Talk:Rocky Mountain BASIC

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[edit] Research notes

Stuff to research and distill and integrate into article, refine, refactor, etc. A combination to-do list, bookmark list, and notepad.

http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.05/05.01/Jan89Letters/

How exactly does RMB tie into the HP 9000 history? I'm begining to see a pattern that leads me to suspect the HP 9000 line was actually *created* as computers originally purpose-built by HP to be instrument controllers, running RMB (and maybe Pascal), and HP then decided to turn them into a more general-purpose computer platform.

When the Series 200 was conceived, HP required a higher level language and chose Pascal. With the development of a suitable Pascal compiler for the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, HP had a perfect environment for evolving the series 200 platform beyond the simple desktop "calculators" of earlier vintage. A special version of Pascal was developed for RMB, dubbed Modcal. The Series 200 RMB interpreter and editor were written in Modcal. As the platform evolved beyond the 68000, to the other 680xx family members, RMB was updated both to take advantage of the new microprocessors as well as to maintain compatitbility across all Series 200/300, Model 9000 computers. Any Series 200 or 300 model could boot the RMB kernel and function as an RMB-only controller/computer. With the development of HP-UX, Workstation Pascal (also available for the Series 200/300 models) became superfluous. However, RMB did not. Thus, RMB was ported to HP-UX and offered the same I/O simplicity while running under a multitasking environment. Katsrkool (talk) 05:56, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

http://www.openpa.net/systems/dawn.html claims “A choice of operating systems was provided by HP for the 520: HP BASIC or HP-UX. Both were built on top of a common kernel, called SUN OS (sic!) which provided basic operating primitives like memory, processor and I/O management. This was intended to be invisible to the user.”

"rmb" was apparently the Unix command name used to start BASIC/UX on HP 9000 systems. See Agilent document entitled "Running Rocky Mountain Basic from Board Test Basic".

Does the HP 2100 and HP Time-Shared BASIC relate to RMB at all? Was that BASIC an inspiration for, or even a direct ancestor of, RMB, or is it mostly unrelated?

What about the HP-80/HP-85 line of "calculators", which were actually personal computers running a BASIC? I've read that you could get HP-IB for HP 86.

As pointed out elsewhere on the Web, the HP 8x was an HP Corvallis, Oregon, product line while the Series 200/300 computers were developed at HP Fort Collins, Colorado. The two versions of BASIC offered for these two platforms had similar syntax as both used HP-IB to control instruments and other peripherals.

Later on, HP developed a Language Co-Processor product which was, in effect, a single-board Series 200 computer in the form-factor of an IBM PC, full-length I/O card. When installed in PC, the Co-Processor could function independently of the PC and provide the same RMB environment. The Co-Processor card had a single HP-IB connector available on the external faceplate, as well as supporting a GP-IO daughter card on an internal connector.

The RMB environment was excellent for quick-and-dirty development of programs for controlling instruments and peripherals. In practice, however, these programs could become difficult to manage as they grew in size and complexity. Variable-type declarations were not possible, for example. Also, as helpful as line numbers could be, there was a limitation of 32767 lines in a single program. Although, compiled subroutines or CSUBs were one way around this problem, the advantage of the simpicity of RMB was obscured. Katsrkool (talk) 06:25, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Do some searches for:

  • "HP BASIC"
  • "Rocky Mountain BASIC"
  • "RM-BASIC"
  • "Board Test BASIC"
  • "BT-BASIC"
  • HP and Agilent part and model numbers

Do those searches on:

  • Google Web
  • Google Groups
  • HP website
  • Agilent website

A list of related HP/Agilent part and model numbers, which can be very useful as search keywords:

  • E2046A - BASIC/UX license for series 700
  • E2045A - BASIC/UX docs and media for series 700; option AAH was DAT tape
  • E2040L - BASIC/UX license for series 300
  • E2040B - BASIC/UX docs and media for series 300; option AAH was DAT tape
  • 50960A (some old SRM server ref)
  • E2045C - BASIC/UX for...
  • E2060C and E2060D - HP BASIC for Windows and HTBasic, respectively
  • E2163B - HP BASIC Plus (for S/700)
  • 98256A 48L Rev D, HP BASIC ROM Card for HP 9836

Old HP hardware that relates:

  • HP 9000/920 (9920A) (???)
  • HP-9825
  • HP-9020
  • HP-9030
  • HP-9050
  • HP-9816 = Series 200 Model 16 = HP 9000 Model 216
  • HP-9826 = Series 200 Model 26 = HP 9000 Model 226
  • HP-9836 = Series 200 Model 26 = HP 9000 Model 236 (also HP-9836C, HP-9836CU)
  • HP-86
    • 82936A ROM Drawer
    • 15005B Advanced Programming ROM 1 & 2
    • 15003A I/O ROM
    • 15002A Plotter ROM
    • 15012A Electronic Disk ROM
    • 15004A Matrix ROM

Agilent HP BASIC/UX product home page: http://www.home.agilent.com/USeng/nav/-536889959.536880394/pd.html

Look for old RMB manuals from HP on the 'net for historical records.

Should add a new section on notable features, including (move here from intro): matrix ops, I/O ops, event driven operation, plotter support, graphics support, ... what else? Also, add info on the BASIC PLUS GUI kit (note non-relation to DEC'S BASIC-PLUS which is now owned by HP!!).

Add some code examples!

Some "old computer" websites that are likely to have useful info: