+Vorticon Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I stumbled on this British television program on YouTube, recreating the birth of the British computer industry, focusing primarily on the rivalry between Sinclair and Acorn (BBC computer). It was entertaining and informative to watch and a nice departure from the usual Gates, Jobs et al stories. http://youtu.be/hco_Av2DJ8o 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew180 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Excellent, thanks for the link. I'll add this to my queue for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 For purposes of the narrative some scenes have been invented. ::chuckle:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Yep, another marvelous BBC production. And they do the occasional high-quality series on science and living (food, house, social etc.). Nice. Micro Men was also linked here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/225366-your-favorite-classic-computer-video-clips Edited February 19, 2015 by sometimes99er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Some big clangers by the BBC research department during this. Nigel Searle discussing what level his son is up to on "Jet Set Willy", Jet Set willy has no levels. Pictures were shown of the Amstrad CPC464 outwith the timeline of it's invention/development Other than that it is a great piece of television. P.S, I have done my pilgramage to the pub featured in the program, for research purposes only you understand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Nigel Searle discussing what level his son is up to on "Jet Set Willy", Jet Set willy has no levels. Not only that, but Jet Set Willy hadn't even been *written* yet! Though the programme does cover quite a large time-period (about 1979 to what, 1984?) so perhaps I'm being a little un-fair. Trivia: The "geek" in the programme that is designing the BBC Micro is Roger Wilson. Roger Wilson designed the first ARM RISC processor using a BBC Model B programmed in BBC BASIC. Roger later underwent gender change surgery and became Sophie Wilson. Sophie actually features in the programme, at the end. She's the pub barmaid that calls time when the pub is closing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 It was originally shown on TV back in 2009. Heres the original discussion about it :- http://atariage.com/forums/topic/151897-micro-men-drama-about-the-british-home-computer-boom-of-the-early-80s/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 It was originally shown on TV back in 2009. Heres the original discussion about it :- http://atariage.com/forums/topic/151897-micro-men-drama-about-the-british-home-computer-boom-of-the-early-80s/ And who would have believed that the original discussion would have descended into a UK/US who made the best computers war 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary from OPA Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Watching this reminds me of fact, Sinclair is bringing back his console in micro-form: http://www.maxconsole.com/maxcon_forums/threads/285930-ZX-Spectrum-gets-new-lease-of-life-as-Vega-games-console Sir Clive Sinclair is backing a new crowdfunding campaign to relaunch the iconic ZX Spectrum as a new home gaming console, the Sinclair Spectrum Vega.The Vega mimics the design of the Spectrum, but is a handheld games controller with five buttons and control pad, and includes 1,000 games from the 1980s. Gone is the tape and the full keyboard, but the tinny speaker and coloured stripes remain."The Sinclair Spectrum Vega takes advantage of major advances in technology to achieve big cost savings by replacing most of the electronics in the earlier computer products," said Retro Computers, backed by 74-year-old Sinclair as an investor, in the Indiegogo campaign."Instead the Vega uses a low cost micro-controller and a clever piece of software that combine to enable the Vega to [download and] run all of the games, 14,000 or more of them, which were developed during the years when some 5 million of the original Sinclair Spectrum were being sold." https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sinclair-zx-spectrum-vegaNow if only we have strong man in TI world to do the same for our 99/4a machine! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Now if only we have strong man in TI world to do the same for our 99/4a machine! We are all behind you, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 And who would have believed that the original discussion would have descended into a UK/US who made the best computers war Yeah. Especially when the answer is *clearly* the UK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Yeah. Especially when the answer is *clearly* the UK He lights the taper 3,2,1, run like f**k and stand by for war Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 This movie seems a bit over the top. Reviews range from very bad to a okay among the geeks. Wonder how it gets 6,1 from 3,839 people on IMDb. Guess I have to see it ... at least because of the Atari 2600 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2123146 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Yeah. Especially when the answer is *clearly* the UK Well, the US certainly made the absolute best computers I ever used. Errr, well, I guess the Taiwanese and Singaporeans. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKRetrogamer Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Yeah. Especially when the answer is *clearly* the UK He lights the taper 3,2,1, run like f**k and stand by for war I asked a retro-computing friend only last week, if he could choose a single micro-computer to keep from his collection, which would it be? After careful consideration, we BOTH agreed ours would be a BBC Micro, despite NEITHER of us owning one back then. My personal path through computing went thus: ZX81, Vic-20, Spectrum 48k, Spectrum 128K, Amstrad PCW 8512 (along with an Amstrad 2086 PC), Atari ST, Commodore Amiga A500 before moving to a home-built 486 SX/25 PC and then to Mac. I bought my first (RetroClinic refurbished) BBC Micro about 5 years ago. Acorn certainly knew a thing or two about designing microcomputers. The Acorn BBC range had the best version of BASIC on any micro at the time. How many others allowed the user to include in-line 6502 assembly language, inside a BASIC listing? Most BBC Micro games were great but a few ports were lacklustre. The ACG/Ultimate ports definitely paled in comparison to their ZX Spectrum originals. Jetpac on the ZX Spectrum is my all-time favourite game on ANY micro but if it weren't for the BBC, we wouldn't have had ELITE! IMHO, the closest US equivalent to the BBC would be the Apple II. Both were infinitely expandable and featured heavily in their respective country's educational system (for very good reason). I've lost count of the number of times I've watched Micro Men. Yes, it features a little factual artistic-licensing here and there but a good programme nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 The Acorn BBC range had the best version of BASIC on any micro at the time. How many others allowed the user to include in-line 6502 assembly language, inside a BASIC listing? It was in its predecessor, the Acorn Atom, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventrra Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 The Acorn BBC range had the best version of BASIC on any micro at the time. How many others allowed the user to include in-line 6502 assembly language, inside a BASIC listing? That's what got to me when I started playing with the emulators for it. I would have very much liked to have such a comprehensive version of BASIC back in the day. The version of BASIC that shipped with my Tandy-1000HX seemed so much better than the other versions of BASIC I'd used, but it still pales in comparison to the version the BBC machines got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKRetrogamer Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Few (if any) other micros at the time allowed the user to daisy-chain an extra CPU (via "The Tube") for extra processing power. Be it a second 6502, a Z80 (for CP/M) or even an 80186 in the case of the Master 512 (for partial PC compatibility). I'd have loved to work for Acorn at their high-point, even if only as a cleaner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKRetrogamer Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 The version of BASIC that shipped with my Tandy-1000HX seemed so much better than the other versions of BASIC I'd used, but it still pales in comparison to the version the BBC machines got. Funnily enough, I STILL own a Tandy 1000HX. Lovely keyboard and you gotta love MS-DOS on ROM. Did anyone ever release a later version on EPROM? IIRC, the version in mine is something like 2.11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Watch Bilbo Baggins battle his fiercest foe... Clive Sinclair! I liked this movie, even though it goes to great lengths to make Clive look like a supreme bastard. Rumor has it that they were originally going to call it Syntax Era, but I guess they thought viewers wouldn't get the joke. Shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Few (if any) other micros at the time allowed the user to daisy-chain an extra CPU (via "The Tube") for extra processing power. Be it a second 6502, a Z80 (for CP/M) or even an 80186 in the case of the Master 512 (for partial PC compatibility). I am not sure how the system handled a second processor (like real dual-processing, time-shared, or whatever,) but the Commodore 64 and Apple ][ both have Z80 cards for CP/M compatibility. With a little trickery it is possible to use the on-board 6510 in the Commodore 64 in a shared fashion -- meaning the system is then running essentially three processors: the 6510, Z80, and VIC-II. In the Commodore 128, the Z80A actually boots the machine and hands over control to the 8510 CPU if no CP/M bootable disk is in the drive. In CP/M mode, the 8510 handles and executes the underlying system BIOS and calls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I am not sure how the system handled a second processor (like real dual-processing, time-shared, or whatever,) but the Commodore 64 and Apple ][ both have Z80 cards for CP/M compatibility. With a little trickery it is possible to use the on-board 6510 in the Commodore 64 in a shared fashion -- meaning the system is then running essentially three processors: the 6510, Z80, and VIC-II. In the Commodore 128, the Z80A actually boots the machine and hands over control to the 8510 CPU if no CP/M bootable disk is in the drive. In CP/M mode, the 8510 handles and executes the underlying system BIOS and calls. On the C64 it was also possible to load code into the ram on the 1541 drive and run it IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Watch Bilbo Baggins battle his fiercest foe... Clive Sinclair! I liked this movie, even though it goes to great lengths to make Clive look like a supreme bastard. Rumor has it that they were originally going to call it Syntax Era, but I guess they thought viewers wouldn't get the joke. Shame! He wasn't a supreme bastard but he did have a ferocious temper. It is said that he was very loyal to his employees and went out of his way to look after them. He had a very carefully managed public image as a boffin that designed the ZX range of computers but he actually had nothing to do with them. He actually hated computers. He saw them purely as a means to bring in money to develop the pocket TV and the C5. Later on he became obsessed with silicon wafer development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 On the C64 it was also possible to load code into the ram on the 1541 drive and run it IIRC. Very much so. The Commodore disk drives are smart devices, each with its own 6502 processor and RAM. The 1541 has 2K of RAM devided up between the on-board DOS, file and sector buffers, and executable space. It also can be expanded. I believe the 1571 (DS disk drive, with Burst Mode) and the 1581 (3.5" 800k drive) also have 2K of RAM. Atari floppy drives also have their own CPUs and RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I am not sure how the system handled a second processor (like real dual-processing, time-shared, or whatever,) but the Commodore 64 and Apple ][ both have Z80 cards for CP/M compatibility. With a little trickery it is possible to use the on-board 6510 in the Commodore 64 in a shared fashion -- meaning the system is then running essentially three processors: the 6510, Z80, and VIC-II. In the Commodore 128, the Z80A actually boots the machine and hands over control to the 8510 CPU if no CP/M bootable disk is in the drive. In CP/M mode, the 8510 handles and executes the underlying system BIOS and calls. The BBC second procesor (6502C, Z80, 32016) took control of the system, the native 6502 inside the BBC was then switched over to handling all I/O functions, all BBC second processors came with additional RAM-64K for the 6502c and Z80 respectively and 1MB for the 32016. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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