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The last programming project from Bill Gates: Microsoft BASIC for TRS-80 Model 100
This Operating System was the last project that Bill Gates played a major role in programming... and it's actually pretty amazing.
December 05, 2023
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Let’s take a look at the very last project that Bill Gates ever played a major development role on at Microsoft…

Microsoft BASIC 80 for the TRS-80 Model 100 series.

Which is, in reality, an entire Operating System.

A historically highly significant one, at that. Though not many people (nowadays) have ever had the chance to actually use it – in large part because the OS itself was developed specifically for one hardware line.

And that hardware line (comprised of the TRS-80 Model 100, 102, & 200) hasn't been in production since the early to mid 1980s.

Here's just a few fun quick facts about the hardware, and the Operating System that powers it:

  • The Model 100 is often referred to as the “Model T” by enthusiasts and collectors.

  • Single tasking, flat file system.

  • Entire OS fits on a 32k ROM.

  • There remains a rather loyal group of fans that still use these computers to this day. Seriously. Maybe not millions of users around the globe, but those that have them, love them.

  • The firmware / OS for the Model 100 is the last project that Bill Gates was one of the primary programmers for (it had a team of two).

Bill Gates, in an interview with the National Museum of American History, had this to say about the machine and the software that powered it:

“This is in a sense my favorite machine, I mean by today's standards it is kind of a pathetic machine. But what happened was Kazuhiko Nishi, my friend from Japan, came over and said that we could have an 8-line LCD with 40 characters. And up to then all we had was four lines by 20 characters. I didn't think using 4 by 20 you could do much that was interesting. But, when he said we could go 8 by 40, then I got to be pretty fascinated with the idea of a portable machine. It wasn't just taking your desktop machine and trying to shrink it down, because battery life would be a problem, and ease of use would be a problem. But just taking the things you want as you move around and making it pretty inexpensive. So, this machine came out for $500. Jey Suzuki, from Japan, and I, wrote the ROM in this machine. It is a 32K ROM.

 

Part of my nostalgia about this machine is this was the last machine where I wrote a very high percentage of the code in the product. I did all the design and debugging along with Jey. And it is a cool user interface, because although most of the code is a BASIC Interpreter, we did this little file system where you never had to think about saving anything. You just had this menu where you pointed to things. It was a great little editor and scheduler. We crammed it all into a 32K ROM. And really designed it in an easy to use way around these special keys up here.

 

We had some great things here like we had a way that you could add a bar code reader to this. We thought maybe people would distribute software on bar codes. In fact, Byte Magazine got into that for a while. We had a lot of ways you could extend this by putting a new ROM in the bottom.

 

What you had here is just your files. And you would just move the cursor to the one that you wanted and hit the Enter key. And then you'd be back editing that file. So, if we go into text, you can type in the name of the program and it would know that's what you wanted. It is a nice screen editor. You can just move the cursor around.”

Here's a quick run-down on how the OS of the Model T's actually works.

The Home screen — where everything lives.

This is the Home screen. Think of this like a combination of an application launcher and a file manager. There are no directories / folders. Honestly, they wouldn't make much sense on a system with RAM that you measure (on screen) in bytes.

Arrow keys move the selection. Enter loads the file.

The simple text editor.

And this is the text editor. It is astoundingly simple. You can type. Arrow keys let you move the cursor around. Simple.

There are some essential features here (find, copy) and the ability to save and load text (such as to an external floppy disk or to an external cassette tape). Otherwise any text you type is stored in RAM – and is preserved so long as there's a battery charge (which tends to last just about forever).

Editing some BASIC

Here we have the BASIC editor. Again, extremely simple. If any of you have ever used this era of BASIC, you know exactly what to expect. You can use both text and actual pixel graphics (monochrome) to draw lines and pictures (if you can manage to fit the needed routines into the 32kb available.

There’s even a simple telecom program that can use a modem to dial BBS’s and such. It’s fairly bare bones, but it works. (And it proves useful nowadays when paired with a WiFi → RS232 modem emulator to connect to telnet systems and move files around.)

The telecom program.

The vast majority of you won't have access to one of these amazing little computers to actually try things out. Luckily there are a few emulators around that let you see what the experience was like (at least for the most part). There is a web-based emulator that works surprisingly well, and a native emulator (which works the best).

You can also find large collections of (BASIC) applications and games on multiple sites that can be loaded to see what could be accomplished back in the early 1980's using this system.

What’s it like to use nowadays?

This is a highly limited and constrained system.

Small number of total features (especially compared to systems that came just a few years later). No mouse. No color. Limited amount of memory. No multi-tasking.

Yet… it is an absolute joy to use. The focus it provides makes this one of my absolute favorite machines to write on. In fact, I've written several articles on this nearly 40 year old computer system… and have no plans to retire it anytime soon.

When I use this system… I smile. When I show it to people, they smile. Joy. Wonder.

That's no small feat.

A simple game of dominos

There is no real graphical user interface. Everything here is text based (unless you code some light graphics in BASIC). All software runs “full screen” … so there are no window managing or task switching interfaces to look at or think about.

The features the system has all tend to work quite well. Though, since you're talking mostly text, having a manual (or at least the ability to look up commands in an online reference) are a must when first learning to use it.

Chess on the Model 100

Luckily, after spending no more than about 30 minutes with this OS, you'll have just about mastered it. And it will never get in your way again.

Everything is well thought out. Every command. Every function key. You can tell that a lot of love and experience went into this system and how it works.

That said… nobody makes this hardware anymore. And the OS runs only on that specific hardware. Which, despite being well built, is in increasingly short supply.

The loading screen of an adventure game. Not the super-duper high resolution graphics.

Outside of running it within emulators – which, if I'm being honest, has pretty low usability value (the system only really shines when running on real hardware) – there's just no way for most folks to ever use it.

It is the oldest computer that I actually use, for real work, on a regular basis.

The fact that I bring out a laptop from the early 1980s because I want to get some work done using it? Nowadays? That's one darned impressive feat – both in terms of hardware and software engineering.

A BASIC Lunar Lander game

I also love how heavily this machine really encourages open source. Because everything you run here is going to (realistically) be written in BASIC… all the games and utilities you may load are going to have the source code available.

This is an Operating System that encourages learning. Encourages experimentation. I love that.

A simple “rogue-like-ish” adventure game

What is truly amazing, to me, is that all of this functionality fit within a 32k ROM. Just mind-blowingly efficient.

Whatever you, I, or anyone else thinks of Bill Gates (and, boy howdy, do he and I disagree on a lot)… this was a darned impressive feat of engineering. One worth remembering.

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The Unpublished Anti-Lunduke Hit-Piece
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This particular outlet had, several months prior, run an “anti-Lunduke” hit piece without first reaching out for comment — which resulted in their most popular article (at least on social media) in quite some time.

With that in mind, it seemed reasonable that they’d want to repeat that success with another “anti-Lunduke” story.

This time they were doing the responsible thing. They reached out to the subject of the hit-piece article with questions. I like encouraging Tech Journalists when they do actual journalism, so I answered each and every query with easy-to-quote responses.

But, it would appear that the answers they received were not conducive to creating the hit-piece they were hoping for — my guess is they realized their questions made them look like the villain in the story. The villain they, clearly, hoped to portray me as.

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So I’m publishing their hit-piece for them.

Below is every question — and every answer (with no edits) — which I was asked, on September 19th, by a Tech Journalist by the name of Christine Hall, writing for FossForce.

Fair warning: This is very, very politically charged.

Enjoy.


September 19th

Hall:

The last time I mentioned you in an article, you castigated me for not reaching out to you beforehand. Well, I’m reaching out now. We’ll see what comes of this.

You do recognize that the vast majority of organizations using the term antifa as a descriptor are not in the least bit terrorist and pose no threat to society -- and indeed, the only threats they might pose to fascist groups are not physical or life-harming?

Lunduke:

Hello Christine! Nice to hear from you!

Many, if not most, of those proclaiming support for Antifa (within Open Source) have also made statements encouraging or supporting violence and discrimination.

Regardless of that fact -- which I have documented extensively in Lunduke Journal coverage -- when violent acts are committed (such as murder, riots, and lynchings) in the name of “Antifa”, to turn around and immediately declare yourself to be “Antifa” is a clear declaration of support of that violence.

Hall:

And why did you feel it necessary to call out Danielle Foré’s [the founder of the elementary OS Linux Distribution] trans status in such an ugly manner?

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There is a noteworthy overlap between “Trans activism” and support for political violence -- including in the recent murder of Charlie Kirk (the murderer’s boyfriend was “Trans”).

In the case of Daniel Fore, he, a leader of an Open Source project, regularly calls for discrimination (and violence) against people he disagrees with -- often in conjunction with his self-declaration as “Trans”.

Thus, his declaration of being “Trans” becomes a part of the overall story.

It is worth noting here that The Lunduke Journal has never -- and would never -- call for discrimination or violence against someone because of how they identify or who they may (or may not) vote for.

This is in stark contrast those, such as Mr. Fore, who consider themselves “Trans” or “Antifa” -- who actively advocate for both discrimination and violence.

Hall:

Mentioning a person’s trans status in ways that are pertinent to your argument necessates rudeness such as calling her a “dude who likes to wear dresses”?

Lunduke:

Dan Fore is, in fact, a dude who likes to wear dresses.

The only reason to view that as a negative is if you view dudes wearing dresses as a negative.

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I’ll quote you on that, which I’m pretty sure won’t bother you in the least.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Quote anything I say here. In fact, I suggest quoting absolutely everything I’ve written to you here, today.

Hall:

You also understand, don’t you, that voicing disagreement with an assessment made by POTUS is not only legal but a healthy part of the national dialog.

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Absolutely! Did I say somewhere that it was illegal to disagree with a politician? It seems unlikely that I have ever said that.

Hall:

Also, how would you reply to this:

There have been very few murders linked to individuals associated with Antifa, some incidents of rioting attributed to Antifa supporters, and no credible evidence of lynchings conducted in the name of Antifa. Compared to far-right groups, violence attributed to Antifa is much less frequent and lethal, with only one suspected kill—Aaron Danielson in Portland, by an anti-fascist activist—officially confirmed in recent U.S. history.

Lunduke:

Murder is bad. I am opposed to all murder.

In the context of these discussions, bearing in mind the Kirk murder is important (as many statements were made in response to it). The murderer of Kirk appears to have been pro-Trans and pro-Antifa (based on all available information).

Hall:

Is there any evidence that the suspect was part of an antifa group? I haven’t seen any.

Lunduke:

I have seen some reporting to this effect (including statements from family and messages he wrote).

But, far more important to this story, is the response to the murder among Antifa supporters (including those within Open Source). A large portion of Antifa supporters have celebrated the murder as justified because it killed someone they considered to be a “fascist”.

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Also, no group should be held responsible for what some deranged person who identifies with the group has done.

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Advocating for violence, then celebrating when violence is committed, are not good things.

Yet we see a great deal of that among Open Source supporters of Antifa.

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A huge thank you to everyone who supports this work. Couldn’t do it without you.

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The “50% off every kind of Subscription to The Lunduke Journal” sale has been extended through Monday (October 13th).

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To all of you amazing nerds who have picked up a Lifetime Subscription already this weekend: You are awesome. You’ll be receiving a confirmation email, with all of the Lifetime Subscription details, by tomorrow (if you haven’t already).

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See you all on Monday!

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