October 28th, 2008
Found an interesting page again on the origin of Microsoft Basic, the 8080 version.
A listing was recovered in 2000. It was behind a filing cabinet for 20 years! Lots of technical details on the development process for this version of BASIC. Especially talking about developing 8080 assembler stuff without the aid of an 8080 cross-assembler for the PDP-10.
00340 SUBTITL VERSION 1.1 -- MORE FEATURES TO COME
The copyright reads :
00400 ——————————————-
00410 COPYRIGHT 1975 BY BILL GATES AND PAUL ALLEN
00420 ——————————————-
It also says ‘written originally on the PDP-10 at Harvard from February 9 to April 27.’ Remember that the spooler output (above) showed that this printout was made on 30th April 1975.
Interestingly, another comment tells us that :
00560� PAUL ALLEN WROTE THE NON-RUNTIME STUFF.
00580 BILL GATES WROTE THE RUNTIME STUFF.
00600 MONTE DAVIDOFF WROTE THE MATH PACKAGE.
October 26th, 2008
Visitors of my Retro website may have seen a copy of Microsoft Basic for the KIM-1, the KB9 version online. Not only the original tape in binary format, also the small user guide that was delivered with it.
This Microsoft Basic for the 6502 is one early member of the family of Basic interpreters for the 6502 produced by Microsoft in their early days. Also the Apple II and Commodore machines and many more had this interpreter and an extension to function as an operating system as Basic. Paul Allen, Monte Davidoff, ill Gates, Richard Weiland and Marc McDonald are persons in the Microsoft company that contributed to this interpreter.
Michael Steil, who blogs at http://www.pagetable.com, refers to my online files while explaining not only the history and timeline of these Basic interpreter versions, but also publishes the commented source.
By using conditional assembly one can recreate seven OEM versions, not only KIM Basic KB9.
- Commodore BASIC 1
- OSI BASIC
- AppleSoft I
- KIM-1 BASIC
- Commodore BASIC 2 (PET)
- Intellivision Keyboard Component BASIC
- MicroTAN BASIC
It feels good to see the KB9 files on my site to have been of use for Michael, since he refers to the files on several places.
Quite amusing is the search for the famous Easter Egg in all these Basics (type WAIT 6502,1 and see ‘MICROSOFT!’ printed).
September 23rd, 2007
To be honest, the Micro-KIM arrived the day after I went east for my China visit. Together with a 32K RAM expansion, as you can see on the picture. I have been playing with it the last days and it sure is fun to have a KIM-1 experience again. It feels like 1977 again. 
I have run some simple terminal based games Microsoft KB9 Basic and Focal. The serial interface was irritating in 1977 and it still is ;) More about this retro pionier computer at my Micro-KIM page.
June 27th, 2007
For the second time the dutch magazine Elektuur (Elektor as it is called in other countries) has mentioned my website in an article devoted to retro electronics.
In the July/August issue, mostly about robotics, an article is devoted to Philips EE-Bouwdozen. In the Links my webpage on the ME1200, the first Philips Mechanical Engineer, is mentioned.
The previous time was in this article, about the Elektuur Junior Computer, in the january 2005 issue.
June 5th, 2007
The micro-KIM made me start programming again! http://www.brielcomputers.com/ asked me if I had a utility to convert from binary, like the KIM-1 programs on my website, to the MOS Technology paper-tape format that is understood by the KIM-1 monitor for loading programs.
And yes, such a utility once existed, written by me as part of a teminal emulation and loading/saving package on VAX/VMS. Long time ago (1985), VAX/VMS Pascal and I only have a not source on paper.
So I started writing a program to be called KIMPAPER to convert between the MOS Technology paper-tape format and the not so intelligent BIN, a binary dump of memory. It will be a commandline utility, Turbo Pascal syntax, but compiled with FreePascal, so fit for Linux and Windows XP.
I am amazed how easy it goes. Must have been 10 years ago that I did some serious programming, I just crunch out good code. Only difference with old times is: these computers are now entertainment centers and are online, so mp3s, email, chats, Google, writing blogs, all those online things distract me from programming. And evenings were longer in the old days, I need my sleep now or else I will be a zombie in the day time at work. But it sure is fun!
Bummer is that I thought such a utility did not exist. Wrong, Peter Miller (also known from my UCSD adventures) has made a utility called SRECORD to convert between various eprom programmer formats, and that includes the MOS paper format. But I kept on working on KIMPAPER, to make it simple to use and mine! You can find the utility including sources for Borland Pascal and Freepascal as commandline utility on the KIM-1 page
June 2nd, 2007
Some weeks ago I told you about the micro-KIM, a KIM-1 clone designed and to be produced by Vince Briel.
Update on june 2, 2007: the micro-KIM is available for pre-ordering! As a kit or as assembled and tested unit!
The KIM-1 pages on my website have been expanded a lot to prepare for the launch of the Micro-KIM.
I have ordered and received a micro-KIM< together with a 32K RAM expansion. The first batch had some PCB errors, easy to repair. This KIM runs all programs now, except for cassette audio in/output.
May 15th, 2007
If you visit my webpage, it will become clear nostalgia plays a big role nowadays in my interests. Old electronic kits like the Philips Pionier and EE8 and also my first computer, the KIM-1. I still have that old dinosour, and it still is in working condition, with all its expansions. KIM-1 single board computers are now hard to find and real collector value, I have several revisions in my collection.
Now everybody can own a KIM-1 at a very reasonable price! Vince Briel is developing the micro-KIM, with nearly identical specifications and also a SBC. Cant wait to have one!
Specifications:
- 6502 CPU running at 1Mhz
- 2K EPROM replacing built in ROM on 6530’s
- 5K RAM using the KIM-1 memory map
- RS232 interface made to work with TIM built in KIM-1
- Single-Step mode for debugging
- debounced RESET and STEP switches
- 40 pin header for future expansion
- The I/O of the 6 digit display and keyboard are memory mapped exactly like the KIM-1 for full program compatibility.
Update on june 2, 2007:the micro-KIM is available for pre-ordering! As a kit or as assembled and tested unit!
