Bitshifters present Beeb Tracker - new VGM music demos!

[Pernod]

These are awesome! It's a shame the SN76489 was not used to it's potential in the 80's, though it did improve later with Icarus.

Are you ripping the VGM's yourself of utilising those found elsewhere? Can I put a request in for an Arcade compilation, which would hopefully include something like Super Locomotive, Hang-On Jr., Fantasy Zone.

[kieranhj]

These are awesome! It's a shame the SN76489 was not used to it's potential in the 80's, though it did improve later with Icarus.

Are you ripping the VGM's yourself of utilising those found elsewhere? Can I put a request in for an Arcade compilation, which would hopefully include something like Super Locomotive, Hang-On Jr., Fantasy Zone.

Thanks! The VGM's are found elsewhere - first batch on Battle of the Bits, next lot from smspower.org. Happy to put together an arcade pack from vgmrips, just need to find the time - bit busy at work next couple of weeks!

[Commie_User]

Happy to put together an arcade pack from vgmrips, just need to find the time - bit busy at work next couple of weeks!

These are indeed brilliant. Just imagine classrooms once ringing out with these on a wet lunchtime! Though I'm saddened a bunch of RAM expansions are needed to play these on a stock Beeby B. That could be another reason demos on the C64 were the things which thrived through the Amiga age.

[Pernod]

Though I'm saddened a bunch of RAM expansions are needed to play these on a stock Beeby B. That could be another reason demos on the C64 were the things which thrived through the Amiga age.

These all work on a normal unexpanded BBC B!

[kieranhj]

These all work on a normal unexpanded BBC B!

Of course! One day we will do a demo that maxes out the highest end standard issue 6502 BBC - a Master Turbo (2MHz + 4Mhz + 128k RAM) - but until then I'm trying to make sure everything runs on as wide a range of machines as possible. Let me know if you find any configurations that are broken.

[Commie_User]

These all work on a normal unexpanded BBC B!

Hmm. Something's not working on my unexpanded...

[kieranhj]

Hmm. Something's not working on my unexpanded...

OK, I can't help you with the last two as those aren't ours. But for the file not found error - what filing system are you using to play the disk? It definitely works on a real floppy on standard DFS, also DataCentre RAM drive. Are you using an MMC card setup? If so, which one and can you describe the setups you've taken to get that far please and which model Beeb? The BeebTracker discs only use standard file access using OSFILE call so no low-level or FS specific trickery. Curious!

[Commie_User]

Are you using an MMC card setup? If so, which one...

Ah, I thought it would be that! It's not the first time things don't run on it. But all the same, it's the Turbo MMC model and I used MMBImager to import the SSD, to slot 257 or so.

Also, my BBC B is an issue 7 board which isn't disk drive ready. That's about all I can say. If it doesn't go then it doesn't go. I'm shocked at having found there are so many variables in having the 'right' BBC, having been on Commodores in the past.

[kieranhj]

Ah, I thought it would be that! It's not the first time things don't run on it. But all the same, it's the Turbo MMC model and I used MMBImager to import the SSD, to slot 257 or so.

I have a Turbo MMC card spare so will try to set up and test over the weekend. If I remember the DFS version that comes with that card is known to be buggy as was altered from Acorn original. Will let you know when I have an updated SSD image to try.

[Commie_User]

Oh. Thank you.

[Arcadian]

Wonderful seeing all the Sonic tracks converted to the Beeb! Might have to give this demo a bit of airtime on my Master at this weekend's ABug meetup!

Can't wait to see what's next in store!

And I'm with pernod - it would be splendiferous to see a compilation disc of the best SEGA arcade tracks!

[kieranhj]

Are you using an MMC card setup? If so, which one...

Ah, I thought it would be that! It's not the first time things don't run on it. But all the same, it's the Turbo MMC model and I used MMBImager to import the SSD, to slot 257 or so.

Also, my BBC B is an issue 7 board which isn't disk drive ready. That's about all I can say. If it doesn't go then it doesn't go. I'm shocked at having found there are so many variables in having the 'right' BBC, having been on Commodores in the past.

Hey Commie User, you were right, there was a bug that was breaking these discs for a plain BBC Model B + Turbo MMC setup. Now I have my vanilla Beeb up & running I was able to test this and found that Turbo MMC was resetting the current disc slot to 0 (hence the "File not found" error.) Turns out we were cheekily stealing some scratch memory from the NMI routine at address &D00 but Turbo MMC filing system seems to need this. I guess other programs use this trick which could explain some of the incompatibilities you've seen.

Anyway, I did a bit of memory jiggling, fixed the discs up and tested on my B - all seems to be fine now. Let me know if you find any other problems though. Enjoy!

https://bitshifters.github.io/content/bs-beebtrk.ssd
https://bitshifters.github.io/content/bs-beebtrk2.ssd
https://bitshifters.github.io/content/bs-beebtrk3.ssd

[Dave_E]

The contact us form on your site isn't working.

[simonm]

Hey Dave, thanks for the heads up - I tried it just now, but seems ok? (ie. messages come thru to our slack channel ok)
What browser are you using?

[Commie_User]

Anyway, I did a bit of memory jiggling, fixed the discs up and tested on my B - all seems to be fine now. Let me know if you find any other problems though. Enjoy!

Whoa, that's great! Sorry I took so long to try it but I can really say that's a job well done! Thanks.

[kieranhj]

Whoa, that's great! Sorry I took so long to try it but I can really say that's a job well done! Thanks.

Glad you like it! Have you checked out our latest demo? It now works properly on MMC: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12574&p=163146#p163146

[Commie_User]

Excellent stuff. I'd like to have seen demos of this calibre doing the rounds in the BBC's heyday! I daresay they would have pushed a few more machines run through display models.

[kieranhj]

Excellent stuff. I'd like to have seen demos of this calibre doing the rounds in the BBC's heyday! I daresay they would have pushed a few more machines run through display models.

Haha, yes I think we'd all have liked to have seen that. Sadly I was too young at the time, its easier now after many years as a professional software engineer, and some of our latest works are the beneficiaries of crunching large quantities of data on a modern PC to make optimal runtime structures for the old hardware.

That said, I still think there are a few games, particularly Exile, that defy the limitations of the BBC despite being hand-coded, without additional aids, back in the original heyday.

[Commie_User]

See! And people scoffed at those ancient newsreels which told us computers would do half of all our thinking from now on!