USE CURSOR KEYS TO SCROLL TEXT. USE CURSOR KEYS TO SCROLL TEXT. 8 Bit HELP! MESSAGES 1 HELP! MESSAGES 1 To: 999 (all members) From: K4W (ROY) Subject: Disc required. Very Urgent. My Master has an ANFS Rom fitted, which is identified by the *ROM command. I might appear rather ignorant, but can someone advise me how to activate and use this ROM? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 From: 2J3 (Chris Richardson) Subject: SNAPSHOT K3B asked in issue 7 if SNAPSHOT, the program often referred to by Albert Schofield in his tape to disc articles was available from the 8BS pool. Sorry about the delay K3B. I suddenly spotted it just now whilst looking for something else. It is to be found on BBC-50, disc one (2D). ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: 0E7 (F.W.Nevin) Subject: Points of VIEW May I say a sincere Thank You to Stephan Richardson who very kindly persevered with me and efficiently solved my VIEWSHEET problem. I hope he will not mind if I show how this was achieved. You may recall I required to INPUT data into slot A1 and for the data to appear in slots B1-B26 or whatever slots were required. Enter into slot B1. IF(B1=0,A1,B1) Enter into slot B2. IF(B2=0,IF(B1<>0,IF(B1=A1,B2,A1),B2),B2 Enter into slot B3. IF(B3=0,IF(B2<>0,IF(B2=A1,B3,A1),B3),B3 and so on until the required number of inputs is reached. The inputs can be made to appear across the sheet as well as down. Enter Data into slot A1 for reproduction into slots B1-26 etc If entries are made into slots B1-6 the actual entry shown in these slots can be over-typed if an error is made or if so desired.Let us assume that slots B1-B6 have been over-typed. The next INPUT in slot A1 will still go into slot B7 and so on which is very good feature. Note. Consecutives values in slot A1 must not be of identical values .If two identical values are entered and the first value is for slot B1 the second value WILL NOT appear in slot B2 but the third input in slot A1 will then go into B2. Thanks once again Stephan. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: 0E7 (F.W.Nevin) Subject: CANON PW1080A RIBBON Sorry to raise this subject again but where can one purchase some good quality cheap ribbons. I know some addresses etc were published recently but I have searched back issues without success. It is like trying to return to a previously read article in a newspaper or magazine one can never find it. I suspect that on each disc is a secret program that knows what data you are searching for and automatically deletes it. Help please. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K4W (ROY) Subject: ROM/RAM Analysis. Following the request in issue 37 for an explanation of Sideways RAM, Sideways ROM,etc., for which I must admit responsibility, I am pleased to provide an excellent description provided to me by a gentleman to whom I shall refer as Bruce, and to whom I am most indebted for clarification in a most efficient and lucid manner. ROM. Fall into 2 categories: Language and Utility. The Language ROM, when called, takes over completely i.e.View, Viewsheet. Utility ROMS carry out a task and then return to where they were called. Sideways ROM. This is a physical chip containing a programme which is plugged into the motherboard or a cartridge and cannot be altered. Sideways RAM. This is a section of memory into which ROM Images can be placed. The image is temporary and is lost when the computer is switched off. ROM Image. A copy of a physical ROM saved to disc or tape. Can be loaded into Sideways RAM or blown into an Eprom. EPROM. A chip which can be written to using an Eprom Blower. Can be erased by Ultra Violet light and re-used. Eprom Blower. Originally supplied by Watford and Morley. Available second hand as are Eproms. I Hope that this information is of help and interest. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K6L (Richard Chamberlain) Subject: Music 5000 Do any of the 5000 users out there know if it is possible to interface an acoustic guitar, via the midi inputs, wth the 5000? My idea is to use it rather like the 4000 keyboard, as an input device. The keyboard is o.k. but my natural instrument is the guitar, and I would find it easier to create pieces using it. This would, of course mean my finding a cheap midi module. Also, has anyone been able to create a realistic sounding acoustic guitar waveform with the 5000? I'm fed-up with the Electric one available,and so far all my efforts have been crap, to put it bluntly. I'm not particularly bothered whether it's a steel sounding one or classical nylon, I just want a more natural,acoustic feel. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K7X (ROGER LOCKWOOD) Subject: HELP! I have just received the disc TBI-57 with a great geograpy programme for my daughter. I have not found out how to print out the information provided on the disc, is it possible? If so what do I do to get a print out of all the facts and figures. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3H (ALBERT SCHOFIELD) Subject: TAPE TO DISC ON THE BBC"B" Most of the newer games for the BBC micro on cassette are in quite a number of parts. Some of these games can be transferred to disc and will run without alteration at all provided that all the parts load at no less than &1100. If the last part loads at less than &1100 then it can be downloaded and the game will run perfectly even though the computer ends up in the tape mode. But if a section has to be downloaded before the last part has been reached then there is a problem as the DFS can not be re-entered without corrupting memory. The way to overcome this is to put the last parts into a rom image. They can then be reloaded from the rom filing system with page below &1100. A short loader program can be written to load the rom image or images and then run the first part of the game as I described in a previous article. In last months article where I dealt with the problem of machine code programs that revert to tape I may possibly have caused some confusion by the way the article was set out. So, to recap, the three pairs of hex numbers to find are A9 8C A2. The 8C should be replaced with a space (20). I recently came accross another method which is used to make a program revert to tape in OMEGA ORB. This game is in eight parts and they all load at &1100 or over so no downloading is involved. Five of the parts have an execution address of B80. At this location there is a tape routine which causes the problem. This routine is placed there by the third section "OMEGA2". This section is the loader and is really a basic program posing as machine code. So edit this using a sector editor. The first statement is !2944=&A28CA9. You will see that this contains the three pairs of hex numbers I mentioned earlier but in reverse order. Also 2944 is the decimal equivalent of B80. So again alter the 8C to 20. Then carry on shortening the file names to the seven characters that you have used to save them to disc. The game should then run from disc without any problems. If anyone would like any help transfering to disc a game or utility please let me know either through the 8-BIT disc or drop me a line. My address is 46 FIR St. NELSON. LANCS. BB9 9RG. More next month. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K4B (GEORGE LYNCH) Subject: Amplinex In issue No.39, member David Mcgraw K5B asks whatever happened to Amplinex'? For those that have never heard of this organisation, it was a users group that supported the Hybrid Music System which was an add-on to the BBC micro. For those interested in music for pleasure or serious composition it had a great deal to commend it. The basic unit of the system is the music synthesiser 5000 to which other hardware could be added (i.e.keyboard), providing a complete and versatile system. I purchased my 5000 unit in 1992 which was on special offer through the Micro User at the attractive price of `55.00. I learned of Amplinex late in 1992 and wrote to Roy Follett,who was the main stay of users club. I became a member of the club and received a great deal of encouragement and help from Roy. Sadly Roy was admitted to hospital in Dec.'92 for extensive surgery and died on the 2ndJan.'93. It was hoped that someone else would continue with the work that Roy had done so well but as far as I know Amplinex died with him.There must be many other users out there who, like me, owed Roy a debt of gratitude and may even have had the honour of knowing Roy personally . I later wrote to Hybrid, the supplier of the system, but they had not learned of Roy's death and did not know of any other Users Group. Ted Kirk,who has produced many excellent educational music programs, very kindly helped me with some back issue discs and there have been many occasional discs avaailable through Micro User and P.D.Houses in the past. The following contacts may be worth while following up for further information: (a)Hybrid, 88 Butt Lane,Milton,Cambridge CB4 6DG.tele:o233 861522/862150 (b) Ted Kirk,33 Humber Crescent,Sutton Leach,St.Helens,Merseyside, WA9 4HD All of this may not fully answer David McGraw's question but could provide a starting point. It would of course be possible to copy some of the discs that are out there but there may be a copywrite problem as many of the compositions are the original work of dedicated musicians. If this could be resolved then the discs could all be made available through 8BS software library. Are there any other comments from members? I have gone on at length but I was pleased to take the opportunity to give my own tribute to the late Roy Follett for his work and dedication. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K2T (Jack Tourle) Subject: Keyboards Re K5A's plea for help in cleaning the keyboard, I had the same trouble on my BBC -- it happened to be the 'e' key. Following the advice of an article in BAU for October 1992 (A Quick Fix), I used a small screwdriver to lever off the cap of the key. This revealed some slight deposit on the switch, which I removed with "a mild non-greasy solvent", and cleared out the dust with a cotton bud. I replaced the cap, and the key has worked satisfactorily ever since! An occasional run over the keyboard with a vacuum cleaner helps to reduce dust round the keys. I am careful to use a dust cover when the Beeb is not in use. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K2T (Jack Tourle) Subject: Formatting discs My thanks to those who commented on my note, in issue 37, about formatting double-sided discs. I am sorry that I did not give details of my equipment and program so that K2K could possibly see where my difficulty lay. I have a basic BBC with DFS, and two formatting programs (Opus and Watford). The Opus program shows all the time, on the screen, the drive number on which it is working, but requires to be reloaded to format another drive. The Watford program, after the initial instructions about drive and track numbers, clears the screen in favour of grahics showing the progress of the operation. It was the latter program that I was able to understand better, and it was that one which I modified as I showed in Issue 37. It has the advantage of a combined format/verify action. Thank you, 3TR, for your advice on using OSCLI; but in this case I was not using a star command. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K2B (Colin Culpitt-Smith) Subject: Z88 Computer Having recently joined the growing band of Z88 owners, I'm wondering if there are other Z88 users who are in need of Z88 bits & pieces. I had an excellent response to a 'wanted' ad recently, and am willing to pass on the details to anyone interested. Ring me on most evenings. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3Y (LORNA JENNE) Subject: Embedded Commands in INTERWORD Now that 8 Bits is getting vol 6 - 12 discs from Beebug. One programme I can recommend is on P10 of Vol 9 No 8 - Star Commands for Printers from Disc. One of the problems with embedding control codes for printers in the text of your letters/manuscripts is the problem of have to look up the code in the manual or even worse trying to remember what you actually have to enter to get the effect required. Very much a problem if you have a printer with Epson ESC/P2 codes (that Stylus 800, I am always asking for help with.) Thanks to Tim Parsons, I am begining to get it to do THINGS. In the embedded Command Menu, below the line where the codes are entered there is a line with a * (for *Commands). Using the programme from BeeBug you can enter a code by a name ie cond or condoff (for condensed type) and make sure the disc with the programm is in drive 0 and then when you print the WP will call up the disc to get the corect code for the effect you want. The great joy with the program is that once you have worked out the effects you need you can alter the data lines in the program to set up the disc as required. Now I can get all the differnt fonts and sizes of text, plus over/under scoring as well as all the usual condensed/italic etc. without having to remember or look up all those number. Most names are easy to remember but I have a double height print out showing the effects and names stuck on the wall over my desk. Instant printer effects with thanks to Derek Baron the writer of the program in Beebug. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: 3PM Subject: Hard disk card. I have just acquired a card by Quest International Computer Technology Ltd. (C)1984. It's new and carries the logo 'BBC Firefly Personality Card Issue A' It measures 13.9cmx10.1cmx1.3cm o/all thickness with a 34 pin eject header socket for connection to the 1MHz bus and a 40 pin ditto for the drive unit connect. There is also a 90deg. square pin header (4pin:2x0v,1x5v,1unused). Board has 9 chips + a Beckman S08 dip switch 'chip' all 8 set to OFF and covered with a clear plastic sealing film. Does anyone have any info on drive type compatibility, etc.? Is Quest still with us? I do not as yet have a hard disk so the card could be useful if and when. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, To: 999 (all members) From: K3T (NEIL TAYLOR) Subject: SPELLCHECK: HELP PLEASE! I have spent days trying to get Spellcheck (BBC 3) to work, but to no avail. My problems centre around getting words to go into the dictionary. I have managed to unlock the DICTION file, but whether I create a new empty file, or attempt to use the sample dictonary, every time I press A to get it to add a word from my list it tells me that there is not enough room! I have used DICWIPE and for e.g. "A*" as well as "*DUMP DICTION" to check that I have actually got either the sample dictionary or a new empty dictionary on disc, the latter revealing masses of reserved space, and yet the programme persists in telling me that there isn't any. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, PRESS BREAK