BBC Schedula - Revision history

Joseph.Wharfe at 17:29, 7 August 2019

2019-08-07T17:29:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:29, 7 August 2019
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			{{Equipment}}
	BBC as in BBC Microcomputer, not BBC as in BBC broadcasts, although for much of it's history most of the content controlled was rebroadcasts of mainstream TV.		BBC as in BBC Microcomputer, not BBC as in BBC broadcasts, although for much of it's history most of the content controlled was rebroadcasts of mainstream TV.

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	==End of BBC Micro era==		==End of BBC Micro era==
	In a final burst of enthusiasm in early 2005, [[Dave Baker]] and [[Richard Ash]] moved the database to the main YSTV server and the PHP control daemon to the [[Video Server]] so that the FreeBSD machine could be retired, mainly in the interests of it's space in the rack. Over the summer of 2005, the whole lot was replaced by [[Spider and SchedSeven]], a new from-scratch solution built by [[Rob Humphrey]] and [[Dave Baker]].		In a final burst of enthusiasm in early 2005, [[Dave Baker]] and [[Richard Ash]] moved the database to the main YSTV server and the PHP control daemon to the [[Video Server]] so that the FreeBSD machine could be retired, mainly in the interests of it's space in the rack. Over the summer of 2005, the whole lot was replaced by [[Spider and SchedSeven]], a new from-scratch solution built by [[Rob Humphrey]] and [[Dave Baker]].

	~~[[Category:Equipment]]~~

Rw776: +cat

2015-05-15T10:06:18Z

+cat

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:06, 15 May 2015
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	==End of BBC Micro era==		==End of BBC Micro era==
	In a final burst of enthusiasm in early 2005, [[Dave Baker]] and [[Richard Ash]] moved the database to the main YSTV server and the PHP control daemon to the [[Video Server]] so that the FreeBSD machine could be retired, mainly in the interests of it's space in the rack. Over the summer of 2005, the whole lot was replaced by [[Spider and SchedSeven]], a new from-scratch solution built by [[Rob Humphrey]] and [[Dave Baker]].		In a final burst of enthusiasm in early 2005, [[Dave Baker]] and [[Richard Ash]] moved the database to the main YSTV server and the PHP control daemon to the [[Video Server]] so that the FreeBSD machine could be retired, mainly in the interests of it's space in the rack. Over the summer of 2005, the whole lot was replaced by [[Spider and SchedSeven]], a new from-scratch solution built by [[Rob Humphrey]] and [[Dave Baker]].

			[[Category:Equipment]]

Sprow: /* BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end */ Spelling

2007-10-21T21:17:44Z

BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end: Spelling

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:17, 21 October 2007
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	[[Image:AutoSchedule.png\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Hourly schedule update]]		[[Image:AutoSchedule.png\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Hourly schedule update]]
	* New satellite decoder support. This also added a small delay of 8 seconds where [[Grapevine]] would be shown while the satellite decoder ~~unscambled~~ the chosen channel.		* New satellite decoder support. This also added a small delay of 8 seconds where [[Grapevine]] would be shown while the satellite decoder unscrambled the chosen channel.
	* A new teletext device. This allowed teletext magazines for the five UK terrestrial channels to be rebroadcast, primarily being used for sports results during the mute lecture hours. The channel/page/time stripe normally shown on the top line of the page was replaced by "York Student Television", and subpages were visited by the page finding logic.		* A new teletext device. This allowed teletext magazines for the five UK terrestrial channels to be rebroadcast, primarily being used for sports results during the mute lecture hours. The channel/page/time stripe normally shown on the top line of the page was replaced by "York Student Television", and subpages were visited by the page finding logic.
	* Automatic schedules. In conjunction with a change to the DOS front end, hourly schedules (assuming nothing else was being shown) would display what was scheduled for that day. This just redisplayed a teletext image held on the floppy disc on the DOS front end.		* Automatic schedules. In conjunction with a change to the DOS front end, hourly schedules (assuming nothing else was being shown) would display what was scheduled for that day. This just redisplayed a teletext image held on the floppy disc on the DOS front end.

Sprow: /* BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end */

2007-06-08T07:33:39Z

BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:33, 8 June 2007
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	[[Image:ConsoleDayView.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Page per day listings]]		[[Image:ConsoleDayView.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Page per day listings]]
	From January 2000, after a suggestion by [[Alex Hudson]], a new 'page per day' interface was added rather than the schedule being one continuous listing. A priority column was also introduced so that the ~~original~~ of the schedule could be recorded, whether it was a telephone request, template entry, manually entered, etc...		From January 2000, after a suggestion by [[Alex Hudson]], a new 'page per day' interface was added rather than the schedule being one continuous listing. A priority column was also introduced so that the origin of the schedule could be recorded, whether it was a telephone request, template entry, manually entered, etc...

	The ever increasing number of satellite channels, in addition to the 40 teletext magazines available, made searching the channel selection somewhat tedious. The channel selector was therefore changed to allow just the first few letters to be typed to narrow down the listing.		The ever increasing number of satellite channels, in addition to the 40 teletext magazines available, made searching the channel selection somewhat tedious. The channel selector was therefore changed to allow just the first few letters to be typed to narrow down the listing.

Dummy User: /* BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end */ bit more detail

2007-05-22T22:30:43Z

BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end: bit more detail

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:30, 22 May 2007
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	==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==		==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==
	Owain set about writing a user interface based in C on a DOS platform. He thought he would try and use pointers to store all of the scheduling information. This version soon found itself in the bin after many crashes and he reverted to a static array, there's even a quote to that effect at the start of the source code:		In 1995-96 Owain set about writing a user interface based in C on a DOS platform. He thought he would try and use pointers to store all of the scheduling information. This version soon found itself in the bin after many crashes and he reverted to a static array, there's even a quote to that effect at the start of the source code:

	/* Owain experiments with arrays, structures and Alan's Scheduling System */		/* Owain experiments with arrays, structures and Alan's Scheduling System */

	True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the ~~new~~ system ~~proved popular~~ and was ~~used during 1995-96~~, ~~running~~ on ~~an old 286 with no harddisc~~.		True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked. The new system met with much enthusiasm. At first it ran an Owain's 386SX20, since this also had the compiler on it (Borland Turbo C). After a week or so to bed in, the executable was transferred to a boot floppy and run on a hard diskless 286. Owain spent some time trying to find a bit of code to translate between the Videoplus number system and programme start and finish times and channels. However none could be found, so he stuck with manual time and channel entry. The user interface was designed around the use of the 4 arrow keys, with as much help on the screen as possible. A number of short cuts were added to allow a schedule to be built up quickly. By pressing a key, a program could be repeated the next day or a different key for next week. Subsequent modifications were compiled using Borland C++ for Windows to generate a DOS executable using the recently installed PC's up {unsure\|G/145}.

	In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank Umatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.		In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank Umatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.

Sprow: Add Rob's DOS UI detail

2007-05-22T21:15:27Z

Add Rob's DOS UI detail

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:15, 22 May 2007
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	True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.		True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.

	In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank ~~UMatic~~]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.		In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank Umatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.

	At the start of 1996-97, Owain attempted a further feat with the PC user interface. He had experimented with an extremely crude VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical, that somehow seemed to work. His aim was to get the scheduler to announce the start of a program and show schedules by putting it's VGA output to network and showing some graphics. It was trialed before it was ready, and the system would get itself into a very confused state.		At the start of 1996-97, Owain attempted a further feat with the PC user interface. He had experimented with an extremely crude VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical, that somehow seemed to work. His aim was to get the scheduler to announce the start of a program and show schedules by putting it's VGA output to network and showing some graphics. It was trialed before it was ready, and the system would get itself into a very confused state.
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	The remaining changes to the BBC Micro versions were primarily incremental changes, such as renaming the startup commands, and timestamping the cryptic columns of numbers which scrolled past when the video was not otherwise being used for teletext or automatic schedules. From version 2.86 the [[Station Video Mux]] was used for video output instead, and the test cards gained a 1kHz audio tone.		The remaining changes to the BBC Micro versions were primarily incremental changes, such as renaming the startup commands, and timestamping the cryptic columns of numbers which scrolled past when the video was not otherwise being used for teletext or automatic schedules. From version 2.86 the [[Station Video Mux]] was used for video output instead, and the test cards gained a 1kHz audio tone.

			In parallel with the BBC Micro changes the DOS front end was also adjusted, partly to track new functionality and partly to enhance it in itself. A total of 27 versions were produced from 1998 to 2004.

			A handful of new keyboard shortcuts were added, notably using INSERT and DELETE on the keyboard for inserting and deleting programmes (rather than the obtuse I and D in Owain's version), and shortcuts to bring forward a programme ahead of schedule if required.

			[[Image:ConsoleDayView.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Page per day listings]]
			From January 2000, after a suggestion by [[Alex Hudson]], a new 'page per day' interface was added rather than the schedule being one continuous listing. A priority column was also introduced so that the original of the schedule could be recorded, whether it was a telephone request, template entry, manually entered, etc...

			The ever increasing number of satellite channels, in addition to the 40 teletext magazines available, made searching the channel selection somewhat tedious. The channel selector was therefore changed to allow just the first few letters to be typed to narrow down the listing.

			To save time for the [[Scheduling Manager]] the concept of schedule templates was introduced, infact this was just a CSV file saved from Excel with recurring programmes. With careful design a quite respectable number of programmes could fill the schedule with little or no human intervention.

			The code by this point could also be compiled to generate a version to run on an Acorn Archimedes, indeed this is where the development was done, and the DOS version which was actually used by the station only produced as a byproduct.

	==BBC Micro and PHP system==		==BBC Micro and PHP system==

Sprow: Add Rob's beeb ROM changes

2007-05-22T20:49:25Z

Add Rob's beeb ROM changes

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:49, 22 May 2007
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	[[Image:AlansScheduler.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|An intractable user interface]]		[[Image:AlansScheduler.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|An intractable user interface]]
	However, some people were slightly baffled by ~~the~~ user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.		However, some people were slightly baffled by user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.

	==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==		==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==
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	True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.		True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.

	~~[[Image:OwainsScheduler.png\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Diary view scheduling introduced]]~~

	In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank UMatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.		In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank UMatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.
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	==BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end==		==BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end==
	[[Rob Sprowson]] ~~came along~~ a ~~little~~ while ~~later~~ and ~~further improved it~~, as ~~well as hooking it up to~~ the [[Station Video Mux]].		The first 3 versions of the BBC Micro software by [[Rob Sprowson]] actually used Alan's binary which was patched to produce a new binary, this was made easy by the use of a 16 entry device table in the ROM so new devices could easily be swapped just by fiddling the table. These first 3 versions added:

			[[Image:AutoSchedule.png\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Hourly schedule update]]
			* New satellite decoder support. This also added a small delay of 8 seconds where [[Grapevine]] would be shown while the satellite decoder unscambled the chosen channel.
			* A new teletext device. This allowed teletext magazines for the five UK terrestrial channels to be rebroadcast, primarily being used for sports results during the mute lecture hours. The channel/page/time stripe normally shown on the top line of the page was replaced by "York Student Television", and subpages were visited by the page finding logic.
			* Automatic schedules. In conjunction with a change to the DOS front end, hourly schedules (assuming nothing else was being shown) would display what was scheduled for that day. This just redisplayed a teletext image held on the floppy disc on the DOS front end.

			By 1999 maintaining the various patches became too difficult and a whole new system ROM was produced, using communications code kindly supplied by Alan. A new 'test card' device was also added - not normally requested by most students - but allowed for easier network testing with a choice of colour bars; 2T pulse; and crosshatch.

			The remaining changes to the BBC Micro versions were primarily incremental changes, such as renaming the startup commands, and timestamping the cryptic columns of numbers which scrolled past when the video was not otherwise being used for teletext or automatic schedules. From version 2.86 the [[Station Video Mux]] was used for video output instead, and the test cards gained a 1kHz audio tone.

	==BBC Micro and PHP system==		==BBC Micro and PHP system==

Sprow: /* BBC Micro system */ Missing word

2007-05-19T21:39:25Z

BBC Micro system: Missing word

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:39, 19 May 2007
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	[[Image:AlansScheduler.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|An intractable user interface]]		[[Image:AlansScheduler.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|An intractable user interface]]
	However, some people were slightly baffled by user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.		However, some people were slightly baffled by the user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.

	==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==		==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==

Sprow: Add screenshot from DOS

2007-05-19T18:25:51Z

Add screenshot from DOS

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:25, 19 May 2007
Line 15:		Line 15:

	True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.		True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.

			[[Image:OwainsScheduler.png\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Diary view scheduling introduced]]

	In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank UMatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.		In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank UMatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.

Sprow: Pop in some detail on Owain's version, screenshot to follow when I can be bothered.

2007-05-19T17:58:25Z

Pop in some detail on Owain's version, screenshot to follow when I can be bothered.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:58, 19 May 2007
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	However, some people were slightly baffled by user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.		However, some people were slightly baffled by user interface. During a visit to [[Alan Murrell]] sometime later in 1995 [[Owain Davies]] discussed the issue of the user interface with Alan and suggested he could write an alternate but he could never match the excellent work that had been done in device control. Alan offered to substitute the user interface for a serial interface thus allowing another computer to control the BBC schedula.

	==BBC Micro and DOS front end==		==BBC Micro and Owain's DOS front end==
	Owain set about writing a user interface based in C on a DOS platform~~. The program would need to run from a boot disk disk on a hard disk less 386~~. He thought he would try and use pointers to store all of the scheduling information. This version soon found itself in the bin after many crashes and he reverted to a static array~~. The resulting system looked a little like a personal planner on~~ a ~~sky box today. True~~ to ~~his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful~~ at ~~first, until Alan advised to lift~~ the ~~front edge up~~ of the ~~BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight, it worked. The new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96.~~		Owain set about writing a user interface based in C on a DOS platform. He thought he would try and use pointers to store all of the scheduling information. This version soon found itself in the bin after many crashes and he reverted to a static array, there's even a quote to that effect at the start of the source code:

	~~At the start of 1996-97,~~ Owain ~~attempted a further feat~~ with ~~the PC user interface. He had experimented with an extremely crude VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical~~, ~~that somehow seemed to work. His aim was to get the scheduler to announce the start of a program~~ and ~~show schedules by putting it~~'s ~~VGA output to network and showing some graphics. It was trialed before it was ready, and the system would get itself into a very confused state. Reluctantly, he reverted to the previous version.~~		/* Owain experiments with arrays, structures and Alan's Scheduling System */

	[[Rob Sprowson]] came along a little while later and further improved it, ~~including re-doing the remote control code to control a Sky digibox rather than the original analogue receiver, and~~ hooking it up to the [[Station Video Mux]]		True to his word, Alan, produced the ammended program for the BBC. First trial, did not go successful at first, until Alan advised to lift the front edge up of the BBC up a couple of centimetres and then drop it. After which, much to Owain's delight - it worked - the new system proved popular and was used during 1995-96, running on an old 286 with no harddisc.

			In a split role, the DOS code also included a simple driver for [[Tank UMatic]] which had been modified to include a set of wires in parallel with the front panel play/rewind/stop buttons, in principle allowing tapes to be scheduled out of hours. However, this was never seen to be working and support was later removed, leaving all hardware in control of the BBC Micro.

			At the start of 1996-97, Owain attempted a further feat with the PC user interface. He had experimented with an extremely crude VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical, that somehow seemed to work. His aim was to get the scheduler to announce the start of a program and show schedules by putting it's VGA output to network and showing some graphics. It was trialed before it was ready, and the system would get itself into a very confused state.

			Reluctantly, he reverted to the previous version. Owain's last update was 8th October 1997 before handing over this stable version to [[Rob Sprowson]] to develop further.

			==BBC Micro and Rob's DOS front end==
			[[Rob Sprowson]] came along a little while later and further improved it, as well as hooking it up to the [[Station Video Mux]].

	==BBC Micro and PHP system==		==BBC Micro and PHP system==