IBM ROM BASIC or lack thereof

From: Russ Blakeman <rhblakeman_at_kih.net>
Date: Sun Sep 30 12:19:58 2001

Not anything "wrong" just that any program trhat addressed BASICA or ROM
BASIC directly had to be modified, just like any prorgram source that
addressed specific hardware features. Actually I like GW-BASIC more as it
ran nice on all of my early machines and even runs OK on this PII-300.

-> -----Original Message-----
-> From: owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
-> [mailto:owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Richard Erlacher
-> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 10:47 AM
-> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
-> Subject: Re: IBM ROM BASIC or lack thereof
->
->
-> Yes, the MBC was a mess, but what were the problems with
-> GWBASIC? It wasn't
-> exactly like IBM basic, but it was OK, wasn't it? What "bad"
-> points were you
-> remembering?
->
-> Dick
->
-> ----- Original Message -----
-> From: "Russ Blakeman" <rhblakeman_at_kih.net>
-> To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
-> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 9:10 AM
-> Subject: RE: IBM ROM BASIC or lack thereof
->
->
-> > Without the BASIC interpreter we ended up with GW-BASIC, which
-> had some good
-> > points but other bad points. I had a Sanyo MBC-555-2 then and it was a
-> > bigger mess even than the other clones as it had bitmapped CGA, strange
-> > memory mapping, a non-standard BIOS (you had to get Sanyo's
-> own DOS or an
-> > aftermarket enhancement, not PC-DOS or MS-DOS off the shelf).
-> I learned a
-> > lot from that POS though.
-> >
-> > -> -----Original Message-----
-> > -> From: owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
-> > -> [mailto:owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Hans B Pufal
-> > -> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 8:56 AM
-> > -> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
-> > -> Subject: Re: IBM ROM BASIC or lack thereof
-> > ->
-> > ->
-> > -> Russ Blakeman wrote:
-> > ->
-> > -> > If memory serves the one real thing that cloners couldn't
-> > -> duplicate, maybe
-> > -> > due to copyright, was the ROM BASIC but that they'd duplicated
-> > -> everything
-> > -> > else including the BIOS or a very good part of it.
-> > ->
-> > ->
-> > -> Correct. The main BIOS source code was published in the IBM tech ref
-> > -> manuals. The BASIC was not and AFAIK no clone maker ever included a
-> > -> BASIC interpreter in the ROM. I don't think anyone missed it. DOS
-> > -> always included an advanced BASIC interpreter which was
-> available to all.
-> > ->
-> > -> > That pretty much led to IBM losing a lot in the PC market.
-> > ->
-> > -> Unclear. They certainly lost market share, but it can be argued that
-> > -> without the clone market the whole personal computer market
-> would have
-> > -> been much smaller and diverse and arguably better.
-> > ->
-> > -> -- HBP
-> > ->
-> > ->
-> >
-> >
->
->
Received on Sun Sep 30 2001 - 12:19:58 BST