To: 999 (all members)
From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD.)
Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC B
There are a great number of tape
copiers for the BBC. Some are very
good and some are excellent but most
of the best will not copy themselves.
The best solution is to get them onto
disc.
SHADOW is one of the best. This tape
copier is in four parts SHADOWINST,
SHADOW, a short data stream and
SHADOW2.
The first part SHADOWINST is a basic
program so load it in and alter line
70 to remove the *T. command. Change
line 460 to 460PROCTITLE(6)
Change line 470 to 470CHAIN"SHADOW"
Then save the file to disc as SHADINS
A short basic loader is needed next
as follows:-
10PAGE=&3000
20*LOAD SHADOW2
30*TAPE
40*FX15
50CALL&7736
Save this to disc as SHADOW.
Now load in the whole tape copier
from cassette. Press BREAK and save to
disc using:-
*SAVE SHADOW2 7380+825 7736
Chaining SHADINS will now load and
run the tape copier. If you don't want
the instructions then just chain
SHADOW. You can of course just *RUN
SHADOW2 but do not be tempted to this
as SHADOW will not then always produce
a working copy of a game. SWARM is one
such game. This is mainly because the
*TAPE command is necessary and the
loader program provides this.
To: 999 (all members)
From: D6G (Sprow)
Subject: Using WebBC on the internet
A couple of issues ago,I sent a beta
test version of my BBC webbrowser,
called WebBC.It's really just an HTML
stripper,though.
I was asked by Crispin Boylan how to
connect it to the real internet.Well
it is possible - I see two
alternatives.
Use a bulletin board and BBC modem to
connect to Arcade for example.From
there you can fetch webpages to floppy
disk,then view them in WebBC.
The other way is much more impressive.
Since WebBC works with any filing
system and accepts any valid filing
system names it can be used with the
Econet.I believe (though haven't seen
with my own eyes) that there is a
TCPIP programme that can be used with
Econet (though there'll need to be an
Archimedes as the fileserver).
Its the TCPIP part that does all the
talking down the phone line. So,armed
with this,you can use your BBC on the
Econet to fetch pages off the
internet.Fun!
Sprow.
6 Bollinbrook road
MACCLESFIELD
Cheshire.
SK10 3DJ.
email: rps102@york.ac.uk
8bsmail: D6G
web: www.york.ac.uk/÷rps102/
To: 999 (all members)
From: D6G (Sprow)
Subject: DFSshift
Last issue,64,Crispin Boylan was in
search of a programme from ATPL that
budges the DFSs workspace elsewhere in
memory to free up some more precious
RAM
Well,I don't have this programme,but
SlimDFS that I wrote last year does
just the same thing.
I've sent it again this month with
manual for you to read.
Sprow.
6 Bollinbrook road
MACCLESFIELD
Cheshire.
SK10 3DJ.
email: rps102@york.ac.uk
8bsmail: D6G
web: www.york.ac.uk/÷rps102/
To: 999 (all members)
ReplyTo: E5B (Clive Stephenson)
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: Downloading Teletext Pages
In about 1985 I wrote 'GetPages', a
program to automatically download
teletext pages from a teletext
adapter. In 1991 I tidied it up a bit
and sent it in to Micro User. It
appeared in the August 1991 issue.
That version allowed you to download
all the subpages of a specified page.
The version here is slightly updated
to download all the subpages from a
range of pages. The program is GetPage
and the instructions are in GetPInf.
To: 999 (all members)
ReplyTo: E4W (Crispin Boylan)
From: K8G (Jonathan Harston)
Subject: High Density FDC
Crispin wrote in issue 64 making some
valid points about supply of floppy
disks.
80 Track DS/DD 5¼" disks
Many shops don't seem to stock these
any more, and I personally use very
few of them, but last time I needed
some a couple of months ago, Staples
(general stationery superstore) had
plenty of 10-packs for about £2.
3½" DD (720k) disks
I don't think there's going to be a
shortage of 3½" DD disks in the near
future. Every time I go to Staples or
any general computing outlet they have
boxes and boxes of them. I personally
have 3,500 of them so I don't see
myself running out. They are available
for sale: 25p each or £2 for ten.
Any BBC machine can use 3½" drives;
BBC, B+, Master, Compact, Electron.
I've been regulaly using them on my
BBC B for nine years.
Some BBCs with 8271 interfaces need
DFS 1.21 rather than DFS 1.20 to fix
some timing problems. There is a
program FixDNFS on issue 63 that can
be used to convert a DFS 1.20 rom
image to DFS 1.21, or you can order
the rom direct from me.
3½" HD (1.44Mb) disks
The 8271 can only perform single
density FM disk operations. This will
store up to a maximum of 500k on a
DS/80Trk disk (H/DFS=400k, DOS=450k).
The 1770/1772 can also perform double
density MFM disk operations. This will
store up to a maximum of 800k on a
DS/80Tk disk (DDFS=640k, HADFS=640k,
ADFS=640/800k, DOS=720k).
For storage up to 800k you must use DD
disks, with only one hole in the - the
write protect slot.
The Master and the B+ come with a 1770
FDC installed, and so they can access
up to 800k of data on a disk. The B
can easily be upgraded to use an FDC
controller by plugging a daughter
board into the 8271 slot and fitting a
suitable DDFS.
3½" HD (1.44Mb) disks
Crispin asked whether it would be
possible to use HD disks on the Beeb.
To use HD disks you need a FDC that
can perform HD operations. The one
that the Archimedes A5000 onwards use
is the 82c710 or 82c711.
To use the 710/711 would need a
daughter board plugged into the
existing FDC socket, and a DFS/ADFS
written to communicate with it.
Unfortunately, the 1770/2 is soldered
in in most Masters.
This is probably a 'non-trivial'
problem. That's not to say it is
unachievable. At this stage, it's
probably more suitable to 3½" DD
disks, optionally using the 1770/2 if
you want more than 400k capacity.
I've also resubmitted an article about
disk formats that originally appeared
in issue 42 in 1995.