This is now shipping with the Arduino Basic interpreter from Robin Edwards

My love of retro computing has sent me on the journey to have a small handheld device that runs a BASIC interpreter. I was so happy to run across the SMART Response XE!

This was a popular classroom device that allowed teachers to setup lessons, quizzes, whatever into a program and then the students would use these devices to interact with the curriculum. The advent of wide spread cell phone use has made these devices obsolete. However, they are rugged, excellent on battery life, and best of all, COME WITH AN ARDUINO PROCESSOR!!!

Yes, this humble device includes the Atmel ATmega128RFA1 processor with 128k RAM, 4k EEPROM, and external 1Mbit memory chip. It also includes an RF transceiver, but unfortunately, doesn’t use a common BLE or Zigbee interface.

In the battery compartment there are interestingly placed holes. When you crack one of these open, you will find programming pads that align with the holes allowing the units to be programmed without removing the case. This is good, because these units were meant for the classroom and are really hard to open.

I was thrilled to discover that Larry Bank had crafted an Arduino library for interfacing with the keyboard, screen, and external memory.

https://github.com/bitbank2/SmartResponseXE

I had been using the BASIC interpreter available called Tiny Basic Plus. The code was based off of the Tiny Basic Interpreter by Gordon Brandly. It was modified for Arduino by Mike Field, Scott Lawrence, and others and made available to the community. This was a great interpreter but was missing some key features like floating point math and arrays. I have had Robin Edwards (https://github.com/robinhedwards/ArduinoBASIC) interpreter on the back burner as the format was different than Tiny Basic and I knew it would take a bit for me to understand. I had some time, so I finished the port to the XE.

The code preserves all of the original commands from Arduino Basic and adds or modifies the following:

BYE: Bye will shut down the computer and display, and put the processor to sleep. In this state it consumes very little power. To wake it up, press the power button on the top of the unit.

BATT: The Batt command will return the battery voltage in millivolts. For this port, I made it an operator like RND. You can see the voltage by using PRINT BATT or can assign it in your program (a=BATT)

INKEY: This was changed to return the ASCII value instead of a string. This allows you to get the value of the function keys. They return -16(F0) to -7(F9). You can get the function key number as INKEY+16.

MSAVE: This will save the current program into external memory. You must follow the command with the data slot you want to use. There are 10 slots labeled 0 through 9. To save the program to memory slot 5, use the command MSAVE 5.

MLOAD: Retrieves the program from memory. If you want to load the program in slot 5, use the command MLOAD 5.

Del: The delete key is in the most logical place for the Enter key. In the library, Larry Bank mapped this key to Enter and I think it is the right answer. I tried using the navigation pad right pad for enter and it never felt right. Use the Del key for Enter. Deletion is now mapped to the navigation pad left pad.

ATN: This is the atan function in Arduino. The code needed a reverse trig function.

The BREAK key (to interrupt program execution) is the square root key (third over on the bottom row).

When available, these will be in good condition and I will have programmed them with the Arduino Basic software. You will get a fully assembled, preprogrammed device, showing minor wear and they may have numbers drawn on them in permanent marker or other writing by the original schools. It requires 4 AAA batteries.

If I run out, or you are an international buyer, or you just want to experiment with this device yourself, I recommend getting one on eBay and following my Instructable to program it.

Instructable for Arduino Basic on SMART Response XE