To load content from the Floppy drive first connect the IDE and power to the underside of the computer.

The BBC Micro uses 5 1/4" floppy discs.

A great guide to using floppy discs is by Cumana.

Floppy discs can be formatted into 40 or 80 track for the BBC Micro. Your floppy disc drive must support 40 or 80 track or read and write each time. Sometimes you get a unit that only reads 40 or 80 tracks, and others have a switch on the back to switch between 40 and 80.

Commands may vary depending on which version of DFS or ADFS you are running.

Type CAT and press Enter to list the contents of the floppy disc.

Often floppy discs will have a !BOOT file. This is designed to be run easily like executing a default exe on a computer.

To run the !BOOT file, press SHIFT + BREAK. This will run the intended startup from the floppy disc if it has a boot file.

To format a disc make sure to remove the write-protect notch from the disc for the side you want to write on. The discs are dual sided so there is a write-protect notch for each side.

When looking at the disc with the exposed disc at the top, the notch on the left is for that side of the disc. Remove the tape/notch so it is writeable. In this photo, this side of the disc is protected by the tape, but the other side (so the right side notch) being open means the other side is writeable.

The common way to format on a BBC Micro B (not the Master 128 or upgraded B models with 1770 interfaces) was to add a Disc Doctor ROM to your ROM sockets. This come with the *FORM command.

Find attached the manual for Disc Doctor. We will use this syntax as it is supported by all models of Micro.

Example syntax usage here:

To format a 40-track disc, have the disc inserted with the write-protect tab clear/removed and type the following:

FORM 0 40

This will format the Drive 0 (default floppy drive), in 40-track mode.

If your disc is write-protected it will fail at the first sector with Format error.

To format as an 80-track disc make sure your floppy disc is setup in the 80T position or the drive is an 80T. Some drives are 40T or 80T only, others have switches to go between each mode.

FORM 0 80

To see what files are on the floppy disc simply type *CAT standing for Catalogue. This will list the contents of the disc.

Here we can see files named !BOOT, CA, !HELP and so on.

The L after each name means it is a locked file that cannot be modified.

Notice in the image above the Option 2 (RUN). By default, formatted floppy discs are option 0.

To make the floppy runnable (meaning to call a command when you press Shift + Break) you can set the floppy to one of these 4 modes by calling the *OPT command with specific numbers.

This then executes the specific command when you press Shift + Break.

I won't cover all these options here but you can then create a !BOOT file to be loaded, run or execute.

Firstly, write your program, then use the SAVE "FILENAME" command to save the program in memory to the floppy disc, called FILENAME.

Loading back is just as easy and overwrites the program in memory. Call LOAD "FILENAME" to load the filename from disc.

Here is an example of making a new program, saving it to disc, clearing the program in memory and loading it back, then running it.

Althought not always guaranteed, as the drive could be bad or disc bad in general, here is what the fault codes often mean.

During a disc read operation a clock bit was missing.

During a disc transfer the processor did not respond fast enough, most likely due to a faulty disc interface card.

The cyclic redundancy check derived from the data read back differed from that stored on the disc.

The cyclic redundancy check derived form the data read back differed from that stored on the disc during a disc read.

During a transfer the disc stopped rotating. Often caused by a badly inserted disc.

Controller failed to find track zero. Often an unformatted disc.

Controller failed to find required sector. Either a corrupted or an unformatted disc.