Letter to the Arcadian

     These are letters that were written to the Arcadian newsletter. When the entire Bob Fabris collection was bought, it included many letters such as these, many, or most, of which were never printed before.

Computer Info Exchange Letter (1978) - To Bob, From Computer Info Exchange Letter

Letter from April 18, 1978. A letter to Bob Fabris exchanging ideas and advice on starting a Bally Arcade publication.
To Bob, From MARC (1978) - To Mr. Fabris, From MARC

Letter from August 1978. A letter thanking Mr. Fabris for attending an August 15, 1978 Research Discussion Group meeting.
Roy Dal Poqqetto's Keyboard Schematic (1981) - To Mr. Fabris, From Roy Dal Poqqetto

Roy provides information, a schematic and help for Bob on how to use a full-size keyboard. Roy makes suggestions on what might be preventing Bob's keyboard from working properly.
Keyboard Schematic (Unknown Source) (1982) - Keyboard Schematic (Unknown Source)

This is a keyboard schematic from an unknown source. If you've seen this in the Arcadian newsletter, or know where this may have come from, then please identify this.
Dave Carson Printer (1982/83 Era) - To Bob Fabris, from Dave Carson

This letter is VERY short. This is it:

"This is what I've come up with so far. I hope it helps someone else. I would appreciate any further information that might turn up regarding the NEC printer. By the way, if you want to "slash the zeros," set switch 2-1 to the ON position."

I suppose that Dave probably sent a tape along with this letter that had a printer program on it.

Note that the date and era are completely unknown. This is my best guess. I could be off by a couple of years...
Al (1K RAM Expansion and Keyboard Comments) (1983) - To Bob Fabris, from Al

I'm not sure what Al's last name is. He comments on the 1K RAM expansion and also on one of the keyboard schematics.
Dale Low (Program submission) (1983) - To Bob Fabris, from Dale Low

A letter that accompanied a tape with two of Dale's submissions to Arcadian: "Control 30" and "Pac*Man." Bob did publish "Control 30" in Arcadian Vol. 5, No. 9, Pg. 136-137 (July 22, 1983).
Gary D. Huston (1983)(RAM Expansion Schematics) (1983) - To Bob Fabris, from Gary D. Huston

A letter that includes a schematic diagram to enable the addition of 1K static RAM to the Astrocade.

Sept. 27, 2011:
Ken Lill notes, "Everything on this schematic looks good EXCEPT that there are no connections to the DATA lines shown!"
Michael Pawlowski (Keyboard) (1983) - To Bob Fabris, from Michael Pawlowski

Michael explains that he hooked up a keyboard to his Bally Arcade using about $150 worth of parts. He says, "I have tried to sell it in the Michigan newsletter with no luck." Michael wants to sell it for $100 or best offer.
To Bob, From Lance Brisee (1984) - To Bob, From Lance Brisee

Letter from July 15, 1984. Includes two program submissions: Phaser Phun and Sideswipe (both of which are modified programs from the Astrocade BASIC manual).
To Don, From Dieter Heinermann (1985) - To Don, From Dieter Heinermann

Letter from August 9, 1985. Talks about all the different computers that he owns and some hardware/software ideas. Says that the Computer Ear, for the Astrocade, is compatible with the Commodore 64 and Atari computers without any modifications. Mentions some programs that he has submitted, but that are not included in this letter.


Letters Forwarded to the Arcadian

Lite Pen Idea (1982) - To Astrocade, Inc. from Edward J Lee

In this letter Edward pitches the idea for a light pen for the Astrocade. His idea of a light pen is more of a graphic tablet. He includes a drawing of what he'd like to see. If only vague ideas like this could be made into reality.
Spectre Handle Idea (1982) - To Astrocade, Inc. from Mark Heikka

Mark wrote to Astrocade, Inc. in the hopes of them coming out with a game of "Defender" that would use the Spectre Handle.

To Brett Bilbrey from Greg Hanson (1982) - To Brett Bilbrey from Greg Hanson

This letter has ideas from an Astrocade fan for an idea for a game called "Donkey Kong II." The fan hopes that perhaps Brett can write the game.

The full text of the letter is available in text format, here.
Al Rathmell (Printer Interface) (1983) - To Al Rathmell from Dick Reinke

Bob Fabris forwarded this printer interface inquiry from Dick Reinke to the interface's creator, Al Rathmell. Dick was the ONLY person that seemed interested in the idea, so Al answered him and included schematics for the intereface, but did NOT included the machine language program that is required to interface with AstroBASIC to make the interface work.