Acorn 8-bit

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:25 pm

I have just doubled my Acorn collection. Since before I own an Acorn BBC Master Compact, now I also own an Acorn Electron.

Nice little machine, although I haven't had time to test it much yet. It goes without saying that both Acorn computers use 6502.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:49 pm

I can't help but feel like you are cheating on us.

Victragic · Post by **Victragic** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:17 pm

Cool! I loved the BBC, apart from it's God-awful shape and colour, and built-in speaker. They were built like barbecues. Damn they were expensive though. And apart from Elite, Pole Position and several others, most of the games I saw sucked.

Gotta remember the Beeb was released in 1981, making it wayyy ahead of it's time.

I wouldn't say no to an Electron either

-G

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:21 am

Was the BBC really released in 1981? And Jeff, don't you believe in the concept of having multiple lovers at the same time?

I'm looking for an inexpensive Atari 8-bit too, but they tend to either be broken or the hen's teeth. Orics are cool too, but also a bit too much on the collectable side for my wallet to agree. I'm at least loyal enough to only look at 6502 related computers. We should stand united against the awful Z80's. Of course that makes the Commodore 128 something of a traitor.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:41 am

cheaters...

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:55 pm

carlsson wrote:We should stand united against the awful Z80's. Of course that makes the Commodore 128 something of a traitor.

Yes, and I like my Game Boy, Game Boy Color, TI-86, ZX-81 and Timex/Sinclair 1000 far too much to completely dislike the Z80.

And the Z80 is *so* easy to program

Victragic · Post by **Victragic** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:42 pm

carlsson wrote:Was the BBC really released in 1981?

Yep.. the BBC aired a special on TV in 1980 about how computers will revolutionise everything and everybody, and it was so impacting they decided to do a whole computer literacy series (as the BBC is government funded I guess it was tied in to their education system as well..) they tendered for computers that would match their specs of what a modern computer should be, and Acorn won, even though it was not the cheapest - (Sinclair was approached but apparently he tried to offload an ultra-crappy machine on them..) I guess for once a government showed some foresight and took a long-term view rather than just going with the cheapest decision.

Even the Model B came out in 1982..

And the Electron, which was the home version, outsold BBCs - more affordable, but could use most of the same programs, etc..

-G

PS As for cheating, everyone should have a 'top 5' of machines that they are allowed to go for if the opportunity arises...

And I'm not into Z80s either - apart from this one time, at band camp..

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:43 pm

Victragic wrote:And I'm not into Z80s either - apart from this one time, at band camp..

Oh yeah, the ColecoVision is another Z80 based favourite of mine.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 1:25 am

MacbthPSW wrote:Oh yeah, the ColecoVision is another Z80 based favourite of mine.

Oh, my secret love. The ColecoVision is awesome.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:13 am

By the way, didn't Jeff post about his Sega the other week? How should we categorize that?

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:13 am

gklinger wrote:Oh, my secret love. The ColecoVision is awesome.

Then get yourself one of these: http://www.atarimax.com/usbcoleco/documentation/

I've got one, ready-to-go for whenever I finally get around to making that CV game I'm thinking of.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:02 am

MacbthPSW wrote:
gklinger wrote:Oh, my secret love. The ColecoVision is awesome.
Then get yourself one of these: http://www.atarimax.com/usbcoleco/documentation/

Too late. I'm surprised you've never caught me extolling its virtues in the IRC (to anyone that will listen, natch.) They are so handy.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:40 pm

My shopping spree continues. This time, a somewhat filthy BBC Micro that was bought untested, as-is. It happened to come with 20+ tape games and the tape recorder is even more dirty than the computer is.

But I'm hopeful. After disassembling the computer case and give the plastic halves a good scrubbing with soap water, it looks a bit better than on the pictures. I will also take apart the keyboard and clean it, and it will almost look as good as new.

Now I have to stop buying computers for a while, until I get a few more desk drawers installed, or somewhere else to put them.

idrougge · Post by **idrougge** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:23 pm

Call me if you want to get rid of one of your Acorns, Carlsson. ;-)

Victragic · Post by **Victragic** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:03 pm

I'd completely forgotten about that plastic function key 'overlay' protector

-G