Could you repair BBC micro's?

Hagar · 30 Jun 2015 at 09:50

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33291036

If I lived nearer, I would be interested in this as a hobbyist, sadly a bit too far to go.

Stas823 · 30 Jun 2015 at 10:25

i wish i could.

skaif · 30 Jun 2015 at 10:33

This looks like a cool project, wish I knew more about them to be honest! (Before my time!)

Kurgen · 30 Jun 2015 at 12:54

I cant repair one

but i do have a BBC micro model b, I also Have an Acorn Electron pictured below running Elite from Tape,, this was last year, i had to solder the power connector back on the main board though

Rroff · 30 Jun 2015 at 13:15

Used to be in charge of maintaining them at my school including hardware fixes - forgotten any specialized knowledge years ago though.

HazardO · 30 Jun 2015 at 13:50

Kurgen said:
I cant repair one but i do have a BBC micro model b, I also Have an Acorn Electron pictured below running Elite from Tape,, this was last year, i had to solder the power connector back on the main board though

I had a BBC master with a double sided disk drive. The colour wireframe instead of monchrome + fast loading made the game much more bearable. First time I played was on an electron with tape drive. Forgetting to trade in a station and then having to dock again was a painfully slow exercise when you had to keep on rewinding and replaying the tape! :eek:

Scania · 1 Jul 2015 at 19:12

I broke and subsequently fixed my old BBC'B more times than I care to recall back in the mid 80's, they are relatively simple by modern standards and I would be surprised if anybody with a basic understanding of electronics and pcb's couldn't fix most problems.

On a lot of the boards, the i.c.'s weren't even soldered into place!

These days I guess sourcing replacement parts would be the difficulty as opposed to fixing one should you have the spare parts and an Acorn service manual.

I'm after another Beeb but waiting until I find one at a boot sale rather than go anywhere near flea bay for one!

Dano · 1 Jul 2015 at 19:35

BBC Micro fixit guide, pick the computer up and drop it from about 8 - 12 inches up, this will slam the chips back into their sockets and fix most issues

mushtafa · 1 Jul 2015 at 20:12

Dano said:
BBC Micro fixit guide, pick the computer up and drop it from about 8 - 12 inches up, this will slam the chips back into their sockets and fix most issues

I thought all old technology was fixed with a thump, or a slap

JasonM · 1 Jul 2015 at 20:28

BBC Micros were notorious for chip creep.

Still have my BBC btw.

Rroff · 1 Jul 2015 at 20:35

Scania said:
I broke and subsequently fixed my old BBC'B more times than I care to recall back in the mid 80's, they are relatively simple by modern standards and I would be surprised if anybody with a basic understanding of electronics and pcb's couldn't fix most problems.

On a lot of the boards, the i.c.'s weren't even soldered into place!

These days I guess sourcing replacement parts would be the difficulty as opposed to fixing one should you have the spare parts and an Acorn service manual.

I'm after another Beeb but waiting until I find one at a boot sale rather than go anywhere near flea bay for one!

Plus mostly through hole components and 2.54mm pitch so no messing about with SOIC or smaller. Only the specialised ICs I think are difficult to replace - everything else is pretty much still sold all these years on and/or pin compatible variants and/or suitable alternatives that can be stuck on a breakout board.