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.
"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.
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:
