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Wanted: Exidy Sorcerer BASIC Cartridge

tempest

tempest

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
930
Location
SE Michigan
This is probably a long shot, but I'm looking for an Exidy Sorcerer BASIC cartridge. Shoot me a PM if you have one for sale or trade.
 
Good luck with that, I've mostly quit the search for one of this (at a fair price, of course). They usually sell for big $$ :-(. Maybe a project to clone a cart PCB could be a good idea, sadly, the Sorcerer is not too much popular.

In the meanwhile, I'm happy with the solution provided by Tezza himself. The TRS-80 BASIC works great when loaded from tape.

And eventually, some day, I'll patch the BASIC ROM to work from RAM, I suppose that it's doable..
 
I don't have one unfortunately. They don't seem to pop up on their own either, they're always part of a larger (and expensive) collection.

So TRS-80 Basic is compatible with the Sorcerer? Can the Sorcerer Basic be loaded from tape as well (assuming it was ever made as a tape)? Where can I read more about this?

I need a nice tutorial on how to make tapes from computer files. I could use that knowledge to make game tapes for my Spectravideo SV-328 as well. Maybe I'll make a post about it.

EDIT: I did make a post about it: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...s-Using-a-Modern-Computer&p=384277#post384277
 
Last edited:
tempest said:
I don't have one unfortunately. They don't seem to pop up on their own either, they're always part of a larger (and expensive) collection.

So TRS-80 Basic is compatible with the Sorcerer? Can the Sorcerer Basic be loaded from tape as well (assuming it was ever made as a tape)? Where can I read more about this?

I need a nice tutorial on how to make tapes from computer files. I could use that knowledge to make game tapes for my Spectravideo SV-328 as well. Maybe I'll make a post about it.

EDIT: I did make a post about it: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...s-Using-a-Modern-Computer&p=384277#post384277
Click to expand...

The Sorcerer BASIC is only 8k, so it's a subset of TRS-80 Level II basic. Certainly it's WAY less capable than the (pretty good) MSX-like BASIC on the Spectravideos. The Sorcerer BASIC is probably very smiliar to the 8k Altair BASIC. Technically you should be able to load the BASIC in from a tape. The problem is finding it in WAV form. I notice there is a program called Level III BASIC in my set of wav files. It's been a long time since I looked at those files. and I can't remember what it was. It may be an extended BASIC for the Sorcerer. However it may expect to find the BASIC cart already there. Or not. Try it.

Tez
 
tezza said:
I notice there is a program called Level III BASIC in my set of wav files. It's been a long time since I looked at those files. and I can't remember what it was. It may be an extended BASIC for the Sorcerer.
Click to expand...

Indeed it is, do you remember this thread: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?25574-Just-moved-in-An-Exidy-Sorcerer ;-)

Some time ago I patched this BASIC to fully support the "hires" graphics that the TRS-80 BASIC provides (SET and RESET commands). Sorcerer makes it possible :)
 
Would loading the TRS-80 or Extended Basic from tape work for running Sorcerer games that require the Basic cart?
 
As I don't have a real BASIC cart and never checked the Exidy BASIC reference can't assure it; but my first bet is no.

Anyway, they must be very close so probably it's easy to port listing between them. Also, you can try with real TRS-80 BASIC listings, I'm sure there're tons of them!. A pity that this interpreter eats valuable RAM if you don't have at least a 48K model
 
tempest and I built a BASIC ROM Pac for his Sorcerer II. Its 32K EPROM holds 4 versions of Exidy BASIC but we haven't added the selection switches yet. Aside from wiring the rat's nest on the back, the hardest part was figuring out what plastic to cut out of the 8-track case.
ExROM.jpg
 
Now that I have a BASIC cartridge I can run a few more programs such as Super Star Trek (every classic computer needs to run Star Trek!). I also managed to find the listing for Wizards Castle which was originally done on the Sorcerer (in the computer shop that ClausB worked at no less). I'll let everyone know when I get it up and running.
 
ClausB said:
tempest and I built a BASIC ROM Pac for his Sorcerer II. Its 32K EPROM holds 4 versions of Exidy BASIC but we haven't added the selection switches yet. Aside from wiring the rat's nest on the back, the hardest part was figuring out what plastic to cut out of the 8-track case.
View attachment 1015122
Click to expand...
Hi ClausB,

just discover it. I’m very intested to see the wiring. I have sorcerer without the basic cartridge and I’m insterested to build one.

And maybe later create some pcb layout to share with the community.

Thanks,

Joel
 
Straightforward wiring using LS139 decoder. I'll look for my notes and post...
 
Thanks you !
I'll start to work on it during my next holidays and post results. for the moment, I'll not try to create the onboard varient.
 
Hi,
Thanks to ClausB.
I have successfully built a BASICcartridge. I cut a PC ISA proto PCB to the correct size, soldered the 2 ICs and 2 capacitors 100nf, 2 switchs, a lot of wires. Burn a 27C257 with 4 binaries. Created a 3D case model based on a generic 8 track 3D model. Print it and Voila....
 

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