Date   : Thu, 14 May 1998 15:56:03 +0100
From   : "Julian Stenning" <jfs14@...>
Subject: Re: BBC computers in the Millienium

The master user guide says that the master rtc will work upto the year 2000
but doesnt says what happens after that. Anyone tried setting it to 31/12/99
?

Julian Stenning

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-bbc-micro@...
> [mailto:owner-bbc-micro@...]On Behalf Of Robert Schmidt
> Sent: 14 May 1998 14:47
> To: Dave Evnull; timothy.ross@...
> Cc: BBC micro mailing list
> Subject: [BBC-Micro] Re: BBC computers in the Millienium
>
>
> > Dave Evnull wrote:
> >
> > Do you know if a BBC microcomputer will work in the year2000
> >
> > Tim Ross
> >
> >
> > timothy.ross@...
>
>
> Hi, Tim!
>
> I don't see any reason why they should not.  The BBC model B didn't have
> a BIOS clock, so for programs that depended on today's date and time,
> you have to manually enter them every time after resetting the computer.
>
> I think the BBC Master series does have a BIOS clock, however.  Whether
> it supports year 2000 and above, I don't know.  My *guess* is that it
> does without problems.
>
> I've forwarded this reply to the BBC micro mailing list, I'm sure
> somebody there can be of more help.  They might even be more amused than
> I was to get this question... :-)
>
> About the Y2K-problem in general, there is seldom a problem with the
> computers or their BIOS clocks.  They usually store the year as a the
> number of years (say 0-255) from a certain reference year (say 1970).
> More often, it is the software written for the computers which is poorly
> designed, typically working only with the two least significant digits
> of the year number.  When dates beyond 2000 are fed to these programs,
> miscalculations are likely to occur because of this.  I expect such
> programs for the BBC to be quite rare.
>
> --
> Robert Schmidt <rsc@...>
> Software Developer / Vingmed Sound tel +47 67124237 fax +47 67124355
> Private tel +47 22606076 WWW http://www.nvg.unit.no/~rsc
>
>     jeg lukker et oye og ser halvt
>     jeg  lukker begge  og ser  alt            -- seigmen
>