ekh (03/21/83)
When buying my TI 99/4a, the salesman remarked that it, unlike most other micros, had BASIC built right in (it has no PEEK or POKE). I knew this was bull, but didn't bother to correct it. I suspect the micro salemen heap this on store reps, who don't know any better
ejk47 (03/22/83)
As another VIC-20 owner, I thought you might like another side of the
story. The VIC-20's main competition is from the TI group. Their purchase
of the TI computer gets them just that. The computer, no software. You see
TI is out to make a buck. They want you to buy the BASIC software from them.
Also I might add the VIC-20's BASIC is made by Micro-Soft, which is now
becoming the standard to rate other BASIC's by. I will also tell you that
VIC-20's BASIC does lack some of the nice commands such as: renumber, auto,
lprint, and others. But the nice thing is I didn't have to pay for the BASIC
software, it came standard with the computer. Another thing is that I bought
the VIC-20 as a computer, not a game machine. And for that, it works just
fine. Plus I didn't have to spend a arm and a leg.
EJK47!ihuxoejk47 (03/22/83)
>From the amount of mail I must have made a Mistake. I was
told the TI contains BASIC in rom. When I first bought my
VIC I looked at the TI first. The sales-man told me then
that all I would get was the bare-bones computer with no
software. He said if I wanted the BASIC Interpreter that
I would have to buy a $39.95 cartridge for the TI. Also I
was told the high-resolution graphics were buried out of the
reach of the BASIC's pokes and peeks. At that time I was also
told that a graphics editor and a TI assembler was in the works.
This may date as to how long I had my VIC.
The end result, and the point I tried to get across, was
that the VIC's memory mapping scheme left no area in the computer
that I could not access from BASIC.
ejk47!ihux0scc (03/22/83)
As a TI computer owner I thought I would correct the previous error regarding TI basic. The TI computers all three, come with basic when you buy them. Two of them are selling as cheap or cheaper than the VIC 20. The one thing that I will admit that the VIC 20 has that the TI 99/4A doesn't is peek and poke. However the new and cheaper TI 99/2 does have these. They both offer excellent graphics and good computing power for the person who doen't like games. Also with the new peripherals the price of expanding is becoming tolerable. ( EX. printer for $199 retail, RS 232 for $100 retail etc.) Sally Catena floyd!burl!scc
futrelle (03/24/83)
#R:houti:-23500:uiucdcs:10400058:000:457 uiucdcs!futrelle Mar 23 16:36:00 1983 ***** uiucdcs:net.micro / umn-cs!hoyme / 11:47 pm Mar 22, 1983 I believe the Vic-20 adds are making a comparison only between the Vic-20 and direct competitors such as the Atari-400 and the TI-99, etc. They do not compare with Apples and IBMs, etc.. 'Full' BASIC most likely refers to some feature (such as PEEK/POKE) that the others don't have. (Atari doesn't have built in BASIC, does it??). Ken Hoyme University of Minnesota ----------
newman (03/24/83)
I think the recent comments about the desirability of buying a micro with built-in Basic ROM miss a very important point. In my opinion it is far superior to buy a micro with NO builtin language ROM, but rather to be able to buy a cartridge with e.g. Basic (like for instance the Atari 400/800). The reason is that then you are not stuck with cluttering up a large piece of your limited address space with Basic when you don't want it, like for assembler, commercial assembler software, or for running other languages or DOS's. I do feel however that the manufacturer should then include the Basic cartridge in the package, not make you buy it as an option.
hoyme@umn-cs.UUCP (06/06/83)
#R:houti:-23500:umn-cs:6900007:000:381 umn-cs!hoyme Mar 22 10:15:00 1983 I believe the Vic-20 adds are making a comparison only between the Vic-20 and direct competitors such as the Atari-400 and the TI-99, etc. They do not compare with Apples and IBMs, etc.. 'Full' BASIC most likely refers to some feature (such as PEEK/POKE) that the others don't have. (Atari doesn't have built in BASIC, does it??). Ken Hoyme University of Minnesota