To: 999 (all members)
From: L1L (Jock Smylie)
Subject: Printers
Does anyone know if the BBC B can
drive an ink-jet printer.?
I know that the Beeb can be made to
drive certain Laser Printers and can
even produces graphics, but can the
same be done for ink-jets.
If this is possible presumably some
sort of printer driver would be needed
- does one exist ?
Would the ink-jet produce better
quality graphics dumps and text or is
it limited by the software being
used.?
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3Y (Lorna Jenne)
Subject: I have had a second-hand BBC
B+ for about 4 years mainly using it
with Interword, Intersheet, and more
recently with Interbase. My
programming abilities are very
limited,but I am trying to improve
them. I am trying to find out more
about Shadow Ram any help or comments
will be most gratefully recieved.
I have recently got a second hand
Wapping Editor DTP package.
In the handbook it says that the
DTP will use the Shadow Ram in a BBC
fitted with a Watford Shadow Ram Board
and will use it in the Master but not
in the B+. Can anyone explain what is
different about the Shadow Ram in the
B+
Thanks for any help.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2G (N.P.WILLIAMSON)
Subject: Dead Master
A couple of months ago i turned on
the master and nothing happend, dead.
There were no beep or lights lit up on
the key board, all i had got was a
clicking noise from the power pack.
It's a good job i had read the Hints
as it tells you about two fuses in
the Power pack, so i opened the
computer and removed the pack to have
a good look, on the pack it's self had
a notice saying "No servicable parts
inside"? Well any way i had to take it
apart abit to get access to the fuses
and test them, but without removing
any of them i noticed striaght away
that the glass fuse, which is a 5amp
250V 20mm fuse had blown. The next day
i went to a local T.V repair shop and
got a replasment for 40 pence. I
wonder how much it would have cost if i
had sent it off to a repair shop?
The problem i suspect, because i have
not had any more hassle, is down to
switching the Computer on and off over
the years which causes a power surge.
To get over this problem (This might
help Colin Culpitt-Smith, Hi Colin) is
to use ?&FE4E=&7F:CALL!-4 <RETURN>
which does a power break without the
surge (Well it works on my Master!!!).
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2H (Ron Boyce)
Subject: SORTING DATA
HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP
Can any of 8BS's expert Program
writers help me to 'sort' out this
problem? I would be most grateful.
In a weak moment I told a
son-in-law (a Head Master) that I
would type in, and sort alphabetically,
lists of former pupils in old Registers
dating back to the 1890's. They are to
appear in a book he is preparing on the
history of the school.
There are up to 2000 names per
Register and four fields - SURNAME
(up to 20 letters),CHRISTIAN names (up
to 30 letters), DATES at school (10)
and Book/PAGE numberS (5).
So far I have a Data file containing
1117 names from the first register!
With excellent help & advice from
Chris I have a first-class Program for
entering, viewing, amending, deleting,
and printing this Data file one entry
per line & 60 lines per page, BUT,
and this is the snag,it takes HOURS to
print out 1117 names!!!!!
Has anyone got a Program which
would speed up the sorting - or
suggest a suitable commercially
available Program for my BBC MASTER
128 computer?
P.S. There is a "Quicksort" Program
on page 91 of "File Handling For All"
('BEEBUG' publication), but I just can
not get it to work on my 1117-long
Data file. In any case WOULD it be
quicker?
My telephone number is 0673 860892,
and address is 56, Ryland road,
Welton-by-Lincoln. LN2 3LZ.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2U (DAVID BROWN)
Subject: FONT
CAN ANY ONE OUT THERE HELP ME WITH A
DISK OR DISKS FIVE AND QUARTER
SINGLE 80 TRACK ON FONTS OR IS THERE
A UTILITY DISK AVAILABLE FOR MY ACORN
DFS.I WILL PAY TOWARDS COST OF SUCH
DAVE 0233 621053 ASHFORD KENT.
PERHAPS AS THIS IS GOING OUT IN APRILS
ISSUE ALL YOU BEEBS WOULD LIKE TO KEY
IN THIS SIMPLE PROGRAM WATCH OUT FOR
DRAMATIC RESULTS ON THE SCREEN.
VDU12,31,12,13,66,73,71,32,65,80,82,73,7
,32,70,79,76,30then return.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3U (Lol Simmonds)
Subject: Messaging System
Why is it that some messages come up
like this
* [*@
odd characters rubbish etc
+*? [[[
bleah. ?
EDITOR........ This looks like it could
be graphics without the graphics colour
code to the left of the "rubbish". With
a code it may make sense.
To : 999 + K2Q
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : *COPY/*COMPACT destroying prog.
There are five possible ways round
this:(1) Get a Master Compact, which I
don't
think has this problem (under ADFS
anyway).
(2) Use *MOVE to copy files, as it
doesn't destroy BASIC programs.
(It's v e r y slow).
(3) Under ADFS, use *COMPACT followed
by two hexadecimal numbers, the
first being the start of an area
of memory you don't mind being
corrupted, the second being its
length. (?)
(4) Don't use *COPY, *COMPACT etc.
(5) Use Steven Flintham's solution as
in the last issue
To : 999 + K1Z
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Connecting a modem
The port to use is either the RS423
port at the back of the computer, or
(possibly) the internal modem
connector (I know there is one because
an internal modem was produced, but
I'm not sure where it is/how it
works).
To : 999 + K2P
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : What printer for Master 128?
Your best bet is a dot matrix;
virtually any dot matrix should be
suitable, but you will need a
BBC-compatible parallel printer cable
(so either buy second-hand from a BBC
owner, or buy from a dealer or
mail-order company who have knowledge
of BBC's).
For better-quality print (as good as a
fairly expensive typewriter) plus more
fonts and features, go for a 24-pin
version - the LC-20 advertised by
Adrian Mews in the last issue at £70
is good value if it hasn't gone
already, as it is the new version of
the popular and versatile LC24-10
(which I use - come to think of it,
you might be able to buy mine at
Christmas).
For less high-quality results (but
stillperfectly acceptable), go for a
9-pin printer, which should be even
cheaper.
To : 999 + 0E7
From : 483 (Daniel Shimmin)
Re : Printer line feed problems
If your printer is having line feed
problems (symptoms are either printing
everything on the same line or
unintentionally double-spacing lines),
the quickest fix is to try *FX 6,10 or
*FX 6,0 (at least one of them should
work because they should have opposite
and mutually exclusive effects).
On a Master/Compact, the equivalent
configuration commands are:
*CONFIGURE IGNORE 10
*CONFIGURE IGNORE 0
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD)
Subject: TAPE TO DISC FOR M/C PROGRAMS
Most games are in several parts, each
part chaining or *RUNning the next. If
a program is chained then it is BASIC.
If it is *RUN or *LOADed it is machine
code.
Let us suppose we have a three part
game on tape. The first two parts are
in BASIC and the last part is machine
code. The first two parts can be just
loaded type *DISC and then saved. If
the file names are more than seven
letters long then they will have to be
shortened to seven letters, the
maximum allowed by the DFS.
To get the M/C program on to disc
type *OPT1,2 (RETURN) then type
*LOAD""1900 (RETURN) to load the M/C
program from tape. When the program is
loaded you will have four sets of
numbers after the filename. Ignore the
first four numbers or letters in each
set. The first set is the number of
blocks and can also be ignored. The
second set is the length of the
program. The third set is the load
address and the forth set is the
execution address. Now type *DISC.
To save the program to disc type
*SAVE"filename"1900+length execution
load
Put the proper filename in and the
three sets of numbers where indicated.
&1900 was used as a temporary address
for loading an saving and is discarded
when the program is saved.
The three parts are now on disc so
chain the first part. You may get an
error message either FILE NOT FOUND or
BAD FILENAME. This means that the
first part CHAINS"". A null string
will not work on the DFS or the first
part is using a filename more than
seven letters long. Alter the first
part to chain the filename of the
second program. The second part may
also need altering.
If the load address of the third part
is &1100 or more, the program may now
run but it will probably be less so it
will have to be downloaded.
The following short relocator will do
this:-
10 *KEY0 *LOAD "filename"1900|M
*TAPE|MFOR T%=0 TO &length STEP 4:
T%!&load =T%!PAGE:NEXT|M
CALL&execution|M
20 *FX138,0,128
30 END
Put the filename, length, load and
execution addresses in where
indicated.
Some DFSs include relocating
utilities. The Watford DFS has the
commands *MRUN and *MLOAD which will
do the relocating. If you have the
BEEBUG DISC MASTER this has an
excellent move down routine which tags
a small machine code on the end of
your program for either machine code
or basic programs.
That's all for this month. Next month
I will deal with the problem of LOCKED
programs.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: InterWord
I recently bought this 'piggy-back'
chip, but it arrived with several legs
broken off. I know one leg is supposed
to be missing (the manual says so),
but which one? Does anyone know? Your
help appreciated. Tel 0738-812186
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith)
Subject: 'GSRead' and 'GS format'
My Master manual talks about 'GSRead'
and 'GSFormat', but does NOT explain
what either mean. Does anyone know?
Your help appreciatd. Tel 0738-812186
EDITOR..... GSREAD is the way that
unprintable characters such as control
codes and characters with ASCII values
greater than 127 are made printable. A
GSREAD encoded character has a |
character placed before it. Master
users will see these characters when
*TYPEing a BASIC program.
|@ is the same as VDU0
|A =VDU1 ----- etc ---- |Z =VDU26
|[ =VDU27 |½ =VDU28 |] =VDU29
|^ =VDU30 |# =VDU31 |?=VDU127
You can type these characters directly
from the keyboard by holding CONTROL
plus the relevant key. For instance,
when setting the volume on my monitor I
hold CONTROL+G, the same as VDU7
(beep).
To: 0E7 & 999
From: K2G (N.P.WILLIAMSON)
Subject: PRINTERS
Fred you told us how you got on with
using WD-40 to re-new your printer
ribbon, i to have used WD-40 on one of
mine, it was a Epson FX100 which is a
wide carrage printer i also have a
Canon PW-1080A (More of that later)
but with the Epson i was able to
remove the lid of the ribbon cart and
see all the ribbon inside. I then
placed the cart on a piece of P.V.C
sheeting and held the can of WD-40
about 8 inches away and blasted it, i
really gave it a good soaking (the
wife even came upstairs to see what
the smell was) what i did next, which
was different from you was i left it
over night, in fact time in total was
about 14 hours. Next day on went the
cart top and Hey Presto, one new
ribbon.
You also asked about the Dip switches
on your Canon PW-1080A. There are
three Dip switches inside the machine
SW1-SW2-SW3. To get auto line feed you
need to switch SW3-4 to ON. The Dip
Switches have ON and OFF marked on
them, but if you want to borrow my
Manual just give me a ring and i will
sent it to you. Phone (0827) 52944.
To: 999 (all members)+OE7
From: 20G ((Roy Dickens))
Subject: Local Library
My thanks to Fred Nevin (OE7) for his
detailed help with Viewsheet windows.
I would like to pass on a tip that he
gave me that I had over looked and to
remind all of us. The Library will
order a book for a small charge. This
can be handy if you just need a
little info. from a manual.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4R (ROBIN MOROM)
Subject: MICROWRITER (QUINKEY)
PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP ME TO GET THE
ABOVE RUNNING ON THE MASTER128? IT
WORKS FINE ON THE BBCB BUT NOT ON THE
MASTER. USING 'CONVERT' FROM THE
WELCOME DISC DOES NOT WORK WITH THE
MACHINE CODE PROVIDED WITH THE
QUINKEY.
UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT HAVE THE SOURCE
CODE.
SOME YEARS AGO I WROTE TO MICROWRITER
ABOUT THIS PROBLEM BUT DID NOT RECEIVE
ANY USEFUL REPLY AND HAD GIVEN UP
UNTIL I JOINED 8BS. CAN ANY MEMBER RISE
TO THE CHALLENGE ????
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4R (ROBIN MOROM)
Subject: 8BS MESSAGE SYSTEM
Is there an easy way to insert ASCII
text into the message system? Simple
question. Hope its a simple answer.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4K (Graham Leng)
Subject: WANTED
Does anyone know of a program for the
BBC model B which will handle family
trees? If so please let me know.
Ta.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4K (Graham Leng)
Subject: HYBRID MUSIC PUBLISHER
I would be interested to hear from
anyone else who uses the Hybrid Music
Publisher. I have found it to be an
excellent program for printing out
music but there are one or two
annoying problems which pop up at
random (seemingly) such as missing out
note stems and odd positioning of
notes eg if there is one long note in
a bar. Is there a way round this? Also
I would like to be able to print
guitar chords above the music which it
won't let you do.
If anyone is looking for a package
which works like a word-processor for
music I would strongly reccommend the
Hybrid Music Publisher. It is easy to
use and produces a good quality output
on the printer. Files are saved as
ASCI so can be manipulated by a WP. I
use WW+ segment programs to set up
template files, auto bar number, add
words to songs etc. It copes with
single stave, multi-stave, two parts
to a stave, all the usual symbols
including repeat signs, 1st/2nd time
bars, pauses, accidentals etc. It also
aligns words for songs with the
appropriate notes. If anyone wants any
further info please get in touch.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4V (Trevor Crapper)
Subject: HELP!
Has anyone tried out the Harston HADFS
System yet? I have both the standard
and Advanced versions for use on my
BBC B issue 7 using the 8271 DFS as a
backup to the Master128 ADFS, should
be a backup is more to point. I am
having great difficulty in accessing
the program when it has been loaded
in. According to the author it should
work with the Aries ram board which is
fitted to the computer. I am using a
single double drive 40/80 Cumana Disc
Drive, although this should not make
any difference. Has anyone had similar
problems if so kindly drop me line
with the solution please.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2T (Jack Tourle)
Subject: Printer ribbons
Re 0E7's note in Issue 33 about
re-inking printer ribbons, I have used
"Ribbon Refresh" with a reasonable
amount of success. The instructions
tell you to take off the "lid" and
spray sparingly over the ribbon until
it is evenly black. In other words,
leave the ribbon - and cogs and spring
- IN the cassette. This reduces
considerably the amount of floor space
required! But WD40 is probably
cheaper.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2T (Jack Tourle)
Subject: Printing without paper!
I was interested to read K2B's note
calling attention to the use of *FX5,0
as a printer "sink", to save paper. I
set up one of my function keys as
*FX5,0 |M, and another as *FX5,1 |M.
The |M is the equivalent of RETURN.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2T (Jack Tourle)
Subject: Function keys
On switching on my BBC B, I !boot up
function keys thus:-
f0 RUN |M
f1 VDU3: CLOSE £0
f2 PRINT "End":END
f3 *FX5,0 |M
f4 *FX%,1 |M
f5 *WORDWISE |M
f6 LOAD "
f7 SAVE "
f8 REPEAT
f9 DEF PROC
f1,f2,f8 and f9 are useful in program
writing, but the first two of these
are mainly used when the program under
development crashes! With these two
keys you can disable the printer and
close all files, and END the effort,
while you go back to the drawing board
(=scrappy bit of paper).
To : 999 (All members)
From : 3WU (Fred Price)
Subject: Printhead Repairs
When you your printer breaks down it
gives you a problem such as where's
top pin gone to when it does a
vanishing trick so I upgraded from the
Panasonic KX-P1081 To a KX-P1123 and
found it was go back to school time,
Some of the problems are sorted out
thanks to Chris and Ron, But I still
have some more to find, One of them is
the VDU statement to Auto Center
programs instead of setting the
machine,
The other one is that I have a very
good program to print out cassette
inlay cards but in the new machine it
lengthens the card I can modify the
the line spaces but the main fault
seems to be some missing info in the
machine so can anyone help me on to
sort this one out as well.
OK back to the heading with thanks to
Ron Marshall for the A/D but they
have moved to a new A/D
IMPACT Printhead Services
46 Central Road
Worcester Park
Surrey KT4 8HY
Tel: 081-786-8128
Fax: 081-786-8093
In answer to my letter they sent me the
price lists with mine marked up
as `48 plus Vat so it makes you wonder
what to do about it.