To: 999 (all members)
From: K6A (Ian Clapperton)
Subject: WANTED
Would someone be willing to loan me a
manual for the BEEBUG 'Toolkit' ROM
for a few days? It will be returned in
good condition with a refund of your
postal costs. Please telephone
(Derbys.) 0773-822477 if able to help.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6D (Mick Sanders)
Subject: Oki ML83A Printer.
Has anyone got any info on my printer?
It would be handy if I could borrow a
manual for it, or failing that, has
anyone experience of using one? It
works all right but I don't know
enough about it and all I've found on
it are a variety of different
character sets and no way of changing
fonts or sizes. I don't even know if
these are available on this machine,
it is rather old and cost very little.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6D (Mick Sanders)
Subject: 32016 2nd PROCESSOR
I inheritted my 32016 with my B+ but
unfortunately not enough information
or software to get it going. I have a
disc with Panos 1.4 Start-up on it,
which requests a compiler disc which I
do not have. My only other Panos disc
is an Editor Linker "SYSTEm DISC".
I also have the 32000 BASIC
Reference Manual, but that's the lot
so any help, information or software
would be gratefully recieved.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3B (PAUL MATTHEWS)
Subject: CUMANA QFS HELP NEEDED
=======================================
=======================================
Can someone out there help me please?.
I have a B with the CUMANA QFS disc
filing system installed inside.
Unfortunately one of the wires from
IC86 to the main board has come adrift
at the main board position and I
honestly cannot make out which of the
terminal positions it has broken away
from. Any help will be recieved with
thanks and acknowledged in 8BS.
Paul Matthews
107 Queens Drive
Mossley Hill
Liverpool
L18 1JL
=======================================
=======================================
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3B (PAUL MATTHEWS)
Subject:HELP FOR HARD DRIVE NEEDED!
=======================================
I HAVE JUST OBTAINED A MORLEY HARD
DRIVE FOR MY MASTER. IT DID NOT COME
WITH ANY MANUAL OR UTILITIES DISC.
I HAVE CONNECTED IT UP TO THE 1MHZ
BUS & I SET THE MASTER UP FOR THE HARD
DRIVE AND TRIED TO *CAT IT. THE DRIVE
LIGHT FLASHES BRIEFLY AND THE MESSAGE
BROKEN DIRECTORY APPEARS. CAN ANY ONE
HELP?
PAUL MATTHEWS
107 QUEENS DRIVE
MOSSLEY HILL
LIVERPOOL
L18 1JL
051-734-4023
=======================================
=======================================
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3B (PAUL MARTIN-MATTHEWS)
Subject: SNAPSHOT TAPE TO DISC PROG.
=======================================
In issue 36 of 8BS Albert Schofield
wrote about tape to disc transfers. He
mentioned a utility called SNAPSHOT,
and I would like to know if this is in
the 8BS pool and what disc it is on.
=======================================
To: |999
From: |K3W (Tom Chilton)
Subject:|BBC & OTHER COMPUTERS
I am giving below the details of
service facilities offered by Karl
Tilbrook of Knight Techology Service.
Karl is an ex Acorn Computer Service
Engineer who is setting up his own
business. He has done work on my BBC B
and on a Microvitec Monitor and also
repaired a Music Centre for me.
His rates are very reasonable and he
will undertake repairs to any computer
and/or associated equipment.
Aynone interested should telephone him
on 0642 475568 and mention my name as
an introduction.
To: 999 (all members)
From: Shawty
Subject: COMPUTER CONCEPTS GRAPHICS ROM
Please can someone give me a hand with
the graphics extension rom from
Computer Concepts? I would like the
manual or info on the Plot and GFX
commands. Some example programs would
really help too. Please send your help
via Chris Richardson at 8BS HQ.
To: 999
From: ???
Subject: USER INFORMATION
I would very much appreciate
assistance in advising me on certain
features which are unclear to me.
Could you please explain the meaning,
involvement and application of the
following:
1.Sideways ROM
2.Sideways RAM
3.ROM Image
4.Shaddow ROM
5.Eproms
Are all relative to Master and BBC
"B"?
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2T (Jack Tourle)
Subject: FORMATTING DISCS
Before I became a member of 8BS I used
only single-sided discs, and
formatting gave me no problems. When
formatting double-sided 80-track
discs, however, I frequently lost
track (!) of which side was being
processed. Even when keeping a tally
with pencil and paper I could never be
sure whether it was side 0 or 2.
So why not get the format program
to do the job? It was quite simple
...
FOR X%=0 TO 2 STEP 2 ... (Format
action) ... NEXT, with Drive%=X%
This worked well for the first side,
but I could not get the other side
formatted, and I still haven't
discovered where the bug is. Since I
was getting impatient to get my next
disc in the post, I changed to the
following:-
Line XX-10 Drive%=0:Track%=80
Line XX INPUT "Choose (1)
Format; (2) Format with Verify; (3)
Verify "CH%
..... (Appropriate Format and/or
Verify action) ...
Line YY PRINT "Disc ";:IF CH%=3
PRINT "Verified on Drive ";Drive% ELSE
PRINT "Formatted on Drive ";Drive%
Line YY+10 IF Drive%=0 THEN
Drive%=2:PRINT "Drive 2 ready for
action ":GOTO XX ELSE END
I hope that this may help others in
this routine task, and I hope the
purists will forgive the GOTO !
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD)
Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC"B"
Sometimes when a game or utility etc.
which may be made up of several parts
has been transferred from tape to disc
and then run, one or two parts may
load and then suddenly the searching
message appears on the screen and the
computer is back in the tape mode. If
the offending part is in basic then
you will have to list it and look for
*T. or *TAPE and eliminate it. Or it
may be *FX140 which is the cause or
even something like:- FOR N%=6 TO &3F:
N%?&200=N%?&D940:NEXT. So a bit of
detective work is required to isolate
and eliminate the guilty section.
Also the lines containing the
statements may have been made
unlistable so you may need to use
*DUMP to find it. In this case you
will have to use a sector editor to
remove it.
But what if the offending part is in
machine code. With this you will have
to *DUMP it and seek out the following
sequence of hex numbers:- A9 8C A2.
8C is the OSBYTE CALL for TAPE (See
page 434 of the user guide) If it is a
long program it can be a lengthy
search. Use a sector editor to
eliminate the 8C. Replace it with a
space (20) then all should be well.
If the next part has to be loaded via
sideways ROM then the 8C could be
changed to 8D and then the computer
will search in the rom filing system.
8D being the OSBYTE CALL for ROM (See
page 165 of the advanced user guide)
I am sorry MR. GALLAGHER (4MD) that
my information regarding MAGIC
MUSHROOMS did not work for you. Your
version of the game must be different
to mine. However, this article should
solve your problem. Let me know how
you get on. As a last resort you could
send me a copy of your version and I
would try to sort it out for you or I
could send you a copy of my version.
And finally thanks ROY (20G) for the
bouquet. More next month.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4R (ROBIN MOROM)
Subject: FRED NEVIN'S VIEWSHEET QUERY
I think that Fred is right here. There
is probably no way to make VIEWSHEET
use an input SLOT in the EXACT way he
describes. However, it IS possible to
have an input ROW to write to
designated slots.
Start off with a new sheet, preferably
in MODE 0 or 3. For the sake of this
example let us suppose that you want
the values to end up in slots C5, B2,
D4, A6 and E3 (in that order). I am
going to use ROW 10 as the input row.
Now:
Go to slot C5 and enter A10 <RETURN>
...........B2...........B10
...........D4...........C10
...........A6...........D10
...........E3...........E10
Next: Toggle AUTO ENTRY (CTL-f0) until
you get AR in top left of sheet.
Then: go to slot A10 and start
entering the values (followed by RETURN
each time of course) You will see your
values appearing in the designated
slots as well as in row 10. I suggest
using the values 1 to 5 the first time
to show what happens. If you want to
change the values just go back to slot
A10 and repeat.
This is the basic idea. There are many
improvements possible. For example, it
will be difficult to remember where
each entry is going to if there are
many. Taking the above example then,
use ROW 9 to show the destinations.
Go to A9 and enter "C5 (the " is
important. Remember this is a LABEL
not a VALUE) Similarly enter "B2 in
slot B9 and so on. This will show
where the value in ROW 10 is going.
Warning: If you want to change the
value in one of your designated slots
do it ONLY in the entry row, otherwise
you will lose the reference to this
row.
Further additions could include
defining a scrolling window for the
entry slot and a non-scrolling main
sheet. The possibilities are endless.
Of course you can do the whole thing
vertically by using an entry COLUMN
and toggling CTL-f0 to D(own).
I am including a short VIEWSHEET file
called FREDN on my submissions disc.
This will demonstrate the above.
Perhaps Chris can find room for it.
OF COURSE I REALISE THAT SOMEONE WILL
PROBABLY COME UP WITH A BETTER SOLUTION
TO FRED'S QUERY. OH WELL, ALL PART OF
THE LEARNING CURVE!
In any case it has been an interesting
problem. Thank you, Fred. By the way,
you didn't say WHY you wanted to do
this in the first place!
Robin
To: 999 (attn.of K5N Stan Doran)
From: K5U (Simon Godfrey)
Subject: Viewdata/Term Bulletin Boards
In Issue £36 Stan Doran asked whether
there were any bulletin-boards he
could access with his Prism/Prestel
modem... Over the past 12 months I
have used several Bulletin Boards.
I'm not sure whether they are ALL
still operating so it may be worth
trying them with a normal phone call
first. (otherwise it gets very annoying
for the person on the other end)
I've compiled these lists for any 8BS
members who own a Beeb and a modem...
The following BBs have either file or
message areas dedicated to the Beeb:
CCl4 V 0482 798249
Cellar V/T 0782 551015
Challenger V 021 445 3913
Control Centre T 061 707 9221
Darkhaven V/T 0604 413716
DCT1 Ample V 0384 239944
DCT2 BBs V/T 0384 283073
Equinoxe V/T 0705 871531
Lambda V/T 031 556 6316
Odyssey T 0482 870919
StarNet T 0603 507216
TAS V 0372 743809
Test BBs V 0273 888704
Viking V 0255 503048
World of Cryton T 0749 679794
These BBs don't have any Beeb areas
but you may find something of interest:
Arcade T 081 654 2212
Arkham BBs T 071 738 5596
Boswells V 0245 252355
Cyberspace T 0942 321389
Owl T 0532 605876
Healthdata V 081 986 4360
Line 3 V 0245 252512
Prometheus V 081 300 7177
Slash BBs T 0484 688070
Summer Wine T 0274 851027
TAO/Shades V/T 071 275 9996
NB: V = Viewdata, T=Terminal
Viewdata boards use Teletext (mode 7)
graphics, and communicate at 1200/75
baud. This was the Prestel standard.
The standard speed is 1200/75 (V23)
because in the early days of Prestel,
1200 was the fastest reliable 'receive'
speed possible on the (then) crackly
analogue telephone lines -and the only
data being 'sent' was the occasional
key-press by the user so 75 was seen
as sufficient speed for their needs.
Viewdata boards operate at a different
parity to terminal boards. If your
comms software has a Bit/Parity/Stop
setting, this should be set to 7E1 -
that is 7bits, EvenParity, 1StopBit.
The screen-mode should be mode7.
Terminal boards are much more common
these days. There are a few points:
*If your comms software has a
Bit/Parity/Stop setting, this should
be set to 8N1 (8Bits, NoParity, 1Stop)
as most BBs use this data format;
*You should use an 80-column screen
(mode0 or mode3).
*Many terminal BBs use ANSI codes for
colour and graphics - you are usually
asked the first time you log-on
whether you can use these. Unless you
have clever software, answer 'no'.
I strongly recommend use of the
'Quercus' PD comms software as this
does support ANSI-type graphics.
*Try connecting at the highest speed
your modem will go, then work your way
down in speed until you get a
connection.
*Some BBs run on American modems, which
cannot operate at V23 1200/75 speed.
If your modem won't go any faster than
V23, try 300. Warning: this is V.SLOW!
erm, that's about it... the rest you
will have to find out for yourself!!!
...Which is just where the fun starts!
WARNING!! Most boards give details of
other boards - Chaining from one board
to the next will seriously increase
your telephone bill!!
PRESS BREAK