On Thu, 2008-04-03 at 14:15 -0400, Ric Moore wrote: > On Wed, 2008-04-02 at 07:45 -0700, Craig White wrote: > > On Wed, 2008-04-02 at 09:31 -0500, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote: > > > Les wrote: > > > > Actually, Microsoft was a late comer to personal computers. I own > > > > (still) an Altair 8800B, and owned a > > > > Morrow Microdecision before that, both on CP/M. And prior to that I had > > > > systems that ran various other OS's > > > > that were a bit more limited, and one straight bootstrap system for > > > > which you had to furnish an OS of your favorite > > > > flavor. Microsoft did not create, or really enable personal computers, > > > > they just got the contract to write the OS for IBM, and were able to > > > > bootstrap that into the corporation you see today. > > > > > > > Microsoft's entry into the personal computer market was by supplying > > > a version of BASIC that for several operating systems. I can > > > remember loading it from tape, and later burning it to EPROM with a > > > small relocation program to move it into RAM at the address it > > > expected to run. (It was not relocatable...) > > ---- > > I have that tape still... > > > > Microsoft's version for Apple...called 'Floating Point Basic Language' > > for Apple ][ because my original Apple ][ had integer basic in ROM and > > Floating Point Basic had to be loaded from a cassette. I do sort of > > wonder if it has any value. > > THAT's the one I had, what a pirating tool it was, too!! Heheheh, just > note the starting address of a binary program loaded into memory, note > the length, and save it to tape after hitting the reset button. Then > we'd load up a real system disk, reload the program back from tape and > "bsave" it to a floppy, noting the start and length parameters, and you > had that sucker. God only knows how many space games we liberated from > copy-protected disks. Then, Jobs decided to make the Apple][+, so there > would be no more pirating shenanigans. Right. We made eprom copies of > the original integer basic roms to load into the plus machines. Those > were the good-ole days, for sure. I still have a cassette copy of the > Apple floating point basic, too. I wish I had kept the Red and Blue > Books. Woz was/is a Saint. I wish he'd come out on the Linux side. Ric ---- yeah...I have no idea what happened to my 'red' book either (I never saw the blue book). As for Woz...he's probably still holding too much Apple stock to seriously consider anything public about Linux but you know he's fooled with it. What the hey...he's busy playing hide the salami with you know who. Craig
