Subject: [Coco] 512K Basic by Microcom

[Robert Gault]

I have the program but don't use it. There is a 4 page "manual" that 
comes with it of which only two pages describe the program.

There is no command set other than EXEC 465 which prints a diagnostic 
list of numbers for Microcom.

The program uses the memory for DLOAD and cassette commands so these no 
longer exist. Apparently the only thing that 512K Basic does is keep 
track of your Basic program size and extend the available memory. On a 
512K system with default program options, there is 408K for program 
memory and 16K for variables.

512K Basic will not be compatible with RGBDOS or HDBDOS and probably not 
with ADOS.

The value of this program is questionable as on most Coco systems there 
would be no way to store the large programs created under 512K Basic. 
This is stated by Microcom who also said, "Future Versions of 512K Basic 
will support hard drives." I don't know whether they got further than 
the version 1.0 which I have.

Stephen H. Fischer wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> If this is a line number Basic using a very simular command set, I would 
> be interested in any details.
> 
> Perhaps someone can point us to Rainbow ads or a review for more on the 
> command set.
> 
> Stephen H. Fischer
> 
> 
> Brian Palmer wrote:
> 
>> Hi Kevin,
>> This is a simple overview of what 512k basic does.
>> 512k basic gives you access to the other 490k in basic, which normally,
>> you only have access to 22k,plus you can have multiple 24k files in
>> different parts of memory, and chain them together to make one big file.
>> And it does work with 128k coco3, just minus some features.
>>
>> Viva La coco 
> 
> 
> 
>