BBC Micro - Article Index

Encyclopedia - Bbc Micro: Encyclopedia - Bbc Micro
The BBC Micro, affectionately known as the Beeb, was an early home computer. It was designed and built by Acorn Computers Ltd for the Bri...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Bbc Micro: Encyclopedia Ii - Bbc Micro - Specifications
Four independent sound channels (one noise and 3 melodic) using the Texas Instruments SN76489 sound chip Built-in hardware support incl...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Compact Audio Cassette: Encyclopedia Ii - Compact Audio Cassette - Features Of The Cassette
The cassette was a great step forward in convenience from reel-to-reel audio tape recording, though because of the limitations of the cas...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Compact Audio Cassette: Encyclopedia - Compact Audio Cassette
The compact audio cassette medium for audio storage was introduced by Philips in 1963 under the name Compact Cassette. Although there wer...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Atari St: Encyclopedia - Atari St
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari in 1985. Th...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Archimedes: Encyclopedia - Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer based on their own 32-bit ARM RISC CPU, and spawned a ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - L: Encyclopedia - L
L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el. L - History. The letter L is derived ultimately from the Semit...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Bolo Computer Game: Encyclopedia - Bolo Computer Game
Bolo is a video game originally developed for the Apple II computer by Synergistic Software in 1982. An update inspired by the original w...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Computers: Encyclopedia - Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers whi...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Cp/m: Encyclopedia - Cp/m
CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 and Zilog Z80 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - List Of Board Games: Encyclopedia Ii - List Of Board Games - Two-player Abstract Strategy Games
In abstract strategy games, players know the entire game state at all times, and random generators such as dice are not used. List of bo...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - List Of Home Computers By Category: Encyclopedia Ii - List Of Home Computers By Category - Home Computers Using 8-bit Processors
List of home computers by category - MOS Technology 6502-based. Acorn Computers Ltd Acorn Atom Acorn Electron BBC Micro (plus an opti...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Centipede Video Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Centipede Video Game - Description
The player is represented by a small, insect-like character at the bottom of the screen, which is actually a gnome. The player moves the ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Electron: Encyclopedia Ii - Acorn Electron - Popular Upgrades
Acorn Electron - Acorn Plus 1. The Acorn Plus 1 added two ROM slots, an analogue interface and serial and parallel ports. The analogue ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Doctor Who Merchandise: Encyclopedia Ii - Doctor Who Merchandise - Games
Doctor Who merchandise - Board and card games. Doctor Who - The Game of Time and Space (1980) This boardgame from Games Workshop came...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 1970s
History of computer and video games - Coin-op Games: Dawn of a Golden Age. Main articles: Golden age of arcade games, and [[]], and [[...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - List Of Basic Dialects By Platform: Encyclopedia Ii - List Of Basic Dialects By Platform - Platforms
List of BASIC dialects by platform - Apple I/II/III. Apple Business BASIC Applesoft BASIC — Based on the same Microsoft code that Co...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Mos: Encyclopedia Ii - Acorn Mos - Text Graphics Printing
The MOS permits textual output intended for the screen to be directed instead of the printer, or both at once, allowing for very trivial ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - List Of Basic Dialects: Encyclopedia Ii - List Of Basic Dialects - Dialects
List of BASIC dialects - A. ABasiC (Amiga) — Relatively limited. Initially provided with Amigas by MetaComCo. ABC BASIC (ABC80/800) ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - Adaptations
The Lord of the Rings - The Lord of the Rings on radio. The BBC produced a 13-part radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1956, a...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Disk Operating System: Encyclopedia Ii - Disk Operating System - History
In the early days of computers, there were no disk drives; delay lines, punched cards, paper tape, magnetic tape, magnetic drums, were us...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Screen Reader: Encyclopedia Ii - Screen Reader - Types Of Screen Reader
Screen reader - CLI screen readers. In early operating systems such as MS-DOS which employed a Command Line Interface (CLI), the screen...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Mobygames: Encyclopedia Ii - Mobygames - Overview
MobyGames' database is completely relational, meaning that information can be searched for in a variety of ways. The database contains in...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Thalamus Ltd: Encyclopedia Ii - Thalamus Ltd - History
To take advantage of their position as a leading publisher of computer game magazines during the mid-1980s, Newsfield Publications Ltd cr...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Single-board Computer: Encyclopedia Ii - Single-board Computer - Current Sbcs
Currently the most common variety of SBC in use is of a specific form factor similar to other plug-in cards and is intended to be used in...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Simcity: Encyclopedia Ii - Simcity - Description
SimCity was originally developed by game designer Will Wright. The inspiration for SimCity came from a feature of the game Raid on Bungel...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Elite Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Elite Computer Game - Description
Elite is often credited with inventing the space trading genre. This genre melds space-borne combat with a "buy low, sell high" freight t...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Home Computer: Encyclopedia Ii - Home Computer - Concise History
In a manner resembling the expansion of new animal forms in the Cambrian period, large numbers of new machines of all types, including su...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Football Manager: Encyclopedia Ii - Football Manager - Football Manager 2005
Football Manager - The resurrection of a classic brand. On the 12th February 2004, after splitting from publishers Eidos it was announc...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Dragon 32/64: Encyclopedia Ii - Dragon 32/64 - Product History
In the early 1980s, the British home computer market was booming. New machines were released almost monthly. In August 1982, Dragon Data ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Microcomputer: Encyclopedia Ii - Microcomputer - History
The world's first commercial microprocessor was the Intel 4004, released on November 15, 1971. The 4004 processed 4 binary digits (bits) ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Exile Bbc Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Exile Bbc Computer Game - Game Mechanics
The game contains other characters to interact with as well as a physics model with gravity, interia, mass, explosions, shockwaves, water...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Frontier Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Frontier Computer Game - Game Play
In Frontier, you play the part of one of Commander Jameson's grandchildren, having inherited from your grandfather one hundred credits an...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Mos Technology 6502: Encyclopedia Ii - Mos Technology 6502 - History And Use
The 6502 was designed primarily by the same team that had designed the Motorola 6800. After quitting Motorola en-masse, they quickly desi...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Chris Curry: Encyclopedia Ii - Chris Curry - Sinclair Radionics
In April 1966 Curry joined Sinclair Radionics, a company founded by Clive Sinclair on 25 July 1961. Curry was to play an important role i...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Compact Audio Cassette: Encyclopedia Ii - Compact Audio Cassette - Features Of The Cassette
The cassette was a great step forward in convenience from reel-to-reel audio tape recording, though because of the limitations of the cas...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Red Arrows: Encyclopedia Ii - Red Arrows - Team History
Red Arrows - Predecessors. The Red Arrows are not the first RAF aerobatics team; in fact the first RAF biplane pageant was held at Hend...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Boulder Dash: Encyclopedia Ii - Boulder Dash - Official Game Titles
The titles of the home computer versions. Boulder Dash (1984), the original, published by First Star Boulder Dash 2 – Rockford's Reven...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Bbc Master: Encyclopedia Ii - Bbc Master - Models
The Master was available in several different models. BBC Master - Master 128. This was the standard issue computer. The 128 in the nam...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Function Key: Encyclopedia Ii - Function Key - Action Of Function Keys On Various Programs Operating Systems
In the Mac OS up to Mac OS 9, the function keys could be configured by the user, with the Function Keys control panel, to start a program...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Rare Video Game Company: Encyclopedia Ii - Rare Video Game Company - Company Overview
Rare is located in Twycross, England and is the company behind many of the most famous games for Nintendo's various gaming systems: Battl...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Risc Pc: Encyclopedia Ii - Risc Pc - Risc Pc Today
Variants of the Risc PC design are still sold today, but Risc PCs have reached the end of their production cycle with the advent of RISC ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Atari St: Encyclopedia Ii - Atari St - Origins
Atari had created two released machines in the form of the Atari 2600 console (also known as VCS) and the various Atari 8-bit based home ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Archimedes: Encyclopedia Ii - Acorn Archimedes - Description; Early Models
The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The machines differed primarily in that the 400 series included m...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - L: Encyclopedia Ii - L - Usage
In English, L can have several values, depending on whether it occurs before or after a vowel. The alveolar lateral approximant (IPA [l])...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Acorn Computers: Encyclopedia Ii - Acorn Computers - Cpu Ltd 1978–83
Curry and Hauser decided to pursue their joint interest in microcomputers and, on 5 December 1978, they set up Cambridge Processor Unit L...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Zilog Z80: Encyclopedia Ii - Zilog Z80 - Notable Uses
The Zilog Z80 has long been a popular embedded microprocessor and microcontroller core, where it remains in widespread use today. By the ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Xara: Encyclopedia Ii - Xara - Products
Xara - BBC Micro products included:. Wordwise - a ROM based word processor Disc Doctor - utility software Graphics ROM - graphics util...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Motorola 6845: Encyclopedia Ii - Motorola 6845 - Internals
The chip has a total of 18 8-bit registers controlling all aspects of video timings. Only two addresses are exposed to external component...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Risc Ix: Encyclopedia Ii - Risc Ix - Distribution
RISC iX was either supplied preinstalled on new computer hardware or was installed onsite from a portable tape drive by the Microcare dep...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Kansas City Standard: Encyclopedia Ii - Kansas City Standard - Computers Using The Kansas City Standard
Early microcomputers (several of them S-100 based): Compukit UK101 Lucas Nascom 1, 2 (which also supported a 1200 bit/s variant, see bel...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Level 9 Computing: Encyclopedia Ii - Level 9 Computing - A-code
Level 9 devised their own interpretation language, A-code, around 1979. It was very memory efficient, mainly due to the advanced text com...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Amstrad Cpc: Encyclopedia Ii - Amstrad Cpc - Hardware Description
All CPC models were based on a Zilog Z80 processor clocked at 4 MHz. Because a common pool of RAM is shared with the video circuits, the ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 1970s
History of computer and video games - Coin-op Games: Dawn of a Golden Age. Main article: Golden age of arcade games By 1969 Ralph Bae...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computing Hardware 1960s-present: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computing Hardware 1960s-present - Fourth Generation
The basis of the fourth generation was Marcian Hoff's invention of the microprocessor. Unlike Third generation minicomputers, which were ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Cp/m: Encyclopedia Ii - Cp/m - History
CP/M - The beginning and CP/M's heyday. In 1974 CP/M was a private project of Gary Kildall, under the name "Control Program/Monitor". D...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Manic Miner: Encyclopedia Ii - Manic Miner - Gameplay
At the time, its stand-out features included in-game music and sound effects, excellent playability, and colourful graphics, which were w...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - The Books
For character information see: List of Middle-earth characters The Lord of the Rings began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his in...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Martin Galway: Encyclopedia Ii - Martin Galway - Biography
As a 17-year-old schoolkid in 1983, Martin Galway used to write music for the BBC Micro, while some of his friends made games. Soon Marti...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - Education And Early Works
Adams first attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood, Essex. He took the exams and interviewed for Brentwood School at age six,...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Doctor Who Merchandise: Encyclopedia Ii - Doctor Who Merchandise - Picture Cards
There have been several series of picture cards devoted to Doctor Who over the years. These include a set of 36 cards given away in 1967 ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Centipede Video Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Centipede Video Game - Ports
This game, like many other Atari arcade games, was ported to the Atari 2600 and many home computer systems of the era (for example, Apple...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Elite Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Elite Computer Game - Sequels
Two official sequels were created: Frontier: Elite 2 (1993) and Frontier: First Encounters (1995), both produced by Braben's company Fron...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - Publication History
The three parts were first published by Allen & Unwin in 1954–1955 several months apart. They were later reissued many times by mul...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - Synopsis
Although a major work in itself, The Lord of the Rings is merely the last movement of a larger mythological cycle which Tolkien called hi...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - Adaptations
The Lord of the Rings - The Lord of the Rings on radio. The BBC produced a 13-part radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1956, a...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Doctor Who Merchandise: Encyclopedia Ii - Doctor Who Merchandise - Computer Games
Two computer games by BBC Soft for the BBC Micro Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror (1985) A computer game published by Micro Power for...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - The Lord Of The Rings: Encyclopedia Ii - The Lord Of The Rings - Books And Volumes
The Lord of the Rings - Writing. J.R.R. Tolkien did not originally intend to write a sequel to The Hobbit, and instead wrote several ot...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Centipede Video Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Centipede Video Game - Clones
Like most other popular arcade games of the era, Centipede was widely imitated by third-party software vendors for home computers. These ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 1960s
Many of the earliest computer games ran on university mainframes in the United States and were developed by individual users who programm...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Rare Video Game Company: Encyclopedia Ii - Rare Video Game Company - Possible Origins Of Their Media Shy Nature
During the Ultimate years, the company gained a reputation for being media shy. It wasn't an intentional PR ploy, but it was simply that ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Rare Video Game Company: Encyclopedia Ii - Rare Video Game Company - Success Of Games
Rare has in general found large success in its games. The "golden era" of Rare games began with the 1994 release of Donkey Kong Country, ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Motorola 6845: Encyclopedia Ii - Motorola 6845 - Overview
The 6845 generates the signals necessary to interface with a raster display but does not display any pixels. It is used to produce correc...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Manic Miner: Encyclopedia Ii - Manic Miner - Ports
Official ports exist for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Dragon 32/64, Commodore Amiga, Oric 1, Game Boy Advance and SAM Coupé...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Red Arrows: Encyclopedia Ii - Red Arrows - The Pilots
Since 1966, there have been nine display pilots each year; all are volunteers. Pilots must have completed one or more operational tours o...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Red Arrows: Encyclopedia Ii - Red Arrows - The Aircraft
The Red Arrows do not use front line aircraft on the grounds of cost. The Reds (as they are affectionately called) have twelve Hawks, six...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Zilog Z80: Encyclopedia Ii - Zilog Z80 - Second Sources Clones Emulation
Mostek and SGS were second-sources for the Z80. Sharp and NEC developed Z80 clones. Hitachi developed an enhanced CMOS version which late...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Zilog Z80: Encyclopedia Ii - Zilog Z80 - Second Sources Clones Emulation
Mostek and SGS were second-sources for the Z80. Sharp and NEC developed Z80 clones. National Semiconductor developed a CMOS clone, the NS...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Zilog Z80: Encyclopedia Ii - Zilog Z80 - History And Description
The Z80 came about when Federico Faggin left Intel after working on the 8080, and by July 1976 Zilog had the Z80 on the market. It was de...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Red Arrows: Encyclopedia Ii - Red Arrows - Displays
The first display by the Red Arrows was at RAF Little Rissington on 6 May 1965. The display was to introduce the Royal Air Force Aerobati...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 2000s
History of computer and video games - Sixth generation era 1998 - 2004. Main article: Sixth generation era 1998 Sega released the Dr...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computing Hardware 1960s-present: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computing Hardware 1960s-present - Third Generation
The explosion in the use of computers accelerated with 'Third Generation' computers. These generally relied on Jack St. Claire Kilby's in...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Frontier Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Frontier Computer Game - Bugs
Frontier’s development was running behind schedule near its slated release date, and, to meet their advertised release date, Gametek pu...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Frontier Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Frontier Computer Game - Music
Perhaps taking a cue from the film 2001, the game used a selection of classical music to provide background. Pieces (in fact, MIDI-reinte...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Frontier Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Frontier Computer Game - Compared With Elite
Frontier has better graphics than Elite, but this is mostly due to the differences in the underlying computer platforms—the Amiga, Atar...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Football Manager: Encyclopedia Ii - Football Manager - The Original Football Manager Series
Football Manager was originally developed by Kevin Toms for the ZX Spectrum in 1982 and was to start a whole new genre of computer game: ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Frontier Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Frontier Computer Game - Frontier In The Media
Frontier was generally well received by the media. Most magazines were awestruck by its sheer volume and accurate depiction of real-world...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The Beginning
1947 is believed to be the first year when a game was designed for playing on a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). This very simple game was designe...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 2000s
History of computer and video games - Sixth generation era 1998 - 2004. Main articles: Sixth generation era, and [[]], and [[]], and [...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 1990s
If the 1980s were about the rise of the industry, the 1990s were about its maturing into a Hollywood-esque landscape of ever-increasing b...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - History Of Computer And Video Games: Encyclopedia Ii - History Of Computer And Video Games - The 1980s
In the early 1980s, the computer gaming industry experienced its first major growing pains. Publishing houses appeared, with many honest ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Elite Computer Game: Encyclopedia Ii - Elite Computer Game - Conversions And Clones
ArcElite, the port to the Acorn Archimedes written by Warren Burch and Clive Gringras, is widely regarded as the best conversion of the c...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Amstrad Cpc: Encyclopedia Ii - Amstrad Cpc - The Amstrad Cpc Sold As A Complete System
Amstrad initially promoted the CPC as being an improvement on the competing ZX Spectrum and C64 because it was a complete system - includ...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a concept for a science-fiction comedy radio series pitched by Adams and radio producer Simon Br...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - Doctor Who
Adams sent the script for the HHGG pilot radio programme to the Doctor Who production office in 1978, and was commissioned to write The P...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - Early Life
Douglas Adams was born to Janet (Donovan) Adams (now Janet Thrift) and Christopher Douglas Adams in Cambridge, England. His parents had o...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Cp/m: Encyclopedia Ii - Cp/m - Components Of The Operating System
In the 8-bit versions, CP/M's software was separated into three components command processor or CCP, basic disk operating system or BDOS...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Compact Audio Cassette: Encyclopedia Ii - Compact Audio Cassette - Cassette In Other Languages
The word "cassette" is French in origin, so it was acceptable to the Academie Française without calling for them inventing a new word fo...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Cp/m: Encyclopedia Ii - Cp/m - Hardware Model
A minimal 8-bit CP/M system would contain the following components: A computer terminal using the ASCII character set An Intel 8080 micr...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - Music
Adams played guitar, left-handed, and had a collection of twenty-four of these instruments when he died in 2001 (having received his firs...   » Read the article

Encyclopedia - Douglas Adams: Encyclopedia Ii - Douglas Adams - Computer Games And Projects
Douglas Adams created an interactive fiction version of HHGG together with Steve Meretzky from Infocom in 1984. In 1986 he participated i...   » Read the article