Re: BeamRacer is coming… request for comments

From: silverdr_at_wfmh.org.pl
Date: Tue, 26 May 2020 13:30:35 +0200
Message-Id: <BF929DC8-2D3E-4A1B-975A-4F9E404B9A45_at_wfmh.org.pl>
> On 2020-05-26, at 12:35, Gerrit Heitsch <gerrit_at_laosinh.s.bawue.de> wrote:
> 
>>> About the 5 KB of RAM needed for the VBASIC: should I see it like that if you want to use VBASIC, only then you have to accept that you lose these 5 KB?
>> 
>> Yes, VBASIC additions need 5KiB and therefore your BASIC programs will have a little less playground. This is similar to what other BASIC extensions do.
> 
> Just a question... I always wondered what the RAM from $C000 to $CFFF is used for normally? If not used, couldn't you put most of the VBASIC there?

That 4K is inaccessible for BASIC and the typical use of the era was to either put some "resident" pieces there or to put small assembly routines for augmenting BASIC programs. It was also common to read the ML from DATA lines and POKE it to the $c000 mem.

It is true that most of VBASIC would fit up there but since we since there's still a decent amount of memory left[*] free, we preferred to keep the $c000 region available for what it was often used - ML subroutines that can be called as needed, without interfering with BASIC stuff.

* - for example more than what the well known Simon's BASIC used to leave
-- 
SD! 
Received on 2020-05-30 01:53:35

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