VIGIL Programming Language

[folkoh]

Hi,

just found this tape and manual on ebay:

http://tinyurl.com/63zgvx2

Never heard about this "game programming language" before. Found a review from 1982 here: http://tinyurl.com/6ag2rmp

"It permits the programmer to create and move video block graphics." It comes with six games, making use of this language. The reviewer seems a bit disapointed (back in 1982!), so probably it's not worth bidding - but I am curious: Has anybody worked with this language and seen the games? Can anybody say something about the set of commands and how they work?

I am strangely tempted to bid for this most probably crappy item. If I or someone else get's hold of this tape it should be preserved (the manual, too)

Greetings,

Folko

[folkoh]

I had to bid. Couldn't resist. Folko

[Jeff-20]

Wow, never even heard of this one! Are these just preprogramed joystick routines and commands? Something similar to the SuperExpander for games?

[folkoh]

Wow, never even heard of this one! Are these just preprogramed joystick routines and commands? Something similar to the SuperExpander for games?

In the review it is compared with the SuperExpander: "The VIC 1211A expander cartridge has built-in features that are similar to certain VIGIL commands. It is possible that a user who wants to program graphics and music would be satisfied with the expander alone. If, on the other hand, you have another expander and want the capacity to do graphics, VIGIL may be a likely choice"

If I'm winning this auction I will scan the 78 page manual + upload the tape (if it works). Half of the pages in the manual are filled with program listings making use of the language.

Man, am I curious. I couldn't find it in any public VIC software archive yet.

There are still mysteries concerning VIC history to be revealed...

Folko

[folkoh]

Just a quick update (though nobody seems to be interested except Jeff): I won the auction and the package (tape with 78-page manual has arrived).
I think it's a gem from VICs' history. I will scan the manual and I already managed to save the 3k and 8k versions from the tape to disk although they wouldn't load error free the first 5 hours of trying

The six game files seem to be corrupted but the listings are in the manual, so I can type them in. Not documented but also on the tape are two (damaged) files named "TB-Compiler 3k" and "TB-Compiler 8k". Does someone know about these? They are not required to run VIGIL, but could this be TINY Basic?

Any suggestions where to upload manual and disk image (with VIGIL and the six games)?

Greetings,

Folko

[Jeff-20]

I would love to see the manual or some of the commands.

[16KVIC20]

Does vigil itself work? Is it any good?

[joshuadenmark]

Very interested to see some of the commands too

[folkoh]

Patience. Hope I'll find some time this weekend. Plan is to upload the scanned manual and a disk image with the 3k and 8k versions of the language. Again: Any ideas where to upload this?

Greetings,

Folko

P.S. The introduction by the publisher is a real gem, it describes how the programmer coded the language, a true ride back into the days...

[folkoh]

Does vigil itself work? Is it any good?

It works. Quality: Not by todays standards of course. But it seems to be an interesting mix-up of BASIC and machine language-like commands in one interpreter without the need to compile it. A history lesson in any case. It has been developed for the PET/CBM series, too.

Greetings,

Folko

[16KVIC20]

Does vigil itself work? Is it any good?

It works. Quality: Not by todays standards of course. But it seems to be an interesting mix-up of BASIC and machine language-like commands in one interpreter without the need to compile it. A history lesson in any case. It has been developed for the PET/CBM series, too.

Greetings,

Folko

Thanks for your reply Folkoh. I am no programmer, but the VIC was the one computer that I did mange to get a decent grasp of basic on. Maybe I can get my skills back and expand on them, given time. Machine Code is like magic to me. I would really like to learn machine code.

[folkoh]

First, I think it's time to move this thread to the "Collecting and History" section. (Jeff?)

I have to admit that it is quite painful and time consuming for me scanning the manual with my little scanner, but I can see some progess. I doubt that I'll be ready this weekend. To shorten the time waiting for manual and disk image, I like to share this wonderful "Preface" page from the manual (OCRed) from 1981, the very early VIC days. Just read, how this stuff was programmed, the dedication, the suffering

Oh, and I know, it's a bit long. I hope this is ok and y'all are enjoying it like I do. I think it's wonderful. This alone was worth the 1 € I've spent for VIGIL

Greetings,

Folko

Here it goes:

*******************

PREFACE

This is the second version of VIGIL. The first version of VIGIL is for the PET micros and has been completed now since May of this year.

At about the same time that work was completed on the PET version of VIGIL, Commodore introduced their VIC personal computer. The VIC is one of the most economical home computers- it contains a built-in BASIC interpreter, sound and color capabilities, expansion ports for cassette, floppy disk and telecomunications and memory upgrades. We believe that the VIC has a great deal of potential as a games computer.

If past experience is any indication, it will be about a year until any quantity of quality software is available for the VIC. We are trying to shorten that time span by making available VIC VIGIL. VIC VIGIL is not just a remake of the PET version. Rather. author Roy Wainwright has completely rewritten the package to take advantage of the color and sound which distinguishes the VIC from the PET. You may be wondering how he developed such a fantastic package on the VIC. Well, he cheated a little. The development was done on his old trustworthy PET. How is this for a development system?

* 8K OLD ROM PET
* Built-in cassette drive for mass Storage
* Second cassette drive
* Dot matrix printer
* 6502 assembler written in BASIC

He assembled the VIGIL interpreter for the VIC on his PET, ard then downloaded it to his VIC. The VIGIL interpreter consists of more than 2000 assembler statements. His assembler being written in BASIC, takes more than 5 hours to complete the assembly. And Roy has assembled the VIGIL interpreter hundreds of times. How is that for dedication? He told me that he doesn't mind the long assembly times except when his cassette drive starts acting up - forcing him to start all over again. He does admit hwwer, that his wife has sometimes been delegated to oversee some of these long assemblies. So we must graciously thank Mrs. Wainwright too.

The vast array of VIGIL comnands provide the means to create interactive programs for the VIC. But the real power of VIGIL is the ease with which these games and graphics applications can be developed, and the perfornance advantages that the language offers over BASIC.

VIGIL represents a genuinely new and useful language VIC User. We hope that you agree with our evaluation that Roy has a winner with his VIGIL. My thanks again to Roy for his diligence (he also said he had some fun) and to the rest of his family for the long hours that they may have missed Roy. We would also like to thank MIKE SAUVE of Micro Technical Services for adding memory to several of our VICs.

Arnie Lee

October 3, 1981
Grand Rapids, MI.

[Humbaba]

There was an interesting thread about this on Twitter today (8 years later rofl)...

https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/ ... 6143985664

[folkoh]

Ok 8 yrs later and not much progress from my side,

But I still have VIGIL - an I really the only one with a copy?

[joshuadenmark]

Ok 8 yrs later and not much progress from my side,

But I still have VIGIL - an I really the only one with a copy?

Hey! Your are rich