Machine language vs Basic loading

[Witchy]

Hi folks,

A quick question regarding binary programs vs BASIC ones. A side note first, all my 'bees are Swedish and from a school, whether this has a bearing on the results I'm seeing I don't know. BASIC is colour BASIC v5.22d, © Microworld Aus.

Any BASIC program I load using my trusty Win10 laptop works fine, I don't even need to mess with the volume. The demo tape programs are all good. However, the second I try and load a binary like Emu Joust, Asteroids or Defence from either the original or converted repository it will display the filename then die almost immediately with 'bad load'. It's the same timing for each failure and it doesn't matter what I do to the volume (within reason, obviously too quiet and it doesn't find the header), the gap between displaying filename and dying are the same. 

Could this be a RAM or other hardware problem since it's not loading BASIC code? I also get no beep at power up either, must admit I've not checked the speaker wiring. This particular board has a handful of bodges underneath too.

cheers!

[ChickenMan]

If your 'bees are only 16k then the games your trying to load are to big and wont fit and would stop loading once the 16k is full.  Time to upgrade the memory.

Just looking at the pics you sent 7 years ago, and the microbee box indicates well one of them is only 16k.

   

[MbeeTech]

You could actually burn some eproms with Basic V5.22e if you wanted standard english basic on board.
It would require 2 x 2764 eproms. You can find the ROM data in the repository.

You can also check the size of memory installed by typing :
PRINT FRE(0) <RETURN> (zero, not the letter O )
this gives the size of free memory available for program storage.
A 16k machine with no program loaded will give a value of around 13,200 bytes.

[Witchy]

Hiya,

I think PRINT FRE(0) must've been the only BASIC means of finding free RAM I didn't try last night    


Also the box lies, or at least it does for the machine that's in it which happens to be the only worker. The serial numbers don't match.

Just checked on the machine and it shows 32K so the games should be OK. I'll try a different laptop tonight, got another win10 one (different hardware) and an old Thinkpad running Debian Stretch. If none of those work I'll be a bit stumped, short of putting the WAVs on an actual cassette of course - I'm definitely not short of an old Ferguson tape deck or 6.

Cheers,

[CheshireNoir]

I've been using my old Samsung Galaxy S4 as a tape deck with pretty good reliability. I unplug it from the power supply for complete isolation while I play back bothersome WAVs. It's also conveniently about the same size as a cassette.

Chesh

[Witchy]

Hm, I like that idea. I've got an HTC Hero here but trouble is its battery is toast. As it happens I (almost accidentally) got it working last night. I grabbed another Win10 laptop and started testing what I thought were different volume levels. At one point Emu Joust started loading and got to around 30s before dying. Progress! Then I noticed that the slider I was moving was 'playback speed'. Oops. Maximised the window and THERE was the volume slider. I eventually got success on a 1.05% playback speed and 91% volume - all the games I'd downloaded were fine so I've now got a handful of things to show off at the weekend. Good stuff!

[ChickenMan]

Great news, please post some pics from the show and hope you impress everyone

[Witchy]

Lots of comments on the 'bee with several people trying to get to grips with Emu Joust. The machine wouldn't cooperate for around 30-40 mins after powerup, then all of a sudden it would happily load games again. This is obviously what happened last week while I was messing with single click steps on the volume control.

Here is my table
And here is my 'bee.

Machines L-R ACT Sirius 1, DEC Rainbow, 'bee, Positron 9000 (only known one in the world), EACA Genie III (only known one in the UK)

An excellent weekend!

[ChickenMan]

Wow, great pics and that Positron 9000 is massive next to the little old 'bee. Glad to hear some interest in the Microbee, doubt many, if any, have ever been on show in the UK before.

[Witchy]

Nope, though the museum does have one on display in the cafe area. You really have to look to see it though. They also have a Premium but I don't think either of them work. General consensus from viewers of mine was 'the only reason I know this exists is because I've seen you talk about it.'

The Posi is HUGE. When I got it I put a ZX81 on the motherboard and it disappeared. Hopefully in a few weeks it will work too, not that I can do anything with it other than explore OS9 but still.