Discussion Forum for all things Microbee - All Forums

UBee512 Launcher UI

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:07:07 +1000

Hi people, I am a nostalgic Microbee user who is infrequently using ubee512 and something I have found is that I am constantly having to relearn how to use it each time I get hit by a wave of nostalgia.

This is the reason I decided to build myself a UI launcher using tkinter that can scan my ubee folder for disk images and roms, and then builds the launch code. I can just hit the start button and get into whatever old game I decided to play or try writing some old basic code for a laugh.

Is anyone else interested in trying the launcher? If there is interest from other users I would be happy to share.

I have support for printing to a text file on the host computer from the microbee and I am working on integrating CP/M tools as well. But right now the launcher is working well for me on my linux host.

Many Microbee articles and Magazine extracts

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:28:52 +1000

From a recent purchase there were a number of Microbee related articles worth scanning and archiving. More Your Computer magazines were found on archive.org of issues we dont have, so all the Microbee related articles were extracted.

Check out the prices Microcorp was selling Microbees for just prior to their release of the Microbee Matilda back in June 1990.

So in the MbeeTech Repository in the Microbee\Documentation\Articles folder we placed

denistone_east_demonstration_program.pdf
letter_to_smug_selected_to_evaluate_premium_series_86_01.pdf
list_of_3rd_party_microbee_software_suppliers.pdf
microbees_1986_christmas_promotion.pdf
microbee_changes_and_solftware_prices_1982.pdf
microbee_inservice_courses.pdf
microbee_system_letterhead_press_release.pdf
microbee_user_groups_discounts_&_price_list_84_11.pdf
microcorp_microbee_clearence_sale_90_06.pdf
northside_membership_application_form.pdf
telememo_use_instructions.pdf

ausbug_membership_application_form.pdf <-- Public\Newsletters\Ausbug folder

give_your_programs_a_good_start_yc_87_07.pdf <-- in Public\Magazines\Your_Computer\1987 folder
glyphic_software_advert_yc_87_08.pdf
greymatter_zeephon_advert_yc_87_04.pdf
your_microbee_yc_87_04.pdf
your_microbee_yc_87_08.pdf

microbee_upgrade_policy_yc.pdf <-- in Public\Magazines\Your_Computer folder

Microbee 5.25" Floppy disk labels

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:11:33 +1000

Thanks to davidm for making these disks available to have their labels scanned. Scanned at 300 dpi and saved as JPG files.

While we already have these games/programs in the Repository, imaging the disk was not needed but we didnt have the actual disk labels in the collection. Most are from Jacaranda Willey and CARE. The 2 Turbo disks were updated as these are actual Microbee version disks.

So in the Mbeetech Repository in the Microbee/Documentation/Pictures/Disks/5.25_inch folder we placed

cherry_maths.jpg
cunning_running.jpg
decide_your_destiny_1.jpg
decide_your_destiny_2.jpg
decide_your_destiny_3.jpg
dreamcards_flip.jpg
dreamcards_misc_disk.jpg
flashprint_release_h.jpg
gold-dust_island.jpg
mbug_dos_disk_catalogue.jpg
micro_ed_1.4.jpg
pmedit.jpg
quick-cartage_company.jpg
scavenger_hunt.jpg
secrets.jpg
sheep-dog_trial.jpg
spelling_manager.jpg
turbo_database_toolbox.jpg <-- updated
turbo_pascal.jpg <-- updated
whats_the_time_mr_wolf.jpg

GreaseWeazel Fun

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 23:14:00 +1000

Hi All

I have decided to aquire a Greaseweazel so I can assist with software preservation activity, both for my private interest but also for the local ACMS.

Does anyone have a cookbook they'd like to share ? Recipes to make use easier?

A co-worker pulled an enclosure stl and has printed it for me - I have opted for a 5.25" Mitsubishi drive (as used in the early SBC) and have a NEC high density drive in transit to fill it - a 720kb and 1.4mb drive will eventually be fitted to a second enclosure.

Could the greaseweazel drive a SBC01/02 - the cable should be compatible if I've read the specifications right?

MICROLOG folder now included in the Vintage Repository

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:53:07 +1100

Thanks to GrahamL for proving scans of all these Brochures, ROMs, pictures, etc.

Microlog Controls Pty Ltd were designers and manufactures, in South Australia, of MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEMS, PROM PROGRAMMERS and STD BUS PRODUCTS. They were well known for their Little Video Board.

The LITTLE VIDEO BOARD (LVB) is designed to be the main component of a flexible VIDEO DISPLAY UNIT (VDU). The control sequences emulate the basic operation of the industry standard TELEVIDEO 910/912 terminal. The board requires an ASCII encoded parallel keyboard and either a modified television receiver or a high quality monitor to complete the system configuration.
The LVB is capable of operating at all standard baud rates up to 19.2Kbd. The data transmission characteristics such as stop bits, parity, data word length and baud rate are set by a DIL switch.

Searching the internet for Microlog Controls revealed very little information. I found a mention on Trove in the Commonwealth Australia Gazette of them selling some IBM XT software in 1986.

So in the Vintage repository in the new Microlog folder we placed

asyst_for_ibm_pc-xt_contracts_comm_aust_gazette_86_03.pdf
hi_res_graphics_card_controls.pdf
little_video_board_brochure.pdf
mc55_flyer.pdf
mc65_flyer.pdf
mcs_BASIC-52_users_manual.pdf

hi_res_graphics_video_card.jpg <-- these in Microlog\Pictures folder
little_video_board.jpg
mc55_real_time_clock.jpg
MCS-51_8052_basic.jpg
real_time_clock_&_16_channel_10bit_ADC.jpg

hi_res_graphics_video_card_rom.BIN <-- these in Microlog\ROMs folder
MCS-51_8052_basic_rom.BIN
23_LVB_CharROM.BIN
23_LVB_ProgROM.BIN
24_LVB_CharROM.BIN
24_LVB_ProgROM.BIN
25_LVB_CharROM.BIN
25_LVB_ProgROM.BIN

Capacitor Replacement Checklist / Shopping List?

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 13:29:51 +1100

Hi Folks

Does anyone have a table of the Capacitors (and any other components) that need to be (or should be) replaced prior to firing up an old Bee?

I suppose there will be a list of caps in the Bee which may vary depending on the model - but also power supplies and disk units / diskette drives?

5 More FM Bugs book from Talking Electronics

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 09:21:52 +1100

Thanks to PeterP from the recent Train and Hobby Show for lending me this book to be scanned. Scanned at 600pdi and converted to a searchable PDF as usual. Its A4 in size and 76 pages long. Page 42 has had a form cut out so page 41 is also missing a part, if anyone can help with a scan of those 2 compete pages, that would be appreciated.

It was written by Colin Mitchell and is the First printing 1994.

We are solely interested in presenting these projects as a means to learning electronics.
And with our range of different designs, it is an ideal way to master the subject.
The reason for this is the amazing results you can achieve from a transmitter, using just a handful of components.

5MORE.jpg (Size: 99.84 KB / Downloads: 41)

So in the Vintage Repository in the Vintage\Talking_Electronics\TE_Magazines & Books folder we placed

5_more_fm_bugs.pdf

Adding extra PCG RAM to 32K Microbee.

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 23:54:06 +1100

While my old 32k Personal Communicator Microbee no longer works I would like to get it functioning again, and part of that repair process would be to try to add more PCG RAM so that all 512x256 monochrome bits would be addressable, eliminating the old “out of PCG RAM” error message.

Is this technically possible, and would this require any patching of any ROMs? Secondly, would one be able to colour convert such a modified Bee?

Microbee News Report from 1985

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:45:17 +1100

This Eyewitness News report from 1985 captures the local excitement surrounding the home computer revolution. The Microbee computer, originally designed and distributed by Australians, was experiencing a surge in popularity – and thriving in overseas markets like Sweden and Denmark.

I've not seen this before from the National Film and Sound Archive. Watch it at -

Exporting Microbee computers | NFSA

SCAP (Stock Control & Pricing) Disk for the System-80

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 09:33:28 +1100

Thanks to Tezza for making this re-constructed copy of the SCAP (Stock Control & Pricing) program on a bootable disk and making a data disk also available.

After my first attempt to convert the program listing extracted from the Manual (see https://microbeetechnology.com.au/forum/...light=scap) Terry took on the job of actually getting the program listing fully de-bugged to a running disk. See his notes on the process here https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blo...g-SCAP.htm

The Dick Smith STOCK CONTROL AND PRICING SYSTEM (SCAP) is a
powerful computer program designed to run on the very popular
System-80 computer. It has been written in Australia,
specifically to meet the needs of small to medium Australian
business firms.

Terry then copied the 2 programs, SCAP and SCPSST to a MICROPRO disk (as it was originally released) and tested using the TRS80gp emulator. A few more errors were found but eventually ended up with a fully operation program after extensive testing. An empty SCAP Data disk was also created as needed by SCAP.

scap.jpg (Size: 75.27 KB / Downloads: 42)

The current dse_scap_system_manual.zip file which also contained the text files of SCAP and SCPSST was updated to include Terry's corrected files.

This is NOT a copy of the original disk but one that was re-constructed from the Manuals listing, it may contain further errors but testing by both Terry and myself, no errors were found.

So in the Vintage Repository in the System-80\Software\Disks folder placed

dse_scap.dmk <-- both included in the ZIP file
dse_scap_data_disk.dmk

dse_scap_system_manual.pdf <-- all in ZIP file in System-80\Documentation\Manuals folder with TXT files updated
SCAP.txt
SCPSST.txt

Hej from Sweden

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 04:33:24 +1100

I got my first computer Vic 20 - which wasnt so incredibly fun. It was when I convinced my father to buy a second hand Microbee 32 IC i got into programming, Basic, a little Forth and Z80....

The nostalgia of the old days in the late 1980 will always follow me....

My Microbees and System-80 at an earlier Train & Hobby Show

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:44:20 +1100

Here is a short video of my setup at the 2024 Train & Hobby Show with a couple of my Microbees and System-80.

Inside a Vintage Computer Collection | Microbee & System 80

Microbee BeeNet I v4.5 ROM

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:18:56 +1100

Thanks to JohnW for making this rom available to be imaged. It was found in an unlabelled 2732 (4kb) eprom that was imaged using my GQ-4x4 USB Programmer.

BeeNet I was a cost effective educational networking facility which utilises up to 16 existing 16K and 32K Microbee's as Student Stations.

We have the BeeNet 5.1 rom in the repository and its matching manual. We also have the manual for this version 4.5 ( see microbee_beenet_i_users_manual.pdf ) and now the rom. The rom originated from the Mona Vale Public School, N.S.W. and is copyrighted to Central Data in 1983.

Running ubee512 set as a Microbee IC and using the NET command, the rom boots to

BeeNet_I_v4.5.jpg (Size: 49.31 KB / Downloads: 71)

So in the MbeeTech Repository in the Microbee\Software\ROMs\Network folder we placed

beenet_I_v4.5.rom

uBee512 Sanity Checking?

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 22:08:27 +1100

Hi Folks

I've been trying to add an additional hdd to the uBee512 - I have made an assumption that the emulated controller can emulate 3 hdd's based on the help information

My normal start string is (Macos) - which works fine.

ubee512 --model=p128k --rom1=HD18.ROM --hdd1=hdd_128k_sys_2.2t.hd0 --video-type=gl --monitor=a

however

I copy the hdd file to another instance of it (Called hdd_test.hd0 )

ubee512 --model=p128k --rom1=HD18.ROM --hdd0=hdd_128k_sys_2.2t.hd0 --hdd2=hdd_test.hd0 --video-type=gl --monitor=a

Just seems to stall on the "Microbee Hard Disk System" Rom loader.

I'd like to have a virtual disk of around 20Mb in 4x5Mb partitions to store and test the CP/M software library I've amassed.

I would have expected to be able to use --hdd0 but that seems to also fail - what am I missing?

Novato - a macOS emulator compatible with the Microbee 32IC

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:20:23 +1100

All,

[ you might see the same post across different forums. I'm not sure if everyone has access to Facebook, MSPP or Microbee Technology Forums. Apologies if it seems like spamming ]

My previous attempt at a Microbee emulator (Abeja) turned out to be something of an architectural dead end.

So I decided to let the concept gestate for a while before coming back to try again last last year.

Introducing Novato ( Spanish for beginner, novice or newbie )

Completely rewritten from scratch using modern Swift concurrency, Novato is now at the point where it can boot BASIC 5.22e.

Of course, you won't get any further than that at this stage as I still need to :

Finish off decoding the z80 instruction set ( mostly flag affecting opcodes )
Restructure the emulator hot loop to count t-states and update 6545, audio and interrupt routines
Tie keypresses from SwiftUI into the 6545 class
Build audio output code
Build cassette load/save functionality.

You can find Novato at https://github.com/fatherdougalmaguire/Novato

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Tony