ABUG Scotland #2 - Thu 23rd November

[Tosk]

This is an informal face to face evening gathering for lovers of retro machines, especially those fond of the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Atom, and Archimedes/RISC OS machines. This event is aimed at bringing together a community of like-minded individuals in a comfortable and modern setting – the Falkirk Business Hub, in central Falkirk, Scotland.

To emphasise this event is open to all with an interest in Acorn computers!

Please Confirm your attendance by Booking with the link below (£6)


https://retrorendezvous.org/nov2013

Date/Time : Thursday 23rd November 7:00PM-10:00PM

Confirmed and booked

Tosk (Paul)
DaveLecky (David)
Ramtop (Gary)
thecellartroll (Steven)
spanners (David)
ianjeffray (Ian)
spicyniknaks (Dean)
AndyMc1280 (Andy)
KenLowe (Ken)
Philip Oakley
Tim Lees
brianmartin_2001 (Brian)
Richard Keeble (x2)
Rodrigo Copetti
crivett95 (Chris)

🕹 Event Limitation:

Unfortunately we can't allow use of soldering irons at this event due to fire alarm / fire safety constraints.
Please do not bring hardware that has been untested and may have the potential to blow capacitors.

🕹 Event Features:

This is an informal gathering for…

– Show and Tell: Bring your own hardware to display and discuss with others.
– Collaborative Working: Spend time on hardware, programming, or gaming projects.
– Knowledge Exchange: Share ideas, insights, and skills with other enthusiasts.
– Advice on Repair and Upgrade: Reviving poorly Acorn machines.
– Socialize and Enjoy : There’s a kitchen for coffee, tea and biscuits (and mince pies for this Christmas edition)

IanJeffray suggested at the last meeting to include a theme and some introductions...

The Christmas Edition : Extra Features

Introductions – we’ll have an introductions segment for about 30 minutes so each user can tell us a bit more about themselves such as:-

– Their kit
– How their Acorn machine influenced their career path.
– A current project
– A favourite past retro memory
– What retro item they’d love for Christmas.

Christmas theme – celebrate Christmas by using one of these ideas:-

– Acorn Christmas Graphics: Program graphics that showcase snowflakes, Christmas trees, or Santa Claus animations, utilizing the unique capabilities of Acorn computers.
– Retro Gaming Corner: Bring a classic Acorn Christmas-themed game (or 2) or holiday mod of a popular game.
– Christmas BASIC Caroling: Recreate a classic Christmas carol using the Acorn’s sound capabilities and BASIC language.
- Or simply bring along some mince pies...

All Are Welcome:
While the event is Acorn-centric, we could welcome enthusiasts of other retro machines as well.

Date & Time:
Thursday 23rd November 7:00PM running until 10:00PM

Location: Falkirk Business Hub

45 Vicar St, Falkirk FK1 1LL
Nearest car park (opposite building) : weir street

Access : use the side door on Vicar Street. This also has disabled access.



https://falkirkbusinesshub.co.uk/ – a contemporary venue centrally located, just a 2-minute walk from Grahamston Train Station and with seamless access to the M9 motorway between Stirling and Edinburgh. Numerous bars and restaurants are nearby for post-event socializing.
There is a car park next to the building which is free in the evenings.
Building includes disabled access and lifts.





If you are interested in attending, or have any suggestions, please reply to this post with the kit you intend to bring and any ideas you would like to contribute.

Best

Tosk

[DaveLecky]

Just registered,
looking forward to seeing everyone.

Thanks for organising this again Paul.

Dave

[Tosk]

Just registered,
looking forward to seeing everyone.

Thanks for organising this again Paul.

Dave

Fantastic - look forward to seeing you. Have you got some Christmassy coding or game you could source or bring along?

For example:- "Jet Pack Santa" : https://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2911

[DaveLecky]

I’ve got a mince pie……

Dave

[thecellartroll]

My quids are in the can. Hopefully my turtle will behave this time!

[Tosk]

My quids are in the can. Hopefully my turtle will behave this time!

Fingers crossed. Let’s see if we can get your turtle to draw something Christmas related. Would it stretch to a Christmas tree?

[Ramtop]

Booked my place. No idea what kind of Christmassy thing to bring, just as well I have a few weeks to think!

[walkerworks]

Unfortunately I'm not going to make this month, I'll be soaking up some winter sun so I thought I'd make a very short Xmas message using my Electron, minus 1, ATI with RPi 6502 co-pro and a 4 row 40 column LCD display.

https://youtu.be/zD2Vdjh4GCE

Derek

[Tosk]

Unfortunately I'm not going to make this month, I'll be soaking up some winter sun so I thought I'd make a very short Xmas message using my Electron, minus 1, ATI with RPi 6502 co-pro and a 4 row 40 column LCD display.

https://youtu.be/zD2Vdjh4GCE

Derek

Just looked at the message fantastic. Thanks so much Derek for leaving us that message and enjoy your winter sun. Our next meeting will be in January since December is normally chock-a-block for most.

[spanners]

I've just booked. See you there!

D.

[Tosk]

I've just booked. See you there!

D.

Fantastic - let us know if you'll be bringing any equipment.

[IanJeffray]

I'm in. Hopefully more prepared this time. 16MB A3000 is rebuilt and working fine now I have a directory of cheezy Christmas ProTracker music to annoy everyone with too.

[Tosk]

I'm in. Hopefully more prepared this time. 16MB A3000 is rebuilt and working fine now I have a directory of cheezy Christmas ProTracker music to annoy everyone with too.

Excellent - the cheesier, the better.

[Tosk]

It's surprising how many Christmas themed games were released for the BBC Micro, though there's a fair number that are cheesy and quite low quality - no doubt producing a few extra ££ for the software houses at Christmas time. Inevitably "Jingle Bells" is beeped at you on the loading screen for several
There are two pages of games in the complete BBC Micro Archive, though a number were re-released in various compilations. Not sure how many were released for the Archimedes.



"Jet Pack Santa" (1986) was notable:-

[KenLowe]

I thought I'd try and pop along to this one. Nothing too Christmassy from me, I'm afraid - unless all the power LEDs on my various hardware upgrades can count as Christmas lights .

I was thinking I might bring along one of my pimped up Atoms, and maybe a PiEconetBridge for it to connect to. I can bring along some of my other kit, if anyone's got a particular interest. Just shout up.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Edit: Ticket purchased.

[Tosk]

I thought I'd try and pop along to this one. Nothing too Christmassy from me, I'm afraid - unless all the power LEDs on my various hardware upgrades can count as Christmas lights .

I was thinking I might bring along one of my pimped up Atoms, and maybe a PiEconetBridge for it to connect to. I can bring along some of my other kit, if anyone's got a particular interest. Just shout up.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Edit: Ticket purchased.

Thanks Ken - will be good to see an Atom again. I only saw one briefly in the early 80s.

[thecellartroll]

I thought I'd try and pop along to this one. Nothing too Christmassy from me, I'm afraid - unless all the power LEDs on my various hardware upgrades can count as Christmas lights .

I was thinking I might bring along one of my pimped up Atoms, and maybe a PiEconetBridge for it to connect to. I can bring along some of my other kit, if anyone's got a particular interest. Just shout up.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Edit: Ticket purchased.

I have some random Atom “things.” Not quite sure of their purpose. I’ll bring them and see if you can identify them

[Tosk]

I’m wrestling with a 1.2 GXR chip at the moment- getting a continuous beep in startup, even when seated to the left of the DFS chip (as recommended in the manual).
(See separate thread for more detail in the 8 bit hardware sub forum) - so not sure if any further testing can be done in the Meetup.

We could try seating the chip in another BBC B micro for example - as one test.

I suspect a badly burned EPROM - we will see!

[DaveLecky]

Hi Paul,
I’ll burn one for you and bring it along on Thursday…… hopefully tested first….

Have you seen the info in this link

viewtopic.php?p=232755#p232755

If you need me there early again to help getting Andy up the stairs jus let me know.

Dave

[Tosk]

Hi Paul,
I’ll burn one for you and bring it along on Thursday…… hopefully tested first….

Have you seen the info in this link

viewtopic.php?p=232755#p232755

If you need me there early again to help getting Andy up the stairs jus let me know.

Dave

Dave – thanks very much. That’s excellent.Appreciated.

I have seen the other thread you’ve mentioned that’s where I picked up the manual.

I’ll be at the business hub by 6:50pm. May require help with assisting Andy into the building again.

[crivett95]

I've just registered, looking forward to meeting everyone
I'll be travelling by train, so probably won't be bringing any equipment

Chris

[Tosk]

I've just registered, looking forward to meeting everyone
I'll be travelling by train, so probably won't be bringing any equipment

Chris

Great to have you onboard Chris. Noticed your website and your wide experience with a variety of machines.

[DaveLecky]

Hi Folks,

I’ll be brining my Riscos Electron and perhaps my upgraded bbc b….

See you all on Thursday.

Dave

[Ramtop]

Still not exactly sure what I'm bringing, probably an Electron + bits and my PC128S.

[KenLowe]

Right, that's me pretty much all packed up. 2 x Atoms, 1 x VGA / DVI Monitor (the two Atoms will need to share this monitor), 1 x PiEconetBridge, 1 x Piconet module and various cables to connect it all together. I'll also bring along an extra Econet hub and cabling in case anyone else wants to connect to the PiEconetBridge. The bridge has the Atom Software Archive (ASA) installed on it, so it's mainly configured for the Atom, but I can transfer a few OZMOO / Infocom adventure games from my laptop to the bridge (using the Piconet module), so folks with a Econet enabled Beeb (will need some extra SWRAM, shadow RAM, or co-pro) or Master can give some of these games a try out.

See you all tomorrow!

[IanJeffray]

I'll also bring along an extra Econet hub and cabling in case anyone else wants to connect to the PiEconetBridge.

...your own A4 with your A4 Econet card in it (Bring your cover plate)

I'll have an even more special A3000 than last time with me - with Econet - and actually working

[spanners]

I'm bringing a Rodrigo Copetti who wrote Architecture of Consoles: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/

Not sure if he has an Econet port.

D.

[thecellartroll]

That was a mighty enjoyable evening. Thanks for arranging another successful meet

[IanJeffray]

Holy consciousness, Batman. 3 hours blink gone wow. Good evening, but never even spoke to some people I'd hoped to. Crazy.
Thanks again to Paul for organising.

[Ramtop]

Huge thanks to Paul for organising a very enjoyable evening, even more so than the last time.