Basilynx - A BASIC interpreter for the Lynx

[Nop90]

Last weekend started this project using the EhBasic sources. My idea is to extend the language with some of the GFX commands from the Atari Basic and maybe a command to play ABC tunes.

 

 

I designed a 6x6 ascii font for this project, coded the text output code and at the moment I'm coding a Virtual Keyboard for the input.

 

 

Last thing to add will be the possibility to load and save the programs using the LynxGD.

 

At some poiint I'll publish the WIP code on my github so to receive some help (if someone wants), for the moments I want to code alone to improve my ASM skills.

 

Don't expect I can go fast with this, with the new year just started my job requires a lot of time.

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Nop90

[42bs]

? I wanted to do it as well since there was a discussion on Hackaday. In the beginning we had a keyboard connected via card port.
I was thinking to use a Arduino connected to comlynx and an USB keyboard connected to the Arduino.

 

[+karri]

What about using ZX-81 basic style input? If I remember correctly IF was one key, GOTO another and so on.

Perhaps the input could be like in Dracula.

It could also be nice to have a good set of pre-defined sprites and pre-defined sounds that you could use.

SAVE / LOAD / RUN game from eeprom.

Perhaps studying C64 and friends would give a hint of what kind of features are required.

[42bs]

Esp. with a 64K EEPROM

 

[+bhall408]

A tangent to this, but perhaps interesting/useful -- a desktop hosted cross compiler? ie, a "LynxBASIC" that would compile to p-code which this interprets and/or directly to a LNX file/6502? IntyBASIC, Batari Basic, etc really opened up console development to lots of people for their respective platforms.

 

[Nop90]

Let me do a first working version, then everyone will be free to modify or add things to it. The EhBasic core shold be fully working, but without a way to input something it only waits forever.

 

So the priority is to add a basic virtual keyboard that in the furure can be expanded.

 

I don't want to add Suzy support in the BASIC instructions, only gfx primitives working on the framebuffer, but POKEing data in memory should be possible to do everything.

[Nop90]

19 minutes ago, bhall408 said:

a desktop hosted cross compiler?

A Basic compiler would be great, but I don't have the experience to do it.

 

Also a Basic interpreter would be impossible for me without EhBasic sources freely available for non commercial use.

[+karri]

2 minutes ago, Nop90 said:

A Basic compiler would be great, but I don't have the experience to do it.

 

Also a Basic interpreter would be impossible for me without EhBasic sources freely available for non commercial use.

I was seriously thinking about threaded interpretive languages for creating a mini-compiler/interpreter.

 

Microsoft BASIC started as a threaded interpretive language. At the university I wrote an 800 byte os/compiler/interpreter for FORTH as a threaded interpretive language. The good thing is the the end code becomes just a list of pointers to RAM addresses.

 

[Fadest]

8Bit Hub allows to connect a keyboard & mouse to the Hub. So it may be the most convenient option to have a keyboard for BasiLynx ?

[Nop90]

Update: the virtual keyboard is minimal but working

 

 

the problem is that the basic isn't working.P robably I broke something. Now... debugging ?