# Free SM32

Why Free SM32 ?

It has been difficult to produce a Business Basic application that can be mass marketed when a run time license fee must be paid to the Business Basic supplier. So it has been impossible to produce that "$29 desktop application". I hope this release will cure that. Free SM32 comes with a small Devlopment Environment that is targeted to this end (the SMDE).

Of course I'm hoping you will like Free SM32 and will consider the Enterprise version for your multi seat commercial customers.

Where did this version come from ?

SM32 and SMBasic were developed by myself, Ken Yerex, through my Corporation - Yermac Data Systems Ltd. The first version was developed in 1977 and ran on Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 microprocessors. It was actually the programming language and Operating System as was Basic Four's Level II.

Versions of SMbasic were then developed for Data General mini computers. First for the RDOS operating system then for AOS and AOS/VS. In about 1989 a 32-bit version that preformed dynamic compiling and targeted the Data General MV product line was developed. This was the first version to be called SM32.

In the 90's versions targeting the Intel x86 on DOS, Windows and SCO UNIX were developed. The x86 version added most of the BBX Progrresion/4 features while maintaining compatibility with the Data General versions. In 2002 after years with little new development, a reseller of the SCO UNIX version contracted with me to develop a Native Linux version. Along with this development a GUI interface using HTML was added to the windows version (The windows version can act as a thin client FID 0 device to the UNIX/Linux version). Free SM32 is a result of this recent development.

What is missing ?

There is nothing missing that is required to build single user applications.

1. LOCK - acts as a no-op.
2. EXTRACT - acts as a READ.
3. ROUTEs are disabled. (A ROUTE is a facility that allows FAT clients to use an SM32FS-fileserver.)
4. CONNECT is disable. (Free SM32 cannot act as a thin Linux client.)
5. SOCKET and PIPE are disabled. (Free SM32 can not make TCP/IP connections)

Development Target

It is assumed that the reader of this manual will be trying to produce programs using the SM32 GUI interface. Therefore the developer will be using the Console view for delopment/debugging and the Web View for the user interface. Based on this assumption, the development environment has partially taken over the Console View, adding a MENU, special console mode commands and bringing up Dialog based HTML windows for its Utilities. The development environment was set up to try and quick start a business basic programmer to get his programs running under SM32 using the HTML interface. The utilities are set up so that .html files and the source do not have to be distributed.

What's with the HTML

As you read the rest of this manual realize this about the the HTML pages you will create:
Your user is NOT going to browse from one page you create to the next (although we are using browser technology we do not browse). Any action that would cause a change in the page is returned to the SM32 program which decides what to display next.
So don't be confused when you see HTML source like (this is from DEMO1):

    <form method="post" action="FORMINPUT">

and begin to wonder where or what FORMINPUT is. When the form is submitted via a SUBMIT button the SM32 program is going to receive the information that the current page is trying to go "FORMINPUT" but the current page remains displayed until the SM32 program tells it to display a different page. So FORMINPUT is just flag type data to the SM32 programmer.