BASIC 8 (or BASIC 8.0) — "The Enhanced Graphics System For The C128" — developed by Walrusoft of Gainesville, Florida and published in 1986 by Patech Software of Somerset, New Jersey, USA, was an extension of Commodore's BASIC 7.0 for the C128 home/personal computer. BASIC 8.0 provided commands lacking in BASIC 7.0 to generate (color) graphics in the C128's high-resolution 80-column mode (640×200 pixels) for RGB monitors. American software company Walrusoft, Inc. ... Location in Alachua County and the state of Florida Coordinates: , Country State County Incorporated (city) 15 April 1869 Government  - Type Council-manager  - Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan  - City Manager Russ Blackburn Area [1]  - City 49. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Somerset is a census-designated place located in Somerset County, New Jersey. ... BASIC toolkits (aka BASIC extensions) - not to be confused with widget toolkits - were a common type of program for 1980s 8-bit home computers. ... Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was an American electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home/personal computer field in the 1980s. ... Commodore BASIC is the dialect of BASIC used in Commodore Internationals 8-bit home computer line, stretching from the PET of 1977 to the C128 of 1985. ... The Commodore 128 (C128, CBM 128, C=128) home/personal computer was Commodore Business Machiness (CBM) last commercially released 8-bit machine. ... This article is primarily about a certain class of Personal computers from the late 1970s to mid 1980s, see Domotics or Home servers for home computers used in home automation. ... 2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models (such as 2D geometric models, text, and digital images) and by techniques specific to them. ... This article is about the picture element. ... REDIRECT RGB color model ...

The BASIC 8 package was developed by Walrusoft's Louis Wallace and David Darus, with contributions from Ken French (printer drivers) and indirectly from Richard Rylander (who allowed his 3D solids commands for the C64, originally published in Dr. Dobb's Journal, to be converted to the C128's hi-res mode). In computers, a printer driver or a print processor is a piece of software that converts the data to be printed to the form specific to a printer. ... C-64 redirects here. ... Dr. Dobbs Journal (DDJ) is a monthly journal published in the United States by CMP Media. ...

Background and description

The problem

One of the primary critiques of Commodore's computers was that their BASIC programming language dialects lacked easy sound, graphics, and input device commands, like their competitors in the Apple II and Atari 8-bit families – requiring obscure PEEK and POKE sequences, or machine language routines, to generate high-resolution graphics, sound and music, or read from joysticks and paddles. The BASIC 2.0 of the Commodore 64, totally void of sound and graphics commands, induced the development of many third-party language extensions, such as Simons' BASIC, enabling non-expert users to enter the world of computer graphics. This article is about the machine. ... BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ... The 1977 Apple II, complete with integrated keyboard, color graphics, sound, a plastic case and eight expansion slots. ... An Atari 800XL, one of the most popular machines in the series. ... In computing, PEEK is a BASIC programming language function used for reading the contents of a memory cell at a specified address. ... A system of codes directly understandable by a computers CPU is termed this CPUs native or machine language. ... C-64 redirects here. ... Simons BASIC was an extension to BASIC 2. ...

When the C128 was launched, its BASIC 7.0 contained a host of (sound and) graphics commands, but, disappointingly, they only worked in the "40-column" video mode, i.e. the TV/composite monitor mode with a resolution equal to the C64's. Users who wanted to program graphics in the C128's new high-resolution "80-column mode", primarily intended for RGBI monitors, found themselves in an even worse position than previously with the C64, since the C128's 8563 VDC graphics chip was much harder to program than the VIC-II.^[1] Composite video, also called CVBS (Composite Video Blanking and Sync), is the format of an analog television (picture only) signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. ... It has been suggested that MOS Technology 8568 be merged into this article or section. ... The VIC-II (Video Interface Chip II), specifically known as the MOS Technology 6567/8562/8564 (NTSC versions), 6569/8565/8566 (PAL), is the integrated circuit chip tasked with generating composite video graphics and DRAM refresh signals in the Commodore 64 and C128 home computers. ...

A solution

BASIC 8.0 filled in the gap. It came on floppy disk and ROM chip versions, and provided many graphics commands that were competitive with the C128's opposition in the high-end 8-bit microcomputer market. BASIC 8.0 was fully compatible with the various first-party RAM and video RAM expansion chips and cartridges, as well as mice and joysticks. In addition, it had basic 3D graphics commands. Along with a decent 188-page manual, the included software package included a BASIC 8.0 example of a GUI, and a BASIC 8.0 based high-res paint program, Basic Paint. A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... Read-only memory (usually known by its acronym, ROM) is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. ... Different types of RAM. From top to bottom: DIP, SIPP, SIMM 30 pin, SIMM 72 pin, DIMM, RIMM RAM redirects here. ... Cartridge for the VIC 20 homecomputer In various types of electronic equipment, a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... This article is about process of creating 3D computer graphics. ... GUI redirects here. ... A bitmap graphics editor is a computer program that allows users to paint and edit pictures interactively on the computer screen and save them in one of many popular bitmap or raster formats such as JPEG, PNG, GIF and TIFF. Usually an image viewer is preferred over a bitmap graphics...

Source code, copy protection

Source code of some of the BASIC 8 package was provided, and the BASIC 8.0 disk lacked any sort of copy protection, but this was before the Open Source Initiative; it was done as a courtesy. Instead of threatening legal action (as with the Microsoft EULA or the GNU GPL), Walrusoft simply asked users not to copy the software in the documentation. It worked; BASIC 8.0 became one of the best selling expansions for the C128. Copy prevention, also known as copy protection, is any technical measure designed to prevent duplication of information. ... The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software. ... A software license is a type of proprietary or gratiuitious license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software — sometimes called an End User License Agreement (EULA) — that specifies the perimeters of the permission granted by the owner to the user. ... GPL redirects here. ...

Sample commands

In BASIC 8.0, all added commands were prefaced with the @ mark, which was not normally used in Commodore BASIC, to distinguish between the original and the new keywords. Look up @ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A commercial at, @, also called an at symbol, an at sign, or just at, is a symbolic abbreviation for the word at. ...

• @CHAR – Displays a text string on a bitmap field (similar to the BASIC 7.0's low-res CHAR command)
• @MODE – Switch between one of up to 32 high-res screens
• @PAINT – Fill a closed area with a color or a pattern
• @PIXEL – Returns the color value of a pixel
• @STASH – Copies part or all of a screen for later usage
• @WALRUS – Displays the Walrusoft logo and the type/size of video RAM used (16K or 64K)
• @WINDOWOPEN – Define part of the screen as a 'window' for purposes of drawing

Notes

1. ^  The VDC was programmed by writing commands to and reading status messages from a single control register and transferring data between system RAM and the chip's dedicated video RAM (16 or 64KB, depending on C128 version) via a single data register, following a relatively complex protocol—a laborious and slow procedure compared with the straightforward use of the several discrete, memory mapped control/status registers the shared system/video memory setup of the VIC-II. Many programmers took advantage of a VDC control primitive buried deep within the part of the Kernal that controlled the 80 column video display, rather than writing their own primitive.

In computing, a hardware register is a storage area for Digital electronics and particularly Computer hardware including the Central processing unit (CPU) and input/output (I/O) of different kinds. ... Memory-mapped I/O (MMIO) and port I/O (also called port-mapped I/O or PMIO) are two complementary methods of performing input/output between the CPU and I/O devices in a computer. ... Machine code or machine language is a system of instructions and data directly executed by a computers central processing unit. ... The KERNAL is Commodores name for the ROM-resident operating system core in its 8-bit home computers; from the original PET of 1977, via the extended, but strongly related, versions used in its successors; the VIC-20, C64, Plus/4, C16, and C128. ...

References

• Wallace, Louis R. (1987). Basic 8 Manual. Somerset, NJ: Walrusoft/Patech Software, Inc., 188 pp.. 

External links

• Basic 8 Manual (270-KB text file) – From the Project 64 documentation project