Introducing UPCFS - part of the UPURS suite

UPCFS is a complimentary tool written by Martin Barr that provides real BBC Micro based computers with the ability to read Unified Emulator Format (UEF) files as if they were real data cassettes. The speed at which UPCFS performs has to be seen to be believed. Where a cassette may take several minutes to load into the computer, UPCFS loads the equivalent UEF file in just a few seconds! Just take a look at the video below...

Benefits

By using UEF data files instead of the original data cassettes, not only is there a speed increase in the load times of the programs but there is also the reliability factor to consider. Original audio cassettes from the 1980's and early 1990's are aging and the data they store is degrading. In the not too distant future, some of the oldest data cassettes may not work at all. UPCFS attempts to answer that problem by allowing a real BBC Micro computer to take advantage of the digital storage solutions that have been created for the BBC Emulators. UEF data never gets old, it never wears out and it certainly never gets tangled in your cassette players pinch roller!

Compatibility

UPCFS strives to support as many UEF files as possible and remain transparent to the programs being loaded. With 240 software titles tested as working at the release of version 1 of UPCFS, the programs simply load as if they were being loaded direct from cassette... The only difference is the data rate! Currently with the release of version one of UPCFS, there are some incompatibilities with software titles that use strong copy protection techniques and you can take a look at the list of titles that we know do not work but the majority of UEF titles seem to behave just fine with UPCFS.

If you do find a UEF that isn't on the list of known incompatibilities then please let us know by submitting your information to us for analysis.