GoSDC From John Kortink
-----------------------
Review By Chris Richardson
--------------------------
After losing my Master 128 to a
disaster in the loft, lost heart and
sold/gave away all my BBC computer
related stuff. In due course I
regretted acting so hastily and have
recently acquired a Master 128.
I used to have a GoMMC which was the
predecessor to GoSDC. I thought a GoSDC
would be a handy thing to have. This is
the story of how I fitted it, set it up
and how I use it.
First though, a brief description of
what GoSDC is. GoSDC allows you to
store all your BBC software on a single
SDHC, SD or MMC memory card. You can
put all of your floppy discs and disc
images on to the card and access them
from your BBC computer as if they were
physical discs. Hard discs and tapes
too.
Up to a 32 gigabyte card can be used,
however, I start with only a 1
gigabyte card that, even with my
thousands of discs, will be big enough.
Transfer speeds of 100k per second.
Most filing systems patched versions
available to allow GoSDC to be used.
Utilities included for various PC
operating systems to load the card up
with disc images.
The main differences from GoMMC are:
Tools and patched filing systems now
on board the GoSDC. Card detection and
write protection via switches. Auto
detect of GoSDC ROM slots. Software
updates via a FAT formatted flash card
for easy GoSDC update. Two versions.
BBC, Master and Electron (MBE) and a
version that should be compatible with
any 8 bit Acorn (UNI).
Cheaper, and 30% smaller.
Compatibility
GoSDC is compatible with disc interface
or no disc interface. Econet. Second
processor or no second processor.
BBC B OS1.20
Master MOS 3.20 or 3.50
Electron with caveats for some hardware
Other machines with advice from
John Kortink
If you have more than one machine,
GoSDC can be simply plugged into an one
of them.
Website:
web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/index.
htm
Fitting And Loading Up
----------------------
Here follows a description of how I did
it. There are other ways of doing it
too, this is not a comprehensive list
of how it can be done, for that, the
GoSDC manual is the thing to read.
A download from John Kortink's website
contains the manual and software
required.
Fitting GoSDC to the Master could not
have been more simple. Push it in to a
free ROM slot making sure to use the
spacer provided to lift the board
higher than the links on the
motherboard. It is a very small piece
of hardware being about 6cm x 3.3cm
without the SD card.
After fitting the hardware, a couple of
commands test the system is working
properly. Then the SD card must be
formatted for use with the system. This
is simple and quick. Slip the card into
the GoSDC, issue a * command and the
card is formatted. Put the card into
the PC and run the supplied software
to load the card up with disc images.
The card can be loaded with real discs
directly from the BBC computer as well.
Using a script which is just a text
file with all the required commands in
sequence, many disc images can be
loaded onto the card in one go. I
loaded the 8BS pool of over 2000 images
on to the card in just a few minutes. I
made the script in Excel on the PC,
using various tricks like creating file
listings from directories and using
Excel to work fields out using the file
extensions.
With the card loaded up with disc
images, the next job was to get them
running on the Master. For GoSDC to
read the disc images, it needs patched
filing systems. The patched filing
systems are all contained within the
GoSDC. So it is just a simple matter of
telling the GoSDC which filing system
you want to go in which slot. Then
UNPLUG the existing filing systems and
that's it, on future start ups, it
automatically loads the patched filing
systems (up to two) into the required
slots and you are almost ready to go.
I do not currently have a real disc
drive, so I do not need to INSERT or
UNPLUG patched/original filing systems,
but that is what you need to do to swap
between real floppies and disc images
on the GoSDC card.
There are various commands available to
use/view the disc images. One of which
tells GoSDC which disc image to use.
Hard break, then it's as if you have a
real floppy in a real disc drive. On
power up, GoSDC remembers which disc
image you were using previously.
A neat bit of kit. In the space of a
couple of hours, from a cold start, not
knowing anything about it, I fitted and
loaded it up with over 2000 disc
images. With no problems, the manual
brought me through the whole procedure
painlessly. It works fast! A photo of
the GoSDC can be found elsewhere on
this magazine disc.
Thanks John.