Join us and the tens of thousands attendees at the Sept. 26-28 Bay Area Maker Faire in Vallejo, California!

https://bayarea.makerfaire.com

Our booth is called the Classic Bay Area Computers! (CBAC!). I've decided to bring the Ultimate 64 with all kinds of new/old games or Commodore 128 with TeensyROM 64/128, the Amiga 1000 with Firebird accelerator or Amiga 500 with Wicher accelerator, the AmigaOne A1222+, and a Toshiba T3200SX giant laptop! My other friends will be bringing in their machines, anywhere from Tandy's to Mac's to rare Japanese computers and/or game consoles.

Though location not confirmed yet, we'll probably be in one of the Coal Shed exhibit buildings. We'll be setting up on Thursday afternoon, and then the BAMF attendees will pour in on Friday, Sept. 26. It will be a long weekend!

Writing from Haywards Heath, England,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

This is BASIC M6502 8K VER 1.1, the 6502 BASIC lineage that powered an era of home computing and formed the foundation of Commodore BASIC in the PET, VIC-20, and the legendary Commodore 64. This very source tree also contains adaptations for the Apple II ("Applesoft BASIC"), built from the same core BASIC source. The original headers still read, "BASIC M6502 8K VER 1.1 BY MICRO-SOFT"—a time capsule from 1978.

The version we are releasing here—labeled "1.1"—contains fixes to the garbage collector identified by Commodore and jointly implemented in 1978 by Commodore engineer John Feagans and Bill Gates, when Feagans traveled to Microsoft's Bellevue offices. This is the version that shipped as the PET's "BASIC V2."

The announcement from Microsoft is here and the code is here.

Supported Computer Systems

The source code includes conditional compilation support for multiple pioneering computer systems:

Apple II (REALIO=4)
Commodore PET (REALIO=3)
Ohio Scientific (OSI) (REALIO=2)
MOS Technology KIM-1 (REALIO=1)
PDP-10 Simulation (REALIO=0)

Technical Specifications

Language: 6502 Assembly Language
Target Processor: MOS Technology 6502 8-bit microprocessor
Memory Footprint: 8KB ROM version
Features: Complete BASIC interpreter with floating-point arithmetic
Architecture: Designed for both ROM and RAM configurations
Key Features
Programming Language Support
Full BASIC language implementation
Floating-point arithmetic
String handling and manipulation
Array support (both integer and string arrays)
Mathematical functions and operators
Input/output operations
Memory Management
Efficient memory utilization for 8-bit systems
String garbage collection
Dynamic variable storage
Stack-based expression evaluation
Hardware Abstraction
Configurable I/O routines for different computer systems
Terminal width adaptation
Character input/output abstraction
Optional disk storage support

Development History

The source code includes detailed revision history showing active development:

July 27, 1978: Fixed critical bugs in FOR loop variable handling and statement parsing
July 1, 1978: Memory optimization and garbage collection improvements
March 9, 1978: Enhanced string function capabilities
February 25, 1978: Input flag corrections and numeric precision improvements
February 11, 1978: Reserved word parsing enhancements
January 24, 1978: User-defined function improvements

Kingston University had an 8-day show featuring retro computers and game machines from 1977 to 1993.  Included were Commodores and an Amiga.  To see the walk-through video, go to

https://youtu.be/L65elNurypU

To see photos, go to

http://blog.retro-link.com/2025/08/photos-of-archive-of-retro-computing.html

and

http://blog.retro-link.com/2025/08/photos-of-archive-of-retro-computing_28.html

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

/*
C128 Menu Example in C

File: menu.c
Author: Micha B 08/2025

Compiler: Oscar64
Compile me:
oscar64 -v -i=include -tm=c128 -O2 -dNOFLOAT -dHEAPCHECK menu.c
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <petscii.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <ctype.h>

/* --- Global variables --- */
char c_choice = 0;

/* --- Function prototypes --- */
void draw_menu(void);
bool f_quit(void);
bool f_opt1(void);
bool f_opt2(void);
bool f_opt3(void);
bool f_opt4(void);

/* --- Draw a text menu --- */
void draw_menu(void)
{
putpch(147); // SCNCLR
printf("\x05================================\n"); // text color: White
printf("  C128 Menu Example\n");
printf("  -----------------\n");
printf("  (1) Option 1    (2) Option 2\n");
printf("  (3) Option 3    (4) Option 4\n");
printf("  (0) Quit\n");
printf("================================\n");
printf("\x1EChoice:\x05 "); // switch to text color green, than back to white
}

/* --- React on user's demand to quit --- */
bool f_quit(void)
{
char c_answer = 'n';

puts("Quit requested!\n\n");
puts("Do you realy want to quit (Y/n)? ");

c_answer = getpch();
if ( ((int) c_answer == 89)  || ((int) c_answer == 217)  )
return (false);
else
return(true);
}

/* --- React on option 1 --- */
bool f_opt1(void)
{
puts("Option 1 requested.\n\n");
puts(" Press a key to CONTINUE... ");
getpch(); // wait for key pressed
return(true);
}

/* --- React on option 2 --- */
bool f_opt2(void)
{
puts("Option 2 requested.\n\n");
puts(" Press a key to CONTINUE... ");
getpch(); // wait for key pressed
return(true);
}

/* --- React on option 3 --- */
bool f_opt3(void)
{
puts("Option 3 requested.\n\n");
puts(" Press a key to CONTINUE... ");
getpch(); // wait for key pressed
return(true);
}

/* --- React on option 4 --- */
bool f_opt4(void)
{
puts("Option 4 requested.\n\n");
puts(" Press a key to CONTINUE... ");
getpch(); // wait for key pressed
return(true);
}


/*  --- Main program --- */
int main(void)
{
bool running = true;

/* --- Prepare the environment --- */
// Switch display mode to lower case petscii
// could also be done by iocharmap(IOCHM_PETSCII_2);
putpch(14); // switch to charmap 2
putpch(;     // lock Charmap selector key

while (running)
{
draw_menu();
c_choice = getpch();

/* --- Select options --- */
switch(c_choice)
{
case '0':
running = f_quit();
break;
case '1':
running = f_opt1();
break;
case '2':
running = f_opt2();
break;
case '3':
running = f_opt3();
break;
case '4':
running = f_opt4();
break;
default:
draw_menu();
}
}
puts("\n\nProgram terminated.\n");
putpch(9); // unlock charmap selector key
putpch(142); // switch back to charmap 1
return 0;
}

In the past, C= repair tech Ray Carlsen sold a ribbon-type cable to replace an SX-64 keyboard cable. Now he sells replica SX-64 cables which are a close match to the original ones! To see both cables for sale, go to

https://portcommodore.com/rcarlsen/cables.html

and go to the bottom of the page.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

    Ah, the last set of videos from the Pacific Commodore Expo NW!  Go to

Owens and Commodore Business Machines -  PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/v_EHXUzDUkk

Bernardo and the AmigaOne A1222+ (redux) - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/pS0fbucjNtM

        Truly,
        Robert Bernardo
        organizer - Pacific Commodore Expo NW
        http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

    Another set of Pacific Commodore Expo NW videos!  This time they are

Innocenti and his SAM440ep - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/8hqPKArnyNI

Innocenti and the VCF South - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/ZPq4xYWWK8s

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          organizer - Pacific Commodore Expo Nw

    Pacific Commodore Expo NW video-uploading has resumed!  The latest videos are

Jones, C64OS, and TeensyROM - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/krB2r2TeFdA

Bernardo and AmigaOS 4 demos, part 2 - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/YqPtgxJP6OU

        Truly,
        Robert Bernardo
        organizer - Pacific Commodore Expo NW
        http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

    Take a look at the many computers I photographed a few weeks ago at the Interim Computer Museum in Tukwila, Washington, USA!  https://icm.museum/  And a few of the computers are Commodore and Amiga!  Part 1 starts at

http://blog.retro-link.com/2025/07/interim-computer-museum-exhibit-and.html

and there is a link there to Part 2 of the pics.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network

    Check out more Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2025 photos at

http://blog.retro-link.com/2025/06/more-pictures-from-pacommex-2025.html

    and the second PaCommEx video to be posted --

Katie and her MIDI wind Instrument, Round 2 - PaCommEx 2025

https://youtu.be/bBozWaGuqMI

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          organizer - Pacific Commodore Expo NW
          http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex