Sam Hardware
Hi every one, I had a phone call this evening from a friend who has a shed (actually I think it's a shipping container) containing a large amount of Sam spares. This all has to go. Rather than take it down to the tip or re-cycling centre he would rather give it to someone who can make use of it. I know he has NO keyboards and NO power supplies but various small parts resistors, caps, coils, chips, connectors, bare boards etc. Most of it he will give away for the cost of postage. There are some "high value" parts (sound chips, disk controllers and the like) that you can haggle over. If any one here has a wish list let us know and I'll put you in touch. Nev Young.
Re: Essential Sam Goodies
On 12/04/12 18:31, Stefan Drissen wrote: What?! You consider a few friend requests DOS? ;-) HAhahahha! ;-) I'm hoping it's just co-incidence but I started getting hit with about 1,000 page requests per min a couple of days ago. Constantly cycling through all pages on the site (I have > 2Gb of photographs). As I run the site from home I can only serve about 100 pages per min due mainly to the upload speed on my broadband connection. The poor old PC just couldn't cope so I took the site down to let the CPUs cool off! All the other websites I host on the same PC are fine. It may be a good time for me to upgrade the site to the html5 standard and do some general tidying up. Nev
Re: Yet more junk mail
reply sent off list. On 12/04/12 15:46, James R Curry wrote: Would it help if I turned my filters off and started collecting mail myself? Though I'll warn you, I'm not likely to fly from the USA to appear in court. -- James R Curry On Apr 12, 2012, at 4:31 AM, nev young wrote: Sometimes it feels like it's already gone on forever. I got the WAYN invite and also 4 invites to boxbe to different addresses that he has for me. I am thoroughly sick to death of this guy and as a result I have contacted solicitors to start proceedings for harassment against him. Now I have the tedious task of receiving and storing all of his crap to produce as evidence in court. I really would rather not have to do this. Nev On 11/04/12 23:35, James R Curry wrote: Interesting note: Balor followed me on Twitter. Roger followed me the very next day. Could be a coincidence and he could just be moving down the list, but the email address that I use for that service is not the same one I use on this list.. I got the spam filter spam today like the rest of you. I don't know what else he's sent as everything from his Gmail account is filtered to the trash. The only reason that came through is that it uses the service provider's From address. -- James R Curry On Apr 11, 2012, at 5:14 PM, "toberm...@cookingcircle.co.uk Yes messages today and still more coming in right now. Behold... Okay so my real genuine opinion is that he may be autistic. And as such I'm just going to block everything that comes along. I'm not even considering educating him or having an argument. Cheer up chaps it can't go on forever. I hope.
Re: Essential Sam Goodies
Oh I forgot to mention that I normally host all the issues of Format magazine for Sam and Spectrum on my website. nevilley.org.uk. That's 11 years worth or over 2000 pages of hints, tips, reviews, programs, etc. Even a couple of things I wrote myself. Unfortunately I have had to take it off line for a while because of a DOS attack. I hope to have it back soon. Nev On 12/04/12 13:06, nev young wrote: Welcome Graeme, I'm glad you have managed to get the object of your youthful dreams and hope that it provides you with the hours of enjoyment and satisfaction that it has brought to many of us here. Also thanks for changing the current (off)topic of recent posts. Nev On 12/04/12 11:19, Graeme Gregory wrote: Ok, to change the topic from current discussion lately ;-) I am a newbie to the Sam world, I bought a machine on ebay as a whim and to reach one of my childhood dreams of owning one. As a kid I could not afford one and by the time I had $$$ Sam had dissapeared and it was time for Uni. So I now have this lovely Sam Coupe with 1.5 working drives and 512K of memory. What games/demos/widgets should I be getting for it. Would be good to give this machine as much love as my collection of spectrums and zx81 get!
Re: Essential Sam Goodies
Welcome Graeme, I'm glad you have managed to get the object of your youthful dreams and hope that it provides you with the hours of enjoyment and satisfaction that it has brought to many of us here. Also thanks for changing the current (off)topic of recent posts. Nev On 12/04/12 11:19, Graeme Gregory wrote: Ok, to change the topic from current discussion lately ;-) I am a newbie to the Sam world, I bought a machine on ebay as a whim and to reach one of my childhood dreams of owning one. As a kid I could not afford one and by the time I had $$$ Sam had dissapeared and it was time for Uni. So I now have this lovely Sam Coupe with 1.5 working drives and 512K of memory. What games/demos/widgets should I be getting for it. Would be good to give this machine as much love as my collection of spectrums and zx81 get!
Re: Yet more junk mail
Sometimes it feels like it's already gone on forever. I got the WAYN invite and also 4 invites to boxbe to different addresses that he has for me. I am thoroughly sick to death of this guy and as a result I have contacted solicitors to start proceedings for harassment against him. Now I have the tedious task of receiving and storing all of his crap to produce as evidence in court. I really would rather not have to do this. Nev On 11/04/12 23:35, James R Curry wrote: Interesting note: Balor followed me on Twitter. Roger followed me the very next day. Could be a coincidence and he could just be moving down the list, but the email address that I use for that service is not the same one I use on this list.. I got the spam filter spam today like the rest of you. I don't know what else he's sent as everything from his Gmail account is filtered to the trash. The only reason that came through is that it uses the service provider's From address. -- James R Curry On Apr 11, 2012, at 5:14 PM, "toberm...@cookingcircle.co.uk Yes messages today and still more coming in right now. Behold... Okay so my real genuine opinion is that he may be autistic. And as such I'm just going to block everything that comes along. I'm not even considering educating him or having an argument. Cheer up chaps it can't go on forever. I hope.
Re: Junk mail
On 06/04/12 21:16, Tommo H wrote: I received five emails this morning, at least two of them to the same long list of people as those that started this conversation. For the record, I've never considered him to be a troll because he doesn't seem deliberately to be trying to annoy anyone, and his messages aren't deliberately provocative so much as just a little confusing. Do you want to hear my 4 year tale of woe of being harassed and stalked across the internet by this crazy person? I can assure you, if he's not trying to annoy or be provocative he does a damn good imitation of it. I've had an internet presence since 1995 and in all that time only one person has moved me to make a permanent kill file entry. Well actually I need several as he harasses me over several different mail servers. Nev
Re: Junk mail
On 05/04/12 11:06, Adrian Brown wrote: Ive got a nice rule that moves all messages to the bin ;) -Original Message- From: owner-sam-us...@nvg.ntnu.no [mailto:owner-sam-us...@nvg.ntnu.no] On Behalf Of Simon Owen Sent: 05 April 2012 00:31 To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no Subject: Re: Junk mail On 4 Apr 2012, at 23:54, Andrew Collier wrote: I fear it might be some kind of attempt at reprisal for me blocking his worldofsam account due to his spamming and abusing other users, so apologies to anyone who is getting affected by the crossfire. I've received the same e-mail with 157 attachments at least 7 times over the last year or so. He's got a growing list of victims too, and I counted 90 addresses in the latest assault. I've tried reasoning with him, GMail abuse reports, and simply ignoring him. Nothing works, and the junk keeps coming. I suppose we could club together and pay for a lawyer or a hit man. Getting him six months inside or six feet underground would make me happy. Nev
Re: Junk mail
On 04/04/12 23:54, Andrew Collier wrote: On 4 Apr 2012, at 23:39, da...@properbastard.co.uk wrote: Was it just me who was sent a huge number of un-requested files? I've added the sender to my email blacklist. No, I got that as well (plus some personalised vituperation). I fear it might be some kind of attempt at reprisal for me blocking his worldofsam account due to his spamming and abusing other users, so apologies to anyone who is getting affected by the crossfire. You too eh? As I've got him quite well blacklisted for email he decided to try spamming me via my web site. Just knowing that a sickko like him has been looking round my web pages makes my skin crawl. I have a page to report things like broken links, wrong info, copyright infringement, spelling/grammar errors, etc. So while he's reading back issues of Format he used that contact page to ask about how the serial interface does something or other. I replied in the same terms as "Arkell v. Pressdram (1971)" I've (tried) to block him from visiting my website. If it works he should get re-directed to a hard core porn site. Might give him something more productive to do with his right hand. Nev
Re: Junk mail
On 04/04/12 23:39, da...@properbastard.co.uk wrote: Was it just me who was sent a huge number of un-requested files? I've added the sender to my email blacklist. * WOOT * My R* J* spam filter works! I got nothing at all :-) Nev
Re: Coming back to haunt
On 15/02/12 16:29, Dave wrote: OK, I put a few names I remembered on as annotations. Yeah, the stalls were usually in the same places. I attended the first, the second and fourth and I think that the camera went each time. I'll try and find the other tapes sometime. Oh, the memories. Really enjoyed it (apart from the 5 secs when my 2nd ex wife was in shot at 11.07) Nev
Re: Floppy drive problem
There was a hardware "fix" that with the addition of a small PCB let you use a standard PC floppy. You may be able to get hold of one of them. see this article in Format http://nevilley.no-ip.org/nfy53/sam/f_issue.php?issue=080509 -- nev On 19/01/12 18:01, Thomas Seifert wrote: the original MGT SAM Coupe diskdrives are from Citizen, they are indeed a bit different than PC drives. One possible way is to get a replacement drivebelt, or buy a replacement diskdrive, both can be ordered from Quazar: http://www.samcoupe.com/ The original drives will probably be only be able to get in used, if at all. Thomas *Von:* Aleš Keprt *An:* sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no *Gesendet:* 18:37 Donnerstag, 19.Januar 2012 *Betreff:* Floppy drive problem So after a renewed the power supply, I found a problem with floppy drive. There is a rubber which connects the engine to the centre of the disk to let it spin. Simply said: The rubber is aged, it needs to be either replaced, or the whole drive needs to be replaced. But as I can see the connector of the floppy drive is not the same as the connector on the PC drive. I understand that Sam Coupe’s drive has its own controller, but even the rest isn’t the same. I wonder where had MGT got the original Citizen drives from? They definitely aren’t PC drives. Any suggestions? (Please don’t tell me about compact flash now. ;-)) /--- Aley
Re: Power supply circuit diagram
On 15/01/12 10:52, Aley Keprt wrote: Colin, thank you very much!!! Also I always wondered why there is a zener diode (I never saw this kind of computer power supply) instead of IO 7812. It's a cheap and nasty way of getting 12v. And technically, why there is that R1 resistor? Is its purpose to limit maximum current on 12V line (i.e. something like a cheap reversible fuse)? The voltage coming of the transformer is nominally somewhere like 18v. To get it down to 12v all the current is put through the 33ohm resistor which has the 12 zener tied between the other side and ground. The 12v supply (drawn from memory) is: (excuse the poor ascii graphics.) 18v--\/\/\/\/\--12v-- | 33ohm| |¬ === /\ 12v zener | 4700uF-- || -0v-- So under no load there is a drop of 6V across the 33ohm resistor which gives a current of 0.18A which is just over 1W to be dissipated as heat. This also means the zener has to lose over 2W of heat as well. As the load from sam increases, by running two disk drives for example, more of the current goes through sam and takes the load off the zener but the resistor still has to burn off the excess voltage. The problem with this type of regulation is the resistor has to have a small enough resistance to let enough current through under max load conditions and heavy enough to dissipate the heat. If you're not using all of the 0.18A available, e.g. you only have one floppy drive, then you can increase the 33ohm resistor which will still drop the excess volts but draw a smaller current, and so be cooler. These days, of course, a 7812 would more than likely be cheaper than a big resistor :-) Nev
Re: Resistor R55
On 03/10/11 23:40, Andrew Collier wrote:
On 3 Oct 2011, at 16:22, Thomas Harte wrote:
It looks like a previous owner of my current SAM has had occasion
to replace resistor R55, or at least, to solder an additional copy
of R55 on top of the existing one. See
http://postimage.org/image/1g4kbz490/
Immediate follow-on questions, mostly resulting from me being an
electrical dunce, are: what does R55 do, what would be the likely
effect if it was a bit dodgy and is it really okay just to solder
an extra resistor on top of an existing one?
According to the schematics in the tech manual, R55 is doing
something to do with the MIC tape interface, and should be a 100kΩ
resistor - which if I'm reading the photo correctly (the colour bands
look {brown, black, yellow, gold}) is exactly what it is.
Two of them wired in parallel are equivalent to a single resistor of
50kΩ (assuming they both work) though I'm not certain what the
implication of that is for the rest of the circuit.
R55 and C28 form a feedback circuit that should "square up" the audio
signal coming from the tape cassette. Reducing R55 from 100K to 50K, by
putting two in parallel, will increase the amount of feedback.
The Bright signal is generated by the ASIC and appears on pin 18 (If I
read my diagram correctly). It then goes to R65, R69 and R73 (all 36K
[orange, blue, orange stripes]) to drive each of the colour driver
transistors M3(green), M4(red) and M5(blue) (3x BC547).
If you have lost bright on one colour look at the corresponding resistor
and PCB connections. If the transistor has blown you would lose that
colour completely. If you have no bright on any colour then check the
output of the ASIC and the PCB connections from there to the 3 resistors
for cracks, dry joints, broken through plating etc.
If there is no signal coming out of the ASIC then get used to a dull
life. :-(
Nev
Re: Accessing Sam formatted disks through a USB floppy drive
On 22/07/11 15:38, Dicky Moore wrote: Hey all Has anyone had any luck in copying Sam-formatted floppy disks to .dsk or .mgt images using a USB floppy drive? Very little hope of doing that. All the programs I've seen, or written myself, need to access the floppy disk controller which you usually can not do through usb. If your PC has a floppy controller I would suggest connecting a floppy drive directly to that, (possibly hanging out of the side and balanced on a pile of books) to do the copy. Then put your machine back together again. If you really want to use the usb floppy drive then if you're feeling very strong hearted you might try running a linux system and using the dd utility. Something like: dd noerror if=/dev/fda of=~/image.txt Tell it to ignore errors, as on a 1.44Mb disk it will expect 18** sectors per track. So the last 8 will error. I've never tried this so can not vouch for if it would work. Even if it does you'll have to play about with the image to make it usable. ** I think a 1.44Mb disk has 2 sides of 80 tracks with 18 sectors of 512 bytes but I may be wrong. Nev
Re: keyboard membrane replacement
On 06/06/11 15:21, Rich Mellor wrote: Hi Warren, If we can sort out the problem, then yes, I intend sending out replacements free of charge to those who have bought them and not returned them for a refund. Well said Rich. I remember doing the same "free" exchange when I cocked up UniDOS for the disciple and +D and also the hardware for the sam hard drive (HDOS). Both ended up costing me more than I made but at least I could sleep at night knowing I was (had) done the most honourable thing. Your comment above has left me with a nice warm feeling. -- Nev
who wants some then ?
I notice from my web logs that somebody was trying to get the Games Master manual pdf from my site on the 31st. 188.65.183.51 - - [31/May/2011:01:53:27 +0100] My site is set up to disallow external links to images and pdfs so the request failed. Hope you enjoyed looking at the stone circles instead. If you still want the pdf reveal yourself and I'll send it to you. -- Nev
Re: Sam Coupe Testing
On 31/05/11 16:40, Rich Mellor wrote: I just need to pick your brains if you don't mind (and maybe your spares pile)... I have replaced the TV lead from inside the power unit, and I get a picture on my TV. However, if the TV is tuned in properly - I get a black and white picture, otherwise the start up screen is very blue. Is there anything I can do - I had to remove the ROM and memory chips and reseat them to get even an ounce of colour on screen, but it may just be the TV needs tuning. It has been a long time but if I remember correctly the TV signal was always very dodgy. First the lead from the power plug on the Sam to the PSU wasn't screened so the signal could be too poor to carry the colour part. I often used to shorten the power lead to about 18 inches to overcome this. The other frequent problem I recall was on the Sam main board. On the left hand side (see attached image) C43 and L1 used to cause loss of colour. C43 needs to be the blue component, not the brown one, and L1 should not be in a metal can. Don't even think about trying to change these if you're not fully equiped with years of soldering experience and a good temperature controlled soldering iron. The Sam PCB will lift tracks and be destroyed more easily than almost any other! And anyway I can't think where you would get spares from. The best solution is and always has been, to use the scart lead. There were two SCART leads with the computer, but neither seem to give an output. I seem to recall reading that the SCART is very different to normal. The sam scart lead only goes one way. That is there is a Sam end and a TV end. Put it the wrong way and it won't work. If you need to check your leads then the tech manual gives the pin connections but not the cable details. I think it goes like this (but no guarantee that I'm right) signal sam TV signal Audio Right Out 01 02 Audio Right In SPEN 02 NC Audio Right Out Audio Left Out 03 06 Audio Left In Audio Ground 04 04 Audio Ground Blue Ground 05 05 Blue Ground Blue TTL Out 06 NC Audio Left Out Blue 07 07 Blue analogue Red TTL Out 08 NC 4:3 / 16:9 Green Ground 09 09 Green Ground Green TTL Out10 NC not used Green11 11 Green analogue +5V In 12 NC not used Red Ground 13 13 Red Ground CSync Ground 14 14 Fast Blanking ground Red 15 15 Red analogue CSync16 16 Fast Blanking C.VID Ground 17 18 Video in Ground +12V In 18 NC Video Out Ground C.Vid Out19 20 Video In Bright TTL 20 NC Video Out Ground 21 21 Ground NC = No Connection / not used Hope this is of some help Nev
Re: Sam Coupe Testing
On 02/06/11 17:27, Thomas Harte wrote: Sorry, I don't know most of the answers and am probably not about to be entirely helpful but since there don't seem to have been any other answers... Did any one see the reply I posted to this yesterday ? If not I'll try re-sending it. -- nev
Re: OT CP/M + Locoscript
On 09/08/10 17:31, Simon Owen wrote: Hi Nev, If it's not too many disks I'll offer my services to dump them for you. I've got a 3" drive with a PC adapter and SAMdisk will dump them to a suitable format. Or you're welcome to borrow my hardware and do it yourself, depending on how sensitive the contents of the disks are. The output images can then be used in a Spectrum emulator or with Pro-Dos in SimCoupe, or just written back to a 3.5" disks if that's of any more use. Hi Si, That sounds like a superb offer. I'll pass that along to Rusty (my mate) right away. nev
Re: OT CP/M + Locoscript
Hi Steve, Thanks for the follow-up. Unfortunately, he has had some setbacks and hasn't been able to get back to me yet with any disks to try it out yet. As I start a new job, away from home, on the 16th it looks like this may get kicked into limbo until next year. We don't believe in rushing stuff here in Norfolk :-) Meanwhile I'm searching through all my back issues of Format to find the details of "the fixer" so I can connect one of my Plus-D to a Spectrum +3 to transfer data from 3" to 3.5" disks. I really must learn not to offer to do favours. Nev On 05/08/10 20:47, Steve Parry-Thomas wrote: How did your mate get on Nev? Did he get his data/disk images ?
OT CP/M + Locoscript
Somewhat off topic I know. A mate of mine has a number of 3" disks containing documents created by Locoscript on a CP/M machine. He can copy these to CP/M 3.5" (720K) floppies but then needs (wants) to transfer them to a PC. Probably running Linux but widows is not out of the question. As the last CP/M machine I used was an ICL Quattro in the 1980s I'm a bit out of touch with what's out there. So he's looking for something that will: a) read a CP/M disk on PC hardware. b) convert the Locoscript document into something usable. I've found a few things on the web but a personal recommendation would be welcomed. Are there any suggestions from the group? Thanks. nev
Re: GamesMaster Manual
The bad news is I've found a "proper" games master manual and scanned that in now. (see my reply to Frode for location) nev On 23/07/10 08:18, war...@wdlee.co.uk wrote: Thanks Nev! That's superb! :-D Much appreciated! If/When I find my original manual, I was going to offer to scan it if there wasn't a PDF by then, but this means I can get going on something I have planned now! ;-)
Re: GamesMaster Manual
On 22/07/10 19:50, Frode Tennebø wrote: On Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:59:01 +0200, nev young wrote: Do you know of any other docs that need scanning in? If I have them I can scan them as well. Well, anything not already archived at ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sam-coupe/docs/ would be appreciated. I've had a happy day today scanning lots of my sam & spectrum manuals. have a look in http://nevilley.no-ip.org/nfy53/sam/ I'm afraid I don't run a ftp server so if you want any you'll have to use a http get. (right click on the filename and use "save as" for the odd one) -- nev
Re: GamesMaster Manual
On 22/07/10 18:26, Frode Tennebø wrote: On Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:15:57 +0200, nev young wrote: Hope you don't mind it being mirrored at: ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sam-coupe/docs/manuals/software/Games_Master.pdf Well, it's not really my work. I just scanned it. I haven't asked Andy if he minds but I'll take a chance on it being OK. Do you know of any other docs that need scanning in? If I have them I can scan them as well. -- nev
Re: GamesMaster Manual
On 20/07/10 11:29, war...@wdlee.co.uk wrote: Hey all! Been a long time since I did anything for SAM, but I've been planning to have a go at creating something new over the next few months... Having moved house a few times in the last few years, I haven't a clue where my GamesMaster manual is (It's at the bottom of a miscellaneous box somewhere!), so I was wondering if there was a PDF of the manual out there somewhere? There is now. http://nevilley.no-ip.org/nfy53/sam/Games_Master.pdf It's 74MB so I hope my web server can cope with it. Hope it's useful. -- nev
Re: possibly a useful Z80 resource
On 19/06/10 08:31, Ian Spencer wrote: - Original Message - From: "nev young" Hi Nev, should really contact you off of the group but that said the group is a great place to at least know that most of the old crowd are still I may not often say much here but I'm always listening. around. I'm now enjoying a quiet life as a pensioner, or not so quiet as we have a grandson :-) and I'm learning to fly. Yes, it seems odd that, as a pensioner, I now have "nothing to do" but never seem to have any time to do it in, if I did. :-) I don't have any grand kids (yet). Don't know if you remember the little ankle biter of a son I used to drag round with me? He's 30 now and works at the police national fingerprint computer centre. it was still the most fun computer I have ever owned It certainly was (is). The Z80 sig still my favourite processor for assembler programming. Well, it has its moments. nev
Re: possibly a useful Z80 resource
Hi Nev, though they don't seem to have heard of the SAM :-( Ian Hiya Ian, Long time no see. How ya doin? I was up in the attic yesterday searching for (something irrelevant that I never found) and went through my many crates of Sam Coupe stuff. Was amazed by what I have. For example; new unopened keyboards. complete boxed Sams. power supplies. atoms. IDE interfaces. disk drives. hundreds of bare pcbs for the sam clock that never was. manuals for all sorts of sam stuff. a dozen or so speccys. disciples and plusd. I even found a box with my old SD Software show stock in. Some day I may lose the nostalgia and let some of it go. -- nev
possibly a useful Z80 resource
http://www.z80.info OK so some of you may already know about it but it's new to me. -- nev
Re: Some SAM hardware for sale
Frode Tennebø wrote: ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sam-coupe/docs/manuals/software/SAM%20Coup%E9%20Technical%20Manual.zip There are probably typos, but I was not aware of anything major... Is that the one that I typed up as a word doc years ago? If it's got errors and such then I'll be willing to scan the entire tech manual in. If the ftp site can handle the space required to hold it. I think I can scan the images into a pdf doc these days. Would give me something to do during the long cold winter nights. Nev
Re: New SAM emulator for Windows
Ian Spencer wrote: Actually I produced the very first IDE interface (later became the SD Soft IDE Interface, with one chip missing which caused all sorts of problems) Agh! Please don't remind me! Nev
Re: Micro Men
Stuart Brady wrote: Surely the PC must have already experienced a certain level of success for Compaq to have considered it worth cloning. Was the original IBM PC really that popular, or did the availability of MS-DOS on other non-PC compatible hardware contribute? I would guess that the mantra that 'nobody ever got fired for buying IBM' played a part in all of this... I think the cloning started as the XTbus was intended to be "open"(ish) so 3rd party companies could and would make new and interesting hardware. However, it would have to be licensed/approved by IBM. The 3rd party companies decided it was simpler to just clone the whole machine and the now well known phrase "IBM Compatible" was created. Of course, I may remember it wrong. As a point of (little) interest, I do have an original working** IBM PS1 here. IMHO This is the most interesting thread we've had here for a long time. Nev ** well it was last time it was tried.
Re: Micro Men
Stuart Brady wrote: On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 06:13:24PM +0100, Thomas Harte wrote: Oh, I don't know. Surely Sinclair's model works only if you can establish yourself as the supplier of a proprietary computer aimed at the price conscious end of the market? I don't see how that could compete once a growing body of manufacturers were transferring to a PC-style open architecture. At some point economies of scale amongst the open people outweigh whatever economies you can achieve with a custom design and there's no way back from there. I'm slightly younger than the Spectrum -- I'm aware of some of the history, but never saw any of this first hand... It seems to me that Sir Clive would never have been hugely worried about maintaining a strong position within the market in the long term... of course, that's not to say that he wouldn't have appreciated having a 'cash cow' to fund his other project... I was thinking more along the lines of the UK having a manufacturing base. If, instead of many small fragmented companies all setting up their own manufacturing plant, there had been larger companies who could have outsourced the build to UK manufactures then it is just possible that the UK would have become what Taiwan is now. Even Bruce and Alan had to set up their own plant to build Sam using venture capital. How would things have panned out if they could have just had the build done by an existing UK company, who was already tooled up to build computers. They wouldn't have needed as much capital and it might not have been clawed back quite so quickly. Even Amstrad might have built their machines here rather than in Japan. Of course, the past is passed and we can only hypothesise on how things might have been. It was a fun ride while it lasted. Nev
Re: Micro Men
Thomas Harte wrote: Almost the entire first half hour was set before I was born! I enjoyed it though, even with the slightly weird ending — we're meant to believe that Microsoft, Compaq and HP got a major leg up just because Sir Clive and Chris Curry fell out? And was Sir Clive really that mean? If CS and CC hadn't "broken" the UK computing industry I do believe that things would have been different. By how much and for how long is any body's guess. From what I remember the underhandedness of the BBC tendering was far worse than in the TV show. From what I hear, from within mensa, CS was (is) rather a control freak and _must_ have things his own way. That doesn't in any way diminish his visions and what he did. -- Nev
Re: Micro Men
Dan Dooré wrote: Stefan Drissen wrote: Excellent, that was most enjoyable – thanks for the heads up! The old days eh… J Just watched it off the DVR - it was great to relive the whole Sinclair-Acorn thing whilst not being an excited 12 year old :-) I watched it last night. it was great to relive the whole Sinclair-Acorn thing whilst not having to take the kids to school and pay the mortgage. :-) -- Nev (feeling far too old)
Re: Hi - just checking
Ian Spencer wrote: Not heard anything on the group for quite a while so just thought I would send a 'test' to check it's not me that's got a problem and say hi to everyone. While looking for "something else" I came across this page and as a result have wasted most of the morning reading old sam-users posts. http://www.atbirmingham.com/warwick/cooke_cl Still it's good to know that Sam moves in academic circles. ;-) Nev
Re: Hi - just checking
Hi Roger, Could I ask that you don't sent your posts direct to me *and* the list. I'm on the list so I'm seeing it all twice. It all appears to be about cp/m, of which I know nothing, so I have to ignore it twice ;-) Thankx Nev
Re: Hi - just checking
Ian Spencer wrote: Not heard anything on the group for quite a while so just thought I would send a 'test' to check it's not me that's got a problem and say hi to everyone. I know you've all taken your Sam's to the beach and so no activity on the group. Dunno about the beach. I was searching for something in the loft this week and found four complete Sams and about 3 in bits. It made me feel a little sad. I'll be going to Gloucester in August and will be seeing B*b. Br*nchl*y as his daughter is getting wed. Nev
Re: Merry Christmas!
On 05/12/08 09:49, Simon Cooke wrote: Merry Christmas J I was digging through my old CDs, and I came across this: You know what's really scary. My mail program says this is a continuation of the "Merry Christmas!" thread started by Si in 1998 ! Merry Christmas times 10. -- Nev
Re: A little bit of news....
Adrian Brown wrote: Today DNS... Tomorrow... THE WORLD :D Oh jolly well done. Congrats on the baby too. Nev
Re: Grabbing floppy images
Thomas Harte wrote: Hmmm, so Sam DOS numbers tracks from 0, but sectors from 1? Or am I suffering a deficit of logic? Yes. sectors are 1-10. tracks are 0-79 the fun part (that used to throw many people) is the head selection. sam has: sector #C H S (cyl, head, sect) 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 4 0 0 4 5 0 0 5 6 0 0 6 7 0 0 7 8 0 0 8 9 0 0 9 10 0 0 10 11 1 0 1 12 1 0 2 13 1 0 3 14 1 0 4 15 1 0 5 795 79 0 5 796 79 0 6 797 79 0 7 798 79 0 8 799 79 0 9 800 79 0 10 801 0 1 1 802 0 1 2 803 0 1 3 804 0 1 4 159679 1 6 159779 1 7 159879 1 8 159979 1 9 160079 1 10 Nev
Re: Wish me luck...
Simon Cooke wrote: I just sent out my first ever horror screenplay into the black inky void that is the Hollywood meat grinder. J I need all the good wishes I can get J Awww what the hell!!! Good luck :-) N
Re: Sam Family -1
Ian Spencer wrote: Sadly I have to report that the Sam family has just lost a long standing member. Bob Wilkinson who was a personal friend of mine and well known in Sam circles for his excellent Outwrite package. Passed away suddenly on the 1st December. At least his software will live on in many Sams around the world. This is sad news indeed. It must be very hard for his family particularly at this time of year. Thanks for letting us know. Nev
Re: Golden ASIC's
On Wed, 3 May 2006 21:17:14 +0100, "Chris White" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have one sat inside my sam :D , it was designed to be used > me too. -- Nev - Now blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/nevilley/ Please help to keep this new email address spam free. Do not pass it on to others. Do not enter it into any website, newsgroup, bulletin board or CC list. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Re: FTP
On Tue, 02 May 2006 20:12:59 +0100, Dan Dooré <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Ok, so is it just me then ? > > Possibly :-D > Yep it was me. I'm running peerguardian on the main server and it's blocking nvg.ntnu.no turning it off makes everything work OK. Thanks for the help. Nev -- Nev - Now blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/nevilley/ Please help to keep this new email address spam free. Do not pass it on to others. Do not enter it into any website, newsgroup, bulletin board or CC list. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Re: FTP
On Tue, 2 May 2006 19:18:11 +0100, "Colin Piggot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > C:\>ftp nvg.ntnu.no > > Connected to nvg.ntnu.no. > > Connect to ftp.nvg.ntnu.no with the "ftp." in front. Just tested without the > ftp. as in your email and it doesnt connect as you show. > Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\>ftp ftp.nvg.ntnu.no Connected to romeo-klive.nvg.ntnu.no. Connection closed by remote host. C:\> Ok, so is it just me then ? Nev -- Nev - Now blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/nevilley/ Please help to keep this new email address spam free. Do not pass it on to others. Do not enter it into any website, newsgroup, bulletin board or CC list. ___ Switch an email account to Yahoo! Mail, you could win FIFA World Cup tickets. http://uk.mail.yahoo.com
FTP
Hi all, can any one remind me how to get into the ftp site at nvg? I had it all set up on a macro, which I lost somewhere, and now I can't get in at all. Get kicked out as shown below. Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\>ftp nvg.ntnu.no Connected to nvg.ntnu.no. Connection closed by remote host. C:\> Thanks. Nev -- Nev - Now blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/nevilley/ Please help to keep this new email address spam free. Do not pass it on to others. Do not enter it into any website, newsgroup, bulletin board or CC list. ___ Switch an email account to Yahoo! Mail, you could win FIFA World Cup tickets. http://uk.mail.yahoo.com
erm hello
On Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:59:03 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time), That was the last message I got from this group. I suspect I stuffed up when I changed ISP. Have I missed much? Nev -- Nev - Now blogging at http://www.livejournal.com/users/nevilley/ Please help to keep this new email address spam free. Do not pass it on to others. Do not enter it into any website, newsgroup, bulletin board or CC list. ___ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Re: Who`s missing?
On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 09:11:21 +0100, Nev Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:56:08 +0100 (BST), Calvin Allett > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > From memory alone who`s missing from posting here? > > > > > H I wondered who was on the list but the "who" command appears to > be blocked. Oh! no it's not, just a bit slow. 89 subscribers. I wonder how many of them bounce? -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: Who`s missing?
On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:56:08 +0100 (BST), Calvin Allett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From memory alone who`s missing from posting here? > > H I wondered who was on the list but the "who" command appears to be blocked. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: Biggest Risk to SAM?
On Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:49:01 +0100 (BST), Calvin Allett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > but what do you guys reckon` is the biggest risk for SAM's > longterm survival/rememberance? It will exist for as long as we remember it. > > I keep thinking that the > Spectrum scene needs something like this and yet we > all know the Spectrum will be around in fourty-fifty > years, can the same be said of the SAM? Yeah but, Speccy was (one of) the first home computers. SAM was one of the last. SAM was always too little too late. Of course this only became clear with hindsight. Bruce and Alan (and all the rest) gave it their best shot, and I'm sure that if it had been a year or two earlier or had been that much faster/scaleable it would have taken the world by storm. It didn't. That was nobody's fault, it was just driving in the wrong lane. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: How to erase sectors?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > So I assume the best idea is to have a program which scans directory > structure for unused sectors and fills them with zeros (including direc= > tory > entries of erased files). Does anybody know what program can do this? Look up SDU or IBU that I used to flog. Although not ideal they are written in basic and so will be easily modified. They scan the directory and calculate which sectors are "live" and copy only those. So erased files wouldn't copy to a blank disk. hth Nev
Re: SAM PCB production
On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 22:25:28 +0100, "Edwin Blink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > From: Colin Piggot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Just checked a fair few PCB's ... 48/49 seem to be very common production > > weeks but i've got one with week 47. > > So week 47 is the earliest sofar. > > > I've also got a Week 48 board, but it appears to have been made by a > > different PCB company - the date code is in a different place - "4889" > (silk > > screen layer) and "2V0G" located just above it in the copper layer. Also > the > > silk screen is in white, not yellow. > > Interresting. I wonder what the reason was for using another company. > Couldn't the first one produce enough PCBs ? > > I'm curious what other production dates will show up. > Well they say a pic is worth 100 words so; http://www.nfy53.demon.co.uk/pics/sampcb1.jpg Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: Format Vol 10 No 10 [1-32].pdf sample pdf issue
On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 18:41:18 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I have had a few positive comments about it so I will start the rest. > Working backwards from Vol 12 No2 as if you have . Working backwards means > we get the Sam bits. If you have Vol 12 No 3 on wards and would like to help > - > please email me at < morriagcp @ aol . com >. > > Dose anyone know at which issue is stopped? . [Nev- you should know?] > Hi, had a look through my loft today. The last issue I can find is vol 12 #1 so you have more than me. I also found I have about 5 missing issues in vols 10&11 :( and I am sure I used to have them all. But I do appear to have a complete set from the free issue to the start of vol 10. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: Format Vol 10 No 10 [1-32].pdf sample pdf issue
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:26:20 +0100 (MET), Frode Tenneboe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Just a few questions: > > - Page 2 - is it supposed to be like that? Yes. It was a mad idea of mine to have a landscape advert. > > So What do you think? Do you want more? > > Yes! Excellent stuff! Almost brought a tear to my eyes. I would say yes do more. If you have time, are able etc. I'm sure we can all proof read them and get the few errors fixed. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
RE: Format returns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Yer - I was asking about this - If needed I could contact bob as I have > several old format issues I could turn into pdf. > I have the full set in my attic. Probably being eaten by spiders we you read. Nev
Re: SDI a nef diskimage format ?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Simon: > > Does the archive need to be a single format for all disks? Or could the > 95% > > of normal format disks be kept in a simple dumped image format, with only > > protected disks using a different format needed to describe them > correctly? > > Just Like speccy has TAP for regular format and TZX for the fancy one that > preserves the original. > I too have used disks with odd formats mainly track 5 having an extra short sector between sector 10 and the index hole. I'll probably get shot down for suggesting this but why not create an image that is a full track image from index hole to index hole including all the inter sector guff. That should cover just about everything. Nev
Re: Format returns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > The best thing would be, if it is possible to reach Mr. Bob, was to > see if it was possible to have the original files he used for his > typesetting and convert from them. I have no idea what tool he used, > but it should be possible to do a bulk conversion some way or the other= > . He did it all on a SAM or a BBC Nev
Re: Format returns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Well not quite, but I was reading the latest issue of ZXF there > (http://www.woodcock88.freeserve.co.uk/zxf/zxf.html) and there is news > of WorldOfSpectrum gaining permission from our old friend Bob Brenchley > to scan and distribute Formats! As the article points out, this is > something of a surprise that Bob has allowed this. I wonder if he'd > speak to us lot? :) Well he still speaks to me. whether I listen or not is quite another story. > I won't even mention my SAM_Clock and other money > he owes me this time ;) > neither will I. Nev
Re: overclocked Sam programs [was RE: ORSAM show report]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Howard Price [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > And on the subject of the accelerator board, I remember Cookie showing one > running Lemmings at the second Gloucester show that someone (can't remember > was it Nev? don't think so) had built... what happened to that? > No Not me. I'm not _that_ clever. Nev.
Re: So what's everyone up to?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Well, since you asked ;-) > > I'm sorry for all you guys being laid off, I almost feel guilty for > doing rather well... > Anybody else doing all right? > Frans Well I'm not doing too badly. My 3rd marriage seems to be holding up after 3 years. My son is starting his final year at uni. I've paid off the mortgage on the house in Norwich. Currently living in a hotel in Bournemouth. Current contract extended to Feb/05. I'm building up funds for my retirement. Still got 3 or 4 sams in bits around the house. Don't have time to play with them. Sorry to hear some are not doing too well. Hope others are doing OK. Nev (yes that one) Young.
Re: :-)
On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 09:41:05 +0200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Wolfgang
Haller) wrote:
> Hi Frans!?
>
> Not sure if it is really your mail. My virus scanner has detected a
> virus in the attachment ("MsgInfo.zip", Netscape).
> So I left my hands off
>
I confirm the file contains the W32/Bagle.genlpwdzip virus.
Not that any one on this list would be so stoopid as to actually open
it!
Nev
--
Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and
anything containing HTML will now go into a spam
bucket because of excessive email abuse.
Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: NVG
On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 17:21:39 -, "Geoff Winkless" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 23 March 2004 17:17, Edwin Blink wrote: > > Can anyone access NVG ? 'Cause I Can't. > > > > Edwin > > Me neither. > It pings ok. Probably not got the ftp server turned on. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ and anything containing HTML will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive email abuse. Please use one of my new addresses.
Re: Norwich Spectrum and SAM Show (ORSAM 2003)
On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 23:44:55 +, Geoff Winkless <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wednesday 05 Nov 2003 10:43 pm, Tarquin Mills wrote: > > Does anyone know > > where there is diagram of the motherboard to help me get Nev's boards > > working? > > The tech manual is on NVG, if I remember correctly that has the circuit > diagrams in it. > If not I have them here ===> my.house Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Norwich Spectrum and SAM Show (ORSAM 2003)
On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 17:15:34 +, Gavin Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Saturday, November 01, 2003, at 05:11PM, Nev Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > >> I just want to wish you good luck with the event and to those > >> who can attend; I wish I was there. :) > >> > >pictures without words at > > > >http://www.nfy53.demon.co.uk/sam2003/ > > That was quick, thanks Nev. Erm, any idea about numbers through the door? > Doesn't look to be too many from the pics or are they not representative of > the whole day? Sadly only a dozen or so. Still it was good to put faces to names like I didn't with the pics :-) Hopefully better next year. book yer diaries now. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Norwich Spectrum and SAM Show (ORSAM 2003)
On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 14:44:38 +0100 (MET), Frode Tenneboe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:18:19 GMT Tarquin Mills <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > The first major Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Sam Coupé Computer Show (ORSAM > > 2003) in 5 years in the UK, is taking place next Saturday, 1st November, > > in Norwich. > > I just want to wish you good luck with the event and to those > who can attend; I wish I was there. :) > pictures without words at http://www.nfy53.demon.co.uk/sam2003/ Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: ORSAM Show...
On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 23:16:38 -, "Colin Macdonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Greetings all, > > Am looking into options for getting down to the show at the weekend, but > given it'd be a 900-odd mile round trip for me, wanted to verify that it'll > be a decent turn out - who all's going? I'll be there. I'm even giving up the last day of the beer festival to be there. Of course me being there may keep people away, but I hope not. I have limited floor space if any one needs a place to lay their head friday / sat night. I'm assuming that the wild days of drunken orgies and getting banned from clubs are over. Colin, I plan to drive off to Inverness on the 2nd if you want a free ride back (assuming you're still living that way). > And in case anyone can't guess my next question, who's staying over and > fancies a few beverages in Norwich's finest? I'm staying over - oh hang on - I live here. Sadly I've been a very lazy boy and not dug any of my sams out and made them work. I think fear of them being dead is part of the reason for that. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Hardware....
On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 13:11:08 -0700, "Simon Cooke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: "Nev Young" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > If it is a read of the ROM then you need to assert ROMCSL & ROMCSRL to > > turn off the ROM. Dunno if you could do that fast enough to be > effective > > within one read cycle though. > > > > I'm sure some one will be along in a moment to prove me wrong. > > *cough* > > ;-) > > Yeah, you can. That's how the MultiROM worked :) > But I thought that with the MultiROM the internal ROM was off. If I understand correctly Adrian wants to put data on the CDn lines between MREQL going low and RDL going low. The ROM may not go tristate fast enough to prevent a clash on the CDn lines. This was the problem I had with UniDos in the PlusD and DISCiPLE when I tried to switch the ROM out during a RST8. I had to get round it by having the same instruction in both the (speccy)ROM and the PlusD shadow ROM. As I wrote before if he's fighting RAM then there's no problem. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Hardware....
On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 23:27:41 +0100, "Adrian Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ok, Someone might know (Colin?). What happens (is it even possible), if > a piece of hardware on the euroconnector attempts to tap into a read on > the normal memory address lines and send its own data, do the address > lines get setup when it tries to read from normal memory ranges? > If I have read the schematic correctly : The internal mem chips have their o/p passed through 470R resistors before reaching the Z80 and the connector. So as long as it is normal memory being read then any external device should be able to override the memory data. If it is a read of the ROM then you need to assert ROMCSL & ROMCSRL to turn off the ROM. Dunno if you could do that fast enough to be effective within one read cycle though. I'm sure some one will be along in a moment to prove me wrong. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: East Coast takeover offer
On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 22:12:25 +0100, "David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 16:15:25 +0100, Tarquin Mills > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Can you let me have some idea of who / how many are comming so I can > > decide which function I attend. Sadly the other is a 3 day event > > upt'north which I have been booked on since last year but I've only just > > got confirmation that it's the same weekend as your show. > > > > I really want to do both but I know I can't. > > > > Nev > > > > I know i'm probably going - but don't let that put you off! It gets worse (or better) I now find the 26th Norwich Beer festval also ends on the 1st Nov so I should be getting pissed all week not farting about (rebuilding sam coupes) | (walking up Pendle hill) Typical - no social life all year then 3 things come along at once :-) Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: East Coast takeover offer
On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 16:15:25 +0100, Tarquin Mills <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Geoff Winkless wrote: > > 19 August 2003 11:05, Simon Owen wrote: > > > It's a bit further for me (~120 miles from Nottingham), but I > > > think that's about how far it was to the show in Quedgley. > > > > Fancy sharing petrol costs for the trip (also date permitting!)? > > I'm just down the M1 in Leicester. > > The show has been provisionly book for Saturday the first of November, > more details at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/speccyverse/orsam.htm .To > help judge the numbers (for catering) we are offering a free prize > draw ticket worth 50p to each person who books in advance and turns up. > On the SAM side of things I am looking for someone to give a talk, and > more SAM traders. ARGH!. Tarquin, I'm now double booked on 1st Nov. Can you let me have some idea of who / how many are comming so I can decide which function I attend. Sadly the other is a 3 day event upt'north which I have been booked on since last year but I've only just got confirmation that it's the same weekend as your show. I really want to do both but I know I can't. Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: East Coast take over offer
On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 22:43:03 +0100, "Adrian Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I would certainly try to be there, Norwich is my home town. Which venue > did you have in mind? > > Adrian. > > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Tarquin Mills > Sent: 18 August 2003 22:24 > To: sam-users@nvg.ntnu.no > Subject: East Coast take over offer > > /me dons flame protective suit with tie with the robot printed on it > > Spectrum and SAM Show (ORSAM) > - Well I'll be blowed. 3 of us living in Norridge *. I'll try and get some of my sams working, but even if I don't I'll come along. Of course, this may stop others comming so I'll offer to buy the first round of drinks, to try and off set that effect. I promise not to tell B** B. Nev * I'm just off Dereham road. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Some technical questions
On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 14:10:26 +0100, "Colin Piggot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Does anybody know how IORQL, RDL, WRL reacts at the SAM? > > > At the Spectrum it will set to 0 if active. Should it be 1 > > at the SAM if active, then this signals would be inverted > > with an Invertor. And as it looks, they are set to > > 1 instead 0 at the Spectrum. > > The IORQL, RDL, WRL, and MREQL lines are stright from the Z80 and are '0' > when active (active low) > I'll confirm that. > I guess the 'L' is put on the end of the names in the tech manual etc to > show they are active low it would have made a bit more sense to call > them /IORQ, /RD, /WR and /MREQ... or have them typed as: > _ > IORQ when being printed > I believe it was something to do with the design package that Bruce used. Quite bonkers and as you say misleading. -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ will now go into a spam bucket because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: who
On Wed, 2 Apr 2003 15:11:00 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time), James R Curry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > who > Members of list 'sam-users': > > > 94 subscribers > To which I feel the need to ask ... who ? How many of these bounce ? -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ may be delayed because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Whatever happened to...?
On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 20:24:26 +, Nev Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > BOO ! Oh and while we're on the subject of lost people. I've just had a crimble card forwarded to me that was sent to my old address. It's from John Wase. Any one got an address/phone no/email for him so I can get in touch? Thankx Nev -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ may be delayed because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Whatever happened to...?
On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 01:04:48 -, "Johnna Teare" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ...very disturbingly, when you type 'Bob Brenchley' into google, the first > option it give you is titled 'Animal Abuse'. I often thought many things of > the man, but never that...! Ah that'll be because of his activities of trying to educate the americans about how to care for cats. They do hate him for it. > > So what ever happened to the Big Bad Bob? And where is samsboss and Bill > Ritman (how original)? They are all alive and well and living in Gloucester, Liverpool and Exeter (or was that Ken Elston?). > > Just thought i'd liven the list up for a second. Thought I'd try and help wake it up too. BOO ! -- Nev - please note that mail to address nevilley@ may be delayed because of excessive mail abuse. Please use one of the new addresses.
Re: Moment of truth
On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 16:23:07 +, Stuart Brady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, Jan 15, 2003 at 10:11:53PM +0000, Nev Young wrote: > > > > 8) Would you develop a title for the sam still? > > A non games title perhaps. > > Would you mind expanding on this, please? I'm struggling to find tasks > that the SAM would be particularly good at doing. Well I remember some sam owners used them for running the company accounts, producing invoices, doing stock control, membership lists, payroll, video shop, book library. I even used the sam myself for doing all the work involved with SD Software where it did order processing, stock control, mailing records, printing address labels, proof of posting lists, accounts, royaltys, SW duplication, blah blah blah There were others too but I forget far too much. It's a pity as it was only last year I chucked out all the help page[1] letters I had, most of which were involved with some non games app or other. These would have given many more ideas. [1] yes I did keep all that crap from Nev's help page! -- Nev - please note that mail to nevilley@ will no longer work.
Re: Moment of truth
On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 00:18:26 -, "Adrian Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Lets run a little poll. Can people fill in the following and reply > > 1) Do you have an actual Sam Coupe: I have 3 or 4 complete ones somewhere and loads of bits. > 2) Does it work? Last time I looked they did. > 3) Do you still use it? no :-( > 4) How many bits of sam software have you got? dozens > 5) Do you still actively seek new sam bits and pieces? Not to acquire, but am interested in knowing what's out there. > 6) Would you buy a new game for the sam coupe if the price was right? No - I'm not a games player type of guy. > 7) What price would be right if you would? Free :-) > 8) Would you develop a title for the sam still? A non games title perhaps. > 9) Would you help develop a title for the sam? possibly > 10) Do you think that all the work put in to keep the sam alive is a waste > of time? All of life is a waste of time, so let us waste it was we see fit. > 11) if yes to 10 then why? see 10. > -- Nev - please note that mail to nevilley@ will no longer work.
Re: Hi ho
On Sat, 4 Jan 2003 18:43:35 -0800, "Simon Cooke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > When I were a lad... it were all different. All green fields! And we only > programmed using 0's - we couldn't afford 1's. > Many true things said in jest. :-) There are (were) some brands of eprom/prom/rom where you did in fact only program the 0s as all other bits were 1 by default. I'll get me coat. -- Nev - please note that mail to nevilley@ will no longer work.
Re: Messenger Interface
On Thu, 14 Nov 2002 21:59:26 +0100, FvEgmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ah, the GAL is protected from reading is it? > Darn... I have succesfully cloned the Multiface 3 for the Spectrum, though! > I believe that Bruce always protected them from being read :-( -- nev
Re: Messenger Interface
On Thu, 14 Nov 2002 00:19:23 +0100, FvEgmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sounds nice. Does anyone want to sell one? Or are there schematics anywhere? > > Frans > I have a schematic for it but you will not be able to build one from it as you will not know how to program the GAL16V8 chip. I don't want to sell mine, even though I'll probably never use it. I'm just a hoarder. -- Nev
Re: Who knows a SVAR for me?
On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 21:58:27 -, "Colin Piggot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If the SAM is not used for about 18 minutes, the SAM goes to a blank > > screen. This must be handled by a system variable. Does anybody know, > > which SVAR does handle it? > > To disable it - POKE &5A32,1 > > To see the counter - PEEK &5AC4 > (this counter decrements by 1 every 256 frames) > > Incidently - timing SVARs like these are covered in a 'Sam Snippet' on page 45 > of issue 2 of Sam Revival! You would have had your answer in a few days > anyway! > I feel the need to write "or just RTFM." geez after all the trouble I went to get a readable copy onto the FTP site. Nev
Re: unsubscribe
On Sat, 5 Oct 2002 14:16:37 +0100, Stuart Brady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, Oct 04, 2002 at 07:29:59PM +0200, Aley Keprt wrote: > > And what problems prevent the mail system to be smart and accept unsub > > sequests sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] too? All humans here surely understand > > what people sending "unsubscribe" e-mails really want. So, I am sure the > > computer(s) at nvg could understand it too. Did anybody ever think that all > > these systems should be primarily user friendly and smart, because users are > > the main reason they exist? > > :-) > > I'm sure that in the distant past, most users were computer friendly > and smart, so this was not a problem. Why is it so hard to tell > the difference between sam-users and sam-users-request? > > Also consider that the maintainers of majordomo are not under your > employment, so unless you or somebody else wants to actually fix > this, I will not be suprised if it stays just as it is. Also consider that people don't read or store half the stuff they receive. I still have this from long long ago. Nev == Welcome to the sam-users mailing list! Please save this message for future reference. Thank you. If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: unsubscribe Or you can send mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with the following command in the body of your email message: unsubscribe sam-users [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a human. No info available for sam-users.
Re: Re ASIC chip
On Sat, 05 Oct 2002 13:47:23 +0100, "Samsboss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Samsboss > > Nice try Nev. Bugger !
Re: Sam Tech Manual
On Fri, 4 Oct 2002 08:29:18 +0200 (MEST), Frode Tenneboe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, 04 Oct 2002 07:28:15 +0100 Nev Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Both a .pdf and .doc version is now on > > > ftp.nvg.ntnu.no:/pub/sam-coupe/docs. > > > Cheers, Both versions transfer back OK. I'll try and crack on with the rest of the manual. -- Nev
Re: Sam Tech Manual
On Fri, 4 Oct 2002 08:19:12 +0200 (MEST), Frode Tenneboe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, 3 Oct 2002 20:55:24 +0100 Andrew Collier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On Thursday, October 3, 2002, at 12:08 am, Simon Owen wrote: > > > > > I borrowed Acrobat for TurboMON > > > PDF, which was also created from a Word document, so I could do the > > > same > > > again if needed. > > > > FWIW I can print word documents to pdf files without any extra software. > > Both a .pdf and .doc version is now on ftp.nvg.ntnu.no:/pub/sam-coupe/docs. > but it's -rw duh!
Re: Sam Tech Manual
On Thu, 3 Oct 2002 08:58:23 +0100, "Simon Owen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Nev Young wrote: > > btw, the old OCR'd tech manual doesn't include the sound and disk > controller documents, if that's the main reason you're after it. > Ah yes it only has in what I have produced but without correcting the formatting and spelling. Looks like I got a lot of typing to do. !! Actually the text isn't too bad, the diagrams are the real pain. -- Nev
Re: Sam Tech Manual
On Thu, 3 Oct 2002 00:08:31 +0100, "Simon Owen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Nev Young wrote: > > But could at least some of you check out > > http://www.nfy53.demon.co.uk/sam/Sam_Manual.doc > > Great job, looks excellent! It's very close to the original format, and This was the idea. I started from an OCR version that I scanned in but with the effort required to get the formating back and correct the typos, well I some times think I shouldn't have started. > infinitely better than the previous OCR'd version (which I used for an > occasional search). Where is the previous OCR version - it could be a better starting point than mine for the pages I haven't yet done. > > It's still in MS word format at the mo and I still have > > to do the Appendices. > > I guess using PDF format might be better for non-Windows users? (and > those without Word or the Word viewer). I borrowed Acrobat for TurboMON > PDF, which was also created from a Word document, so I could do the same > again if needed. > That would be great. Hopefully it will still be possible to do searches once it's in PDF form. Mind you the rate at which I'll be doing the apendices it could be several months ! Do you think I should even try and do the small print bits for the sound and disk controller chips? Oh, and thanks for the feed back. -- Nev
Sam Tech Manual
Hello Guys, It's been a long slow process and it's still not finished. But could at least some of you check out http://www.nfy53.demon.co.uk/sam/Sam_Manual.doc It's still in MS word format at the mo and I still have to do the Appendices. But any proof reading would be useful. Nev
Re: özür dileriz
On Sun, 15 Sep 2002 17:12:42 -0400, Burak Ercetin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > SMSTR avjgmoehbnalobdmxj > Versiyon 7.3 u indirmek için buraya tiklayiniz > > Look guys, some of us just can't be arsed to read html. Can I make a plea for plain text. Nev
Re: Linux Format
On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 10:56:14 +0100, "Adrian Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I know the need for a bigger house, im not single so my wife nags me about > the number of old computers. You could always get a smaller / more tolerant wife. :-)
Re: Copyright etc
On Thu, 15 Aug 2002 15:42:07 +0100, Gavin Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I *really* hate to bring this up again, but I need to ask your > opinions...I'll paste the below and I'd be very interested in your > opinions either on or off list, especially if you've ever developed or > published SAM software in the past. It's in relation to the File Library > I'm putting together for the SC site. > > There's two camps in the copyright arguement - those who don't give a I'm sure I've said this before but as far as I'm concerned any SD Software stuff that I wrote is free to any one. Anything that I sold on behalf of others is also now free unless the original authors care to speak up, I don't think they have before and I don't forsee them doing so now. Nev
Re: SimCoupé/Win32 beta 4
On Fri, 26 Jul 2002 08:46:57 +0100, Luke Trevorrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Why does BDOS work on a floppy by floppy basis? Is it some limitation with >>> the SAM Coupe that stops you from having one big disk like on a PC? >>> >> Yes, the disk directory structure is fixed to expect 80 tracks of 10 >> sectors or 510 bytes. There is a 195 byte (1560bit) area in each file >> header which holds a bit map of the sectors used by that file. >> >> To avoid the need to create a new more complex directory structure >> (like what HDOS did) BDOS just maps the hard disk as many floppies. >> > I take it that because you mention HDOS that it is possible? Sort of. I am talking REAL SAM here not Simcoupe. Not many people remember HDOS, as it was the runner up in the hard disk race to BDOS. People like BDOS as you could (can) install the hardware and load and run your existing programs with no changes. This was not the case with HDOS. Although some disk functions were the same for compatibility reasons eg LOAD, SAVE, OPEN, CLOSE, etc. many others were not. For example READ AT ,,, wouldn't work in HDOS as the hard drive was simply an array of sectors starting at 0, the disk label, and continuing to a theoretical maximum of 2^32-1 or in reality 1 sector short of the disk capacity. So stuff like this was done from BASIC with a CALL command. The directory was completely different, it was a new structure that I created just for HDOS which should have allowed all the space on a drive to be used without any significant loss of performance as it fragments and with no practical limits on directory or file size. (OK I'm droning on but it was my baby for almost a year). It did however suffer from hardware problems. Many drives just would not work or were unreliable and the hardware had to be recalled for a free upgrade to fix a buffering problem. Rather than making me rich I damn near went broke because of it :-( The final straw was a major failure of the PC I was developing on and the discovery that the backup tape was corrupt and wouldn't read. Faced with a data recovery bill of ~£10K I had to call it a day as I couldn't bear the thought of starting over, and I bought back many of the units as, well I'm just a nice guy. I remember that I was able to create and use random access files of >4Gb with calls (something like) CALL ,, but as nobody wanted to use SAM to create and use large file databases yawn Z Nev - who has almost finished scanning the tech manual.
Re: SimCoupé/Win32 beta 4
On Thu, 25 Jul 2002 16:54:30 +0100, Luke Trevorrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I too have had good fun using the Atom HD emulation, but agree that the > system is limited to emulating the running environment (which admittedly is > what SIM Coupe is for). > > Why does BDOS work on a floppy by floppy basis? Is it some limitation with > the SAM Coupe that stops you from having one big disk like on a PC? > Yes, the disk directory structure is fixed to expect 80 tracks of 10 sectors or 510 bytes. There is a 195 byte (1560bit) area in each file header which holds a bit map of the sectors used by that file. To avoid the need to create a new more complex directory structure (like what HDOS did) BDOS just maps the hard disk as many floppies. hth Nev - who has almost finished scanning the tech manual.
Re: error 404
On Sun, 07 Jul 2002 11:30:36 +0200, Frans van Egmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think a lower resolution would be a bad idea... > Keep them the way they are now... > Will you be doing the whole tech manual at some point, perhaps as a Pdf ? > Thanks. > Well If I can find the time I can scan it in (OMG what have I just done) but I don't have the means to make a pdf. I'm sure some one can help. I'll look through all my tech manuals to see which is the best copy and use that.
Re: error 404
On Mon, 8 Jul 2002 09:20:35 +0100 , "Winkless, Geoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Nev Young wrote: > > they're about 3000 x 2000 pixels and the jpegs are 440K - 825K. > > I can try and redo them at lower resolution but I'm scanning from the > > tech manual and it's a poor photo copy to start with. > > JPEG for line drawings? Yeuck. I know ! > > Scan them in, run them through some line routines in (eg) paint shop pro and > then save as .gif > I must be doing something wrong as I can't get a better image and the .gif is 2 1/2 times larger than the jpg. any suggestions ? Nev
Re: error 404
On Sat, 06 Jul 2002 19:29:11 +0200, Frans van Egmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Absolutely, what size did you scan them in? > they're about 3000 x 2000 pixels and the jpegs are 440K - 825K. I can try and redo them at lower resolution but I'm scanning from the tech manual and it's a poor photo copy to start with. Nev
Re: error 404
On Sat, 6 Jul 2002 11:08:17 +0100, "Stewart Skardon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Guess this is a prompt for me to make a rare appearance on the list! > > That's right, my site is now based at www.sskardon.fsnet.co.uk, but > www.sam-coupe.co.uk is the url I always quote as I think it's slightly > easier to remember! Thanks I've updated my links. > > Actually, I am planning a site update this weekend, so any changes or > additional information to add would be welcomed. I recently scanned the circuit diagrams of the sam. Would they be any use on a web page ? Nev
web ring
who looks after the web ring cos it's broken at www.stoneddesign.co.uk which is link http://V.webring.com/hub?ring=samcoupe&id=14&go -- Nev
error 404
Hi guys, I was just doing an out_of_date_link check on my web pages[1] and found that http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/sskardon is no longer valid. Has it gone to somewhere else or just gone. -- Nev [1] yes I know I should do that more often. !
