Date   : Fri, 03 Apr 1998 13:47:41 +1000
From   : David Smith <dcs@...>
Subject: First timer without a disk drive.

Greetings everyone,

This is my first email to this list - and what a great 
subject.

3 cheers for Robert Schmidt's awesome BBC Lives site!
And 3 cheers for Mark Usher's awesome efforts with the
BBCUG (plus other assorted manuals)!

I've had the opportunity of rescuing an old Beeb
from the scrapyard !! I hadn't seen one since I
was 16 in 1986.  [We had ours for four glorious years,
till my older brother sold it :-(  ]

[The problem]
Enough reminiscing.  I have a problem, that I'm wondering
if any of you might be able to help me with - you see this
machine never had a disk drive (...aaargh) and I'm not 
exactly sure what I need or if it is at all possible to
attach one.

Yesterday I programmed a 16K eprom with the Watford 1.44 DFS
image from the most-comprehensive "BBC Lives" ROM archive.

Plugged it in last night - result:
   - it displays the Watford 1.44 logo, 
     no cursor and the machine beeps long and hard.  

   Strangely, I can go "Caps+Break" (not "Ctrl") and the
   "Watford 1.44" line disappears and Basic comes up and I
   can type things in.  (Beeping stops too).
   Page is now correctly at &1900.  Weird - I don't ever 
   remember reading about a "Caps+Break" option.

   And typing 
   > *disc 
   causes the machine to hang, as if it's waiting for something.

A friend has let me have his 3.5" (MITSUMI) internal disk drive,
which I'll maybe try plug in tonight - however I'm beginning to
think I'm seriously deluded if I think its just going to work...

My question is - am I missing something important? 
Something so hard to get I may as well go back to 
using my trusty beeb emulator, hand back the 3.5" and just
buy myself a cassette recorder like it says in the user guide?

I'll understand if that's the case.

Cheers,

David.

Canon Information Systems Research Australia  Telephone: +61-2-9805-2845
1 Thomas Holt Drive, North Ryde, NSW 2113.          Fax: +61-2-9805-2929