Date   : Fri, 06 Aug 1999 00:26:04 -0600
From   : "Rick Galbraith" <rick_galbraith@...>
Subject: Re: Acorn

Date sent:             Thu, 5 Aug 1999 02:02:03 +0100
To:                    bbc-micro@...
From:                  "B.E.Newsam" <ben@...>
Subject:               Re: [BBC-Micro] Acorn

In message <199908041526.QAA19418@...>, Rick Galbraith
<rick_galbraith@...> writes
>I bought my BBC, secondhand but never used, in 1990, from a library in
>Keewatin (next to Kenora), another Northwestern Ontario community an hour
>and a half closer to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

>As a matter of interest, which OS does it use in Canada? 
OS U1.1 ; could be in US or UK mode.
DFS 1.20; NFS 3.60
Also, LOGO 1.00, View A2.1, Viewsheet 1.0,
>How many pixels in each screen mode?
The statement is made in the user quide, "In all screen modes which can 
support easily defined graphics the range of values for a, b, c and d is always 
the same: 0-799 vertically, 0-1279 horizontally."
Not that I believe that. There was a game of dodgems on the intro disc, and you
had to specify *US, followed by break, to put your machine into U.S. mode, or
the cars were shifted off the lines by half a screen-width.  So, I don't
know whether 
that was true. 

>There was a special version of the OS (and a slghtly
>different machine) for use in the USA. They spent, ISTR, 11 millon pounds
>on marketing in the US, and sold a grand total of 50 machines.
They sold at least thirty in the bush country of Northwest Ontario, and many
others. Olivetti maintained a BBC rep in Toronto well into 1995. However,
the U.S. branch did suffer an early demise.  I understand that a number of
machines did make it out to Texas, or maybe that was just rumor?

>The different OS was required because of the 60 Hz scan speed of US TVs.
It wasn't noticeable on the Kimtron SCB monitors sold to schools and institutions,
but the OS did have a faulty table of values, creating jitters on the average
Zenith
monochrome monitors.  I never noticed the problem until after burning out
two SCB's,
and graduating backwards to the Zenith.
  The Canadian user group did have a member that revamped the OS with a better
table of values.  But what has happened to this will probably be a mystery,
since 
most of the members have gone on to other things, like Macs and buggy pentiums.

>The modified machine was required to satisfy radiation requirements, there
>was a metal shield inside the case.
Which shield some enterprising members removed when adding sideways RAM, etc.
Machine still causes interferance with T.V. if, llike us, you use a makeshift
antenna.

Rick


Rick Galbraith, Winnipeg, Manitoba
rick_galbraith@...
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