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You can still get unused 8-inch floppies on eBay, Mate. Better hurry whilst stocks last!

Here's some more good stuff (that I came across by accident) which may be of interest to any retro-computer geeks out there. Such splendid people will probably already be aware that Richard Russell (RTR) was (is) famous for his BBC BASIC for the Z-80 processor. His name continues to crop up continually in BBC Micro "circles" (together with one or two other genius guys)!

Cool!
On the subject of the BBC Micro and the Rom programs (I used to have quite a library!) I have always wondered why Microsoft has never put their operating system on to Rom! I once read that hard drives where faster but that was way back! Also the basic kernel of XP is relatively small! Just an idea but as you all know I’m as mad as a hatter!

Ed

How could a disk drive ever be faster than RAM or ROM, Eddie? Have you ever loaded a BASIC from disk quicker than the *BASIC command (from ROM)? No way, Mate. The now familiar PC "booting-up" (from disk) is all about selling software, and nothing to do with speed or efficiency.

Why not have a go at burning XP into ROM (but what would you run it on)?

The BBC Micro was a clever design, and one that should have been taken further (that is, beyond the Master and up to more recent times). I believe that the grand BBC Micro project fizzled out when (for some perverse reason) the BBC started getting rid of its engineering and R&D facilities (and genius guys like RTR) so it could start paying moronic newsreaders and foul-mouthed "presenters" million £££ salaries. In a way, it just about sums up the state of play in Modern Britain!

Eddie,
I think you have hit the nail on the head when you said Micro$oft.
1. ROMs are easy to copy and burn.
2. How many Gb ROMS do you know of that could hold their Bloatware?
3. And most importantly to MS: With it built in to the computer you would not upgrade it to the latest version.
4. And most importantly to us: You could not load all the security patches.

I remeber when 1k of RAM and Rom was all the memory you needed, now we have 1Tb Hard Drives at about the same price as a 1K RAM upgrade.
Robert

But the good news is that BBC Micro's and the like, costing around £ 400 back in 1983 (what would that be now?) now change hands for around £ 20 to £ 30. Still perfectly adequate for word processing and the like. How many do you want?

PS: there is an unused BBC Model B (still in original packing etc.) currently on eBay that looks like it might reach £ 200 ... but that is a rare, collector's item (I would love to own it, but needless to say, I won't be bidding)!

PPS: I'm still looking for the Inter-Base ROM from Computer Concepts. You could "flick" from Inter-Word to Inter-Chart to Inter-Base to Inter-Sheet (all in ROM) and "cut and paste" between them. Gonzo fast task switching (as in instant), plus a spell-checker in sideways RAM ... all on a 32 K 6502 8-bit machine. To my mind that's better than what I'm using right now (MS Office "suite", and all the rest).

PPPS: Also looking for C in a ROM for the BBC Micro (and other 6502 machines). Does such a beautiful thing exist at all, I wonder?

Hi, sorry I was tired when I posted that, forget ROM I meant to say Embedded Firmware ! We have some Lab equipment that runs on XP Embedded firmware. Just like a BIOS chip it is upgradable! I also have a music studio that runs off Embedded firmware; Its like sH&T off a shovel!

Still mad!

Eddie

Sorry Mate, that link didn't do much for me ... my Baboon Speak filter (in shadow RAM, naturally) didn't make it passed the title!

Tired? ... take a nice strong cup of tea. No milk, but sugar if you really need a boost!

Isn't "embedded firmware" just what we've been talking about? That is, ROM-based software? Benefits ... Gonzo-like speed!

Meanwhile, a good (but extremely sad) friend of mine needs a Jupiter Ace in order to complete his collection, and to sit in pride of place amongst his ZX80's, Electrons, C-64's et al.

Does anyone know where one may be found?

You will, of course, note that this neat little machine is especially interesting as it used FORTH, rather than the (far) more common BASIC.

I've recently got my hands on various versions (evolutions) of the Acorn Archimedes. As it was introduced in 1987, I had missed all this in my previous life (as I was overseas throughout much of that era ... where PC clones ruled the roost). But what brilliant kit! As well as retaining the legacy of the BBC Micro, it had the RiscOS (originally known as Arthur ... and why not?), sturdy case, and a WIMP interface which came up instantly (being in ROM). Expansion possibilities were open and endless. In fact, I would say it was an elegant design in every way. Just imagine if PC's had been like this ... where would we all be now?

I understand that the Archie was popular in schools ... so perhaps some of you out there also have fond memories of this fine piece of kit?

Of course, being an British company coming up with innovative designs, Acorn couldn't be permitted to flourish and survive, and faded away in the late '90's (I wonder what all those "genius guys" are doing now?). Towards the end they were reduced to re-badging Olivetti PC clones. How sad (and shades of Cardiac Recorders re-badging Italian ECG recorders).