Date   : Sun, 06 Feb 2005 15:22:55 +0100
From   : John Kortink <kortink@...>
Subject: Re: "Sideways" ROM

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 13:51:36 +0000 (GMT), A.Weston wrote:

>What is the perforated section to the left of the keyboard on a Model B
>for? I read it was something related to speech but what kind of upgrade
>is necessary to use it as of course the ROM slots are located to the
>right hand side of the motherboard?

The Acorn speech upgrade came with a ROM/cartridge
socket and a plastic cap. The perforated section
was removed from the lid, socket soldered to the
keyboard beneath, plastic cap clicked 'into' the
BBC lid for protection when the socket was not
in use.

The socket, as far as I know, was meant to give access
to (via cartridges) either alternative speech data ROMs
(for e.g. different voices, words etc.), or ROMs whose
contents would then be accessible via the ROM filing
system (presumably the idea was that cartridges would
be produced for it with games or utilities).

AFAIK no alternative speech ROMs were ever produced,
nor anything else (except for the odd utility) that
could be plugged in.


John Kortink

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