Well my three years was way out.
My AI BASIC adventures with Grok came to an end when it consistently failed to grasp the distinctive variable and string-slicing syntax of MWB. On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to try Claude.
Claude allowed me to viBEE code fluently — text files loaded into MWB with only one or two fixes needed at runtime. I played around with PCG and PLAY programs, then decided to venture into mathematics. I experimented with Markov Chains (think Google PageRank and SEO) and built a step-by-step demonstration of QR decomposition using the Gram-Schmidt method. I took a screenshot of the output, fed it to Google, and it immediately recognised the numbers and returned the original matrix values I had started with.
Somewhere over the past day I tired of the text-file inpubt routine and asked Claude to provide code already tokenised as a MWB program. WOW — it worked! There were some issues with end-of-program pointers and file headers, which I discovered when LIST threw an error, but those were resolved. Claude can now suggest, write, and deliver a .mwb program ready to run.
I realise AI isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I want to enjoy the best of BASIC programming using the tools of 2026. PS: I still get the soldering iron out to repair power boards and speaker installations — AI can't do that. But the robots are coming! 😄
SO I asked Claude Chicken Mans question:
The MicroBee 128K was one of the later and more capable machines in the Australian-made MicroBee line, produced by MicroBee Technology (originally Applied Technology) in the mid-to-late 1980s. {provided a photo}
**Hardware**
The 128K was built around the Zilog Z80 CPU, typically running at 3.375 MHz. Its headline feature was 128KB of RAM — a substantial amount for a home/educational machine of its era — along with a ROM-based software suite. It used a Motorola 6845 CRTC for display control, supporting both text and graphics modes including the distinctive Programmable Character Graphics (PCG) system that MicroBee machines were known for. Storage was via 3.5" floppy disk, and it could also run CP/M, giving it access to a serious library of business and productivity software.
**The Premium ROM**
The 128K Premium models shipped with an enhanced ROM containing Microsoft BASIC (MWB — MicroWorld BASIC), a machine code monitor, and other utilities built in.
**Context and significance**
The MicroBee was one of the few genuinely Australian personal computers to achieve commercial success, used widely in schools across the country through the early-to-mid 1980s. The 128K represented the mature end of the product line, arriving at a time when the IBM PC clone market was already beginning to dominate. It was capable and well-designed for its time, but the market shifted beneath it.
**Legacy**
The machine has a dedicated community to this day, centred largely around the microbeetechnology.com.au forum — where you're an active contributor. The ubee512 emulator faithfully replicates the hardware, including the CRTC behaviour, and has enabled a new generation of tinkering, ROM patching, and BASIC programming well into the 2020s.
It's a machine with genuine character, and the fact that its BASIC dialect is distinctive enough to trip up modern AI says something about how thoughtfully it was designed for its specific hardware.
My AI BASIC adventures with Grok came to an end when it consistently failed to grasp the distinctive variable and string-slicing syntax of MWB. On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to try Claude.
Claude allowed me to viBEE code fluently — text files loaded into MWB with only one or two fixes needed at runtime. I played around with PCG and PLAY programs, then decided to venture into mathematics. I experimented with Markov Chains (think Google PageRank and SEO) and built a step-by-step demonstration of QR decomposition using the Gram-Schmidt method. I took a screenshot of the output, fed it to Google, and it immediately recognised the numbers and returned the original matrix values I had started with.
Somewhere over the past day I tired of the text-file inpubt routine and asked Claude to provide code already tokenised as a MWB program. WOW — it worked! There were some issues with end-of-program pointers and file headers, which I discovered when LIST threw an error, but those were resolved. Claude can now suggest, write, and deliver a .mwb program ready to run.
I realise AI isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I want to enjoy the best of BASIC programming using the tools of 2026. PS: I still get the soldering iron out to repair power boards and speaker installations — AI can't do that. But the robots are coming! 😄
SO I asked Claude Chicken Mans question:
The MicroBee 128K was one of the later and more capable machines in the Australian-made MicroBee line, produced by MicroBee Technology (originally Applied Technology) in the mid-to-late 1980s. {provided a photo}
**Hardware**
The 128K was built around the Zilog Z80 CPU, typically running at 3.375 MHz. Its headline feature was 128KB of RAM — a substantial amount for a home/educational machine of its era — along with a ROM-based software suite. It used a Motorola 6845 CRTC for display control, supporting both text and graphics modes including the distinctive Programmable Character Graphics (PCG) system that MicroBee machines were known for. Storage was via 3.5" floppy disk, and it could also run CP/M, giving it access to a serious library of business and productivity software.
**The Premium ROM**
The 128K Premium models shipped with an enhanced ROM containing Microsoft BASIC (MWB — MicroWorld BASIC), a machine code monitor, and other utilities built in.
**Context and significance**
The MicroBee was one of the few genuinely Australian personal computers to achieve commercial success, used widely in schools across the country through the early-to-mid 1980s. The 128K represented the mature end of the product line, arriving at a time when the IBM PC clone market was already beginning to dominate. It was capable and well-designed for its time, but the market shifted beneath it.
**Legacy**
The machine has a dedicated community to this day, centred largely around the microbeetechnology.com.au forum — where you're an active contributor. The ubee512 emulator faithfully replicates the hardware, including the CRTC behaviour, and has enabled a new generation of tinkering, ROM patching, and BASIC programming well into the 2020s.
It's a machine with genuine character, and the fact that its BASIC dialect is distinctive enough to trip up modern AI says something about how thoughtfully it was designed for its specific hardware.