Posts tagged micro

Beeb@30 – Thirty years of the BBC Micro and Computer Literacy Project

3
1 year ago
by Andy in

BBC Model A - CaseThe Computer Literacy Project was a BBC-led initiative to improve computing education in Britain. A new series entitled The Computer Programme was planned for 1982, and the corporation wanted their own machine to accompany it.

A number of British computing firms were approached to produce a machine to the BBC’s own specification. The contract was awarded to Acorn Computers, whose own Atom replacement machine, the Proton, was adapted to satisfy the criteria.

The resulting BBC Micro became the machine of choice for schools up and down the country, backed by the then Conservative government’s own desire to make Britain lead the world in computer education.

Thirty years on, the BBC Micro is fondly remembered as being the computer that started a generation of careers in IT. It also begs the question – what did the Computer Literacy Project achieve, and how does it compare to how computing is taught now?

Beeb@30 will be a celebration with a twist, with the people who made it happen just over thirty years ago.

For more information and how to order tickets, please visit this page.

Your BBC Micro Stories

0
1 year ago
by Andy in

With the BBC Micro turning 30 years old, The Centre for Computing History are asking people to send in their stories and anecdotes about using the beeb in its heyday.

Perhaps the BBC Micro was the first computer you used at school? Or were you one of the many developers that created 3rd party products for it? Did you work for Acorn? Or perhaps you were one of the thousands of people had had one at home and spent every spare moment exploring this fantastic machine?
Whatever your story we’d love to hear it. Write your story here.

Nyan cat for the BBC Micro

1
1 year ago
by Andy in

This is Nyan Cat for the BBC Micro by CRTC. This demo was released at the Sunrise Demo party in 2011. See the following pouet page for more info : beebnyan by CRTC You can download a SSD containing beebnyan from that site to either run inside a emulator, or on a real BBC Computer.

Can you watch the video to the end?

I recorded this video on a real BBC Master 128. The original sound output from the BBC wasn’t great, so I recorded the audio direct onto my laptop and overlaid the sound onto the video. The BBC isn’t known for its audio quality!

You may also notice I have copied the demo to the :0 ADFS hard drive. My :0 is a 512mb CF card attached to a RetroClinic Datacenter USB/IDE interface.

BBC Micro Advert – The Story of Daphne

0
1 year ago
by Andy in

Just found this great TV advert for the BBC Micro. Check it out!

80s advert for the BBC Microcomputer. Daphne’s invested a lot of money in that thing – it’s got the Prestel adaptor, the disc drive, the additional Z80 processor and something else… teletext adaptor perhaps.

Old and new, side by side.

1
2 years ago
by Andy in

Here are probably 2 of the most important computers of all time – The Macbook pro and the BBC Micro (Well, the BBC is definitely a very important machine!)

You can click on the photo above to see a higher resolution copy on Flickr.

Here are the specifications of the 2 machines.

BBC Model B

  • CPU : MOS Technologies 6502 at 2Mhz
  • RAM : 32k as standard (This one has 52k RAM)
  • Storage : Either audio casette or disk. This one has a SD Card reader acting as a disk drive
  • Graphics : 640×256 with 8 colours + teletext (Mode 7)
  • OS : OS 1.20 and Watford Electronics DDFS 1.50

Apple MacBook Pro

  • CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.26Ghz
  • RAM : 2GB DDR3
  • Storage : 160Gb SATA
  • Graphics : 1280×800 16 Million colours
  • OS : Apple OS X 10.6.3

The BBC is the older machine, but it boots to its OS in under a second. If only modern Macs and PCs would be as quick.

Want to buy a BBC Micro? Read this!

0
2 years ago
by Andy in ,

Michelle wanted to buy a Acorn BBC Model B. She decided to buy one from Retro Clinic. She is very pleased with her purchase!

So, whats better? A random BBC of eBay or one from Retro Clinic? Michelle explains her experience.

Take a look at this… £160 delivered.


Now think about how I got my hands on my other BBC this year. E-bay auction for £50 delivered. Sound like I got a good deal?

Well, first things first, remove from the Retro Clinic machine, the “Data Centre” and the sideways ram chip. That brings Retro Clinics price down to £90. A difference of £40. Keep that in mind.

Now lets take this the other way. Add the lowest cost solid state upgrade you can get, to the e-bayed PC, namely the MMC system at £25. That’s £75 against £150, (I’ve knocked a tenner off for the sideways ram) a difference of £75, but the difference in functionality and usability is considerable.

So initially it looks like the e-bay unit has still saved a chunk of cash. But is that really so? I mean, look at the extra manuals and materials that come with the Retro Clinic offering. 2gig CF card in the IDE slot for a start. A 2gig USB stick. Plus, the whole thing has been refurbished; no fear of the smoking death when you turn this baby on.

You can read the rest of the article at Retro Clinic makes sense.

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