BASIC-DOS

A PCjs Retro-Programming Project

BASIC-DOS is on Twitter Project maintained by jeffpar

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

The machine below is an IBM PC XT (Model 5160) with a 4.77Mhz 8088, 640K of memory, a Color Display, two diskette drives, and a 10Mb hard disk. It boots the BASICDOS-360K-D40 diskette and runs two 40-column sessions side by side; use SHIFT-TAB to toggle focus. Since the machine has a hard disk, 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.

IBM PC XT, 640Kb RAM, 10Mb Hard Disk, 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, 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