To: 999 (all members)
From: K6X (Cluke)
Subject:Please help me I am being driven bezerik by my
Cumana Twin 40/80 Disc Drive. Normally
when I switch it on it goes " B'dm ",
presumably as the heads make sure they
are at home ( my printer goes through
the same ritual, except it goes"B'zdm"
when switched on). Sometimes however,
I switch on the Drive and nothing
happens at all, well, the switch neon
comes on, but thats all folks! On one
occasion my wife switched it on and
tried to boot a disc; nothing happened
except the 'phone rang, so she went
and answered it, leaving the Master
( not me, the 128 ) waiting for
something to happen. She tells me that
halfway through the phone conversation
with her Mum ( so it must have been AT
LEAST 25 minutes later! ) the Drive
suddenly sprang into life and the disc
booted. Has anyone else had this
happen to them? (the drive fault, not
the phonecall from my wife's Mum) The
Drive will work fine for several days,
it does not seem to matter whether it
has been on for a long period, or has
been off overnight, it just randomly
refuses to work when switched back on
the next time. AAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!
To: 999 (all members)
From: D3M (Simon Cole)
Subject: 16032 Second Processor
I was wondering if anyone knows where
I can obtain the Acorn 16032 second
processor. I have heard that it will
run the UNIX operating system (and
therefore 'C'). Cash waiting...
To: 999 (all members) + K2F
From: 0E7 (Fred Nevin)
Subject: The Manual Graveyard
Yes John I agree there is one.
I am still tracking the CANON PW-1080A
Printer Manual and the spoor has gone
cold so if anyone sees any tracks
of one I would be very pleased to hear
from you.
To: 999 (all members)
From: D3J (PETER BISHOP)
Subject: HELP
I am one of the next to totally
ignorant when it comes to computers
whether it be a PC or a BEEB. I bought
one of the latter at a boot sale last
summer thinking that it was time that
I learnt something about them now that
I had retired.
It was a model 7 and had an OPUS
CHALLENER 3 DISC DRIVE which had two
ramdisks all of which I eventually
began to understand to a certain
degree.
The ramdisks made Backing up a very
quick doddle. However the motor packed
up last November. It is of Mitsubishi
manufacture. I have had no success in
tracing anybody who knows anything
about this animal so I wonder if there
is anyone within our membership who can
suggest how to bring it back to life
please?
I have since acquired a single 80 disc
drive which takes some twenty swops to
copy a copy of the magazine which is
rather miserable when the Challenger
would do it almost in twinkling of an
eye. A twin disc drive double sided 80
track would be a welcomed alternative
if anyone knows of a source.
Many thanks in anticipation.
EDITOR......... You may find the fast
DFS backup program available on TBI-79
handy Peter. It only backs up the used
tracks on a disc. This would not reduce
the number of swops on a full disc such
as an 8BS issue of course.
To: 999 (all members)
From: D3P (STRETCH MAYERS)
Subject: AMX,STOP PRESS DESK TOP
PUBLISHING.
HELP WANTED!
I HAVE JUST ENTERED INTO COMPUTING BY
WAY OF BUYING MY 4 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER
A BBC B.
SO WE ARE LEARNING TOGETHER, AT TIMES I
THINK AT THE SAME PACE.
WITH THE BEEB CAME QTY:2 ROMS AND A
HANDBOOK FOR AMX:STOP
PRESS.UNFORTUNATELY NO SYSTEM DISK OR
FONT DISK AS DETAILED IN THE HANDBOOK
CAN ANY BODY OUT THERE IN MONITOR LAND
HELP?
Subject: IS MY BEEB STANDARD?
2.PLEASE FORGIVE MY IGNORANCE AS I
SAID THIS IS ALL NEW TO ME, WHEN I
TYPE IN *HELP IT RETURNS THE MESAGE
DFS 1.20,DFS,DFS UTILS. AS WELL AS ALL
THE ROMS FITTED INSIDE : DISC DOCTOR
DUMPOUT 3, VEIW A3.0,AMX STOP PRESS,
INTERCHART 1.03a.
3. THERE IS FITTED INSIDE A "WATFORD
ELECTRONICS 12 ROM BOARD "WITH QTY2
SWITCHES NEXT TO THE CASSETTE MOTOR
L.E.D, THESE ARE WIRED TO THE BOARD
ONE TO TERMINALS MARKED"wr"AND THE
OTHE TO "rd" CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT
THESE ARE FOR?(IN LAYMANS TERMS
PLEASE)
PLEASE CONTACT ME AS FOLLOWS:
STRETCH MAYERS
12 CRUMMOCK AVE
EDITH WESTON
OAKHAM
LEICS
LE15 8HR.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD.)
Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC'B'
The last of the programs that I have
which will not work without control
codes in the filename is DEMON
DECORATOR. This is in two parts. Both
parts are in basic but are unlistable.
To transfer the game to disc, load
the first part from cassette. The last
few lines can then be listed by typing
LIST850, (the comma is essential).
Alter the last line 870 to:-
PAGE=&1100:CHAIN"PAINTER". Then add an
extra line:- 855PRINTTAB(6,19)CHR$(131
)"Press"CHR$(129)"SPACE"CHR$(131)"to c
ontinue.":REPEAT:UNTIL INKEY-99<>0 .
This line will allow time to read the
instructions. Then save the file to
disc.
If the second file is then
transferred to disc as PAINTER the
game will then probably work, as the
control codes will have been entered
during transfer. If the computer is
then switched off and on again the
game will still work but in a very
unpredictable way. To remedy this,
load the second file into memory again
and delete the following three lines:-
967, 1283 and 1685. These are the
lines causing the problem. Save to
disc again as PAINTER. The game should
now work perfectly. More next month.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K5P (Andrew Fay)
Subject: Wanted....
WANTED:
Can anyone help with the following:
A: ACORN PASCAL STANDALONE GENERATOR
This goes with ACORN Pascal and
allows you to generate standalone
machine code which can be put in
a ROM.
B: GRAPHPAD II ROM
I have recently bought a GRAPHPAD
II, but I haven't had complete
success with it. I believe I
should have had a ROM with it.
C: POWER DUCK
I am after a power splitter to
enable me to connect two items to
the power connector under the
BBC.
Can anyone help...
Andrew Fay
(01752) 673659
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2Q (John Nicholson)
Subject: Reading I B M Discs
Is there any way that the BBC can read
ASCII text files on discs created by a
MERLIN Z80 machine on CPM? A friend of
mine needs to transfer textfiles
written on CPM for use on a BBC with
WORDWISE or similar. Can anyone help?
Please phone:-
John Nicholson 01286 830312.
EDITOR.... Software by Baksoft. DOScopy.
I have tried contacting the company, who
now seem to have ceased trading. Which
is a great pity as the software is
excellent. Anyone with a similar
problem should contact me, I am prepared
to transfer software for you.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2Q (John Nicholson)
Has anyone any advice on how to obtain
and connect a hard disk system to a
BBC, for use as a host for a BBS
system?
I would be very interested in any
offers of working equipment.
Please contact... 01286 830312
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2Q (John Nicholson)
Subject: PRESTEL ADAPTER
I have come by a PRESTEL ADAPTER but am
not sure how to test it. I guess it is
a sort of modem, but is it only
suitable for certain types of
communication. Does it need a sideways
ROM to drive it? Has any member
experience in using this gadget, or a
copy of an instruction manual?
John Nicholson (01286) 830312
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2Q (John Nicholson)
Subject: BBC B+
I also have what I believe to be a
BBC B+ machine, with a new switch on
the lower right of the keyboard
connecting to a now burnt out ROM with
testing leads attached to it. There is
not any marked OS or BASIC ROM. I
would appreciate any help from other B+
users to get this machine going. Has
anyone got a copy of the B+ manual?
John Nicholson... (01286) 830312
To: 999 (all members)
From: K2Q (John Nicholson)
Subject: COMMS SOFTWARE
Thanks John Ilsley for an introduction
to the world of comms. I am sending in
software for a BBC modem driver. This
was written for a local BBC
co-authorship network in North Wales.
A manual is also available.
BBS Software wanted for BBC. Has anyone
written a simple BBC BBS operating
system that could be set up to receive
calls and allocate postboxes etc?
Please let me know...01286 830312.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6N (Brian Raw)
Subject: Amstrad Monitor CTM 640
In last months mag there was an
article on monitors, which supposes
that an Amstrad monitor will connect
direct to the beeb.
When my Cub bit the dust,in search for
a replacment I too assumed this and
bought a CPC464 for its monitor which
when plugged direct into the beeb is
EXCESSIVLEY BRIGHT.
Apparently the Amstrad system uses two
levels of colour, normal and bright ,
this being achieved assumingly by two
different voltges applied to the
colour inputs, this is not then TTL
RGB as on the beeb, 5v being greater
than that required for the brighter
colours.
Not being one to be defeated so easily
I performed a few experiments putting
resistors in series with the colours,I
found that around 100 ohms did the job
of bringing the brightness down to a
reasonable level.
So then it would be possible to make a
small veroboard up and pop it inside
the monitor,but I went for the simpler
way of making a lead up with surface
mounted RGB socket & resistors on a
veroboard.
#####
F 1 100 R T
R ##### O
O #####
M 2 100 G M
##### O
B ##### N
E 3 100 B I
E ##### T
B 4 sync O
R
5 0v
6 5v
RGB pinouts 3
looking into 2 4
the socket 6
1 5
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4V (Trevor Crapper)
Subject: View Professional Tutorial
Part 2
In this part I am going to take you
through an exercise that is essential
if you want to use View Professional
fully.
You must have the utility disc to
carry out the next stage. It must have
the following programs on it. PDE,
X.DRIVER, T.FX80, and D.FX80. There
may also be T.JUKI6100 and D.JUKI6100
as well.
For the purpose of this tutorial I
will concentrate on T.FX80 and D.FX80
and must apologise to JUKI6100 users.
They and any other printer user can
still follow the tutorial and use it.
I want to recommend using a notebook
at this stage, it will save you a lot
of time and trouble in the future when
you come to use VP properly.
We are going to look at the printer
driver editor, PDE. A printer driver
is used to hold the codes so that the
printer can print whatever you have
asked it to.
Since I am only interested in you
learning how to program the printer
driver, inputting the code information
into VP will have to wait, sorry.
Type *PDE this loads in the X.DRIVER
program, now type in LO T.FX80 and
press the ESCAPE key when it has
loaded in.
The printer driver editor screen
should now appear. Take your time to
look at it, our interest lies in the
column of number from 1 to 8 on the
left hand side.
Make a note of each one in your note-
note, starting with 1 Underline
27,"-",1 and across the screen to
27,"-",0 these are the codes to turn
underlining on and off.
The object in the quotes '"-"' is one
way of entering this code, I prefer to
use numbers myself and in this case it
is 45. So this would be entered as
27,45,1 to turn underlining on and,
27,45,0 to turn it off again.
You can find this information in your
printer manual (the ones I know of).!
Look for the give away number 27 to
start with. If your manual doesn't use
letters then there maybe a cross
reference table in your manual. Pick
the number 45 which will be in a box
and you should see it has '-' in there
as well.
To alter anything use the arrow keys
to move the cursor around the screen
and enter the numbers/letter/etc.
To exit the printer editor press the
ESCAPE key again. For those who looked
and have changed anything the story
ends here.
For anyone making changes exit using
ESCAPE and now type SA T.<filenam> DO
NOT USE T.FX80 or you will overwrite
it!! Choose your own filename. Now
type SD D.<filename> use the same one
that you have given T.<filename>. DO
NOT USE D.FX80 or you will overwrite
this one too!!!
You can type *PDE and press ESCAPE
without loading T.FX80. This gives you
an empty printer driver to play with.
Remember what has gone before and save
both 'T.<filename>' and 'D.<filename>'
using SA for 'T' and SD for 'D'.
Quick commercial, Chris Richardson
sells everything you need for VP.
Bye for now.
Trevor Crapper
To: 999 (all members)
From: K4V (Trevor Crapper)
Subject: ROM Chips and ROM Images
This is a simply loading guide for
anyone who may have rom chips in their
machine or who may have some rom
images on disc.
To start with rom chips, to find out
if you have any installed type *HELP
and look through the list that will
appear on the screen.
You will find DFS and UTILS and other
information. If you do have rom chips
fitted then these will be shown on the
screen as program names.
The simplest way I can explain about
finding rom images on disc is to type
*INFO *.* and press the Return key.
You may see a lot of numbers on the
screen. Look at the first set of these
numbers.
If you can see 3000 or, 8000 in either
of these sets of numbers then the
program is a rom image.
Loading roms, if the rom is installed
in your machine you may be able to
load it in and run it, some word
processors, databases, spreadsheets
etc., will load in ready for use.
Other roms can be called but nothing
happens, in this case you must have
the programs on disc that are part of
the total operating system of that
rom.
Usually a rom that will run does so
when you type in *<rom name>, this may
be shortened to two letters in a lot
of cases.
If you have a rom that does not run
then you will have to use the disc
program associated with the rom to get
it up and running.
Now for rom images on disc, these must
be installed into sideways ram before
they will run. The BBC B does not have
any sideways ram, this has to be
bought and installed in this machine.
The BBC B+, the Master and Compact all
have sideways ram fitted.
Typing *HELP and looking at the screen
will tell you if you have sideways ram
fitted. It may be an Acorn version or
another version.
I can only advise you how to load roms
using the Acorn and Aries sideways
ram.
With the Aries sideways ram type in
*RLOAD rom name 13 or 14 and press the
Return key, you will be asked to press
the BREAK key to install the rom.
The ACORN sideways ram for a BBC B+
has 4 letters W, X, Y and Z. In the
Master there are numbers and these
correspond to the above letters, 7 = W
6 = X, 5 = Y, and 4 = Z.
To load a rom image from disc using
the Acorn sideways ram, type *SRLOAD
rom name 8000 W/7 Q and this will load
a rom into slot W or 7. The Q is to
load the rom in quickly.
Sometimes there is more than one rom
to be loaded in, always put rom1, romA
in the highest slot available
otherwise strange things will happen!
Finally if you are having problems
loading or running a rom please ask
for HELP! I am not an expert but have
some knowledge on the subject.
PRESS BREAK