Date   : Thu, 27 May 1999 22:22:49 +0100
From   : Stuart William McConnachie <stuart@...>
Subject: Re: Loading Interword, Wordwise etc. Files to PC

In message <000201bea878$07b99fa0$0100a8c0@...>, Christopher
Hatton <CHatton@...> writes
>    I have recently become interested in moving a large quantity of 
>    documents I had written on the BBC to the PC. I have completed the 
>    first stage which is to move the files to the PC using a serial 
>    cable. The data is there but I can't do anything with it. I have 
>    used a ROM image of Interword on the PCBBC emulator but with no 
>    luck (it crashes).
This is almost certainly your configuration of the InterWord ROMs in
pcBBC, **not** pcBBC.  I have InterWord working fine.  IIRC, InterWord
came as a mega ROM which was 32K? and had extra logic and fly-leads to
decode the required ROM select lines.  Effectively this means that it
would be present to two CONSECUTIVE ROM slots in your machines memory
map, for example Bank C and Bank D.  If you let pcBBC load the ROMs for
you, without using the bank override facility, then chances are, that
they will be loaded into (basically) what are random sockets!  Unless
these happen to be consecutive (an even bank and the next highest odd
one) then InterWord will crash when you attempt to start it with *IWORD
command.  This is indeed what happens with me when I deliberately miss-
configure the banks!
To force pcBBC to load ROMs in specific banks, use the last letter of
the ROM extension to specify the bank number or letter, eg:
        ???.RO0 - Bank 0
        ???.RO1 - Bank 1
           :
           :
        ???.ROA - Bank 10
           :
        ???.ROF - Bank 15
You can do the same for banks of SRAM by using similar .RA? extensions.
(This is worth pointing out to anyone trying to get an image to work
which requires access to SRAM, for example E00 DFS's.  Users often
report these fail under pcBBC simply because they have them loaded as a
ROM and they can not be written to!)

Anyway, back to the point in hand.  The configuration that works for me
with my release of InterWord (1.02) is (of course there are others, but
this works with 4 ROM bank demo version too):
        IWORDL.ROC      Interword
        IWORDH.ROD      Interword
        BASIC.ROE       BASIC II
        DFS1770.ROF     Acorn 1770 DFS 2.23
Although it doesn't appear to matter which way round the two InterWord
ROMs go, as long as they are in the consecutive even/odd sockets, I
have mine configured thus:
        IWORDL.ROC begins:
                Lg.L.....INTER-WORD. 1.02.(C) Co
                mputer Concepts1986..IWORD..Li.
                ............. ..L..`.M....L.. 0.
                L...L.....L.. ..rom1 version 1/1
        IWORD.ROD begins:
                L..L.....INTER-WORD. 1.02.(C) Co
                mputer Concepts1986..IWORD..L-.
                 ..rom0 version1/0L...... ..LZ.
                `(`.L.....L......-........ ..L..

>    I would have thought that the best way to read these files was to 
>    use a Microsoft Word converter to load them directly into a PC word 
>    processor. Does anyone know if such a converter has ever been 
>    produced? Indeed, have any docuement conversion tools for BBC-PC 
>    formats ever been produced? I do not have the knowledge to do this 
>    myself.
I know of no such utilities, but that doesn't mean to say they don't
exist.  However once you get IWORD up and working with pcBBC I imagine
you should easily be able to export your documents as plain text.  Then
extract them from the disk image to a PC file using, for example, Laurie
Wiffen's BBC Explorer:
http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/bbc/util/BBCExplorer-2.zip

Regards for now, but let me know if you need more help!
-- 
Stuart McConnachie (stuart@...              )
43 The Hollows, Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 2ES, UK
Mobile: 0966 224307