test please delete

[NickFitz]

I've still got a chance with another agent for a different gig, going to check tomorrow about the status.

Good stuff!

Best of luck with that - remember, they can't keep a good man down

@RC: I know they seem to be trying their best, but I'm betting something good will turn up for you soon. I'm keeping my ears to the ground for you, though unfortunately I'm more of a socialist than a socialite, so my ears aren't of as much value as those of Bismarck's Trumpet-Eared Bat

[NickFitz]

Good evening lads

'Ullo Darling :leer:

Oops, sorry - I quite forgot myself there

Good evening Zippy, how are you today?

(Phew - I think I managed to cover that one up and nobody noticed )

[Zippy]

'Ullo Darling :leer:

Oops, sorry - I quite forgot myself there

Good evening Zippy, how are you today?

(Phew - I think I managed to cover that one up and nobody noticed )

You've been in the pub again haven't you?

I'm fine thank you luv. How are you?

[NickFitz]

The next episode, the 1980s, goes really high tech, the BBC B is about to appear.

BBC Model B FTW!

The thing I loved about Acorn was the thought that went in right from the start - there was none of this nonsense about things breaking when a new version of the OS or the BASIC interpreter came out, unless you'd broken the rules.

It was possible to take a 6502 assembly language program written to work on the Acorn Atom and, by running it through a cross-assembler so it generated ARM object code, have it work on an ARM-based machine running RISC OS

The RISC OS architecture preserved entry points such as &FFEE (OSWRCH - write a character to what the Unix chappies call "stdout" or something) and OSRDCH at &FFE0 (affectionately known as "ostrich") to read a character from stdin. So an application written to run on an Acorn Atom or a Beeb didn't even need to have its OS calls remapped

If the relevant page had in-page anchors then I could link directly to this information (hey people, <h2 id="os_entry_points"> isn't that hard) but as it doesn't, I shall offer the information here (and also correct their misspelling of the word "perform"):

Routine		Vector		Summary of function
Name	Address	Name	Address	
OSFIND	FFCE	FINDV	21C	Open or close a file
OSGBPB	FFD1	GBPBV	21A	Load or save a block of memory to a file
OSBPUT	FFD4	BPUTV	218	Save a single byte to file from A
OSBGET	FFD7	BGETV	216	Load a single byte to A from file
OSARGS	FFDA	ARGSV	214	Load or save data about a file
OSFILE	FFDD	FILEV	212	Load or save a complete file
OSRDCH	FFE0	RDCHV	210	Read character (from keyboard) to A
OSASCI	FFE3	??	??	Write a character (to screen) from A plus LF if (A)=&0D
OSNEWL	FFE7	??	??	Write LF,CR (&0A,&0D) to screen
OSWRCH	FFEE	WRCHV	20E	Write character (to screen) from A
OSWORD	FFF1	WORDV	20C	Perform miscellaneous OS operation using control block to pass parameters
OSBYTE	FFF4	BYTEV	20A	Perform miscellaneous OS operation using registers to pass parameters
OSCLI	FFF7	CLIV	208	Interpret the command line given

[NickFitz]

You've been in the pub again haven't you?

I'm fine thank you luv. How are you?

Yup - I have to go to the pub or starve during the week

I'm not too bad thanks. The oncoming cold seems set to be a bit of a stinker though

A few pints help one to gain some perspective on an incipient disease. There's an analgesic effect - it doesn't necessarily make one feel any better, but it allows one to step aside from the physical symptoms and view them objectively.

This does feel like it may be quite a bad one, to the extent that I'm thinking I may have to lose half a day at ClientOrg tomorrow for the sake of getting home without the stress and hassle of driving through the Friday rush on the A14 as it gets dark

Still, as I often say of life, it's no worse than a bad cold

Glad to hear your talons are suitably shiny without the need for superfluous adornment

[Zippy]

Night night.

I hope the man 'flu recedes soon (drink lots of tea!). Talons still looking good ...

[NickFitz]

Night night.

I hope the man 'flu recedes soon (drink lots of tea!). Talons still looking good ...

Night Zip

P.S. I don't do "man flu" - I have colds. To do otherwise would be to deny the value of knowledge and truth for the sake of transitory and insincere sympathy, which doesn't seem to me to be a valid trade-off. But thank you for your good wishes, and best of luck with the talon maintenance programme

[FiveTimes]

Morning all

I'm all showered, dress, shaved and ready to take DD2 to school in 10 mins.

[FiveTimes]

Did my nails this evening. They are now wonderfully shiny - and I didn't have to put varnish on them.

You mean you didn't need to use Jessica top coat for the shine ?

[voodooflux]

Good moonring