BBC B+ User Guide
The BBC Microcomputer System User Guide for the Model B+ is Acorn's edition of the BBC Micro user guide: part number 0433 000, issue 1, October 1984. The title page credits the original edition to John Coll, edited by David Allen, with "amendments and corrections to this edition by Acorn Computers Limited"; the copyright page gives "First published 1984" by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the back cover carries Acorn's Fulbourn Road, Cambridge address.[1]
The hosted PDF is a re-typeset, not a scan. Its title page reads "Fourth revision April 2023", and the copyright page says it was remastered by dv8 in 2017, with the latest revision on the Stardot forum.[1] Its numbered pages run to 513, and the PDF has 528 pages including the covers.
The guide's own note says that with an operating system earlier than version 2.00, chapter 42 and other references to the shadow screen should be ignored, and chapter 49 too unless BASIC II is fitted; otherwise it applies to earlier BBC Micros as well.[1]
How it differs from the Model B guide
[edit | edit source]This edition has a chapter on the shadow screen (chapter 42, p. 387) and documents the *SHADOW command; its command list includes *ADFS, and its memory map assignments list the 1770 floppy disc controller. The Model B book, BBC User Guide, has none of these.[2] The board layout and circuit appendices show the B+ board, so their IC and resistor numbers differ from the Model B's.[3]
Contents
[edit | edit source]Page numbers are from the guide's contents list.[4]
- Introduction, p. 1
- Chapters 1-32: getting started, BASIC programming, graphics, sound and file handling, pp. 3-169
- Reference section: BASIC keywords (chapter 33, p. 170), VDU drivers (p. 347), cassette files (p. 360), filing systems (p. 370), printers (p. 373), indirection operators (p. 378), HIMEM, LOMEM, TOP and PAGE (p. 383), operating system statements (p. 385), the shadow screen (p. 387),
*FXand OSBYTE calls (p. 389), assembly language (p. 428), operating system calls (p. 442), analogue input and the user port (p. 459), error messages (p. 462), minimum abbreviations (p. 473), BASIC II (p. 475) - Appendices A-O, pp. 478-506, and index, p. 507
Hardware appendices
[edit | edit source]| Appendix | Pages | Content |
|---|---|---|
| G | 490 | Board layout with the main devices labelled, including the 6512A processor, 6845, 6522s, 6850 ACIA, 7002 ADC, the eight DRAMs and five 28-pin ROM sockets |
| H | 491 | Rear connectors with pin functions (RGB, RS423, cassette, analogue in, Econet) and the position of the 2 A fuse |
| I | 492 | Connectors underneath: Tube (40-way), 1 MHz bus (34-way), user port (20-way), printer (26-way) and disc (34-way), with pin 1 marked |
| J | 493-495 | Memory map and memory map assignments |
| K | 496-500 | Partial circuit diagrams of the printer, user port and 1 MHz bus buffers (PL9-PL12, IC5, IC6, IC10-IC14), the RGB and video outputs (SK2), RS423 (SK4), the analogue port (SK6) and the cassette interface with relay RL1 (SK5) |
The mains plug fuse is 3 A to BS1362.[1]
What this guide does not contain
[edit | edit source]There is no full circuit diagram, parts list, component values, test points or fault-finding procedure. For those, see Acorn's BBC Microcomputer Service Manual October 1985.
Pages that cite this document
[edit | edit source]
Download: BBC_B+_User_Guide.pdf (2.2 MB)
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 BBC Microcomputer System User Guide (Model B+ edition), part no. 0433 000, issue 1, October 1984, title page, copyright page and back cover (PDF pp. 3-5 and 528). Hosted as File:BBC_B+_User_Guide.pdf.
- ↑ BBC Microcomputer System User Guide (B+), chapter 41, Operating system statements, and chapter 42, The shadow screen, pp. 385-388; Appendix J, Memory map assignments, pp. 493-495.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 BBC Microcomputer System User Guide (B+), Appendices G to K, pp. 490-500 (PDF pp. 504-514).
- ↑ BBC Microcomputer System User Guide (B+), Contents (PDF pp. 6-14).