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Rev B, back to 'BASICs' with the interpreter

A project log for eMBee ONE pocket computer

A 1980s style 8-bit computer running BASIC. Includes OLED screen and a QWERTY keyboard. Oh, and the whole thing fits in an Altoids tin.

matthew-beggMatthew Begg 06/25/2025 at 14:210 Comments

Since the last update, I've had a batch of 'Rev B' boards arrive from JLCPCB which are a definite improvement on Rev A, and use a much better cartridge design:

So hardware-wise, I'm pretty happy. It fits in the tin much better too:

But I've started to notice software issues, particularly with some of the new BASIC commands I've added, and with the existing string functions (e.g. MID$) - they just don't work, or worse still, they exhibit strange behaviours. So I've gone back in time to the original Robin Edwards Arduino BASIC code and only made the most necessary changes:

I'm calling this 'eMBee BASIC v2.0' which is quite funny, given that it will now do less than version 1.0 did! Hopefully this code will be more stable - it appears to use less RAM (with 415 bytes available to local variables). Will do some testing this week.

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