From 167d30845a0e4492568dc0644bf476b3575c9a93 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jeff Parsons Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 11:51:46 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Updated the Adventures in Math (1983) README --- apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md | 42 ++++++++++++++-------------- 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md b/apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md index cb734bfed..58b2e7705 100644 --- a/apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md +++ b/apps/pcx86/1983/adventmath/README.md @@ -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