Standard BASIC Pac

 

Box

 


The Standard BASIC Pac was the Sorcerer’s version of Microsoft BASIC.  Microsoft BASIC was the de facto standard on almost all computers of the time and BASIC programs written for one system generally worked on another with a few tweaks.  The friendly and informative Quick Tour of BASIC manual along with the full stroke keyboard made programming in BASIC on the Sorcerer a true joy.  As such there was a plethora of BASIC programs written for the Sorcerer including games of varying quality.  The Standard BASIC Pac was provided with the Sorcerer which was a rather nice touch (Atari 8-bit users had to buy their BASIC separately until the release of the XL line).  The Exidy Standard BASIC was never updated past its original version 1.0, but several alternative BASICs were created by hobbyists which added various features.  Exidy did advertise an updated version of BASIC called Extended Disk BASIC for use with the CP/M, but it is unknown if this was actually released.  A ROM for a cartridge based Extended BASIC also exists, but it is unknown if this is an official release or a hobbyist hack.  The Standard BASIC Pac could also be bought separately for $99.
 
It appears that the Standard BASIC Pac came two different styles.  The original version had the title in a stylized 'computer' font and fewer commands listed on label.  The second and more common version had an easier to read standard font and added a few commands to the instructions.


BASIC Pac Comparison


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