707
edits
Sinclair BASIC history: Difference between revisions
From Sinclair Wiki
m
Let's use HTTPS!
(ZX Spectrum+ 128K → ZX Spectrum 128) |
m (Let's use HTTPS!) |
||
| Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
In 1985, in a joint venture with its Spanish distributor [[Investrónica]], Sinclair launched the [[ZX Spectrum 128]], codenamed Derby, with a new editor bolted on to the original BASIC. This was slightly more compatible than the Timex effort but the editor was bug ridden, and some software refused to work, even in 48 mode, because the empty space at the end of the original ROM, used as a table by some programs, was now overwritten with extra code. | In 1985, in a joint venture with its Spanish distributor [[Investrónica]], Sinclair launched the [[ZX Spectrum 128]], codenamed Derby, with a new editor bolted on to the original BASIC. This was slightly more compatible than the Timex effort but the editor was bug ridden, and some software refused to work, even in 48 mode, because the empty space at the end of the original ROM, used as a table by some programs, was now overwritten with extra code. | ||
It did introduce some useful new commands and a built-in text editor, although inexplicably these were replaced with a menu system with less functionality in the English version of the machine launched the following year. However, criticism of the 128 Editor must be put in context. The programmers were relying on the Logan & O'Hara disassembly of the original ROM published by Melbourne House, since if Sinclair ever had a copy of the original source by now it had been lost, and were working on a DEC VAX-11/780 machine running CP/M on an expansion card[ | It did introduce some useful new commands and a built-in text editor, although inexplicably these were replaced with a menu system with less functionality in the English version of the machine launched the following year. However, criticism of the 128 Editor must be put in context. The programmers were relying on the Logan & O'Hara disassembly of the original ROM published by Melbourne House, since if Sinclair ever had a copy of the original source by now it had been lost, and were working on a DEC VAX-11/780 machine running CP/M on an expansion card[https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-zx-spectrum-birthday-memories/]. | ||
Fortunately, tracing the development of the 128 Editor is made easier by the fact that the initials of programmers are stored at the beginning of the Spanish ROM and (MB, KM, and AT) at the end of the English ROM (Martin Brennan, Steve Berry, Andrew Cummins, Rupert Goodwins and Kevin Males). | Fortunately, tracing the development of the 128 Editor is made easier by the fact that the initials of programmers are stored at the beginning of the Spanish ROM and (MB, KM, and AT) at the end of the English ROM (Martin Brennan, Steve Berry, Andrew Cummins, Rupert Goodwins and Kevin Males). | ||
