Today we have a rare update to the old Electron DFS Disk Image page: Exile, complete with manual-lookup removed (thanks "Bill Carr"!).

Today the forum will be down during the day, due to a server move.

Update: the server move is now complete so I've reopened the forum.

Quite an unusual choice of game to map from Eelco today ... Superior Software's Thrust!  [ Game Help ].

Update:

• It's time for another HTML/PNG screenshot map, as Palace of Magic (Superior) gets the Bill Carr treatment  [ Game Help ]
  
  
• The Solution/Walkthrough for Life of Repton (also available from the Game Help pages) has been updated.
  
  Only one thing has changed: the solution to Work, Screen H has been simplified.

News:

• After years of searching and appealing, a complete set of the elusive HeadFirst Electron PD discs has finally been located.
  
  From Dave Edwards:

Just to let you know that the HeadFirst PD archives were donated to Acorn Electron World last week by one of its former proprietors, Mr. Gareth Boden. The catalogue is at: www.acornelectron.co.uk/haven/cats/headfirst.html You will see from the catalogues that HeadFirst PD also carried a number of BBC PD and SP64 discs. He did send these to me as well but they are 100% identical and don't even have different menu systems or anything so I haven't bothered to duplicate these in two catalogues. The two big acquisitions are the VORTEX DEMO and 32 screens for WHITE MAGIC. It's also nice to have the 'official' version of the MODE 7 EMULATOR DISC, although that had kind of already made it to PD World because it was published in EUG #21. VORTEX is worth checking out - apparently only an afternoon's work, you get a scrolling screen, spinning graphics and Axel F in glorious one channel thumping away on your Elk. If you haven't seen the INVADERS DEMO yet, I'd also recommend that one. Hell, I recommend the whole collection, it's the best collection that exists for the Electron!

Eelco Huininga's second contribution to the site is a glorious screenshot map for Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror (Micropower)  [ Game Help ].

Updates:

• Greg Cook created a screenshot map for Street Machine  [ Game Help ]
  
  
• Streaks supplied mp3s of the following Beeb 'mixes' ...   [ Sound + Music ]
  
  
  • Iono (Mr E Dies)
  • Midnight Summer Dream (Spellbinder Theme)
  • This Is How You Do It (Caveman Capers)
  • Wizadore Jingle.
    

News:

• Exile II - The Nameless was released as scheduled a couple of days ago - grab it from http://exile.ovine.net if you haven't already ...
  
  
• After a gap of more than 2.5 years, Tom Walker updated his Acorn Electron emulator Elkulator.
  
  Changes in v0.7:
  
  
  • Complete rewrite
  • Now cycle accurate
  • Emulates Elektuur/Slogger Turbo board
  • Emulates Slogger/Jafa Master RAM board
  • Altered tape emulation, Evening Star and Southern Belle now work
  • Firetrack now perfect
  • Tape emulation now really fast
  • More video filters.

This version is considerably slower than previous releases, so Tom will also be keeping v0.6 online.

• A couple of weeks ago, Steve O'Leary (forum user-id: sorvad) updated his BBC Micro File Management utility to Version 0.4.
  
  Now entitled FS Manager, it features the following changes since v0.3:
  
  
  • ADFS disks can now be opened/create/edited (both M and L sizes)
  • Renamed from DFS Manager to FS Manager to reflect the multiple file systems it can handle
  • User guide updated
  • Some very minor bug fixes/alterations.

Note the new url: www.stairwaytohell.com/fsmanager.

Trevor "Smila" Storey's PC version of Exile has finally been completed and is currently undergoing final beta testing.

Since we first featured a WIP screenshot waaaay back in March '04, Smila has joined forces with the Ovine guys and that alone should give you a good idea of the type of calibre to expect.

So whilst we all eagerly await the public release of "Exile II - The Nameless" read up on its development via our forum, the retroremakes.com forum and also the Ovine Blogg.

Plus if you missed it - check out the stunning preview video which was released earlier this year:
http://baa.ovine.net/smila/exile2.zip (Appox 65Mb, AVI format).

---

Speaking of Exile "remakes", Richard Jewson's ActionScript 3/Flash engine now has a permanent home on the web, here: http://home.planet.nl/~borst595/Exile.html

If you think you can help out with either the level design or graphics, drop Richard a line via our forum, here.

Dave Eggleston has released another update to the GP2X port of BeebEm.

Version 0.5-1 includes these bugfixes:

• Multiple key-press keyboard bug fixed
• File selector no longer crashes if the filename is too long
• Sideways RAM save state bug fixed (Exile restores state correctly now)

... plus the following new features since version 0.5:

• New GP2X stick handling options - see 'Change stick mode' on menu
• File selection list now wraps round
• Stick directions are now reversed in 'flipped' mode (as you would expect)
• Slight optimisation to audio - so hopefully it's as fast as it was in version 0.4.

Download links:
http://beebem-unix.bbcmicro.com/download/beebem05_1.tar.gz
http://beebem-unix.bbcmicro.com/download/beebem05_1.zip

Added a long-overdue entry for Spraydough's PC remake of Sim to the Clones page.

Posted by Michael Foot at comp.sys.acorn.announce:

Today sees a number of additions to the Game Help pages, as follows:

• Stuart Lewis has created a complete set of maps for all 25 levels of Dunjunz
  
  
• Andrew Hayes (AJH) supplied a set of maps for his Xor - The Procyon Levels hack.
  
  He also provided a BBC Micro Disk Image containing the bare Procyon levels, which can be loaded directly into the Xor Designer.
  
  Finally, his maps for the original version of Xor have also been updated
  
  
• Eelco Huininga supplied a screenshot map for Robico Software's Banjax
  
  
• Barbara Gibb provided an absolutely massive solution for the absolutely massive text adventure, Gateway to Karos
  
  
• Bill Carr devised three more of his "trademark" HTML/PNG-based Screenshot Maps:

Quest

Sabre Wulf

Wizzy's Mansion

And if you haven't already spotted them on YouTube check out the growing collection of BBC Micro and Acorn Electron gaming videos, here.

Dave Eggleston has released v0.5 of the GP2X port of BeebEm.

Changes since v0.4:

• A "message box" + much more user feedback
• 8271 FDC from Windows BeebEm 3.5
• A file selector - so an external file selector is no longer required
• Save state support
• Create blank disc option
• And last but not least, many, many, bug fixes.

Download links:
http://beebem-unix.bbcmicro.com/downloads/beebem05.tar.gz
http://beebem-unix.bbcmicro.com/downloads/beebem05.zip

Link to GP2X forum post:
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=38645

Mike Wyatt has released v3.8 of the BeebEm BBC Micro emulator.

Changes since v3.7:

• Enhanced user defined key mapping support. Shifted and unshifted key presses can now be defined separately so custom logical mappings can be defined
• Added load and save options for user defined key mappings
• Corrected emulation of PLY processor instruction
• Fixed bug in sound emulation that was causing sound artifacts
• Set root directory to $ for new ADFS images
• Fixed keyboard interrupt handling (can now enter name in Super Pool high score table)
• Added some preference options to autosave CMOS and all of the prefs on exit. Also, by popular demand, added a prefs option to remember the last folder used for loading disc/tape/state files
• Fixed disc write protect menu update when ejecting a disc
• Increased default Econet flag fill timeout to 250000. Improves Econet comms a bit (still not 100% though).

Watch out for some in-depth coverage of the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in this month's edition of Retro Gamer which is due to hit the shelves today.

The feature reportedly spans an incredible TWELVE PAGES, eight of which were written by STH Member Stuart Goodwin (forum id: ivor_the_injun).

If you're not sure which edition to pick up, you want Issue 42 which has the following (very catching!) front cover:

Once you've read it, be sure to leave your comments in the appropriate thread on our forum.

And why not let the publishers know that you'd like to see the recent increase in Acorn coverage continue (something you can do via the Official Retrogamer Forum).

Or if you have some good ideas for more Acorn-related articles (and think you have it in you to write a piece for the mag) I'm sure that the Editor of Retrogamer would LOVE to hear from you.

Jon Welch has released new versions of DFS Explorer and ADFS Explorer.

Here's an explanation of the changes from Jon:

The Windows version of BeebEm has been updated to include Jon W's code for ARM 2nd Processor support.

Tom Walker has released v1.4 of the Windows port of B-Em.

It features the following changes/improvements:

• 65c012 tube emulation (+ Master Turbo) - from 4mhz to 64mhz
• Fixed bug in ARM tube emulation
• Sideways ROMs supported in Master emulation
• Windows version now releases unneeded CPU time
• Sound should hopefully be better.

As usual, source code is also available from the homepage: http://b-em.bbcmicro.com.

Jon Welch has added ARM Second Processor support to the Mac version of BeebEm.

A Windows version featuring the ARM code should follow shortly ...

Mike Wyatt released v3.6 of the BeebEm emulator and the list of changes is immense!

Changed since v3.5:

• Made BeebEm Vista compatible
• Added support for DirectX9 so image output looks good in Vista
• Moved all preferences from the Window registry to the Preferences.cfg file. CMOS settings also moved from cmos.ram to the prefs file
• Preferences such as Window position, FDC selection and CMOS settings are now only saved when "Save Preferences" is used
• Moved all "user" data such as disk images, tape images, state files, config files, etc. to the user's "My Documents\BeebEm" directory
• BeebEm will copy a default set of data files to "My Documents\BeebEm" if the directory does not exist. Each user will have their own data files and preferences
• Added command line options to specify user data directory, preferences file and roms configuration file. This allows different BeebEm preferences and configurations to be set up and selected via the command line. Also allows BeebEm to be run from a USB drive without affecting the host PC (run via the BeebEmLocal.vbs script)
• Added 'Protect on Load' to disc options menu to select default write protect state when a disc is loaded
• Added some more Window and full screen sizes
• Change to use Inno Setup for installation. Installer will move any user data files from "\Program File\BeebEm" to "My Documents\BeebEm"
• Fixed keyboard handling bug with the shift key
• Fixed write protection toggling when using 1770 DFS emulation
• Fixed error handling for open file failure in 1770 DFS emulation
• Fixed write protection reporting in 8271 DFS emulation
• Fixed preference saving for sound on/off and AMX on/off
• Added preliminary 300 baud support for CSW, Swarm now loads
• Added hard disc activity LED's
• Added CSW support to Tape Control window
• Added support for Level 3 Econet User Port RTC Module
• Added support for mixed mode ADFS/NETFS format discs.

Updates:

• Streaks created a rather splendid map of Spellbinder

[ Game Help ]

• Bill Carr provided a batch of screenshot maps for the following:
  
  
  • Last of the Free
  • Network
  • Pandemonium
  • Wizardore

[ Game Help ].

News:

• Dave Eggleston has created a GP32x port of BeebEm
  
  
• At the end of January, Fraser Ross released v2.1 of MakeUEF.

News:

• Yesterday, Thomas Harte released v0.6c of ElectrEm Future which includes the following improvements:
  
  
  • sound emulation fixes
  • tape interrupt inaccuracy/undocumented behaviour (caused no display in the Hewson games Southern Belle & Northern Star)
  • possible Vista compatibility fixes.
    
    
• Shortly before Xmas, Superior Interactive released Repton Spectacular.
  
  It includes new levels for owners of Repton 1, 2 and 3 plus features on: the Making of PC Repton, Repton Facts & Figures and the graphics from Repton 3.
  

Click here to see what was new in 2006.