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> Knowledge was also extremely unevenly distributed. Absolutely. Your comments about how hard it was to find even basic info was completely different to my ex

by louthy 5y ago

> Knowledge was also extremely unevenly distributed. Absolutely. Your comments about how hard it was to find even basic info was completely different to my experience in 1985 with a BBC Micro Model B, the manual [1], was a very comprehensive introduction to programming, starting with BASIC and going into 6502 assembly: it was and is the reason I'm a software engineer (I was 10 years old at the time). The reason for the difference was probably due to the BBC Computer Literacy Project [2], which aimed to make the UK the most computer literate country on Earth at the time. Even with this awesome introduction, learning programming required a brute-force-of-will approach. Much trial and error, and not much help from the machine (and no tools). One thing I still have slight PTSD over is that if you wrote anything in assembly and it crashed, then you'd have to reset the computer, losing the typed in program. So if you didn't save, you lost your work. But saving meant recording to a cassette tape, hardly CTRL+S! [1] http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/BBCUserGuide-1.00.pdf http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/BBCUserGuide-1.00.pdf [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/pilots/computer-literacy-project https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/pilots/computer-literacy-projec...

barrkel 5y ago
I blew up my C64 poking at the chips on the board inside, a spark one day and it died. It booted up fine and showed the READY prompt but the cursor block never appeared and it froze before it could accept keyboard input. I then got a second-hand Amstrad CPC464, but this time I got a manual (I didn't get a manual with the C64, it was a gift from a family friend) and a non-functional tape drive, which, unlike the C64, was integrated. It also came with a monochrome monitor! Every program I wrote I had to erase before I could write a new one. I wrote an alarm-clock program which made an air-raid siren noise that woke me up every morning, and I had to rewrite it again every night. The BBC project was hugely worthwhile, IMO. It had side-effects in Ireland, I had a couple of friends with BBC computers, and of course there were all those Usborne books, though Vic-20, TRS-80 and friends (before my time) probably helped too.
- commandlinefan 5y ago
  > I had to erase before I could write a new one Mine had an output port that would allow you to save programs to an external cassette recorder (cassette recorder not included). I had a pile of unlabelled cassette tapes with programs I was sure I was going to want to reuse some day.
BoxOfRain 5y ago
>The reason for the difference was probably due to the BBC Computer Literacy Project [2], which aimed to make the UK the most computer literate country on Earth at the time. How the mighty have fallen, now we have MPs calling to ban encryption in complete seriousness.
- louthy 5y ago
  Quite. The Computer Literacy Project was a real example of long-term thinking by politicians. There was no way it was going to pay-off in a big way before the end of the parliament. It’s still paying off today. I employ ~100 people because of it. And there are many others like me. Pretty awesome vision (and from a political party I normally despise!)

by louthy 5y ago

barrkel 5y ago

I blew up my C64 poking at the chips on the board inside, a spark one day and it died. It booted up fine and showed the READY prompt but the cursor block never appeared and it froze before it could accept keyboard input. I then got a second-hand Amstrad CPC464, but this time I got a manual (I didn't get a manual with the C64, it was a gift from a family friend) and a non-functional tape drive, which, unlike the C64, was integrated. It also came with a monochrome monitor! Every program I wrote I had to erase before I could write a new one. I wrote an alarm-clock program which made an air-raid siren noise that woke me up every morning, and I had to rewrite it again every night. The BBC project was hugely worthwhile, IMO. It had side-effects in Ireland, I had a couple of friends with BBC computers, and of course there were all those Usborne books, though Vic-20, TRS-80 and friends (before my time) probably helped too.

commandlinefan 5y ago
> I had to erase before I could write a new one Mine had an output port that would allow you to save programs to an external cassette recorder (cassette recorder not included). I had a pile of unlabelled cassette tapes with programs I was sure I was going to want to reuse some day.

BoxOfRain 5y ago

>The reason for the difference was probably due to the BBC Computer Literacy Project [2], which aimed to make the UK the most computer literate country on Earth at the time. How the mighty have fallen, now we have MPs calling to ban encryption in complete seriousness.

louthy 5y ago
Quite. The Computer Literacy Project was a real example of long-term thinking by politicians. There was no way it was going to pay-off in a big way before the end of the parliament. It’s still paying off today. I employ ~100 people because of it. And there are many others like me. Pretty awesome vision (and from a political party I normally despise!)