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Description
Disk BASIC is a BASIC extension that is related to disk drives.
Versions
There are 3 major versions of Disk BASIC:
Version 1 is provided with external disk drive interfaces and with all MSX computers with integrated floppy disk drive(s).
Version 2 is provided with the MSX turbo R computers, the Daisen Sangyo MX30B internal drive, the original MSX-DOS 2 cartridge and its European versions. This cartridge requires at least a MSX2 computer with 128kB RAM and an internal or external disk drive.
Version 2 switches to version 1 if you boot with a DOS1-formatted disk in drive A (on MSX2 or higher) or, when using version 2.30 or newer (Nextor included), if you keep the '1' key pressed during the boot sequence.
Version 3 is provided with the Nextor operating system version 2.0 and higher. You can boot this OS in MSX-DOS 1 mode or MSX-DOS 2 mode. A part of the new features is available only in the MSX-DOS 2 mode.
Instructions
All versions extend the following 10 instructions: BLOAD, BSAVE, CLOSE, ERR, ERROR, LOAD, MERGE, OPEN, RUN and SAVE.
Version 1 adds 23 new instructions including COPY that is also a MSX-BASIC graphic instruction introduced on MSX2.
Version 2 extends the FILES and LFILES instructions and adds 5 new instructions.
Version 3 modifies the CALL CHDRV, DSKF(), DSKI$() and DSKO$ instructions and adds 9 new instructions.
The following table includes also Disk BASIC related instructions that are not part of the standard MSX-BASIC instructions but were reserved during MSX-BASIC development for future disk operations. These reserved words were never or rarely officially used: ATTR$(), CMD, FPOS() and IPL. Machine Language experts can divert them to create new instructions.
Note: CALL can be replaced by the character underscore (_). A space is not required after this character. See CALL for more info.
| Instruction | Generation | Versions | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATTR$() | MSX1 | - | Reserved word that can be diverted |
| CALL CHDIR | MSX2 | 2 -3 | |
| CALL CHDRV | MSX2 | 2 -3 | MSX1 compatible with Nextor |
| CALL CURDRV | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL DRIVERS | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL DRVINFO | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL FDISK | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL FORMAT | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| CALL LOCKDRV | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL MKDIR | MSX2 | 2 - 3 | |
| CALL MAPDRV | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL MAPDRVL | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL NEXTOR | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CALL RAMDISK | MSX2 | 2 - 3 | |
| CALL RMDIR | MSX2 | 2 - 3 | |
| CALL SYSTEM | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| CALL USR | MSX1/2 | 3 | |
| CMD | MSX1 | - | Reserved word that can be diverted |
| COPY | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| CVD() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| CVI() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| CVS() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| DSKF() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| DSKI$() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| DSKO$ | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| FIELD | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| FILES | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| FPOS() | MSX1 | - | Reserved word that can be diverted |
| GET | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| IPL | MSX1 | - | Reserved word that can be diverted |
| KILL | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| LFILES | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| LOC() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| LOF() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| LSET | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| MKD$() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| MKI$() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| MKS$() | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| NAME | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| PUT | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 | |
| RSET | MSX1 | 1 - 2 - 3 |
Remark
The addition of diskdrive(s) decreases the amount of memory available for MSX-BASIC. However, you can
- disable drive B by keeping the CTRL key pressed while booting, this frees up a small amount of memory
- disable both drives A and B by keeping the SHIFT key pressed while booting, this disables Disk BASIC completely.
Pages in category "Disk BASIC"
The following 49 pages are in this category, out of 49 total.
ABC |
C cont.DEFGIK |
LMNOPRS |