DISQUS

Life Less Literary - Dan Sumption lives here: ITV gave me my BBC Micro

  • Rob · 11 months ago
    10 PRINT I miss the old BBC Micro, although the sound of the tapes still haunts me.

    We used to have a Micro B at home, and a lesser model at school - it still amuses me that back in those days there used to be 20 or so kids all sat, horseshoe chair arrangement, round a screen - and in my last year of primary school a similar arrangement hanging round a 386 that'd been donated to us by Avesta Sheffield.
  • dansumption · 11 months ago
    For my first two or three years at secondary school, we only had one machine between approx. 1,000 pupils (a Research Machines). Us "computer club" members used to take turns every lunchtime to sit in the office and type in programs.

    Usually of the variety that ended with:
    20 GOTO 10
  • Rob · 11 months ago
    I did type that in the comment above originally, it still amuses me to this day!

    Good old Research Machines!
  • meeware · 7 months ago
    I'm kicking around ideas for a BBCMicro for the 21st century, and i think your tale chimes with a few of the key elements I'm trying to get to grips with. Can you recall, or possibly could your dad recall, how those negotiatios with the Thames management went? What were the killer arguments used to get investment made? I'm also intrigued by the computer club issue- back then clubs were rife- that was how we structured our pastimes, with clubs and societies. For many myriad reasons clubs these days are far less popular, but something like the old club 'grass roots' network is I think essential in making an impact in technical education for all ages. Right now I'm really interested in Hackerspaces- don't suppose there's any up Sheffield way?
  • craden · 4 months ago
    UK micro-computer this had been pretty famous way back in the 80's they don't use printer at that time, well they often do manual typing if they need a lot of copies they will have to do the typing all over again, but now yu can easily copy paste a file
  • Gadget_Blog · 4 months ago
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