Watford ELECTRONICS DISC DRIVE User manual

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR NEW
WATFORD ELECTRONICS DISC DRIVE
250 High Street, Watford, WD1 2AN, England. Tel: Watford (0923) 37774 / 40588. Telex: 8956095 WATFRD.
Congratulationson the purchase
of your new disc drive system!
Before you enter the world of
fast data transfer and random
access filing, please read the
followingnoteson connectingand
using the drive to your BBC
computer to get the maximum
performance from them.
Note: Always insert the disc head protectionsheet in the drive if
you are going to move it around.Do not switchthe drive on with this
card still in place otherwise you could damage the drives.
The above diagrams typify the type of drive you have just
received. We supply two makes of drive units - EPSON and
MITSUBISHI.Both drives are double sided and capable of single or
doubledensityrecordingformats(with appropriateinterface),however
the Epson drives have 40 tracks and the Mitsubishi'shave 80 tracks.
The data cable should be pushed home into the socket marked 'disc
drives' underneaththe computer.The cable will only fit in one way
round due to a polarising bump on the connector. To remove the
connector,push the two side arms apart and the cable should be
ejected.
Abbasford Ltd. Registered in England No 1609020

The new Mitsubishidrives have a rotary door latch. To insert a
disc, first ensure that the latch is in the position shown on the
diagram overleaf. Push the disc carefully into the drive, label
upwardsand nearestyou, until the disc stops.Rotatethe lever about
90 degreesclockwiseto lock the disc in place. Performthe above in
reverse to remove the disc.
With Epson drives,you lock the disc in place by again pushingthe
disc in until it clickshome, and pressingthe buttonin the top left
hand corner of the drive. To release the disc, press the button
again, and the disc will be ejected.
The Mitsubishidrives have a switch mountedon the rear to change
the drivesfrom 80 to 40 tracks,allowingthem to read 40 track discs
from other drives. This feature is necessaryif you have fitted an
Acorn DFS to your machine. The Watford DFS will do the same trick
under software control.
NB: Some Mitsubishidisc drives have these switcheson their front
facia.
To use discs with any drive, they must first be initialisedor
FORMATTED.Most disc operatingsystems contain some form of routine
to format discs. On the BBC computer,the standardAcorn Disc Filing
System(DFS) does not containa formatterand you must first obtaina
suitableprogramfor doing this. WatfordElectronicscan supply just
such a programon disc. If, however,you own a Watford DFS then you
will have no need for this programsince it has a formattingroutine
built into it. Pleaserefer to the DFS manualfor instructionson how
to format.
The drives we supply have a high access speed for the data. The
BBC computeris capable of using a wide range of drives, including
the old full heightunits.To optimisethe performanceof a Beeb with
a set of drives, there are some link options on the keyboard.See
diagram.

If you remove the cover from your Beeb and take out the keyboard(
disconnectthe ribbon cable), you will see a double row of eight
holes on the bottom right of the keyboard(they may be horizontalor
Verticaldependingon the age of the Beeb). If you now solder an 8-
way dip switch into this positionso that switch 1 is either on the
left or at the bottom of the bank of switches,you will be able to
select the following functions:-
SWITCH 1
This selects the 'master'filing system if you have the Acorn DNFS
ROM fitted.In a machinewith both Econetand DFS fitted,makingthis
switch will power you up into the Econet system. If this switch is
unmade, it will power up into a Disc system. This switch has no
effect on the Watford DFS.
SWITCH 2
Currently unused.
SWITCH 3 and 4
These select the operation speed for the DFS to match the drives. For
both Epson and Mitsubishi drives, both switches must be set.
SWITCH 5
This provides an Auto-Bootoption. If this switch is made then on
power up, or a hard reset, the computer will go to the currently
selected filing system and execute a !BOOT file if found.
SWITCH 6, 7 and 8
These switchesselect the default screen mode which is entered when
you power up the computer or perform a hard reset. With all the
switchesopen, Mode 7 is selected,when they are all closed,Mode 0
is selected. Other settings cause further screen modes to be
selected.
Note: These options may be changed under software control as well.
See *FX255 in the Advanced User Guide.