Date   : Wed, 03 Jan 2001 16:49:12 +0000
From   : Paul Wheatley <p.r.wheatley@...>
Subject: Re: VFS: (BBC Video Disk) : Doomsday Project

Ben Newsam wrote:
> 
> In message <3A532EDF.6239714B@...>, Paul Wheatley
> <p.r.wheatley@...> writes
> >I'm fortunate enough to have a working BBC Domesday system in the office
and am
> >actually working on a long term digital preservation project at the University
> >of Leeds called CAMiLEON (a little more info can be found at the URL in
my sig).
> >We're looking specifically at emulation as a preservation strategy and
our plan
> >is to produce an emulation solution to run the BBC Domesday software.
> 
> Is it unfeasible to transfer the data onto CD-ROM and run new software
> from Windows?

Theres a few different issues arising there...

Transfering the data to CD-ROM would probably be tricky due to the actual
volume. There are approximately 200000 analogue pictures on the 2 discs as
well as around 600 megs of digital data. Depending on what rez you digitise
them at, that could be an awful lot of data.

The principle of migrating the data to a modern system and writing a new
interface to access the information is however a good one. Depending on time
available we may produce some new interface software. Coincidentally Acorn
actually suggested in the Domesday manual the idea of using the simple VFS
interface to produce new front end programs or things like virtual walks,
actually on the BBC.

Migration is one way to preserve some of the significant properties of the
original, but it does not preserve all of them. Depending on who it is doing
the preservation and who they are doing the preservation for, an emulated
solution *may* be far more ideal.

As an example, in 100 years time a geography researcher would probably scoff
at having to use the original clunky interface to get at the valuable data
entwined in the Domesday package, but a migrated version would suit them down
to the ground.

Alternatively a sociology researcher (or even a computer software historian)
in 100 years time would probably be rather upset to find out that the only
way the fabled early multimedia package produced on the BBC Micro had been
preserved, retained nothing of the look and feel of the original environment.
For those users an emulated solution would allow the researcher the chance to
see an early user interface, and the computer historian would be able to
examine the original software as it ran, perhaps even viewing the function of
the computer using the emulator's debugger, despite the fact that the last
real BBC Micro had stopped working many years ago. Don't even get me started
on authenticity... These are all pretty tricky questions usually, with far
more than one answer.

Another issue is preservation of what we preserve. How do we ensure that any
work we do now (eg. a new interface written for windows) won't be obsolete in
another 15 years (or more likely 5 years)? This is something else we're
working on, but I've already ranted on enough, so I won't attempt to tackle
that here.

Finally, the copyright issues are a major problem, particularly the OS maps
which OS is unlikely to want accessable in a modern computing environment
even if they are in bitmap form and 15 years old. So for the moment our aim
is to preserve but not to allow access, until if/when we can sort out the
IPR.



> 
> >I believe there is only one Domesday specific ROM inside the system (the VFS),
> >although we do have a cartridge (for insertion in one of the slots on
the front
> >of the machine) that contains one chip. Apparently this came with the original
> >Domesday kit (I have seen an identical cartridge with another, non-functioning
> >Domesday kit). Our guess is that its some kind of video chip.
> 
> It would have to be a standard FS, language, or service ROM, of course.
> Can you not extract the chip and try it in one of the internal slots?

Yes but its the only one we've got at the moment, so I don't want to mess
with it for the moment in case it gets damaged. Certainly something to try in
the future tho.

> 
> > Another part to
> >the puzzle is that our Domesday system won't start up with the cartridge in
> >place (not sure if its faulty or not). Does anyone have any idea what this may
> >be?
> 
> Maybe (a long shot, I know) it is another VFS chip, and is attempting to
> communicate with the video player at the same time as the existing chip.

Thats a possibility, but seems unlikely. Why sell the system with two chips
that conflict with each other when you plug them both in?

Cheers

Paul
-- 
Camileon Project Officer
http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/
0113 233 5830