3 ms·

I literally read my real-world version of this to pieces. I'm not sure where it is now, but last I saw it it was a mess of sellotape and ring-binder-repair sti

• Kim_Bruning 6y ago
  (Some detail) Acorn manuals always had a good reputation. They usually contained a tutorial section, a reference section, clear appendices with all sorts of examples and details, and a very solid index. I haven't quite seen other manuals that were quite as good. As a really neat example: the Acorn Midi Card manual for the Archimedes went all the way from high level "what is midi" down to bits and bytes and assembler-level API calls. As a kid, it allowed me to understand midi. Compare that to the manual for my synthesizer at the time, which really didn't explain anything at all. I found it quite interesting that a document aimed at a musician could be so technical and obtuse while the document for the computer person was so clear and enlightening!
  • timthorn 6y ago
    I understand (from a friend who was at the school at the time) that at least one of the authors for one of the manuals was a teacher at Netherhall, the school round the corner from Acorn. The BBC Micro was the reference point for the Computer Literacy Project, so developing understanding was a key goal.