Microsoft BASIC -86 5.x

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Microsoft BASIC -86 5.x

Although Microsoft did not invent BASIC, their founding product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer. The descendants below includes Microsoft's BASIC-80 (MBASIC), BASIC-86 (pre-GWBasic), BASIC for Mac, BASIC Compiler 86/88, Basic Compiler for Mac, and Professional Development System 7.x. IBM Personal Computer Basic Compiler, GW-BASIC, QuickBasic, and Visual Basic are listed separately.

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Lollipop

The CP/M 86 was quite a challenge to get this working. Here is how I did this (on VMware):

Go into WinImage
Make a 360k diskette blank
Inject all files from the archive
Add a img file to Downloads
Close WinImage
Insert DOS Plus 1.2u into drive A.
Insert WinImage newly created diskette into drive B.
Now, go to https://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html and get the MS-DOS 6.22. Boot from the ISO.
Here is how:
Press Escape while VMware boot screen BIOS
Choose CD-ROM
Run "copy B:MBASIC.CMD A:"
Remove CD-ROM from drive
Reboot
Run MBASIC

Boom

Lollipop

Here is the screenshot:

leon22

Regarding the BASIC-86 release for Seattle Computer Products: I tried to use it with the simh / Altair Z80 simulator (with 8086 CPU and Cromemco 4FDC disk controller) but was not able to use it. Is this a boot disk? ("att cromfdc0 basic86.imd" and boot but the simulator froze) Any hints?

SomeGuy

No, it is not a boot disk. You have to boot 86-DOS or MS-DOS first.

leon22

@SomeGuy Interesting because I did like you suggested (86-DOS) and the content of the disk is:

A:dir B:
h
J< 212432011 14-10-82
=;Zs
|; 218892250 07-08-70
h,^^Vh O=Z 393195986 15-08-28
cx
u
Q[r i 298705197 06-02-38
ixuhe

and so on. If I prepare a new empty disk and inject the files from the zip everything is fine. So I think the format is wrong.