For all interested in computer history - the BBC Computer Literacy Program

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

Dear all,

for all who are interested in computer history there is good news: The BBC in the UK opened their archives and made the "BBC Computer Literacy Project" which aired in the 1980s publicly available. Follow this link to the BBC Computer Literacy Program and you may:

- Watch any of the 267 programmes
- Explore 2,509 programme clips by topic or text search
- Find out how the BBC Computer Literacy Project came about
- Run 166 BBC Micro programs that were used on-screen

I'm sure that not only friends of the BBC Micro computer will love this website.

Best regards

Karl

[rprosperi]

(07-02-2018 11:29 AM)Karl-Ludwig Butte Wrote:  Dear all,

for all who are interested in computer history there is good news: The BBC in the UK opened their archives and made the "BBC Computer Literacy Project" which aired in the 1980s publicly available. Follow this link to the BBC Computer Literacy Program and you may:

- Watch any of the 267 programmes
- Explore 2,509 programme clips by topic or text search
- Find out how the BBC Computer Literacy Project came about
- Run 166 BBC Micro programs that were used on-screen

I'm sure that not only friends of the BBC Micro computer will love this website.

Best regards

Karl

Thanks for sharing this Karl, totally new to me.

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(07-02-2018 11:29 AM)Karl-Ludwig Butte Wrote:  Dear all,

for all who are interested in computer history there is good news: The BBC in the UK opened their archives and made the "BBC Computer Literacy Project" which aired in the 1980s publicly available.

Hi Karl,

Thanks for posting this. It's always fascinating to see early computer programs.

You have given me a new "rabbit hole" to go down.

There was another program here in the United States that is also fascinating to watch: Computer Chronicles. Most of them are at the Internet Archives:

Computer Chronicles


Bill
Smithville, NJ

[pier4r]

thanks for sharing!

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

Hi Bill,

thanks for sharing "Computer Chronicles". These are new to me. And that's why I love this forum: It's not only about the best calculators, one learns about new things every day.

Best regards

Karl

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

(07-03-2018 07:04 AM)Karl-Ludwig Butte Wrote:  Hi Bill,

thanks for sharing "Computer Chronicles". These are new to me. And that's why I love this forum: It's not only about the best calculators, one learns about new things every day.

Best regards

Karl

Hi Karl,

There's one more video that everyone should watch. I would imagine many here are aware of it and have watched it. But for those who haven't:

Mother of all Demos

This demo by Douglas Engelbart in 1968 showed the future of computing.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

Hi Bill,

thanks a lo for this interesting link of which I wasn't aware of.

Best regards

Karl

[Thomas Klemm]

TIL a new word: Collectaholics
Does anyone feel affected?

Reminds me of the Telekolleg series I watched related to microprocessors in the '80s.

Thanks for the links.
Thomas

[rprosperi]

(07-06-2018 09:46 PM)Thomas Klemm Wrote:  TIL a new word: Collectaholics
Does anyone feel affected?

Hi, my name is Bob, and I collect calculators...

[Steve Simpkin]

(07-02-2018 11:29 AM)Karl-Ludwig Butte Wrote:  Dear all,

for all who are interested in computer history there is good news: The BBC in the UK opened their archives and made the "BBC Computer Literacy Project" which aired in the 1980s publicly available. Follow this link to the BBC Computer Literacy Program and you may:

- Watch any of the 267 programmes
- Explore 2,509 programme clips by topic or text search
- Find out how the BBC Computer Literacy Project came about
- Run 166 BBC Micro programs that were used on-screen

I'm sure that not only friends of the BBC Micro computer will love this website.

Best regards

Karl

Excellent! I've always been fascinated about the U.K. home computer market during the late 70s/early 80's that was completely separate from the American developments that I was familiar with. I had no idea they didn't just buy Apples, Atari's, TRS-80's, Commodore's, Ohio Scientific's, etc like we did here. I was familiar with Sinclair (I even built one of their Wrist Calculator kits) but had never heard of Acorn or the BBC Micro.

Another TV show worth watching is the BBC drama Micro Men. It focuses on the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair (played by Alexander Armstrong), who developed the ZX Spectrum, and Chris Curry (played by Martin Freeman), the man behind the BBC Micro.

[Karl-Ludwig Butte]

(07-06-2018 09:46 PM)Thomas Klemm Wrote:  TIL a new word: Collectaholics
Does anyone feel affected?

Reminds me of the Telekolleg series I watched related to microprocessors in the '80s.

Thanks for the links.
Thomas

Hi Thomas,

yes I remember the Telekolleg, too. I still have the accompanying "Zeitungskolleg: Mikroprozessoren - Die elektronische Revolution" (Newspaper College: Microprocessors - The Electronic Revolution). It contained a collection of texts and was compiled by Deutsches Institut fuer Fernstudien an der Universitaet Tuebingen (German Institute for Distance Education at the University of Tuebingen) and published by local newspapers. Glued on page 1 there was a real silicon chip. If it is a real microprocessor I don't know. Anyway it has a small red dot of paint on its surface marking it as "defect". Chapter 1 starts with the article: "Alles per Knopfdruck: Traum und Alptraum" ("Everything at the push of a button: Dream and nightmare") - hey, I really should read it again after all those years.

Best regards

Karl

[smp]

(07-02-2018 11:29 AM)Karl-Ludwig Butte Wrote:  Dear all,

for all who are interested in computer history there is good news: The BBC in the UK opened their archives and made the "BBC Computer Literacy Project" which aired in the 1980s publicly available. Follow this link to the BBC Computer Literacy Program <...snip...>

This is an excellent resource. And, I love that it is from a different point of view than the USA.

However, there is a major error in their Timeline: They have Steve Jobs returning to Apple in 1988. He did not return to Apple until July 1997.

I could not find a way to offer this feedback to the site. Does anyone know if there is a way to point out this error?

smp

[EdS2]

You could try Andy Armstrong at andy@hexten.net