From: ballyalley@groups.io on behalf of Paul Thacker via groups.io <lennier_of_the_minbari=yahoo.com@groups.io>
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2021 11:17 AM
To: ballyalley@groups.io
Subject: [ballyalley] Uploaded Paul Zibits tape collection

My next set of tape uploads is now available at archive.org. Thanks to Allen Schweitzer for finding these on eBay and loaning them out!

https://archive.org/details/paul-zibits-astrocade-collection

This goes way back to the start of Astrocade programming in 1979, so break out your 300 baud interfaces. Highlights include:

W&W Software tapes 1-7, complete with instructions printed on carbon paper. This completes W&W Software's Bally BASIC software, with the previously unavailable Brain Bender, and the previously incomplete Enhanced Lunar Lander. (The bad dump can be deleted now; it's identical up to the point where the recording cut off.) I can finally dock with the ship after landing on the moon. Speedrunning tip--you don't actually have to land on the moon at all; just immediately blast off into orbit when the game starts. W&W Software is one of the best archived developers, with the main gap being Bally Nuclear Power Plant for Blue RAM BASIC. I previously had access to official versions of tapes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9. I've never seen tape 8, but we have copies of the programs on it from Brett Bilbrey's tape collection. I also discovered that some of these programs are alternate revisions from my copies. I think these from Paul Zibits are probably the earlier versions, as one of my tapes had a typo fixed.

An instruction program for Super Wumpus by Seebree's Computing, which I didn't realize existed, and UFO Battle, previously only available as a source scan.

An adaptation of Hamurabi by Paul Zibits himself. He had actually mentioned working on this in a letter to Bob Fabris that we covered in the podcast, and I would never have anticipated actually finding it.

Previously unknown programs--Dave's RND Color Device, and a grid based game I previously mentioned that I've called "Left, Right, Hold". These may also be by Paul Zibits, but I'm not sure.

Scott Waldinger programs previously only available as source scans.

Not related to the Astrocade at all, but audio commercials for Julius Kayser wine.

I uploaded some modifications of newsletter programs, though it's not always clear if these are intentional changes or just slightly mis-typed.

There was one Atari computer tape mixed in, also Hamurabi, so I'm going to see if I can get it running.

Following is my description from archive.org and complete notes.

Paul Zibits was a subscriber to The Arcadian newsletter starting in 1979, previously only known for a couple of letters to Arcadian editor Bob Fabris. Allen Schweitzer purchased his collection on eBay and loaned his Astrocade/Bally Professional Arcade tapes for archiving. Some are original commercial tapes complete with instructions, some are copies, some are typed newsletter programs, and some are Paul's original creations. There was also a small amount of non-Astrocade audio. All of the Astrocade tapes are for the original version of Bally BASIC that used the 300 baud external interface. They can be loaded with :INPUT

Included are scans of the tapes, cases, and inserts, instruction scans, raw recordings (which may not load), and digitally processed recordings that should load correctly. I haven't included processed versions of recordings when I verified they were identical to a previously archived versions, but I'm uploading the raw recordings in their entirety.

Archiving notes:

Non-Astrocade audio:

C4 Main Body (reverse) (raw).wav
Stories read aloud
Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
Pinkerton, Behave by Steven Kellog (1979)
Lollipop by Wendy Watson (1976)

Julius Kayser, Nectarose (raw).wav
Commercials for Julius Kayser wine

Space Chase (raw).wav
Increasing Your Food Awareness -- meditation on diet
Despite the label, there is no Astrocade data on this tape.

Non-Astrocade data:
Hamurabi - Atari (raw).wav
Based on label, probably Hamurabi for Atari computers. I haven't looked at this further thus far.

Astrocade data:
W&W Tape 1 (raw).wav
Program 1, Othello -- Two versions of this have been previously archived. This is different than both of those, with slightly altered code and completely different line numbering.
Program 2, Van Gam -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 3, Flight Simulator -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Sub Search -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Hangman -- comfirmed same as previously archived version

W&W Tape 2 (raw).wav
Program 1, Concentration -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 2, Space Chase -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 3, Slot Machine -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Game Of Life -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Math Quiz -- comfirmed same as previously archived version

W&W Tape 3 (raw).wav
Program 1, Biorhythms -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 2, Alien (Space) Patrol -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 3, Tic Tac Toe -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Mastermind -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Calendar -- comfirmed same as previously archived version

W&W Tape 4 (raw).wav
Program 1, Cylon Raiders -- slightly different version than previously archived program, doesn't include "TEMP CRITICAL" printout
Program 2, Checkers -- slightly different version than previously archived program
Program 3, Block Buster -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Mensa Test -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Russian Roulette -- slightly different version than previously archived program, has the typo "YOUR DEAD"

W&W Tape 5 (raw).wav
Program 1, Bowling -- slightly different version than previously archived program
Program 2, W&W Racetrack -- Two versions of this were previously archived. This one was confirmed identical to "W&W Race Track (1979)(W&W Software Sales)(300 baud)[a]"
Program 3, Space Dock -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Riddle -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Sequence -- comfirmed same as previously archived version

W&W Tape 6 (raw).wav
I made two recordings. Processing with bandpass filter and noise threshold 0, the code is identical.
Program 1, Brain Bender -- previously unarchived
Program 2, (Mortgage) Amortization -- several differences compared to previously archived version
Program 3, Checkbook Balancer & Compound Interest -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Laser Blazer -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 5, Pocket Puzzle -- comfirmed same as previously archived version

W&W Tape 7 (raw).wav
I made three recordings. Processing with bandpass filter and noise threshold 0, the code is identical.
Program 1, Robo Chase -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 2, Buddha's Boggler -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 3, Words Of Wisdom -- comfirmed same as previously archived version
Program 4, Enhanced Lunar Lander -- The previously archived version was missing the end of the program. This version is complete, and identical up to the point where the other version cut off.
Program 5, Jukebox -- Aside from what looks like errors recovering the data, this is identical to the previously archived version.

Othello (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 1 in this collection.

Flight Simulation (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 1 in this collection.

Sub Search (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 1 in this collection.

Nim (raw).wav
Code is identical to Van Gam archived from W&W Tape 1 in this collection.

Slot Machine (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 2 in this collection.

Alien Patrol (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 3 in this collection.

Calendar (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 3 in this collection.

Mastermind (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 3 in this collection.

Lazer Blazer (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 6 in this collection.

Pocket Puzzle (raw).wav
Code is identical to version archived from W&W Tape 6 in this collection.

Sea Battle (raw).wav
Sea Battle by Scott Waldinger, previously only available as a source scan. I used the scan to repair several archiving errors.

Star Wars (raw).wav
Star Wars by Scott Waldinger, previously only available as source code scan.

Horse Race (raw).wav
Horse Race by Scott Waldinger, previously only available as source code scan.

Slot Machine (on back of Star Wars) (raw).wav
While this was found on the reverse side of Star Wars by Scott Waldinger, it isn't particularly similar to Slot Machine by Scott Waldinger. Instead, it's a slightly different version of Slot Machine by Ernie Sams, which was printed in The Arcadian.

Julius Kayser, Nectarose (reverse) (raw).wav
The tape starts with Slot Machine by Ernie Sams, identical to the version found on "Slot Machine (on back of Star Wars) (raw).wav" except that the end is missing.
Next is a slightly enhanced version of Color Wheel by Dick Ainsworth from the BASIC manual, which now prints out column identifiers. This may have been modified by Paul Zibits, but I'm not certain.
Finally, there's a short program titled "Dave's RND Color Device", which I don't recognize. It draw's lines while quickly changing the background color. This may be by Paul Zibits, but I'm not certain.

Checkers (raw).wav
Program by John Collins printed in The Arcadian. It appears any differences from the archived versions are either typos or errors recovering the data from tape, so I'm ignoring this one.

Multidie, Fantasy People (raw).wav
From Fantasy Game Package by Guy McLimore. Multidie confirmed same code as previously archived version. Fantasy People has different logic for randomizing FC on line 10.

Dungeon Graphics I, Dungeon Graphics II (raw).wav
From Fantasy Game Package by Guy McLimore. Confirmed same code as previously archived version.

Amazed In Space (raw).wav
This includes several small differences compared to the code by Aquila and Richard Houser printed in The Arcadian. As some of these are clearly incorrect, and the program will not run as found on the tape, this may be simply input errors that were never corrected. I'm uploading it as is for completeness.

Bangman (raw).wav
This includes minor modifications of the code by Ernie Sams printed in The Arcadian.

Black Box (raw).wav
This includes minor modifications of the code by B. Reany printed in The Arcadian. It adds an option to play again.

Reverse (raw).wav
Reverse by Brett Bilbrey & Mike Toth printed in The Arcadian, confirmed identical to the previously archived version that included revisions printed in a later issue.

Micro Trek (raw).wav
Microtrek by Bill Andrus printed in The Arcadian. This has a few differences with the previously archived version. Most are minor text differences. This version had line 200 as:
 200 clear ;C=-S;if C<0C=-C
instead of:
 200 clear ;C=E-S;if C<0C=-C
The printed version has C=E-S, so I've restored this as it is almost certainly either a typo or a dropout when processing the tape.
This version has line 720 as:
 720 if L>2000print " GREEN";return
The previously archived version has:
 720 if L=2000print " GREEN";return
In this case, it's this version that matches The Arcadian.

C4 Main Body (raw).wav
This contains the main body of the program that is also found on "Connect 4 (on back of UFO Battle) (raw).wav". The complete program on the UFO Battle tape also has comments that load into memory. There is no unique code on the Main Body recording.

C4 P Program (raw).wav
The Connect Four Parameter Program is a utility program for creating a tape of Robert Leake's Connect Four.

Connect 4 (on back of UFO Battle) (raw).wav
Full Connect Four program by Robert Leake. This uses comments to load data into memory. This is slightly different than the previously archived version from Ken Lill's collection. In this version, lines 24-25 exactly match what was printed in Cursor.

Golf Initialization Prog (raw).wav
The Golf Initialization Program is a utility program for creating a tape of Mike Maslowski's Arcade Golf. The code is identical to the previously archived version.

Golf (raw).wav
Full Arcade Golf program by Mike Maslowski. This is slightly different than the previously archived version. In this version, lines 110 and 179 exactly match what was printed in Cursor.

Reverse (on back of Nim) (raw).wav
Reverse by Karl H. Wilvert, printed in Cursor. Paul Zibits, whose collection this came from, includes his initials in the comments. I don't see any modifications to the code itself.

Lazer Blazer (reverse) (raw).wav
The program found on the unlabeled reverse side of the "Lazer Blazer" tape is one I don't recognize. I didn't really figure out how to play it, but it reminds me of some of the Star Trek games that display a grid for you to navigate around. Numbers appear on the grid accompanied by directional arrows, perhaps representing enemy ships. The controls seem to be just choosing between six options each turn:

1T 2L 3NC left 4 5right  6HLD

Being extremely speculative--torpedo, laser, [NC?], left, right, and hold?

When "INPUT" appears, press one of keys 1-6. There are fairly long delays for processing, so be patient.

I tried searching Bally Alley to see if it was a known program and didn't get a match, but text recognition on the scans is hit and miss. Alternatively, it could be an original program, or maybe an adaptation of a common BASIC game, like Paul Zibits did for Hamurabi. While it may be by Paul Zibits, I don't have any specific evidence like I do for Hamurabi, so I'm leaving the author unattributed. Since the program doesn't include a title, I'm using "ZZZ-UNK-Left-Right-Hold".

Hamurabi (raw).wav
This is based on Hamurabi from 101 BASIC Computer Games edited by David Ahl (http://renomath.org/101games/hmrabi/basic.html). However, the code doesn't closely match the known Astrocade versions by Richard Houser and Bruce DeVries. Paul Zibits, whose collection this came from, mentioned reworking Hamurabi himself in a letter to Bob Fabris, so this appears to be the program he wrote about.
https://ballyalley.com/newsletters/arcadian/letters/Paul%20Zibits/Letter%20(Paul%20Zibits)(1979).pdf

UFO Battle, Down The Trench (raw).wav
Programs by Sebree's Computing. Down The Trench was confirmed identical to the previously archived version. UFO Battle was previously available as a source scan only.

Instructions To Super Wumpus, Super Wumpus - Game (raw).wav
This includes both Super Wumpus by Sebree's Computing and a program that prints instructions for Super Wumpus. The instructions program has not previously been archived. The main program slightly differs from the previously archived version. The previously archived version more closely matches a scan of the source code.

Super Wumpus - Game Only (raw).wav
This is just the Super Wumpus game by Sebree's Computing, and is identical to the copy on "Instructions To Super Wumpus, Super Wumpus - Game".

XY Tutorial (raw).wav
This is a collection of programs by Sebree's Computing. The code is all identical to that previously archived, but to fully reproduce the tape structure including comments outside of programs, I've included the .prg file and .txt file of the full tape. For loading programs, the previously archived versions should be used.

Paul