old-computers.com/website
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Full content from the completed page crawl (media download still running)

Browse Source 
6,654 pages: 1,289 machines, 702 software, 460 companies, 64 history, 17 articles, 59 fun.
4,336 media files so far; references to files not downloaded yet are left out.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
This commit is contained in:
yann64
2026-10-12 07:55:22 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
parent 785c4967be
commit 3eeabe9649
10027 changed files with 321638 additions and 24 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files
content/museum/basis-108.md
+136
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
---
title: BASIS 108
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- Germany
years:
- '1982'
cpus:
- '6502'
params:
name: BASIS 108
company: /companies/basis
company_name: BASIS
specs:
- label: NAME
value: BASIS 108
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Basis
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: Germany
- label: YEAR
value: '1982'
- label: KEYBOARD
value: |-
Detached full-stroke keyboard (AZERTY/QWERTY), 100 keys\
15 functions keys, separated numeric keypad and editing keypad
- label: CPU
value: 6502 and Zilog Z80 (For CP/M compatibility)
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: None
- label: RAM
value: 128 kb (two switchable 64k banks)
- label: ROM
value: 12 kb
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 40 x 24 / 80 x 24
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 280 x 192 / 280 x 160 / 80 x 48 / 40 x 48
- label: COLORS
value: 6 for the two first graphic modes and 15 for the other ones
- label: SOUND
value: 1 voice
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: Heavy !
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Centronics , RS232c , Tape, Joystick, six Apple II slots, video RGB, video composite
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: Two 5.25'' disk-drives (optional)
- label: OS
value: CP/M 3.0+ or CP/M 2.2 - DOS 3.2 or DOS 3.3
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built-in power supply
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: Most of the Apple II extensions...
- label: PRICE
value: 2290 (France, 1983)
tabs:
- photos
- adverts
photos:
- title: INSIDE
subtitle: ''
text: Once the Basis 108 is opened the power supply (top left), mother board (top right), two disk-drives (bottom left and right) and speaker (between the two disk-drives) are easily recognizable.
image: null
adverts:
- title: FIRST U.S. AD (1982)
subtitle: ''
text: A discreet advert and a nice monitor.
image: null
- title: U.S. AD (1983)
subtitle: ''
text: The Basis 108. Microcomputin'g "Best Of Both Worlds"
image: null
- title: 'FRENCH AD #1'
subtitle: ''
text: |-
''The European Alternative'' !
The Basis 108 was sold in France by BMI.
image: null
- title: 'FRENCH AD #2'
subtitle: ''
text: '''''The memory tool'''''
image: null
comments:
- author: former basis user (usa)
date: Monday 1st August 2022
text: But I did get some money for recycling the huge and thick Basis aluminum cases!!! One could pretty much drive a car over them without damage - and I stood on the cases several times to reach something on a high shelf.
- author: former basis user (usa)
date: Monday 1st August 2022
text: I had two Basis 108s, each with the two floppy drives. I was also in the user group, communication over a telephone handset modem. I needed CP/M for Wordstar, and the 6502 to run programs colleagues had written. I really did like those Basis machines, but eventually I needed more computing power, so switched to a PC (I might have stayed with Apple, had they not locked everything up with the Lisa - I need to be able to choose my own hardware and software, not have Jobs do it for me).
- author: Charlie Weesner (Tucson, Az)
date: Friday 23rd May 2014
text: |-
I used my Basis 108 for two or three years. The 16 MB retro-fit hard disk, and everything. There was a "Basis Users Group" with about 125 members (peak). I moved from Apple DOS to p-system, then to CP/M. Almost everything worthwhile I did under CP/M - including a command processor replacement whose name I don''t recall. I upgraded the 2 MHz 8080 CPU on the motherboard with an 8 MHz Z80 card. Centronics port to a dot-matrix printer. Serial port to a Hayes modem.
Eventually Basis got shut out for copyright infrigement on Apple DOS in ROM.
- author: Ed Weiner
date: Friday 12th April 2013
text: |-
I too had a Basis 108. I visited a nice couple in Munster, Germany and got the first upgrade z80 card to run at 4.5\
Also a very smart audio engineer, a Mr. Smith, in Cali, adapted a $995 hard drive to work with the Basis. The hard drive Co. failed in their attempt.
- author: Peter Gilvarry (USA formerly Hong Kong)
date: Wednesday 11th April 2012
text: I had one of theses that was built under a licence in Hong Kong, known as Medfly. I belonged to a US based user''s group and learned a lot about computing using this PC. I ran both Applesoft and CPM on it for many years.
- author: Andy Harper (USA)
date: Sunday 19th February 2012
text: I remember playing Karatika on this computer. I think Lotus 123 was used as well.
- author: RockDoctor (Minnesota, US)
date: Tuesday 16th November 2010
text: The Basis 108 was my first personal computer. Bought it in spring, 1982, so that I''d have a unit at home compatible with the Apple II in my office. It served me well!
- author: George (USA)
date: Tuesday 5th January 2010
text: Why did Basis fail?
oc_id: 92
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230608082659/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=92
date: '2023-06-08'
---
This professional computer was compatible with most of the hardware and software designed for the [Apple II](/museum/apple-ii/).
It could run under DOS 3.x, but thanks to its second CPU, a Z80 processor, it could also run under CP/M.
The Basis 108 had 128 KB RAM, (two switchable memory banks of 64k).
Two 5"1/4 disk-drives (Apple compatible) could also be mounted inside the computer. In the picture, these are Apple Disk II drives.
The Basis 108 was a good Apple II compatible machine with a lot of options built-in (80 columns, disk-drives controller, CP/M, high-resolution graphics), and was cheaper than the equivalent Apple system...
A year after introduction, the Basis Junior was presented at various different electronic shows. It was basically the same computer but with only 64 KB RAM (with optional expansion to 128k).