What's New 2023


Please see below for 2023 updates to BeebMaster


1st December 2023 The last update for 2023 brings you all this:
I collected together all my floppy discs in January 2021 with a view to imaging them. In April 2021, I invented a new type of Econet Clock - the PyClock, which runs some simple code within a Raspberry Pi to output a square-wave on two of the Pi's GPIO pins which can be used as Clock + and Clock - signals.
An update to a set from 2018 which was originally published in 2022 - but now has an additional picture at the end. And I thought it would be a nice touch to generate the set from scratch on my A305. I managed to keep the world Econetification flowing, even in 2021, with another batch of Econet upgrade kits from May of that year.
This set shows some testing of how the BBC's internal increment timer lose time during certain I/O operations. In May 2021, I stocked up on ZIF sockets for the purpose of testing chips.
Now for some Laserdiscs, starting with another addition to my BBC Video laserdisc collection in May 2021. We aren't one of those dreadful websites who think that neither Mrs BM nor I got where we are today without owning the Reggie Perrin laserdisc.
And to finish off my 60th anniversary Dr Who updates, for the actual anniversary, I had a special viewing of the Pilot Episode at the appointed hour.
The final picture update for this Coronation Year sees me resuming a front-row position on the Mall in November 2023 for my first State occasion of the New Reign.
23rd November 2023 Yes, it's actually here, the 60th birthday of the greatest science-fiction phenomenon of all times, Dr Who!
I made a return visit to the Who Shop in London in November 2023, almost exactly 20 years after my first visit. A set from November 2022, reminding me what I was doing this time last year.
Dizzy the Dalek made her own 20th anniversary appearance just in time for the Dr Who 60th. I felt like it was my own birthday on the morning of 23rd November 2023 when I received a surprise present.
1st November 2023 It's wetter, if possible, than last time, but also colder, so it must be November now:
This set shows the reintroduction of Ribbon Cables to the BeebShop in September 2020. View B3.3 in MOS 3.50 introduces a new set of configuration options for the CMOS RAM, but they don't seem to work correctly!
Here's a detailed look at operating the Xebec S1410A Winchester Disc controller board with ADFS from January 2021. Here's my second attempt at imaging the NEC Winchester Disc with OS9 stored on it, after I had set the geometry correctly for a 20MB Winchester Disc.
This is my attempt to diagnose and solve a problem with accessing files on the Level 4 file server held on a Sunfish share. In March 2021, I diagnosed and fixed a curious problem with my HTML Generator where spurious data was occasionally being read into the captions.
Additions to my collection of BBC Video laserdiscs are rare nowadays, but in March 2021 I was able to add this one. A second addition from March 2021 added this title which I had been after for a few years.
My sixth month of anniversary viewing is of course, you'll have guessed by now, the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker.
1st October 2023 The incessant torrential rain since last time tells us that October is upon us, so here's a bit of Acorn cheer:
Acorn A3010 Adelaide board. A special test build of ARM BBC BASIC which increases PAGE to &10000 to prevent program corruption when copying the language from host to second processor. In fact, this has now been superseded by the built-in version of ARMBASIC to PiTubeDirect.
A rare update to my Midwich Hard Drive section, using my ADFS imager. And a closer look at the actual ST506 drive involved.
I can't quite recall where this hard disc drive came from, and when I was photographing and testing it in December 2020, I had a bit of difficulty finding information about it. It is of course a Technomatic Winchester Disc unit, which might ordinarily have a 5¼" Seagate or other Winnie inside it, but it has been replaced by this 3½" Lexikon drive in a 5¼" bay. Using the Lexikon drive.
In December 2020, I sent away for two Master RAM cartridges made by my very good friend ex of Baildon Electronics and now known as Retro Hardware. Now for a look at using one of the RH RAM Cartridges as installed in Station 114.
Previously I had concluded that the MOS 3.50 relocator didn't work. In fact, this was incorrect. It didn't work in Station 201 because of its unusual setup. In January 2021 I did get the relocator working, helped by reading the fruitful manual. This set shows my PiTube Direct just after I had upgraded the firmware to the Gecko release in January 2021.
This is my NEC hard disc and Xebec controller, in the original box it came in in January 2006. This set shows an initial attempt at using my ADFS Imager to make a backup image of my NEC D3126 Winchester Disc in January 2021, which was believed to contain an OS9 file system.
Now to the Fifth Doctor, who is the first one I grew up with, though I remember little first-hand from the Peter Davison era.
8th September 2023 The first anniversary of the Accession of His Majesty King Charles III is also a time to remember the day we lost Our Platinum Queen, of Glorious and Indelible Memory, and on a Beeb-related theme you can see new picture sets of the famous 1967 Stamp Portrait here and a special Domesday Machine tribute set here.

Today I am also publishing my last remaining picture set from the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, at the 2019 Birthday Parade
here as well as my visit to Kensington Palace during my time in London in September 2022 here.
1st September 2023 September starts right here:
Continuing the development of my ADFS disc imager started last month. A new set of custom Econet error messages, to replace the RISC-OS waffle.
A set of Namal floppy disc drives. My UFD Winchester Disc drive.
A new set of pictures of my Acorn Winchester Disc from September 2020. Using the Acorn Winchester Disc.
A new set of pictures of my Double Winchester Disc from September 2020. And a corresponding set on using the Double Winchester Disc.
A new hard drive host adapter from Ken Lowe. Imaging the RO3055 inside my Double Winchester disc.
New pictures of the famous BeebMaster Tesco Cheese Biscuits Wedge. During August, Tom Baker came and went as Dr Who in my 60th anniversary viewing.
1st August 2023 As everyone can see from the incessant torrential rain, it's mid-summer, so whilst you are very sensibly staying indoor to prevent being dissolved, why not have a look at August's updates:
With a bit of persistence and brute force, I made the Econet Level 3 real-time clock dongle give up its secrets. A revamped disc imager for ADFS floppy and hard drives, in preparation for a Winnie archiving session during 2020.
A look inside my Akhter hard drive in 2020. Discovering some hidden data on my Akhter hard drive.
A new, red Econet Podule. Using my new Econet Podule.
Issue 3 of the Level 4 file server. Into the third month of anniversary Who with the Third Doctor.
1st July 2023 A bit of a tidy up this month. I've got several picture set fragments which are only one or two images each, so here are some of them:
Lemmings on my RISC PC 700, from March 2020. Three Raspberry Pi Zero, all in the same picture, all at the same time!
An improvement to my RGBtoHDMI. "Working from Home".
Some 1772 Floppy Disc Controllers. The state of my BeebRoom as at August 2020.
And now, some more extensive picture sets:
Two new Raspberry Pi Tube Direct adapters from Ken Lowe. Ken Lowe ROM Adapter for "Computer Concepts" type mega-ROMs.
Some unusual low-profile Epson floppy disc drives. A new Raspberry Pi Plinth.
Clock Failure! A look at making my 2020 batch of Econet upgrade kits.
A prototype replica circuit for the Real Time Clock dongle. Second month of Who anniversary viewing means Second Doctor.
1st June 2023 After my birthday celebrations, and Coronation celebrations, more Beebing for June:
Even more, as if it were possible, Level 3 file server rescue from April 2020. A much more amenable Pi 1MHz adapter, designed by Ken Lowe.
A soldering station setup in the garage. A SCART to HDMI converter box.
A new SSD for the BeebMaster 2017 laptop. A set showing the making up of the first batch of Econet Socket Hubs and Terminators in June 2020.
My build-up to the Dr Who sixtieth birthday in November began six months early late last month, and you can see all the updates in my new section here.
6th May 2023 Today is Coronation Day and my special Coronation pages are here!

God save The King!
1st May 2023 It's happy birthday to me! And not just any other birthday, today I have been online for 20 years!

Now, pay attention for a moment please, as I have introduced an innovation. Well, not really, that would be going a bit too far. But I have decided to use as standard a system I devised back in 2006 to navigate around some of the picture sets showing my Domesday Machine being used. This "Domesday navigation" will now be used for most picture sets in future, so here's how it works:

In the picture set individual pages, the picture is now divided into three different fields, each with a different navigation function.
The left-hand quarter-width of the picture will take you back a step when clicked.
The right-hand quarter-width of the picture will take you on a step to the next picture when clicked.
This is similar behaviour to navigating when using the Domesday Discs on the Master AIV, which is why I call it "Domesday navigation".
In addition, I have made an enhancement so you can still see the picture full-size in the browser window without being embedded in the caption page. To do this, please click in the middle 50% of the picture. Some browsers still scale the picture to the browser window, but clicking should show it at full size. To get back to navigating the picture set from this point, you will have to use your browser back button or keypress.
Domesday Navigation pages are distinguished from other pages by having a BeebMaster Green border around the picture, for ease of identification. And hovering over any part of the picture will bring up a little reminder of what happens when clicking at that location.
What I like most about it is that you can click on any picture from the index page, and still navigate backwards from there without having to keep returning to the index to see earlier pictures. I hope you like it, and even more, I hope it works in your browser! You can always get in touch here.

It's easy to remember: Top, Middle or Bottom. What is a hotspot not? No, wait a minute, I've struck it lucky. Start again!
Left, Middle, Right - L, M, R - L for lurch back, M to magnify, and R for roll on!
All clear? Right ho, on with the fun and frolics!
What better way to start this 20th anniversary update than the topic which possibly started it all off in the first place: Econet! This is the latest instalment in the long-running saga of trying to rebuild my L3 file server after the CF card blanking disaster years earlier. It's now March 2020, and this effort takes place in three section, so you can read all about it here and here and here! A shiny new case for my Pi 4.
A survey of the version strings returned by numerous different file servers. An attempt at backing up the hard drive in my RISC PC 700 from April 2020.
A little programming trick I call TARDIS - to find out the screen dimensions of the current mode. I have revamped my section on Econet Station 201 as the beginning of an eventual revamp of all the pages for main stations on my Econet, with two new sets from 2020 showing the insides and outsides of Station 201, and an extensive workout.
A rare update to my Master 512 pages today, with 3 new sets using BeebSCSI with the 512, firstly as a floppy drive, then a hard disc drive and finally attemping to extend the hard drive to a larger size. You might have noticed a revamp to the BeebMaster logo for the 20th anniversary, and so I have made a picture set about the BM logo through ages.
As well as my own 20th anniversary today, later in the year we will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of everyone's favourite sci-fi phenomenon, Dr Who! I'm starting early with this update to my Who Pages. When it's new year or my birthday, I always like to ask you to have a look around the other sections of my website so I do hope you will. I try to give my non-Acorn sections their own anniversary update if possible - and today there is a Tea update, which although the final set being mentioned here for my 20th anniversary, in fact happens to have been the first set I generated with Domesday Navigation using the new version of my HTML Generator!.
One more thing! It's never a special occasion without the opportunity for you to save money - so please make sure to visit the BeebShop to take advantage of this 20th anniversary, 20% off, discount sale, and come back soon for even more updates!
21st April 2023 The day which I fervently wish could still have been the Birthday of Our Platinum Queen, of Blessed and Immortal Memory, sees the first update since September 2022, to my Royal Pages which can be found here.
1st April 2023 This month starts with some hard drive rescues, beginning with my Technomatic:
My Technomatic Winchester Disc being rescued in January 2020. A fix to BeebSCSI with a firmware update.
Already a replacement for BeebSCSI - the 1MHz Bus adapter for Raspberry Pi, which arrived in January 2020. Another use for a Pi plugged into a Beeb: the RGBtoHDMI converter, taking the Beeb's RGB output through a Pi and outputting HDMI video on the Pi's HDMI socket.
A new type of socket box which arrived in January 2020. Some soldering taking place round here in January 2020.
Before you know it, even more Technomatic Winchester rescue in February 2020. The rebuilding of my Level 3 Econet file server took a new turn in February 2020 with a little more progress.
A close up of my faulty RISC PC RAM in March 2020. Finally until next time, a repair to my new Pi RGBtoHDMI so I could get going with it properly.
1st March 2023 March begins with more Archimedes rescue:
Now it's the turn of the A3010 Family Pack. Testing the rescued A3010 Family Pack.
A3020 Rescue. Testing the A3020.
Fixing the hard disc in my A3020. In October 2019, I bought a registered copy of Disc Knight to fix a broken directory on my RISC PC 700 which the Level 4 file server had caused.
Making up the 2019 batch of 8271 Disc Upgrade Kits. The 6502 Turbo Second Processor emulator, running on my RISC PC 700.
A return to the show scene in January this year at the familiar setting in Camberley. A little bit more on running L3 FS on a RISC PC.
And March ends as it began with the final sets in my autumn 2019 Archimedes Rescue:
Repairing some battery damage on my RISC OS 2 Acorn A3000 Testing the repaired A3000.
Repairing my Wakefield RISC OS 3 Acorn A3000. And testing it still works.
Apart from a few non-Acorn sets held back for special purposes, this brings me to the end of my 2019 picture sets, which means as I go in March 2023, I am now only 3 years and 3 months behind with updates!
1st February 2023 February already, and beginning with an 8-bit repair:
Fixing a pesky LED on Station 129's keyboard.

At the same time, I took the opportunity to update the Issue 2 motherboard picture, and revamp the page, in my survey of BBC Micro Motherboards.
Adding a DIP switch to the keyboard links after the LED repair.
And now continuing with the Archimedes rescue & repair:
A rescue attempt for my A3010. A4000 Scanlight rescue.
Using the Scanlight A4000. My "Denton" A3000.
Using the Denton A3000. Denton A3000 Rescue.
1st January 2023 I'm making no predictions for 2023, so we go straight to the Beebing:
A collection of Winchesters assembled in 2019. My temporary setup from August 2019.
A memory upgrade for the 2017 BM Laptop computer. A very quick look at the May 2019 batch of Econet upgrade kits.
Adding a Fanshim to my Raspberry Pi 4. Testing a newly arrived batch of 8271 in September 2019.
Running the Level 3 Econet file server on a RISC PC. Beginning in the autumn of 2019, I started to rescue my 32-bit Acorns by changing the leaking batteries and imaging the hard drives, starting with my two A4000s.
A closer look at the "Scanlight" A4000. And now the "Midi".
As always at the start of a new year, I invite you to have a good rummage around the website, and take in some of the other sections which don't have a Beeb bent; here is a couple of new sets for you in my Tea pages:
My travelling tea station. And the perfect accompaniment, some home baked scones.


For previous updates, please see here.