8-Bit Software Online Conversion

EIGHT BIT MAGAZINE issue 16 Archiving at 8BS You may recall a few months ago my request for an easy to use Archive/Dearchive utility for the BBC. Well I am pleased to be able to say that Andrew Black has provided the utility which is on this months disc. As the content of 8BS discs increases through the expansion of this magazine and the extra software submitted by 8BS members, it has become necessary to find a solution to the 31 filename limit per disc surface imposed by the standard DFS. Switching to ADFS was out of the question as many members do not possess this ROM (and the 1770 FDC hardware required). Archiving seemed to be the only answer but the archivers currently in the PD world were either too complicated to use or required SWR which (again) some members did not have access to. Andrew's Archive/Dearchive utility will run on an unexpanded BBC and is as easy to use as falling off a log. In order to give you the chance to get familiar with the Archiver, a number of ARCed files are included on this months disc which you will have to DeARC in order to run them. Such files include this months Music selection and the second part of Hugh Williams' sorting article. All ARCed programs are on side 2 of this months disc in the C directory. The Archiver itself is loadable from the main menu, and the program itself is stored on side 2 under the name $.Archive. It is wise to DeARC onto a blank disc so please have a blank 80 track formatted disc standing by before you follow these basic steps ... 1. Copy the ARCed file (ie. C.Music) to your blank disc 2. Insert your issue 16 disc and either CHAIN the program $.Archive from side 2 of this months disc or alternatively select it from the disc program menu after booting. 3. You should see a title screen with a question asking you which drive to use. Remove your issue 16 disc at this point and insert the disc containing the Archive as you prepared in step 1. 4. Enter the drive surface on which the ARCed file is stored (if you are following these instructions closely then the drive surface will be 0 (zero) - Press Return after input. 5. Select D to Decompress the Archive in response to the next prompt. Press Return to register your input. 6. The computer will ask for a source file. Enter this and press the Return key. For example C.MUSIC <Return> That is all there is to it. The computer will then tell you how long (in seconds) it is going to take for the process to complete. After the process is complete you might like to delete the ARCed file from the disc if you wish. The process of De-Archiving has been made as easy to use as possible as 8BS intends to make this a regular occurrence. I would therefore like to know about any difficulties experienced when de-archiving the software. For fuller instructions on the ARCVER utility including how to ARC your own software please refer to the accompanying article within the magazine. WHAT ARE THE ARCed FILES? You will need to use the above program to DeARC the following files. All files are on side 2 of this months disc along with the ARCVER utility itself ... C.MUSIC - Contains the better beeb music programs available including the excellent Captain Pugwash Remix. C.PICTURE - Contains a couple of digitised compressed pictures that can be viewed using the *LDPIC command which is also contained within C.PICTURE. There is also a *SVPIC command within the archive that can be used to SAVE screenshots to disc which can then subsequently be re-displayed using *LDPIC <filename>. This has not been tested due to time constraints so I would be interested to hear how any of you get on with this. After the file has DeARCed you can display the pictures by using this command ... *LDPIC P.ARNEE Arnold Schwartzenegger. *LDPIC P.WWOLF Apple Mac Werewolf Picture. C.709 - An Archive of Hugh Williams' Sorting Article part 2. The final part will be next month. Hugh is very keen to know how well this series has been received, and I would like to know what other area of computing you would like covered in this way so please let me know if found this interesting and/ or useful. CHAIN"LOADER" to start the article running after decompressing is complete. C.BSHIPS - One of the first games for a computer must have been battleships (yawn!). This archive containes 3 versions of the populat (!) game ranging from one of the first ever to hit the Beeb World, to one of the latest all gadgets version. All programs are CHAINed.