Where does all the time go? When I sent my year's subscription, I said I would send you a disk. Before I could get to do it, EUG #41 drops through the letterbox! It must be something to do with the fact we had all the children and grandchildren over for Christmas. Absolute chaos reigned but we enjoyed it.
At last I can format my disks on my BBC so that my Elk, and anybody else, can read them. I have just got hold of an Acorn DFS chip to replace the Watford DDFS ROM I've been using for years. For some reason that I can't work out it would not format correctly for the AP3 interface on my Elk. On compatibility the AP3/4 DFS interface will not work with an Acorn Plus 3 disk drive fitted, but if you take the ADFS ROM out of the Acorn Plus 3 it will work ok in the spare ROM socket in the AP3/4 interface, so you can use both ADFS and DFS. It still moves PAGE to &1D00 though.
One of our sons returned home after his marriage broke up and as a result we had to dismantle our 'computer room'; my wife's computer, as it was too big. The Elks have been put away and my BBC lives in a makeshift bureau in the dining room. Some time later, I saw an ad in the local paper for an Acorn A3000 for cash or exchange for a computer desk.
The old chap who owned it needed to upgrade (?) to a PC for his Humanities course and wanted to be rid of it. I felt so guilty about exchanging it for my desk, I offered him some cash. All he would take was £10 and I got a very good bargain as he included a LC10 colour printer and a wide carriage printer as well.
Unfortunately, while having a play with the machine, I committed the first sin of computing: I deleted the whole of a disk before making a backup copy. Damn mice! It's too easy to get carried away pressing the buttons! Has anyone got a copy of RISC OS Applications Disk 2 for the A3000 that they could sell me?
I also answered an ad in Micromart for "1/3 Ton Of BBC Computer Gear Free Or Will Be Dumped". I was sceptical about the amount but when I got to see its advertiser, John Thorpe, his house is floor-to-ceiling computers. I came away with four boxes of software, books and ROMs. My Lyn was not amused. John still has some gear remaining. His phone number is 01634 832006 (Gillingham, Kent) so phone about lunch time if interested.
On going through the software and books, I found out that his son Andy Thorpe either worked for, or was a consultant to, Slogger while they were in Gillingham. John, like myself, is a steam engine nutter but nonetheless still a very interesting person.
Re: Richard Dimond's letter in EUG #41 on disk drive cables, you can buy all the necessary parts from Maplin and make them up yourself. i.e. ribbon cable and IDC connectors. Unfortunately my catalogue is out of date so I can't give stock numbers or prices.
Mick Comley
Great bargain on the A3000. Sorry to hear about the disk though.
1st February 1999