Date   : Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:48:25 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: Connecting a BBC Micro to a PC

Wookie wrote:
> In message <43A2C81F.50608@...>
>           Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...> wrote:
> 
>> Speed's the main problem - it's not blindingly fast at BBC serial port
speeds. 
>> It's a shame there isn't a project around to cable up the BBC's 1MHz bus to a 
>> PC parallel port and transfer data that way!
> 
> There nearly is, how about user port to parallel port

Hmm yes, that might be a better solution :)

> , unfortunatly you
> need a RiscPC or A5000 as the host rather than a windoze/linux PC, see the
> link for more details.
> 
> http://web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/home/software/65link/index.htm

Hmmm, perhaps a bit more complex than I expected! I was thinking along the 
lines of something like Xfer, that could transfer single files or disk images 
to/from a disk in the BBC's drive (or a BBC hard drive).

Any idea whether the necessary cable is purely a cable - or does it involve 
extra logic? It'd be nice if it was no more complex than having to wire up a 
serial cable as for Xfer.

Getting the application onto the BBC side is likely a bit more tricky, but 
maybe someone can come up with a handful of BASIC lines which can receive 
initial data from the PC host over the link, rather than expecting the user to 
type the whole lot in. Not as ideal as the Xfer case though.


cheers

Jules