QUICK TIP
QUICK TIP
BASIC MADE EASY
BUYING RETRO MACHINES
QUICK TIP
Having trouble finding the “ key on the Oric? We did this key is mapped to the # key on a UK keyboard. US keyboard layouts have the key in the “correct” place.
Loading games using CLOAD”” is common across many home computers of the era. The Mattel Aquarius used this method to load, but the TRS-80 which we’ve already covered (see LXF282) uses CLOAD and CLOADM. The difference being CLOADM will load machine code games.
We’ve covered many different forms of the BASIC language in this series, but the root of it all takes us back to 1964 where BASIC was developed as a high-level (easy-to-read) language by John G Kemeny, chairman of the Dartmouth College Math Department. The name BASIC came from Thomas Kurtz.
Buying retro hardware is expensive and you have to be careful. Before you even start bidding, do your homework. Watch YouTube videos such as those by Adrian Black (www.youtube.com/c/adriansdigitalbasement) and The 8-Bit Guy (www.youtube.com/user/adric22): these experts take apart old systems and learn what makes them tick.
Clock Signal can be used to emulate many different machines. All you need are the correct BIOS/ROM files and you can travel back in time to when Wham was both a band and a teethshattering candy bar!
QUICK TIP
Having trouble finding the “ key on the Oric? We did this key is mapped to the # key on a UK keyboard.
US keyboard layouts have the key in the “correct” place.