BASICODE
The project was initiated in 1980 by Hobbyscoop, a radio program of the Dutch broadcasting organisation Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS).
Most would provide connectors for a cassette drive or have one built-in for data storage, and a BASIC interpreter that was generally stored in ROM.
A problem was that sharing programs and data across computers by different manufacturers was difficult, because the various BASIC dialects were often incompatible in some areas.
Another difficulty was the fact that while these computers were similar, they still differed in key hardware aspects like screen resolution, available color palette or audio abilities.
An application that was specific for each computer model, called Bascoder, managed the recall and storage of programs and data in this unified format from tape.
The robustness of the format also made broadcasting via mediumwave radio possible, which increased the range and in turn the number of potential users.
For example, data broadcast by the Dutch radio station Hilversum could be received in large parts of the German Democratic Republic.
Thus, the Bascoders were loaded on the various computers like normal programs, and when run, they provided the additional routines for the common standard and cassette I/O.
There were BASICODE 2 Bascoders for the Exidy Sorcerer, Colour Genie, PET, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Sinclair QL, Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Electron, TRS-80, MSX, Oric Atmos, P2000T, Grundy NewBrain, Amstrad CPC, IBM PC, Apple II, TI-99/4A, Aquarius and others.
Additionally, advanced users were able to write their own Bascoder for their system of choice, since the language standard and data format were open and well-documented.
In addition, BASICODE was used to transmit and share information like computer scene news via radio, in the form of so-called "journals".
[1] The most important additions were routines for simple monochrome graphics, reading and writing data from within programs and sound output.
From about 1990 onward the popularity of BASICODE declined rapidly due to the rise of 16- and 32-bit computers, such as the Atari ST, CBM Amiga, Acorn Archimedes and the plethora of IBM-PC compatible clones.
As the hardware, Operating Systems and software of new computers became more and more complex, many users were unable or less inclined to write their own programs.
The rise of several sophisticated but incompatible graphical user interfaces and the decline in popularity of 8-bit computers, reduced the usefulness of BASICODE, and brought about the demise.
BASICODE was an early attempt at creating a standard for the exchange of programs and data across mutually incompatible home computer systems.
It is roughly contemporary to the MSX standard developed by Microsoft, which specified a shared hardware platform in addition to a common BASIC dialect.
Though not a commercial product, several vendors offered versions on tape which could be bought cheaply, presumably aimed at those that could not receive BASICODE radio broadcasts.
Especially for applications that relied on timing and graphics or sound, for example video games, BASICODE was clearly inferior to programs written in "native" BASIC or machine code.
On a modern computer, Basicode audio cassettes can be decoded using minimodem, a freely available software modem.
