Educational Archive not in STH

[flaxcottage]

After a long weekend examining and archiving the haul of floppy discs I obtained at the WROCC Show 2018 I have managed to complete the archive of Sherston: Typesetter!

My notes show that I started this title back in 2014. I was missing the FONTS and USER discs and so the title remained until the WROCC Show. There were two sets of Typesetter! discs. Both were copies but worked and contained all the necessary files AND they were de-protected.

Attached is the software and documentation. Enjoy.

[flaxcottage]

Sherston: Invisible Ink

This is one of several titles for which I had the documentation but not the software.

Thanks to billcarr2005, who had the software, here is the compete package including documentation.

[OneSwitch]

Huge thanks to Colin McDougall and BillCarr. Here's the MARDIS Olympics game for the MicroMike.

This video shows it in use with my slightly annoying whistling. You can make any sound at all though. https://youtu.be/cpTcKibdces

I'm using it with the Desktop Micromike. I'm not sure when this was released, as it wasn't until it turned up on eBay that I was made aware of it. I'm guessing late 80's and more likely very early 90s looking at the high quality of it. If anyone has any more details I'd be really interested.

For the moment you can see more on the MicroMike at the BBC's Computer Literacy Project archive: (4 year old Christopher using it in 1985): https://computer-literacy-project.pilot ... cc96a0b361 and a bit on how it was invented: https://computer-literacy-project.pilot ... aa5db9d77b

[CMcDougall]

just received today from DaveE
disc1 no problem, only bad sector on last track, not used
disc2 pain in the $&%*
disc3 a little pain, but works

media x3

progs1

progs2

progs3

40T DFS.ssd's below, upped all for disc2s, so maybe make a worker... (or use progs from 1&2??).....

[flaxcottage]

What was the problem with disk 2?

The images you posted contain some pretty weird files. Is it possible to have a look at disc 2?

One immediate difference between disc 2 and the others is the missing user defined character definitions.

Apart from all that - bravo. Espana Viva is was MIA.

[billcarr2005]

40T DFS.ssd's below, upped all for disc2s, so maybe make a worker... (or use progs from 1&2??).....

Archived on 1st January 2018
All disks clean, no errors!

[flaxcottage]

BillCarr2005 is my hero!

Thanks, I'll put these in the Archive.

[Kenelm]

Great to see the efforts being made here to archive old educational software. I've recently been sorting through boxes of discs that belonged to by late father, which include well over 100 BBC micro educational titles. Some of these where obtained from a computer science lab when they were going to be thrown out. With only a few exceptions the documentation to go with these disks has unfortunately been lost.

It's difficult to work out what is already out there, but I've identified a few titles that don't appear to have been shared on here before. I'm new to creating SSD images and my BBC micro skills generally are very rusty, so please do point out if I am doing anything wrong.

Here's the first title...

Elizabethan Court from Longmans. Published 1986. A small well-written multi-choice text adventure. It is set in the court of Elizabeth I, with the aim being to secure a place on the Privy Council.

[lurkio]

Great to see the efforts being made here to archive old educational software. I've recently been sorting through boxes of discs that belonged to by late father, which include well over 100 BBC micro educational titles. Some of these where obtained from a computer science lab when they were going to be thrown out. With only a few exceptions the documentation to go with these disks has unfortunately been lost.

Interesting! Can you say which software you have documentation for?

It's difficult to work out what is already out there

Well, you've already found the right conversation-thread on the forum (this one), and I believe that the latest holdings of our main eduware collector, John/flaxcottage, are detailed here:

• viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7190&p=197243&hilit=latest#p197243

But see also:

• http://flaxcottage.com

I've identified a few titles that don't appear to have been shared on here before. I'm new to creating SSD images and my BBC micro skills generally are very rusty, so please do point out if I am doing anything wrong.

The .SSD you've uploaded seems fine to me, and it's quite an interesting game. Thanks! And welcome to Stardot!

[Kenelm]

Interesting! Can you say which software you have documentation for?

Not very much I'm afraid -

• Shell Centre - Maths 1 to 5 (already archived)
• Shell Centre - Music 1 (already archived)
• Panthera - Pressure Mat Programs (requires a pair of pressure mats which are plugged into the analogue port)
• Panthera - The Measuring Box (uses a "measuring box" to record sound, light and temperature, plus optional pressure mats for movement)
• L- Mathemagical Adventure (For this I also have 'L - A Mathemagical Adventure, A handbook of related activities' produced by Croydon LEA. It's a series of worksheets building on problems in the game. It has an excellent cover featuring characters and objects from the adventure.)

Well, you've already found the right conversation-thread on the forum (this one), and I believe that the latest holdings of our main eduware collector, John/flaxcottage, are detailed here:

• viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7190&p=197243&hilit=latest#p197243

But see also:

• http://flaxcottage.com

Thanks. I plan to share a full list of what I have got, but I'm currently still sorting through things.

[Kenelm]

Here's another program from Longman called Sucker. It's an economics/business title. You manage a firm producing vacuum cleaners and can set the product price and quantity of production with the aim of maximising profits.

[lurkio]

I also have 'L - A Mathemagical Adventure, A handbook of related activities' produced by Croydon LEA. It's a series of worksheets building on problems in the game. It has an excellent cover featuring characters and objects from the adventure.

Aha. I'd be very interested in seeing that!

Thanks. I plan to share a full list of what I have got, but I'm currently still sorting through things.

Looking forward to it!

[CMcDougall]

set the product price and quantity of production with the aim of maximising profits

higher demand = lower cost / low demand = max rip off! A bit like our fuel costs at moment, leave all in reserves I liked economics at school, got merits for that too, & only person to pass it first time out a class of 28 !
PS don't buy a Vax , they don't suck
PPS welcome

[Kenelm]

Camping by Northern Micromedia.

This is quite similar in style to Northern Micromedia's other releases. It was clearly aimed at younger children with lots of graphics.

Beware that write protect must be turned off. It isn't immediately apparent this is necessary, but it will eventually crash if the disk is protected.

I also have All About Me, Funfair, Pip Goes to the Moon and Pip's Island Adventure by Northern Micromedia. Happy to share any of these if requested.

[flaxcottage]

Great stuff!

Do you have the documentation as well?

[flaxcottage]

Some excellent titles from Xavier Educational Software were uploaded today to the Educational Archive. They are all written in machine code and aimed at children with dyslexia.

Thanks to the Computing History Museum for the loan of the discs.

[OneSwitch]

Really like that Tent game @Kenelm, thanks for sharing. I'd be interested in the others too.

@Flaxcottage - are you planning to upload the Brilliant Computing and other Special Needs educational stuff too?

Top work preserving this stuff.

[flaxcottage]

@Flaxcottage - are you planning to upload the Brilliant Computing and other Special Needs educational stuff too?

Yes it is on my list.

I do take requests but I cannot guarantee I'll honour them in a reasonable time frame.

[Kenelm]

Do you have the documentation as well?

No, unfortunately almost all the disks I have lack documentation (see my reply to lurkio above). I hope some of the software will still be of interest despite that.

Really like that Tent game @Kenelm, thanks for sharing. I'd be interested in the others too.

I've now realised most of the others are already on here, see here and here.

The one that's still missing is All About Me:

All About Me.ssd

(36 KiB) Downloaded 50 times

[Kenelm]

Here's another one from Longman -
Palestine 1947

Palastine 1947.ssd

(38.75 KiB) Downloaded 48 times

The other Longman titles I have are:

• Aural 5
• Flowers
• Human Population Growth
• Investigating Circuits
• Micro Map 1 & 2
• Pond
• Terrible Tales
• Winds
• Workers and Machines
• World of Newton

[lcww1]

The other Longman titles I have are:

• Aural 5
• Flowers
• Human Population Growth
• Investigating Circuits
• Micro Map 1 & 2
• Pond
• Terrible Tales
• Winds
• Workers and Machines
• World of Newton

Thanks for the uploads Kenelm! I’d very much like to see some of these other Longmans titles - Human Population Growth, Pond, Winds, and World of Newton sound particularly interesting to me ...

[flaxcottage]

Yes all the Longman titles would be interesting with or without documentation. I am just at this very moment adding to the Longman archive.

[Kenelm]

World of Newton by Longman

World of Newton.ssd

(89.75 KiB) Downloaded 42 times

I do plan to share all the Longman titles I have. I'm still checking the disk images. Some contain copy protection.

[Kenelm]

Workers and Machines by Longman

Workers and Machines.ssd

(17 KiB) Downloaded 50 times

[Kenelm]

Investigating Circuits by Longman

Investigating Circuits.ssd

(12.5 KiB) Downloaded 46 times

[billcarr2005]

I do plan to share all the Longman titles I have. I'm still checking the disk images. Some contain copy protection.

Are you able to circumvent the protection? If it's the same as on some disks I have, track 1 is unformatted / strangely formatted and then there's an attempt to read it. This section of code, in the case of my examples in the file P.filename can simply be skipped over without any issues.

[flaxcottage]

Thanks for the Longman titles. I have uploaded all the working ones that I had. Now I have some more to do.

[Kenelm]

Are you able to circumvent the protection? If it's the same as on some disks I have, track 1 is unformatted / strangely formatted and then there's an attempt to read it. This section of code, in the case of my examples in the file P.filename can simply be skipped over without any issues.

I have managed to circumvent the protection. In all cases the protection was as you describe. flaxcottage's post here saved me a lot of time. There are a small number of discs from other publishers that I am having difficulty with and might need to ask for help when I get around to looking at them again.


Here's another one from Longman...
Human Population Growth

[Kenelm]

Two biology titles again from Longman:

FLOWER / Flowering in soya bean
POND / Pond Ecology

[flaxcottage]

Thanks for the Longman titles. I knew they existed but didn't have them.