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http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18243911 Any other Beebs here? :-)

Monserrat said:
I thought that this would be too old to fit under general hardware (!), so GD it is Are there any other Beeb kids here? I just thought it would be nice for us 30-somethings OcUKers to share our old favourite BBC programs/games. In the day and age of Macs vs PCs, we still hear occasional mentions of the Speccy, Commadore and Amiga computers, but not the Beeb as it was more of an educational computer.

My parents recently had a loft clear-out, found my old Beeb that was a bit worse for wear, with no monitor, and only a bare minimum of disks/manuals. My fault really - I should had told them to keep the stuff until I got my own house. I went to a company who deals with old computers - I won't say who, in case it is seen as advertising. Anyway, they converted a BBC model B for me that has a USB interface. They chucked in a working monitor, 5.25" disk drive, cables, a few starter games, plus disk images that work on the Beeb emulator, but can also copy to the real Beeb via USB stick. The USB interface will also be useful when my 5.25" disks do finally wear out, and I can back them up to PC.

So here goes :-)

▼ I'm setting the equipment up onto a modern workstation. Monitor on top, Beeb and disk drive on the pull-out keyboard tray. Next to it is my HP printer which I use wirelessly with my 2 PCs.

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▼ Closer.

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▼ Showing the Beeb itself.

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▼ Ahh bliss - this is the first time I've booted up a Beeb since the late 90s.

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▼ Then a quick look at what parents managed to salvage from their loft: a BBC BASIC manual, a book about computer games, QuickDraw paint program, the Folio wordprocessor and, *gosh*... ELITE! I bought it for myself in June 1995 as a finishing-GCSE-exams present. I know 1995 was late for its time, but I was still in my Beeb prime back then. I didn't realise that my Elite game survived. Also, (not shown), are some other disks that may be blank or have programs. I'll have to check and see if any of my BASIC survived.

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I'm 44 and i had a BBC B when i was a kid, i guess about 14 - 15yrs old. Elite was by far the best game. So high tech with a tape recorder connected to it :D Me and my mates would spend hours and sometimes days inputting programs from magazines only for them not to work. Them were the days :)
 
My school computer room was full of BBC Masters, all with the Microvitec monitors- which collectively produce quite an intense high-frequency whine.
Didn't get much done on those really.
Then the Beebs went and a load of 12MHz 286s came in. 2MB of memory, 40meg HDDs, can't remember the brand but they were great.
Always the rush to get the PC at the far end of the room. That was a 25MHz 386 with 4meg! It had a turbo button, which seemed only to activate an LED on the front panel.
The Admin struggled to stop us playing Wolfenstein and Doom, but failed. So he then arranged to have the room available for deathmatch Doomfests on Wednesday lunchtimes. Top dude really.
 
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teulk said:
Me and my mates would spend hours and sometimes days inputting programs from magazines only for them not to work. Them were the days :)
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:D

I used to do the same, but for the ZX80 as well, or was it the ZX81? Anyway, in either case it was a labour of love. :D
 
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Oh man, I loved these things. They were the gods of the classroom when I was a kid.

I used:

* BBC Micro B
* BBC Master
* Acorn Archimedes

At home I had a VIC-20, followed by a Commodore 64.

Starship Command and Elite for the win. Good times!

:cool:
 
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mame said:
In Primary school (I'm 32) we used to play a game where you had to choose the fastest route for an ambulance. not sure if it was an educational game.
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we used to play a game where you were stranded on a desert island and had to pick 5 or 7 objects to help you...

4 of us got really really far once but had to go home, even the teacher was impressed :/

it was probably that game that got me interested in the outdoors/camping and the cub scouts.... lol crazy :D
 
We used these in comprehensive school. Not sure what the "game" was called, but I specifically remember being set an assignment to crane blocks off shore and on to a ship in the least number of moves.

The challenge was you couldn't just pile the blocks on as the ship would sink, so there was only really two combinations to use. I know because a friend and I submitted our "instructions" and the IT teacher shot them down...until he saw them in action ;)

If anyone remembers this game, I'd be interested to know the name.
 
EVH said:
We used these in comprehensive school. Not sure what the "game" was called, but I specifically remember being set an assignment to crane blocks off shore and on to a ship in the least number of moves.

The challenge was you couldn't just pile the blocks on as the ship would sink, so there was only really two combinations to use. I know because a friend and I submitted our "instructions" and the IT teacher shot them down...until he saw them in action ;)

If anyone remembers this game, I'd be interested to know the name.
Click to expand...

I remember that from school. I also remember a fishing game where you had to look at the weather for each of the fishing regions and decide which to go for and then what kind of fish you wanted.
 
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