Welcome to what's probably the best BBC Micro emulator for the PC.

Looking at the download page it's now been over a year since the last release, and no doubt you all want to know what's happening... Well, lets just say that things have not stood still, and there's something big around the corner, and a part of it might just start with an M. How far around the corner depends a little on you. You see, the more time I spend answering emails, the less time I spend programming. I am pleased to answer you questions and queries about the current version, but asking about release dates and the next version only occupies a lot of time I could better sepnd coding! Patience will be it's own reward.

So what's so great?

Well unlike other BBC emulators the keyboard actually works, so when you type a *, you actually get a star and don't have to remember that the star key was somewhere over there to the right.

It plays all those old BBC classic games, including the ones that used split screen modes such as Elite and Revs. It even runs FireTrack which did some very strange and wonderful things with the video registers!

It runs in full screen mode, not some tiny little window, and runs at the full 50Hz BBC screen update rate on a P90. You can run pcBBC under DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95 or Windows NT.

Compatibility List:

Castle Quest
Revs
FireTrack
Exile
Elite
- Original BBC Model B
- BBC Master
- BBC Model B Second Processor
Chuckie Egg
Repton
...in fact almost any game you could run on your BBC B will run on my emulator.

Hardware Emulation:

All the major hardware on the BBC is emulated.
Video ULA and 6845 CRTC.
System and User VIA (Timers).
16 banks of paged ROMS or SRAM.
Two keyboard options:
- PC keyboard layout.
- BBC keyboard layout, which is user configurable.
Serial ULA and serial controller.
BBC printer via the parallel port.
4 channel BBC sound (with an AdLib/SoundBlaster card).

You can even configure the emulator with a 6502 Second Processor, or with Shadow RAM and the more advanced 65C02 processor like on the Master Series computer. So now you can play the Master and Second Processor versions of Elite, which are available from the co-author, Ian Bell.

What's the down side?

The version that you can down load here is only the demo. It's a very good demo, in fact it includes all the features of the full version except:

It only runs for 10 minutes, and the exits.
It's limited to a single sound channel.
It's limited to 4 ROMs.

If you're happy with these limitations, then you're free to use it for as long as you like.

Registration.

If you would like the full version, then you can register in writing to the address below. Originally I assumed that this software was only going to be of interest to UK residents. Having received questions from overseas I have made enquiries about various methods of payment and here's the upshot. Paying foreign cheques into a British Bank costs at least £5 (half the registration fee!). Credit Cards are far too difficult and expensive to set up for the volumes involved here. So, here are the payment options that I can accept.

UK cheque or postal order for £10.00
Sterling EuroCheque for £10.00
Any major foreign currency (notes only please) be recorded delivery mail for at least the equivalent of £12.50 Sterling.
Please add a further £2.00 to all of the above prices if postage is required outside the UK.

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