Did Anyone Watch Micro Men?

[torpor]

I just got 6 (YES SIX) Oric Atmos computers in .. going to make a multitimbral synthesizer out of them. Godamn I have enjoyed re-visiting the Oric architecture after 20 years .. so many things that are subconsciously burned into my programmer consciousness started from that machine (PING;ZAP;EXPLODE) .. just a lovely thing to enjoy once again. If only I could find a Microdisc drive for the Atmos, that'd be super .. anyone got one?

 

[Dunny]

I had a BBC and they really were absolute sex. I learnt to program on that thing... ah BBC Basic... all my mates had an Amiga at this point but I was too poor so made do with the Beeb.

True story: My Alevel computer science teacher dragged one out of storage to teach us assembler/machine code.

You rich bugger!

We were like the other 90% of the population and had Sinclair machines. The BBC machines were priced way too high, and besides they reeked of "school" hardware

And your CS teacher taught you 6502 assembly? Way to give you transferable skills, what with the x86 pretty much dominating for so long... Should have started with the z80

D.

 

[Monk]

Well, thanks to the BBC iPlaye rlink, I HAVE watched it now. Quite amusing (not in a gut-laugh kind of way though) and definately brings back memories.

I was a ZX81 and Spectrum owner who initially aspired to the BBC machines out of my reach... until I got some of those too. Still have at least one Model B and a Master 128, plus various other options (with some, ah, custom mods thrown in) in the loft. Oh and the games! I'm SO glad that there's a decent BBC Micro emulator for my desktop, so I don't have to rely on memories or climb into the loft to replay Repton, Elite, Exile etc. etc.

Great games. Great days. Anyone with a time machine, please feel free to call me - I'd go back in a heartbeat.

 

[iprice]

It (Micro Men) was a great (if somewhat abridged) programme, but did anyone see the programme that was on before it - Electric Dreams? It covered the 1980's and included info on Speccy and the BBC (and many other techno marvels from the era). It was quite funny how the kids really enjoyed playing with the old systems when modern systems were removed. A really interesting pair of programmes.

BTW I was an Amstrad user (follower of the barrowboy! )

 

[hackroid]

I was told I had to ask the boss if I wanted to buy one - he wasn't anywhere around, so I figured I'd ask the next day. I come back the next day... and... he'd already taken everythin to the tip assuming it was worthless.

...sob, That's just horrible. I had a similar experience, I met someone at the same computer course I was attending about five years ago, they said how they had just thrown out a BBC Msster and a Jupiter Ace, 'cause they were moving house

Watched Micromen last night. Wow! They sexed it up a bit!

Yeah, like when the three sexy female students cornered Sir Clive in the Lecture hall asking him why he had to make everything smaller, isn't it good to have something nice and BIG from time to time....? then giggling as they ran off, leaving Sir Clive all flustered

 

[Monk]

did anyone see the programme that was on before it - Electric Dreams? It covered the 1980's

Not yet, but it seems to be at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n59t4

(at least for UK residents) so I may be able to catch it later ta for the tip.

 

[ashdjones]

I had a BBC and they really were absolute sex. I learnt to program on that thing... ah BBC Basic... all my mates had an Amiga at this point but I was too poor so made do with the Beeb.

True story: My Alevel computer science teacher dragged one out of storage to teach us assembler/machine code.

You rich bugger!

We were like the other 90% of the population and had Sinclair machines. The BBC machines were priced way too high, and besides they reeked of "school" hardware

And your CS teacher taught you 6502 assembly? Way to give you transferable skills, what with the x86 pretty much dominating for so long... Should have started with the z80

D.

No, not a rich buggar! This was the early nineties... literally everyone had an Amiga. I got it donated to me from a friend of my mums - he was studying computer science at university and upgraded to... an Archimedes? That's a guess, I don't quite remember but he did demo it to me. What's interesting were the weird 'games' that came with the usually array of stuff - games with no enemies, just a single character on a scrolling map. Pretty obvious to me now he was programming game engines - the guy probably works in the industry right now. Andy someone or other?

 

[fade]

Caught it on BBC 4 last night, what a great programme. It was interesting to see how Clive didn't actually like games much at all, even tho thats what really made the speccy. The punch up in the pub was pretty funny, didn't know that happened! It really was a pity they didn't stick together from the beginning, who knows how it might have turned out. I found the bit right at the end rather sad when it said 'The industry is now dominated by giant american companies' :~( Well, it all started here

An seeing as everyone is talking about what they owned, I never actually owned a speccy or a bbc, although I did temporarily swap my machine for both of them for a while. I had a Toshiba MSX HX-10, followed by a cpc464 an then an Amiga. Always loved the speccy tho, most original games going. I like to think of the homebrew games scene sort of as today's speccy scene, real original imaginative stuff usually made by just one or two people.

 

[Asmo]

Ooooh! that's a nasty bit of treasure been dumped


Watched Micromen last night. Wow! They sexed it up a bit!
Champagne party when they won a contract?!? Where nerds and chicks mixed?!?!?!?
... When there was still code to write!

IIRC, Clive Sinclair had quite a reputation for the ladies. Must've been the money . Possibly all the rubber.


I once missed out on a Star Wars full sit-down cab, AND a Hard Driving one. I wasn't allowed bring them home, it didn't fit with the decor.

 

[mvickers03]

I had a BBC and they really were absolute sex. I learnt to program on that thing... ah BBC Basic... all my mates had an Amiga at this point but I was too poor so made do with the Beeb.

True story: My Alevel computer science teacher dragged one out of storage to teach us assembler/machine code.

Also true story: I was volunteering at a charity last year. Amongst other things they operated a few shops for sellin donated goods. The boss, in some venture completely unrelated to the shops scored an unused science room at a local primary school to do with as he pleased (under the priviso that he cleared the place out). So I come in one day and he's cleared out most of the stuff and stored it at the back of the building - I walk in and can't help but notice the absolute motherload of BBC Micro stuff. Probably about 8 machines, Model B and Master, each one had a monitor too. There were boxes and boxes filled with all sorts of software and perephirals, like tablets, touch-pads, light-pens... stuff I'd never seen before.

I was told I had to ask the boss if I wanted to buy one - he wasn't anywhere around, so I figured I'd ask the next day. I come back the next day... and... he'd already taken everythin to the tip assuming it was worthless.

when i left high school about 8 years ago they threw all the bbc's and archamedes computers in a huge skip. there must have been 30-40 of them including screens, mice, trackball mice, plotters, printers, and sheds of software

It's a shame knowing how collectable they are these days!

 

[hackroid]

I notice that the programme was originally going to be called Syntax Era, which would've a really geeky and fun play on words. It is available to view on iplayer, for those in the UK. I find most of the programmes the BBC are showing in this Electric revolution are very pro BBC (Like the family living through the different eras 70s/80s/90s in technology terms, chose to use the BBC Micro compared to the Spectrum or the C64. With this season being about the UK viewpoint of the Home computer revolution, this makes a lot of sense, although it is a bit biased.

More Programmes in this season include:-

Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe conducts a caustic, informative but ultimately affectionate analysis of the inner workings of the computer games industry.

The Life and Death of a Mobile Phone takes a quirky look at what mobile phones might think of their owners' embarrassing calls and ill-advised texts.

Upgrade Me follows poet Simon Armitage's quest to uncover the mystery behind our obsession with technological upgrades.

Podfather tells the epic story behind the silicon chip's inventor who, according to some, remains the most important person that most people have never heard of.

 

[Monk]

when i left high school about 8 years ago they threw all the bbc's and archamedes computers in a huge skip. there must have been 30-40 of them including screens, mice, trackball mice, plotters, printers, and sheds of software

It's a shame knowing how collectable they are these days!

That's just really sad, but happens in loads of technological fields I guess. But Arcs shouldn't be thrown away unless they're broken! BADLY broken! LOL.

 

[tristan.clark]

It is sad how stuff like that just gets thrown away.

I still have a working C16, I sometime get it out for a while. Its going nowhere!!

 

[hackroid]

It is sad how stuff like that just gets thrown away.

I still have a working C16, I sometime get it out for a while. Its going nowhere!!

That was my very first computer, recently I've Been playing Petals of Doom/Tycoon Tex/Sword of Destiny and Dark Tower on it, Petals of Doom is a really cool Defender/Dropzone clone, love it.

This is probably why these computers are so collectable, 'cause they were just binned en mass.

 

[tristan.clark]

It was also my first computer. I did inherit a Electron later when my mum found it didn't work well as business machine.

 

[craigix]

Watched this last night, absolutely splendid. Some rather familiar things too...

 

[Asmo]

"We ship in 28 days!"

 

[Nation.A.List]

I never saw Craig as a ginger, but I could imagine him in a video, leaping Pandora's with a single bound.

 

[hackroid]

Hopefully Openpandora won't be bailed/bought out by the government (or Governments as it's an international collaboration) Then one of the dev team is sent to work undercover, at a Satellite company developing other products, which proves to be a bigger hit than the pandora. BBC's handhelds for schools, BBC Pandora

I really recommend Podfather, documentary about Robert Noyce co inventor of the Integrated Circuit. And Synth Britannia, a documentary about the first musicians to really kick start the Electronic pop revolution in the 1970s/80s.

 

[jaycee900]

Yep i recorded this, have watched it twice already, its not just historically interesting to watch its bloody funny too! My favourite quote was from Sir Clive "I WILL NOT BE REMEMBERED AS CLIVE SINCLAIR, THE MAN WHO BROUGHT YOU JET SET FUCKING WILLY!