BBC BASIC Programmers' Reference

by Jon Ripley, June 2007

This article is written with Ubuntu, Kubuntu and other modern versions of Debian in mind. Download and installation information for other distributions is available download area of the wine web site.

To install wine open a command shell by running “Applications > Accessories > Terminal” and type the following commands at the shell prompt:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install wine
    sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
    sudo apt-get install gnochm

Enter your user password and answer 'y' when prompted. Each command may take some time to complete depending on the speed of your computer and internet connection.

To test the installation of wine type the following command at the shell prompt:

    wine notepad

This will create user configuration files for wine and load the wine equivalent of the notepad text editor. You can safely close the terminal window now.

Congratulations you now have a fully working installation of wine.

Open a file browser from the “Places > Home Folder” and locate the BBC BASIC for Windows set up program supplied when you purchased the BB4W or the current demonstration version. To run the set up program right-click on Setup.exe and choose 'Open with Other Application', click 'Use a custom command', type 'wine' without the quotes and press Enter. Early versions of BBC BASIC for Windows which use the Sax Setup tool may have a white box partially obscuring the installation window; to remedy this move the window out of the way. Early versions of BBC BASIC for Windows will refuse to run stating that the installation is invalid or that the serial number cannot be found, ignore this error as BB4W will work correctly after the upgrade.

Download the lastest update for BBC BASIC for Windows from the official web site. Find the file in the file browser and right-click on upgrade.exe and choose the new option 'Open with “wine”'. After the update is installed delete the 'BBC BASIC for Windows.lnk' file from the desktop.

BBC BASIC for Windows is now installed and is can be run a desktop shortcut and from the “Applications > Wine > Programs > BBC BASIC for Windows” menu.

It is necessary to use an external HTMLHelp viewer to read the manual and tutorial files supplied with BBC BASIC for Windows because the native support for HTMLHelp files under wine is currently incomplete.

The HTMLHelp viewer (gnochm) is available by running “Applications > Accessories > CHM Viewer”. The help files are stored in the locations listed below:

  /home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/BBC BASIC for Windows/bbcwin.chm
  /home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/BBC BASIC for Windows/bbctutor.chm

A PDF version of the manual is available from the BBC BASIC for Windows web site.

To install the latest version of wine on Ubuntu type the following commands at a shell prompt:

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install wine1.5

Substituting wine1.5 with the desired version of wine, if necessary.