BBC Basic Console Mode | Hacker News Reader

BBC Basic Console Mode

bbcbasic.co.uk

48 pointsLeoPanthera25 comments

It's interesting that this is a closed source commercial product. MMBasic is similar (source available, but only for personal use):

https://mmbasic.com

Maybe there is an untapped market? I remember when "BASIC stamps" were a big thing..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Stamp

"UK schools or colleges may instead send an official order"

That might be some of the market.

My retired-teacher relative worked with children with various learning difficulties, and continued to use educational software on a BBC Micro well into the 2000s.

She said the comparative simplicity of the graphics and interface made it significantly more accessible for many of these children.

There were also special peripheral interfaces like this [1] which were no longer available (or maybe were significantly more expensive).

The micro:BIT is probably the current version of the BASIC Stamp [2].z

[1] http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/8bit_Upgrades/Con...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Bit

Me too, but I guess they got replaced by Python and JavaScript stamps.

> "They do not support sound or graphics"

Hmm. Mode 7 is certainly neat but a big draw with BBC BASIC is the ease with which the other modes that do support graphics can be used and, of course, sound. For example, there's a crazy version of Axel F written in BBC BASIC out there somewhere.

(The other really cool thing is the BBC Micro had a built-in assembler so you could embed assembly language directly in your BASIC program.)

This is the 'light' (thus console-only) version of the software. The same website has BBC Basic for Windows, and BBC Basic for Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android and iOS:

* https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcwin/bbcwin.html

* https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/index.html

Mods, perhaps it's better to change the submission link to the list of BBC products, https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/products.html .

The significance is that this console version is a new release. Note the dates in the update log.

The version shown on the linked page seems to support an assembler for the processor its running on - either ARM or x86 - rather than an emulated 6502.

First proper computer music I have ever heard was Sweet Dreams by The Eurithmics on a BBC Micro.

Was it this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIInPfgYNeQ

From the title and URL I thought this was a CLI version of bbc.co.uk

Me too. Would have encourage me to read the bbc more.

How would that work?

For example, I can access the bbc.co.uk from the command line, retreiving text-only versions of the articles.

Somewhere between the links browser and a MUD

As a links user, I think this is feasible without any help from BBC.

I could have sworn I submitted it as "BBC BASIC", as it should be. Maybe I had a brain failure.

I think HN tries to remove all-caps words from the title, but if you edit the title of the submission ex-post, it will let you keep your capitalized letters, so give it a whirl

Also has a program that can convert any BBC Basic program into an Android app https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbc2apk/index.html

Who's up for a BBC Basic Game Jam? Just like summer holidays when you were a kid.

Wow - towers of Hanoi; I spent ages playing that on a BBC model B when I was a kid.

I remember reading the 8ish line version of a Towers of Hanoi solver in the BBC Computer manual when I was 7 or so, and having my mind blown. How could it solve it in 8 lines? Took me a few years to work out recursion.

That background.. why..

It's light enough it's completely non-distracting, at least for me.

Welcome to the late-90s web aesthetic!

The "best" part is the "Best viewed with any browser" icon.

Except if your browser is on a mobile device!

It seems to be a stylized RTR (the author's initials) logo repeated over and over!

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