- Joined
- Dec 19, 2005
- Messages
- 17,786
"Over the years, dedicated preservationists have reconstructed build environments and verified that the historical source can still produce byte-exact ROMs. Notably, Michael Steil documented and rebuilt the original BASIC process for multiple targets. He has ported the code to assemblers like cc65, making it possible to build and run on modern systems.
This open-source release builds on that work, now with a clear, modern license. It follows Microsoft’s earlier release of GW-BASIC, which descended from the same lineage and shipped in the original IBM PC’s ROM. That code evolved into QBASIC, and later Visual Basic, which remains a supported language for Windows application development to this day.
From the blinking cursor of 1977 to FPGA builds in 2025, BASIC still fits in your hand. Now, for the first time, this influential 6502 version is truly yours to explore, modify, and share."
Source: https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09/03/microsoft-open-source-historic-6502-basic/
This open-source release builds on that work, now with a clear, modern license. It follows Microsoft’s earlier release of GW-BASIC, which descended from the same lineage and shipped in the original IBM PC’s ROM. That code evolved into QBASIC, and later Visual Basic, which remains a supported language for Windows application development to this day.
From the blinking cursor of 1977 to FPGA builds in 2025, BASIC still fits in your hand. Now, for the first time, this influential 6502 version is truly yours to explore, modify, and share."
Source: https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09/03/microsoft-open-source-historic-6502-basic/