IBM ROM BASIC alternatives?

[rfka01]

Hi folks,
a lot of the clone motherboards sported sockets for ROM expansions.
Was there ever an alternative to the IBM ROM BASIC that could be added to any IBM compatible?

Thanks
Robert

 

[g4ugm]

Hi folks,
a lot of the clone motherboards sported sockets for ROM expansions.
Was there ever an alternative to the IBM ROM BASIC that could be added to any IBM compatible?

Thanks
Robert

I was about at that time, and I don't remember any third party BASICs. I think most manufacturers were so glad to get a BIOS and not get sued by IBM that they didn't want them looking more closely. Most of the clones had floppy disks anyway so could run GW Basic and didn't need the ROMS.

 

[the3dfxdude]

I thought IBM ROM BASIC was based on Microsoft BASIC anyway, which Microsoft ended up giving to everyone in the form of GW-BASIC.

But if I am correct, is rfka01's question about any ROM that can be put in place of IBM's BASIC ROM? The question could be expanded to any third party ROM out there.

 

[krebizfan]

The Advance86 (Genie16 in Germany) briefly had BASIC in ROM. Alas, it seems the ROM BASIC used was a patched copy of IBM's and IBM was not happy about it. Handheld BASIC (from MS) was another ROM BASIC available to 8088 machines. Not exactly IBM PC compatible since it was used in two small portable systems but not too far. I'm not sure if any of the DOS in ROM machines included BASIC in ROM as well. The Soviet POISK cassette BASIC should have been able to be placed in ROM since it was derived from a ROM BASIC.

ROM costs being what they were, I doubt any system that didn't start off with a cassette port like the Advance or Poisk would have bothered with BASIC in ROM unless trying for the diskless super portable market like the Zenith hand-held.

No one has done a version of BBC BASIC for ROM inclusion on PC clones though BBC BASIC was inserted in ROMs on a number of machines.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Eh, why not be different? If IBM could put APL360 in ROM on the 5100, why not APL in ROM on the 5150?

Confuse the heck out of the BASIC people.

 

[krebizfan]

To my knowledge there wasn't even a Forth development system in ROM for PC compatibles which should have been a natural. No oddball keyboard needed unlike APL.

I'm sure if anyone had ordered 50,000 units with a different ROM language installed, IBM would have been happy to oblige.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Well, Forth-in-ROM did find its way into the Open Firmware PCI (IEEE 1275) standard. Too often overlooked--a great idea.

 

[predator99]

You can put anything in the socket, e.g. a XT-IDE ROM.

We have ported the IBM Basic to be used as an option ROM:
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=67364&p=761841

Also some other ROMs to try are there...

 

[tipc]

The Radio Electronics magazine's RE Robot brain, based on an 80188, aka Vesta Technologies OEM-188, a single board computer that uses an rs-232 console for i/o, had both a FORTH and a BASIC interpreter in rom. Obviously not an IBM compatible, but as close as you'll likely get. Beggars shouldn't be choosers.

 

[fs5500]

IBM ROM BASIC is called as BASIC C1.xx (Cassette BASIC).
First version is C1.00 (IBM PC 5150 early 16-64KB model), later version is C1.10 (IBM PC 5150/5160/5162/5170, PS/2 Series, PS/1 Series)
It is impossible to access floppy drive.

 

[tipc]

well the RE Robot brain has a floppy controller. Therefore it's interpreters naturally would have support for floppy drives. It does use a different controller then the Pc does. Same as Atrari ST. WD1770 iirc.

 

[krebizfan]

Handheld BASIC also supported disk drives along with the RAM disk that was the primary storage. There may also have been cassette support. The BIOS reference mentions a cassette interrupt but neither the Tandy 600 nor Zenith ZP-150 has a cassette port.

IBM tried to make sure that all cassette BASIC programs would upgrade to disk without coding changes which left the ROM BASIC without the usual distinct cassette and disk I/O routines.