Family BASIC

[nintendodork]

Could anyone tell me how to work this a little bit better?  Or tell me any codes I can write to start out once I get to the Command Prompt?

[nurd]

I'm pretty sure famicomBASIC is just like any other BASIC.

There are tons of different things you can try, try google search "BASIC"

[nintendodork]

Actually I've read on these forums that the Famicom BASIC is very different when compared to other ones..

[satoshi_matrix]

BASIC is BASIC, but very version of BASIC are tweaked a little differently. One of these days, I'd like to see full scans of the pages of the rather large manual  and have our resident translator Manuel write up an English translation of it. Since it would be a considerable undertaking, I wouldn't expect him to do it for free. If of course, he would agree to do it, would anyone else be willing to support a donation drive towards paying Manuel for a translation of the scans?  I think it could work if we all chipped in a few bucks to make it worth his while.

[UglyJoe]

Search the forums for info.  Satoshi and I have a couple of informative threads for it already (including a syntax list and a couple of sample programs).

Regarding the manual translation, again, I don't think it's necessary to anyone who knows how to program already.  The concepts are the same as any other BASIC programming language.  The difference is syntax and a few quirks associated with the fact that it's running on a Famicom.

[manuel]

UglyJoe is right. (I'll still take donations... jk  )

I've had a look at the manual for Family Basic V3, and I don't know how that differs from the normal Family Basic manual, but most of the text in there are just simple instructions, which you could most likely find in other tutorials, too.

It would still be nice if anybody put a scan of the manual online for everybody to see.

[vgthing]

I ordered Family BASIC V3 boxed from risingstuff.com with all the manuals and stuff. I would be willing to scan it and put it up somewhere. I just have to wait for it to arrive. it's been like 3 weeks since i ordered it. Apparently they have been very busy...

Any suggestions on what image hosting site would be adequate? I have a photobucket account that I use, would that be ok?

[UglyJoe]

I would zip up all the jpgs and put it on mediafire or something.

[ericj]

I would suggest creating a .pdf file out of your scans, so it will be compiled as an e-doc.

[vgthing]

I was thinking of saving them as PNG's for better quality, but the file size might be a bit large...
Yeah, Iv'e heard of mediafire. good idea! 

I'll let you guys know when it arrives!

[UglyJoe]

Woo.  Finally got a Family Basic system with manual.  The keys on the keyboard are so small...

[nintendodork]

How does it play?  Take pics of any "games" you make

[133MHz]

Woo.  Finally got a Family Basic system with manual.  The keys on the keyboard are so small...

Get a computer Famiclone, those come with a normal-sized PC type keyboard, and should be directly compatible with the Family BASIC cartridge .

[nintendodork]

Woo.  Finally got a Family Basic system with manual.  The keys on the keyboard are so small...

Get a computer Famiclone, those come with a normal-sized PC type keyboard, and should be directly compatible with the Family BASIC cartridge .

Yeah, the ROM is about the same as the game lol...

But strangely... I do not know how to press backspace...haha on my ROM, whenever I press backspace; it does nothing

[UglyJoe]

How does it play?  Take pics of any "games" you make

It plays exactly as I'd expected it to play (having messed with the rom for a while).  I didn't realize that the battery backup on the cart is actually powered by 2 AA batteries.  The batteries that were in there leaked a little bit, but failed to corrode anything but a little plastic.

The computer I have my Famicom hooked up to is kinda crappy.  It can barely handle displaying the Famicom through my USB TV dealy.  Recording doesn't have a chance.  And I can't get the SAVE/LOAD thing to work either because the machine causes too much interference with the line-in recording.

But it's just day one, I'll get it working somehow.

Get a computer Famiclone, those come with a normal-sized PC type keyboard, and should be directly compatible with the Family BASIC cartridge .

Nah, I have boney fingers so the small keys aren't an issue for me.  The non-US101 keyboard layout and less-than-stellar response time are the bigger problems.  I have to force myself to type slower -- which is actually kind of calming once you get the hang of it.

But strangely... I do not know how to press backspace...haha on my ROM, whenever I press backspace; it does nothing

The STOP key is probably mapped to backspace.  The DEL key might be mapped to Del, which functions as you'd expect backspace to work.  You can also use Ctrl+H to go back a space, or just hit the left arrow key and resume typing (since it overwrites by default).

edit:

Could someone give me a quick translation?  I can't figure out what this key does (click for larger version):