I don't want to re-ignite the old system wars but...

[Turbo-Torch]

The TRS-80 Model I/III have a good BASIC but it doesn't have graphics or sound commands.

 

I typed in countless BASIC programs on my III that used graphics, including one really nice drawing program.

 

Sounds and music are also easy with simple OUT and POKE commands.

[JamesD]

 

I typed in countless BASIC programs on my III that used graphics, including one really nice drawing program.

 

Sounds and music are also easy with simple OUT and POKE commands.

SET and RESET are it's BASIC graphics commands. I'm talking about extended BASIC functions like LINE, CIRCLE, DRAW, etc...

POKEing or PRINTing strings with the graphics characters isn't in the same league.

Let me know how fast you can draw a circle in BASIC.

I helped someone do it on the MC-10 in BASIC and it wasn't too bad, but it's nowhere near what a built in BASIC command can do.

 

Play a simple musical scale in BASIC using OUT. I'm guessing you'll need a different loop for each note and you can't play notes that are very high.

You can use SOUND on several machines, and with a sound chip you can POKE or OUT the proper values to get the notes.

In Extended Color BASIC: PLAY "ABCDEFG"

And you can even set the octave, playback speed, sharp, etc...

You can parse a string and convert from characters to a notes on other machines, but we are talking about the best BASIC here, not can you jump through hoops to do it.

 

[Turbo-Torch]

When you said this:

but it doesn't have graphics or sound commands.

 

You made it sound as if it could not do graphics or sound at all through BASIC.

 

True, it does not have extended BASIC commands...but isn't SET/RESET a graphics command without trickery or jumping through hoops?

[JamesD]

When you said this:

 

You made it sound as if it could not do graphics or sound at all through BASIC.

 

True, it does not have extended BASIC commands...but isn't SET/RESET a graphics command without trickery or jumping through hoops?

As I said, I was referring to Extended BASIC type commands. Sorry I wasn't clear about that.

Just remember, even the ZX-80/ZX-81/TS-1000 have an equivalent to SET and RESET. That's about the cheapest 8 bit ever made.

The Model I/III might have been better off with a programmable character set. I seem to remember there being a mod available for that.

It's surprising Tandy didn't add it with the Model III. I don't think it would have added a lot to the price by then.

 

OUT is not a sound command, it's POKE for the Z80 I/O buss, and I mentioned "You could generate sound through the cassette port or add on hardware."

 

FWIW, I brought up hardware even though the original question was primarily about the BASIC interpreter because even the best BASIC needs some minimum level of hardware for it to really be useful.

I'm not sure LINE, CIRCLE, DRAW, etc... make as much sense on a limited machine like the I/III.

Given the rarity of Level III BASIC, I'm probably not alone.

 

One of the reasons I like the VTech Laser/VZ 200/300 series is because it's pretty much a Level II BASIC ROM hacked to support the 6847 and sound.

It's BASIC's SET supports bitmapped color graphics, it has a SOUND command, and it's clocked faster than the Model I/III.

Make a few small changes and release it in 1980... it would be on my list.

[Turbo-Torch]

The Model I/III might have been better off with a programmable character set. I seem to remember there being a mod available for that.

 

In stock form, there is just a table of 64 predefined graphic characters to choose from. One of these days I'd like to add a high res board just for the fun of it...although they don't come cheap and not much supports it.

[jhd]

 

One of these days I'd like to add a high res board just for the fun of it...although they don't come cheap and not much supports it.

 

Did any games support the high-res board (any version, I seem to recall that there were at least two different, incompatible models)?

 

I have seen business presentation graphics and some mathematical models, but nothing remotely entertainment related.

[Turbo-Torch]

 

Did any games support the high-res board (any version, I seem to recall that there were at least two different, incompatible models)?

 

I have seen business presentation graphics and some mathematical models, but nothing remotely entertainment related.

 

There are a handful of games for an aftermarket board. It's surreal seeing them play on a Model III.

I think there was more than one aftermarket board kit and I'm not sure of compatibility between each other or the original from Tandy.

 

The one I REALLY wanted (and still do) is the Chromatrs. I have an eBay search set up and those things just don't turn up at all.

 

Not exactly sure how it works, but if it could run stand alone on a color monitor, I'd find a beat to hell Model III and install it internally along with a color monitor.

I know it also had some slick software and games which was supposedly created by a young genius kid that company hired. It also has sound and supports Atari joysticks and paddle controllers.

 

[JamesD]

 

There are a handful of games for an aftermarket board. It's surreal seeing them play on a Model III.

I think there was more than one aftermarket board kit and I'm not sure of compatibility between each other or the original from Tandy.

 

The one I REALLY wanted (and still do) is the Chromatrs. I have an eBay search set up and those things just don't turn up at all.

 

Not exactly sure how it works, but if it could run stand alone on a color monitor, I'd find a beat to hell Model III and install it internally along with a color monitor.

I know it also had some slick software and games which was supposedly created by a young genius kid that company hired. It also has sound and supports Atari joysticks and paddle controllers.

 

That is probably the rarest piece of TRS-80 hardware ever created. I have to wonder if it was even manufactured.

 

[Turbo-Torch]

They do exist. There is a comment section on one of the TRS 80 sites where a few people, including old employees, talked about it. The guy who wrote BASIC for it was one of them and he was only 14 at the time.

I think I first saw that exact ad around '83. I was 13 at the time so $200 was a lot of money and a floppy drive kit was my 1st priority. Later they dropped the price to $169 and even offered it as a kit for $99.

 

I'll find one eventually.

[Platis]

How about the japanese ones? NEC did have decent computers with color graphic and sound pretty early!

[JamesD]

How about the japanese ones? NEC did have decent computers with color graphic and sound pretty early!

The NEC TREK (PC-6001) has Microsoft BASIC and an optional Extended BASIC upgrade.

I think Extended BASIC was standard on later models.

It was probably similar to ECB on the CoCo but I've never seen a manual.

There are differences in syntax from the TRS-80 versions.

[Nebulon]

I realize this is about BASIC on other systems than the PC.

 

However, if you did get the itch to do some old-skool BASIC on your modern PC, give BLASSIC a try:

 

http://blassic.net/