DEC version of "101 Basic Computer Games"

From: Ashley Carder <wacarder_at_usit.net>
Date: Mon Jan 17 18:07:57 2005

> >> David Ahl's "101 Basic Computer Games" published by DEC
> >> in 1973 (this one is from the 1974 2nd printing).
> >
> >Does it have a DEC Order Number on it? Is it EB-04873-76?
> >
> >Ahl's DECUS submissions of these games are online at
> >
> > http://pdp-11.trailing-edge.com/rsts11/rsts-11-013/index.html
> > http://pdp-11.trailing-edge.com/rsts11/rsts-11-014/index.html
> >
> >Tim.
>
> I can't find a DEC order number - the cover has the little blocks
> "digital" logo in the lower right hand corner (as does the spine),
> and inside it says:
>
> 1st printing -- July 1973
> 2nd printing -- April 1974
>
> Copyright (C) 1973, 1974 by:
> Digital Equipment Corporation
> Maynard, Massachusetts 01754
>
> But there is also a "box" which says:
>
> Additional copies of "101 BASIC Computer Games"
> are available for $7.50 plus .75 postage from:
> Creative Computing
> P.O. Box 789-M
> Morristown, N. J. 07960
>
> So it doesn't look as though DEC actually offered the
> book through it's own sales channels - at least not in
> 1974. -- anyone know for sure?
>
> Regards,
> Dave

I have a d|i|g|i|t|a|l copy of the same book,
3rd printing, March 1975.

It says:

Additional copies of 101 Basic Computer Games
are available for $7.50 plus 50 cents postage
and handling from:

    Software Distribution Center
    Digital Equipment Corporation
    Maynard, Massachusetts 01754

So, it looks like DEC eventually did offer the
book through its sales channels. I don't see a
DEC order number on it, though.

I have these games loaded on my RSTS/E 11/40 system,
along with various other BASIC and BASIC PLUS games
of the era, including the BASIC-PLUS version of
ADVENTure, which was one of the hardest things I've
ever tried to locate. We had that BASIC PLUS version
on our college system back in the late 1970s (1979?),
and I have greenbar paper LA36 hardcopy listings of
the programs and the data file. When I tried locating
a machine readable copy a couple years ago, everyone
told me there was no such thing, that it was only
written in FORTRAN. I told them I was sitting here
looking at a BASIC program listing, circa 1979. I
finally found a copy that someone had scavenged from
a Project Delta system in the mid 1980s and pulled
down to a PC file. It had a few bugs, but I was able
to fix them by debugging and looking at my hardcopy
listings of a known working version.

Ashley
Received on Mon Jan 17 2005 - 18:07:57 GMT

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