BBC The Computer Programme 1982 #01

[marcel911]

I used to love this programme. I had an Atari 800 when this started but soon got the BBC computer. I loved it.

[baarbear]

I remember this. It had Chris Searle and Ian McNaught-Davis (pardon me gentles if I'm spelling your names incorrectely) as hosts.

[tvilot]

I actually learned something new from this one. "By Eight" as the basis for "byte."

I don't know if that's true or not but ... makes sense. :-)

[3Deity]

@tvilot Yeah I didn't know that either and I watched this on TV first time! 4 bits is a word (MIDI for example - where 'Word Clock' comes from I guess) and 2 bits is a 'Nibble'. Mouse movements are measured in 'Scurries' and as an ex-PC Magazine technical reviewer who spoke to HP, I can confirm that TWAIN *does* stand for Technology Without An Interesting Name'. So there! :o)

[xadam2dudex]

I haven't seen this program in yrs..I remember this guys from programs like this

[ForViewingOnly]

Thanks for uploading. Shame about the sound, seems like too much gain on whatever harware/software you used to transfer to PC.

[mistofoles]

Is it just me, or does Chris look like Jeremy Paxman with a perm?

[walter0bz]

LP-ROM drives

[2491cc]

Computers will never catch on!

[joeytwiddle]

byte = by eight ... I never knew that!

[ludocrat]

@joeytwiddle

Just thought the exactly the same thing - and then saw your comment.

It gave me a sort of warm feeling, learning that little fact. Strange!

[WomblingFreely]

@joeytwiddle

Its not actually try, anyway what does "by eight" mean??? Byte literally comes from bite, and is the smallest bite of data a processor can take. Therefore it doesnt actually mean 8 bits, early cpus such as the 4004 has a 4 bit byte, in fact machines have used 4 up to 12 bits as their bite. The trouble is the 8 bit era lasted so long that byte became known as 8 bits. 16 bit CPUs should have a 16 bit byte, but the term byte was stuck as meaning 8 by then.

[threecoloursblue1]

It's just like being back at school in the 80's, the sound is turned up so loud that you can't hear it. Why did my teachers do that????

[answerstolucky]

@threecoloursblue1 What?

[StanPomeray]

Peter Packard and "Computer Jones" :)

[jren57]

This show was just a big advert for the BBC Micro, in fact if there wasn't a 'BBC' branded computer, I doubt they would have done a show at all.

By the late '80s, with the decline of the 'BBC Micro', the BBC stopped making computer shows.

[cjmillsnun]

It was a little more than that, there was some good programming information.. and some history. Yes there was a lot of advertising for the BBC Micro but in the 80s it could be said that the United Kingdom was the most computer savvy nation in the world. By the early 90's of course, America and Japan had taken over.

[simonmarchese]

Wrong way round jren57 - the BBC wanted to do a show and needed a micro to go with it. Acorn were just one of the companies who proposed designs for the that micro but it was the one who ended up creating the BBC Micro.

[freeradicals]

cinco??

[NiGhtMarEs0nWax]

its something that television lacks today, with all the channels available on satelite you think at least one would have a dedicated segment to computing and computing technology that isnt focused on advertising new hardware, but rather teaching how it works and how it interacts with software. with the evolution of technology, people are being left behind in techno-ignorance. people need educated, at least a larger percentage than there is now.

[Samzsite]

agreed, most people i know know nothing about actual hardcore computing, yeah, i might be 14, but i can still program well. in many languages. it annoys me when people just use computers for interwebz and facebook or w.e

[metalmidget89]

@NiGhtMarEs0nWax Well, it used to be that part of owning a car was knowing how it worked and how to maintain it. I wouldn't have a clue what the hell goes on under the bonnet of my car, and I bet a lot of people wouldn't these days.

Same thing with computers, now. Most people have no interest in how they work or how to look after one, they just want it to work. Hence the proliferation of overpriced computers that you can't open up and tinker with (I'm looking at you, Apple).

[LemonPieLoL]

@metalmidget89 i bet if t here was easily available information on the mong box about how cars worked there would be less people taking their car to the garage. TV is for idiots, or for people who are interested in facts they already know.

[DonnieDarkoNorthwest]

wow the 20th century was so different ... even though we're barely beyond it ...

[NiGhtMarEs0nWax]

so true man, even the late 90's seems dated, they all have mad haircuts lol

[ajs41]

I always think of modern life having started in about 1980.

[agghtee]

Still none the wiser about what these computers do...

[PDauto]

ah yes of course it is, my memory isnt what it was.. or at least i dont think it is.

thx GrandPrix55 ;)

[PDauto]

Is that Ed McNaught?

[GrandPrix55]

That's Ian McNaught-Davis

[minijimi]

What they are talking about in this clip is still appropriate today, almost 30 years later.

[hughwrang]

my relative was on a program called magic micro mission on Central TV, but also did some pioneering documentaries on micros and computers in this early era. he is intending to transfer them to digital format soon, I will persuade him to youtube some excerpts hopefully!

[psprog]

Hey, I've never seen any Magic Micro Mission since back in the day - so any clips much appreciated!

[thalspy]

Ahh... remember the days when you needed to know how something worked to be able to use it! ;)

[british35666]

wow space age!

[bigants]

Sorry, I have no idea. I haven't followed it up yet.

[cognosc]

Great to see this! any more? Sound is rather distorted - needs the volume turning down :)

[bigants]

Yes, I have a few more to put up. I'm afraid the sound quality is rubish but not a lot I can do about that.

I have spoken Paul Kriwaczek the Producer of this series, he told me that "I believe that the National Film and Television Archive at the BFI has copies of the first and second series of The Computer Programme.

[stormsunrider]

Great - is it possible to order copies?