BBC Alive
Technical Help
Click on one of the links below for a solution to the problem. You will find
links at the bottom of each page which may lead to further queries on particular
topics. Please note that I am working on a more structured approach so that
groups of queries under a similar heading will appear on topic pages (eg ROMS,
Disks etc). Queries on this page will be moved as part of this work. You may
therefore find some pages "reserved for future use" or incomplete.
Information will be added to them with future updates. I hope it is not too
annoying or confusing, but when finished you should be able to find what you
want more easily.
No responsibility is taken for loss or damage caused by using the solutions
on these pages. They are provided as is and in good faith. Use at your own risk.
Help with disks If you have a disk
or disk drive query please follow this link.
Is it possible to connect another keyboard?
Can the user port be used for input and
output?
Rather stange ROM error message: This is not a
language silly!
I can't seem to use more than 1 ROM with my ROM box
On switching on I get a continuous tone and the machine
is disabled
Devices on my user port don't work properly
My tape system's not working. Can I fix it to
transfer tapes to disk?
Q. My keyboard response is very poor. Is
it possible to connect a higher quality keyboard - preferably freestanding? Are
most keyboards compatible?
A. A replacement is not a good idea as there is no
standard for wiring them up. Get a keyboard that produces ASCII output and plug
this into the RS423 port. You can then use *FX7 to set the correct baud rate
followed by *FX2,1 to switch to the new keyboard. *FX2,0 will switch back again.
Q. Is it possible to connect the
Watford Speech Synthesiser and the Quest Mouse to the user port simultaneously
(one for output, one for input)?
A. No, you can't connect both at once as the user
port can act as inout or output but not both at the same time.
Q. When I pressed CONTROL+BREAK on a BBC B whilst
in Viewsheet the machine froze put put up the Viewsheet message. I swapped
Viewsheet with the Watford Electronics Speech Synthesiser Support ROM to check
the socket. On pressing CONTROL+BREAK I got:
BBC Computer 32k
Watford Electronics DDFS 1.52
SPEECH SUPPORT SOFTWARE (MP83)
THIS AIN'T
A LANGUAGE SILLY!
Oscom->
I then tried it on the Master and got:
Acorn MOS
Acorn
DFS
This is not a language
*
What has happened?
A. Error messages are usually looked after by the
operating system - unless intercepted by a ROM. However, in this case it's a
little different. Although the speech synth ROM is not a language it has an
appropriate entry point. The Model B uses this anyway. The synth gives you that
slightly humorous message and then gives you access to the command line. The
Master, on the other hand, is more sophisticated and having observed that the
ROM is not a language (using a special code byte) reports the fact and then
enters its own command line interface.
Q. I have a ROM box which plugs into the "ashtray"
on my B. To get Wordwise working I have to turn a knob until the LED next to it
lights up and then type the necessary command. I've tried to use SpellMaster at
the same time but when I press CONTROL+F8 (which is supposed to display the
dictionary) it just goes beserk.
A. It won't work because the way the ROM box
operates you can only have one ROM active in it at a time. You could replace
your box with a ROM board or plug Wordwise into a spare ROM socket. You should
never change the current ROM while the computer is switched on otherwise it will
become confused. Whenever you turn it on or perform a CONTROL/BREAK the
operating system asks each ROM it sees to initialise itself. By changing the
active ROM which has been initailised to one that hasn't your micro gets mixed
up.
Q. On switching on the machine is disabled and I
just get a single continuous tone. The screen shows flashing lines or is blank
and the Caps Lock light is on. As far as I know the machine is in good general
order.
A. It sounds like your machine is broken. However,
common causes of malfunctioning like this are bad connections to the keyboard,
faulty connections - possibly cause by a bad socket - on the CPU ROM or memory
or a faulty chip - virtually any one that connects to the data bus. You can try
pushing down all the chips. Also, remove, check and refit the keyboard cable. If
this doesn't help it should be looked at with specialist equipment.
I have a DDFS and mouse with my BBC Micro but this
has stopped working properly. Also, a homemade interface which also connects to
the user port has also stopped operating as it should. I checked for bad
connections or cracked tracks but could not find any. I suspect the user VIA
(IC69) is somehow broken. Can you help?
A simple way to test the user VIA is to swap it. The
BBC micro has two 6522 VIAs. One handles the user and printer ports and the
other deals with the system components such as the sound chip, joystick and
keyboard. This other VIA is IC3 next to the cable that attaches the keyboard. If
the user VIA is faulty the micro may not work at all as it can work without the
user VIA but not the system one.
I'd like to transfer some old material from
tape to disk, but as the tape system isn't working I was wondering of there was
anything inside the computer I can swap over to get files onto disk. Both the
cassette deck and cables have been checked.
The chip to look at is located just beside the tape
input socket. It's an LM324 quad op amp. It's probably soldered in and quite a
job to replace. You must cut out the old chip using side-cutters and the
unsolder each chip leg separately. You can then solder in a new socket and
replace the chip. However, extracting an old chip does call for some skill if
you are not to mess up the circuit board. It might be worth finding a machine to
borrow - perhaps from a local school.
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