BASICODE

BASICODE was a 1980s-era cross-platform BASIC standard designed to allow software transmission by radio. It consisted of the following elements:

• A subset of classic Microsoft BASIC common to the BASIC dialects of the target platforms
• A standard set of subroutines to provide functionality for which no common BASIC syntax exists
• An audio modulation format intended to be readable by data cassette players

See the summary of the BASICODE specification_ for details.

.. image:: http://robhagemans.github.io/basicode/zwart1.jpg

This repository is a collection of BASICODE programs. You can run these in the online BASICODE interpreter, for which the source code is also available.

.. _summary of the BASICODE specification: BASICODE.rst .. _online BASICODE interpreter: http://robhagemans.github.io/basicode .. _source code: https://github.com/robhagemans/basicode-interpreter

Background

BASICODE was developed in 1980 by Dutch broadcaster NOS for its hobby-electronics radio programme Hobbyscoop. Its purpose was to enable radio transmission of software to owners of numerous mutually incompatible 8-bit platforms.

BASICODE users would tape record the modulated program from the radio. They would need a native translation program for their platform, which would decode the common audio format and supplement the BASICODE program with the platform implementation of the standard subroutines. If everything went well, they would then be able to run and use the program.

The NOS started BASICODE transmissions in 1982 on medium wave Dutch radio. Other broadcasters followed suit: the Dutch TROS, the British BBC, the West German WDR and the East German Radio DDR all at one time or another performed regular BASICODE transmissions. In re-unified Germany, Deutschlandsender Kultur continued to transmit BASICODE until around 1992.

BASICODE programs were also distributed on collection recordings: mostly these were cassette tapes, but there were audio CDs and gramophone records as well, as well as diskette sets. Many of these sources additionally contained translation programs for one or more platforms.

While the authors and broadcasters retained copyrights on the programs, they encouraged them to be shared widely for non-commercial purposes.

Contents

This repository contains BASICODE programs from a number of sources. I have decoded them from the original audio recordings, where available, and corrected transmission failures using context, alternative sources and checksums. I have concentrated on the portable BASICODE sources and have omitted platform-specific code such as translation programs. The following titles are included:

================================== ========== ===== ================== ================== Title Medium Year Standard Language ================================== ========== ===== ================== ================== Chip Shop BASICODE 2_ Tape 1984 BASICODE-2 English Wiegand & Fillinger - Basicode_ Tape 1984 BASICODE-2 German BASICODE-2A_ Tape 1985 BASICODE-2 English and Dutch SIG/M volume 235: BASICODE_ Diskette 1985 BASICODE-2 English and Dutch The Best of BASICODE 1_ Tape 1985 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 2_ Tape 1985 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 3_ Tape 1986 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 4_ Tape 1987 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 5_ CD 1988 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 6_ Diskette 1991 BASICODE-2 Dutch The Best of BASICODE 7_ Diskette 1992 Text only Dutch BASICODE-3_ Tape 1986 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 1_ Tape 1987 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 2_ Tape 1987 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 3_ Tape 1988 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 4_ Tape 1988 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 5_ Tape 1989 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 6_ Tape 1989 BASICODE-3 Dutch BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 7_ Tape 1990 BASICODE-3 Dutch and German BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 8_ Tape 1990 BASICODE-3 Dutch and German BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 9_ Tape 1990 BASICODE-3 Dutch and German BasiCode Sammelsurium_ Diskette 1998 BASICODE-2, 3, 3C German Software-Archiv des KC-Clubs_ Web 2002 BASICODE-2, 3, 3C German ================================== ========== ===== ================== ==================

Also included are a few BASICODE programs from various sources_ such as radio recordings.

.. _BASICODE-2A: Basicode-2a/ .. _Chip Shop BASICODE 2: Chip_Shop_Basicode_2/ .. _Wiegand & Fillinger - Basicode: Wiegand_Fillinger_Basicode_2/ .. _SIG/M volume 235: BASICODE: SIGM-235/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 1: Best_of_Basicode_1/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 2: Best_of_Basicode_2/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 3: Best_of_Basicode_3/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 4: Best_of_Basicode_4/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 5: Best_of_Basicode_5/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 6: Best_of_Basicode_6/ .. _The Best of BASICODE 7: Best_of_Basicode_7/ .. _BASICODE-3: Basicode-3/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 1: Verzamelcassette_1/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 2: Verzamelcassette_2/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 3: Verzamelcassette_3/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 4: Verzamelcassette_4/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 5: Verzamelcassette_5/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 6: Verzamelcassette_6/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 7: Verzamelcassette_7/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 8: Verzamelcassette_8/ .. _BASICODE-3 Verzamelcassette 9: Verzamelcassette_9/ .. _BasiCode Sammelsurium: Sammelsurium/ .. _Software-Archiv des KC-Clubs: KC-Club/ .. _BASICODE programs from various sources: Various/

Acknowledgements

A big thank you to Janny Looyenga, Jan Bredenbeek, André van der Leeden, Thomas Rademacher, Victor Reijs and many others for history, BASICODE recordings and background information!

Publications

• Hans G. Janssen (ed.), BASICODE Hobbyscoop 2, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, Hilversum, 1983.
• Trevor Taylor (ed.), The Chip Shop BASICODE-2, Broadcasting Support Services, London, 1984.
• Jacques Haubrich (ed.), Het BASICODE-3 Boek, Kluwer Technische Boeken, Deventer, 1986.
• Michael Wiegand, Heike u. Manfred Fillinger, BASICODE. Mit Programmkassette, Ravensburger Buchverlag, Ravensburg, 1986.
• 'basicode-2', Elektuur 10 1983.
• Prof. Dr. Horst Völz, 'Datenaustausch mit BASICODE_', Radio Fernsehen Elektronik 1 1990.
• Frank Veraart, 'Basicode: Co-Producing a Microcomputer Esperanto', History of Technology 28 2008

Online resources

• Janny Looyenga, BASICODE_.
• Victor Reijs, Overview of BASICODE-3_.
• Lennart Benschop, BASICODE: an example of Dutch computer folklore_.
• Thomas Rademacher, BasiCode – Software für alle_.
• Jan Bredenbeek, BASICODE wiki_.

.. _BASICODE: http://www.nostalgia8.nl/basicode.htm .. _Datenaustausch mit BASICODE: http://www.kc85emu.de/scans/rfe0190/Basicode.htm .. _BASICODE: an example of Dutch computer folklore: https://lennartb.home.xs4all.nl/basicode.html .. _Overview of BASICODE-3: http://www.iol.ie/~geniet/eng/BASICODE3sub.htm .. _BasiCode – Software für alle: http://www.joyce.de/basicode/ .. _BASICODE wiki: https://github.com/janbredenbeek/Basicode-wiki/wiki