bbc.xania.org

jsbeeb runs entirely in your browser, so loading media means handing a local file (or a Google Drive file) to the emulator and then telling it where that media should live — Drive 0, Drive 1, or the cassette deck. You can drag a file in, use the file picker, or open one from Google Drive, then optionally let it autoboot. The steps below follow the controls described on the jsbeeb page itself.

What you need before you start

• A BBC Micro disc image, tape image, or jsbeeb save state file on your computer, or the same stored in your Google Drive.
• A desktop browser — the page states jsbeeb works best in Chrome or Firefox.
• Sound is suspended until you click or press a key, so expect silence until you interact with the page.

Load a disc, tape, or save state

1. Open the Media panel. The page shows a "Drop a disc, tape or save state" area and a Media control.
2. Either drag the file onto that drop area, or use Open a file… to pick it from your computer.
3. Choose the destination:
   • Drive 0 or Drive 1 for disc images.
   • Cassette for tape images.
4. If you want the machine to start the media automatically, leave Autoboot after loading enabled; otherwise turn it off and start it yourself from inside the emulated BBC Micro.
5. Confirm the media appears in the Discs and tapes list, where you can search, show, or hide entries.

Expected result: the disc or tape shows up under the drive or cassette you selected, and with autoboot on, the BBC Micro begins running it.

Work with the disc surface and drives

The Disc surface view lets you inspect and manipulate what is mounted:

• Drive 0 / Drive 1 and Side 0 / Side 1 select which surface you are looking at.
• Format drive 0/2 and drive 1/3 are available from this panel.
• Pulse and motor indicators (including cassette motor) show activity while media runs.

For tapes, the data recorder gives you rew, play, stop, and eject, plus a counter. Use Rewind to return a tape to the start before playing it.

Open from Google Drive or create a blank disc

• Connect Google Drive lets you reach your own discs stored in Drive. The page notes that logging in to Google Drive stores only what is needed to reach your own discs, and that this is never shared with the jsbeeb developers.
• New blank disc… creates an empty disc you can then format and use.

Save, load, and rewind state

The top-level controls include Save state, Load state, and Rewind. Use Save state to capture the current machine state, Load state to restore one, and Rewind to step back through recent execution. Save states can also be dropped into the Media area like any other file.

Common snags

• No sound at first. The page suspends audio until a mouse click or key press — click the emulator area to enable it.
• Media loads but nothing runs. Check whether Autoboot after loading was disabled; if so, start the disc or tape from within the emulated machine.
• Wrong drive. A disc assigned to Drive 1 will not behave like one in Drive 0; reassign it if the software expects a specific drive.
• Tape sits idle. Press Play on the data recorder, and Rewind first if it is partway through.

Related tools on the page

• Edit BBC BASIC with Owlet (bbcmic.ro) opens a separate editor for BBC BASIC.
• Econet and File Server controls appear in the interface for networked setups.
• A debugger panel shows 6845 state, registers, and CPU registers (A, X, Y, S, PC) with single-step and breakpoint keys.

The default disc loaded by jsbeeb is Elite, made available by Ian Bell. Source is on GitHub, and the page points to the StarDot forums for BBC-related discussion.

jsbeeb was written by Matt Godbolt, and yes — you can run your own copy. The source is published on GitHub, so you can host it yourself or modify it. It is built on Sarah Walker's open-source b-em emulator, with additional contributions from other developers.

Who built it

The About panel inside jsbeeb credits the project as follows:

The cycle-accurate emulation draws heavily on the Visual 6502 project, which the About text notes is "well worth a donation." The default disc loaded when you open jsbeeb is Elite, made available by Ian Bell.

Can you run your own copy?

Yes. The About panel states directly: "Would you rather run your own copy? The source is on GitHub." That means self-hosting is an intended option, not a workaround.

Practical implications:

• Self-hosting is possible — the source is available, so you can serve it from your own machine or bucket.
• Modification is possible — because the source is open, you can change behaviour rather than only configure it.
• The hosted version is static — jsbeeb describes itself as "a static page served from an AWS bucket," with no server logs and nothing kept on the jsbeeb servers. Running your own copy therefore doesn't require replicating a backend.

Where to go for more

• Source code: linked from the About panel as "Source on GitHub."
• Community and BBC Micro discussion: the StarDot forums, recommended in the About text for "more on the BBC, and people to talk to about it."
• Browser note: jsbeeb states it "works best in Chrome or Firefox."

What this means for you

If you only want to use the emulator, the hosted version at bbc.xania.org is enough — no account or setup is required to start. If you want to inspect, fork, or host the emulator yourself, the GitHub source is the entry point, and the b-em lineage plus the Visual 6502 reference explain why the emulation is cycle-accurate rather than approximate.

jsbeeb does not keep your progress on its own servers. It gives you manual save states, load states, and a Rewind control so you can continue or undo a session, but the saved data lives in your browser or in your own Google Drive. The site is a static page served from an AWS bucket with no server logs and no personal information kept, so anything you want to keep long-term needs to be saved deliberately.

What jsbeeb actually saves

jsbeeb is a JavaScript BBC Micro emulator that runs in the browser. Its persistence features are session tools rather than automatic cloud backup:

• Save state — captures the current machine state so you can return to it later.
• Load state — restores a previously saved state.
• Rewind — steps back through recent activity, useful for undoing a mistake without a full reload.
• State — the menu area where save/load state controls sit, alongside Media, Fullscreen, and Help.

The default disc loaded is Elite, so if you reload the page you start from that default rather than from wherever you left off — unless you saved a state or your own disc.

Where your data is stored

The privacy notice is explicit: there are no server logs, nothing is kept on the jsbeeb servers, and no personal information is kept. Logging in to Google Drive stores only what is needed to reach your own discs, and that is never shared with the developers.

How to keep progress you care about

1. Use Save state before closing the tab or trying something risky.
2. Use Load state to return to that point later.
3. Use Rewind for quick undo during play, without committing a state.
4. To keep files beyond the browser, connect Google Drive and save discs there, or download them to your own machine.

A practical example: if you are partway through a game and want to test a risky move, save a state first. If it goes wrong, load the state or rewind. If you want that progress to survive a browser clear or a different device, put the disc or state file in your own Google Drive or local storage — jsbeeb will not hold it for you.

Limits to be aware of

• Nothing is backed up automatically to jsbeeb. If you do not save a state or your own file, a reload returns you to the default disc.
• Google Drive access is scoped to reaching your own discs; it is not a general account system for the emulator.
• Use is at your own risk, for lawful purposes, and the site is best in Chrome or Firefox.

jsbeeb (bbc.xania.org) is a browser-based emulator for the BBC Micro, the popular 1980s British home computer. You open the page and a working BBC B starts in your browser — no installer, no plugin, no account. It's aimed at anyone who wants to run BBC Micro software, revisit the machine, or poke at 6502 code without owning the hardware. It works best in Chrome or Firefox, according to the site.

What the emulator gives you

The core of the page is a running BBC Micro with a set of controls around it:

• Media loading — drag and drop a disc, tape, or save state onto the emulator, or use the media panel to insert images into Drive 0/1 or the cassette.
• Reset options — soft reset and hard reset, plus a "BBC B Media Reset" control.
• State handling — save state, load state, and rewind, so you can step back from a mistake.
• Display — fullscreen mode and a Help panel.
• Disc surface view — a visualisation of the disc surface, with Drive 0/1 and Side 0/1 selectors, pulse display, and format options for drive 0/2 and drive 1/3.
• Cassette controls — a data recorder with rewind, play, stop, and eject, plus a counter and a "Show power" toggle.
• Debugger — a 6845 state and register view, memory address display, and a 6502 register/instruction panel (A, X, Y, S, PC, flags) with step, step over, step out, breakpoint, and memory navigation keys.

The default disc loaded is Elite, made available by Ian Bell. The About panel credits Matt Godbolt as the author, notes the emulator is based on Sarah Walker's b-em, and mentions Andrew Hague's Acorn Atom emulation and the Visual 6502 project for cycle-accurate work.

Things worth knowing before you start

Audio may be suspended. The page shows a notice that your browser has suspended audio until you click or press a key — so if a game seems silent, interact with the page first.

Saving to Google Drive. There's a "Connect Google Drive" option for storing discs, with a choice of where to save (in this browser or on Google Drive). The privacy note says logging in to Google Drive stores only what's needed to reach your own discs, and that this is never shared with the jsbeeb developers.

Privacy and hosting. The site states it uses cookies for simple analytics, keeps no server logs, and stores nothing on jsbeeb servers — it's a static page served from an AWS bucket. Use is at your own risk, for any lawful purpose.

Self-hosting. If you'd rather run your own copy, the source is on GitHub.

Who it's for

• Nostalgia and retro computing — run BBC Micro titles like Elite directly in a tab.
• Learning 6502 assembly — the built-in debugger lets you step through code, set breakpoints, and inspect registers and memory.
• Disc and tape experimentation — the disc surface and cassette panels are useful if you want to see how media images behave.
• Quick access without hardware — no emulator install, no ROM files to hunt down for the default setup.

If you want a zero-setup way to use a BBC Micro in the browser, open bbc.xania.org and click the page to enable sound. If you need a specific machine model beyond what's emulated, or you want to modify the emulator itself, the GitHub source is the place to look.

jsbeeb works best in Chrome or Firefox, and its main audio limitation is that your browser may suspend sound until you click the mouse or press a key. The emulator itself is a static page, so the practical constraints come from your browser rather than from a server-side session.

Browser support

The site states plainly that it "works best in Chrome or Firefox." That is the only explicit browser guidance on the page, so treat other browsers as usable-but-untested rather than unsupported. If you hit rendering or input problems elsewhere, switching to a current Chrome or Firefox is the first thing to try.

Because jsbeeb is a static page served from an AWS bucket, there are no server logs and nothing is kept on the jsbeeb servers. That means browser choice affects performance and compatibility, not data retention.

Audio limitations

The page includes this notice:

Your browser has suspended audio -- mouse click or key press for sound.

Modern browsers block autoplay audio until the user interacts with the page. In jsbeeb this shows up as a suspended-audio message, and the fix is simply to click or press a key. Once you have interacted, sound should resume without further setup.

There is no separate volume or audio-settings panel described on the page, so if sound still does not play, check your system and tab mute state before assuming the emulator is at fault.

Controls and recovery options

The interface exposes several controls that matter when something goes wrong mid-session:

• Help – opens the in-page help panel.
• Fullscreen – expands the emulator view.
• Soft reset – restarts the emulated machine without clearing everything.
• Hard reset – a fuller reset of the emulated BBC Micro.
• Save state / Load state – capture and restore a session.
• Rewind – step back through recent emulation.

If audio or input behaves oddly after loading media, a soft or hard reset is a reasonable next step before reloading the page.

Risk and availability

The terms state that use of jsbeeb is "at your own risk, for whatever lawful purpose you wish," and that reasonable efforts are made to keep the site up to date and working. There is no uptime guarantee, and no account or login is required to use the emulator itself.

If you would rather not depend on the hosted page, the source is on GitHub, so you can run your own copy.

Quick checklist

In short: use Chrome or Firefox, expect to click or press a key before audio starts, and rely on the reset and save-state controls if a session goes wrong.