Date   : Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:27:15 -0000
From   : "David Harper" <dl.harper@...>
Subject: Re: Guess age from serial number?

"Annihilannic" <annihilannic@...> wrote:

> I have just started playing with one that a friend gave me last year;
> Ser# 02-B01-213287, with an Issue 7 board.  I presume it's one of the
> more common garden varieties?

Most later Model B's had the Issue 7 board. (It did seem a bit more reliable 
than the earlier ones.)

BTW, can anyone remember how many issues of motherboard there were? I can 
recall early beebs with Issues 1 to 4 and then Issue 7. I don't recall 
Issues 5 & 6 ever being used (or were they for the Electron??) IIRC they 
called the board for the B+ "Issue 10" and then they started again with the 
Master, but I may well be wrong here.

> On another note, I gather a Wordwise ROM is installed... what is
> Wordwise, and how would I load it?  Are the other slotted chips nearby
> also optional ROMs (only WordWise and DFS are listed in *HELP)?
>
> http://galaxy4.net/misc/beeb_roms_perhaps.jpg

Wordwise, as you have probably gathered by now, is a word-processor - one of 
the most popular ever produced for the BBC Micro. To start it you just enter 
*WORDWISE. You will probably need a manual to get anywhere. They come up on 
eBay from time to time, or there is a manual for the later Wordwise-Plus on 
http://www.bbcdocs.com (in the software section). If you have the original 
Wordwise, then you will not be able to use "Segment programs" (what would 
now be called "macros"), and a few of the control codes are missing. But the 
Wordwise-Plus manual does explain what is new, so you can easily see what 
won't work on the earlier version.

Of the ROM chips you have, the one on the left is the MOS (i.e. Machine 
Operating System). One of the others is almost certainly BBC Basic. Along 
with Wordwise and the DFS that would account for all four of the ROM chips 
you have.

David Harper