Search found 873 matches
- Tue May 14, 2024 1:20 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Storing data without using RAM
- Replies: 14
- Views: 458
Re: Storing data without using RAM
I don't know what hardware the BBC B has but on some computer systems you could store data in the serial port FIFO. They sometimes had a 16-entry FIFO and with a simple loop-back cable you could store data when RAM wasn't available. The BBC B has a 6850, and the block diagram suggests there are sep...
- Sun May 12, 2024 10:32 pm
- Forum: general
- Topic: unexpected encounter with 8bitguy
- Replies: 20
- Views: 727
Re: unexpected encounter with 8bitguy
I think you've missed out a decimal point. It's widely regarded that about 1.5m were made (from A to Master), based on serial numbers it's estimated about 1m were made https://bbcmicro.computer/how-many-made For some actual vague numbers from Acorn, see https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p...
- Fri May 10, 2024 10:14 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Storing data without using RAM
- Replies: 14
- Views: 458
Re: Storing data without using RAM
An additional oddity: the ADC has a spare, unused bit in its status register! Bit 2 can be set (or cleared) as you see fit. D2 flag input during write mode can freely be set or reset without any influence to the A/D converter itself. D2 flag output during status read will have the contents as progra...
- Fri May 10, 2024 10:08 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Storing data without using RAM
- Replies: 14
- Views: 458
Re: Storing data without using RAM
I can't think of anything that good, but on a Master (but not a B/B+), could you use &FE30 to store data? I don't know how wide it is, but I suppose it must be at least 4 bits. It's 4 bits, plus bit 7 as well, and read/write on the Master! If your test code is in the $e000-$ffff region, the bot...
- Fri May 10, 2024 9:50 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Storing data without using RAM
- Replies: 14
- Views: 458
Re: Storing data without using RAM
I wrote an Atom RAM test with similar goals: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24634 It makes heavy use of macros, indexed addressing and doesn't need any stack/RAM to run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohPfL5uom7g For additional state, it uses: - the VIA ACR to track the three test c...
- Fri May 10, 2024 12:11 am
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Storing data without using RAM
- Replies: 14
- Views: 458
Storing data without using RAM
I've got a dead B+. It doesn't work with my usual diagnostic tool (https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14849), but I got some useful leads thanks to Tricky's test ROM (https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10268#p139467). While waiting for bits to arrive, I also wan...
- Mon May 06, 2024 12:06 am
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Dead B+128
- Replies: 3
- Views: 183
Re: Dead B+128
I wasn't sure that random noise was a usual failure mode for DRAMs, but if you've seen it too, then that's promising! Thanks for the note. I've got a bunch of bits on order now, so I'll get desoldering when they arrive. I'm not looking forward to working around that stupid riser board :lol: - but at...
- Sun May 05, 2024 10:34 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Dead B+128
- Replies: 3
- Views: 183
Dead B+128
(A dear diary kind of thing. Any suggestions welcome, but even if nobody has any ideas I'll be poking at this as I get the chance, and updating the thread with any additional info.) I've got a B+128 that suddenly died. It was working fine, and I was testing some ROMs in sideways RAM that I was plann...
- Sat May 04, 2024 9:24 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: UPURSFS on Elk with AP5
- Replies: 18
- Views: 525
Re: UPURSFS on Elk with AP5
For whatever it's worth, the Master reference manual part 1 divides page D up as follows. (I've always treated this as fairly authoritative, since it's comprehensive official documentation produced relatively late in the Beeb's life.) This suggests that for widest compatibility across the whole 8-bi...
- Fri May 03, 2024 2:47 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: games - high scores
- Topic: High Score Challenge - S22 - Round 9 - Uncle Claude
- Replies: 79
- Views: 1562
Re: High Score Challenge - S22 - Round 9 - Uncle Claude
That sounds very careless and amateurish of Alligata to obliterate those two bytes! They probably did a *BASIC, or a NEW, or pressed BREAK, or similar, before doing the *SAVE! Superior's Ghouls rerelease suffers from a similar thing. There's an 0D FF making a mess of the level goal sprite. --Tom
- Fri May 03, 2024 2:44 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
- Replies: 15
- Views: 443
Re: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
I'm having the same problem with a github link but the advice to switch to a URL with raw.githubusercontent.com does not seem to be working for me. The raw.githubusercontent.com thing only seems to work for files in the repo. I never figured out how to get jsbeeb to use a GItHub release asset. For ...
- Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:47 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Thoughts on a suitable EPROM Eraser
- Replies: 29
- Views: 805
Re: Thoughts on a suitable EPROM Eraser
Success for me too, and mostly with only 1 x 10 minute sanitize/erase cycle needed. (I had one attempt at doing 4 at once, but only 1 came out fully blank, and the rest needed another go. 1 EPROM per lamp seemed to work fine.) Is there a recommended distance? I leant the chips right up against the l...
- Sat Apr 27, 2024 12:02 am
- Forum: development tools
- Topic: BeebAsm
- Replies: 247
- Views: 58951
Re: BeebAsm
tass64 looks like an interesting alternative. I've not used it myself, but it looks like it has a lot of options judging by the manual: https://tass64.sourceforge.net I've been using this for a few years now, and it's the best! Full of great features. I rambled on about this in another thread the o...
- Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:22 am
- Forum: new projects in development: games
- Topic: Hexapelago (working title)
- Replies: 74
- Views: 1849
Re: Hex Islands (working title)
Thanks a lot Tom. I'm trying out Beebasm for now but I will bear this in mind if that doesn't suit my needs. I assume you're a C64 head first and foremost. I've never programmed one of those babies. I've never even owned one. But that needs to change (the programming part at least). And if/when I'm...
- Sun Apr 21, 2024 7:09 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Thoughts on a suitable EPROM Eraser
- Replies: 29
- Views: 805
Re: Thoughts on a suitable EPROM Eraser
It seems to be using very tiny tubes and I confirm it works perfectly. Auto timer for 10 mins - the EPROMs need to be on their side angled towards the tubes which are at either end - I’ll need to make up a holder for them - at present it clears 4 at once in 10 minutes - it’s well made, runs from us...
- Sat Apr 20, 2024 2:31 am
- Forum: new projects in development: games
- Topic: Hexapelago (working title)
- Replies: 74
- Views: 1849
Re: Hex Islands (working title)
I actually downloaded that the other day but I haven't tried it yet. I do have a couple of concerns though. BBC syntax and all that is great in a way but I'm not so sure about portability. It would be quite nice to get this game going on a C64 at some point so I'm thinking ahead. Thanks for the inp...
- Tue Apr 16, 2024 2:33 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Updated BASIC Editor
- Replies: 102
- Views: 20528
Re: Updated BASIC Editor
I had a look at the new BASIC Editor and was interested in the Electron version which was a single ROM rather than the original dual ROM for the Electron. I could not find any reference to the function key controls and they were not the same as the original Electron ones. So I have made a function ...
- Mon Apr 15, 2024 10:05 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
- Replies: 15
- Views: 443
Re: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
https://github.com/archie456/BBCMicro/raw/06c46534f2548364659185e80a20e3e0252b27c1/CaveGen.ssd For the link to work with jsbeeb, you'll need to use raw.githubusercontent.com. So the link for the disk above would be https://raw.githubusercontent.com/archie456/BBCMicro/06c46534f2548364659185e80a20e3e...
- Mon Apr 15, 2024 9:00 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: classic games
- Topic: Chuckie Egg 2023
- Replies: 43
- Views: 19195
Re: Chuckie Egg 2023
The player moves slightly faster in Chuckie Egg than in Chuckie Egg 2023! Is this expected? Video here: https://youtu.be/dGnjVaX4dXQ
Left is a Master 128 running original (as far as I'm aware) Chuckie Egg. Right is a Master Turbo running Chuckie Egg 2023.
--Tom
Left is a Master 128 running original (as far as I'm aware) Chuckie Egg. Right is a Master Turbo running Chuckie Egg 2023.
--Tom
- Sun Apr 14, 2024 10:57 pm
- Forum: programming
- Topic: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
- Replies: 15
- Views: 443
Re: Online Beeb emulator with SSD support
Along similar lines: if you have your ssd in a github repo, you can ask jsbeeb to load it directly via its URL. The URL takes the form https://raw.githubusercontent.com/USER-NAME/REPO-NAME/COMMIT-HASH/PATH; pass this in as the &disc URL parameter for the emulator. Here's an example for one of my...
- Sat Apr 06, 2024 10:36 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Restoring ROM character data after VDU 23
- Replies: 10
- Views: 441
Re: Restoring ROM character data after VDU 23
It's more complicated on the Master. The font data is at a documented location ($b900 in ROM 15 - see Master Reference Manual part 1, page E.4-5), but this is not very convenient to access from BASIC. But it's easy enough to use OSBYTE 25: https://beebwiki.mdfs.net/OSBYTE_%2619 (Note that the BeebWi...
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:46 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Master MOS disassembly
- Replies: 67
- Views: 5948
Re: Master MOS disassembly
I made a separate thread for the new versions: https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28879
--Tom
--Tom
- Mon Apr 01, 2024 1:45 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Updated Master MOS versions
- Replies: 0
- Views: 111
Updated Master MOS versions
I've put together some updated versions of the Master MOS, with bug fixes, and code rearrangement to simplify MegaROM setup. For more info about the changes, and download links, see here: https://github.com/tom-seddon/acorn_mos_disassembly/blob/master/docs/refresh.md Getting this working will involv...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:01 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Large haul of Acorn ROMs/EPROMs
- Replies: 26
- Views: 1052
Re: Large haul of Acorn ROMs/EPROMs
There's an EBBS Data ROM in rom8.zip here: https://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11795 - contents look like they're the same kind of thing, but that one kind of peters out after +$750 whereas this one here looks like it fills up most of the 8 KB. SpellcheckII looks like somebody's binary...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:39 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn hardware
- Topic: Large haul of Acorn ROMs/EPROMs
- Replies: 26
- Views: 1052
Re: Large haul of Acorn ROMs/EPROMs
Slogger don't seem to have been very organised about their versioning, but you can get a ROM identifier kind of thing out of later versions of DDOS by doing *ROMID. Slogger202.rom doesn't respond to *ROMID, so maybe it's too early, but Slogger345.rom reports "3.45 01-02-86 35000". Greg Coo...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:44 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Master MOS disassembly
- Replies: 67
- Views: 5948
Re: Master MOS disassembly
I've added some notes about doing a DIY version of MOS 3.50: https://github.com/tom-seddon/acorn_mos_disassembly/blob/wip/master/docs/MOS3.50.DIY.md - this is basically me going through the process of sorting out the setup shown in the screenshot above. I figured maybe having a somewhat worked examp...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:39 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Master MOS disassembly
- Replies: 67
- Views: 5948
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:10 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Master MOS disassembly
- Replies: 67
- Views: 5948
Re: Master MOS disassembly
I've been using this on real hardware (inc a proper copro not the pi version) and using the DFS with hibasic table etc, and it works a treat imo, and it's noticeablely faster in booting to hibasic than the original version, I mean, we're only talking half a second rather than a full second, but it'...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:53 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Updated BASIC Editor
- Replies: 102
- Views: 20528
Re: Updated BASIC Editor
I've made a new release, 1.46: https://github.com/tom-seddon/basic_editor/tree/master/releases Not all that much has changed, but it now generates a relocatable ROM for possible use with MOS 3.50. --Tom P.S. the 32 row limit and colour selection issues have not been forgotten... as you can maybe tel...
- Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:23 pm
- Forum: 8-bit acorn software: other
- Topic: Master MOS disassembly
- Replies: 67
- Views: 5948
Re: Master MOS disassembly
Finally got round to testing this on real hardware. It needs more than 1 minute of testing, but it does boot, and my relocation bitmap tool seems to have shuffled things around correctly. (This setup has the relocation bitmaps for BASIC, EDIT, and The BASIC Editor in the DFS ROM.) If this seems to ...