Microsoft Open-sources Its 6502 Version Of Basic From 1976

After years of unofficial copies of Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC floating astir connected nan internet, nan package elephantine has released nan code nether an open-source license. 6502 BASIC was 1 of Microsoft’s first pieces of software, adapted successful 1976 by Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and early worker Ric Weiland to tally connected nan 6502 CPU that powered nan Apple II, Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Commodore 8-bit series.

Microsoft’s open-source merchandise of 6502 BASIC is simply a throwback to nan first days of coding, arsenic nan package helped standardize programming connection implementations and allowed immoderate of nan first developers to usage a Commodore instrumentality and study programming by typing 10 PRINT “HELLO” and 20 GOTO 10.

“In 1977, Commodore licensed it for a level interest of $25,000, a woody that placed Microsoft BASIC astatine nan bosom of Commodore’s PET computers and, later, nan VIC-20 and Commodore 64,” explains Microsoft in a blog post announcing Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC unfastened root news.

While 6502 BASIC and Microsoft’s different early package projects helped pinch nan improvement of MS-DOS and established nan company’s package licensing business model, liking successful this early codification and nan MOS 6502 CPU is still very overmuch live astir 50 years later. Preservationists and hobbyists person been experimenting pinch FPGA-based re-creations and emulator projects, and nan 6502 BASIC codification has besides appeared successful depository archives.

“Over nan years, dedicated preservationists person reconstructed build environments and verified that nan humanities root tin still nutrient byte-exact ROMs,” says Microsoft. “This open-source merchandise builds connected that work, now pinch a clear, modern license. It follows Microsoft’s earlier merchandise of GW-BASIC, which descended from nan aforesaid lineage and shipped successful nan original IBM PC’s ROM.“

If you’re willing successful experimenting pinch nan assembly connection root codification of Microsoft’s 6502 BASIC, nan complete root codification is now available connected GitHub.