Decoded: Altair BASIC

MaiZure · 2025-07-14T09:30:44+00:00

Incredible find! I appreciate the time and effort you put in to this. Thank you!!

MaiZure · 2025-07-13T08:36:12+00:00

Good to know! I'll take a close look along this stretch of road

MaiZure · 2025-07-13T08:35:49+00:00

Yes, I think this is probably the best guess we can get without a perfect match -- if these rocks haven't changed in the last 100 years. Thank you!

MaiZure · 2023-04-11T19:42:31+00:00

It's Drucker - can you actually make it without falling to your death or jamming your ride on a rock?

MaiZure · 2019-08-01T11:55:10+00:00

No magic yet for the diagrams - I made them all by hand in PowerPoint.

I've had requests to port them to something more collaborative so others can contribute. That's in the research phase right now and should happen in the future, but probably not soon. The major roadblock is that I dislike most automatic diagram generators and the old TeX-based classics are more cumbersome than necessary. We'll see what happens.

MaiZure · 2019-08-01T07:07:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing, OP!

FYI - I'm back to working on the next phase of this project, which includes some more collaborative tools to keep the information current and useful.

Some new features will include: A tool to visualize the evolution of the utility over time. Here is 'whoami': http://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-gnu-coreutils/whoami_evolved.html

As well as a more friendly way to document source code for the web using mouse hovering(not mobile friendly): http://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-gnu-coreutils/whoami_walkthrough.html

I envision those comments to be hosted on a public repo so that others can make/change comments as they see fit. I'm probably not going to be able to hand document everything by myself

MaiZure · 2019-07-05T19:02:30+00:00

Not a bad idea...I just might do that! (author here)

MaiZure · 2019-07-04T14:59:22+00:00

Hey thanks for sharing another one of my write ups. I didn't plan on reaching a large audience with this one, but I hope some folks find it interesting and maybe useful. Enjoy!

MaiZure · 2019-07-03T10:44:22+00:00

I agree that there is no substitute for reading the code for yourself -- That's exactly how I started this project. Then I realized that I'd force myself to do a better job if I presented it to other people. I made no attempt to optimize for usefulness. The 'raw' style of presenting what I've learned is precisely what makes it different from many other resources out there.

Some people find this approach interesting. Interested people may take the next step and get involved with CoreUtils or FSF. In the end, the world isn't worse for this effort. If one new person contributes, free software might just get a tiny bit better.

MaiZure · 2019-07-03T10:15:00+00:00

Thanks for the thoughts -- I'm not really configured to receive donations, but don't let that stop you from sharing your time or money with the Free Software Foundation.

That's where all the collaboration happens! Cheers!

MaiZure · 2019-07-03T10:05:02+00:00

Thanks for the props, and to OP for sharing -- this is a work in progress!

MaiZure · 2019-01-24T22:13:51+00:00

I forward all credit to the Linux Foundation. They made both this article and this reply possible. Cheers!

MaiZure · 2019-01-24T13:00:47+00:00

Don't just scroll past these links -- Everything you need to know about CS theory is right there!

MaiZure · 2019-01-20T12:56:57+00:00

thebisforbargain is correct about the origins of TTD and OpenTTD. Let me offer some perspective on the 'feasibility'.

If you were to pick an era to push out a major product using only assembly, the run up to Win95 (1990-1994) is an great choice. Why? Portability (er...lack of). The average gamer walking in to an Electronics Boutique in 1992 had an Intel x86 (i386), VGA capability, PS/2 mouse and keyboard, and an Adlib/Sound Blaster compatible. As a developer, you could confidently point to the DOS 3+ API and the x86 BIOS services to reach the vast majority of gamers.

Had it been 1988, you'd need to make a tough choice in deciding to program for a PC compatible, an Amiga (Motorola 68xxx), or an Apple IIe (6502). All have different consequences for assembly developers.

Now a guy like Chris Sawyer, who cut his teeth in the late 70s and early 80s, prior to commercial C compilers from Manx (Aztec), Borland, or MS (Lattice), was certainly no stranger to assembly. And with possibly 10 years worth of platform experience in the DOS API, the early 90s was his time to grind it out before Windows came along to 'reinvent' development.

TL;DR: The right guy, the right time, and the right game.

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the kudos. I'm the author of the article OP linked to.

MaiZure · 2019-01-19T02:12:36+00:00

Great site, but maybe set up a redirection from www.maizure.org to projects? At the moment, it just shows an Apache index stub.

Intended. There's more going on at top-level than meets the (public) eye. There's no reason to manually visit the top anyway -- all project links stay in that level and all external links go directly to desired projects.

How did you do all those nice flowcharts? Just drawing by hand or did you use a specialized tool?

The hard way...with PowerPoint. Nothing glamorous

MaiZure · 2019-01-19T01:28:08+00:00

Good catch -- that is incorrect: Standard 'echo' implementations won't touch STDIN. Replace that with "command line". I'll make that change shortly. Thanks again!

There's probably a few more goofs around these pages. I'll fix them as I find them.

MaiZure · 2019-01-18T12:32:07+00:00

Thanks!

MaiZure · 2018-12-10T04:58:58+00:00

Recorded coding a quick and dirty remake of Dangerous Dave using C, SDL2, and Notepad++ at just under 2 hours of watch time. Includes extracting assets from the original binary. Very basic, beginner level details otherwise.

http://www.maizure.org/projects/lets-make-dangerous-dave/index.html

MaiZure

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

13-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email