Date   : Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:40:53 -0800
From   : kieran@... (Kieran Mockford)
Subject: The Hobbit - BBC Graphical Disc Version

Hello folks,

I've been a lurker on the list for quite a while, but now I hope I have 
something small to contribute.

Like must of us, I was a pretty dedicated Beeb user back in the 80s, and 
still have all of my Beeb kit. That said, my original kit is mostly in Essex 
in my parent's loft and I'm here on the other side of the pond in Seattle. 
However.. one of RetroClinic's splendid, tricked out, BBC Masters made its 
way across the Atlantic (thanks Mark!!) and has allowed me to get some 
lingering frustrations fixed.

The first is the graphical disc version of The Hobbit for the Beeb:

When originally released by Melbourne House back in the 80s it would only 
run on a BBC Model B with a 8271 FDC. Everything else simply would not work.

A version has been adapted by me (far too many hours were spent on it - it 
meant replacing all the hard wired 8271 NMI based logic with OSWORD &7F 
based equivalents) to run on almost any BBC Micro model that has sideways 
RAM. It will work with 16K of SWR but will be much faster with 32K.

Find it here: http://home.kindredintellect.com/beeb/Software/TheHobbit/

I have also added the ability to save games as files to the drive that it is 
running from (this includes ADFS, CF etc.). Just use the normal save feature 
in-game and it will create the appropriate file.

This version has also had a couple of bugs fixed that make the game possible 
to complete.

It has been tested on:

- A real BBC Master 128 (using DFS, ADFS, RetroClinic CF, RetroClinic 
DataCentre, IFEL's MMBeeb. Even with Vine's Master to B converter!)
- A real BBC Model B    (using DFS)
- A real BBC Model B+   (using DFS and ADFS with Page at &1F00)
- All the emulators I could lay my hands on for PC and OSX including BeebEm

There are two versions here:

1. Hobbit_SSD.zip contains a bootable single sided 80 track disc image (it 
only just fits, no space to save games unfortunately!)
2. Hobbit_ADFS.zip contains a bootable 640k ADFS image that has enough space 
to save a number of games onto.

For those who maintain archives, please feel free to grab it :)

Happy dragon hunting! :)

..Kieran