• BBC Micros

    From JoE DooM@21:1/230 to all on Wed Dec 15 13:41:13 2021
    I grew up with Commodore computers, and after the Amiga I bought an Acorn Archimemdes A4000.

    I remember how cool it was that you could mix assembly inline with BASIC
    and not need an assembler, but by that time I wasn't much into
    programming any more.

    Fast forward a couple years later, I got rid of all my retro computers a
    few years back and stuck to an emulator running on a Pi3 to get my Amiga
    fix.

    But recently I've had a fascination for 8bit BBC micros. I don't recall
    ever seeing them out in the wild, except for the guy who introduced me
    to them and his friend, who were both programmers for those systems.

    I've been playing around with BeebEm and those machines are awesome. From
    an OS and BASIC programming perspective, they were miles ahead of other
    8bit machines I've used (really only C=64's, VIC 20s, Atari 600/800s).

    And I just watched a video where someone identified the keys they used on
    the keyboard as Cherry MY(?) keys.. Predecessors of the current Cherry MX
    keys, so that was really surprising.

    That's another thing I've found on most 8bits, and even 16bit machines,
    their keyboards weren't as good as those in the later IBM/PC world. But Acorn/BBC micros were.

    I'd love to get my hands on actual hardware to see how good they really
    were, but as I don't think they were that common around these parts,
    they'd be even harder to come by now.

    Hyjinx, maybe you've got more insight into our local retro scene than I
    do.. Any ideas of how to get hold of one?

    Either way, it's a lot of fun playing with it on the emulator. I think I
    missed out on something really good growing up and am surprised they
    weren't more common.


    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)
  • From hyjinx@21:1/126 to JoE DooM on Mon Jan 10 19:11:34 2022
    On 15 Dec 2021, JoE DooM said the following...
    Hey Joe,

    Sorry I only just saw this now, I've been terrible over the xmas break for
    not being around BBS-land at all.

    But recently I've had a fascination for 8bit BBC micros. I don't recall JD>
    ever seeing them out in the wild, except for the guy who introduced me JD> to them and his friend, who were both programmers for those systems. JD> I've been playing around with BeebEm and those machines are awesome. From JD> an OS and BASIC programming perspective, they were miles ahead of other JD> 8bit machines I've used (really only C=64's, VIC
    20s, Atari 600/800s). JD>

    So, I *did* grow up with BBC micros, being born in the UK, in the late '70s, the computer literacy project was dreamed up by the government and eventually
    a number of TV programmes were released to help people get literate with computers, but the govt. had the foresight to actually see that the computers of the time coming from the UK were actually a bit rubbish (at least for schools and education via broadcast purposes), so the market was opened up
    for tender and the two big contenders were Acorn and Sinclair. Acorn won and the rest is history. What came out was a subsidised machine for schools which was absolutely stellar in quality. Had the subsidisation been extended to
    homes or small businesses, I could only imagine how far the beeb would have gone. Those same minds went on to make the archimedes of course, and then the ARM processor which is in every smartphone today, so their talents were not lost, but I feel that the beeb could have been bigger outside of the UK than
    it was.

    And I just watched a video where someone identified the keys they used on the keyboard as Cherry MY(?) keys.. Predecessors of the current Cherry MX keys, so that was really surprising. JD> JD> That's another thing I've
    found on most 8bits, and even 16bit machines, JD> their keyboards weren't as good as those in the later IBM/PC world. But JD> Acorn/BBC micros were. JD>
    I'd love to get my hands on actual hardware to see how good they really JD>
    were, but as I don't think they were that common around these parts, JD> they'd be even harder to come by now.

    They get a little stickier than the IBM Model F/M after 40 years, but they
    have a wonderful tactile feel and are great to type on. I have one here but there's an issue with (I think) the RAM which i'm still struggling to figure out.

    Hyjinx, maybe you've got more insight into our local retro scene than I do.. Any ideas of how to get hold of one?

    The quickest path here in New Zealand is to go on to Ebay UK, they are still common there, but of course, the shipping costs are very prohibitive.

    I asked a mate to see if he could find one and after about a year he called
    me up and that's how I got my one, but as I say, it's not in great shape.

    Either way, it's a lot of fun playing with it on the emulator. I think I missed out on something really good growing up and am surprised they weren't more common.

    They were absolutely brilliant. I spent so much time with them in the classroom, learning BBC basic. Aside from QuickBasic (which came out _maaany_ years later), BBC basic was the best basic around IMO.

    Cheers,
    Al


    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube) alsgeeklab.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Al's Geek Lab -=- bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From JoE DooM@21:1/230 to hyjinx on Tue Feb 8 13:37:17 2022
    Sorry I only just saw this now, I've been terrible over the xmas break
    for
    not being around BBS-land at all.

    Ditto. haha :)

    They were absolutely brilliant. I spent so much time with them in the classroom, learning BBC basic. Aside from QuickBasic (which came out _maaany_
    years later), BBC basic was the best basic around IMO.

    Yeah I was amazed by playing with the emulator that a lot of the features
    that I thought were very clever in the 32bit Archimedes' were in the 8bit machines too!

    Hope your two beebs are going well now and I look forward to having my
    own one day..

    You're right about the cost of shipping from the UK for them... And
    some things are taking forever... Just before Xmas, I paid US$72 for some
    c64 carts with 3-5 day shipping. Well, they arrived on the 5th of Feb.. :p


    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)
  • From hyjinx@21:1/126 to JoE DooM on Tue Feb 8 18:52:25 2022
    On 08 Feb 2022, JoE DooM said the following...
    Yeah I was amazed by playing with the emulator that a lot of the features that I thought were very clever in the 32bit Archimedes' were in the 8bit machines too!

    Hope your two beebs are going well now and I look forward to having my
    own one day..

    My master is working great. The Model B still has some fixing to do.
    Something with the ram of the character generator I reckon.

    Cheers!
    Al


    hyjinx // Alistair Ross
    Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube) alsgeeklab.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Al's Geek Lab -=- bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From JoE DooM@21:1/230 to hyjinx on Mon Feb 14 10:31:09 2022
    My master is working great. The Model B still has some fixing to do. Something with the ram of the character generator I reckon.

    Bummer. :(

    Well, if you want to sell it to me, I'll take it to the guy who restored
    your Master. :)


    --- Talisman v0.35-dev (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)