BBC Alive
A Potted and Personal History of the BBC Micro (and
Acorn)
Ok, so everyone has a history page - but this is my version!
Hopefully, it's a bit different.
Let's start by going back a bit before Acorn because there were a number of
things that influenced the British computer scene and enabled the BBC micro to
come about.
America's Byte magazine started in 1975 and in 1978 it was time for
Britain's own version. At the start of 1978 The Times newspaper started a
two page section on personal computing and announced that on 8th February the
first British computer magazine was to be launched for an annual subscription
of £6. Three thousand people decided to take up the offer. It was later
to offer support for the BBC Micro through its pages until the BBC's popularity
waned.
The arrival of a machine called the Nascom changed the computer industry and
opened the door for later developments such the Sinclair ZX80, although at this
stage the lower end was still the enthusiast's market. However, the computer was
no longer for the rich but for everyone and you no longer needed a degree in
computer science or deep pockets to get into the game. The Apple tended to be
sold as a business machine, although a good product. When Tandy's TRS80 arrived
in April 1978 at £499 (without cassette deck or monitor), being cheaper
than Commodore's PET, was at first thought to be a toy but soon started making
inroads into the market which was splitting into three groups:business,
education and hobbyist.
Meanwhile Apple brought out the Apple II with a 6502 processor chip (the
same chip that was to be used in the BBC Micro), 16k RAM, two paddles (sort of
joysticks), 116k floppy disks and colour graphics with 6 colours on a Sony
monito rwith a resolution of 280 x 192 at a cost of £1250. The Z80 market
had to make do with Research Machines 380Z. This was based on a variant of the
Z80 processor itself, the Z80A, and came in a variety of combinations. The
circuit boards were double sided (the Nascom's was single sided and therefore
suitable in those days for the hobbyist, (although double sided boards are now
available for hobbyists) and much admired with their German engineering
quality. Although slow to operate it was fairly popular in schools. Its monitor
was monochrome. Coincidentally, a small manufacturer called Intel brought out
a 16-bit processor it called the 8086 which was later to dominate machines and
the company to rise to prominence. They followed this in 1979 with a stripped
down version called the 8088 which was later to form the basis of the IBM PC
of which rumours first started appearing at the end of 1979. It was one of the
first 16-bit microprocessors being faster than its 8-bit predecessors such as
the Z80 and 6502 and gave access to more memory. The difference between the 8088
and the 8086 was that although they both operated internally using 16 bits the
8088 connected to external chips using 8 bit communication. These connections
were considered too complicated for it to be incorpoated into the PC at first.
Sharp entered the fray with a competitor for the Commodore Pet (whose sales
were steadily increasing and was becoming very popular). The MZ80k with 6k
memory cost £520. Its keyboard was strange in that instead of the keys
being in neat lines they were staggered. It looked like a PET of which some
remarked that it looked like a cash register. The MZ80K also had a Z80
microprocessor and a cassette drive. A version with dual floppy drives was on
offer for a mere £800. Sharp also came up with a pocket computer (the
PC-1211) with QWERTY keyboard and BASIC.
The Apple was steadily gaining ground as well. After the Apple II came the
Apple III - one of the first machines to have a hard disk. But it became a
liability and nearly ruined the company the main reasons being a very high
price, software compatability and the fact that 'it didn't work properly'.
The real action in the home arena started when Clive Sinclair (later Sir
Clive Sinclair) entered the fray and a whole host of machines followed as
interest grew.
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