You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.
We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.
Required fields*
- 1It might be worth mentioning that the BASIC.COM and BASICA.COM that were included on IBM-DOS disks would not run on anything other than IBM PC computers, since only IBM computers had a licensed Microsoft BASIC interpreter in ROM that those programs could path.supercat– supercat2022-10-09 16:23:43 +00:00Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 16:23
- @supercat which simply makes them hardware related utilities - the same way FDISK is.Raffzahn– Raffzahn2022-10-09 16:25:37 +00:00Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 16:25
- 2BASIC is a somewhat different discussion anyway; IIRC OEMs could license MS-DOS without GW-BASIC if they wanted to, and some manufacturers highlighted “with GW-BASIC” in their adverts (but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-IBM MS-DOS system without GW-BASIC).Stephen Kitt– Stephen Kitt2022-10-09 16:35:44 +00:00Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 16:35
- @Raffzahn: I suppose in the days before hard drives, people may have gotten to experience the difference between an IBM PC that would launch into Cassette BASIC if the floppy drive is empty, and other machines which would display an "Insert bootable disk" message, but I doubt people would have thought of BASIC or BASICA as "hardware-related utilities" that add features to the already installed but useless Cassette BASIC. In retrospect, I find it somewhat suprising that IBM didn't display a message asking whether people wanted to launch cassette basic or retry booting, since...supercat– supercat2022-10-09 18:17:44 +00:00Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 18:17
- ...it would have been far more common for someone to accidentally have a drive door open when rebooting than to want to run Cassette BASIC on a floppy-based system, and the partial self-test that would happen after hitting control-alt-del from within BASIC would add significantly to the time to boot a floppy once the problem was fixed.supercat– supercat2022-10-09 18:22:53 +00:00Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 18:22
Add a comment |
How to Edit
- Correct minor typos or mistakes
- Clarify meaning without changing it
- Add related resources or links
- Always respect the author’s intent
- Don’t use edits to reply to the author
How to Format
- create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~ ```
like so
``` - add language identifier to highlight code ```python
def function(foo):
print(foo)
``` - put returns between paragraphs
- for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
- _italic_ or **bold**
- quote by placing > at start of line
- to make links (use https whenever possible) <https://example.com>[example](https://example.com)<a href="https://example.com">example</a>
How to Tag
A tag is a keyword or label that categorizes your question with other, similar questions. Choose one or more (up to 5) tags that will help answerers to find and interpret your question.
- complete the sentence: my question is about...
- use tags that describe things or concepts that are essential, not incidental to your question
- favor using existing popular tags
- read the descriptions that appear below the tag
If your question is primarily about a topic for which you can't find a tag:
- combine multiple words into single-words with hyphens (e.g. ms-dos), up to a maximum of 35 characters
- creating new tags is a privilege; if you can't yet create a tag you need, then post this question without it, then ask the community to create it for you