niagara Bug Bulletin printed the schematic for one more scheme (Roy Pogeto's) on pages 4 through 6. Two keyboards eventually turned up for re-sale (85). All other mentions referred to actual extended memory systems (Blue RAM, Viper and ZGRASS)! The "ZGRASS SYSTEM" had actually been referred to as just a stand-alone keyboard itself (86). MOTOR CONTROLLERS [proto] This concept initially appeared on pages 26 and 27 of the first Arcadian; a PLL decoder (tone detector) and relay were tried out on page 55. Automatic tape-recorder control (rewind, play, stop, etc.) was asked for on pages 19 and 27 of the following issue, while an ultrasonic generator was mentioned on 37 and a Sump Pump project was proposed on 67. Ed Horger (the Keyboard Base Carpenter) wrote tutorials about how to use the Arcade's rear 50-pin connector for such projects (87). The only other motor controller mentioned for use with the Arcade was the BSR X-10, to be used with the Blue RAM (88). Tape-recorder control can actually be found in the sourcebook for Blue RAM. One last PROJECT 2 possibility: BALLY-BALLY INTERCONNECTION [proto] This was asked for on page 19 of the second Arcadian, but actual usage received a poor popular rating on page 27. It was finally accomplished on page 31 of the following issue, but no details were provided. No other mention of this appeared, as far as I can tell -- and the same goes for PROJECT 2! The interfacing of the Arcade with OTHER computers got a bit more coverage, beginning with: PROJECT 3 [plan][proto] This was to be an interface between two Z80-based systems, the Bally Arcade and Radio Shack's TRS-80. First announced on page 37 of the second Arcadian, it actually became PROJECT 3 ten pages later. A progress report finally appeared with some explanation (89), as well as an article about hacking up the 300-Baud Taping Interface for these projects (90). Frustration was expressed on page 80 of Vol. 4, and the project's demise can be witnessed on page 24 of the following issue. INTERFACES WITH OTHER COMPUTERS [plan][proto] This did considerably better. On page 4 of the first Arcadian, the reader learned that the Arcade was IEEE- compatible (not S-100) -- so Pete Wishort developed an S-100 interface (91). Further, Karl H. Wilver successfully interfaced a challenger CIP with the Bally (92). The Arcade was also interfaced with the Apple (93) -- an ad appeared that offered the relevant software for $5.00 or $15.00 (depending on whether the buyer wanted it on tape or a DOS 3.21 floppy) (94). Programs were printed that actually utilized this interface (95). PROJECT 4 [prod] Blue RAM was the peripheral that became the biggest news in the history of the Arcade (in the absence of the ADD-ON!). The story began on page 55 of the second Arcadian: A 1k RAM/1k ROM unit was proposed. It would plug into the Arcade's rear 50-pin jack with a pigtail connector, taking the required 5 volts from the Lite-Pen jack! On page 57, this was upgraded to 4k of RAM with its own power supply, plus a write-protect switch and a range-select switch (which toggled between 2000 and 6000 HEX). This also had 2 I/O ports (8-bit parallel). The kit was offered for $60.00, the power supply for $10.00, the RAM for $15.00 per 1k and the whole package for $130.00. Availability was finally announced (96), and an ad appeared that promised all manner of peripherals (lamp/motor controller, keyboard, modem, multi-sensor unit and Lite Pen) (97) and offered the device for $170.00 wired. Elsewhere, the kit along with the power supply went for $70.00; a wire-wrapping tool (needed for kit assembly) was sold on the same page for $14.95, while 2114 static RAM chips, Extended BASIC (for $75.00) and a 16k RAM upgrade were promised as upcoming items. The page finally ended with a suggestion for a 64k RAM project (98)! A tutorial on Blue RAM usage followed (99). On its first page, the Jameco 610 keyboard was offered for $34.95, while the interface kit was sold separately for $24.95 (totaling $89.95 but coming along with a 36" cable and other extras). One page later, the $60.00 and $70.00 kits were discontinued, everything else went up $10.00, and a BSR X-10 with an ultrasonic receiver was promised, along with a phone modem. Still within the Blue RAM tutorial section, a tip appeared about (192)=0 turning on RAM mode and &(64)=0 turning on ROM mode -- when the write-protect switch was set to "AUTO." However, 7000 HEX through 707E HEX (the RAM inside the 8154) is mentioned as not being write- protectable! A description of the first Blue RAM utility concluded the tutorial. What followed was another tutorial (100), this time regarding the creation of software using Blue RAM for a vector animator! The problem that BASIC has with 8000 HEX was also mentioned. An assembled kit was then advertised for re-sale at $150.00 (101). On page 73, Cursor mentioned a 4k scheme in the $200.00 range that, to a modern reader with hindsight, could only be a Blue RAM. Page 2 of the third Arcadian apologized for the Blue RAM tutorial "blackout," and on the very next page, the shipping of the keyboard and interface kit was announced! The BSR X- 10 transmitter was then made available for $19.95, and a modem was mentioned (102). A second tutorial on Blue RAM usage was provided (103), mentioning a Livermore Star Modem and printer interface, software, and a modem demonstration that took place in Norfolk, Virginia! Excitement ran high on page 31 of that third Arcadian, and the third Blue RAM tutorial appeared on pages 36 and 37, announcing a modem and interface kit at $69.95, plus $10.00 for the option to connect to a $600.00 BASE II printer (or you could get the complete unit, wired, for $99.95). The software to make it all go added $19.95 on top of the total. Alternatively, you could just get everything except the BASE II -- plus a subscription to THE SCORCE -- for $299.95! {That cost as much as the Blue RAM itself!} 8k of Extended BASIC was announced as being "close to completion" on page 40. The second version of the Blue RAM utility was touted two pages later, and a review of such appeared on 59. An ad on the page after that promised a "voice-maker" that never materialized. Later, on page 62, the prototype for Extended BASIC was shown, while some of its features were listed on 79, preceding the announcement of availability of the tape two pages later. The cartridge version was promised to arrive soon. BASIC Express promised, on page 14, a forthcoming review (never to appear). Both Bob Fabris and Dave Carson refused to make comparisons (104). Perkins Engineering, builders of the Blue RAM, offered an EPROM-burning service (105), while Blue RAM BASIC was promised in 30 days and priced at $49.95 (106). Page 3 of the fourth Arcadian claimed that a 2000-baud interface cable would accompany the first batch of Blue RAM BASICs! The reviewers received BRB on page 8, and the compatibility of Extended BASICs was examined on 13. John Perkins (and the Blue RAM) attended the CES (107). The tape-duplication schematic appearing on page 56 of that fourth Arcadian was actually the forerunner of the tape interface inside the 16k Blue RAM, which itself was announced on page 64, along with the 64k BLUE MAX (which never materialized). Two pages later, the 16k Blue RAM was offered as an upgrade for $135.95 (for do-it-yourselfers, however, the kit went for $99.95, while the plans could be had for $5.00 and a new 16K Blue RAM "Complete" went for $249.95). There's more -- the 32k Blue RAM appeared soon thereafter for $120.00 (108)! Only three of these units are known to have been built. Three programs in Extended BASIC (hereafter referred to as EB) were published in the Arcadian (109). Blue RAM BASIC was then suggested for use with the 64k RAM Board by R&L (110)! The last mention of PROJECT 4, per se, was on page 24 of the fifth Arcadian. On page 89, a "variable lister" for Blue RAM BASIC was requested, and on the third page of the 3/83 edition of AstroBugs, someone asked if a disk system could be added; Brett Bilbray's reply was affirmative -- but one would need a disk drive, a drive controller, an interface and some form of DOS. On the next page, the "Bug puzzle" was solved using a Blue RAM. A future "EB corner" was promised in the Arcadian (111), and a tutorial on the "play" command was presented in two parts (112). Version 3.2 of the Blue RAM utility was reviewed on a page between those two sections (113). Later, "THE GAME PLAYER" called all extended memory systems "too costly" (114)! The first page of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin mentioned "memory expanders" (Blue RAM and Viper), providing a drawing of the back of the Arcade on page 5 that revealed where Blue RAM was to be connected. A 16k Blue RAM was announced as the door prize at the coming "Astro-Bash" (115) -- the winner was announced as Leroy Flamm (116)! Thanks went to Clyde Perkins of Perkins Engineering for the prize contribution. One Blue RAM BASIC program demonstrated at the "Astro-Bash" was to be made into a cartridge (which never appeared). Arcadian praised the Blue RAM keyboard on page 11 of their sixth issue, while pages 22 and 28, along with page 9 of the second Niagara Bug Bulletin, announced a new address for Perkins Engineering -- at Clyde Perkins's passing! Niagara Bug Bulletin began a tutorial series called "TRICKS OF THE TRADE," which spoke of the differences between the various BASICs (AB, BB, EB, and BRB) and discussed the usage of extended memory (117). On page 7, the third Niagara BB claimed that the Arcadian was to provide "extended systems creator coverage." In the seventh Arcadian, BASICarts for Blue RAM BASIC were announced on pages 59 and 87, but a shortage of 32k Blue RAMs was referred to on page 90. Almost to spite this, Blue RAM ads began to run like crazy (118)! Games in Blue RAM BASIC were reviewed frequently (119). The list included "Monkey Jump" (with Gong the Kong on the second screen), "Flying Ace" (which Tom Meeks deemed good enough for a cartridge), "Collision Course," "Dungeons Of Dracula," "Whack-A-Mole," "Outpost 19" and two versions of "The Gate Escape." One really has to read the reviews to get an idea of just how good some of these programs were (as well as EB software in general, for that matter)! The Wavemakers' tapes were always of exceptional quality, but their Blue RAM BASIC versions were the cream of the crop! "Golf" and "Spring Thing," both by Gambits and a game called "Quadra" were very heavily advertised. The OAK BASE ad that appeared on page 51 of the fourth Arcadian was mainly for a Blue RAM keyboard, but it was also claimed that it would support a 16k Blue RAM (120). One of these was given away as a door prize at the "Astro-Bash" to Duane Devries (121). Blue RAM re-sale ads consisted mainly of 4k units being sold to make way for upgrades -- but not always! The list goes like this: Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 70 (4k at $150.00) Vol. 4, pp. 12 (4k), 22 (4k), 64 (4k) and 104 (4k) Vol. 5, pp. 22 (probably 4k), 148 (16k), 162 (4k) and 170 (4k) Vol. 6, p. 50 (someone looking for a 4k) Vol. 7, pp. 1 (someone looking for a 4k) and 81 (16k) The 3/83 AstroBugs, p. 2 (4k) One last (but certainly not least) aspect of the Blue RAM that should be mentioned is its success in being interfaced with an NEC PC-8023A-C Dot-Matrix Impact Printer (122)! This enabled portions of the newsletters themselves to be done with the Arcade! Exactly how much is unclear, but four programs ("The Listing Formatter," "Bally Writer" by Clyde Perkins, "Snoop Camera" and a right-justifying "Word Processor" by Don Gladden and Ken Lill) (123) were responsible for quite a bit of productivity! For just one example, the "Word Processor" enabled Mike White to compose the tutorial series "Tricks of the Trade" (124). Three of the programs mentioned above were even modified to take advantage of the NEC control commands shown on page 152 of the fifth Arcadian! A modified version of "The Listing Formatter," called "The Lister," appeared on page 87 of the seventh Arcadian and is known to have done a few of the newsletter's listings. The game program listings that were published are shown below; each game title and its starting page number are provided. Arcadian Vol. 6 --------------- Othello (33) Cubic Rub (36) Dot to Dot (38) Round Robin Utility (56) Atlantis (57) Shoot the Duck (58) Old Glory (69) Frustration Fortress (72) Alien 2000 (74) Connect Four (80) Strategic Air Command (84) Gaswell Bonanza (85) Acme Driving Test (87) Baseball (90) Quadron (91) Space Ape (96) Maze Avenger (100) Backgammon (106) Metropoliton Attack & Connect Four Enlarged (110) The Game of War & Video-Video (113) Rotate (116) Othello (Again) (122) Koncentration (123) 4D2 (126) Battleship (127) Arcadian Vol. 7 --------------- Paracschot (8) Treasure Hunt (14) Outpost 19 (30) Van Gam (32) Space Chase (41) Alien Patrol (44) Sub Search (45) Concentration (51) Computer Cross (57) ZAP Attack (83) Caterpiller (85) Hangman (88) Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2 --------------------------- Space Mission Title Screen (46) Space Mission (Part 1) (48) Space Mission (Part 2) (53) Other things are known to have been created with Blue RAM -- for instance, the later installments of "EXTENDED PRODUCT REVIEW" (125). The instructions for "Music Maker" (126) were loaded into the 16k Blue RAM and printed out all at once (except for the screen dump on the last page, which was done with "Snoop Camera")! Further, the instruction sheet for the "NIAGARA BUGS CLUB TAPE" was put through a Blue RAM, and I was told that "ASTROBUGS CLUB TAPE, VOL. 1" was loaded into a 32k Blue RAM "one entire side at a time" and saved onto tape in two dumps (one for each side) -- it contained a "File Search" menu program and six or seven "slave" programs! The non-game software written for Blue RAM is more plentiful than that for all other hardware attachments combined. Only AstroBASIC/Bally BASIC can boast a longer list! In fact, in the newsletters alone, you'll find: Arcadian Vol. 4 --------------- Viper Test Pattern (19) (Written for Viper, but will run in Blue RAM BASIC with a few changes, noted in the article) Graphix Tablet Simulator (95) (Same conditions) Arcadian Vol. 5 --------------- Tape Loader (56) Arcadian Vol. 6 --------------- The Blue RAM Operating Guide (39) (A four-part tutorial program that loads in 12k increments) Morse Code Practice (70) Arcadian Vol. 7 --------------- Mortgage Amortization (6) (Written in Bally BASIC but works in EB) Checkbook Balancer and Compound Interest (7) (Same conditions) Silly Face (15) Plotter Drive Program (28) Snap & Show Design Generator (29) Math Quiz (40) Random Pixel Design (47) (Works in all BASICs) Bouncing Ball Simulation and Art (50) (Works in all BASICs) Main Program Logic (54) (Works in all BASICs) The Listing Formatter (55) Armchair Artist (60) Calendar Modifications (61) Snoop Camera Title Screen (62) Snoop Camera (63) (Used to output the screen dumps seen in the later newsletters, such as page 11 of the second Niagara Bug Bulletin) Electronic Darkroom Title Screen (64) Electronic Darkroom (65) Lite-Pen Graphics (68) Dot to Dot (Blue RAM BASIC version) (82) Letter Writer (87) (This modified Bally Writer was used to make the sales fliers in 1987, 1988 and 1992) Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2 --------------------------- Repack (24) File Searcher BRB (32) There's more! The list on page 87 of the seventh Arcadian offers these titles: C8 LINE ART (by Stanley Kendall); BEATLES MUSIC, EIGHT DAYS A WEEK (separately) and GUYS AND DOLLS CREDITS (by George Moses); BRB ARTILLERY DUEL (rumored to be by John Perkins); an ENVELOPE ADDRESSER (by Clyde Perkins); SLOTS OF FUN, MUSIC KEYBOARD and FLIGHT SIMULATOR (by Mike Peace of Wavemakers); YAHTZEE (by Bob Wiseman -- modified by Mike White); PUT-PUT GOLF and a new version of SIMON (by Mike White); SNAKE SNACK, CONE MAN and WHATZIT (by Ken Lill of Gambits); and an entire series written by 11-year-old John J. Kotter! There are about thirty others that I know of, and even more that I may not be aware of! Even all of that may still be supplemented by the Sourcebooks, which themselves certainly did not overlook the Blue RAM. I don't know how many Blue RAMs were sold, but my guess is that it outsold all other memory expansion systems hands-down, especially judging by the activity in the newsletters! Such was not the case with ... PROJECT 5 [plan] This was to take yet another stab at HI-RES, with the inclusion of an "Extended Color-Graphics Processor Board" containing a TMS9918A Video Display Processor and 16k of RAM! This would have provided quite a variable resolution over a wide range! Page 24 of the fifth Arcadian provides its only mention (pricing it at $300.00). The last idea with a "PROJECT" name was: PROJECT 6 [plan] This was also only mentioned once, on the same page as PROJECT 5 above. This would have been a cut-down (or cut-up?) version of the 300-baud taping interface, with only the circuitry remaining that operated the *PRINT function! To fully understand this concept, we must first examine the: 300-BAUD TAPING INTERFACE [prod] Called a "#10 INTF" on page 4 of the first Arcadian and an "ACI-0100" everywhere else (the label itself included), this was listed at $44.95 and was built to work with a #M2522 tape recorder ($55.00) or your own! This unit was usually special-ordered by someone who wanted to save Bally BASIC programs. A modification to the early units was shown on page 71 of the second Arcadian, and included in the (almost complete) schematic on page 20 of the prior issue -- with the cable diagram waiting to show up until page 103 of, again, the second issue! When the unit arrived, the box contained the interface, a "stereo" audio patch cable, a demo tape and its hard program listing, instructions and an adapter for the Lite Pen jack (as this was different in the early Arcades -- those with serial numbers less than 19000). On the box and in the instructions, usage over the telephone line was mentioned, but no details as to how this could be accomplished were provided! This mention did, of course, mean "HACK ME!" to some people, who tried just about everything with this unit. Most of the projects listed in this entire guide (except of course those that were extended memories or items that used the 50-pin connector on the back of the Arcade) worked through this interface, some of them requiring "hacking-up" of the interface itself! The next wild scheme involving this unit was a keyboard hook-up (127). Cursor claimed, on pages 58 and 74 respectively, that production of the unit had halted and then begun anew (with a modified unit?). Page 101 of the fifth Arcadian called the 300-baud interface a "BLACK BOX," and on pages 124-6, one can find a listing of the program on the demo tape that came in the box! When the MLM or extended memory systems first appeared, this was the only way to save your creations! Page 46 of the first Arcadian is a real eye-opener: A BASIC DEMO (very rare and only mentioned here) and (get this) a 300-BAUD TAPING INTERFACE DEMO appear! This has got to be the most rare item produced by the company! Another huge aspect of the 300-baud taping interface and its connection to PROJECT 6 was the: PRINTER DRIVER [plan] This was also known as the *PRINT function, named after the Bally BASIC command that opened the 300-baud taping interface in order to get it started. Page 13 of the first Arcadian mentioned the printer Jack modification, and page 9 of the following issue (as well as pages 11 and 12 of Cursor) showed how to install a printer jack to the 300-baud interface. A lot of different printers were, in fact, successfully interfaced! Page 47 of that debut Arcadian shows a schematic of a hook-up to a Type 43 Teletype Machine, and the first page of the next issue told of success with a Comprint 9125 (a $525.00 printer). Two pages later, a Victor Model 1250 was said to have been interfaced. On page 37, it was claimed that a XYMEC (a $2800.00 machine!) worked. The BASE II (the most popular) could be obtained from page 41 of Cursor, while the TV PRINTER for the ADD-ON, announced on page 82, never materialized. BASIC Express claimed success on page 14 with the Epson MX-80, and screen dumps were first done on a TRS-80 LINE PRINTER VII (128). The first way to *PRINT an AstroBASIC program was explained on page 46 of the fourth Arcadian, but another method was boasted on page 4 of the first Niagara Bug Bulletin (and separately by Robert Fabris, on page 64 of Arcadian Vol. 4). However, if a parallel printer was to be connected, then the schematic on page 70 of the second Arcadian (which used the 50-pin connector on the back of the Arcade and bypassed the 300-baud taping interface) was the only way to do it, apart from going through a memory expansion such as Blue RAM! All other references (especially the later ones) referred to the "Blue RAM Printer Interface"! These various projects had circuit boards in their schemes. Sometimes, all you really needed were just plain... CABLES AND EXTENSIONS [prod] These were sold throughout the history of the Arcade, beginning on page 18 of the first Arcadian, with a molded, RS232 9-pin female connector on the end of a 6 1/2" cable (at $.50 each or 10 for $4.00). These cables turned out to be Bally (hand-controller) cables that were scrapped because of improper color coding (129). An RF box (to eliminate the usual nest of cables) was offered on page 11 of the second Arcadian. The 300-baud taping interface came with all of the cables, etc. necessary for operation, but AstroBASIC (hereafter referred to as AB) did not! Page 16 of Arcadian Vol. 4 showed a cable hook-up to AB with a toggle switch, and a similar thing showed up on page 84: The SWBX-1 (SWITCHBOX-1) went for $10.00, or $15.00 if you also wanted a loudspeaker -- this package was dubbed SWBX-2. The only re-sale ad appeared on page 44 of the fifth Arcadian. Further, 6' audio patch cords went for $2.95 apiece, while 6' hand-controller extensions sold for $12.95 (130). 12' hand-controller extensions sold for $9.95 apiece (131). The first page of the 11/83 AstroBugs mentioned cables "piled high" in the corner store at the "Astro-Bash" (although no price was given). These hand-controller extensions appeared for re-sale only once: on page 128 of the fifth Arcadian. Audio patch cords, by contrast, were put up for re- sale quite frequently (132). One user (or dedicated hacker, to be more accurate) even routed the cabling THROUGH his Arcade (133)! The only other special cabling mentioned in the newsletters was for a memory expansion created by a third party, who began by building: POWER SUPPLIES [plan][proto][prod] Transformer schematics often showed up for home builders (134). A line filter was even advertised on page 10 of the third Arcadian! Alternative Engineering got into the act on page 106 of the Arcadian Vol. 2, running an ad for a sound-amp attachment (for $28.00 wired) and a power supply that ran both the amp and the Arcade (for an extra $24.00, wired as well). The transformers were discontinued on page 51 of the third Arcadian, but that wasn't the last time Alternative Engineering was heard from! They later got into building memory expansion systems, the most famous of which is of course the... VIPER [prod] The idea for an extended memory with tape-loaded BASIC, a Jameco 610 keyboard and 16k or 32k of RAM can be seen in the first two Arcadians (135). While this may have eventually turned into Blue RAM (no name was given), I have my doubts. While this didn't fit the early Blue RAM profile well, it did fit the description of the future VIPER like a glove! Another mention on page 41 of Cursor was almost the same (no name was given here either), but here it boasted 48k and provisions for a disk drive! While Blue RAM first made news on page 55 of the second Arcadian, the VIPER didn't appear until page 39 of the following issue, in which the name Alternative Engineering is seen. So what was all that earlier? You tell me! A reference to EB was made on page 40 of that third Arcadian, claiming that delays "have resulted" from attempts at compatibility between Blue RAM and the unit described on page 39 -- meaning that this scheme had already been in the works for some time! Could it have begun in 1979 (136), been shelved because of the Fidelity deal (137) and then get resumed when that fell through (138) -- or was it something else altogether? Well, as vague as the beginning of this story is, the rest is crystal-clear! On page 42 of the third Arcadian, a bigger power supply was touted, while the VIPER name first appeared on 56 (with "coming" as the buzzword three pages later). On page 62, 16k of RAM was said to be included, with compatibility being stressed on the following page. The entire Video Image Processing Equipment Rack (VIPER) was finally described on page 69, along with prices: VIPER 1 ($200.00), 16k RAM card ($135.00), System 5 ($280.00), System 5 with 16k RAM card ($395.00), System 10 upgrade ($150.00), keyboard ($145.00) and interface board for I/O ($45.00). A delay in shipping was caused by the inclusion of the keyboard, along with last-minute changes to EB (139). The final command list for EB appeared on page 79 of the third Arcadian, with the tape version becoming available on 81. Ads, which noted a select switch (8k or 24k) and a "write-protect" included on the units, appeared on pages 89, 109 and 119 of that third Arcadian and set the price at $225.00. On page 14, BASIC Express announced an upcoming review, and this did appear on pages 25 through 28. A VIPER-to-monitor connection was hinted at on page 33, while the declaration was made two pages later that VIPERSOFT BASIC (the tape version of EB) had been converted to a 2000-baud tape! Bob Fabris refused to compare systems (140). BRB was touted to be used with a VIPER on page 127 of the third Arcadian. The test for compatibility began on page 8 of the following issue, with the results being explained five pages later. The first EB (VIPERSOFT) program appeared on page 19. Sadly, about the only other programs written for the VIPER appeared in the fourth Arcadian on pages 95 through 97, and on pages 114 and 115 two issues later. Only one other program, "DRAGON'S CASTLE," is even known to exist! It should be noted that quite a few Blue RAM programs run in VIPER (or even VIPERSOFT BASIC); some require a few changes. The January 1982 CES report can be found on page 33 of the fourth Arcadian, while a photo of VIPER 1 can be witnessed ten pages later. A contest for a free VIPER was announced, with the entry form appearing on page 113. Three pages down the road, extended memory systems were mentioned in general, while three pages after THAT, the arrival of System 5 was announced! The complete VIPER price list on page 6 of Arcadian Vol. 5 is as follows: SYSTEM 5, 16k ($375.00) SYSTEM 5, 32k ($450.00) SYSTEM 1, 16k ($275.00) Keyboard ($175.00) 16k RAM card ($125.00) SYSTEM 1-to-5 upgrade ($135.00) Four-channel RS232 interface ($170.00) Keyboard extension ($15.00) SYSTEM 1 board kit ($95.00) SYSTEM 1 cable kit ($35.00) Keyboard kit ($75.00) Cabinet ($60.00) Keyboard cabinet ($50.00) VIPERSOFT BASIC Cartridge ($75.00) Pricey stuff! Alternative Engineering even got a mention in Creative Computing, according to page 2 of the fifth Arcadian! The General Video Assembler (Dave Ibach's) used 4k of extended memory, which could be either Blue RAM or VIPER (141). Page 96 of that fifth Arcadian promised an "EB corner," but then the "ZGRASS 1200" project got started; on top of that, "THE GAME PLAYER" shot down all EB systems as too expensive on page 159! "Extended Memory Products Review" (on page 163 of that same issue) mentioned VIPER, but comparisons were again refused. The VIPER keyboard was mentioned on page 11 of the next issue, while the review on page 39 also mentioned it. Only two 16k VIPER 1 units were put up for re-sale (142), and only one "wanted" ad appeared (143)! On page 7, the third Niagara Bug Bulletin promised coverage in Arcadian Vol. 7; but other than the EB mention on p. 34 and some references in the tutorials on pages 18 and 80, this didn't happen! Besides VIPER and Blue RAM, the Sourcebooks (which listed all of VIPER's parts and prices as well) showed only one other extended memory system that was sold: 64K RAM BOARD [prod] This first appeared on page 78 of the second Arcadian as an extended Blue RAM, but it actually went on to be built by R&L Enterprises (Rusty Bloommaert and Dale Smith). The unit was made available for $219.95 on page 18 of Arcadian Vol. 5. The review promised three pages later finally appeared on page 69. Then, at the "Astro-Bash," a board was given away as the door prize (144), with the winner announced as C.S. Domke! A photo on the second page of the 11/83 AstroBugs showed Rusty demonstrating his RAM board, with a "home-built" I/O board to interface a keyboard and an EPROM burner! They also had about a dozen "specialty" BASICs that they "poked" together, which (to this day) no one but them has ever seen! The Extended Memory Products Review discussed the 64k RAM Board in a multitude of places throughout the sixth Arcadian. Screen dumps were made by "piggy-backing" the R&L board with a Blue RAM and using the program "SNOOP CAMERA" (145). "REPACK" and programs like it also ran on the 64k RAM Board (146), and didn't even require EB (but the RAM had to be switched on, of course -- and in the correct address slots!). But every good thing must come to an end, and the 64k RAM board went out of production on page 118 of that sixth Arcadian. The last two remaining units were advertised on page 90 of the following issue, and that was that. OTHER MEMORY EXPANSIONS [plan][proto] These were discussed in the newsletters, but never produced for sale. Steve Wilson's "Trashbin" memory addition appeared on page 2 of the third Arcadian (where "Color BASIC" was mentioned). Mark Keller's schematic appeared on page 17 one issue later. A larger RAM chip might be employed (as long as the Arcade's power supply could support it), according to Ken Lill on page 59 of Arcadian Vol. 7. The "POOR MAN's MEMORY EXPANSION" by Flash Foonman (or the "STRINGY CREEPY," as it was more widely known) appeared on pages 67 and 68 of Cursor. To make this work, or to save any program used on the Arcade, you needed: TAPE RECORDERS [prod] These "cassette" machines were used throughout the history of the Arcade, and still are in some cases! Two recommended models were the Radio Shack CTR-37 ($49.95) and the Panasonic (SlimLine) RQ-2734 ($39.95). Besides the Panasonic RQ-2734, there was the GE#3-5152B, the GE#3-5105F, the GE#3-5001B, the Sears #564.21570050, the Craig #2106 and the Radio Shack CTR-41. I use 2 CTR-51s and recommend them highly, so it seems that the entire CTR series was a good $50.00 bet! A Sanyo Model 5 was offered by Home Arcade Electronics for $44.95 throughout the fifth Arcadian, the fifth Niagara Bug Bulletin and the BASIC Express. Two recorders were offered for re-sale (147), with no model numbers given either time. A tutorial on how to use a tape counter wisely (if your machine has one) can be found on page 83 of Arcadian Vol. 6. One thing tape recorders obviously depend upon begins our next section. Hardware: Supplies ------------------ BLANK TAPE [prod] As you can imagine, this item could be bought just about anywhere, but was advertised very heavily in the all of the newsletters. The Sourcebooks showed two different sizes from New Image (Don Gladden), a C-2 and a C-10! (This denotes tape length -- "C" stands for "Cassette," while the number denotes the total playing time; for instance, a C-2 will run for 2 minutes, 1 per side.) The ad on page 2 of the 3/83 AstroBugs offers labels for sale! $1.00 seemed to be the "common" going price of a blank cassette at the time. Two other taping accessories were advertised in the newsletters. The first was the mighty... BULK ERASER [prod] This was advertised by Home Arcade Electronics on pages 16, 36, 46 and 66 of the fifth Arcadian. It was also advertised on page 34 of BASIC Express for $21.95 (the same price as in all of the other ads). HEAD DEMAGNETIZER [prod] The TDK Model HD-1 Head Demagnetizer, going for $23.95, can be seen in the photo on page 55 of Cursor. It was also advertised by Home Arcade Electronics throughout the fifth Arcadian, this time priced at $29.95. Inflation apparently snuck up on this item! One thing that's not mentioned in any of the newsletters or Sourcebooks at my disposal is equipment for: MASS PRODUCTION [prod] Tape duplicators (the high-speed type) that could do two, four or even eight cassettes at once (from a single master) were used by software producers. Some (if not most) were purchased from Missionary Tape & Equipment Supply at 2826 E. Centerville Rd., Garland, TX, 75040. They sold bulk amounts of blank tape, blank labels and poly-boxes. CASS-A-TAPES at 5644 Holmes, Kansas City, MO, 64110 also sold blank tape, blank labels and poly-boxes in bulk. If you didn't want to do it yourself, a tape-duplicating service ran an ad on page 57 of the fourth Arcadian! Also, in a freaky twist, Page 56 of two issues previous offered programs on open reel, while page 80 asked if anyone was interested in a DOS tailored for the Bally! Parts used for the mass production of (third-party) game cartridges have less clearly traceable origins! The easier parts to come by are currently the "27 series" EPROMs {specifically, part numbers 2732, 2764, 27128, 27256, and 27512 -- these are available through several outlets, as well as through the Internet), noise suppressors (either a .1uFd. 50-volt capacitor or a glass diode of a type I haven't identified, but which should be available from the same sources as the EPROMs), #2x 3/8 round-head wood screws (which can be special-ordered from most hardware stores or online), labels (try an office supply center), solder and tools (Radio Shack)! The cartridge boards (and possibly the shells) that were used by third- party cartridge suppliers were engineered by Spectre (I believe), but as of this writing, I don't know who holds all of the circuit-board artwork (as several different companies were contracted to make the boards). Where the shell molds are, maybe Bill Loos or Don Gladden would know (and then again, maybe not!). But Bill Loos did more than handle cartridge parts; he sold the first item in our final section. Hardware: All the Rest ---------------------- COLOR ORGAN LITE SHOW [prod] This was produced and sold by L&M Software (Bill Loos and Greg Miller) for $29.95 with opto isolation and a demo tape. Ads appeared extensively throughout the second and third issues of Arcadian before a tutorial was added to the package and the price went up ten dollars. A single re-sale ad appeared on page 128 of Vol. 6. One other "odd" item sold by L&M was a cassette album for $8.00. Listed in the Sourcebooks but not in any newsletter, it only held four cassettes! A bigger item was the... DISPLAY CABINET [prod] Ads for this can be found on page 120 of the fourth Arcadian and pages 71, 73 and 149 of the following issue (with the former two pages including photos!). Made by the Santa Cruz Wire and Mfg. Co., it stood over 5' tall and resembled the cabinet for the Atari coin-op game "ASTEROIDS"! It came wired for 110 volts, with a light in the top section, for $312.00 It was then reduced to $220.00 on page 149 of the fifth issue. The Arcade and TV didn't come with the cabinet, but both could be mounted inside so that no "shoplifter" could enjoy a "five-finger discount!" You see, this was the dealers' display cabinet, intended for small shops and large department stores alike! In those places, there was a cartridge selector installed inside for up to ten games, as well as a "ten-key" switch that allowed the games to be selected -- and a time limiter! You could have bought one (without the electronics), but even if you somehow got the beast home to your cramped quarters, what next? This thing was BIG! BUBBA [proto] This appeared only once, on page 140 of Arcadian Vol. 5, and it was described as a ZIF-socketed cartridge (going for $11.95). At the "Astro-Bash," R&L showed off their homemade one, but several software producers created their own after seeing it. Why? you might ask. Because BUBBA was small -- in fact, it was TOO small! It only accommodated a 24-pin (4k) EPROM, rather than the 28-pin 8k chip (part number 2764) used by some of the later programs! Between these two extremes (The Display Cabinet and BUBBA) were the rest of the: MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS [plan][proto][prod] The first of these "WILD" schemes that appeared was the Bally Organ (to give it a name), offered for sale on page 68 of the first Arcadian with no price (and perhaps no takers -- it only appeared this once!). On page 39, one TV station appeared to be using an Arcade to insert commercials, and on page 28 of the following issue, an art class in Chicago was said to be learning programming via Bally BASIC! The first "Talking Machine" was added to an Arcade in 1980 (148). On page 47 of the debut Arcadian, Bob Fabris stated that a 3M (#3415), 50-pin female edge connector ($2.50) fit the expansion port on the back of the Bally (which opened a big door for future hackers!). An improvement to the RF Modulator was rumored on page 33 of the BASIC Express, but only on page 88 of the third Arcadian was anything about a change ever shown (with a schematic, admittedly). A "Rhythm Box" sporting a foot switch was seen on page 84 of Arcadian Vol. 6, and a loudspeaker was stuck into the Arcade on page 81 of the next issue! Even "THE GAME PLAYER" got into it on page 37 by asking if anyone besides himself wanted to write sound programs for the Arcade, also requesting a SWL or DX (whatever those were). On page 28 of the third issue, one can find the schematic for the 2000-baud taping interface that's inside the AB cartridge, ready to be Hacked up as well! It was copied instead into the "MUSIC MAKER," which was asked for on the second page of Arcadian Vol. 7! Cursor touted a "BOOK OF PROJECTS" on page 4, adding a "TYPEWRITER COOKBOOK" on page 30 (must have been incredibly popular items...)! Horizontal centering was requested on page 31 of the third Arcadian, but no answers were forthcoming (must not be in either of those books mentioned above)! MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS [proto][prod] Edge tags by Rodger Saunders were sold in sets (for 16 game cartridges) at either $3.50 or $2.95 per set! Ads can be found extensively throughout the second, third and fourth Arcadians, as well as in Cursor and the Sourcebooks! A revolving "cassette" rack (for up to 20 cartridges) was advertised on pages 6 and 22 of the fourth Arcadian for $5.95! Protective plastic covers for the keypad and [RESET] button were advertised on page 60 in the prior issue, with one for re-sale on page 91 of Vol. 4. The Oak Keyboard Base ads mentioned earlier also offered dust covers (advertised alone on page 64 of that fourth Arcadian). The Sourcebook advertised two different covers: the Arcade Cover for $5.50 and the Arcade-Base Cover for $8.50 (while the Oak Base went for a hefty $27.00). However, discontinuation of the dust covers was announced on page 120 of Arcadian Vol. 5! The BASIC Express offered binders for their newsletters on page 11. Custom-made graph paper, tailored for the Arcade's screen, was advertised on page 53 of the fifth the Arcadian, as well as in the Sourcebooks ($5.00 per 50- sheet pad in all cases). One would-be hacker even added a hinge to the Arcade's cartridge rack and displayed his work on page 105 of Arcadian Vol. 4, while work began on page 54 on the SC-1 (SuitCase 1). Page 120 of the prior Arcadian launched the "T-shirt era" with the "BALLY BOOSTER" at about $9.00! Shirts that said "ARCADIAN" were advertised on page 22 of Vol. 4 at the same price! "MICHIGAN ASTROBUGS" shirts and coffee mugs were sold at the "Astro-Bash" corner store, along with "MIKE PEACE, ONE-PEACE BAND" audio cassettes (not for computer use -- REAL music)! Two items appeared in the newsletters that had nothing even remotely to do with the Arcade! The first was an old Bally Sparkplug horse-race game, a genuine antique even back on page 3 of the second Arcadian! The other was for sale throughout the Cursor: Dubbed the "Video Brain," this was another game system altogether! One final mention: Astrovision intended to market a Digitizer and Slide Copier, both of which can be seen on page 82 of Cursor. These items might have been intended for use with the ADD-UNDER, but they seemed to be advertised separately! And that's all, folks! Thank you for taking the time to read this guide, and I hope it was useful to you! Footnotes --------- 1. Arcadian Vol.1, pp. 76-77; Vol. 2, p. 1; Vol. 3, p. 1; and Vol. 4, p. 1 2. Arcadian Vol. 1, pp. 23 and 77 3. Ibid., p. 23 4. Ibid., pp. 25 and 44, as well as Vol. 5, pp. 49 and 96 5. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 61 6. Ibid., pp. 61, 71 and 127; see also Vol. 4, p. 12 7. Cursor, p. 90 8. Arcadian Vol. 7, p. 5 9. AstroBugs, p. 4 10. Arcadian Vol. 7, p. 1 11. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 24 12. Ibid., p. 77 13. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 11 and 66; Vol. 4, p. 62; Vol. 5, pp. 16, 36, 46 and 66; and Vol. 6, pp. 27, 35, 40, 45, 63, 71 and 125 14. Arcadian Vol. 7, p. 57 (See Cursor, p. 75 and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 1, p. 15 for further such ads.) 15. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 84; Vol. 3, pp. 100 and 120; Vol. 4, pp. 12, 94 and 114; Vol. 5, p. 170; and Vol. 6, pp. 50, 60 and 128 16. Arcadian Vol. 6, p. 125 and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 49 17. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 84; Vol. 3, pp. 40 and 90; Vol. 4, p. 54; Cursor, p. 80; and BASIC Express, p. 32 18. Arcadian Vol. 2, pp. 8 and 106; Vol. 3, p. 41; Vol. 4, pp. 64 and 113; Vol. 5, pp. 16, 36, 46, 56, and 66; Vol. 6, p. 17; Cursor, pp. 55 and 58; BASIC Express, pp. 2, 4, 23 and 31; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 5; and the 11/83 AstroBugs, p. 10 19. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 75; Vol. 2, p. 8; and BASIC Express, p. 23 20. Arcadian Vol. 2, pp. 46-47, 60, 67, 76, 80, 88, 97 and 106; Vol. 7, pp. 5 and 13; and Cursor, pp. 40 and 42 21. Arcadian Vol. 2, pp. 57 and 67; Vol. 3, p. 11; Vol. 6, p. 26; Vol. 7, p. 13; and Cursor, p. 54 22. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 16, 36, 46 and 66 23. Ibid., pp. 16, 36, 46, 56, 64 and 66; Vol. 6, pp. 27, 35 and 45; BASIC Express, pp. 10 and 34; and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 3 24. Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 15 25. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 11 26. Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 80 and 88 27. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 70 28. Ibid., Vol. 4, p. 74 and Vol. 5, p. 54 29. Arcadian Vol. 1, pp. 16 and 85; Vol. 3, p. 11; Vol. 6, p. 31; Cursor, pp. 22, 39, 45, 55, 61, 78, 85 and 95; and BASIC Express, pp. 9, 22 and 29 30. Ads for this cartridge can also be seen in Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 100 and Vol. 4, p. 64; Robert Fabris even writes about the item in "Retrospection" (Vol. 3, p. 121 and Vol. 4, p. 18). 31. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 68 32. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 85 33. Ibid., pp. 70, 72-73, 80, 94 and 100 34. Korean and European PAL systems are discussed in Arcadian Vol. 6, pp. 51 and 61 and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 19. 35. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 88; one of these indicators is being re-sold on p. 22 of Vol. 5. 36. Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 35 37. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 47 38. Cursor, pp. 9 and 42 and Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 54 39. BASIC Express, pp. 2 and 34 40. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 16, 36, 46 and 66; a re-sale ad of an Arcade so equipped can be seen on p. 170. 41. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 20 42. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 64 43. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 173 44. Cursor, p. 73 45. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 62-63 and 94 46. Arcadian Vol. 2, pp. 84 and 90 47. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 13, 66 and 90 48. Ibid., p. 61 49. BASIC Express, p. 5 50. Ibid., p. 13 51. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 88 and Vol. 4, p. 13 52. For instance, Mike Matte dreams of one on p. 34 of Arcadian Vol. 7. 53. Arcadian Vol. 1, pp. 1-4 and 11-14 54. Ibid., pp. 54-55 and 69 55. Ibid., p. 77 56. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 3 57. Arcadian Vol. 4, p. 15 and Cursor, p. 57 58. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 122 59. Ibid., pp. 108, 131, 143 and 147 60. Ibid., p. 109; Vol. 6, p. 17; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 5; and the 11/83 AstroBugs, p. 10 61. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 159 62. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 3 63. Ibid., pp. 37, 53 and 57 64. Ibid., p. 67; remember, this was actually the June issue! 65. Vol. 6, p. 17 and Vol. 2, p. 5, respectively. 66. Arcadian Vol. 4, p. 62 67. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 129 68. Ibid., p. 167 and the 8/83 AstroBugs, p. 3 69. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 10 70. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 46 and Cursor, pp. 31 and 56 71. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 65 and Cursor, p. 30 72. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 76 73. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 40 and 100; Vol. 4, p. 64; and Vol. 6, p. 128 74. As well as in Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 40 and 100; Vol. 4, p. 64; and Vol. 6, p. 128. In these instances, the ZGrass was called the Add- On. 75. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 65 76. Arcadian Vol. 6, p. 73 and Vol. 7, p. 10 77. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 68-69 78. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 110 and 121 79. Arcadian Vol. 6, p. 1 80. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 47 and 81 81. Cursor, pp. 41-42 and 50-51 82. Ibid., p. 56 83. Arcadian Vol. 4, p. 14 84. Ibid., p. 51 85. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 120; Vol. 6, p. 98; and the 5/83 AstroBugs, p. 3 86. Arcadian Vol. 6, pp. 21, 32, 41 and 51 87. Ibid., p. 104 and the 7/84 AstroBugs, p. 3 88. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 97 89. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 4 90. Ibid., p. 53 91. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 31 92. Cursor, p. 59 93. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 53 94. Ibid., p. 60 95. Ibid., p. 103 96. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 67 97. Ibid., p. 68 98. Ibid., pp. 77-79 99. Ibid., pp. 97-102 100. Ibid., pp. 102-103 101. Ibid., p. 106 102. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 6 and 10 103. Ibid., pp. 14-18 104. Ibid., p. 101 and Vol. 6, p. 39, respectively. 105. Arcadian Vol. 3, pp. 110 and 121 106. Ibid., pp. 117 and 127 107. Arcadian Vol. 4, p. 33 108. Ibid., p. 95 109. Ibid., p. 116 and Vol. 5, pp. 2 and 92 110. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 18 111. Ibid., p. 96 112. Ibid., pp. 128 and 156 113. Ibid., p. 142 114. Ibid., p. 159 115. Ibid., p. 160; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 1, p. 7; and the 8/83 AstroBugs, pp. 1 and 4 116. The 11/83 AstroBugs, pp. 1 and 6 117. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 16-18, 20-23, 25, 38, 42-43, 49, 52-53, 71, 73-74, 76-77 and 79-80; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, pp. 27, 32-33, 37-38, 43 and 52; and Vol. 3, p. 8 118. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 18, 20, 80 and 111; Vol. 6, p. 22; Vol. 7, pp. 47 and 81; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 30; and the 5/83 AstroBugs, pp. 4-5 (several of these ads also appeared in Sourcebooks) 119. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 178-179 and Vol. 6, pp. 28 and 118-119 120. Arcadian Vol. 4, p. 107 and Vol. 5, p. 104 121. The 11/83 AstroBugs, p. 1 122. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 77 123. Arcadian Vol. 6, pp. 39-40; Vol. 7, pp. 35 and 55-56; and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 11 124. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 16-25, 36-39, 42-43, 48-49, 52-53 and 71-80; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, pp. 27, 32-33, 36-38, 42-43 and 51-52; and Vol. 3, pp. 2-3 and 8-9 125. Arcadian Vol. 6, pp. 48-49 and 118-119 126. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 95-102 127. Cursor, pp. 4-6; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 35; and Vol. 3, pp. 4-6 128. Arcadian Vol. 4, pp. 1 and 80 129. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 30 130. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 16, 36 and 46 131. Ibid., p. 66; Vol. 6, pp. 17, 27, 35, 45, 78, 96, 109 and 143; Vol. 7, p. 57; Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, pp. 3 ($7.95), and 5 ($9.95); and the 11/83 AstroBugs, p. 10 ($9.95) 132. Arcadian Vol. 4, pp. 91 and 113; and Vol. 5, pp. 74, 90 and 162 133. Arcadian Vol. 7, p. 81 134. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 94 and Vol. 7, pp. 91-93 135. Specifically, Vol. 1, pp. 69 and 77 and Vol. 2, p. 11 136. Arcadian Vol. 1, p. 69 137. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 19 138. Ibid., p. 37 139. Arcadian Vol. 3, p. 74 140. Ibid., p. 101 141. Arcadian Vol. 5, pp. 20, 57 and 71 142. Ibid., p. 170 and Vol. 6, p. 50 143. Arcadian Vol. 6, p. 50 144. The 11/83 AstroBugs, p. 3 145. Arcadian Vol. 7, pp. 62-66 146. Arcadian Vol. 6, p. 108 and Niagara Bug Bulletin Vol. 2, p. 24 147. Arcadian Vol. 5, p. 34 and Vol. 6, p. 128 148. Arcadian Vol. 2, p. 37 Abbreviated Revision History ---------------------------- Version 1.06 (March 21, 2006) Added carriage returns after 79 characters Version 1.05 (June 4, 2003) Handed FAQ over to Chris Federico for editing; he made the following changes: Took many of the newsletter references out of the main paragraphs and made footnotes. All sections have been given proper titles, including the new Footnotes section at the very end. Brief instructions regarding these footnotes have also been added (near the beginning). All necessary paragraph breaks have been added for smoother reading, with a few lists appearing AS lists (rather than within the actual paragraphs). The entire FAQ has been corrected for grammar, punctuation, spelling and rhetorical flow, and those parts that benefited from slight re-wording have been altered thus. Unnecessary redundancies (for instance, a price given twice in the same section, or a newsletter reference that has just been noted a few lines above) have been omitted. Great care was taken to preserve the research that Mike undertook for every fact and reference, and the friendly nature of his tone was also not superseded. Version 1.04 (May 28, 2003) Made some minor changes (mostly spelling corrections). Since it has been over a full year, I've looked it over with the intention of writing a revised version, so that it can be included on the Astrocade CD-ROM. Version 1.03 (March 23, 2002) Added all of the changes (except for underlines and double-strikes) that Mike White made to the printed copy that I sent him. This version still needs heavy editing (paragraphs must be inserted, as well as two spaces between end- of-sentence punctuations); name-spelling verification and other general checking also has to be done, including a random fact and page-number check. Version 1.02 (Feb. 26, 2002) Did more spell-checking. Added two spaces after end-of-sentence punctuation to the first third of the guide. Broke some areas into paragraphs (this document previously had none). Added numbered lists for those paragraphs that seemed to need them. Version 1.01 (Feb. 25, 2002) Each line had a hard carriage return; these were removed, along with the three spaces that began each line. More spell-checking was done as well. Version 1.0 (Feb. 20, 2002) Mike finished typing up his handwritten notes, sending the file to Adam on floppy disk; Adam received the disk on Feb. 25, 2002. [DOCUMENT ENDS]