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https://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/

PC-BASIC - A free, cross-platform emulator for the GW-BASIC family of interpreters
https://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/

basic emulator gwbasic ibm-pc interpreter pcjr python retrocomputing tandy

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PC-BASIC - A free, cross-platform emulator for the GW-BASIC family of interpreters

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README 

        
### PC-BASIC ###

_A free, cross-platform emulator for the GW-BASIC family of interpreters._



PC-BASIC is a free, cross-platform interpreter for GW-BASIC, Advanced BASIC (BASICA), PCjr Cartridge Basic and Tandy 1000 GWBASIC.

It interprets these BASIC dialects with a high degree of accuracy, aiming for bug-for-bug compatibility.

PC-BASIC emulates the most common video and audio hardware on which these BASICs used to run.

PC-BASIC runs plain-text, tokenised and protected .BAS files.

It implements floating-point arithmetic in the Microsoft Binary Format (MBF) and can therefore

read and write binary data files created by GW-BASIC.  



PC-BASIC is free and open source software released under the GPL version 3.  



See also the [PC-BASIC home page](http://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/).



![](https://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/screenshots/pcbasic-2.0.png)



----------



### Quick Start Guide ###



This quick start guide covers installation and elementary use of PC-BASIC. For more information, please refer to the [PC-BASIC documentation](http://pc-basic.org/doc/2.0#).



If you find bugs, please [open an issue on GitHub](https://github.com/robhagemans/pcbasic/issues). It would be most helpful if you could include a short bit of BASIC code that triggers the bug.



#### Installation ####



PC-BASIC desktop installers for Windows, Mac, and Linux can be downloaded from [GitHub](https://github.com/robhagemans/pcbasic/releases).



Python users can obtain the PC-BASIC package from [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pcbasic/) through `pip3 install pcbasic`.



#### BASIC survival kit ####

PC-BASIC has a 1980s-style interface operated by executing

typed commands. There is no menu, nor are there any of the visual clues

that we've come to expect of modern software.  



A few essential commands to help you get around:  



| Command               | Effect                                                        |

|-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|

| `FILES`               | show current working directory and its contents               |

| `LOAD "PROGRAM"`      | loads the program file named `PROGRAM.BAS` into memory        |

| `LIST`                | displays the BASIC code of the current program                |

| `RUN`                 | starts the current program                                    |

| `SAVE "PROGRAM",A`    | saves the current program to a text file named `PROGRAM.BAS`  |

| `NEW`                 | immediately deletes the current program from memory           |

| `SYSTEM`              | exits PC-BASIC immediately, discarding any unsaved program    |



Use one of the key combinations `Ctrl+Break`, `Ctrl+Scroll Lock`, `Ctrl+C` or `F12+B`

to interrupt a running program.  



#### Program location ####

If started through the start-menu shortcut, PC-BASIC looks for programs in the shortcut's start-in folder.



- On **Windows**, this is your `Documents` folder by default.

- On **Mac** and **Linux** this is your home directory `~/` by default.



If started from the command prompt, PC-BASIC looks for programs in the current working directory.



See [the documentation on accessing your drives](http://pc-basic.org/doc/2.0#mounting) for more information.



#### External resources ####

See the [collection of GW-BASIC programs and tutorials](https://github.com/robhagemans/hoard-of-gwbasic).