Intelligentleman

Does the Aquarius Mini Expander ever turn up on eBay by itself? Like, a stand-alone Mini Expander without the system.

Alright, I'll look into getting it set up. I might be more inclined to make "experiences" rather than traditional "games" however. No idea really.

Totally get what you're saying. If I was going to ever introduce programming to my kids, I can see using the ECS - but only so far as to show them the concept of using alphanumeric "words" and "phrases" to literally tell a computer what to do. Then, if they started showing real interest, that's when I'd switch them over to something worth spending time to learn. At first, they don't even need to know about different programming languages. I just want them to understand that we tell computers what to do, then the computer does it. (At least for now... lol, that is quickly changing).

Well for example. My son wouldn't even be interested in a computer that was styled like either one of those cases. He would be turned off because they don't even resemble a "real" computer aethetically. Compated to the INTV/ECS and Aquarius, which at least look like something "serious." Well, to a 6-year-old kid, anyway.

Ok, now those I would like to kill with fire. lol.

Alright. So essentially that is what's happening here. The last piece of the puzzle will be IntyBasic, I suppose. But I'm still enjoying the novelty of programming on the ECS. I love the look of the display too. It's completely impractical due to the GIANT font size, but man does it look cool when you write even just a simple program on there! haha.

DZ-Jay, i know you said that none of the skills you learned on the ECS translated to the "real" computers, BUT, what about as a tool to simple understand the concept of programming a computer in the first place. Young kids today have no idea how a piece of software comes to be in the first place. So I still think the ECS is good in that regard.

I know the Mattel computers aren't as good as the others that were on the market at the time, but i have an emotional attachment to the brand, and I'm really not interested in programming for anything else.

Awesome. Just bought a complete Aquarius set - base system, tape deck. EDIT: Oops, does not include the mini expander or printer. The printer I can take or leave. But I need that mini expander!

I thought of that, too. However, Nintendo is also one of THE most draconian companies when it comes to punishing fans for their homebrew creations. At least they are in recent times.

In your guys' opinion, would the Mattel Aquarius be an upgrade, performance-wise, to my ECS and INTV II?

Man you guys really hate ECS BASIC. I guess I have the advantage(?) of discovering it without any pre-launch expectations. I'm not disappointed by it because I knew it was a wonky setup going in. Also, the ability to pull in graphic assets from the Mattel cartridges is rad - whether you can do anything remotely interesting with them in a program or not. I don't care what anybody says What media company today would openly invite you to mess around with their IP and, potentially, make an entertaining game out of it for you and your friends? Aside from that, a person in this thread shared a link to some of his ECS programs, and just from reading through the code, they look awesomse!

Yes I think this is exactly what i was hoping to do. Thank you. I'd like to make a fun little game for my son to help him learn his numbers, letters, and other fundamental things. He's 6 and he loves all things mechanical, Electronics... So if I can make him feel like he's on a "mission" or something fun like that, he might learn better. I could layer in some game elements over time. Sound effects for wrong answers. Or what would be really fun is if I could animate the running man and then ask the user questions. Correct answers trigger a chime or maybe turns the running man a different color. Incorrect answers slow him down until he falls like in night stalker.

Getting closer to what I want to do.

Can we make the ECS query a cassette drive to load in more information while discarding code that is no longer needed?

Good to know, thank you. Is it possible for the ECS to run a program from tape/storage? Or does it always want to load the data into the RAM?

Ok. One last thought before I go to bed. The "<" and ">" signs. Does ESC BASIC assign any kind of a quantifiable "value" to an alphabetical user input? Could we say something like "IF [user input] < or > "BRITT"

Ahh, ok. Yes, I was conflating ASCII with BASIC, lol.

This is awesome. The house I grew up in was built in 1879 and is on our National Register of Historical Places. So this music might have been part of the zeitgeist at that time. If remotely.

Shouldn't every alpha-based input have an equivalent numeric value?

Could there be a way to say: if input equals some weird combination of chars that couldn't possibly have been entered by a human... GOTO (line)?

I would like to have some way of telling the computer to do something else if the input does not equal BRITT

Thanks friend. That's a little beyond my understanding, but just knowing there's a workaround is exciting.

Can you explain that? I don't see it in the manual either, and I thought maybe it was an "advanced" command reserved for the home computing guide book. lol.

ahh, there it is. i thought i typed that in once time, but maybe i typo'd it. easy to do on this keyboard! thank you.