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Documentation

Here you'll find various pieces of documentation related to the Beeb. Some are kept locally with this server and are also available with ftp, other links refer to resources other places in the world. Feel free to point me to other relevant documentation.

The documentation for games has not been indexed. The pretty comprehensive collection can be found here:

  • Games documentation, hints and solutions, or in
  • The main games archive, under the relevant publisher

    • Mark Usher has many more manuals and pieces of documentation at his disposal, and might be willing to scan in or look up information for you if you ask really, really nicely. As you will see, he has already contributed generously to this page (among others). Make sure you also visit Mark Usher's own page, The BBC Micro Documentation Project!

    Also note that documentation for some ROMs can be found in the relevant part of the ROM archive!

    The RTF files can be read on many systems using WordPad in Windows or Microsoft Word on Mac or in Windows (at least).

    Mark de Weger has sent me pages on:

  • file transfer and conversion procedures
  • the standard archiving format
    • Mark Usher's BBC documentation project includes the following fine works of scanning and OCRing. Most or all of these are in Rich Text (RTF) format, and should be readable by major word processors.

    Pete Robinson has made HTML versions of some of these documents, available here.

    Still can't find the manual you're looking for? The manuals section at 8BS has lots more!

    Acorn essentials

  • BBC Welcome booklet (PDF)
  • BBC User's Guide, B+ edition (version 1.00 by Greg Cook, excellent work! Go to Greg's page for an annotated RTF version.)
  • BBC Advanced User Guide (virtually perfect PDF conversion by John Simpson) BBC Advanced User Guide (by Gordon L. Craig - HTML conversion added by Wouter Scholten)
  • Advanced Reference Manual for the BBC Master
  • MOS Plus 3.10 and 3.50 manuals

    • Acorn hardware

  • 1770 Disc Interface Upgrade Kit Fitting Instructions
  • 6502 Second Processor User Guide
  • 65C102 Master Coprocessor
  • BBC B Service Manual (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • BBC B+ Service Manual
  • BBC B+ 64K Sideways RAM fitting instructions
  • BBC B+ 128K Additional User Information (PDF version)
  • Acorn Data Cassette Recorder Operating Instructions
  • Econet Advanced User Guide
  • Econet Installation Guide 1984 Ed. (Mark Ferns)
  • Econet Installation Guide 1988 Ed. (Mark Ferns)
  • A Hardware Guide for the BBC Microcomputer (HTML - mirrored from here)
  • Master 512 Technical Guide (HTML - mirrored from 8BS)
  • Master 512 Technical Information and Monitor Documentation (HTML - mirrored from 8BS)
  • Acorn Winchester Disc Service Manual
  • BBC Master Series Microcomputer Service Manual
  • BBC Master 128 Microcomputer Service Manual (Rob Sprowson)
  • Acorn Electron Plus 1 manual (the link leads to the Electron Forever site)

    • Acorn programming

  • Acornsoft Creative Assembler (by Wouter Scholten)
  • Acorn ISO-Pascal reference (manual appendices - PDF - Mark de Weger)
  • Acorn Lisp (SBL14)
  • Acorn S-Pascal (SBL08S)

    • Acorn applications

  • Acornsoft BASIC Editor function key strip (JPG - Mark de Weger)
  • Acornsoft BASIC Editor reference (manual appendices - PDF - Mark de Weger)
  • Acornsoft View manual
  • Acornsoft ViewIndex manual
  • Acornsoft ViewStore manual

    • Unsorted

  • ACP Advanced Control Panel manual
  • ACP Advanced Disc Investigator (ADI) manual
  • ACP Advanced Disc Toolkit (ADT) manual
  • ACP Advanced Electron 1770 DFS ROM, the user guide to the Electron DFS ROM, aka the Advanced Plus 4 ROM/Interface, which keeps PAGE at &E00
  • ACP Advanced ROM Manager manual
  • ADFS Utilities ROM manual (See Pete Robinson's page above for HTML.)
  • ATPL Sideways ROM board
  • Beebug C Stand Alone Generator manual (contributed by Frank Lee)
  • Beebug Exmon manual
  • Beebug Exmon II command summary (from Mark de Weger)
  • Beebug MagScan manual
  • Beebug Toolkit manual (courtesy of Crispin Boylan)
  • BBC BASIC Conversion Unit for the Atom (Keith Howell)
  • Computerlock security ROM
  • Disk drive and DFS guide (by Mark Usher - HTML conversion added by Wouter Scholten)
  • Clares BROM documentation
  • Econet Bridge: brief description on setting up one
  • EcoLink: docs and drivers for the PC-to-Econet interface card
  • ECOTRX 1.00: demo program with source showing how to program an Acorn 6512 Ecolink card, which connects a PC to a Acorn Econet network
  • Enigma Disc Imager (by Wouter Scholten)
  • Epson LX80 Toolkit ROM manual
  • Filestore Service Manual and diagrams
  • Genie Reference Guide (scanned by ORLOK)
  • Ground Control Uvipac instructions
  • HardDrive 1.2, instructions on attaching a hard drive to the BBC, by Mark Usher et al.
  • HADFS 5.22, manual for Jonathan Harston's HADFS filing system
  • Integra B, manual for this multi-purpose expansion board. (Ken Lowe)
  • InterWord manual
  • Jafa's Mode 7 adaptor for the Electron
  • Jafa Systems' Shadow RAM Board user guide: Fitting instructions and a resume of the benefits of this internal Acorn Electron addon which results in a switch labelled 'Normal/Turbo/64K' on the left hand side of the machine.
  • Marconi RB2 Tracker Ball User Guide
  • Micron Plus EPROM Programmer (Issue 2) manual
  • Micron EPROM Programmer manual
  • Micronet Terminal user's guide
  • Morley Teletext Adapter Support ROM (PDF by Derek Kennedy)
  • Morley Teletext Adapter key strip (adapted for PC keyboard by ORLOK)
  • Morley Teletext Adapter Dutch addendum (PDF by Jan Damme)
  • Opus DDOS manual (Chris Thornley - HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Opus Disk Manual: scans by Francois Joubert and Chris Thornley (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • OS disassembly: a series of articles complemented by a full disassembly of the BBC OS ROM, by Geoff Cox (originally posted on Micronet)
  • Pace Commstar manual (multi-image TIFs - Robin Stuart)
  • Peartree Sideways RAM documentation and software, scanned by G0WST.
  • Psion VU-Calc software and manual
  • The Quill manual (Word DOC by Dave Edwards)
  • SJ Research Econet Installation Instructions (Mark Ferns)
  • Slogger's Click user guide
  • Slogger's Electron Expansion 2.0 (Word DOC by Dave Edwards)
  • Slogger's Electron ROMBOX+ (Word DOC by Dave Edwards)
  • Slogger's Electron Switched Joystick Interface User Guide (Word DOC by Dave Edwards)
  • Slogger's Tape To Disc ROM user guide (including T2P3, T2CU, T2P4, T2SD and T2SEDFS)
  • Solidisk 2 and 4 meg boards manual HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Solidisk ADFS HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Solidisk EPROM Programmer HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Solidisk Sideways RAM board manual HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Technomatic Diskbook manual (OCR by Jim McLaren)
  • Technomatic NovaCAD manual
  • Vine Micros Master to BBC B Conversion Kit
  • Vine Micros Master OS Overlay Board
  • Vine Micros Master Write Protect Module
  • Vine Micros Replay (by Wouter Scholten)
  • Watford Electronics DFS manual (by Graham Clarke, RTF by Chris Richardson, HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Watford Digitiser manual (by Glyn G0WST)
  • Watford Electronics Dumpout 3 user's guide
  • Watford Electronics Epson NLQ ROM manual
  • Watford Electronics ROM Paging System
  • Watford Electronics ROM/RAM board documentation (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Watford Electronics Solderless Sideways ROM board (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • Watford Electronics Speech Synthesizer Operating Manual (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • WordWise Plus manual
  • XTend manual
  • Xtend (HTML conversion by Wouter Scholten)
  • Z80 Second Processor User Guide
  • Z80 BBC BASIC User Guide
  • Preparing the BBC for the Z80 Second Processor
    • Some circuit diagrams:
  • 6502 co-processor
  • BBC model B (improved by Gordon Jefferyes)
  • BBC model B+
  • Econet
  • Master 512
  • Z80 co-processor
    • Here are some datasheets related to the BBC:
  • 74 Series TTL RS Data Low Power Shottky (TIF)
  • 8271 Intel Floppy Controller (TIF)
  • HM4816 Hitachi RAM (TIF)
  • HN4827128 Hitachi 16KB EPROM (TIF)
  • HN482764 Hitachi 8KB EPROM (TIF)
  • MC6845 Motorola CRT Controller (TIF)
  • MC6850 Motorola Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter (ACIA) (TIF)
  • MC6854 Motorola Advanced Data-Link Controller (ADLC) (TIF)
  • MF501B/MF503B/MF504B Mitsubushi Floppy Drives (RTF) (HTML by Wouter Scholten)
  • R6522 Rockwell Versatile Interface Adapter (VIA) (TIF)
  • RS Data Speech Synthesis System (TIF)
  • SAA5050 Mullard Teletext Character Generator (TIF)
  • PD7002 NEC 12-bit Binary A/D Converter (TIF)
  • SN76489 Texas Instruments Digital Complex Sound Generator (TIF)
    • The following are ads for various bits and pieces (you might actually have to disable your ad blocker (like Internet Junkbuster) to access the "ads" directory!). This list is a bit out of synch - go here for a full directory listing.
  • Acorn Disc storage (floppy) for the BBC (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Acorn Music 500 (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Acorn Speech Kit for the BBC (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Acorn Teletext for the BBC (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • BBC B flyer (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • BBC B+ introductory flyer (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Acorn IEEE Interface for the BBC (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Introducing Econet (RTF by Mike Ferns)
  • Master 128 Optional System ROM
  • Morley EPROM Programmer ad (by Wouter Scholten)
  • Slogger's complete catalogue
  • Tynesoft catalogue (provided by Jeremy Grayson, nicely scanned by David Moore)
    • Some more documentation from various sources:
  • Converting from ViewStore to Microsoft Access
  • A success story on transferring VIEWSHEET files to PC by Luc Goosens
  • Acorn leaflets, a collection of Acorn's original ad flyers/leaflets.
  • 6502 op-code chart, a nice reference card in Postscript format
  • 6502 processor (originally from a C64 emulation package)
  • !6502Em snapshot format
  • !6502Em script format
  • 6502 opcodes and addressing modes summary
  • J.G. Harston's 6502 opcode list
  • Adam Vardy's 6502 undocumented opcode list
  • WD1770 Disk Controller
  • nic.funet.fi's C64 chip documentation, a lot of which applies to the BBC as well.
  • DFS (RTF) (See Pete Robinson's page above for HTML.)
  • Watford DFS 62-file disc catalogue format
  • HDFS (Postscript)
  • PCFCSD.txt, details on how to hack your PC's floppy controller for reading single density diskettes. (Taken from Sydex' 22DISK documentation.)
  • A quick overview of the BBC Master
  • Acorn OS 1.2 annotated disassembly (by Geoff Cox)
  • OSWORD listing and index by Jonathan Harston and Angus Duggan
  • How to use ROM images on a BBC, explained by Mark Ferns.
  • Inside Hybrid's Music 5000, explained by creator Chris Jordan
  • Superior Software's Speech!, another very informative page of history from Dave Jeffrey.
  • BBC FAQ initiated by Wouter Scholten. Contains info on archive/disk image formats and conversion, BBC/PC communication.
  • Acorn systems circuit diagrams. (Link to local mirror.)
  • Acorn's application notes. (Link to local mirror.)
  • New Advanced User Guide Errata (from James Fidell)
  • Mark Cooke's BBC mailing list archives
  • bbc-list@ohm.york.ac.uk mailing list archives (180 KB). Also available in Windows Help format, thanks to Mark Usher.
  • bbc-emu@bristol.ac.uk mailing list archives, from July 1994 to Jan 1995 (410 KB). Anyone got more?
  • Elite 3, a description of planned features by Angus Duggan

    • Robert Schmidt - rsc@nvg.org.