To: 999 (all members)
From: K6N (Brian Raw)
Subject: DFS Disc Image Extractor
EDITOR........ The disc image (Arcade)
that Brian refers to in this info is
copyright and therefore I am not at
liberty to publish it in the 8BS
magazine. However, the transfer
software may prove interesting.
The Arcade image disc came with one of
the PC BBC Emulators and are made up
by saving sector by sector to a file
thus saving the files info from sectors
0,1.
The emulators use these disc images
directly using the data in the first
two blocks as pointers to each file's
location.
So if you read this file 256 bytes at
a time then write it the relevant
sector of a preformated DFS disc you
get a DFS version back.
The above decribes a single sided disc
however it is possible to make images
of double sided discs in which case
they are made interleaved i.e.
side 0 track0 sectors 0-9
followed by
side 2 track0 sectors 0-9
the extraction of these type of files
would be more complex but the same
method applies.
The image files are either:-
ss40....100K
ds40....200K
ss80....200K
ds80....400K
the arcade image being 100K.
From this you can see that they all
may be put onto an ADFS disc but this
would be a long job if they were
stored on a PC harddisk, a much faster
way is to use the DOS filing system
found on 8BS 51, so then you need only
copy to a 720K disk and use this
program by first changing FS$ to "DOS"
Once you have done this a couple of
times the scope of possibilities will
become apparent and I suspect will
have a role to play in the future of
the old BEEB.
To: 999 (all members)
From: K6N (Brian Raw)
Subject: Scrabble Dictionary
The dictionary used on this disc has
been minimalised for space reasons the
full dictionary being on TBI 113.
The dictionary came from a Scrabble
game I have for the PC, it allowed
you to edit the dictionary by first
extracting it into a text file (SDIC)
so thought I'd do a little something
with it (this prog) on the beeb.
You will be hard pushed to edit the
dictionary on the beeb as it is over
200k in length and has over 32000
words. However should you actully
achieve this you will have to remake
the map files. The easiest way to do
this is to rename or delete the
existing ones and Run the program
again, it will take over from there.
Help!
This approach also facilitates foreign
languages to be used by substituting
the dictionaries!
Can anyone help in finding a GERMAN
dictionary having the same or similar
format as SDIC :-
aa
about
account
etc...
Nay,ich sprecken die deutch nicht.
But I would like to get a few things
German for my stepdad whose one
redeeming feature is his linguistic
abilities in German and Russian but
gets little chance to use them.
Unfortunately he is not computer
literate nor does he have a beeb but
does have use of my old 386 which I
passed onto my mother for her recent
retirement which hopefully she will
use to drag herself into the 20th
century.
Any help to
Brian Raw
5 Victor St.
Thornbury
Bradford
W.Yorks.
BD3 8NG
(01274) 660421
To: DOC
From: D5B (Jon Ripley)
Subject: Two Aliens And A Shamrock?
In the spirit of all things artistic
here are two aliens from my clip art
collection and one I drew especially
for 8-Bit Software.
I hope you like them! :)
Why don't you send some in too?
This offer is open, of course, to all
8-Bit members...
Cookie: Charity: A thing that begins
at home and usually stays there.
To: DOC
From: D5B (Jon Ripley)
Subject: Title Screens Part 2...
Here, for the world - 8BS membership -
to see is the second in the series of
8BS, title screens.
By the way, please don't let mine be
the only ones on the issues, send in
some of your own for us all to see,
maybe we can judge which one, of all
the ones I am sure you will all send
in, is the best.
More next time...
Cookie: Classified material requires
proper storage.
To: DOC
From: D5B (Jon Ripley)
Subject: N.T.A.U.S 2 Pictures
Here's a taster for you of the
excellent pictures taken by Chris at
the 'Not The Acorn User Show ... 2'
this July in Sheffield.
In the taster, at the back from left
to right are, Peter 'Shawty' Shaw,
Chris Richardson and Paul Clucas.
In the front row, from left to right
are, Jonathan Harston holding his dog,
Andy Nelson and myself (Jon Ripley)
holding his cat. - Well I'm not
actually sure who the animals belong
to but they were there at the time!
Like the caption says, these pictures
are available for you on 4 DFS discs
or 2 ADFS discs, contact Chris for
more information about how to get hold
of these pictures.
I shall point out that the photos on
the discs will fill the whole screen
and not the 1/4 screen size that you
see here!
Cookie: You have a deep interest in
all that is artistic.
To: DOC
From: D5B (Jon Ripley)
Subject: Puzzle 2...
Well, here's another poser for you!
As always send in your answers to 999!
(Ref: Puzzle 2)
Answer next time!
Cookie: No problem is insoluble in all
conceivable circumstances.