Mattel Aquarius BASIC tokenized file - Revision history

Dan Tobias: /* Links */

2014-11-18T13:39:28Z

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Dan Tobias at 03:13, 13 August 2014

2014-08-13T03:13:08Z

Dan Tobias at 00:36, 13 August 2014

2014-08-13T00:36:11Z

Dan Tobias: Created page with "{{FormatInfo |subcat=Source code |subcat2=Tokenized BASIC |extensions={{ext|bas}} |released=1983 }} The '''Mattel Aquarius''' was a short-lived home computer released by Matte..."

2014-08-13T00:35:56Z

Created page with "{{FormatInfo |subcat=Source code |subcat2=Tokenized BASIC |extensions={{ext|bas}} |released=1983 }} The '''Mattel Aquarius''' was a short-lived home computer released by Matte..."

New page

{{FormatInfo
|subcat=Source code
|subcat2=Tokenized BASIC
|extensions={{ext|bas}}
|released=1983
}}
The '''Mattel Aquarius''' was a short-lived home computer released by Mattel in 1983, and criticized for being more of a 1970s-style computer, out of date at the time. An improved model, the Aquarius II (code-named "Chess" when the earlier model had been code-named "Checkers"), was never released under the Mattel name as that company decided to go out of the computer business; the company that had been contracted to create the computer completed it and manufactured a small number of them, however.

The [[BASIC]] programming language was a version of Microsoft BASIC (similarly to a number of other computer models of the time), and presumably used a similar tokenized structure. The specific tokens could vary between different Microsoft BASICs, however. One might be able to determine the token values by running the JSMESS emulation (linked below), choosing "Aquarius BASIC", inputing a program, then peeking at the memory to see the token values. That would require knowing just how to peek at memory; <code>PRINT PEEK(1)</code> gives a cryptic <code>?FC Error</code>.

Since graphic characters are spread out across the entire 256-character range of the [[Mattel Aquarius character set]], it's also unclear how token values are distinguished from literal characters.

== Links ==
* [[Wikipedia:Mattel Aquarius|Wikipedia article]]
* [http://jsmess.textfiles.com/messloader.html?module=aquarius JSMESS in-browser emulation]
* [http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/ Page about Aquarius computer]
* [http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/images/techinfo/aquarius-characterset.jpg Character set graphic]
* [http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/aquarius2.html Page about Aquarius 2 computer]
* [http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/review.php?id=6&mcid=5 Review]
* [http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-9063.html Vintage Computer page]

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:13, 13 August 2014
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	* [http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/review.php?id=6&mcid=5 Review]		* [http://www.gondolin.org.uk/hchof/review.php?id=6&mcid=5 Review]
	* [http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-9063.html Vintage Computer page]		* [http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-9063.html Vintage Computer page]
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		+	[[Category:Microsoft]]

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 * [[Wikipedia:Mattel Aquarius|Wikipedia article]]
 * [http://jsmess.textfiles.com/messloader.html?module=aquarius JSMESS in-browser emulation]
 * [http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/ Page about Aquarius computer]
 * [http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/images/techinfo/aquarius-characterset.jpg Character set graphic]

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 |subcat=Source code
 |subcat2=Tokenized BASIC
 |released=1983
 }}