BBC BASIC on IRIX
=================

I  want to  have  on my  computers  a BASIC  which  is compatible  with
the  BASIC implementation  on  my new  Cambridge Z88.  The  Z88 runs  a
stripped-down  version  of  the  BBC  BASIC [1]  (it  has  no  graphics
procedures).

So I have  been searching for an UNIX-compatible port/clone  of the BBC
BASIC. The logical choice was the  Richard Russell's "BBC BASIC for SDL
2.0" [2]  but it requires  the SDL 2  (obviously...) and it  needs some
code changes to be ported to the  POWER or the MIPS platform. So at the
moment  it does  not compile  on my  OpenPOWER computer  nor on  my SGI
workstations.

Fortunately there is a different implementation called Brandy BASIC [3]
which is declared to  run on the Mac OS X, the  NetBSD, the OpenBSD, on
the DOS and Linux and even on the general UNIX platform. 

So I tried  to compile it on my  UNIX system (on the IRIX  5.3). It did
not work. The "TARGET_UNIX" was available in the "variables.h" file but
it was not used  in the *.c files. So I have had  to go through sources
and add it to  the right places. Then I was able to  compile it. I also
add an identification string to the "target.h" file.

After a simple  test it seems to  me that it works.  It accepts inputs,
runs BASIC programs,  loads and saves BASIC program files.  It does not
like the SGI's very own "winter" terminal emulator (well, that's not so
unusual) but it works inside the XTerm correctly.


It there any other  human being on the Earth who  can benefit from this
port? Should I make it available for download somewhere?


References:

[1] http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic.html
[2] http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcsdl/
[3] http://jaguar.orpheusweb.co.uk/branpage.html


P.S. Written  (and all  work done)  on the SGI  IRIS Indigo  R3000 (aka
Siemens RW520 workstation) with the IRIX 5.3.