From: K6N Brian Raw
Subject: Quiet Master
When I first recieved my Master, its
sound was set to LOUD, far too loud for
me. Consulting the manual told me to
*CO. QUIET, this had little effect and
did not affect the annoying blurp you
get on switch on. After several switch
ons I noticed the click that occurs/
on switch on. I assumed this was the
tape relay clicking off after
initially being energised. Well this
got me thinking and I had the idea that
this action of closing these contacts
might be used to short out the speaker
getting rid of the blurp. However this
would not help on the overall loudness
once the contacts have reopened. Maybe
a resister could be put in circuit if
you have already gone to the trouble
of re-routing the speaker cables this
would not be much more trouble.
All this aside, the Master is equipped
with a phono output intended for
conection to an even louder or better
amplifer, no thankyou. However I
wondered what would happen if you got
a phono plug, shorted the pin to the
case and shoved this onto the phono
output. A brave thing to do with a
brand new Master but I threw all
caution to the wind and went ahead
with the plan. Sorry but there were no
bangs or smoke and the effect was in
fact to reduce the volume to a level
suitable for us with sensitive lugs.
From: K8J (C.Pike)
Subject: Answers to Pik-o-gram
1.MORE 14.SPIRITS
2.GREEN 15.OMNIBUS
3.SORE 16.STEP
4.ELDER 17.CLIMBS
5.DIARY 18.HARE
6.POLE 19.BACKER
7.APPEAR 20.BIRD
8.BLACK 21.LOGS
9.SECRET 22.REELS
10.PENCIL 23.ASTIR
11.APPLE 24.PORK
12.NAUGHTS 25.PETROL
13.TELESCOPE
From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD)
Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC'B'
Some cassette based games have very
short data streams inserted into them.
These are easily missed when
transferring to disc and of course the
game will not work without them.
One such game is CAVEMAN CAPERS.
This game is in six parts, CAVEMAN,
CAVEMA2, CAVE2, CAPERS2, TUNE where
the second half is a data stream and
the last part is START.
CAVE2 is the section that loads in
both parts of TUNE and in the disc
version is not required.
So to transfer CAVEMAN CAPERS to disc
proceed as follows. The first part
CAVEMAN is an ordinary basic program
so load this in and add the following
two lines:-
57*KEY0 *LOAD CAPERS2|M*LOAD TUNE|M
MODE7:*START|M
59*FX138,0,128
Then save it to disc as CAVEMAN.
Load in the second part CAVEMA2 using
*LOAD""1900. Then enter 60 to delete
line 60 and save to disc using
*SAVE CAVEMA2 1900+118D 8023.
The cassette should now be at the
start of CAVE2 so put the computer
into TAPE mode, type *RUN and load in
CAVE2, CAPERS2, TUNE including the
short data stream.
As soon as the screen clears and
'Searching' appears at the top right
hand side of the screen, press ESCAPE,
type *DISC and save the now complete
file TUNE to disc using
*SAVE TUNE 600+130.
Now rewind the cassette to the start
of the file CAPERS2 and load this in
using *LOAD""1900. Then save it to
disc using:-
*SAVE CAPERS2 1900+4000 164D 1600.
Load in the last file START from
cassette using *LOAD""1900. Save this
to disc using:-
*SAVE START 1900+500 164D 7B00.
Chaining CAVEMAN should now load and
run CAVEMAN CAPERS from disc. More
next month.
From D6G (Sprow)
Answers to queries Last time Jeremy Stanton was having
some BBC problems.I shall cycle
through each point in turn:
1.The £ sign didn't appear properly in
his letter - this reminded me to fix
it on the printer after receiving
letters from people with ' or #
instead.See the program docs for
more...
2.The teletext controller is the
SAA5050 and is to the right of the
6502 under the bonnet of a BBC.The
same chip is used in the Master.It may
be of interest to know that if your
chip is socketed (as on some later
boards) then you can change it to a
different language.
ENGLISH SAA5050 £22.00+VAT
GERMAN SAA5051 £18.00+VAT
BELGIAN SAA5054 £14.00+VAT
GEN ARABIC SAA5243PE £19.00+VAT
I've never tried them myself because
of the cost,call Cricklewood
Electronics to order them (Tele:0181
4500995).
3.His machine powered up as usual,but
was left at the BASIC prompt with no
cursor.Try pressing the CAPS lock or
SHIFT lock buttons.If the
corresponding LED does not move then
the OS has crashed.Several reasons,but
would imply the IRQ or NMI lines were
permanently low.
Clean the socket holder for the video
ULA and teletext chip (if approriate)
with nail varnish remover and a cotton
wool bud.The video ULA is responsible
for an 8MHz clock to the disc system
which also supplies NMIs to the CPU.
The 6845 CRTC controls the cursor.
Check that neither are overheating
and,if fitted,secure the heatsink on
the ULA.
Do the same to the VIAs,user and
system (labelled 6522) as these are
the chief source of IRQ's along with
the 7002 ADC.
Push in OS chip firmly and BASIC too.
Some early boards have timing problems
which would lead to the problem being
intermittent only.Replace main board!
If all else fails post off to me and
I'll have a closer look Jeremy.
4.Volume control
Any value of variable will do for a
volume control. But very high values
will mean that the speaker is
effectively off after just a few
degrees turn. Likewise very low values
will give little or no control.
Car radios use 10k pots, so that's a
good start. Connect between the wire
from P15 and the speaker.
5.Modem lead required.
I haven't encountered a WS2000 modem
on my travels,but have read of them. I
can assemble leads to convert a 25 pin
modem to 5 pin RS423 or 9 pin to
RS423. Send the whole unit in so I can
also test it with the comms software I
have. Cost, less than £4 for the lead.
6.SCART wiring diagram
For the SCART pin outs see page 21 of
the 1995/96 Maplin catalogue.But hurry
as a new one comes out on the 8th of
September and the page number will no
doubt change.
From my experience of making one for
our video to our stereo it works out
cheaper to buy a ready made on if a
suitable one is available.
Note - SCART doesn't support TTL RGB
input so the BBC can't be used there.
It does however support composite
video in on pins 17&20 but the normal
BBC isn't ready for colour output as
this degrades the more commonly used
RGB output.The colour upgrade IS easy
but at the loss of RGB clarity.
Call Robert on (01625) 431067
Write to 6 Bollinbrook road,
MACCLESFIELD,
Cheshire.
SK10 3DJ.
Or 8BSmail it to me D6G.
From: K4V (Trevor Crapper)
Subject: Master 512 Function Keys
To anyone with a Master 512 and who is
unaware the Red Function Keys have all
been assigned with a DOS command. How-
ever, these commands will only work
when the disk with these commands is
in the disk drive, or else you have
copied this disk to your hard drive.
f0 and f1 only require the function
key pressing to run the command, the
rest from f2 to f9 require the RETURN
key to pressed as well, and in most
cases the user must input information.
f0 = GEM
You must have the GEM Boot disk in
your disk drive, or have the GEM suite
of programs on your hard disk for this
command to operate. Simply press f0
and this will start GEM up.
f1 = HELP
For this and all the other commands
you must have the commands disk in the
disk drive or, have copied them all on
to your hard drive.
Using this command will allow you to
find out much more about the rest of
the commands, so that you will be able
to use them and get more out of the
512.
The full list is:-
f0 = GEM
f1 = HELP
f2 = SDIR
f3 = SHOW
f4 = SET
f5 = COPY
f6 = REN
f7 = DEL
f8 = TYPE
f9 = CD
HELP There are 47 commands explained
in this section.
SDIR This command displays the names
of the files and the attributes assoc-
iated with those files.
SHOW Displays disk and hard drive
information.
SET This command can be used to find
out certain information about your
system.
COPY Use this command when you are
copying anything.
REN This command is used for renaming
files.
DEL This command is used for deleting
files, use it with great care.
TYPE An easy way to read text files,
or documents.
CD With this command you can change
directories.
Trevor Crapper.
From: D6E (Richard Harker)
Subject: Games (Vertigo Cheat)
I have discovered a cheat mode in
Superior Software's 'Vertigo', from
PIAS 16. When playing the game, press
P, to enter a password, and type in
'GADGET' to recieve the full
compliment of 5 lives. if you enter
'CHEATA', you will lose all your
lives.
Note: Using the cheat mode to complete
the game will not allow you to get a
congratulatory certificate though!
From: D6E (Richard Harker)
Subject: Help Offered (DFS)
I have got a PD DFS disk writer for
the Archimedes. If you would like a
copy, please send me a blank disk and
a SAE or 1 pound and an SAE. The
program offers a full filer, and
caters for Watford, Solidisk, and
Acorn formats of disk.
ADDRESS: Elmlea, Sewardstone Road,
Chingford, London, E4 7RG.
From: L1T (Jeremy Stanton)
Subject: Broken keyboards
I read an interesting article in 8BS
in issue or two ago regarding problems
with keyboards. I have repaired one or
two keyboards in my time and I would
like to pass on the following
suggestions...
If a few keys (3 or 4) close to each
other are not working then there is
probably a break in one of the tracks
on the underside of the keyboard. Use
a multimeter on the continunity
setting to find the break. Then do not
use a blob of solder to remake the
circuit, use a small length of wire.
If a blob of solder is used, it always
fails after a while.
If only one key is not working, then
check the solder joint on that key is
ok. If the key still does not work,
then drench (I mean drench!) the key
mechanism until it eventually starts
working. I find Servisol switch
cleaner or WD40 to be effective.
Good luck
Jeremy
From: L1T (Jeremy Stanton)
Subject: MOS++ ???
I mainly use my Master 128 for
wordprocessing. I also generally load
the MOS+ and ADU ROM images. A lot of
commands are duplicated in these two
ROMS.
In the original MOS ROM there are a
lot of 'ROMS' which I do not use, ie
View, Viewsheet, Edit & Terminal. Why
doesn't someone offer custom made
MOS's? Some irritating bugs could also
be fixed, eg some * commands do not
work in lowercase. Some improvements
could also be incoperated into the
MOS++.
I can see no reason why this could not
be done. I would personally like to
have the 65C102 version of VP to be in
the MOS with the best from ADU and
MOS+. Most people would probably be
satisfied with ADU and MOS+.
Feedback please.....to 999
Jeremy