Educational Archive not in STH

[richardtoohey]

Next up from the Aussie bundle

Oh, I'd forgotten about that; good to hear it arrived in the end.

[lurkio]

Next up from the Aussie bundle

Oh, I'd forgotten about that; good to hear it arrived in the end.

Thanks, Richard. Yes, it arrived a while ago, but I've only just got round to looking at it. I'll follow up on the donations once I've gone through the collection properly. It's been a mixed bag so far...

[lurkio]

The worst holiday I ever had was when I spent a miserable week driving through East Anglia, travelling only by B-road. It turns out I'd misread the leaflet, and I was supposed to have been visiting the Norfolk Broads.

Still, it was better than this offering from Fernleaf Educational Software, which is quite possibly the most boring thing ever made.

I give you... Roads:

The back cover of the box for Roads by Fernleaf

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/5ojag1lj57ysxcb/ROADS.SSD

Download:

ROADS.SSD.zip

.SSD disc image of Roads: the original 5.25-inch DFS floppy disc wasn't copy-protected as such, but the .SSD transfer won't work in a DataCentre because the loader does some tricksy things

(36.45 KiB) Downloaded 49 times


Or download a hacked version that works with DataCentres:


http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7190&p=148001#p148001

The manual:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ilpy3i0atsql6v6/Roads_manual.pdf?dl=0

Exciting screenshot of Roads

[billcarr2005]

All decrypted so that Datacentre owners can "enjoy"!
The original code was intercepting any file loaded after DP and EORing the contents with &BD, then relocating to &E00.
They appear to work OK running from &1100, so no need for the tricksy-ness!

[lurkio]

All decrypted so that Datacentre owners can "enjoy"! The original code was intercepting any file loaded after DP and EORing the contents with &BD, then relocating to &E00. They appear to work OK running from &1100, so no need for the tricksy-ness!

Thanks, BillC! I think Roads will become the killer app for the DataCentre.

Btw, I'm currently struggling with another disc, Tile Mosaic by Cambridge Micro Systems (Cambridge University Press), and I'm wondering if an UPURS cable plus your FSD maker software mightn't be my best option if I can't crack the protection on the original floppy? Where can I download the FSD maker?

[lurkio]

Here's Window by MESU (Microelectronics Education Support Unit), a program "designed as a resource for the development of inferential skills and language in children with learning difficulties." It involves a sliding window that the user can move over a picture to reveal a bit at a time. (This comes, again, from the infamous Aussie bundle.)

Screenshot of Window

Screenshot of Window

A page from the Concise Guide to Window

Screenshot of Window

Screenshot of Window

I don't think you can play Window online in JSBeeb because the program needs write-access to the disc.

Download:

WINDOW.SSDs.zip

Three .SSD disc images for Window: the program came on three 5.25-inch DFS floppy discs. I think they'll work in a DataCentre but only with *DTRAP.

(151.52 KiB) Downloaded 47 times

Here's a partial scan of the manual:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kqa9pw491o0e53v/Window_manual.pdf?dl=0

[lurkio]

More Aussie bundle goodies.

This time, it's TAS LOGO II by... er, I don't know, actually! Do you? Please say if you know who wrote TAS LOGO II.

This is quite a nice implementation of the turtle-based drawing language Logo.

Scan of the floppy disc that TAS LOGO II came on

Screenshot of TAS LOGO II

Screenshot of TAS LOGO II

Screenshot of TAS LOGO II

Screenshot of TAS LOGO II

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ls0xeag1klrxy1t/TASLOGO.SSD

Download:

TASLOGO.SSD.zip

.SSD disc image of TAS LOGO II: image of the original unprotected 5.25-inch DFS floppy disc, should work in a DataCentre

(40.71 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

Notes:

TAS_LOGO_II_manual.pdf

Scan of the notes that came with the TAS LOGO II floppy disc

(2.39 MiB) Downloaded 49 times

[lurkio]

All Fingers Go!
by Microtrust Software and/or the National Extension College Cambridge

This is typing tutor software.

Screenshot of All Fingers Go!

Screenshot of All Fingers Go!

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/swtr2kpne6jbbyq/ALLFING.SSD

Download:

ALLFING.SSD.zip

.SSD DFS disc image of All Fingers Go!

(13.34 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

[lurkio]

Sequence
by the Education Department of Tasmania, Australia

Screenshot of Sequence

Screenshot of Sequence

Screenshot of Sequence

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/wzgkrl7mbp9m2bo/SEQUENC.DSD

Download:

SEQUENC.DSD.zip

.DSD DFS disc image of Sequence

(35.34 KiB) Downloaded 44 times

[lurkio]

Splash (1986)
Elizabeth Computer Centre, Education Department of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
"Volume no. 48, July, 1986."

Splash is a program for the BBC Microcomputer for use in early childhood and special education. It may be used as a sequel to the other S-Series programs Spot, Search, Size, Sequence and Space (ECC 1986).

Screenshot of Splash

Screenshot of Splash

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/6ul191qx5q88so9/SPLASH.DSD

Download:

SPLASH.DSD.zip

.DSD DFS disc image of Splash

(25.75 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

[lurkio]

Still more Aussie bundle goodies. (Or baddies in this case. (Read on...))

This time it's Tile Mosaic by Hilditch Software and Cambridge Micro Software (Cambridge University Press).

This one came on a 5.25-inch DFS floppy disc that was very well protected -- so well protected that I had a hell of a time trying to export it to a DataCentre, and I'm still not entirely sure that the disc image I've attached below is totally error-free.

The BASIC programs that make up Tile Mosaic were hidden away on dodgy tracks on side 2 of the disc -- a disc which, mind you, also had 40 tracks on side 0, with a machine-code !BOOT that did OSWORD sector-reads and switched you to side 2 if the drive was 80-track; and it was hacked so that it looked like the floppy had fewer tracks on side 2 than it actually did, the BASIC programs being located on the "extra" tracks.

On side 2 (the "truncated" 80-track side), a machine-code program called BOOT was decrypting parts of itself and doing lots of EOR checks to make sure you hadn't tried to alter it. It then read certain sectors of the disc, depending on the value of memory location &3AA, which was initially set by the !BOOT on side 0. (Hope you're following this.) Each batch of sectors that BOOT read off the disc contained a BASIC program, which would be OLDed and then RUN. And each BASIC program in turn changed the value of &3AA to signal to BOOT which BASIC program needed loading next.

Argh.

This was the first time I'd been faced with a disc quite this evil. I disassembled !BOOT on side 0 and got a few lines into disassembling BOOT on side 2 before I gave up in confusion. EORs and BITs never did agree with me. So I switched tack and fired up the Advanced Disc Investigator ROM instead -- which I hadn't used in anger before. (What a time to learn!)

Using ADI, I managed to find the "hidden" tracks on side 2, which had been given non-standard sector IDs: sectors are usually numbered from zero to nine, but tracks 59 and above had sectors numbered 128 to 137 instead. I think that was why my DataCentre couldn't make an image of the floppy disc: it was expecting to see standard sector IDs. I think there were also a few completely unformatted tracks thrown in for good measure (not to mention a track which had suffered genuine damage in transit, but which I fortunately managed to reconstruct using data from side 0).

So I used Ripoff IX to clone the original disc to a blank floppy, which it managed to do with aplomb, I have to say (certainly more aplomb than had so far been displayed by me). I then used ADI to reformat the non-standard sectors on the floppy-copy so that they had normal sector IDs. And finally I transferred the data for those sectors from the original floppy (with the non-standard sector IDs) to my floppy-copy (with normal sector IDs). This was made all the more tedious by the fact that I only have a single floppy drive, so I had to keep swapping discs after every track. (Argh.) Anyway, what I ended up with was a copied disc which wouldn't actually work (because BOOT couldn't find the dodgily numbered sectors any more), but which could at least be exported to the USB stick in my DataCentre as a .SSD disc image.

Then it was just a case of hacking the BASIC programs out of the .SSD file with a hex-editor on my laptop and CHAINing them together in the right order before finally giving in to total nervous collapse.

Was it worth all the effort? I'll let you be the judge of that.*

Screenshot of Tile Mosaic

Screenshot of Tile Mosaic

Screenshot of Tile Mosaic

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/c4580rul5x2pcwy/TILEfin.ssd

Download:

TILEfin.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc image of Tile Mosaic

(15.63 KiB) Downloaded 47 times




broken_TILE.zip

The trail of broken images I left as I tried to hack Tile Mosaic

(304.96 KiB) Downloaded 44 times

* The answer is no.

[daveejhitchins]

* The answer is no.

But well done, anyway Flaxcottage would have loved that one

Dave H

[flaxcottage]

Yes indeed he would. Well done Mr Lurkio - a brute force attack.

Me, I like to let the protection do all the hard work to extract the data and then intercept it and save. There will be a way.

[lurkio]

This is a big one -- if only because of the sheer volume of documentation that came with the disc.

It's Terra Australis by Trevor Jacob and Jim Vellios for Jacaranda Software.

It came on a 3.5-inch ADFS diskette, which wasn't protected (and in fact a note inside the box advised teachers to make a backup copy). I was able to transfer the files from the diskette to my DataCentre, and thence to a DFS .SSD disc image (attached below).

Front cover of box for Terra Australis






Back cover of box for Terra Australis






Screenshot of Terra Australis gameplay

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/t4t55k1ukf1hqbt/TERRAA.SSD

Download:

TERRAA.SSD.zip

.SSD DFS disc image of Terra Australis

(68.12 KiB) Downloaded 51 times

Documentation:

Terra_Australis_Teachers_Guide.pdf

Teacher's Guide to Terra Australis

(490.33 KiB) Downloaded 43 times




Terra_Australis_Students_Guide.pdf

Student's Guide to Terra Australis

(2.52 MiB) Downloaded 43 times




Terra_Australis_Students_Pack.pdf

Student's Pack for Terra Australis

(689.85 KiB) Downloaded 41 times

[lurkio]

[flaxcottage]

More Aussie bundle goodies.

This time, it's TAS LOGO II by... er, I don't know, actually! Do you? Please say if you know who wrote TAS LOGO II.

Department of Education, Tasmania. TAS-LOGO is one clue. I suppose. The disc label is another. That Teacher's Centre comes under the Dept Education Tasmania.

[lurkio]

' ' '
Many thanks to Ottly for providing us with a copy of Raft-Away River by Jacaranda Software for the Beeb.

Screenshot of Raft-Away River

Screenshot of Raft-Away River

Screenshot of Raft-Away River

More info:

http://playitagainproject.org/games/raft-away-river/

Play online:

http://bbc.godbolt.org/?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/gkbec3c63q8td6u/RAFTAWAY.ssd

Download:

RAFTAWAY.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Raft-Away River

(11.85 KiB) Downloaded 58 times

[poncil]

Here is the Manual for Raft-Away River plus a scan of the front cover. I'm looking for the Manuals for Jacaranda's Cunning Running if anyone has those.

P

[lurkio]

Here is the Manual for Raft-Away River plus a scan of the front cover. I'm looking for the Manuals for Jacaranda's Cunning Running if anyone has those.

Belated thanks for the Raft-Away River manual!

I'm afraid I don't have any docs for Cunning Running, but do you happen to have the actual software?

[lurkio]

`
Thanks again to Ottly for providing us with a copy of On Trial: Ned Kelly by Compass Software for the Beeb.

Screenshot of Ned Kelly

I don't have any instructions for this, and I've only had a quick go, but it looks like you give commands to the game by pressing the function keys.

More info:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17045900?selectedversion=NBD6621157

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/kz6tb4udcwk0aly/NED.ssd

Download:

NED.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Ned Kelly

(38.65 KiB) Downloaded 31 times

[lurkio]

Another one from Ottly: a copy of Australian Cities (a geography quiz) for the Beeb. (Dunno who wrote it.)

Screenshot of Australian Cities

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/70xui32a69w9qh0/CITIES.ssd

Download:

CITIES.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Australian Cities

(16.77 KiB) Downloaded 32 times

[lurkio]

More from Ottly: a copy of Cunning Running by Jacaranda Software for the Beeb.

Don't know too much about this one. No documentation found as yet.

Screenshot of Cunning Running

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/aww3ybun5nc9ir4/CUNNING.ssd

Download:

CUNNING.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Cunning Running

(9.88 KiB) Downloaded 28 times

[lurkio]

Another delivery from Ottly: a copy of Quick-Cartage Company by Jacaranda Software for the Beeb.

(You might very well say that this sounds like it might be almost as dull a game as Roads, and if you did then that would be your opinion, and you'd be entitled to it. I, however, make no comment.)

Screenshot of Quick-Cartage company

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/2wdff22ujcp13rd/CARTAGE.ssd

Download:

CARTAGE.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Quick-Cartage Company

(12.83 KiB) Downloaded 33 times

[flaxcottage]

Nice finds, thanks.

Added to the archive.

[lurkio]

More booty from Ottly: a copy of WINDS - a Sailing Ship game by I Killbery, A Hills, and Longman Group, for the Beeb.

Screenshot of WINDS



Screenshot of WINDS

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/k14n678um3ch6lv/SAILING.ssd

Download:

SAILING.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of WINDS

(9.28 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

[lurkio]

All aboard the good ship Ottly: here's a copy of Settlement by, er, I don't know, actually! It's for the Beeb though.

Screenshot of Settlement



Screenshot of Settlement

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/f7b7pje2cbfzgwt/SETTLEMENT.ssd

Download:

SETTLEMENT.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Settlement

(22.26 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

[lurkio]

From Ottly again: here's a copy of the vaguely sinister Where Are We? by Prologic for the Beeb.

Screenshot of Where Are We?

(Good luck making head or tail of this one.)

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/d2fkhn0677atgyr/WHERE.ssd

Download:

WHERE.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Where Are We?

(16.61 KiB) Downloaded 30 times

[lurkio]

From Pernod's educational collection, here's Cranky (1983) by Acornsoft/Applied Systems Knowledge (ASK).

Screenshot






Screenshot






Screenshot

Play online:

http://bbcmicro.co.uk/jsbeeb/play.php?autoboot&disc=https%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropboxusercontent.com%2Fs%2Fbdu4gth66y0lh56%2FCRANKY.ssd

Download:

CRANKY.ssd.zip

.SSD DFS disc-image of Cranky

(6.12 KiB) Downloaded 21 times

[Multiwizard]

From Pernod's educational collection, here's Cranky (1983) by Acornsoft/Applied Systems Knowledge(ASK).

How did you came up with this idea?


Greetings, Wim...

Ps. thanks...

[billcarr2005]

For the sake of completeness, here is the disk version too...