website/content/museum/basis-108.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
BASIS 108	Computers	Professional Computer	Germany	1982	6502	name image company company_name specs tabs photos adverts comments oc_id source BASIS 108 /media/museum/photos/basis_108.jpg /companies/basis BASIS label value NAME BASIS 108 label value MANUFACTURER Basis label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN Germany label value YEAR 1982 label value KEYBOARD Detached full-stroke keyboard (AZERTY/QWERTY), 100 keys\ 15 functions keys, separated numeric keypad and editing keypad label value CPU 6502 and Zilog Z80 (For CP/M compatibility) label value CO-PROCESSOR None label value RAM 128 kb (two switchable 64k banks) label value ROM 12 kb label value TEXT MODES 40 x 24 / 80 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 280 x 192 / 280 x 160 / 80 x 48 / 40 x 48 label value COLORS 6 for the two first graphic modes and 15 for the other ones label value SOUND 1 voice label value SIZE / WEIGHT Heavy ! label value I/O PORTS Centronics , RS232c , Tape, Joystick, six Apple II slots, video RGB, video composite label value BUILT IN MEDIA Two 5.25'' disk-drives (optional) label value OS CP/M 3.0+ or CP/M 2.2 - DOS 3.2 or DOS 3.3 label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply label value PERIPHERALS Most of the Apple II extensions... label value PRICE 2290 (France, 1983) photos adverts title subtitle text image INSIDE 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. /media/museum/photos/basis_108_inside.jpg title subtitle text image FIRST U.S. AD (1982) A discreet advert and a nice monitor. /media/museum/pubs/basis_108_uspub_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. AD (1983) The Basis 108. Microcomputin'g "Best Of Both Worlds" /media/museum/pubs/basis_108_uspub_2.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH AD #1 ''The European Alternative'' ! The Basis 108 was sold in France by BMI. /media/museum/pubs/basis_108_pub_alternative.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH AD #2 ''The memory tool'' /media/museum/pubs/basis_108_pub_outil-memoire.jpg author date text former basis user (usa) Monday 1st August 2022 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 date text former basis user (usa) Monday 1st August 2022 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 date text Charlie Weesner (Tucson, Az) Friday 23rd May 2014 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 date text Ed Weiner Friday 12th April 2013 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 date text Peter Gilvarry (USA formerly Hong Kong) Wednesday 11th April 2012 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 date text Andy Harper (USA) Sunday 19th February 2012 I remember playing Karatika on this computer. I think Lotus 123 was used as well. author date text RockDoctor (Minnesota, US) Tuesday 16th November 2010 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 date text George (USA) Tuesday 5th January 2010 Why did Basis fail? 92 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608082659/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=92 2023-06-08

This professional computer was compatible with most of the hardware and software designed for the 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).