Beeb Spotting

[Soruk]

The A3000 was called a BBC computer for some strange reason.

All the 300-series Archimedes machines were badged with the BBC Microcomputer System text and owl logo on the keyboard.

[vanpeebles]

On Minder this morning, Ray had a three box Archimedes on his desk in Arthur's lock up. It was the Arthur is retiring episode. He put a cup of tea on the monitor, much to Ray's disgust

[BigEd]

Nicely spotted! Episode is here.

[vanpeebles]

That's the one! I do like a bit of Minder, class show.

[bughunter]

BBC Master plus RMA Sandhurst officer cadet learning how best to blow things up!

[BeebMaster]

Ooh I wonder if that software is available. I could do with learning how to blow things up better.

[oss003]

He probably uses the power supply capacitors ......

[Diminished]

I watched Fredrik Knudsen's new Down the Rabbit Hole video on YouTube about the history of IBM's Deep Blue chess computer, which was a pretty interesting watch in itself, but that's ancillary.

A photograph of Chessbase founder Frederic Friedel with chess legend Garry Kasparov sitting in front of something very familiar-looking features in the video, at about at 1:11:24.

I'm not sure if it has been posted before, but this photograph led me down a little rabbit hole of my own, whereupon I found this page. It is in Spanish, but I can highly recommend the photographs, and particularly the scanned letter.

[BigEd]

Nice spot! English version of the article is here. (As it happens I posted elsewhere about this so I recognised the material!)

Edit: in this nearby article you see the 3 year old who beat Kasparov at Hopper, with the Beeb in question.

[Diminished]

English version of the article is here.

Ah, nice. I couldn't find that, for some reason.

I immediately recognised the passwords written on the sheet of paper being held by the kid in that second article.

[EdwardianDuck]

Retroclinic Master 128 on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54782255.

Jeremy

[Arcadian]

Wow, can't believe they've left the retroclinic.com label in tact without obscuring it ... incredible great plug there for Mark, that article is going to get a LOT of hits (whenever I've arranged any interviews for the Beeb they wouldn't allow websites to be credited, and would even go as far as zooming the camera in on the subject to avoid the display of any logos/links on T-Shirts etc!).

[Chuckie]

BBc Master spotted on cover of Cambridge computer dictionary !

[lurkio]

Haunting story from the Liverpool Echo: "Derelict Margaret Beaven School in West Derby frozen in the 1980s":

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... t-19576112

[JasonStonier]

Makes me want to take a drive up there and save the poor thing.

[tricky]

Yesterday's Click had a section on cardboard computer and the BBC Micro including TNMOC's micro olympics.

[BigEd]

Just adding a couple more old photos and linking back to the other thread.

The text of the exhibit's description reads as follows...:

...
The UMI sequencer was developed by musician Lynton Naiff, and was sold by the London Rock Shop. Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode) is one of the most well-known UMI enthusiasts...

Here's Erasure with their 1986 hit Oh L'Amour, featuring a Beeb!
Erasure - Oh L´Amour

via

[hjalfi]

Dammit! I thought I'd written the first BBC Micro tracker, and it turns out I was beaten by 35 years!

I found this 1985 article on the UMI Sequencer: http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/umi-2b/1197 It talks to the UMI-2B MIDI interface, made by Umusic (including a picture of Vince Clarke and Eric Radcliffe). I've never even heard of them before --- I didn't know the BBC Micro had any MIDI support. Thanks!

[AJW]

Haunting story from the Liverpool Echo: "Derelict Margaret Beaven School in West Derby frozen in the 1980s":

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... t-19576112


BD219BBE-1503-4D70-80D1-CE227300C0B0.jpegAD6931F8-DF6E-4A7E-B16C-35CEA8278051.jpeg

No information on why abandoned or how the person got access.

[cardboardguru]

No information on why abandoned or how the person got access.

One of the photos shows some windows left open.

What amazes me is that in 40 years, no kids have vandalised or stolen the BBC Micro!

[tricky]

Must be one of the last beebs still in the classroom every day

[acp]

Randomly found myself looking around BBC Television Centre on Google Street View over the weekend. I found this hanging around on a shelf in the Weather Centre:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5096129 ... 312!8i6656

I'd imagine it's probably now been thrown out, since the Street View pictures were taken shortly before the BBC moved out of TVC.

[elkrepair]

A Beeb can be seen several times in The Red Door espsode of The IT Crowd:

https://youtu.be/ct1-zq8gf_0

First occurance is briefly at Jen's right elbow at the 7 seconds mark, but can be seen much more clearly several times after that.

And in The Dinner Party episode:

https://youtu.be/amZsfaGfPDY

The Beeb can be seen be seen in the bottom left corner at 2:45, and a cheese wedge and other equipment at 5:01

[geraldholdsworth]

A Beeb can be seen several times in The Red Door espsode of The IT Crowd:

Watched the first two episodes of the IT Crowd last night and spotted, what looked like, a Beeb in the rack to the left of Moss (his right). Just below is what looks like a cheese wedge and a BBC Master. Sitting on top of the Beeb is what looks like a disc drive with the ribbon cable wrapped around it.

Also, by Jen's office door is a Commodore Pet and a poster for a Commodore 64. Plus, in the first episode an original ZX80 is even pointed out, and can be seen thereafter, also just outside Jen's office door.

[lurkio]

Beeb in shop window behind Sarah Greene on Saturday Superstore:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WePmqiKbRps&t=9m06s

(I think we’ve hit “peak 1980s” with this one.)

[Diminished]

Watched the first two episodes of the IT Crowd last night and spotted, what looked like, a Beeb in the rack to the left of Moss (his right). Just below is what looks like a cheese wedge and a BBC Master. Sitting on top of the Beeb is what looks like a disc drive with the ribbon cable wrapped around it.

A Beeb can be seen several times in The Red Door espsode of The IT Crowd:

I could be wrong about this, but I remember reading somewhere that it was either Jason from CFCH, or maybe TNMOC, that lent them these props.

[geraldholdsworth]

I could be wrong about this, but I remember reading somewhere that it was either Jason from CFCH, or maybe TNMOC, that lent them these props.

I'm now onto the second series - they tidied the set up a bit and got rid of a lot of machines. But, the Commodore Pet is still there, behind Moss. Also behind Moss on a lower shelf, is now an Acorn A3010. The BBC has been moved to outside Jen's office.

[lurkio]

Photo of a boxed Elk and a Beeb on display in a shop in 1985, from an article in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/membership/ ... nt-believe

[BigEd]

Very brief glimpse of a Beeb at 2:18 in Numberphile's video "The World's Best Mathematician." Probably in Australia.

[BigEd]

There's an Electron - new in box - in this dramatised documentary about Ferranti:
The Ghost of Ferranti - all about the pioneering UK chip maker

and a beeb too!