AstroWAV and Ballybin,
Version Overview
By Paul Thacker and Adam Trionfo
October 3, 2012


Special thanks to Bob Colbert, without whom Bally Arcade/Astrocade tape 
software would still not be available for use.  Bob wrote two programs: 
Astrowav  and Ballybin.  These programs allow Bally Arcade/Astrocade tape 
software to be digitally archived from tape to WAV files for use with your 
favorite computer or media player.  With the help of these two programs, new 
BASIC software can also be written. 

Most archives contain extensive documentation.

The included versions in this archive are:

1) Ballybin 1.2a (July 5, 2002)
2) Ballybin 1.4 (March 16, 2003) - With Source
3) Ballybin 2 (Beta, February 27, 2004)
4) Ballybin 2 (Beta, December 31, 2005)
5) ballybin 2 (Source Code)
6) wBallyBin 1.0 (2007)
7) wBallyBin 1.0 (2007, Version 2)

 
Overview of the versions by Paul Thacker: 
 
Astrowav and Ballybin 2.0 are beta versions that have more features than 
previous versions but are less successful at processing recordings than v1.4.  
I've got two versions of Ballybin, labeled 2 and 2b (not sure how official this 
labeling is).  Version 2b is the later version, updated to better handle multi-
load programs like the Joplin tape.  However, it introduced a bug that 
frequently causes the program to hang.  I prefer version 2.

I don't know if there really is a default version to use.  The versions I 
typically use for archiving are versions 1.4, 2.0 Beta (Feb 27, 2004), and 
wBallybin(v2).  2.0 Beta (Dec 31, 2005) hangs a lot, and wBallybin(v1) doesn't 
seem to have any advantages over v2.  I've actually sometimes had luck with 
version 1.2 as well.

Note:

Astrowav and Ballybin 2.0 Beta (Dec 31, 2005) require three DLLs, which are 
included in the archive.