This is an update to my previous post. My wife and I attended the VCF SouthWest 2025 in Dallas, Texas. This being my first time to attend one, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Just in case I would be able to show BASIC Engine, I brought my Windows XP laptop and a small desktop setup built around an Orange Pi PC. On Friday I was able to meet Cory Smith at his gotBASIC.com display tables. He knows about the BASIC Engine project and is even displaying a print out of the RX Reference Manual in booklet form. He has a BASIC Engine Orange Pi board in a display case with other SBC BASIC systems on his tables. I showed him the Windows version of BASIC Engine on my Windows XP laptop. He was not aware that BASIC Engine could run on a Windows computer. His experience had been with the Orange Pi board.
On Saturday, we visited the other displays and attended some of the talks. A few of the talks were full and we will have to see the YouTube videos of them. Cory had a little space on his tables and he let me set up the small desktop BASIC Engine system I brought. Thanks Cory for letting me show BASIC Engine. I ran Asteroids with a GamePad, Tetris from the keyboard, Sokoban with a GamePad and my current WIP port of TicTacToe from Commodore BASIC 7 C-128 code. This being my first time to use the desktop BASIC Engine system outside of home, I ran into a problem with my HDMI cable being too long and too thick to work in the space on the table. Pete, also displaying at the table, came to my rescue by switching his shorter, thinner HDMI cable with me. Thanks Pete, since we are in Dallas I will say “This was my first 'Rodeo'” and I learned a lot.
On Sunday, I was able to talk to David Murray, The 8-Bit Guy, at his display. I am working on a proof of concept using PETSCII graphics to create BASIC Engine screens from his PETSCII Robots game. I am using the PET shareware version as a guide for this effect. I found out there are two versions of PETSCII graphics, a PET version and a C-64 version. He told me it appeared I was using the C-64 version because of breaks in the lines of the character graphics and ask if I knew what version I was using. I told him I was using the BESCII font in BASIC Engine. He also shared some other information about the PET game structure in the limited time we had to talk. While I had the Windows XP laptop setup, I showed him the port of Tetris from his code that is included with BASIC Engine.
There was a lot to see and do at VCF SouthWest 2025 and they are planning for next year at an earlier date and a different venue. There are YouTube videos that show the festival and talks for additional information.