BASIC-DOS

A PCjs Retro-Programming Project

BASIC-DOS is on Twitter Project maintained by jeffpar

BASIC-DOS on an IBM PC with Two 40-Column Sessions

The machine below is an IBM PC (Model 5150) with a 4.77Mhz 8088, 128K of memory, a Color Display, and two diskette drives. It boots the BASICDOS-360K-D40 diskette and runs two 40-column sessions side by side; use SHIFT-TAB to toggle focus.

IBM PC, 128Kb RAM, Dual Floppy Drives, CGA

Color Display
Caps
Num
Scroll
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Esc
1 !
2 @
3 #
4 $
5 %
6 ^
7 &
8 *
9 (
0 )
- _
= +
Back
-
Num
Scroll
Tab
Q
W
E
R
T
Y
U
I
O
P
[ {
] }
↵
7
↑ 8
9
Ctrl
A
S
D
F
G
H
J
K
L
; :
' "
` ~
← 4
5
→ 6
+
Shift
\ |
Z
X
C
V
B
N
M
, <
. >
/ ?
Shift
PrtSc
1
↓ 2
3
Alt
Space
Caps
Ins 0
Del .
Esc
Tab
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Num
Scroll
1 !
2 @
3 #
4 $
5 %
6 ^
7 &
8 *
9 (
0 )
- _
= +
Back
-
+
Q
W
E
R
T
Y
U
I
O
P
[ {
] }
↵
7
↑ 8
9
A
S
D
F
G
H
J
K
L
; :
' "
` ~
← 4
5
→ 6
\ |
Z
X
C
V
B
N
M
, <
. >
/ ?
Shift
PrtSc
1
↓ 2
3
Ctrl
Shift
Alt
Space
Caps
Ins 0
Del .

This demo is also available on an IBM PC XT, an IBM PC AT, and a COMPAQ DeskPro 386.

The BASICDOS-360K-D40 diskette’s CONFIG.SYS defines two 40-column consoles side by side, each running its own copy of COMMAND.COM. The left session runs HELLO.BAT, a batch file that displays a colorful greeting, while the right session runs PIPES.BAT, which pipes the output of DIR through the CASE filter over and over (press CTRL-C in that session to stop it).

Both sessions are configured with borders, and a double-wide border indicates which session has keyboard focus. Use SHIFT-TAB to toggle focus.

CONFIG.SYS from the BASICDOS-360K-D40 Diskette

REM Demonstration of two 40-column sessions, with DEBUG output enabled
REM BOOTKEY=B
FILES=8
BUFFERS=4
SESSIONS=4
REM DEBUG=COM1
DEBUG=COM1:9600,N,8,1,0
CONSOLE=CON:40,25,0,0,1
SHELL=COMMAND.COM PATH$="A:\;A:\BIN;A:\SAMPLES;A:\DEMOS":COLOR 7,1:HELLO.BAT
CONSOLE=CON:40,25,40,0,1
REM CONSOLE=COM1:9600,N,8,1
SHELL=COMMAND.COM PATH$="A:\;A:\BIN;A:\SAMPLES;A:\DEMOS":PIPES.BAT

Copyright (c) 2020-2026 Jeff Parsons Released under MIT License