From: K6N (Brian Raw)
Subject: DFS Image Utility
These images are sequential file
copies track by track of a DFS disk,
so if a full disk is copied then they
will be :-
100K 40T ssd
200K 40T dsd
200K 80T ssd
400K 80T dsd
When making copies of double sided
disks the tracks are interleaved ie
side0 track0 sectors 0-9
side2 track0 sectors 0-9
side0 track1 sectors 0-9
side2 track1 sectors 0-9
ect.
The program will also allow partial
disks to be copied, that is, those
tracks that are used though
interleaving is not posible if you do.
Why!
The intention is to get these onto a
PC harddisk, if nothing else, for long
term storage. If you ever get onto the
internet you will find some of these
files available for downloading on the
Acorn.8bs site though what anyone
stumbling on these is supposed to do
with them is anybody's guess.
There are several BBC B emulators for
the PC (emu1-7) that can use these
files directly but they do leave a lot
to be desired. Another problem causing
me some concern lately is the ever
decreasing availability of 720K disks
not to mention 360K disks, I reckon
that by the new millenium the 720K
disk will be all but extinct, a
problem that needs looking at now!,
who cares if my beeb gets its knickers
in a twist about the date?
An overview of a possible solution.
What we need is something like a
serial link to a PC, for instance,
that is in server mode and will
respond to commands coming down the
serial line to act on the image files,
sending any requested data back to the
beeb loading directly to memory any
programs requested. So then we might
have something like this on the hard
disk:#
C:/ bbclib
8bs images
tbi images
bbc images
my images
drive0
drive1
drive2
drive3
Initially the drive directory would be
empty, the server giving a suitable
response to any * commands. Then you
might copy/insert a disk from the
library into a drive directory, a *.
command then would read the first 512
bytes (2 sectors) of the file which
contains the catalogue information for
that disk image etc.
None of these ideas have left the
drawing board yet so any input is
welcome. I think the server software
would be best written in 'FORTH' as
this has a clear standard to work to,
that way it should run on any machine
PC,MAC,ARCHI.
Font load & save commands
=========================
J.G.Harston - 20-Nov-1996
*CLoad <afsp> (<char>/X)
Loads in a set of character
definitions, starting at the character
specified in hexadecimal, or character
&80 (128) if not. If the 'X'
parameter is given, or the file has a
load address of &FFFFF7xx (ie is
file-typed to &FF7), then the file is
loaded as an Archimedes-type BBC
font file. V1.03
*CSave <fsp> <start char> <end char>
(X)
Saves a set of character definitions,
as specified by the given parameters
in hexadecimal. If the 'X' parameter
is given, then the font is saved as
groups of ten bytes containing the
whole VDU23 sequence and the file has
the load address set to &FFFFF700 and
the execution address to &FFFFFFFF.
This saves it as an Archimedes-type BBC
font file. V1.03
*Explode (ON|OFF)
Explodes the character set and allows
all the characters to be defined.
*Explode on its own just does the same
as *FX20,6, ie explodes the characters.
*Explode ON explodes the character set
and sets up a Break Intercept to re-
explode the set on Break. *Explode OFF
disconnects this Break intercept.
The command exits by re-entering the
current language to take account of the
change in PAGE. On a Tube system or a
Master series, the command is ignored,
as the character set is already fully
exploded.
Code resides at &131 to &13C.
Function Keystrip Printing
==========================
J.G.Harston, 20-Oct-1997
The following is a collection of
programs to print out various function
keystrips. On running them, they ask
for the number of copies to print.
MesgKeys also asks which keyboard
layout to print. The programs are:
EDWKeys EDWORD
INTERke INTERWORD
EDITKey EDIT
TelKeys ABZ Teletext Editor
MesgKey 8BS Messaging System
Knights Tour
Programmed by C.J.Richardson. The object of the game is to land on
all of the yellow squares in the grid
by moving the 'X' onto each of the
squares. You may only move in the same
manner as a Knight in Chess (L shapes).
The program will not let you make an
illegal move.
To start, move the large 'X' to
wherever you want on the grid using the
ARROW KEYS. Press RETURN. Move again
using the ARROW KEYS. This time a small
flashing 'x' shows you where you are on
the grid, the large 'X' stays behind to
show you where your last starting point
was.
Pressing RETURN again will 'land' you
on the square the small 'x' is over.
The small 'x' then turns into a large
'X' and the previous large 'X' turns
into a space. Repeat this until all of
the yellow blocks have gone.
Go back through your previous moves by
pressing 'B' right up to where you
started.
Save the game state to disc by
pressing 'S'.
Reload a saved game state by pressing
'L'.
When choosing to load or save, you are
shown a catalogue of the disc. Enter a
filename or just press RETURN to use
the default name of KniDat.
Press 'R' to restart the game if you
get into a hopeless tangle.
Press 'D' for a demo of the presently
loaded game. All of the moves are
re-played. The screen is reset and a
flashing 'X' retraces your steps.
PROGRAM: TNC DRIVER
From: E3E (David)
Subject: Terminal
I use the Terminal ROM in the
Master to fire up a tiny-2 TNC or
Packet Radio Modem, this uses amateur
radio as a kind of internet. I have
found the Terminal software to be
better than any other I have found up
to now. For any other "ham" using the
tiny-2, I have a small header program
to set up the soft keys with the most
useful commands. I then used the
Master CMOS clock to set up the Time
and date on the TNC (no more "Clock
not set" errors). The "DA yymmddhhmm"
that sets the date for the TNC is
taken in the right order from TIME$,
and spooled to a file named Date, this
is then *EXECed from key9 after
Terminal is entered. Key9 is used by
the RS423 so cannot be used in
Terminal mode.
f0 CONVerse f1 COMmand
f2 MHeard f3 Monitor on
f4 Monitor Off f5 Connect GB7???
f6 Connect GB7? f7 Connect GB7???
f8 Disconnect f9 Not in use
Is how I set up the f keys .
Where GB7??? is a NODE or BBS.
Change the f keys to the calls of
your local BBS or NODES.
To save a message from a BBS etc.
press SHIFT/f1 (command mode) and at
the prompt = *SPOOL <file name> press
<RETURN> to change to Terminal mode,
SHIFT/f6 can be used to toggle the
spool on/off. Don't forget to close
the file with *SPOOL from command
mode (SHIFT/f1 again).
To send a message, use EDIT. The first
line must be a <RETURN>, save it using
<file name>. Connect to your BBS and
depending on your BBS commands, when
you are ready to send your message
press SHIFT/f1 and at the prompt =
*EXEC <file name> .The <RETURN> on the
first line will change the Master to
Terminal mode and off will go your
message. You can type your message
using VIEW but you will send strange
controls not liked by your TNC or BBS.
I added 32 to the year so that
leap years will be correct (sorry
Chris) after 1999. ie. 1968+32 on.
If you have lost or never had a
Terminal key strip SHIFT and CTRL are
both the same so we have SHIFT +
f0 Clear screen f1 Command mode
f2 nothing f3 Printer on
f4 Printer off f5 printer toggle
f6 Spool toggle f7 nothing
f8 local/line f9 long/short Break
Don't worry about f8 or f9 if
you are only using a Packet Radio TNC.
More may be found in part 2 of the
Reference manual U.2 to U.5-16 .
So if you have A Tiny-2 and a
Master 128 Try TncDvr .
With Best Wishes from David.
MANUAL FOR RWSHEILA (6502 Machine code)
This file describes the program
RWSHEILA which should speed up hardware
accessing from the 2nd processor and
from the IO processor itself via the
approved OSbyte call mechanism.
The manual is (C)1998 SPROW and
software is (C)1997 SPROW
INSTRUCTIONS-
At any command line prompt,eg.the BASIC
command prompt '>' type *RWSHEILA
The program will then install itself in
to page &C00 (the CHR$ defn buffer on
the BBC and Electron,or Econet
workspace on the Master) where it will
wait for any *FX151 (write to Sheila)
attempts either from the 2nd processor
or called from the IO processor.
Because the OS doesn't have to spend
time decoding the osbyte number and
jumping to the relevent section of the
OS,there should be a slight speed
increase for that osbyte.
KNOWN PROBLEMS/FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS-
No known problems.
NB.This patch MUST be run in the IO
processor,so it's filestamp is
&FFFF0C00
HISTORY-
V1.00 First release version,in response
to a question about the Tube OS