BBC User Guide
The BBC Microcomputer User Guide is the user guide supplied with the original BBC Microcomputer Model A and Model B: written by John Coll, edited by David Allen, published by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1982 as part of the BBC Computer Literacy Project. ISBN 0 563 16558 8.[1]
The hosted PDF is a re-typeset, not a scan: the copyright page says it was remastered by dv8 in 2017 and gives "Fifth revision April 2023", with the latest revision on the Stardot forum.[1] Its numbered pages run to 523, and the PDF has 526 pages. It opens with Acorn's addendum slip 403,000 Addendum 1, dated 31 May 1983: on a machine with a disc, Econet or Teletext interface, type *TAPE before CHAIN "WELCOME", and for very long cassette programs also PAGE=&E00, because the disc and network filing systems take memory the cassette programs need.[2]
This is the Model B book. It has no shadow screen, no *SHADOW command and no 1770 disc controller; those are in the B+ edition, BBC B+ User Guide.
Contents
[edit | edit source]Page numbers are from the guide's contents list.[3]
- Introduction, p. 5
- Sections 1-32: getting going, BASIC programming, graphics, sound and file handling, pp. 7-196
- Reference section: BASIC keywords (section 33, p. 197), VDU drivers (p. 377), cassette files (p. 390), changing filing systems (p. 400), merging programs (p. 402), printers (p. 404), indirection operators (p. 409), HIMEM, LOMEM, TOP and PAGE (p. 414), operating system commands (p. 416),
*FXand OSBYTE calls (p. 418), assembly language (p. 442), analogue input and user input-output ports (p. 467), expanding the system (p. 471), error messages (p. 474), minimum abbreviations (p. 483) - Section 48, Appendix, p. 485, including character sets, planning sheets, keyboard codes, the hardware pages below, VDU code summary (p. 507), 6502 instruction set (p. 508), FX and operating system call summaries (pp. 510-512) and BASIC II keywords OPENUP and OSCLI (p. 513)
- Index
Hardware pages
[edit | edit source]| Pages | Content |
|---|---|
| 498 | Board layout with the main devices labelled |
| 499 | External connections, with the position of the 2 A fuse |
| 500-502 | Memory maps and memory map assignments |
| 503-506 | Partial circuit diagrams: the printer, user port and 1 MHz bus buffers (PL9-PL11, IC69-IC72), the video outputs (SK2, SK3), the RS423 interface (SK4), the analogue inputs (SK6), the 8271 disc interface, and the cassette interface with relay RL1 (SK5) |
Section 44 (p. 467) describes the analogue input and the eight-bit user port. The mains plug fuse is 3 A to BS1362.[3][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_User_Guide.pdf (1.6 MB)
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The BBC Microcomputer User Guide, written by John Coll, edited by David Allen (BBC, 1982), title page and copyright page (PDF pp. 3-4). Hosted as File:BBC_User_Guide.pdf.
- ↑ BBC Microcomputer User Guide, Addendum Slip (PDF p. 2).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 BBC Microcomputer User Guide, Contents, pp. 3-4 (PDF pp. 5-6).
- ↑ BBC Microcomputer User Guide, section 48, Appendix, pp. 498-506 (PDF pp. 500-508).