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  • Who needs CBASIC?

    From Louis Ohland@21:1/5 to All on Sun Nov 26 09:38:01 2023
    Since CBASIC is such a kludge, what can we do with the 32KB?

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  • From IBMMuseum@21:1/5 to All on Mon Nov 27 19:00:47 2023
    Since CBASIC is such a kludge, what can we do with the 32KB?

    I like CBASIC, but it can be replaced by QBasic from disk - however, you're going down a rabbit-hole to re-write (C)BIOS. Unless you plan to run OS/2, just use the ABIOS areas.

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  • From Louis Ohland@21:1/5 to IBMMuseum on Mon Nov 27 21:22:21 2023
    Dave, how are CBASIC and CBIOS related? I _ASS U MEd_ that CBASIC is not
    part of the Compatibility BIOS [CBIOS], and deleting the 32KB is like
    removing tonsils [but without ice cream].

    This is all related to replacing a floppy during boot at a very
    primitive level... Can you hear the drums?

    IBMMuseum wrote:
    Since CBASIC is such a kludge, what can we do with the 32KB?

    I like CBASIC, but it can be replaced by QBasic from disk - however, you're going down a rabbit-hole to re-write (C)BIOS. Unless you plan to run OS/2, just use the ABIOS areas.


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  • From Tomas Slavotinek@21:1/5 to Louis Ohland on Wed Nov 29 23:32:45 2023
    On 28.11.2023 4:22, Louis Ohland wrote:
    Dave, how are CBASIC and CBIOS related? I _ASS U MEd_ that CBASIC is not
    part of the Compatibility BIOS [CBIOS], and deleting the 32KB is like removing tonsils [but without ice cream].

    The two are almost completely unrelated. Well, POST calls Int 18 handler
    to invoke BASIC. And I assume ROM BASIC uses BIOS interrupt handlers for
    I/O and what not, but that's probably about it.

    The ROM BASIC block can be safely removed if the Int 18 handler is
    tweaked accordingly (only applies to pre-IML machines). As far as I know BASIC/BASICA.COM are the only programs that require ROM BASIC to run, so
    no need to worry about compatibility issues.

    This is all related to replacing a floppy during boot at a very
    primitive level... Can you hear the drums?

    The 32 K space could be used to extend POST/BIOS capabilities on the
    older machines. A ROM-resident setup would be cool too (with support for
    only a few selected adapters probably... but enough to configure most
    systems).

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