Stairway to Hell - The BBC Micro and Electron Games Archive

DFS Manager v0.1 released!

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 17:33:58 +0000

Steve O'Leary has released v0.1 of DFS Manager - a Windows-based utility for manipulating BBC Micro disc images.

If you would like to see more functionality added, let Steve know by dropping him a line at navalenigma AT hotmail.com or by leaving a message in the appropriate thread on our forum.

News from sprow.co.uk

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 09:03:15 +0000

From Sprow's BBC Micro Mailing List:

ARM coprocessor systems

This brand new ARM7 system has just been announced, and comprises a coprocessor board (internal versions for the BBC Master, external versions for other machines with Tube connectors) complete with supporting software.

In its simplest use, it will run your existing BASIC programs but at up to 200 times the speed they normally run! This opens up the possibility of writing large and complex games in easy to write languages, creating a very fast Econet server, or running native ARM code from ROM.

The package also includes 16MB or RAM, reprogrammable flash memory, and a detailed printed user manual. See http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/armcopro.htm for more information.

American and UK voices for speech upgrades

Free to download now is a ROM image of the American voice for the speech upgrade kit. Normally these have the voice of newsreader Kenneth Kendall, but the unique reprogrammable nature of the speech upgrade means you can change the voice without even taking the lid off the machine!

Suitable for the BBC B and BBC B+ the speech upgrade is used through simple "SOUND" commands in BASIC.

Full details at http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/speechupgrade.htm which now also has the capability to "buy online" instantly, as do all of the other projects linked to from there.

Caller id with 100 call history

Leave the silent BBC micro turned on all day, logging missed incoming calls. Now that BT offer caller display for free you can record the details on screen that you would normally get with 1471, but the last 100 numbers too!

It can also make use of the speech system to "say" the numbers out loud, where no monitor or TV is available to show the numbers.

Sign up, then download the free software:
http://www.bt.com/btprivacy
http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/buildit.htm#Callerid

Other service providers are of course supported, not just BT.

MiniB revamped

MiniB, the floppy disc sized BBC micro for hidden away embedded uses, has just been revamped. Physically the same size as the previous version plus

* New battery connector for battery backup of the clock
* Improved reset button circuit
* A few small circuit errors corrected

Supplied with free software (can be upgraded in situ) details of MiniB can be found at http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/minib.htm

Other utilities

In the course of developing the new ARM coprocessor a few of the other titles available have been updated, as detailed below:

UnZIP - now also unzips nested directories
RAMFS - the high speed filing system to drive the 24bBC RAM disc
DOSFS - read and write Windows long filename diskettes

For more details see:
http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/index.htm#Software
http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/dosfs.htm

I look forward to hearing from you with novel applications for any of the above.

New look website, new ElectrEm Future source, new Mac OS X build

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 09:02:11 +0000

From Thomas Harte via the ElectrEm Mailing List:

Although the Windows build continues not to work properly when the platform specific menus are brought up, I've uploaded new ElectrEm Future source code and the (fully functional) OS X version. Because I found dealing with the old web page too daunting I've taken the opportunity to obtain a new website creation tool and redo the website. Now it probably looks like about 20% of other sites, but I've never been very good at HTML and this takes the hassle out of it.

Web addresses remain http://electrem.emuunlim.com and http://electrem.acornelectron.co.uk. I hope to have the Windows build working properly soon.

The main new feature is a massively improved fast tape hack that seems to make almost everything work. There are also some bug fixes, etc.

Comments on the new look are gratefully accepted! And on the emulator if anybody here actually uses a Mac.

MMC interface & "Sideways FRAM" hardware projects

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 08:59:34 +0000

From Martin Mather:

My website at http://mmbeeb.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk contains some electronic projects I've done for my BBC Model B, namely a "cheap" MultiMediaCard (MMC) interface & "Sideways FRAM", plus all the associated software (patched DFS etc.).

You can also use the DFS with BeebEm, giving access to up to 510 200KB disk images.

BeebIt v0.59 released!

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 10:57:37 +0000

Michael Foot has released v0.59 of BeebIt - his BBC Micro emulator for RISC OS 3 and above.

Changes since v0.58:

* When emulating a Master, the video routines can now read from FS RAM which allows the Level 9 graphics adventures to display correctly
* Separated the code for the 6512 cpu emulation from the 6502 code
* Made the memory read and write routines less generic, which helps speed up execution
* Fixed reading and writing to shadow memory in B+ mode. This allows the Level 9 adventures to work in text mode.

Added v1.02 of the Slogger Pegasus 400 DFS Rom

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:58:55 +0000

James Roberts provided a ROM Image of v1.02 of the Slogger Pegasus 400 DFS

BeebEm v3.11 released!

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:03:32 +0000

Mike Wyatt released v3.11 of BeebEm, which should fix the problems with random crashes and LED display.

Master Compact Welcome Disc added

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 01:00:59 +0000

Added the Welcome Disc for the BBC Master Compact to the Essentials page.

Xor for the Gameboy Advance

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:58:36 +0000

Mick Waites has released a version of Xor for the Gameboy Advance.

If you don't have a GBA, you can still run the game using an emulator such as VisualBoy Advance.

Search Facility added

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:38:25 +0000

Added a neat Search Facility, written by Paul Equinox Collins.

Abandoned Star Wars conversion now available

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:33:23 +0000

It's been nearly 20 years since A&B Computing ran a screenshot featuring a sumptuous-looking Star Wars conversion by Gary Partis ... a project sadly-abandoned when Domark released an "officially licensed" version.

But now thanks to Gary himself, we can all experience "what might have been" as the Star Wars entry in Lost & Found has been updated with a DFS Disc Image showing off the game's [very impressive!] engine.

B-Em v1.0 final released for OS X

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:27:42 +0000

A "final" version of the OS X port of B-Em v1.0 is now available from http://b-em.bbcmicro.com.

This has several bugfixes and improvements over the version that was announced a few days ago.

Solution for The Lost Crystal

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:23:05 +0000

Turns out that our solution for The Lost Crystal was incomplete, but there's no need to panic as Emily Shields has come to the rescue with a solution of her own (which begins where the original [Electron User] solution left off).

BeebEm v3.1 final released!

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:08:41 +0000

Mike Wyatt has released BeebEm v3.1 *final*.

Evident additions to Beta 5:

o Fixed disk initialisation in the 1770 controller when creating a new disk image
o Fixed disk formatting with the 1770 controller.