BBC Basic for the Spectrum Next

[deanb01]

I started this project a couple of months ago as a project to get into Spectrum Next development. I'd already ported BBC Basic for Z80 to a homebrew Z80 breadboard computer I've designed, as a result of discovering the source code had been released under an open source license (source: http://cowlark.com/2019-06-14-bbcbasic- ... index.html), so porting it again to the Next seemed to be an obvious choice.

BBC Basic for Next now at the stage where it is useable and can run a good chunk of BASIC code written for the BBC Micro/Electron with little to no modification.

Key features include:

• 4 video modes (256x192 ULA, 256x192 L2, 320x256 L2 and 640x256 L2)
• L2 video modes support high-resolution colour; no attribute clash!
• Disk I/O support
• Graphics support (point, line, triangle and circle)
• In-line assembler tweaked to include Z80N instructions
• Next Turbo modes (3.5Mhz, 7Mhz, 14Mhz and 28Mhz)

Thankfully the core Z80 interpreter written by R.T.Russell is a joy to work with; easy to expand, and extremely well written. This interpreter helps the Next maintain a healthy benchmark, even when running at 3.5Mhz.

You can find more details on the project here over on my GitHub account along with .nex files and example BBC Basic files that can be run on a Next/MiSTer FPGA/ZEsarUX/CSpect or any Next compatible system.

[BigEd]

Sounds great! (You probably know Richard is active on this forum. He might even be along in a minute...)

Nice repo - I will have a dig around that. Here's a working link (!)

[deanb01]

Cheers! Yep, I know of Richard through his work on BBC Basic on other platforms, mainly Windows and DOS, and lately for his work on the Z80 version. I'm glad Richard (and other folk) are actively maintaining this language still as it's one of the better, if not best interpreters of its time.