BBC BASIC on IRIX
=================
I want to have on my computers a BASIC which is compatible with
the BASIC implementation on my new Cambridge Z88. The Z88 runs a
stripped-down version of the BBC BASIC [1] (it has no graphics
procedures).
So I have been searching for an UNIX-compatible port/clone of the BBC
BASIC. The logical choice was the Richard Russell's "BBC BASIC for SDL
2.0" [2] but it requires the SDL 2 (obviously...) and it needs some
code changes to be ported to the POWER or the MIPS platform. So at the
moment it does not compile on my OpenPOWER computer nor on my SGI
workstations.
Fortunately there is a different implementation called Brandy BASIC [3]
which is declared to run on the Mac OS X, the NetBSD, the OpenBSD, on
the DOS and Linux and even on the general UNIX platform.
So I tried to compile it on my UNIX system (on the IRIX 5.3). It did
not work. The "TARGET_UNIX" was available in the "variables.h" file but
it was not used in the *.c files. So I have had to go through sources
and add it to the right places. Then I was able to compile it. I also
add an identification string to the "target.h" file.
After a simple test it seems to me that it works. It accepts inputs,
runs BASIC programs, loads and saves BASIC program files. It does not
like the SGI's very own "winter" terminal emulator (well, that's not so
unusual) but it works inside the XTerm correctly.
It there any other human being on the Earth who can benefit from this
port? Should I make it available for download somewhere?
References:
[1] http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic.html
[2] http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/
[3] http://jaguar.orpheusweb.co.uk/branpage.html
P.S. Written (and all work done) on the SGI IRIS Indigo R3000 (aka
Siemens RW520 workstation) with the IRIX 5.3.