Senior Member
Joined: 15/07/2021
Location: AustraliaPosts: 146
| Posted: 07:56am 29 May 2023 |
I've tried to resist throwing in my 2c worth...but failed.
I love tinkering with all (OK...most) of my old computers, but I have been on the lookout for quite a while for a "modern" equivalent. I was never into assembly language back in the day. I could never afford the assembler, and with just a unreliable cassette player for storage, development was very painful.
So for quite a few years now, I've been looking for a modern "boot-to-BASIC" machine that had some limitations (limitations bring out creativity) but had a development environment that was enjoyable to use.
I was also after "cheap"...a relative term, but I had always imagined running some sort of holiday workshop where kids could come along, make their own "boot-to-BASIC" computer, and then take it home with them and continue to experiment with it.
I've built Rob Cai's dual Arduino Nano Tiny BASIC computer, but it was WAY too limited in the language. I thought it would have been better implemented using STM32 Blue Pills.
Then I discovered Fabrizio's FabGL and the cheap hardware that it ran on. The only problem, was that it lacked a "modern" BASIC. Paul Robson came really close with his "Eris" BASIC, however his implementation of BASIC programmed in his own virtual machine with it's own assembly language meant that it was difficult for anyone else to help with, and he moved onto other projects. He's now been helping out with the software on the Foenix.
Uli's Engine BASIC on the Allwinner H3 processor is very close to perfect, and the hardware is "cheap" (a relative term) when compared to the price that the Commander X16 is going to be released at, more akin to the Argon. And certainly cheaper than even to most common retro/vintage machine. However, it cannot be interfaced with, and it certainly can't be built by the average hobbiest.
So now I have ended up at the PicoMiteVGA. Unlike many here, my interest is in using it as a stand-alone (mostly) machine that I can develop on/for and maybe interface to. It's by no means perfect, (no insult intended), but Peter and Geoff are very responsive to bug fixes and (where possible) feature requests. The very active community here is very helpful when I get stuck. And I feel like I can make small contributions to the community. As mentioned before, the PicoMiteVGA has it's limitations, and sometimes that can be frustrating, but limitations is what brings out creativity.
Regarding the Argon, I have programmed in BBC BASIC on my Amstrad NC100, and I found it a very good language to program in. It offers the more advanced constructs than early BASICs, but is not as modern as MMBasic. I was keeping an eye on the porting of BBC BASIC to the FabGL platform. That would almost have suited my needs.
Anyway, I've waffled on for long enough. I'm not sure you got 2c worth but eh...what do you want for nothin'.
Hawk