Date   : Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:11:31 +0100
From   : tim.matthews@... (Tim Matthews)
Subject: Only one beep

> > The low pitch "burr" is the unconfigured sound chip, ie. it'll make 
> > that sound even if you unplug the 6502.
> > The OS silences this when the system 6522 is set up (since it hangs 
> > off the slow bus side of the 6522).
> > The second "bip" sound is just a VDU 7 which is embedded in 
> the string 
> > reporting the RAM size ("16K<7>" or "32K<7>"), which is why 
> there is 
> > no "bip" on a soft break, because the RAM size is not printed.
> 
> Wow. So many years I've wondered about that.
> 
> I feel slightly more enlightened today.
> 
> Thanks. :)

Me too! For 25 years I just thought that this was just a meaningless
Beeb startup signature tune. Thanks indeed!
So could a simplified explanation of the famous beep be 'sound chip
check, OS check, ram check'? Or is that too simple - or too wrong?!