Here you will find miscellaneous hard to find documentation (mostly in Adobe Acrobat format).
| Bally Professional Arcade Owners Manaul | Bally Professional Arcade Owners Manaul - HTML version. |
| Viper 1 and Extended BASIC | Viper 1 and Extended BASIC documentation |
| Bally Description | Cursor's Bally System Description - Useful manual put out by the Cursor group in the early eighties. It is similar to the Peek n' Poke Manual, but aimed directly at machine lanuage programmer's. Tons of useful, well presented, understandable information. - Added Nov 5, 2000 |
| Bally Subroutines | Bally On-Board ROM Subroutines - Useful manual mentioned in the Peek n' Poke manual. Explains what the on-board ROM routines built into the Astrocade ROM do. This manual was used as a reference for BASIC programmers so that they could save a few bytes when programming. A Hex dump of the Bally 8K ROM is included as well. - Added Nov 10, 2000 |
| Burn-in Tester | Home Video Burn-in Tester (with source) - These are the instructions to use with a piece of hardware (and cartridge?) released in 1980 that allows the Astrocade's hardware to be tested. The source is included. - Added Nov 10, 2000 |
| Service Manual | PA-1 Bally Service Manual - This is the official Bally Service Manual that contains such useful information as System operation, Disassembly, Mother Board Parts List, Layout, Schematic and more. If your Bally is broken and you know have some electronics knowledge, then this should be just what you are looking for. - Added Nov 10, 2000 |
| Spectre Docs | Spectre Controller Docs - This is the documentation for the special controller used for ICBM Attack. It contains program examples so that the controller can be used from BASIC, plus a letter explaining some problems people have been having regarding the ICBM cartridge. - Added Feb 10, 2001 |
| Tid Bits | Slap-Dash Tid-Bits - One Page. These are tid-bits of information from Brett Bilbrey. They originally were included in Russ Perry Jr.'s newsletter Slap Dash. Thanks to Russ for permission to use them here. - Added Mar 5, 2001 |
| CES Trade News | CES Trade News - One Page. CES trade newspaper article on the Astrocade. - Added Mar 5, 2001 |
| Programming Sheets | Astrocade Programming Sheets - Six Pages. Six useful programming sheets. |
| CES Booth 2501 | CES Booth 2501 - One page. Astrovision CES Booth 2501 Ad. - Added Mar 5, 2001 |
| Product Decription | Product Description - Twelve pages. See how the ZGRASS looks compared to released computer systems of the same period. - Added May 4, 2001 |
| R&L 64K RAM Board Docs | R&L 64K RAM Board - Twenty-three pages. The documentation, including minuture schematics, for this monster Astrocade RAM board. - Added May 4, 2001 |
| Bally Cassette to ROM | Cassette Tape to ROM - Two pages. Directions written in 1985 by Leroy Flamm that explain how make a cartridge from a tape program.- Added Aug 20, 2001 |
| Bally BASIC Demo Printout | Bally BASIC Demo Printout - Three pages. This a printout of the Bally BASIC program that is contained in the Bally BASIC Demo cartridge. |
| ZGrass Manual (part 1) ZGrass Manual (part 2) ZGrass Manual (part 3) |
ZGrass Manual - 144 pages (62pgs, 34 pgs, 48 pgs). ZGrass is the language that was included with the UV-1 computer (a medium-cost (started at $3000) graphics machine (circa 1982) that shares the Astrocade chipset). ZGrass is also the name that is most often associated with the unreleased 'add-under' expansion unit for the Astrocade. This manual gives insight into what the 'add-under' could have been... This is a large download (part 1: 4,327K, part 2: 2,316K, and part 3: 3,105K) |
| Astrocade Memory Expansion | Astrocade Memory Expansion Project - Inexpensive memory upgrade project proposal by Mike White, March 2002. We need feedback on this. Anyone have the will and know-how to build this? - 1 Page (80K). |
| RGB Convert | RGB Conversion - Is this from an arcade game? Can this be used with the Astrocade? - 1 Page (64K). |
| Astrocade Reviews | 'Game Player' Tape Reviews - Arcadian tape reviews written by Michael Prosise. If you've been trying to learn a little about the Astrocade tapes, then this is the place to start. - 35 Pages (40K). |
| Ballydip | Bally Multicart Instructions - The actual, printable instruction sheet made for use with Ward Shrake's multicart. See what DIP switch selections access each game. - 1 Page (9K). |
| Lightpen | Astrocade Light Pen Building Docs - Instructions on how to build a light pen. By Leroy Flamm. - 2 Pages (187K). |
| About Mike Peace | About Mike Peace - Early 1980's information about who Mike Peace and his one-man band. - 1 Page (108K). |
| Crimestoppers Tips | Crimestoppers - How to protect programs from being copied. By Mike Skala. - 3 Pages (466K). |
| Ballycheck | Ballycheck - Information about Ballycheck (AKA Home Video Game Burn-In Tester). By Richard G Belton. - 9 Pages. (1MB). |
| ICBM Attack Joystick Notes | ICBM Attack Joystick Notes - A few scraps of information about the ICBM Attack joystick, including a rough sketch and what type of POTs it needs. - 1 Page. (23K). |
| Bally Blue Prints | Astrovision Add-Under Base Blueprints - Four Add-Under blueprints from April 19, 1982. These are zipped pdf files, and they are large (24" x 36"). (1.3K). |
| Wavemaker Tape Listing | Wavemaker Tape Listing - Lists the twenty Bally and AstroBASIC tapes that Wavemakers released. (410K) |
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Bally Arcade Patent - 4301503 |
Bally Professional Arcade Patent - 4301503 - Home Computer and Game Apparatus (Filed May 30, 1978). - (237 pages, 10.7MB) |
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Bally Arcade Patent - 4475172 |
Bally Professional Arcade Patent - 4475172 - Home Computer and Game Apparatus (Filed June 18, 1981) - (124 pages, 6.79MB) |
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RLE Email |
RLE Email - Two separate emails from 1996 concerning the new 64K RAM and Printer Interface. This interface never appeared. - (2 pages, 60K) |
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Mass Impact of Videogame Technology |
Mass Impact of Videogame Technology - This is a fifty-page book from 1984 about how videogames have affected technology. It's written by Thomas A. Defanti, the man behind the ZGrass language and the UV-R computer - (25 pages, 1.68K) |
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George Mose's Letter |
George Mose's Letter - A letter that George Moses wrote to Dick Houser on October 28, 1982 that gives brief direction on loading and saving with the Viper RAM expansion using AstroBASIC. - (1 page, 42K) |
