BBC Micro and the BBC Computer Literacy initiative

Hi Everyone,

I've been doing a lot of research in to vintage computers lately, it seems strange to me to think of the machines I grew up with as vintage. I suppose that must mean I'm now vintage! Anyway, while I was growing up in the UK, the BBC ran an initiative to raise the public awareness of computers. They approached several computer manufacturers to produce a micro that could be used for this initiative. After Newbury, makers of the New Brain computer, withdrew, Acorn won and went on to make the now famous BBC Micro - in all it's forms. Personally, I was never much interested in the BBC Micro at the time, although now I'd rather like to get my hands on one. What did spark my imagination was the BBC TV programmes that ran in 1981 and '82: The Computer Programme and Making the Most of the Micro. I was very happy to find that someone has put these programmes up on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogGKF5pDjmM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rirq-uFFKRc). These are pretty poor quality, probably VHS, recordings and I don't know how long they will stay up, they are probably breaking all sorts of copyright laws. These were interesting to watch again, partly for the nostalgia, partly for the bad haircuts but mostly to see how wrong (and sometimes right) their predictions were.

I also came across an interesting document, The Legacy of the BBC Micro (http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/Legacy_of_the_BBC_Micro8.pdf), which looked at how the BBC Micro and the BBC's Computer Literacy project impacted British education and culture. It looked at the machines that people were using at the time and which were the most popular, besides the BBC Micro. It showed that Sinclair, with their ZX81 (60%) and Spectrum (68%) lead the British micro market, closely followed by the Commodore 64 (54%). Perhaps no real surprise there, but I was surprised at the relatively low percentage of TRS-80 (18%) and Commodore Pet (30%) owners there were. I was a TRS-80 user, and I was very happy with it, but I always wanted a Pet - they looked so futuristic.

Obviously this survey was carried out in the UK, it was conducted online and those factors may skew the results slightly, but I thought it was interesting. So, I was wondering, for those of you old enough to have been around in the 1970's and '80s, what micros were you using at the time.

A Brit Downunder
www.abritdownunder.org

I was born during mid-June, 1969, and accordingly during the earliest 1980s I was at an age where computers quickly became a huge interest for me. Fortunately my parents realised this and accordingly I was given a Sinclair ZX-81 pretty much as soon as they became available. It quickly became obvious that I got on with computers very well, and even though I was entirely self taught I quickly learnt to program quite complex BASIC programs, and even began to teach myself some basic Z80 machine code.

Because of the obvious interest I had, my parents soon furnished me with a Vic-20, and then a Commodore 64. As my interest progressed I wanted and got an Atari 400, but found the keyboard very hard to get on with, so I quickly progressed to an Atari 800. There was a shop in Hatherley Road, Sidcup, London, called the Silica Shop which although not very wide as shops go, must have been a couple of hundred feet deep, and was an absolute aladdins cave of all things Atari, and I liked nothing more than visiting there and seeing the 810 FDDs etc, although these were beyond my financial means at the time!

Having a very keen interest in the market and developments, a machine I was very keen to get hold of, and in fact did as soon as it came into stock was the Camputers Lynx. Given a choice I would have had a BBC Model B but the cost of that was just too much for me. The Lynx however provided a very nice spec, and I absolutely adored the machine. I used to carefullly package up my machine and take it up the road to the Computer Club, at the Community Centre in Baring Road, Lee where people brought a wide range of machines from Spectrums, through to BBC's.

At school we were taught using machines made by a company called Research Machines (still going), specifically a 380Z server and a number of 480Z workstations. Frequently when the teachers couldn't get the computer science class to understand something, I'd be dragged to the front and asked to explain it to them! I didn't mind at all though - in those days computers were hugely cool, and I was known throughout the school for my ability with them.

At weekends I worked for an IBM dealership in Store Street, just off Tottenham Court Road, London, where I used to sell Apricot PCs/Xis etc, and then IBM PCs, XTs, ATs and PC Portables to people which brought in a whole new area of learning for me.

In parallel however I got myself an Amiga 1000 and progressed through a range of Atari ST series machines too.

For anyone interested in this era of computing in the UK, if you havent seen it you should watch this:


This is part 0 and there are seven more parts all found in the same place. I didn't upload this - so don't blame me if it gets taken down.

I adore this and can watch it over and over again without getting bored. In an era when computer compatibility is such a huge thing, I look back to the early 1980s and think "Forget compatibility! It was much more fun in those days!".

PS. If anyone overseas needs a BBC Micro or anything UK specific, let me know and we'll see what we can find!

I was born at the end of 1967 and had a similar interest in computers. I was also living in the same area of South London, well pretty close to you, Chislehurst, and remember The Silica Shop (I got my first computer chess set there), although I didn't know about the Computer Club in Lee... I wish I had known about it. I was the only one, both in my family and among my friends, who was interested in computers and it would have been good to know other people with my obsession. I went to Kemnal Manor School, and we used RM 380Z's and RM 480Z Link machines at the upper school, although at the lower school we used a single Commodore Pet just for us in the Computer Club (which mainly focused on all five of us members sitting around the Pet watching Mrs Jones (math teacher) writing small BASIC programs... and I loved it!). On the 380Z we learnt a simple Assembly language called Cecil.

I was pretty faithful to my beloved TRS-80, although a kindly uncle gave me a Commodore Vic-20 for a birthday but I was underwhelmed by it's capabilities. When the Spectrum and C-64 became popular, I was more into programming and getting the computer to do things I wanted it to do. I was never interested in computer games, I guess I anthropomorphised the computer a bit, and felt that games were a little undignified for such a fantastic machine, although I admired the programming that went into games. One of my proudest moments was when I got my own space invaders clone working on the TRS-80 and a friend of mine actually took an interest in the computer. He enjoyed playing the game but didn't understand the hours of work that went into making it!

During the early 1990s I put away the TRS-80 and went down the PC route, in 1995 I got bored with PCs and joined the Mac fraternity, but was very sad that those micro days were over. I absolutely agree with you, never mind about compatibility, computing in those days was just so much fun.

I haven't seen the Micro Men yet, I'll do that fast as it could get taken down. If you're interested in computing from even further back, the days of Alan Turing, you might like this:
Again, not sure how long it will stay up.

A Brit Downunder
www.abritdownunder.org

I've watched Micro Men. Good movie and great insight into Sinclair, Acorn and the British scene in the early 1980s.

Tez

I'm a bit younger (born 1980), but I got the tail end of the BBC computer literacy programme at primary and middle school. Mostly it involved playing simple games on the school's single BBC Micro, which was on a trolley and wheeled round to each class that wanted to use it. You'd get a 10-15 minutes turn then it was someone else's go, and it would be a month before the computer made it round to your class again. By the end of middle school the BBCs had been replaced with RM Nimbus not-quite-PCs, although the BBCs lived on for a few years connected to equipment in the science room. By high school it was all PCs.

Looking back at those TV programmes it seems like they put a lot of emphasis into teaching programming, and clearly thought that everybody would be writing their own programs instead of using pre-made software. And clearly that belief rubbed off on a lot of people because Britain was a hotbed of hobbyist programming in the 80s and 90s.

I didn't get my first home computer until Xmas 1989 when I got a 128K Spectrum - about 4-5 years after their height in popularity, so my main memory is the ever-dwindling supply of new games, magazines that got thinner and thinner, and the rise in game prices from £1.99 to £2.99 to £3.99. I used to spend hours writing terrible half-finished games in Basic, and later wrote some Z80 assembly (not having an assembler I'd write it on paper and assemble it by hand using the opcode chart in the back of the Spectrum manual). After that I got an Amiga 1200 which I stuck with until 1998, and again remember the ever thinning magazines and not being able to find games in shops.

For anyone interested in this era of computing in the UK, if you havent seen it you should watch this:

Click to expand...

I saw this cool film. After viewing, I would get BBC micro computer!
ZX80 and ZX81 i would get too but they is very rare ZXSpectrum 48 i have...

monoxrom said:

I saw this cool film. After viewing, I would get BBC micro computer!
ZX80 and ZX81 i would get too but they is very rare ZXSpectrum 48 i have...

Click to expand...

It should be easy enough and quite cheap to locate a ZX81 if you wanted one. A ZX80 is somewhat more expensive.

A BBC micro is again quite easy to obtain.