I have always been a faithful follower of Acorn, my first computer being an Atom (remember that?), then a Model B, and finally a Master Turbo. However, I have since moved over to the PC camp and ended up buying an AT compatible.

Now, like many people, I am faced with the problem of transferring data between the two computers. This is where BeebDos comes to our aid for it allows a PC to read and write to BBC formatted discs.

The minimum system requirement is an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible with at least 128 Kbytes of user memory and a 360 Kbyte floppy drive. This will allow you to read and write to double density 40 track DFS discs which were formatted with either the Acorn ADFS; Watford DDFS; Solidisk DDFS versions 1, 2, 2.1, or 2.2; UDM DDFS (Microware); Opus DDOS (Challenger); or Acorn 1770 DFS with an ACP DDFS ROM.

To read or write to Acorn SINGLE DENSITY formatted 40 track DFS discs you will need an AT or XT286 with a high capacity (1.2 Mbyte) floppy disc adaptor (FDA) and a 360 Kbyte floppy drive. On the 1.2 Mbyte drive you can also read or write to ADFS L' 'M', and double density 40 or 80 track discs.

If you have ever used a PC system you will know that there are many different combinations of hardware. Unfortunately some combinations of hardware may not be compatible with BeebDos. To see if BeebDos will work with your particular system a Test Pack is available from Microboss for £5.75 inc. VAT. It consists of a wallet containing the necessary instructions and some test software on disc. If the tests succeed, and you place an order for BeebDos within 30 days, you are entitled to a £5.75 discount. Unfortunately, if the test fails, you get no refund.

BeebDos comes supplied in a plastic wallet containing a 36 page A5 instruction manual and a 5.25" 360 Kbyte floppy disc. It consists of a number of separate utility programs which are invoked by typing their name at the DOS prompt. If you have IBM's Fixed Disc Organizer (FDO) or Microsoft Windows then data files are supplied for you to access the utilities through these front-end systems.

When the utilities are executed you are prompted for various pieces of information. For ease of use, especially once you have become accustomed to the command's syntax, parameters can be placed after a utility's name on the command line. This is particularly useful as it allows you to call the utilities from within a batch file (which would supply the parameters). In this way it is quite possible to automate the transfer procedure.

When BeebDos is first used it needs to be informed which BBC filing system was used to format the disc to be read or written to. This is necessary as the BeebDos routines bypass the BIOS (the PC's MOS) and use their own routines to handle disc I/O.

The main utility is BCOPY which copies files between PC and Beeb formatted discs, or vice versa. Wildcards can be specified to copy multiple files. When copying from Beeb format to PC discs you can specify what extension is to be used if any. Additionally, when copying from ADFS discs, filenames are truncated to their first eight characters.

When transferring text files, certain characters are not directly mapped between the two systems - the most noticeable being the "pound sign". A utility, BCONV, can be called upon to apply standard alterations to an IBM file. Details of the alterations are stored in a text file, whose name is supplied to BCONV along with the file to be converted. This utility is like using the global replace function in the Master's text editor EDIT. Several sample alteration files are supplied with the package.

Several other BeebDos utilities perform functions normally provided with the appropriate filing system on the Beeb. These are locking or unlocking a file (i.e. setting or clearing the L flag), renaming a file, backing up a disc, cataloguing a disc, compacting a disc, formatting a disc, renaming a file, setting the disc title and boot options, and deleting files (equivalent to *WIPE).

When working with ADFS discs you can create sub-directories, and select and enter a sub-directory. You can also obtain information on entries in the free space map and the amount of free disc space (equivalent to MAP and FREE).

The final utility provided is the most aesthetic of them all, for it allows BBC screens to be viewed on a PC. To use this facility your PC must be equipped with one of the following graphics adaptors: standard colour graphics (CGA); enhanced colour graphics (EGA); hercules monochrome graphics (HGC).

BBC screen dump files for modes 0, 1, 4, or 5 can be viewed. Various options allow the width, top-left x and y co-ordinates, and vertical compression to be altered to suit your display. Also, the screen can be saved in a format suitable for displaying with Basic's BLOAD command on the PC.

BeebDos makes transferring programs and data between the different filing systems simplicity itself. The ultimate test has to be this article which was written on my AT. The text was spooled out of my word processor, passed through BCONV to correct minor differences between the PC's and Beeb's character set (namely the pound sign), then transferred with BCOPY to an ADFS formatted disc, which was then sent to Beebug for editing and typesetting (but see editorial comment).

Although BeebDos initially seems complicated to use, once you have familiarised yourself with the commands you soon realise just how powerful and useful it is. It certainly gets top marks from me.

We can confirm this, and the original text was read into View for final editing. But do remember that although these utilities can transfer files between the two types of micro, it does not help you to use a file so transferred. 'Text only' (ASCII) files can normally be transported from one word processor to another with only small modifications. On the other hand, programs may well prove quite a problem, unless you are dealing with the source code for compiled languages such as C or Pascal in ASCII format, which may be altered in a text editor or similar. Basic programs may be converted to ASCII format, but there are many variations between different versions of this language.

Product: BeebDos v2.01
Supplier: Microboss Limited, 3 Hadleigh Road, Frinton-On-Sea, Essex CO13 9HG.
Price: £46.00