Co-Author of BASIC died

[OpenXTalkPaul]

R.I.P. THOMAS KURTZ co-creator of the BASIC programming language has died. Thanks for the MEM
https://hackaday.com/2024/11/15/basic-c ... assed-away

[richmond62]

Sad.

After the all-in-wrestling match of learning FORTRAN IV, BASIC was like a breath of fresh air.

Considering when BASIC was developed I wonder why our teacher had us learning FORTRAN in 1975.

[tperry2x]

Sad news. It's where I first got any interest to do any sort of programming.
I can really relate to this article, it's pretty much how I was introduced to programming - no internet of course, nothing much in the way of computer publications (the local corner shop didn't stock such 'exotic' material) - so it was a case of scouring through the local library, trying to decipher a big book of basic (I think it might even have been called "The Big Book of Basic" - think it had a green cover if the old memory serves)... different times, fun times.
I remember 50p would buy me a cassette and I'd craze my parents to drive 12 miles into the nearest small town (Dereham) at the weekend and find some bizarre game in the only computer shop within about 50 miles.

I'd spend ages often unpicking the subroutines of the games, as you could just press 'break' and list the basic. None of it was protected or really hidden. I remember going through and learning little tips - everything from getting a 'sprite' to appear on screen to interfacing with the SID chip (Commodore 64).

In a way the journey was just as important as the end result. Or perhaps moreso. It wouldn't have been as nearly as accessible without basic.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I remember 50p would buy me a cassette and I'd craze my parents to drive 12 miles into the nearest small town (Dereham) at the weekend and find some bizarre game in the only computer shop within about 50 miles.

I'd spend ages often unpicking the subroutines of the games, as you could just press 'break' and list the basic. None of it was protected or really hidden. I remember going through and learning little tips - everything from getting a 'sprite' to appear on screen to interfacing with the SID chip (Commodore 64).

BASIC had a big influenced on a lot of young minds in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. For me it was Atari BASIC (and sometimes Tandy RadioShack BASIC) around 1980 ( I was 10yrs old then).

Similar story, I had Atari 8-bit Computer with a cassette drive. The only place that had anything about computers at all was at the bookshop at the big shopping mall a couple of towns over. There I was able to buy COMPUTE! Magazine, BYTE Mag, or similar and type in the listings for various games that were small enough to print the source code in a few pages of a magazine. After some time I was able to pick out which PEEK'd and POKE'd memory addresses contained important things like how much each Paddle controller was turned to the left. Soon I was figuring out how to pass those values to change the tones and pitches of the (very limited compared to SID in C=64) ATARI sound chip, then I was annoying my entire family with beeps, bops, boops sounds for hours!

It wasn't until discovering HyperTalk seven years later that I really got that sort of thrill from computers again.
After that the only time I revisited BASIC was in the mid-90s I purchased FutureBASIC (at $50 that was much cheaper than CodeWarrior or others) so that could build Xternals for HyperCard.

[overclockedmind]

I remember 50p would buy me a cassette and I'd craze my parents to drive 12 miles into the nearest small town (Dereham) at the weekend and find some bizarre game in the only computer shop within about 50 miles.

I'd spend ages often unpicking the subroutines of the games, as you could just press 'break' and list the basic. None of it was protected or really hidden. I remember going through and learning little tips - everything from getting a 'sprite' to appear on screen to interfacing with the SID chip (Commodore 64).

BASIC had a big influenced on a lot of young minds in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. For me it was Atari BASIC (and sometimes Tandy RadioShack BASIC) around 1980 ( I was 10yrs old then).

Similar story, I had Atari 8-bit Computer with a cassette drive. The only place that had anything about computers at all was at the bookshop at the big shopping mall a couple of towns over. There I was able to buy COMPUTE! Magazine, BYTE Mag, or similar and type in the listings for various games that were small enough to print the source code in a few pages of a magazine. After some time I was able to pick out which PEEK'd and POKE'd memory addresses contained important things like how much each Paddle controller was turned to the left. Soon I was figuring out how pass those values to change the tones and pitches of the (very limited compared to SID in C64) ATARI sound chip, and then I was annoying my entire family with beeps, bops, boops sounds for hours!

It wasn't until discovering HyperTalk seven years later that I really got that sort of thrill from computers again.
After that the only time I revisited BASIC was in the mid-90s I purchased FutureBASIC (at $50 that was much cheaper than CodeWarrior or others) so I that could build Xternals for HyperCard.

Also similar story, VIC-20. Had a bunch of cartridges, not very many game ones. So I'd spend hours typing in BASIC (the shorthand sort, where you use a single character to mean PRINT to save memory) a whole lot of games in from this mag or that book (I'm thinking the original owner was a programmer as well because it had more RAM expansion carts than games) to save to cassette, only to have them "blow up" and have to diagnose them. Don't know how many were typos, how many were me mistyping... many an hour indeed was spent that way.

And yes, I certainly learned along the way. The way that poor VIC-20 put up with me was wonderful, given how much I used the thing.

Then, in high school I was assigned to computer programming. Except we didn't HAVE a computer programming course; so being in a school with Macs, my instructor bought HyperCard and I read the manuals until they wouldn't stay together any longer.

The world lost a beautiful mind when this person (the co-creator) passed.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

VIC-20

I actually have a VIC-20 in storage, in the original (but beat up) box, which was my wife's family's early 80's computer. About a decade ago I powered it on, and tried to figure out a way to attached it to a modern TV. I was unsuccessful, but I didn't really put a lot of effort or any money into getting it working. The problem being modern TVs don't have those screws for UHF-band antenna that the video out is meant to connect to.

[overclockedmind]

VIC-20

I actually have a VIC-20 in storage, in the original (but beat up) box, which was my wife's family's early 80's computer. About a decade ago I powered it on, and tried to figure out a way to attached it to a modern TV. I was unsuccessful, but I didn't really put a lot of effort or any money into getting it working. The problem being modern TVs don't have those screws for UHF-band antenna that the video out is meant to connect to.

Does a VIC-20 do composite out or RF out? The memories, they fade. But I wouldn't have had a composite TV in that day and age, I don't think. I would've had the old Atari-style (or heck NES-style) screw-adapter business you refer to.

And the "broadcast channels" have changed both frequencies, and gone analog-to-digital since.

If we found out it was composite video output, do you have a TV with the red-white-yellow business on it?

[overclockedmind]

VIC-20

I actually have a VIC-20 in storage, in the original (but beat up) box, which was my wife's family's early 80's computer. About a decade ago I powered it on, and tried to figure out a way to attached it to a modern TV. I was unsuccessful, but I didn't really put a lot of effort or any money into getting it working. The problem being modern TVs don't have those screws for UHF-band antenna that the video out is meant to connect to.

Does a VIC-20 do composite out or RF out? The memories, they fade. But I wouldn't have had a composite TV in that day and age, I don't think. I would've had the old Atari-style (or heck NES-style) screw-adapter business you refer to.

And the "broadcast channels" have changed both frequencies, and gone analog-to-digital since.

If we found out it was composite video output, do you have a TV with the red-white-yellow business on it?

Sorry, idea storm. Knew I had to get it out there, or I wouldn't at all.

There's also running the thing "virtually," if real life won't have it. I mean, you own the original hardware.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Does a VIC-20 do composite out or RF out? The memories, they fade. But I wouldn't have had a composite TV in that day and age, I don't think. I would've had the old Atari-style (or heck NES-style) screw-adapter business you refer to.

And the "broadcast channels" have changed both frequencies, and gone analog-to-digital since.

If we found out it was composite video output, do you have a TV with the red-white-yellow business on it?

Sorry, idea storm. Knew I had to get it out there, or I wouldn't at all.

There's also running the thing "virtually," if real life won't have it. I mean, you own the original hardware.

Idea storms are good!
It's been at least 10 years since I pulled the thing out of the box, and I never owned a Commodore myself back in the day, so I'm a bit hazy on if there was any other connectors but I'm pretty sure it was an RF screw connection (like on the Atari VCS 2600), at the time I still owned a TV with an analog signal tuner (now I don't). I don't think it had the Red,White,Yellow RCA jacks (I can pull it back out and look at it later) which I think most TVs still include.

The Vic-20 is not particularly rare or valuable as far as vintage computers go (or I'd have sold it), I just wanted to show my sons what the 'gold old days' of personal computing looked like. I know I can emulate it, but it's not the full experience of popping in audio cassette and loading some crap-8bit BASIC program.

[overclockedmind]

Does a VIC-20 do composite out or RF out? The memories, they fade. But I wouldn't have had a composite TV in that day and age, I don't think. I would've had the old Atari-style (or heck NES-style) screw-adapter business you refer to.

And the "broadcast channels" have changed both frequencies, and gone analog-to-digital since.

If we found out it was composite video output, do you have a TV with the red-white-yellow business on it?

Sorry, idea storm. Knew I had to get it out there, or I wouldn't at all.

There's also running the thing "virtually," if real life won't have it. I mean, you own the original hardware.

Idea storms are good!
It's been at least 10 years since I pulled the thing out of the box, and I never owned a Commodore myself back in the day, so I'm a bit hazy on if there was any other connectors but I'm pretty sure it was an RF screw connection (like on the Atari VCS 2600), at the time I still owned a TV with an analog signal tuner (now I don't). I don't think it had the Red,White,Yellow RCA jacks (I can pull it back out and look at it later) which I think most TVs still include.

The Vic-20 is not particularly rare or valuable as far as vintage computers go (or I'd have sold it), I just wanted to show my sons what the 'gold old days' of personal computing looked like. I know I can emulate it, but it's not the full experience of popping in audio cassette and loading some crap-8bit BASIC program.

Bet your boots it isn't! If you happened upon one of those "digital to analog TV tuner" thingies the FCC was paying people to buy at one point, you'd have it made. Just depends on how sternly you'd, um, like to make your point.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Bet your boots it isn't! If you happened upon one of those "digital to analog TV tuner" thingies the FCC was paying people to buy at one point, you'd have it made. Just depends on how sternly you'd, um, like to make your point.

I looked it up, the VIC -20 and C-64 both have built-in RF modulators and output composite analog video, which should work with the Yellow RCA jack of a TV, if it still has one, if not there are (not too inexpensive) adapters that will convert to HDMI digital. Those external Digital tuners for old analog TVs you mentioned, might work if it has a composite video-in port on it.

If I did get it onto the TV I wouldn't know what t do with it, I had an ATARI 400 (p.o.s.) back then.
I would have to learn some Commodore BASIC to do anything with it I guess.

[overclockedmind]

Bet your boots it isn't! If you happened upon one of those "digital to analog TV tuner" thingies the FCC was paying people to buy at one point, you'd have it made. Just depends on how sternly you'd, um, like to make your point.

I looked it up, the VIC -20 and C-64 both have built-in RF modulators and output composite analog video, which should work with the Yellow RCA jack if your TV if it still has one, if not there are (not too inexpensive) adapters that will convert to HDMI digital. Those external Digital tuners for old analog TVs you mentioned, might work if it has a composite video-in port on it.

If I did get it onto the TV I wouldn't know what t do with it, I had an ATARI 400 (p.o.s.) back then.
I would have to learn some Commodore BASIC to do anything with it I guess.

I had some reason to suspect composite. I didn't know what reason it was, or even if I was right about it... crazy stuff!

Especially when you consider that was, well, more than half my life ago... and the TV might have been in black-and-white and definitely required screw terminals to connect it.

[overclockedmind]

Bet your boots it isn't! If you happened upon one of those "digital to analog TV tuner" thingies the FCC was paying people to buy at one point, you'd have it made. Just depends on how sternly you'd, um, like to make your point.

I looked it up, the VIC -20 and C-64 both have built-in RF modulators and output composite analog video, which should work with the Yellow RCA jack if your TV if it still has one, if not there are (not too inexpensive) adapters that will convert to HDMI digital. Those external Digital tuners for old analog TVs you mentioned, might work if it has a composite video-in port on it.

If I did get it onto the TV I wouldn't know what t do with it, I had an ATARI 400 (p.o.s.) back then.
I would have to learn some Commodore BASIC to do anything with it I guess.

I had some reason to suspect composite. I didn't know what reason it was, or even if I was right about it... crazy stuff!

Especially when you consider that was, well, more than half my life ago... and the TV might have been in black-and-white and definitely required screw terminals to connect it.

I can do that, and then, I can also lose something small I just bought at the gas station before I *leave.* This old brain sure is selective about that kinda thing!

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Here's a guy that mods a C-64 to have HDMI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzPCOoNsoU

[overclockedmind]

Here's a guy that mods a C-64 to have HDMI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzPCOoNsoU

Was gonna guess Adrian's Digital Basement, but this guy is getting subscribed to, nowish.

[overclockedmind]

Seeing the VIC-20 again, just right there, made my day. The HDMI mod? Icing on the cake.

[richmond62]

https://www.amazon.com/Meekwds-Converte ... 468&sr=8-2
-

618UjLFInCL._AC_SX679_.jpg (48.04 KiB) Viewed 2254 times