8-Bit Software Online Conversion

                                                        To: 999 + 483 (Daniel G Shimmin) From: 15A (Steven Flintham) Subject: JANET email in issue 29 I thought this was quite interesting, although it does make me feel rather worried at how little I actually seem to know about things! I appreciate that this is hardly a novel suggestion, but why not put your collection of email onto a TBI/XBI disc in its original form. You could perhaps put a separate 'article' on that disc with any comments, rather than interspersing them with the messages, which I found a bit confusing. If this isn't practical, I'd certainly like to see some more in a future edition of 8BS. A program which uses the Master's shadow RAM to provide a 640x512 mode is mentioned in the article - do you have or could you obtain a copy of this? I would be very interested in seeing it. I wrote a crude program like this myself - it was just an interrupt routine to switch between the two banks every VSYNC and relied on the programmer to create the display correctly. I never bothered finishing it because I felt it was too much effort to write routines to plot text onto it at any appreciable speed.  To: 999 (all members) From: K1R Subject: BROTHER M1224L PRINTER Can anyone help me with details of what the dip switches do on this printer - I don't have a manual for it!  To: 999 (all members) From: K1R Subject: Scouting Are there any other Scouts out there? There are a whole load of us in this family, me a Leader, 2 Scouts and 1 Venture Scout. Get in touch!  To: 999 (all members) From: K1R Subject: SPELLING CHECKER DOES ANYONE HAVE A GOOD SPELLING CHECKER FOR SALE, MUST BE BBC MASTER/WORDWISE PLUS COMPATIBLE.  To: 999 (all members) From: K1R Subject: CAMBRIDGE COMPUTERS Z88 I have just obtained a Z88, together with some goodies, extra RAM and 1 EPROM. I intend to use it mainly for word processing. Does anyone have any experience of these machines, its hardware and software, I'd like to hear from any other users. I may be interested in buying any suitable Z88 gear, particularly Ram cards or Eproms.  To: 999 (all members) From: YJ2 (Andrew Snodgrass) Subject: Mandelbrots or otherwise In answer to a question asked in issue 29 the fractal pictures were not all mandelbrots. Some were in fact created using the Newtonian program found in the Acorn User some 5/6 years ago.Those that were created using this program were based on values that I entered. Looking at the REM statements at the beginning of the program should have explained this.  To: 999 (all members) From: YJ2 Subject: Archimedes PD I have just bought an A4000 Home Office System and as yet I haven't got much software for it. If any members have an Arc (or know someone else who does) could they please contact me.  To: 999 (all members) From: YJ2 Subject: Mirror of Khoronz (BBC - 08) I have been playing this game a lot recently and have got quite far. Unfortunatly I have become stuck and now I can't get any further. I can get to the beach where you can see the ship from but I can't get into the coracle. HELP! Incidently does anyone know where to get the prequel to this excellent adventure? I believe it had the word Karos in the title but I can't remember the full name . EDITOR.... Gateway to Karos is available from BBC PD (Disc 143). If anyone has it could they send a copy to me? I shall forward it on to YJ2.  To: 999 (all members) From: 176 Eric Shuker Subject: Topic of little importance! I have recently seen a 1974 Readers Digest publication of Quotes some of which might be of interest. "Out of sight, out of mind." When translated into Russian by computer, then back again, became "Invisible maniac" A schoolgirl answered the question "In which countries are elephants found?" "Elephants are very large and intelligent animals and are seldom lost" The Duke of Edinburgh (At the English Speaking Union) said, "I include "pidgin-english" even though I am referred to in that splendid language as "Fella belong Mrs. Queen"  To : 19F + all PC/Arch owners From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin) Re : PC's and Archimedes Silas Brown comments as follows. Firstly, to program a PC you'll need a software package. Sometimes some are supplied; try typing DEBUG, GWBASIC, BASICA or QBASIC. Secondly, the figures 70, 90 etc. are access times in nanoseconds, you should choose the one which matches the specification of your existing system and memory. Members with less-powerful PC's (up to 386) might wish to consider trying some software from Alan Blundell's BBC PD, which has a large (compacted) selection of PC software in its Master 512 section. In addition, I thought it might be a good idea for a list to be compiled of the addresses and/or phone numbers of members who have PC's and who would wish to contact other PC-owning members to swap software, tips etc. Anyone wishing to be included on this list please let Chris know next time you write. Finally, can anyone with any Archimedes PD or info of convenient size (less than 150K) send it in to Chris (in ready-to-run form) for inclusion on the ADFS version, to start up our long-awaited Archimedes section.  To: 999 (all members) From: 2J3 (Chris Richardson) Subject: WANTED WOULD ANYONE WITH A COPY OF: Repton Through Time XOR designer Repton Infinity PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP? I will refund all postage/phone charges etc as I am    To: 999 (all members) From: K1H.J W Fullbrook Subject: For sale and wanted. I have for sale a BEEB scanner I bought it second hand together with other hardware but as I'm not into DTP I want to sell it. They retail at about `99 from Watford electronics, I want `45 for it. It will work on a Master or BBC B but I can't be sure of any other machine, It comes with documentation and all the leads. 8271 FDC chip, together with two others `10. Replay rom MKII works with 1770/2 DFS and ADFS I'm not quite sure about 8271 but I should think so, this will copy any tape and most discs but the discs will only work on the machine that the Replay rom is fitted to. It has built in editing so that you can alter a game or add cheats. It holds up to 8 games on one side of a disc. The reason I'm selling it is that it cannot be used with a Winchester. Its boxed and comes with a manual. I want a tenner for it. Viglen 40 track double sided disc drive works off BBC power supply, in good working order `10. WANTED.... Any of the following.... Eprom progammer and eraser. Zif socket for the BBC B. Computec Integra B board to upgrade a BBC B to a Master, this has to be cheap as I can pick up a Master for `75. If anyones interested in any of the above or has any of the articles that I want, please write to me at the following address.. J W Fullbrook 77 Chestnut rise Plumstead London SE18 1RJ.                                                                                                                                   EDITOR... Excuse the effect caused by double height!  To: 999 (all members) From: K2C(Frank Jones) Subject: Fault Finding I am the owner of an Issue 4 BEEB, no modifications with a faulty screen presentation. On switching on, the screen presents a few small squares, haphazardly placed. At the top left hand of the screen there is no BBC 32K etc or cursor, only an hyphen. Continually tapping of the key will see the hyphen descend the screen until reaching TAB 20; there the cursor appears in either Mode 6 or 7. One is now able to type a program in and run it. Any syntax or error messages appear and all this activity takes place in the lower part of the screen. A change of mode might see the print or size change but chaos returns to the screen and one has to press BREAK,tap th e RETURN key and accept Mode 7 and the bottom four lines of the screen. Not wishing to spend a lot of money in sending the BEEB away, I am wondering if with the knowledge and advice of fellow members, I can repair it myself. My sources of information are page 498 of the 'User Guide' (regretfully, I have not yet got a copy of the 'Advanced User Guide') and pages 32/33 of "Choosing and Using your Home Computer"; the latter being the most useful featuring a double page coloured layout of the inside of the BEEB. From the above sources, Am I naive in suspecting the VIDEO CONTROLLER, this is chip ref HD46505SP which is described as "The chip takes information from the user memory and converts it into a video signal for display" or does the trouble lie before that and the chip is producing only what it is sent? I have examined Watford Electronics and Bells Computers' list of chips available and neither features this particular one Any help or advice appreciated. My 'phone number is 0845 522241.  To: 999 From: K2C(Frank Jones) Subject: WANTED Wanted a tractor feed for an Epson LX80. Frank 0845 522241  To 3SQ and 999 From 3PM Subject CMF Printer driver Thanks Tim for the observations, Iss.29. I originally had trouble with the editor, set it aside mistakenly to await a new version and made versions of the driver proper with appropriate code sets. I'll go back and have another try now I'm a bit wiser. I also squeezed into the 7 remaining bytes the facility to print `, £, and $ in either Epson or IBM emulation using the method of E.Ellis, Acorn User May90 p23. If anyone would like to add this to their own CMF driver send SAE to DP-J, 69, Ashley Road, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire. FY8 3EL for modification details.  To 483 and 999 From 3PM Subject Copyright This does seem a thorny subject. I appreciate your comments. Apart from flagrant plagiarism, the use of code in what is now a near commercially obsolete processor would seem to be unlikely to offend. And hands-up anyone who can write a couple of lines that somebody hasn't published somewhere. I think I will just simply acknowledge any known source and be damned. All publication is after all 99.9% previous generations building blocks. Did Henry Ford insist that GM handbooks showed their cars with square wheels?.  To 20G, 483 and 999 From 3PM Subject Savings: in answer to your problem, the value V of £P at R% compound interest after n years is:- V=P*(1+R/100)^n Sometimes a yearly interest rate is offered but interest is added calendar monthly in which case R is taken as the annual rate/12 and n is now the number of months. Try it out and you will see that 1% per month for 12 months is better than 12% per annum. Go for it. Regarding maths it's only shorthand really with a few rules thrown in, the telly thrown out, and the secrets of the universe are yours for the asking. You can even save energy (a popular subject?) with humble arithmetic. eg. 20 million tellies*100Watts=2,000 Megawatts=8*Dounreay Fast Breeder Reactors. Better than folding all those cardboard boxes, 483? Mind you, you do get two threats of imprisonment a year from the trivia police with the wording "Please state why you do not own a television set".(Oops, copyright again?). Just say "Because I'm a mathematician", or "I ran out of cardboard".  To: 999 + YJ2 + 0E7 From: 6EE (Mick Needham) Subject: Early 8-bit issues The first four issues of 8-bit contained only the Systems Software Each issue updated at least one of the Systems programs, the aim was for all members to send comments and ideas for improving the programs and for these to be incoporated into the updated versions, thereby every member had a part in improving the program. Issue four was the last complete update however System bank was updated around issue 7 but was only issued on request and for some unknown reason never released on an 8-bit issue. Systems Server was also updated and can be found on issue 14. For those new to 8-bit the four Systems programs are as follows:- Systems Bank v3a - personal bank account management Systems Phone v1a - Phone call cost, estimation and store Systems Server v6a - Comprehensive program database Systems Comms v1.1 - Customised BB database I did with the permission of Duncan produce some bound copies of Systems Server v6a, if anyone is interested in a copy just send 4 first class stamps to me at:- 153 Firth Park Road, Sheffield, S5 6WU.  To: 999 (all members) From: 6EE (Mick Needham) Subject: Wanted Does anyone have a copy of Clares Beta-Base utilities disk they want to sell also Vine Micros Scythe ROM and disk.  PRESS BREAK FOR MENU