The idea is related to ESP (extrasensory perception). While the "game-concept" here is easy (admin picks a card, client tries to guess the chosen card), I think modern digital versions of this test miss a key point: it's not so much a statistical "guessing game" (it could be viewed as such and not need any visual cue) - but rather, trying to reveal if a person under test has actual telepathy or "remote viewing" capability. That is, if the test administrator can develop a mental image of the object, can the tester (the client) also mentally detect that image. Or, alternatively, do they have some kind of "remote eye" to see behind the shoulder of the administrator (such as by allegedly being in sync with a guiding spirit).
This is why I think it is important to actually visualize the images and involve an organic mind of the administrator. But administrating this test is very difficult, for all the reasons depicted in the scene of Ghostbusters - admins can play favorites, or clients can simply just guess and play the statistical odds.
In addition, what if there are differences between analog vs digital transmission of the image? In the early days of CRTs, there was speculation of seeing "ghost" within analog signals (which of course were generally just local interference from other electronics, but various "scary movies" have played on this theme over the years). But in our rush to clean digital signals, what if we did miss something within the analog noise? So doing this test over a VGA or Composite interface (in contrast to more modern digital signals) I think that is also an interesting aspect. Use of an even older "RF cable" might be even better (with the idea of the image somehow being "broadcast" to other people's minds).
Even if there is no real merit to the Zener Test itself, this is also a working-demonstration of handling serial communication on the X16 within BASLOAD (BASIC). Bank 10 is used to store the serial receive data, with a simple kind of client/server protocol (the data is parsed into tokens, where "=" is used as an end-of-token indicator). It was fun using the HP protocol analyzer to also verify the serial communication in real time (and it was actually helpful). Perhaps this might also motivate the emulator folks to add support for expansion modules (like the TexElec serial card).
In addition, this is also a simple example of handling sprites in BASIC (including flipping some of the sprites to complete the symmetric side of some of the cards).
This does require two X16's and two TexElec serial cards (I don't know if other serial cards use the same ports), which is why no TryItNow is available (no "local mode" play). Between the serial cards, you will need a null-modem cable, since this talks directly and only across serial at this time. This is an initial "proof of concept" version, only MODE1 of the admin side is completed.
INSTRUCTIONS
- connect null-modem between the 9-pin serial on the back of the serial card
- run ZENER.PRG on one X16, and on startup say YES to being Admin [the admin sends "RDY="]
- run ZENER.PRG on the other X16, say NO (indicating it is a client) [looks for admin RDY=]
- client acknowledges the READY status by pressing any key [client sends "ACK=" to acknowledge and verify that the serial signal is established]
- admin answers a couple questions (just press ENTER twice to accept defaults of YES and use MODE1)
- the question being answered is if the client should be allowed to see the true answer in the event that they answer incorrectly (allowing them to keep track of their accuracy, if they so choose)
- admin sends the true answer as "MODE1/n=" (where n is the selected card)
- client responds when selecting an answer as "SEE.n=" (where n is their selected card)
- client has a HIDE mode, where in some cases seeing all the possible shapes/cards might be distracting to them developing a mental image in sync with the admin; so pressing H can toggle these on/off (and is remembered across sessions, but they are initially visible)
Future ideas:
- support the WiFi ports (at least in the TexElec network-cards implementation, this would use the internal Zimodem of the network ports; the admin would just specify an IP to connect to, and the client runtime would essentially act as a miniature "doors" program of a BBS); could be useful even across LAN and avoid needing a null modem cable, but then also do extreme-Zener testing of across-the-planet telepathy
- admin MODE2 is intended for alternative version of the test where clients indicate an order or sequence of the cards
- as depicted in Ghostbusters, he had two clients at the same time. If we insert multiple serial cards into the X16, the admin could support multiple ones using different ports. It might be interesting to show that the X16 would be capable of handling that kind of scenario (but also emphasizes how serial RS232 is 1:1, and not very robust for multiplayer).
- Maybe someday a "dual VERA" version, as a "two screen" application on a single X16.
- Log all the metrics to a file (percentages of matches across the shapes) for good ol'e data-analytics
- Maybe an "auto"/demo mode, where both ADMIN and CLIENT to an auto-pick
- Had idea of the client "uploading" the shapes/sprite data to the client. In general, there is little error checking or you can see the "attack vectors" in plain-text serial.
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