tezza
Veteran Member
Hi,
One thing I didn't realise until I owned an IBM AT is that, like the original PC, it has BASIC in ROM.
The question is, why? I could understand it if there was a Cassette port, but the ATs were always disk-based machines. With no I/O cards installed then, you could write programs using the built-in-BASIC but you couldn't save it anywhere?
Anyone know the rational for keeping a BASIC in ROM in the AT and not just having it entirely disk-based? Did clones also have it in ROM?
A related question. Did the BASIC on PC-DOS 3.x patch into ROM BASIC or was it stand-alone. GW-BASIC on the MS-DOS 3.x versions is a completely stand-alone program, yes?
Tez
One thing I didn't realise until I owned an IBM AT is that, like the original PC, it has BASIC in ROM.
The question is, why? I could understand it if there was a Cassette port, but the ATs were always disk-based machines. With no I/O cards installed then, you could write programs using the built-in-BASIC but you couldn't save it anywhere?
Anyone know the rational for keeping a BASIC in ROM in the AT and not just having it entirely disk-based? Did clones also have it in ROM?
A related question. Did the BASIC on PC-DOS 3.x patch into ROM BASIC or was it stand-alone. GW-BASIC on the MS-DOS 3.x versions is a completely stand-alone program, yes?
Tez