Compatibility with AT&T PC 6300: No SCREEN 100 or SCREEN B (21790)

SUMMARY

In general, QuickBasic works very well on the AT&T PC 6300 computer. However, please note that in QuickBasic Versions 2.x, 3.00, 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50 you must run QB with the /B option to see the QuickBasic editor menus and help screens properly on the AT&T's monochrome monitor.

The Basic that comes with the AT&T PC 6300 has SCREEN B and SCREEN 100 statements that are not supported in any version of QuickBasic or IBM BasicA. However, QuickBasic Version 4.00b has added a new screen mode, SCREEN 4, which is supported on the following machines:

Olivetti Personal Computers, models M24, M28, M240, M280, M380 AT&T 6300 Personal Computer series

SCREEN 4 is a 640x400 graphics mode that allows you to specify one

of 16 colors (0-15) as the foreground color. Use the SCREEN statement to select the mode and the COLOR statement to select the foreground color. The example below shows how to specify this mode with a blue foreground color:

SCREEN 4
COLOR 1

MORE INFORMATION

You must invoke QB with the /B option on the AT&T PC 6300 because the AT&T has a graphics card and a monochrome monitor installed. QuickBasic can detect what graphics card is installed, but you have to tell it with the /B option that a monochrome monitor is installed. (Please read about the QB /B option on Page 72 of the "Microsoft QuickBasic Compiler" manual for Versions 2.x and 3.00, or Page 49 of the "QuickBasic Version 4.00: Learning and Using" manual.)

The Basic interpreter provided with the AT&T 6300 gives a cursor on graphics screens; however, there is no cursor in IBM BasicA or Microsoft QuickBasic when working with graphics screens.

On the AT&T machines, the communications ports ("COM1:" and "COM2:") produce errors such as "Device not available" in QuickBasic Versions 1.00, 1.01, and 1.02. QuickBasic Versions 2.x and later have had few reports of problems with communications on the AT&T PC 6300.