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BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

bbcbasic.co.uk

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Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#111

Post by vram22 »

firecall wrote: post #110
vram22 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those BBC TV shows had the unusual feature of broadcasting software over the end credits. Just had to tape the screeching and play it back into the computer. Can you explain this? Do you mean that BASIC programs were encoded as sound in some way, and then could be uploaded into the computer and run?

Not just basic programmes, anything digital can be encoded in this way. Software has even been distributed on vinyl records and flexi singles! You could connect a domestic cassette recorder up to a BBC Micro and use to save and load software onto normal cassettes! There were favoured devices that would give better results and better cassettes for data storage and so on. Its all ancient history and folklore now :-)

Thanks.

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#113

Post by gadders »

justinlloyd wrote: post #99
gadders wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other big difference with BBC Basic was that it had functions. The other version of Basic I used only had Subroutines accessed via Gosub.

Not just functions, but procedures too, and local variables. DEF PROC, DEF FN, and LOCAL.

Yeah, I never got that close access to one, unfortunately. I was a Dragon 32 kid, and only because my Dad bought me one cheap when they went bust.

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#114

Post by ochrist »

zozbot234 wrote: post #34
icosian wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I donated my BBC Model B+ to a computer museum recently, along with a stack of Acorn User magazines (available on the Internet Archive, BTW) and software on cassette. Felt strong pangs of regret driving away. I can still feel the excitement of figuring it all out, a world opening up to me. Those BBC TV shows had the unusual feature of broadcasting software over the end credits. Just had to tape the screeching and pla…

The Internet Archive should have the cassette software as well, although some of it might be hidden from view due to copyright concerns.

There's this: https://archive.org/details/BASICODE2Manual

I actually tried downloading programes from the Dutch radio station back in those days - and it worked.

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#115

Post by sillywalk »

lowbloodsugar wrote: post #87
LeoPanthera wrote: post #12

This is cool, but not new. "Returns" is a bit misleading, it never went away. Apart from anything else, BBC BASIC is built into RISC OS which can run natively on the Raspberry Pi.

Wait, what?

For Pi Zero & ZeroW & Zero2W, Pi 1 models A & A+ & B & B+, Pi 2 model B, Pi 3 models A+ & B & B+, Pi 4 model B, Pi 400 rev 1.0, Compute Module 1 & 3 & 3+.

https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/raspberry-pi

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#116

Post by dfawcus »

JdeBP wrote: post #15

Looking at the difference page, it's not BBC BASIC as one might remember it. But that's not possible outwith actual BBC Micro hardware, complete with Kenneth Kendall's voice in ROM. And I suspect that Kenneth Kendall cannot be open sourced. (-: It looks like it has preserved the spirit of BBC Micro development on modern platforms, though. The use of INKEY$(-256) to determine underlying platform is amusing.

Well one could always grab his "BBC BASIC (86) Plus for MS-DOS" from his site (https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/dosbasic.zip), and run it in some from of "DOS Box".

As his page about it states:

"BBC BASIC (86) Plus is an implementation of BBC BASIC for PC compatibles running MS-DOS™; it has been designed to be as compatible as possible with Version 4 of the 6502 BBC BASIC resident in the BBC Micro Master series."

(https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/bbcdos.html)

That should then give you something close to the form I used on my Model A back around '83.

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#117

Post by vram22 »

cracoucax wrote: post #100
vram22 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those BBC TV shows had the unusual feature of broadcasting software over the end credits. Just had to tape the screeching and play it back into the computer. Can you explain this? Do you mean that BASIC programs were encoded as sound in some way, and then could be uploaded into the computer and run?

Never used a BBC but 8bit computers of this era often used cassettes to load and save data. The tape would contain bleeps and blurps which would be decoded into bytes by the computer. EG this is the sound produced by an Amstrad cpc464 loading a game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvChkOHgDIo This meant that to copy software you didn't even need a computer, just a double cassette deck. And that by recording the cred…

Yes, brilliant.

Sounds (pun not intended but noticed) like steganography.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#118

Post by justinlloyd »

gadders wrote: post #113
justinlloyd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just functions, but procedures too, and local variables. DEF PROC, DEF FN, and LOCAL.

Yeah, I never got that close access to one, unfortunately. I was a Dragon 32 kid, and only because my Dad bought me one cheap when they went bust.

And that is also why Dragon Data owes me about 4,000 UKP (in 1980's money).

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#119

Post by mrlonglong »

pjmlp wrote: post #104
mrlonglong wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely hated line numbers. In my current paid job I'm paid to develop Visual Basic applications, not a single line number in sight. Basic has certainly come a long way since the 80s.

Structured Basic was already a thing in the 80's, see VMS Basic, or Turbo Basic.

Yes, VMS Basic will be ported to the OpenVMS platform on amd64 fairly soon and will be available next year. I'm one of the lucky few testing OpenVMS on amd64.

Re: BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced

#120

Post by pjmlp »

mrlonglong wrote: post #119
pjmlp wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Structured Basic was already a thing in the 80's, see VMS Basic, or Turbo Basic.

Yes, VMS Basic will be ported to the OpenVMS platform on amd64 fairly soon and will be available next year. I'm one of the lucky few testing OpenVMS on amd64.

Interesting, thanks for sharing.
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