Each BASIC-DOS demo runs on up to four generations of PC hardware: the original IBM PC (Model 5150) with its 4.77Mhz 8088 and diskette drives, the IBM PC XT (Model 5160), which added a 10Mb hard disk, the IBM PC AT (Model 5170), with a 6Mhz 80286 and a battery-powered real-time clock that keeps the date and time, and the COMPAQ DeskPro 386, COMPAQ’s first PC with a 16Mhz 80386, shown here with 1Mb of memory and a VGA. Click a machine to run that demo on that hardware.
| Demo | IBM PC | IBM PC XT | IBM PC AT | COMPAQ DeskPro 386 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Monochrome | 64K, MDA | |||
| 2. Color (with FPU) | 128K, CGA, 8087 | 640K, CGA, 8087 | 640K, CGA, 80287 | 1Mb, VGA, 80387 |
| 3. 40-Column Split | 128K, CGA | 640K, CGA | 640K, CGA | 1Mb, VGA |
| 4. 80-Column Split | 128K, CGA | 640K, CGA | 640K, CGA | 1Mb, VGA |
| 5. Dual Monitors | 128K, MDA, CGA | 640K, MDA, CGA | 640K, MDA, CGA | 1Mb, MDA, CGA |
| 6. Serial Mouse | 256K, CGA, Mouse | 640K, CGA, Mouse | 640K, CGA, Mouse | 1Mb, VGA, Mouse |
| 7. Serial Debugger | 256K, CGA, VT100 | 640K, CGA, VT100 | 640K, CGA, VT100 | 1Mb, VGA, VT100 |
| 8. 10Mb Hard Disk | 640K, CGA | 640K, CGA | 1Mb, VGA | |
| 9. 10Mb Hard Disk with VT100 | 640K, CGA, VT100 | 640K, CGA, VT100 | 1Mb, VGA, VT100 | |
| 10. Wolfenstein 3D | 640K, VGA, Sound Blaster | 1Mb, VGA, Sound Blaster |
The PC XT, PC AT, and DeskPro 386 machines also have the 10Mb BASIC-DOS hard disk (drive C:), so when they boot a diskette, the boot sector first displays Press a key to start...; press any key (or wait 5 seconds) to boot from the diskette, or press Esc to boot from the hard disk instead. There’s also a Serial Display demo, which runs a second session on a simple text pane connected to COM1.
In the demos with multiple sessions, use SHIFT-TAB to toggle keyboard focus between sessions.
Copyright (c) 2020-2026 Jeff Parsons Released under MIT License