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The FP BASIC Cartridge gives the Laser 3000 a BASIC that, as far as I've determined, is fully compatible with Applesoft. Powering up the Laser 3000 with this device plugged into it leads to a more familiar (for an Apple user) BASIC environment. It starts up with the message "LASER 3000" at the top of the screen, instead of the copyright messages that are seen with the L3K's built-in BASIC. |
The Laser 3000's FP BASIC is identical to Applesoft in every respect except one: No low resolution graphics. This is because the hardware doesn't support those modes. But the BASIC understands the commands, and draws things to the text screen as if it were drawing to the low resolution graphics screen.
The extra commands of the built-in BASIC are missing, including access to HGR3, HGR4, HGR5, and HGR6. One thing is fixed, though: XDRAW works properly with this version of BASIC.
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This image shows the Laser 3000 with both the DI-100 Floppy Disk Controller and the FP BASIC Cartridge plugged in. The FP BASIC Cartridge is plugged into the right hand side of the machine. |