BBC Computer Literacy Project Archive put online

Funny, I just watched the whole series on youtube a few days ago. It's quite interesting to see how people looked at computers back then I hope I can get my hands on a BBC Micro one day, I think it's a very interesting computer.

I used one at school in the early 1980's. I was in my penultimate year when the school received a Research Machines 380Z, and ten BBC model B computers. BBC basic was great, it allowed user defined named procedures, amongst other things! It did not have micro$oft Basic, but to be honest only a handful of UK machines has M$ basic at that time. I learn't how to program on a BBC and a ZX Spectrum, before I got my MSX1. The BBC as well as named procedures, allowed calculated goto statements, i.e. goto (X*150), something missing from my MSX, I soon learn't how to get round things.

It had seven screen modes as i remember, including one that behaved like a teletext/bulletin board terminal, it only used 1k of RAM, when you used different screen modes the amount of usable RAM went down, something that was solved with MSX and separate VRAM.

No 3.5" disks at that time, they where 5.25" SSDD, although tape cassettes where used an awful lot. The MSX cartridge slot is great for expansion, the BBC had a multitude of expansion slots built in, and, unusual for the time a RS432 interface.

All good fun! I actually became good friends with the teacher when I left school. We are still on talking terms too, he was a close friend until i moved from the area.

The successor of the BBC Micro is the BBC Micro:bit

Also available for people outside the UK!

http://microbit.org

Yeah, to make the Electron competitive with stuff like the ZX Spectrum they had to cut a few corners and the result was a machine that was slower than the Beeb but at least it still had a decent keyboard (from what I've seen in videos on youtube the keyboard on both the Beeb and the Electron is actually quite nice, although pretty much anything is an improvement over the dead rubber keys of the Spectrum).

The Beeb and the Speccy are both on my wishlist though, although with the Speccy I might actually get myself a Harlequin board and solder it together myself for a compatible, yet more reliable computer than the original Spectrum

When I bought my C64 it came with a lot of extra stuff (mostly C64 powerbricks and joysticks) but it also came with two cases of Sinclair Microdrive tapes. Although they look interesting, apparently they're the most unreliable things in the world XD