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Updated the Adventures in Math (1983) README

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Jeff Parsons 2017-06-14 11:51:46 -07:00 • committed by Jeff Parsons
commit 167d30845a
1 changed files with 21 additions and 21 deletions
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apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md
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@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ Adventures in Math (1983)
{% include machine.html id="ibm5150" %}
This game is available from the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/msdos_Adventures_in_Math_1983);
the contents of their ZIP archive contains:
This game is available from the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/msdos_Adventures_in_Math_1983).
The contents of their ZIP archive contains:
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 18688 Dec 24 1996 Adventur.bas
-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 Jeff staff 0 Dec 24 1996 Adventures in Math (1983).ba1
@ -72,8 +72,9 @@ And in the second ZIP file:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 369 Sep 17 1999 Topten
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Jeff staff 170 Jan 22 2011 file_id.diz
So we're going to start with the second ZIP file. One oddity common to *all* these archives is the file
"MONOCODE.000". Dumping that file reveals:
I decided to start with the contents of the second ZIP file.
One strange file common to *all* these archives is **MONOCODE.000**. Dumping that file reveals:
00000c60 20 4d 4f 4e 4f 50 4f 4c 59 20 69 73 20 61 20 72 | MONOPOLY is a r|
00000c70 65 67 69 73 74 65 72 65 64 20 74 72 61 64 65 6d |egistered tradem|
@ -85,28 +86,27 @@ So we're going to start with the second ZIP file. One oddity common to *all* th
00000cd0 20 44 6f 6e 20 50 68 69 6c 6c 69 70 20 47 69 62 | Don Phillip Gib|
00000ce0 73 6f 6e 20 5b e8 96 7d 03 35 2e 31 b8 5d 00 50 |son [..}.5.1.].P|
so it seems pretty clear that whoever created this disk had copied other unrelated (eg, MONOPOLY) game files to it,
and if/when someone tried to clean it up later, they missed this file. I've deleted it.
So at some point, unrelated ("MONOPOLY") files were mingled with this game. I deleted the file.
Another oddity is "BASICA.EXE" (54277 bytes) from 1999. It seems unlikely that IBM would have distributed *any*
BASIC binary with this game, because DOS was a prerequisite, and all versions of DOS included BASIC. IBM's PC-DOS
shipped with "BASICA.COM", and OEM versions of DOS shipped with either "GWBASIC.EXE" or "BASIC.EXE".
Another unexpected file is **BASICA.EXE** (54277 bytes) from 1999. It seems unlikely that IBM would have distributed
*any* BASIC binary with this game, because DOS was a prerequisite, and at the time, all versions of DOS included BASIC.
IBM's PC-DOS shipped with **BASICA.COM**, and OEM versions of DOS shipped with either **GWBASIC.EXE** or **BASIC.EXE**.
The closest binary I'd seen up to this point was "BASICA.EXE" from COMPAQ DOS 1.12 (54304 bytes). And sure enough,
this "BASICA.EXE" is a close relative, since it contains the strings:
The closest matching binary I'd seen up to this point was **BASICA.EXE** from COMPAQ DOS 1.12 (54304 bytes).
And sure enough, examining the strings contained inside this **BASICA.EXE** revealed that it is a close relative:
The COMPAQ Personal Computer BASIC
Version 1.13
(C) Copyright COMPAQ Computer Corp. 1983
It's unlikely that IBM would have distributed a COMPAQ binary; if they had distributed any BASIC binary with this
game at all, it would have been their own "BASICA.COM", and since that binary also requires IBM's ROM BASIC, a more
generic BASIC binary was desirable.
It's safe to say that IBM would not have distributed a COMPAQ binary; if IBM had distributed any BASIC binary at all,
it would have been their own **BASICA.COM**. Of course, the problem with IBM's **BASICA.COM** is that it also requires
an IBM PC with ROM BASIC installed, which is why someone copied the COMPAQ version of BASIC (it has no ROM dependencies).
I've deleted "BASICA.EXE". The proper thing to do -- and what any purchaser of this game would have to do -- is
boot a machine with a disk containing some version of BASIC and use that.
Anyway, I've deleted **BASICA.EXE**. The proper thing to do -- and what any purchaser of this game would have to do --
is boot a machine with an appropriate version of DOS and use the BASIC binary included with DOS to run this game.
Finally, there was "FILE_ID.DIZ":
Finally, there was **FILE_ID.DIZ**:
Adventures in Math (1983)(IBM) [Educational].zip
Name:Adventures in Math
@ -117,11 +117,11 @@ Finally, there was "FILE_ID.DIZ":
Publisher:IBM
Genre(s):Educational
and "RUN.BAT":
and **RUN.BAT**:
basica castle
and "TOPTEN":
and **TOPTEN**:
The Ultimate One,83519,LARGE,07-15-81
MathsWhiz,78613,LARGE,01-01-80
@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ and "TOPTEN":
Z[z],55677,LARGE,07-24-81
[z],55197,LARGE,07-23-81
Those files have been deleted as well, leaving 8 files dated "Aug 11 1983". I created a disk image from the
directory containing those files:
All those files have been deleted as well, leaving 8 files dated "Aug 11 1983". Next, I created a disk image from the
directory containing just those files:
diskdump --dir=archive --format=json --output=ADVENTMATH100.json --manifest