CompuServe Thread

Were the programs you refer to written in AmigaBasic? Sadly, Commodore retired AmigaBasic from their package when they moved along to 2.0. The previous (bundled) AmigaBasic was not able to work with the newer machines. At one time, it seemed possible that MicroSoft might sell an new, improved AmigaBasic directly, but this did not happen. There are other versions of Basic around, but I doubt that your existing programs can run on these without modification. Best known is probably AMOS: its strong point is graphics, animation and sound. HiSoft Basic claimed good compatibility with AmigaBasic, but not 100%. I'm not sure what's on the market these days. –Jim

Joan, Do I understand correctly that you want to run C64 BASIC programs on your Amiga? They will take EXTENSIVE rewriting in order to work with any of the kinds of BASIC that run on the Amiga. First, you will have to get a version of BASIC that will run on your Amiga, and then you will have to translate the version of BASIC used on the C64 to the version you purchase for the Amiga. It is quite a big undertaking, believe me. You might do bette to get a C64 emulator for the Amiga, and run the programs using that.

JG >>How do I run BASIC programs on my Amiga 1200? I have some programs that I transferred from my 64K using The A 64 Package from Questronix.<< Ouch. This is one of the current Amiga's weak points. There isn't a standard version of BASIC for it. ABasiC, shipped with the early A1000's, but was later replaced by a MicroSoft Basic called AmigaBasic. AmigaBasic, wasn't system friendly with 32-bit Amiga's. This was due the programmers writing the BASIC to run on a 24-bit system (a real no no). AmigaBasic also didn't use the Amiga way of doing things, or really use the special features of the Amiga. Commodore didn't want to pay MicroSoft to fix AmigaBasic, and decided to shipp 2.x & 3.x with ARexx (Amiga REXX), a different language. However, it was much more system friendly, and had features that BASIC lacked. — You can still get 3rd party BASIC's for the Amiga. If you have AmigaBasic (part of AmigaDOS v1.3), there is a compiler program in the CIS LIBs that will add features and fix the problems while compiling the AmigaBasic programs into a faster code. There is also TrueBASIC. This BASIC is from the designers of the original BASIC language. Counterparts have been designed for several different systems, allowing a level of code transportablity. I believe you can get the student version of this BASIC from DEVWARE. There is also HiSoft BASIC, which claims to be compatible with AmigaBasic. And there is AMOS, which is a BASIC with utilities fro creating/handling graphics & sound. However, I don't know of any BASIC for the Amiga that runs Commodore's PET BASIC (C64/128) programs. I was planning to order The A64 Package v3, use use it to run old Commodore 64 software. Ron. – ("I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going!" – quote made by any low level RPG player.)