Ancient Systems

[Rain Lover]

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if anybody remembers this system. It was published in Australian Personal Computer magazine sometime in 1986 and consisted of a BASIC code listing for a Commodore 64 computer. I went thru all the grief of typing it in and used it for a while. I remember backing Pharostan at 33/1 in the Geelong Cup in '86 on the strength of it (It won). Then I upgraded to a PC and lost it.
The logic of the programme was that it rated Australian races and rated a horse according to the quality of races won or placed in.

[Equine Investor]

Yes Yes I remember as I had a Commodore 64 and I think Practical Punting also published this later!

It worked much like a DOS program and you keyed in manually certain criteria and it just spat out a number (crude rating) for each horse.

May not be the same one you were thinking of but it qualifies as ancient and so does the C64!!!

I also remember Tandy Electronics selling a 8086 computer plus tape drive and dot matrix printer with 6mb ram for $8,990.00
:eek: :eek: :eek:

Sorry Rain Lover, I can't recall the actual formulae or the points allocation. If you can get a back issue of PPM, as far back as the first few issues I know something similar was in there, I sat for hours thinking I'd make my first million if I could modify the program correctly. Mind you, I was a newbie punter back then.

:lol:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Equine Investor on 2002-09-07 01:56 ]</font>

[TheDuck]

Ah, yes, the C64. I purchased a VIC20, its predecessor, for $899. $400 x 2 for two diskette drives and around $500 for the nine pin (fancy!) dot matrix printer. This was after I wanted to upgrade to colour from using Commodore CBM1050s and C-PET computers!

In any event, I have contacted the magazine about that article and I'll let you know what the reply is.

-Duck

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TheDuck on 2002-09-07 01:56 ]</font>

[TheDuck]

Hey, does this sound right?

The method was called "The Striker" written by a guy named Rick Roberts.

:???:

-Duck

[becareful]

Since we are going down computer memory lane my first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 - in standard configuration it had 1KB of memory! I had the memory upgrade which increased that to a massive 16KB
:eek:
Now that certainly tought me how to write efficient programs!

Couple of years later I upgraded to the Sinclair Spectrum with a massive 48 KB of memory - sheer luxury :grin: I think I still have this in a box somewhere - I will have to find it one day and see if it still works - should be a museum piece by now!

If anyone can find the code listing I could convert it to a Visual Basic program but I am guessing the rating formula would probably be a bit primitive by today's standards!

[Rain Lover]

Thanks, Ducky.
Can't remember the name or the author. I just remember a lot of DATA statements at bottom, on Australian races and courses. There was also a lot of de-bugging to get it working. It did turn up quite a few winners, though.
Thought with a change of hardware, the old software might be worth re-examining.
Had a Spectrum 48k too, but the C64 was the serious machine!!

[TheDuck]

APC Mag says they don't seem to have anything like that in '86. Is there any more information at all that you can remember? She is willing to look for it if we can describe it.

[Debug]

Whilst we are down memory lane. I built my first computer in the early 80's called a Microbee if anyone remembers it. It was supplied as a kit of components and you soldered the entire board. It had a memory of 1kB and the VDU was an old converted TV set with a tape recorder for storage.

I wrote my first racing program on that old Microbee. I use to type in the details of the race results every week so as I could run comparisons on different horses in future races. I thought I was at the cutting edge of technology.

[TheDuck]

So do we have any more details? Cathy at APC Magazine is happy to research them as long as we can tell her what to look for. Any guesses? Shadows of memory? I'll be happy to share the results of the search.

-Duck

[GreyFox]

Hi all,
Not sure if this is the one you mean, but in the Nov 85 issue of APC there was a program called "Wizard of Odds" by Kevin Riordan. It was written in MS BASIC, but had mods for the C=64 and Apple computers as well.

If that is the one you are talking about, I still have the magazine, but it would be just about useless now because it contained class figures for all the old classes (novice, intermediate, etc). It was a rating program rather than a system as such, because it produced class ratings for each horse.

[TheDuck]

GreyFox! I appreciate the info. I'm even more impressed that you could find it! I, too, have old magazines but I can't imagine just putting a finger to anything brought up in casual conversation. I know it's there, just now where.

I think the subject was brought up as an interesting educational diversion rather than a sure-fire money-making venture. It will be entertaining to see if it can be adapted to today.

I have sent APC the info and we'll see what comes back. Unless you have some sort of electronic version of some or part of it I can't imagine holding the magazine up to the monitor will help. :lol:

If you have any comments or insight please share!

-Duck

[Rain Lover]

I ran it, it was good at turning up long shot winners. I suspected that all the race rating data would be obsolete by now. I was just curious to re-visit it after 17 years. I’m a little more educated about both computing and punting now. I could have been typing in mud cake recipes back then for all I knew. (And the’ole C64 would have digested it too).
Cheers for that.

[Rain Lover]

Sorry people, that previous message doesn't make sense (trouble with my ISP again). The program is definitely the "Wizard of Odds". Foxy, do you reckon there might be any value in trying to resurrect it in VBasic now?
Cheers.

[GreyFox]

Hi all,
The only reason I was able to find it so easily was because it was the only one I had saved! As for converting it to VBasic, it could probably be done, but it probably wouldn't be worth the effort because it was basically just Scott-style class ratings and just about every bookmaker and big punter already has a program to calculate them.

But if anyone wants to have a go then I may be able to scan the program in -- tried holding it up to the monitor screen like someone suggested, but it didn't work -- probably too far away for you guys to read it!
:smile:

[TheDuck]

If you can send it, I can convert it. VBasic, Java, C++, Prolog, PL/SQL, there probably isn't a language I can't convert it to!

Let me know what's easiest. Email is dthoml1n7y2 at hot mail period c-o-m. (What I'll do to avoid spam sniffers...).

Thanks!

-Duck

[Equine Investor]

On 2002-09-24 06:51, TheDuck wrote:
If you can send it, I can convert it. VBasic, Java, C++, Prolog, PL/SQL, there probably isn't a language I can't convert it to!


$$$$ ?
:lol:


Email is dthoml1n7y2 at hot mail period c-o-m. (What I'll do to avoid spam sniffers...).


I wish I'd thought of that one!

:wink:

[TheDuck]

On 2002-09-24 08:30, Equine Investor wrote:
$$$$ ?
:lol:


No, no, no. I wouldn't charge for a hobby!

Though maybe it could become a contender in the Tipping Contest!

Unfortunately I can't since my system doesn't use level stakes.

[TheDuck]

I've got it!

On to the converting. Stay tuned...

[Equine Investor]

TheDuck, don't take offence - I meant can you convert from any format to $$$!

:wink:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Equine Investor on 2002-10-04 14:23 ]</font>

[TheDuck]

I never take offence so never worry!

As for converting to $$$ :lol: you'll be the first to know but I wouldn't spend too much time waiting by the phone!

-Duck