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There was also the PS2 version of Yabasic, which was included on the demo disc that came with the console.

If I recall correctly, this was done to avoid some kind of tax on "entertainment devices" in Europe; Sony argued that the ability to write BASIC programs made it a "computer", rather than an entertainment device.

Text could be entered using either a pad or a USB keyboard, and programs could be saved to memory cards. Some magazines even included user-submitted games on their cover disc, and the official UK magazine included a page or two of code each month which eventually built up to a playable game.

There were a few differences from the original Yabasic - gradient triangles were added, audio functionality was removed, etc. I'm told that the source code is available online somewhere, since the original Yabasic was GPL-licensed, but a quick Google search didn't turn up anything useful.

For those who are interested, a friend of mine has re-implemented the PS2 version in Javascript: http://www.mrdictionary.net/yabasic/



Yeah, I didn't pay much attention to it beside the day I bought the PS2.

Eventually I got hold of the PS2 Linux package, but getting monitors with sync on green wasn't that easy.




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