8-Bit Software Online Conversion

                             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                    