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Re: ANN: Open81 ROM

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  Re: ANN: Open81 ROM "Johny B Good" <invalid@ntlworld.com> - 2011-06-24 22:43 +0100
    Re: ANN: Open81 ROM "Ian B" <noemail@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-25 06:48 +0100
      Re: ANN: Open81 ROM "dott.Piergiorgio" <dott.PiergiorgioNIHON@KAIGUN.fastwebnet.it> - 2011-06-25 10:22 +0200
        Re: ANN: Open81 ROM "GzavSnap" <zx81.pas.de.spam.ordi5.chez.free.en.france> - 2011-06-25 20:29 +0200

#276 — Re: ANN: Open81 ROM

On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:29:10 +0100, Brian Gaff <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk>  
wrote:

> Yes, this half baked address decoding confused the heck out of me. There
> were those huge rampacks that had pages, I guess but I never really found
> them that useful.
>  Having said all of that, at the time the computer was easy to use and  
> learn
> to program, and could do a lot of stuff nobody ever thought of. Shame  
> nobody
> makes a pc with a basic so simple to use built in.. Hey, maybe its a  
> great
> idea for a new product, just don't let Microsoft write it.
>
> Brian
>

  Just to keep you up to date (better late than never, even if it's 30  
years late ;-), the original IBM PC _was_ supplied with a ROM BASIC (which  
explains why there were _two_ 5 pin DIN sockets on the back edge of the PC  
MoBo, one for the keyboard, the other for a tape recorder).

  Another clue to the existence of an actual IBM PC ROM BASIC being the  
error message "No ROM BASIC" whenever a Clone MoBo was unable to find  
anything to boot from (IBM ROM BASIC was copyrighted so could not be  
included in a clone MoBo's BIOS rom).

HTH & HAND

-- 
Regards JB Good

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#278

Johny B Good wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:29:10 +0100, Brian Gaff
> <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Yes, this half baked address decoding confused the heck out of me.
>> There were those huge rampacks that had pages, I guess but I never
>> really found them that useful.
>>  Having said all of that, at the time the computer was easy to use
>> and learn
>> to program, and could do a lot of stuff nobody ever thought of. Shame
>> nobody
>> makes a pc with a basic so simple to use built in.. Hey, maybe its a
>> great
>> idea for a new product, just don't let Microsoft write it.
>>
>> Brian
>>
>
>  Just to keep you up to date (better late than never, even if it's 30
> years late ;-), the original IBM PC _was_ supplied with a ROM BASIC
> (which explains why there were _two_ 5 pin DIN sockets on the back
> edge of the PC MoBo, one for the keyboard, the other for a tape
> recorder).
>  Another clue to the existence of an actual IBM PC ROM BASIC being the
> error message "No ROM BASIC" whenever a Clone MoBo was unable to find
> anything to boot from (IBM ROM BASIC was copyrighted so could not be
> included in a clone MoBo's BIOS rom).
>
> HTH & HAND


I have an IBM PS/2 Model 60 (giant tower, 1MB RAM, 42MB HD, VGA, 286 
processor, a real power machine) and that has the ROM Basic on it. I got 
into it once, but can't remember how. But it's definitely there.

I powered it up a few months ago to see if it was working, and it wasn't. 
Had to get the FDD going again, so I could use a reference disk to set 
everything back up, but there was no joy from the HD. So, gave it a gentle 
spin left and right to unstick the heads... and off it went. It's a gigantic 
heavy thing, not like a modern HD. You can actually feel the inertia of the 
disk platters. Comfortingly primitive technology by today's standards. Also 
by today's standards totally useless. But I can't bear to get rid of it.

Anyway, the Model 60 is from 1987, and it has the ROM basic. Same year as I 
bought a Spectrum +2, if memory serves. (I bought the PS/2  as a cheap 
second hand first IBM PC in the early 90s). I've still got the +2 too, but I 
don't know if that still works because I cannibalised the PSU for something 
else once in an emergency of the "need low voltage DC NOW" type.

1987. Saying that year feels like talking about "during the war" like old 
people used to. A different world.


Ian 

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#279

Il 25/06/2011 07:48, Ian B ha scritto:

> 1987. Saying that year feels like talking about "during the war" like old
> people used to. A different world.

well, 1987 was two years prior of the end of the cold war.....

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.

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#284

Hi,

https://sites.google.com/site/open81rom is dead ?

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