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| To: | 999 (all members) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There are a great number of tape copiers for the BBC. Some are very good and some are excellent but most of the best will not copy themselves. The best solution is to get them onto disc. SHADOW is one of the best. This tape copier is in four parts SHADOWINST, SHADOW, a short data stream and SHADOW2. The first part SHADOWINST is a basic program so load it in and alter line 70 to remove the *T. command. Change line 460 to 460PROCTITLE(6) Change line 470 to 470CHAIN"SHADOW" Then save the file to disc as SHADINS A short basic loader is needed next as follows:- 10PAGE=&3000 20*LOAD SHADOW2 30*TAPE 40*FX15 50CALL&7736 Save this to disc as SHADOW. Now load in the whole tape copier from cassette. Press BREAK and save to disc using:- *SAVE SHADOW2 7380+825 7736 Chaining SHADINS will now load and run the tape copier. If you don't want the instructions then just chain SHADOW. You can of course just *RUN SHADOW2 but do not be tempted to this as SHADOW will not then always produce a working copy of a game. SWARM is one such game. This is mainly because the *TAPE command is necessary and the loader program provides this. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To: | 999 (all members) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | D6G (Sprow) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | Using WebBC on the internet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A couple of issues ago,I sent a beta test version of my BBC webbrowser, called WebBC.It's really just an HTML stripper,though. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was asked by Crispin Boylan how to connect it to the real internet.Well it is possible - I see two alternatives. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use a bulletin board and BBC modem to connect to Arcade for example.From there you can fetch webpages to floppy disk,then view them in WebBC. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The other way is much more impressive. Since WebBC works with any filing system and accepts any valid filing system names it can be used with the Econet.I believe (though haven't seen with my own eyes) that there is a TCPIP programme that can be used with Econet (though there'll need to be an Archimedes as the fileserver). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Its the TCPIP part that does all the talking down the phone line. So,armed with this,you can use your BBC on the Econet to fetch pages off the internet.Fun! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sprow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Bollinbrook road MACCLESFIELD Cheshire. SK10 3DJ. email: rps102@york.ac.uk 8bsmail: D6G web: www.york.ac.uk/~rps102/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To: | 999 (all members) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | D6G (Sprow) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | DFSshift | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last issue,64,Crispin Boylan was in search of a programme from ATPL that budges the DFSs workspace elsewhere in memory to free up some more precious RAM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Well,I don't have this programme,but SlimDFS that I wrote last year does just the same thing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I've sent it again this month with manual for you to read. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sprow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Bollinbrook road MACCLESFIELD Cheshire. SK10 3DJ. email: rps102@york.ac.uk 8bsmail: D6G web: www.york.ac.uk/~rps102/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To: | 999 (all members) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ReplyTo: | E5B (Clive Stephenson) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | K8G (Jonathan Harston) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | Downloading Teletext Pages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In about 1985 I wrote 'GetPages', a program to automatically download teletext pages from a teletext adapter. In 1991 I tidied it up a bit and sent it in to Micro User. It appeared in the August 1991 issue. That version allowed you to download all the subpages of a specified page. The version here is slightly updated to download all the subpages from a range of pages. The program is GetPage and the instructions are in GetPInf. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To: | 999 (all members) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ReplyTo: | E4W (Crispin Boylan) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | K8G (Jonathan Harston) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject: | High Density FDC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crispin wrote in issue 64 making some valid points about supply of floppy disks. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 80 Track DS/DD 5¼" disks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Many shops don't seem to stock these any more, and I personally use very few of them, but last time I needed some a couple of months ago, Staples (general stationery superstore) had plenty of 10-packs for about £2. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3½" DD (720k) disks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I don't think there's going to be a shortage of 3½" DD disks in the near future. Every time I go to Staples or any general computing outlet they have boxes and boxes of them. I personally have 3,500 of them so I don't see myself running out. They are available for sale: 25p each or £2 for ten. Any BBC machine can use 3½" drives; BBC, B+, Master, Compact, Electron. I've been regulaly using them on my BBC B for nine years. Some BBCs with 8271 interfaces need DFS 1.21 rather than DFS 1.20 to fix some timing problems. There is a program FixDNFS on issue 63 that can be used to convert a DFS 1.20 rom image to DFS 1.21, or you can order the rom direct from me. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3½" HD (1.44Mb) disks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 8271 can only perform single density FM disk operations. This will store up to a maximum of 500k on a DS/80Trk disk (H/DFS=400k, DOS=450k). The 1770/1772 can also perform double density MFM disk operations. This will store up to a maximum of 800k on a DS/80Tk disk (DDFS=640k, HADFS=640k, ADFS=640/800k, DOS=720k). For storage up to 800k you must use DD disks, with only one hole in the - the write protect slot. The Master and the B+ come with a 1770 FDC installed, and so they can access up to 800k of data on a disk. The B can easily be upgraded to use an FDC controller by plugging a daughter board into the 8271 slot and fitting a suitable DDFS. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3½" HD (1.44Mb) disks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crispin asked whether it would be possible to use HD disks on the Beeb. To use HD disks you need a FDC that can perform HD operations. The one that the Archimedes A5000 onwards use is the 82c710 or 82c711. To use the 710/711 would need a daughter board plugged into the existing FDC socket, and a DFS/ADFS written to communicate with it. Unfortunately, the 1770/2 is soldered in in most Masters. This is probably a 'non-trivial' problem. That's not to say it is unachievable. At this stage, it's probably more suitable to 3½" DD disks, optionally using the 1770/2 if you want more than 400k capacity. I've also resubmitted an article about disk formats that originally appeared in issue 42 in 1995. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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