1980s_john
Experienced Member
... On others I get either PASSWORD, or the message:
Dash 80 loading - Dash 80 can't run under these conditions
Any idea what this means?
I've found the following description of Dash-80 (in Japanese so open in Chrome to translate):
https://retrocomputerpeople.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2010-10-25
"Dash-8X started with the concept of powering up Dash-80 dedicated to N-BASIC and operating it on all NEC's PC-8001 / 8801 series, but just a little bit here and now Release the specification.
For those of you who don't know, I will introduce you a little bit Dash-80.
As described above, Dash-8X is based on Dash-80, which is a program loader compatible with Disk BASIC and file system of PC-8001.
....
The functions of Dash-80 can be summarized as follows:
(Reprinted from Dash-80 Readme.txt)
- Program loader for NEC PC-8001 / 8801 series
- Operates in N-BASIC mode
- The free area is not used except when starting up
- File system compatible with Disk BASIC
- You can load / execute binary programs compatible with BASIC programs / N80 / N80SR / N88-Disk BASIC written in N-BASIC
- It has a Disk BASIC compatible auto start function.
- Error message equivalent to Disk BASIC is displayed
- Eliminated the MOUNT / REMOVE command that was a drawback of Disk BASIC
- The format of the FILES / LFILES instruction is different from Disk BASIC
- Contents displayed / printed by FILES / LFILES instruction are different from Disk BASIC
======================================
So all good stuff. Sadly alot of PC-8001 software such as J80 and Dash-80 were hosted on Geocities.jp which is now closed, and I can't find the new websites for these packages.
Regards,
John