Acorn BBC Master (1986)

Features

CPU: 65C102 2 MHz.
RAM: 128 KB
ROM: 128 KB (Expandable)
Text Modes: 40/80 x 25 lines, 20/40/80 x 32, Teletex mode (40 x 25 x 8 colours)
Graphic Modes: 160/320/640 x 256 dots in 2 to 8 colours
Colors: 8 among 16
Sound: 4 channels, 8 octaves - SN76489 sound generator
I/O Ports: Tube expansion, BBC High Speed Bus, FDD interface, User interface, RS423 serial, Analog, Econet network, Parallel, tape recorder, TV/RF, RGB & Composite outputs
Keyboard: Full stroke 93 key with numeric keypad and 10 function keys
Built In Media: Cassette & FDD interfaces
OS: MOS
Built In Language: BBC BASIC IV interpreter
Peripherals: External FDD unit, processor card, etc.

Usage

MESS allows to use various devices for the bbcm:

a “cassette” (cass) device which supports tapes in .wav, .csw and .uef format
two floppy devices, “floppydisk1” (flop1) and “floppydisk2” (flop2), which support disks in .ssd, .bbc and .img format
four cartidge devices, “cartridge1” (cart1) to “cartridge4” (cart4), which support cart dumps in .rom format

Also notice that the “printer” (prin) is supported as well.

MESS supports BBC Master 128 emulation with a “cassette” (cass) device to read tapes in .wav, .csw and .uef format. You can run a tape image by launching MESS at the command line with the image specified:

mess bbcm -cass "C:\pathtogame\gamename.uef"

Change the keyboard emulation status to Partial, and then hold down 'r' to reset the CMOS as the driver starts. When the driver has finished booting, hit F3 to perform a soft-reset of the system which should drop you out at the BASIC prompt.

Once you are at the BASIC prompt, you can use this to run the next BASIC program on the cassette:

*TAPE
PAGE=&E00
CHAIN ""

or this to run the next assembled machine code program on the cassette:

*TAPE
PAGE=&E00
*RUN

A small number of titles may require loading in different ways so read the loading instructions in the software's documentation, where appropriate.

Discs

To use a disc image, run the BBC Master 128 driver with the disc image specified on the command line:

mess bbcm -floppydisk1 "C:\pathtodiscimage\imagename.ssd"

Type:

*DISC

to initialise the DFS (Disc Filing System) though this step can usually be omitted, as DFS is often the default filing system.

Type:

*CAT

to catalogue the disc.

Then programs can either be run individually - for BASIC:

CHAIN "basprog"

, for assembled machine code:

*RUN mcprog

or the disc itself can be booted - if it has a *SPOOLed boot file that can be EXECuted:

*EXEC !BOOT

or an assembled machine code boot file:

*RUN !BOOT

The !BOOT file would ordinarily allow the disc to be auto-booted, using a combination of the Shift-Break keys. Unfortunately, at the time of writing MESS does not appear to emulate the Break key, so the file must be run manually.

Keyboard

This system requires full keyboard emulation to work correctly. At startup, full keyboard emulation mode is enabled by default. Whilst in full keyboard emulation mode, some key associated functionality may be disabled (like the ESC key for EXIT). The keyboard emulation mode is toggled using the “Scroll Lock” key (by default).

Original Keyboard: Full stroke 93 key with numeric keypad and 10 function keys.

f0   f1   f2   f3   f4   f5   f6   f7   f8   f9      BREAK        Up           +   -   /    *


  ESCAPE   1!   2"   3#   4$   5%   6&   7'   8(   9)   0   -=   ^~   \|   Right   Left      7   8   9    #


     TAB     Q    W    E    R    T    Y    U    I    O    P    @    [{   £_    Down          4   5   6  DELETE

CAPS
 LOCK   CTRL    A    S    D    F    G    H    J    K    L    ;+   :*   ]}      RETURN        1   2   3    ,

 SHIFT
 LOCK    SHIFT     Z    X    C    V    B    N    M    ,<   .>   /?  SHIFT  DELETE  COPY      0   .   RETURN

                                    SPACEBAR

Notice that at the top left corner of the keyboard (above the ESCAPE key) there are three LEDs: “Power On”, “Caps Lock” and “Shift Lock”.

History and Trivia

The BBC Master was an enhanced version of the BBC Model B providing improved features, but sadly also introducing compatibility problems with earlier BBC systems.

These features were: loads more memory such as shadow, sideways and private RAM, 4 sound channels, twin cartridge sockets, as well as several built-in ROM software packages like View (word processor), ViewSheet (spreadsheet), ADFS (Advanced Filing System), a text editor and terminal utilities.

Like the Model B, the system had so many I/O ports that most of them had to be placed under the case. Luckily, they only used flat-cable connectors.

When it was released, the BBC Master met with great success. From 1986 to 1989, about 200,000 systems were sold, mainly to U.K. schools and universities. Several enhanced versions of the Master were launched in the following months

The Master 512 was a Master 128 with 512 KB of RAM and an internal 80186 processor. It could be upgraded up to 1024 KB and ran MS-DOS.
The Master Turbo was a Master 128 with a 65C02 as a second processor.

The BBC Master and Master Compact could be considered the most accomplished 8-bit “home” computers and among the last mass-produced 8-bit machines. Production ended in 1993. While developing and marketing the BBC Master, Acorn realized the PC world was moving on from 8-bit to 16-bit processors and started developing their own 32-bit chip, the Acorn RISC Machine, or ARM.

(info from old-computers.com)