BeebRoom 2024

[BeebMaster]

After a few days of tidying up and picking resistor legs out of the carpet, I thought the BeebRoom was sufficiently presentable for an early 2024 photoshoot:

After 3 years, I think I've finally got it just about to my liking, and except for the A3010, everything works. Bit of shame that, as I am moving next month and about to dismantle the whole lot to have it transported over 50 miles!

[Cruxinc]

now THAT is my dream setup! it looks great!

[tricky]

Looks great, or as my cousins would say "lush"

[1024MAK]

Three questions Ian...

1. I don't see a photo of the King
2. Where's the trillion resistors you speak of?
3. Maybe its the camera, but there's no sign of your famous BeebMaster smoke!

Have fun now, because moving house is absolutely not fun...

Mark

[BeebMaster]

Ah, well, if you look above Stations 87 and 200, you will see my award-winning photograph of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, of Glorious Memory, and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, taken at the new Co-Op HQ in November 2013:



(And again here on display as part of the Platinum Jubilee Photographic Exhibition at Kensington Palace:

)

For pictures of HM The King, you will have to look here:



(The generation of that picture set using my "HTML Generator" really put the Pi Econet Bridge through its paces, as Chris R will be able to tell you!)

As for the trillion resistors, they are split between box BMH2 in the loft, and BeebSpares Box 3, just visible underneath Archimedes Corner. There may in fact be slightly fewer than a trillion, I haven't got time to count them just now.

No smoking in here, as it's also where I work from home, so it's subject to the smoking ban!

I'm not looking forward to moving, though I am looking forward to having moved. We are moving two weeks tomorrow, apparently, and it will be very nearly 26 years to the day since we moved here, which is more than half a lifetime ago for me. In fact, it will be the first time I've actually been present when we have moved. Cunningly, last time, in 1998, I was at university, so I got taken back for the spring term from our previous house and brought home again at Easter to this house. Even more cunningly, the time before, in July 1988, I arranged to do myself an injury so I was in hospital, so I missed the whole thing completely, and in fact also missed the last few weeks of primary school.

Continuing this series of cunning escapes centred around house moves, the best I have been able to wangle this time is to spend the coming weekend at the ABug in order to avoid packing, or as it has become known round here for some reason "throwing away".

The removal man has told us it's going to take 2 days to move everything, plus another full day on an unspecified future date to move everything out of my storage unit to the garage at our new house, which I have commandeered for storage. All being well I am having it properly insulated with heaters installed so it's a suitable environment for ancient kit.

[Cruxinc]

beebmaster

hi there ive been told you are the best person to go for about econet kit so if possible it would be really appreciated if you could answer a couple questions.
i plan on getting another beeb with econet interface installed (my other one dosent have one) to get a level 1 econet server up and running would i just need to install econet on my beeb without econet and then just connetct them together with a cable? (i have a disk drive)
what would i need for a level 2 server?
if you could help it would be much appreciated!
thanks a lot and have a good day

[james]

would i just need to install econet on my beeb without econet and then just connetct them together with a cable? (i have a disk drive)
what would i need for a level 2 server?

Until somebody knowledgeable comes along (I believe the answer is “no”, you can’t just connect 2 Beebs together) you may find this interesting Econet reading https://heyrick.eu/econet/index.html

I believe, amongst other things, both L2 and L3 require a 6502 Second Processor.

[BeebMaster]

Level 1 file server is the only one which doesn't require a second processor, but it's fairly basic (written in BASIC) so I would recommend using Level 2 or Level 3. As well as the 6502 second processor, in addition for Level 2 you need DFS, for Level 3 you need ADFS. You can use Level 3 with a hard disc without having a 1770 floppy disc interface in the Beeb, as you can load the file server initially from a DFS disc.

All the Beebs need an Econet interface installing, which is a soldering job. For Masters onwards, it's a plug-in module which is much easier to fit.

All Econets need an Econet Clock, which regulates data transmissions on the network, and should have some form of termination. The very simplest form of 2-station Econet is two Beebs connected up via an Econet Clock. This arrangement doesn't have termination, but the network is so small that it oughtn't to matter too much. A larger network needs cabling with socket outlets for stations to plug into using an Econet lead. Originally this would have been a run of cable with socket boxes spliced into the cable at suitable points, and terminating components fitted at either end of the cabling. Nowadays it's more modular with socket hubs providing the outlets, and the hubs can be connected together with normal Econet leads.

[flaxcottage]

Looks just like my man cave except for the desk, the bench tops, the walls, the space on the carpet in the middle of the room ... We do match with the under-table storage.

[Cruxinc]

Level 1 file server is the only one which doesn't require a second processor, but it's fairly basic (written in BASIC) so I would recommend using Level 2 or Level 3. As well as the 6502 second processor, in addition for Level 2 you need DFS, for Level 3 you need ADFS. You can use Level 3 with a hard disc without having a 1770 floppy disc interface in the Beeb, as you can load the file server initially from a DFS disc.

All the Beebs need an Econet interface installing, which is a soldering job. For Masters onwards, it's a plug-in module which is much easier to fit.

All Econets need an Econet Clock, which regulates data transmissions on the network, and should have some form of termination. The very simplest form of 2-station Econet is two Beebs connected up via an Econet Clock. This arrangement doesn't have termination, but the network is so small that it oughtn't to matter too much. A larger network needs cabling with socket outlets for stations to plug into using an Econet lead. Originally this would have been a run of cable with socket boxes spliced into the cable at suitable points, and terminating components fitted at either end of the cabling. Nowadays it's more modular with socket hubs providing the outlets, and the hubs can be connected together with normal Econet leads.

ok thanks for the info! i will probably wait until i can afford a copro and all the equipment then (i am aware that you can emulate the copro but i prefer not emulating stuff!)

[BeebMaster]

Original parts are very hard to come by, so for original 6502 second processor, Econet clock etc. getting all the gear together will be pricy.

There are modern remakes of more or less everything needed which are more readily available. PiTubeDirect is the best way to get a second processor into a BBC Micro and has several advantages over the original, apart from cost, including that it provides every second processor ever invented, plus a few extra ones which weren't invented back then, and a choice of running at original CPU speed or fast versions which can go up to 1GHz. The "BeebMaster Econet Clock" is almost an exact replica of the 1980s SJ Research Clock, and even then, Ken Lowe is doing the Pi Econet Bridge, which is a combined unit with clock, termination, socket hub, file server etc all in one.

I suspect nearly none of us on the forum, including me, had second processors at home with our Beebs all those years ago, and definitely not Econet which I think would almost never have been in anyone's home setup.

[davehill]

After a few days of tidying up and picking resistor legs out of the carpet, I thought the BeebRoom was sufficiently presentable for an early 2024 photoshoot:

BeebRoom2024-1.jpgBeebRoom2024-3.jpgBeebRoom2024-5.jpgBeebRoom2024-20.jpg

After 3 years, I think I've finally got it just about to my liking, and except for the A3010, everything works. Bit of shame that, as I am moving next month and about to dismantle the whole lot to have it transported over 50 miles!

Just how I always wanted my bedroom to look when I was 14 . It's impressive, and love the location of the A4! Never managed to get my hands on one of those . Nice job, good luck packing and unpacking.

[BeebMaster]

I haven't really found a permanent home for the A4 yet, but hopefully I will in the new BeebRoom. I've been in two minds about whether to connect it to an external monitor, especially as there's a column of the LCD which doesn't work. Maybe I could share it 3 ways with the AKF60 currently shared with A305 and A420/1. The good thing about the A4 is that the on switch is outside the lid, unlike most modern laptops where you have to open the lid to switch them on - and if you like to permanently use an external monitor with a modern laptop, that invariably means dismantling the whole setup to slide the laptop out, open it, switch it on, and slide it back in again! Oh and then reconnect all the cables which came loose in the process!

[davehill]

I have that exact problem with my works HP laptop. It's very frustrating, having to move my MacBook Pro off the top of it to press the power button when Windows decides to start doing what windows does best . Sharing the monitor three ways would be good for space saving for sure! I wonder if I will ever be able to get my hands on A4. I imagine they have all found homes with long term users now, and I missed the boat!

I hope you will post pictures of the new Beebroom when it's finished, quite the collection! Maybe we should start a new post, "Post your Acorn rooms". I imagine it would be a popular post

[1024MAK]

Maybe we should start a new post, "Post your Acorn rooms". I imagine it would be a popular post

Already a topic like that, but the title currently escapes me...

Mark

[BigEd]

There's this previous topic:
Show us your mancave / retro room / workbench (2020)

Edit: and this mega thread too
Post pictures of your beeb setup (2014)

[BeebMaster]

And then there were none:

[davehill]

And then there were none:

I bet that took some packing away

[BeebMaster]

Yes, and they didn't want to go! I've been pushed, bumped, bitten, poked, cut! Kept telling them it's for their own good, but they wouldn't listen!

[Cruxinc]

beeb master

hi there hope you are doing well (apart from the injurys from your beebs! ) im interested in getting one of your econet kits (just the electronic kit to install econet interface) to hopefully install at abug south. i was just wondering nyoom accurate in looks and size of chips it is compared to the original interface? thanks a lot!

[BeebMaster]

Well, the packaging is different, I think the original Acorn Econet kit may have come in a polystyrene box, and the instructions are my own (though originally lifted from the BBC Micro Service Manual, but adapted quite a bit over the years), but all the components are the same parts and values as in the original. All the capacitors, resistors and IC sockets are still in production, so they are new parts. Most of the ICs are still in production, so they are new parts. The obsolete ICs are "new old stock", meaning somebody bought them new 40 years ago and squirrelled them away to sell at much higher prices now, but you often find on closer inspection when buying "new old stock" that they are really reclaimed parts which have been desoldered from motherboards. In that case I test all out-of-production parts individually before they go into the kits.

If you can PM, then please PM me your address and I can sort you out with a kit.

[Cruxinc]

Well, the packaging is different, I think the original Acorn Econet kit may have come in a polystyrene box, and the instructions are my own (though originally lifted from the BBC Micro Service Manual, but adapted quite a bit over the years), but all the components are the same parts and values as in the original. All the capacitors, resistors and IC sockets are still in production, so they are new parts. Most of the ICs are still in production, so they are new parts. The obsolete ICs are "new old stock", meaning somebody bought them new 40 years ago and squirrelled them away to sell at much higher prices now, but you often find on closer inspection when buying "new old stock" that they are really reclaimed parts which have been desoldered from motherboards. In that case I test all out-of-production parts individually before they go into the kits.

If you can PM, then please PM me your address and I can sort you out with a kit.

oh that sounds perfect! i cannot pm but can buy through website. how much is one? thanks a lot!

[BeebMaster]

Right ho, will PM you.

[BeebMaster]

Oh I can't do that either. What do we do now?

You can contact me here:

https://beebmaster.co.uk/Contact.html

[Cruxinc]

Oh I can't do that either. What do we do now?

You can contact me here:

https://beebmaster.co.uk/Contact.html

having a look on your website, i dont think i can afford the kit for now! i will email you closer to april, or if your planning on going to abug south maybe could buy one direct there? thanks a lot!

[BeebMaster]

I'm sure we can do something if you get in touch...

[BeebMaster]

All the Beebs have been transplanted now. I'm sure Dave H will be pleased that the only Acorn still here is my latest Electron.

My benches probably aren't going to be put back up for at least a couple of weeks, but I am hoping to have a small Econet in service by Friday.

[flaxcottage]

Very sad when the beebs go.

My man cave has just been decorated. It is 10 years since it was last done. Everything was removed and is being cleaned as it is returned. I have decided that I have about twice as much stuff as I actually need. How many spares are actually necessary?

[BeebMaster]

I think the acceptable ratio is 1000:1 spares:machines.

Still working on it.

[1024MAK]

I think the acceptable ratio is 1000:1 spares:machines.

Still working on it.

Is that all!

Mark