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Easter 1978 Advanced Monitor and Cassette BASIC
The March/April 1978 release is the third public HomeComp release wave.
It turns the expanded HC-77B from a cassette-capable front-panel machine into a more practical programming system. It introduces two official software cassettes for the 4 KB HC-77B configuration: the Advanced Monitor Tools Cassette and HC Cassette BASIC.
| Category | Released Material |
|---|---|
| Software | Advanced Monitor Tools Cassette |
| Software | HC Cassette BASIC Cassette |
| Media | TTY and Keyboard/CRT cassette variants |
| Requirement | HC-77B with official 3K RAM Expansion |
Both products require an HC-77B fitted with the official 3K RAM Expansion, giving the machine its full 4 KB working configuration.
| Variant | Required Hardware |
|---|---|
| Side A | TTY Interface |
| Side B | Keyboard and Video Display Controller |
The Advanced Monitor Tools Cassette provides the practical machine-code development environment for the expanded HC-77B.
It includes:
- HC Advanced Monitor
- HC EDIT text editor
- HC ASM assembler
The package gives HC-77B users a cassette-loaded monitor environment with a command prompt, memory and program tools, a compact source editor, and a two-pass assembler.
See Advanced Monitor Tools Cassette.
HC Cassette BASIC is HomeComp’s first BASIC language release for the HC-77B.
It provides a compact integer BASIC with numbered program lines, cassette save/load, simple program editing, conditional branching, keyboard or TTY input, and a scrolling text interface appropriate to the available hardware.
The TTY and Keyboard/CRT builds share the same stored-program format, allowing saved BASIC programs to move between the two environments.
See HC Cassette BASIC.
This release marks the HC-77B’s transition from a primarily front-panel machine into a usable small personal-computing system.
It adds:
- practical machine-code development tools
- a built-in-style programming environment loaded from cassette
- HomeComp’s first BASIC language
- a clearer reason to own the 3K RAM, TTY, keyboard, and display expansions
- software that makes the expanded HC-77B feel closer to a complete 1978 hobby microcomputer