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OT: "Micro Men" — Parallax Forums

OT: "Micro Men"

CardboardGuruCardboardGuru Posts: 443
edited 2009-10-12 16:26 in Propeller 1
"Micro Men" last night on BBC4 was a docudrama told the story of the British computer boom of the early 1980s. Clive Sinclair vs Chris Curry and Herman Hauser of Acorn.

The following computers were pivotal to the arms race in plot:

Science of Cambrige Mk 14. 256 BYTES of memory. LED digital output. (I always thought it was pronounced "mark 14", but apparently it was "emm kay 14".)
Sinclair ZX80. 1KB.
Acorn Atom. 2KB.
Sinclair Spectrum. 16KB. (plus wobbly RAM pack.)
BBC Micro. 32KB.
Acorn Electron. 32KB.
Sinclair QL. 128KB.

Plus of course the Sinclair C5 "Electric car".

Rather hammed up, but very entertaining. Great nostalgia for a teen computer geek of that era like me. Should be available for about a week on iPlayer for anyone in the UK who missed it.

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Comments

  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-10-09 15:48
    Wasn't the ZX81 the one with the wobbly RAM pack?

    Hi CardboardGuru, long time no hear from, hope all's well for you.
    I missed it last night, as we was out at a re-union with some old school friends [noparse]:D[/noparse] but I've downloaded it, ready to watch tonight with the missus [noparse]:)[/noparse] it's ready to download already thankfully!

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  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,110
    edited 2009-10-09 15:56
    I agree it was rather hammy but I guess it was a bit of harmless fun.

    I especially like the bit where they were fighting in the pub lmao!

    Brought back a lot of memories of 'Micro Live' too, good fun I enjoyed it.

    tongue.gif

    PS Good to see you back Steve smile.gif

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  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-10-09 21:02
    I Enjoyed it [noparse]:)[/noparse] lmao at pub fight too !

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  • CardboardGuruCardboardGuru Posts: 443
    edited 2009-10-09 22:10
    Apparently the rolled up newspaper pub fight really happened. And Sinclair's line: "You f***ing b*ggering s***-bucket!" is a matter of record! smile.gif

    Thanks for the best wishes guys. I have to pop back here every once in a while 'cos no one else I know understands the obsession with early 1980s computing!

    BTW, there's also been some new stuff about about Elite recently with a 25 year celebration. See here: http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

    Also, I've recently got a copy of "Backroom Boys" new, for just £3.99 inc P&P. It's got an chapter about the development of Elite, and some background on Acornsoft, which is very interesting.
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British/dp/0571214967/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255125607&sr=8-2
    At that price, I recommend it heartily!

    I've been thinking: maybe Elite could be done on one of the prop boards. Prop has the same amount of RAM as the BBC had. "Elite: The New Kind" was a PC remake, and it was done by disassembling the original game and recoding the equivalent in C. David Braben has asserted his copyright on it though, and it's been withdrawn from the internet. So maybe that's not such a good idea.

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  • TonyDTonyD Posts: 210
    edited 2009-10-12 09:00
    CardboardGuru said...
    Also, I've recently got a copy of "Backroom Boys" new, for just £3.99 inc P&P. It's got an chapter about the development of Elite, and some background on Acornsoft, which is very interesting.
    Totally agree with you. A really enjoyable book, with interesting chapters on Concorde and mobile phones.
    Coley said...
    Brought back a lot of memories of 'Micro Live' too, good fun I enjoyed it.
    Theres a blast from the past. Can anyone remember Micro Live used to transmit computer programs at the end of the broadcast. I'm sure you had to attach a photocell to the corner of your TV and connect it to your computer and then run some software on your home computer to receive and decode the transmission.

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  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2009-10-12 09:13
    Those were the good ol' days eh?
    although we're havin some fab days at the moment thanks to the prop [noparse];)[/noparse]

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  • trodosstrodoss Posts: 577
    edited 2009-10-12 13:51
    TonyD said...
    Theres a blast from the past. Can anyone remember Micro Live used to transmit computer programs at the end of the broadcast. I'm sure you had to attach a photocell to the corner of your TV and connect it to your computer and then run some software on your home computer to receive and decode the transmission.

    I remember·the "Sega Channel" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel)·sending out·ROM images for the Genesis back in 1994 for cable/satellite.··A TV broadcast that you·'capture' via a·photocell to get the program.· Sounds like fun!
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2009-10-12 16:26
    A enjoyable hour or so... Thanks for the tip!

    Was Clive really prone to throwing his phone? [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    OBC

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