BBC Model B Computer "stuff"

[Mel_P]

I have a broken BBC B in the loft too.
Booted up the other day and was ok, then wasn't lol
Put back in loft

Snap! Too many unsoldered joints I think- dodgy connections?

 

[Rroff]

Unless stored in very stable conditions a lot of those older Acorn and BBC machines would corrode inside - if you open it up wouldn't be surprised to find green muck spreading out over the PCB/chips

Sadly my old A3010 went that way after a few years of not being used - have it emulated these days but missing some files from back in the day that are on the now non-functional HDD :|

 

[Narj]

Used to love the Archimedes at secondary school which were a nice step up from the BBC model B I'd played with at primary. Wasn't there a version of POVRay available for Archimedes? Used to like the Lander demo and the Arkanoid Clone.

Networking was fun sending notify messages to other students.

 

[Mel_P]

This is what I have / don't know what to do with:

Hardware:
BBC Model B with DFS, 32 K. with Issue 4 board. (with original repaired (capacitors) power supply). Beeb B is NON-working – did work but has continuous droning beep.
Spare (working) Power supply - I suspect this is a sellable item.
Opus disk drive unit with 5.25 80T drive and 3” Disk drives. Working when last used but cannot test (with manual) (possibly sellable items)
Many used 5.25 and 3” disks

Books
The Advanced User Guide for the BBC Micro – Bray, Dickens and Holmes, Third Edn 1983.
Structured Basic – A guide to Good Programming Style for the BBC Microcomputer – Richard Freeman, 1984.
Interfacing and Control bon the BBC Micro = Robert Johnson, Cameron Procter and Andrew Reglinski, 1984
Creative Graphics on the BBC Microcomputer – John Cownie, 1982
Assembly Language Programming for the BBC Computer – Ian BirnBaum, 1983
BBC Microcomputer System User Guide – John Coll, 1982 (supplied with the Beeb B)
Advanced Programming Techniques for the BBC Micro – Jim McCgregor and Alan Wall, 1983

Magazines

BBC Micro user / The Micro User – first 5 years 1983 on 5 annual sets + a few later "The Micro User" magazines.

I have sent an email to the "Centre for computing History" to see if they are interested. (email receipt says they could take a week to reply - so will await their reply). Mel

 

[Mel_P]

Unless stored in very stable conditions a lot of those older Acorn and BBC machines would corrode inside - if you open it up wouldn't be surprised to find green muck spreading out over the PCB/chips

The only apparent damage was to the small spade terminals - 2 of which were loose - probably due to bending when the power supply was swopped. Also it only came to life when one or two socketed chips were reseated. Presumably the legs weren't all making contact. It was kept in its box in the polystyrene moulding.

 

[rodders]

I started getting some diagnostic documents and going through it. Think it's one of the display ICs. I tried all the output to the monitor but none worked properly.
There's not many spares around so I gave up basically. Would have been fun to replay childhood games, but didn't want to spend anything really

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I still have a working Beeb! The monitor though (pictured below) went bang a couple of years back. The image began to blur so that the text was illegible. So kinda related to this thread - what would I need in order to connect the Beeb to a standard HDMI monitor? I want my 1981 legend to continue. Well probably 1981 but I got it 2nd hand in 1986, so its age could be anywhere between 22 years old and 27 years old

 

[Rroff]

Probably the least messing about (still needing a bit of DIY) would be to convert the video out (RGB) to SCART using some resistors and use a SCART to HDMI adaptor.

There is a composite video out as well but not sure if that does colour without some modification of the mainboard.

 

[Mel_P]

The composite video can be extracted via a BBC to phono adapter but I am not sure if it's colour or just b&w.

 

[Brazo]

I still have a working Beeb! The monitor though (pictured below) went bang a couple of years back. The image began to blur so that the text was illegible. So kinda related to this thread - what would I need in order to connect the Beeb to a standard HDMI monitor? I want my 1981 legend to continue. Well probably 1981 but I got it 2nd hand in 1986, so its age could be anywhere between 22 years old and 27 years old

Repton!

Awesome, memories!

 

[Rroff]

The composite video can be extracted via a BBC to phono adapter but I am not sure if it's colour or just b&w.

Not sure about all models but at least on some its just black and white.

 

[Mel_P]

Not sure about all models but at least on some its just black and white.

It is but a web search shows that a small soldering mod can add colour to it at the expense of degrading the RGB DIN signal - which is incompatible with current RGB monitor signals.

 

[vanpeebles]

For modern monitors, BBC RGB Scart cables are easily bought online, then use one of those small black metal scart to hdmi boxes

 

[Housey]

Ive got a Cub Monitor from mine

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Schools would be, I would take it but I'm miles away. Get in touch with your local secondary and see if the head of comp sci will take it

I doubt it, our school binned stockpiled BBCs and Amstrads 2 years ago. There's no call for historic computing - the curriculum is far to narrow and prescriptive to allow for that.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

there was one of these in the Science Museum when i was in London the other year. it's odd, cos you go "ah cool, i had one of those! " then you pause and start realising you must be getting old if something you played w/ and used in school is in a museum... :-/

They had a PS1 in the York castle museum when we went there in the summer. I was like "what the ****, that's not a museum piece" then I paused and realised how old the PS1 is and how old I was when I got one. Then the nail in the coffin was when one of my kids asked if I had one of those when I was young

 

[skaif]

I doubt it, our school binned stockpiled BBCs and Amstrads 2 years ago. There's no call for historic computing - the curriculum is far to narrow and prescriptive to allow for that.

I disagree

I use old computer bits and pieces quite regularly. Gets the students thinking about how it used to work and how it works now. I find explaining key concepts using older materials helps them relate it to the newer stuff we have now.

I guess thats just the way I run my department and it does differ from school to school.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I disagree

I use old computer bits and pieces quite regularly. Gets the students thinking about how it used to work and how it works now. I find explaining key concepts using older materials helps them relate it to the newer stuff we have now.

I guess thats just the way I run my department and it does differ from school to school.

Are you in an academy?

 

[Scania]

Ahh, memories!

I had an Electron first (wanted a BBC’B but £399 in 1984 was a lot of dough for the basic machine) then, my father got an interesting trade in for an Amstrad 1512 which comprised of a BBC’B, Acorn DFS (Intel 8271 controller) Torch Z80 2nd Processor, Watford Electronics sideways ROM Board, twin Torch 80 track disc drives and a Microvitec Cub monitor.

I added “Disc Doctor” from Computer Concepts and had endless fun changing text in numerous games to highly inappropriate messages and then giving my mates copies of said games, gained Elite status on the disk version of Elite and played Revs endlessly, fond memories of battling Johnny Turbo and Hugh Engine on the hangar straight, then bought Revs 4 tracks but couldn’t get my head around the different circuits.

Fantastic machine,my favourite computer by a long way, I intend to get another at some point.