*****************************************************************************
Part one of a two part introductory article from A2L (Mike Davis).
Part 2 in the next issue.
*****************************************************************************
Hi everyone
I met C.J. at the last Acorn spring show and learned all about the BBC
users. I have over the years in my country written quite a lot of S/W
for the BBCs & other Acorn machines (by the way, I am from Ireland). I
have always liked the machines for the simplicity & ease of use & have
always found them to be ahead of other computer OSs' in most respects.
Unfortunately as most people will know, the amount of software was much
smaller. I got around this problem by writing any applications I
needed myself. I never thought of selling / distributing at the time, as it
seemed like too much hassle. I have written the complete software system
for the National Weather System many years ago. It was initially
developed on a BBC B before the first full version (incarnation) was
installed using a Master128 controlling a Pluto 8 bit (16 Million
palette). So even the humble BBC/Master can have 16Million colours
including a full real time frame grabber(Better than all Pre RiscPC
machines). Actually, because it was full broadcast spec, it is still today, of
better quality (in some respects) than the RiscPC. I had 500k to 1MB of
Video Ram (effectively) on the Master or BBC. This enabled me to have;
768 x 576 (256 Cols out of a pal of 16Million) 500k
Or 2 768 x 576 (256 Cols out of .. .. .. .. .. ) 1MB
With 2 banks, I could do bank switching. I had a full system written
which allowed me to control the video RAM seamlessly with the BBCs. I
could then install a ROM which modified the Basic commands thus;-
GCOL 0,0-255 worked
VDU 23,xx,Colour to redefine, Red(0-255), Green(0-255), Blue(0-255)
(Sorry I can't remember the exact syntax above, off the top of my head)
Each of the 256 cols was individually controlable in realtime.
This is only a small example. A lot of commands were available, and it
could be easily Genlocked (Text over video). Star commands were also
available to turn on/off the extensions. This was well before the
Archimedes range of computers even existed. The company that supplied
the boards for me were called IO Research in England (I did the SW). The
boards contained an 8086 CPU to help (Unfortunately due to size they
had to be external). IO Research set a standard and other boards came
out (Such as the Falcon) from 3rd parties. Millipede Graphics did
one as well, as far as I know. IO changed their name, when I find it,
I will let you know. The Reason I say this is that you
may be able to get an old Pluto board (The Falcon may not be 100%
compatible with my SW as I never tested it). Millipede graphics exist,
but as before I have never tested my software on their boards. I did
hear at one point, that some crowd in Wales were using the Millipede
boards for the TV graphics for their Election Results using Beebs (Ref
Acorn User way back). With the advent of the Archie 310, I got allocated 2
filetypes for the graphic formats I use with the boards and an Atomwide
Apec podule was put together to allow the Plutos, to be hooked up to the
Archie. The SW was rewritten for the Archie with many Xtras. A full
256-16 Million was available within 8 Months of the 310 Launch. This was
years before the launch of the Colour card gold. And also at the time I
hooked up 3 pluto boards together onto an Archie. I set them up as a
board for each of the colours RED,GREEN,BLUE. The boards are designed
to do this, and presto a full 24 bit 768x576 16 Million colour individually
controlable system, quite a number of years before the Risc PC. In fact,
it has today, capabilities the RiscPC doesn't have for Quality & Broadcast
purposes without buying the AplhaLock graphics card from Millipede
Graphics for Professional Video (£750 approx). There is no reason why
the BBC B /Master couldn't be made to control 3 boards with my SW thus
giving better graphical quality etc than the RiscPC currently can.
Please note that a wide range of graphic commands (gourad shading
Circ-Rect fills, Copy Video Blocks in realtime, more too numerous to
say - Fortunately there is a manual). The Weather System when completed
was demoted to the BBC & Michael Fish. Because the system was better
than BBC's own system at the time (Years Back) it seems their programmers
got chewed out of it & it prompted them to implement some similar
features in the BBC's Weather system. Their hardware costs approx quarter
of a million plus. Our system must have come in at 10,000 at the
absolute most. So technically speaking, the BBC computer put BBC telly to
shame (Funny when you think of a beeb beating a Mainframe). Please note it
was little me verses 12 (approx) programmers for the BBC. I was also in
Parallel to this writing QUIZ SHOW software using BBC B & M128s with
plutos if required. I learned a lot about the importance of graphical
presentation in those days, user friendliness & backups (Whoops!!). My
friends say I am one of the fastest programmers they know but I think
they exaggerate a bit. The reason I am fast is because I was pushed to
my limit & way beyond it. I was at one stage reprogramming the entire
Weather system onto an Archie while developing a quizshow system "Where
in the World" while doing the software for the euthanasia prelim finals
while answering Acorn queries(& doing Acorn Atari Maintenance) while
working on 2 smaller projects & running the only Acorn club in the
country (On Sats). The projects were generally me by myself with a 4-6
week time limit which I had no choice but to meet. Live TV doesn't get put
on hold (Unfortunately). I worked for seven years like this working for 3
days at a time (in most cases) no going home and 1-2hr of kip a day. As
you probably imagine the pressure was unbelievable with a constant
140 hours+ a week (with an odd easing twice a year~). The 3 programmers
before me lasted only a few months each. Unfortunately 7 years had taken
their toll & I gave up that work. I have written more systems than most teams
of programmers would in their lifetime. I never regret it as I had learned
& experienced quite a lot in that time. Over that time I had written
quite a number of hardware & software systems for the BBC & Archie which
I needed at the time. More than likely all you guys could use them. I had
given quite a lot of them to the members of the Acorn Club I founded &
still run since 83. I still have a little shop with quite a lot of NEW??
stock (Original) if anybody is stuck I probably have it or know where to
get it. In fact, after getting all the back issue disks almost every
problem (85%) I knew the answers to. I have almost every hardware addon
for the BBC & Electron & 5000 disks of software 20% at a guess being
my own. Over the past year I have been recovering from work (AKA
Zombification) and am almost back to normal. I have been asked by a
number of companies to work for them & will now be doing (Hopefully)
normal hours, shortly. Enabling me to relaxingly doodle at home
programming. As you have probably guessed, I have decided to give all of my
Software to CJ for distribution. The only problem is trying to figure
what stuff is mine from the mountain of disks. I can barely remember
half the stuff I wrote. Some I do remember ;-
A Network Maintenance software system Level III
My own Level III sw
A full crossreferenced schematic of A Beeb which points out faults
A simple disk enkrypter
An Object orientated DataBase
Lotsa smallie projects
(My small projects are sometimes considered large)
A 6502 lesson series for the club
Simple games - Other learning proggy stuff
Grafix - I am heavily into this area.
etc .....................
I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to programming unless under
pressure. I have been getting back into the beebs & Arcs. I have 32
Beebs, 4 Atoms with loadsa SW (fully upgraded - Higher than a beeb),6
Electrons with every piece of Hardware & Software imagineable (& some not),
5 Master 128s, 2 Compacts, 3 310s, 1 A5000 (a RiscPC soon) (All networked
of course) I gave Mr Harston my Master Scientific 2nd pro with all SW as
I had no time to use it & have given away other hardware I have no time
to use to those who will make the most of it.
I actually prefer the beebs for programming & doodling with rather than
Arcs. A note to programmers out there, I have shall we say, literature on
the BBCs not normally available. I could say I have full Block & reg /
internal C.D.s on the entire BBC B system including proggy info not in
the AUG (Bible) but I am not saying that (Know what I mean!!).
I will try to send some SW on a regular Basis & am making it all PD
Some of the projects were left incomplete (I will finish these & send on
when finished). I have decided to start with small ditties from my early
days so I enclose modifications to the Software for the CTL Eprom
programmer & some Net Roms with command functions etc.
I hope this text gives a brief idea of who I am. I will probably not
have time to answer any peoples problems/queries (OK so I am lazy-I
deserve it). But I do read most of the disk issue contents & if talking
or sending to CJ, will send along answers to problems I saw asked.
Some of the packages are in a lot of the ways superior to what was
available on the market at that time (& since in a lot of cases). So you
may be surprised.
I will in the future be giving out in the disk Schematics (Electronic
Diagrams to those who don't know) for doing things you wouldn't believe
the BBC B/Master (to a lesser extent Arc) could do.
**************************************************************************
NB:- A note to programmers, watch out for PROJECT RED LION coming soon!!!
----------------
**************************************************************************
THAT'S PART 1 OF MY INTRO
A2L