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Introduction:
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When I was still in high school there was a TANDY shop in a nearby
shopping centre. I was a (very) regular customer there. Buying sachets
of assorted LEDs, accessories for my (not so legal) radio hobby, and
enjoying the TANDY Catalogue. One day I saw the SHARP PC‑1211 there. I
was intrigued but when I found out it didn’t support POKE, PEEK and
CALL, my interest waned. Then came along the PC‑2 which did, and I had
to have one. Took some work convincing my father but finally I could buy
the PC‑2 and CE‑150 pen plotter.
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Programming:
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When used the way it was meant to be used this Pocket Computer is
powerful enough but machine programming set it free. One of the first
programs I wrote for that purpose was a BASIC program to browse through
the memory per 16 bytes displaying its ASCII content and with the
ability to POKE memory locations easily. I dubbed this program ZAP
(DEF‑Z). Using ZAP I tried to understand the PC‑2’s memory mapping and
when I found it its BASIC command table. The memory map would be
different when a peripheral was attached such as the CE‑150. Its memory
block started with the ASCII character "U" which indicated to the
calculator there was a BASIC command block located. This meant that one
could extend this calculator’s BASIC command set!
It took a big
amount of time I was actually meant to do school work but in the end I
managed to write my own set of BASIC commands. First in memory block
&6800-&6FFF. How I got memory available in that memory area I do not
remember. Later I created my own memory extension &8000-&9FFFF using a
modified ATARI CMOS module bought at the Dutch SHACC user club,
soldering it in place using a memory select chip and many unlabeled
wires. I now do not dare open up my PC‑2 anymore in fear of breaking
stuff.
In the end I wrote three BASIC command blocks seriously
making the Pocket Computer more powerful. This set, called LeoBAS used
memory block &8800 till &9FFF in !PV mode so it can not be used unless
the PC-2 has been modified to support that memory block.
Something
like the TE‑1507
(link valid 2024-01-13) might work but I’m not sure their project is
still alive. It might also be possible to modify a regular RAM module to
chip-select in this memory block.
My hope is that one day a PC‑2/PC‑1500 emulator might make it possible
to use this memory block.
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SHACC:
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SHACC (SHARP HAnd Computer Club) was a Dutch user club dedicated to all
of SHARP’s Pocket Computers. It had quite a dedicated user base, club
meetings with buns and coffee and loads of Pocket Computers and
peripherals, and AREAD, the club’s magazine. The club had activities
from 1983 but stopped in 1985 due to waning interest. Some more info on
SHACC and downloads of the AREAD magazine can be found here: PC‑1500.info, SHARP clubs : AREAD/SHACC from
the Netherlands (link valid 2024-01-13).
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LeoBAS:
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The final version of my own set of BASIC command additions uses memory
block &8800-&9FFF bank switched on !PV. For those interested in
experimenting the block can be downloaded here:
Download link > LeoBAS.
Free to use, but use at your own risk of
course. Needs the newer ROM version on the PC‑2/PC‑1500A.
The original manual I wrote (in Dutch, and please note the
postal address at the end of the manual is no longer valid) can be found
here:
Download link > LeoBAS Manual 1996.
Please note this
manual only covers my first memory block &9800-&9FFF.
Late 2022 I
created a revised manual, in English, and covering the complete set of
my BASIC command set. It can be found here:
Download link > LeoBAS Manual 2022.
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Emulator:
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Sometime in 1994 wrote an emulator for the PC‑2 on my Mac Plus. Earlier in my life I
had an Apple ][ clone without keyboard and used the PC‑2 with a special machine code
program as a keyboard for the Apple ][. Hence it was easy to make a dump of the PC‑2’s ROM
and my own LeoBAS ROM to a file which I could then transfer to my Mac. It took some
fine tuning and I wrote it as a Desk Accessory to make multi-tasking less work. The
emulation of the processor was not difficult thanks to all the documentation. I used
the 16 bit lower part of pointers to access the emulated memory easily.
Above is a picture of my emulator running in SheepShaver, a Mac OS 9 emulator,
showing the aforementioned ZAP program displaying the memory contents at &9800.
Note the non-standard characters part of LeoBAS.
I wanted to publish my emulator at the time but did not dare to, due to the
emulator containing the original SHARP ROM code. I didn’t even dare to
use brand names, so mine is called the Radio Shock TRaSh‑80.
Compared to PockEmul’s excellent emulator(s) mine was quite rudimentary. No
peripherals, no support for bank switching. I am however still quite proud of what
I was able to accomplish. After Mac OS 9 died I have not tried to create a modern
version of it which is a pity but there are better alternatives.
I’m still hoping PockEmul (link valid 2024-01-13)
will at one time make it possible to have a
writable and safable memory block &8800-&9FFF (or &8000-&9FFF for easier
chip selecting) for the PC‑2 and PC‑1500A. That way I could finally have
my own legacy in my back pocket using PockEmul’s iOS App!
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