
BBC Master on Steroids - retrohax
https://retrohax.net/bbc-master-on-steroids/
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taneq
That's super cool! I have an old BBC Micro in a box under a desk somewhere
which I want to get back on its feet someday - last time I powered it up I
think it was working (made the right boop-BEEP noise!) but I didn't have a
screen to test it with.

I also have a box of 5.25" floppies that I want try and read any data off -
they've been untouched for decades, is there anything I should/shouldn't do
before plugging in the floppy drive and spinning them up?

~~~
tom_
For connecting to a TV, easiest thing might be to buy an RGB to SCART cable
from eBay. Less than £15, good picture quality.

Good summary of potential disk/drive issues and cleaning options:
[http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/clean_disks.html](http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/clean_disks.html).
Spatula-shaped cotton wool buds are handy for cleaning drives, as there might
not be much room inside.

As per the article, [http://stardot.org.uk/](http://stardot.org.uk/) is a good
resource for all things BBC Micro in general.

~~~
justinlloyd
Purchase a scan converter. There is a popular OpenSource project and many
manufacturers are making them. Several support RGB, S-Video, RF, VGA and SCART
and can upscale to something a 1080p HDMI TV/monitor can use. Supremely useful
for all of those retro consoles and computers in our modern day. Kaicco is the
more popular brand for the project, though I don't think that one supports
S-Video.

Edit: You can connect a BBC Micro (and many other 8-bit micros) to the
standard OSCC. It simply doesn't have the plug on the board, you will need an
adapter cable.

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72deluxe
Very interesting, I did not know you could use a RPi as a second processor. My
dad has a 6502 second processor and we were wowed by the hidden line removal
and colour on Elite at the time.

Didn't make me play any better though.

I just used to enjoy Chuckie Egg, Mr. EE, Dare Devil Dennis, Exile, Mission
Impossible and Firetrack. Brilliant music on Firetrack.

~~~
tyingq
There's a cool project that uses an FPGA to allow several implementations of
BBC Micro Co Processors (65C02, Z80, 6809, 68000, x86, ARM2, PDP-11, 32016).

And not just vanilla ones. They have a "monster Z80" that does more per clock
cycle and a very fast clock, for example.

[https://github.com/hoglet67/CoPro6502](https://github.com/hoglet67/CoPro6502)

~~~
JdeBP
I wonder whether anyone has since thought of adding the KimKlone to that list.

* [https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/KimKlone/Kimklone_sho...](https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/KimKlone/Kimklone_short_summary.html) ([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16564257](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16564257) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3070169](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3070169))

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jedimastert
For those looking for more retro computer restoration, check out the 8-bit guy

[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uT9cgJorJPWu7ITLGo9Ww)

~~~
the_af
The 8BitGuy is like a gateway drug to retrocomputers. Thanks to his channel I
learned some things I didn't know back in the day, like that the CGA graphics
card was capable of better colors in composite mode.

He also convinced me of getting RetroGames' TheC64 maxi: a C64 lookalike
running a variant of VICE inside, with full working keyboard, petscii codes
and all!

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tracker1
I wonder if it would be possible to port the OS interfaces for the bbc
computers to RPi directly... putting the keyboard inputs into a modern USB
controller interface and just run the whole thing off of an RPi or similar.

TBH about the only hardware I really miss are the better CRT options compared
to how limited modern displays are or how much processing power it takes for a
level of detail that looks close to as good. A lot of older games look better
on a CRT than the same games scaled to 1080p or higher.

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jacquesm
Neat! One nitpick: never do a voltage switch like that with a toggle, always
use a slider. A toggle is way too easy to accidentally trip.

~~~
dfox
Also, the wites leading to the switch seem like 0.05” IDC cable, which is
horribly inadequate for mains application. The “jumper” is not some kind of
low power config input, it simply shorts the midpoint of DC smoothing
capacitor bank to neutral mains wire and thus is both live and conducts
significant current.

~~~
retrohax
Actually, I was under the impression that it is only config input. I will have
to recheck it. This might be a major problem. Thanks!

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nickt
@retrohax Just wanted to say thanks for the blog, it's an entertaining and
informative read! Man, that A1200 was in a state...

~~~
retrohax
btw. A1200 was a really mild state. Have a look at my "Extreme refurb" series
-> [https://retrohax.net/?s=extreme](https://retrohax.net/?s=extreme) Those
machines were a bit harder to fix lol :D

~~~
nickt
Excellent, will check them out.

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matthewmorgan
very cute, would be interesting to see something like
[https://collapseos.org/](https://collapseos.org/) running on it

~~~
valesco
It's an interesting idea. The funny thing is that in the event of a
civilization collapse, it might be way easier to find quad cores CPUs and 8 GB
RAM modules than antic pieces.

~~~
andybak
But when supplies run out the idea is to restore manufacturing ability. It's
hard to bootstrap 7nm fabs in a Mad Max wasteland but we might conceivably be
able to get back to 1980s tech.

~~~
jacquesm
You can get back to 1980's tech easily enough if you have 1970's tech. And so
on all the way back to about 1920. Whatever you have + the knowledge remaining
will allow you to rise up the ladder a little quicker but not that much
quicker because you still need to go through all the motions in between.
Skipping steps is really hard, most progress is incremental.

