BBC Micro Master 128K vintage computer review

[Multiwizard]

Look, there´s Igle pigle!!, I love the Night garden... :-)

[RetroGamerVX]

@Multiwizard Thanks lol, my wife bought me him :o)

[Multiwizard]

@RetroGamerVX I still look The Night garden every evening, I can't help it, but, I like the most programs on CBeebies... :-)

[cadmus98]

These were popular computers in New Zealand. I enjoyed playing The Sentinel, Plan-B, Thunderstruck, Repton, etc. Dad owned several of this series, Model B and Masters, but a common fault is the power supply. I imagine it's the same in the UK -- they are not very reliable and die after a while.

[RetroGamerVX]

@cadmus98 I used one at school but never outside of there :o( Yes, I've seen a power supply pop, they are not too hard to fix though fortunatly :o)

[SmoothEmJay]

Why are you referring to it as the BBC master system? I thought it was the BBC micro computer? Model B by the look of it?

[RetroGamerVX]

@SmoothEmJay Because it is a Master. This is not the BBC B, the B is the older, smaller one with 32k of memory, this has a side numeric keypad and 128k of memory, it replaced the b :o)

[SmoothEmJay]

@RetroGamerVX Was it actually called the Master System? My knowledge of the BBC only stretches as far as the Model B and the Acorn, sorry.

[RetroGamerVX]

@SmoothEmJay Yes, it is really called the BBC Master, not master system lol, have a look on Wikipedia

[SmoothEmJay]

@SmoothEmJay Ok, just you referred to it as the BBC "Master System", lol which had me confused. No need to checkout Wikipedia, I trust you. I now assume you meant to pause after "BBC Master" ;-)

[doubledragonuk]

My BBC Master reads no language, the chip in place is as follows: VTI 606 VM 9573 / 231024-1031 / ACORN 2201,239-01 / SING-T / thats what it reads on back of CHIP, is this the proper CHIP ? or has someone replaced it ? i would like to know what Removable CHIP should be in place from factory

[doubledragonuk]

Picked one up at a bootsale today, have a play tomorrow, i allready have several micros, got the monocrome monitor with it

[rhodesy71]

sorry my wrong

[rhodesy71]

i always called it the bbc micro and alot of others call it that?

[ezelite]

Oh...and is Iggle Piggle part of the BBC theme you have going...LOL XD

[ezelite]

I should have my Model B by tomorrow, but i used to own a Master. My mam chucked it out thinking it was worthless :( I still have nightmares about it rotting in a landfill somewhere...

[shockz16]

Hahaha! I cant believe u've managed to get one of these, surely old school stock?... I remember spending alot of time on the old BBC in my junior school days. I'm now 28 & when u said Grannys Garden it made me shudder lol.

Great Stuff!

[RetroGamerVX]

@shockz16 Lol, old 'school', quite litteraly :o) Wow, 28, I'm surprised they were still using it when you went ot school :o)

[shockz16]

@RetroGamerVX

Yeah lol we had PC's when we got into Seniors but in the juniours we was still using BBC's maybe my school was just abit under funded cos even back then I was thinking to myself these are passed it lol.

[EgoShredder]

@shockz16

I'm 40 later this year and I remember playing Chuckie Egg and Elite at my school in England (UK); this was back in the early 80s I think 1982/83 ish. Great computer and one I will sure to be adding to my retro collection!

[EgoShredder]

@shockz16

I'm 40 later this year and I remember playing Chuckie Egg and Elite at my school in England (UK); this was back in the early 80s I think 1982/83 ish. Great computer and one I will sure to be adding to my retro collection! I used this computer throughout my years at school and even used the Prestel system via a modem, which was great for checking the Snooker World Championship scores and results of 1986, when the lovely Joe Johnson won against the legendary Steve Davis!

[farcher3]

@shockz16 I'm not British. What's Granny's garden? It sounds bad.

[edwardszzz]

If you want to see the old bbc computer programmes , go to micromanmachine channel.

[fortunanike]

It’s a shame there aren’t video on YouTube of businesses from the early days of computers in the UK for a bit of nostalgia. Like the early Viglen shop.

[hewey999]

nice work, well researched, I still have a place in my heart for the uncle beeb :-)

[RetroGamerVX]

@hewey999 Thanks hewey :o)  I used to hate it, associated it with school, that oppinion has now changed :o)

[braindigitalis]

nice video, just one minor correction, the analogue port on the back was for analogue input for example analogue joysticks or industrial thermometers and not for video output :-)

Every retro BBC owner should have at least one analogue joystick if you can find one!

[Headshot1961]

@Retrogamervx. Yes! And so have console bootups!

[Headshot1961]

@Retrogamervx lol. I found a good website to get retro games from and I'll start collecting.

[RetroGamerVX]

@Headshot1961 Have I inspired you to start? :o)

[Headshot1961]

What job do u have?

[RetroGamerVX]

@Headshot1961 My job is too keep the wolves from the door ;o)

[OldSchoolNYCGamer]

Simply amazing Steve, thanks for doing this video for most of us who were really curious to see more of this computer. An Yank like me can really appreciate this. = )

[RetroGamerVX]

@OldSchoolNYCGamer Lol, your welcome OldSchool :o)

[phreakindee]

Simply awesome video, thoroughly enjoyed it. The BBC systems have always highly held my interest. Didn't know much of the facts regarding the Master, so this was great!

[RetroGamerVX]

@phreakindee Yes, I thought that a lot of people here in the UK don't know too much about this particular model and in America, it's really rare. Thanks phreakindee :o)

[markvergeer]

Er... System! Friggin virtual keyboard messing up again.... #%€£ excellen review matey!

[RetroGamerVX]

@markvergeer You using your phone again? lol

[markvergeer]

Now I gotta have a BBC master state

[RetroGamerVX]

@markvergeer There are a few on Ebay, but with this configuration, they don't come cheap :o(

[Lorfarius]

Brilliant and well put together review :) I remember when I was at school they never bothered to lock out the Break key, it caused chaos. So many happy memories of it, my fav Beeb game was Magic Mushrooms. If you have that any chance of a review?

[RetroGamerVX]

@Lorfarius Thanks Lorfarius, I never remember using the break key because I believe the computers were always up and running with their software by the time we went in (obviously could not afford to replace the disks lol). I am likely to have that game after christmas as it's getting a solid state drive for christmas so I shall be sure to put up a review for you :o)

[Lorfarius]

@RetroGamerVX Thanks, looking forward to it :)

[zombieAndy1979]

Nice review Mr Retro sir !

I grew up with the BBC's at school and I think we used the BBC Master ? But what I do remember is the turtle though, was it a plotter ? you could set the coordinates in the program and it would follow your commands if my poor memory serves me well. :O(

Love the new suit, just need the pipe now old chap :o)

[RetroGamerVX]

@zombieAndy1979 Yes, the turtle was a drawing robot, you could control it's directions and put the pen up and down to draw stuff.

Thanks, I may have to source a pipe :o)

[Tudave]

Excellent informative video retro. I remember grannys garden.... That crazy witch.. Lol. You could load the C64 by pressing 2 keys as well, I think it was something like shift and the commodore key if my memory serves me correct, absolutely fantastic video. Keep em coming

[RetroGamerVX]

@Tudave Yes, it's the shift and commodore key I believe :) Thanks Dave :o)

[Headshot1961]

Where do you get all these old consoles? :)

[RetroGamerVX]

@Headshot1961 Some I buy from carboots and ebay, others are donated to me :o)

[retropowerslave]

lol, well I may be biased in my opinion but at the places I work they have supplied computers in the past and some are really poor....any way that looks like a nice solid FDD they built then and it still works....so they must have been a reputable company at some point.

[RetroGamerVX]

@retropowerslave Yes, probably better kit 25 years ago :o)

[Rockythefishman]

Super Super vid well worth the wait. Like many people I used a master at primary and high school. they were great machines I used one to control a robot that I built for a high school project super easy to use and program on. The things are bullet proof It makes me sad to think that at the time these were first out the UK was leading the world with IT in schools, oh those were the days. We had a robot arm at our school also but it was NEVER used and I was told years later it ended up in a bin :(

[RetroGamerVX]

@Rockythefishman Your kidding? they threw the robot arm in the bin? We had the logo turtle, I seriously think that's one of the things that inspired me in computers :o)

Our school had 'b's, at least I think they were, they were in that case, so until I was given this, I had never seen a master :o(

Yes, they can take serious abuse. Oh, I got your parcel by the way, thanks very much, I shall put it on a later video and do a review when I get the rom after Christmas :o) Wonderful manual :o)

[Rockythefishman]

@RetroGamerVX I wish i was kidding, I run into an old teacher off mine a few years back, he told me that went we went from the 'b' / masters to apple Mac's / classic they got a skip in and were told to toss the lot machines, monitors, software, all the interface stuff/ He asked if he could take a machine or two but was told no it all belongs to the region ie all ended up in the land fill just sad :(

[RetroGamerVX]

@Rockythefishman Arrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh­hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!. I'd have raided the skip at night, or accidently hid some of the stuff away, no way it would have all gone in :o(

I think that's one of the reasons I do this, I feel sorry for kit that was once loved and then, just discarded :o(

[Rockythefishman]

@RetroGamerVX Trust me if I had known at the time what was going on I would have been right in the skip after them. I know what you mean about loved kit, I can not stand to get rid off anything unless it is well beyond saving or using for parts.

[endofthelinejoel]

Great retro computer. Very solid design and intelligent OS firmware.

Acorn had plenty of top hardware and software engineers back in the 1980s.

[RetroGamerVX]

@endofthelinejoel I agree totally, shame we don't have such hardware engineers here now :o)

[AtsumaKarin]

I'd buy that for a dollar! :D

Very well-put together review as ever, Steve! I would be more likely to run TOWARDS it at the sight of Granny's Garden, as I'm sure you could guess after recent comments in another video.

That and (believe it or not) writing stories and printing them out using that printer were my fondest memories at Primary School!

Still waiting for links to the videos, though. :(

Not as much insanity this time but a little homage to your old: "hands-on" videos. :P

[AtsumaKarin]

@AtsumaKarin also: I find it amazing to think that back then, 128K was a big thing but now we're talking in terrabytes! :P (Same with MHz/GHz.)

[RetroGamerVX]

@AtsumaKarin Lol, mention Granny's Garden to most people, they run screaming!! Yes, that video you commented on had to dissapear because of a mistake in it lol. The links should be working, let me check :o)

[RetroGamerVX]

@AtsumaKarin Aha thanks for letting me know, I was quite drunk by the time this had finished uploading so I'd saved the links but forgot to publish them lol. Yes, I've just been using the printer to print out the worksheets for 'flowers of crystal', which is my challenge to do tonight, I love using it, so noisey, which is sooooo geeky lololol.

Insanity....yes, I hoped this video would appeal to other kinds of audience so tamed it down for this one, madness to reappear next time though :o)

[AtsumaKarin]

@RetroGamerVX just checked for the links (at the end w/ the gameplay pics) and nothing happened. :(

[RetroGamerVX]

@AtsumaKarin Well i've checked the annotations, they are saved and published, but when I watch the main video, they don't work either, I don't know why :o(

[AtsumaKarin]

@RetroGamerVX that's weird...they're still not working. I'd have thought that it merely needed time or something.

Mind you...YouTube was acting weird late last night. Videos were showing as not being fully processed and even raw file names appeared occasionally.

Perhaps try again? Unless it's because I'm skipping to roughly that point to check but I wouldn't have thought that would've mattered.

[RetroGamerVX]

@AtsumaKarin How strange, but I've not had anybody else say it's not working, so I have no clue what is going on :o(

[RetroGamerVX]

@Bakemon13 Why thankyou, NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIGHHHHHH :o)

[RetroGamerVX]

@UKRetroGames Good answer :o)

[retropowerslave]

Fantastic and informative video, only spoiled by the sight of a Viglen logo...Aaaaahhhhhhh!

[RetroGamerVX]

@retropowerslave Ok, what is wrong with Viglen? lol :o)

[P5ychoFox]

We had a BBC B at my school and only 1 kid knew how to work it (he had one at home). Our school was once visited by 'the computer bus' - an old bus kitted out with BBC Micros, I remember playing Granny's Garden and they also had a racing game set up which I forget the name of. Ah, simpler days :)

[atombat]

*Ties Bow tie*

*Lights pipe*

*Adjusts Monocle*

Spiffing review what what. :)

I remember using these at primary school, I was a bit weary of it, to a small child learning computers, the BBCs looked a bit ominous, (but not as clinical as later PC clones), which made me want to use it all the more. Wow, tons of ports and the ability to power peripherals. My MSX has about about 8 ports on the back, which is good 'cause it is a music machine, but it has nothing underneath ooo eeeer misses :D

[RetroGamerVX]

@atombat Dam, I wish I had thought of that and had the patients to acquire all those before I did this lol

Yes, you can't say that the beeb is not expandable or adaptable. Apparently, jodrell bank telescope still use one to control the direction of the dish!! :o)

[agentk1986]

@UKRetroGames: You are right about the Apple computers here in the US. They were still dominate in schools into the 90s, when I was in school. My first experience with a computer was an Apple playing The Oregon Trail:)

[ChrisMatTNMoC]

Excellent review and we have BBC Bs and Masters working at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park if anyone wants to come see. Slowly building a classroom of '84 (ish). We hope to bring an Econet network back to life based on SJ Research MDFS for the Beebs. For teaching the Beeb was great, almost instant turn on and no viruses, plus you could drop it and get away with it plus it would take hundreds of sticky fingers using it throughout the day - why sticky? dont ask!

[RetroGamerVX]

@ChrisMatTNMoC Yes, I have a relative who is struggling with her pc acting up, I told her to get a beeb ;o). The room where it is is very cold, I have to warm my blackberry up before the screen will respond, the beeb just fires straight up lol

I also want to learn assembly language on it :o)

Ok, hmm, sticky fingers lol ;o)

[SteveBenway]

It's very interesting to see the ROM chip stuff on there. I've got the model B, but never had a look at a Master, and all of that ROM stuff is new to me.

Very informative :)

[RetroGamerVX]

@SteveBenway Yes, until I got this, I knew nothing about how you could change rom chips. Even then, I did not know until Mark told me about them, very interesting subject :o)

[28steryan]

I am the BBC Master(bater)

See you on BlogTV if Steve is doing it.

[RetroGamerVX]

@28steryan Okey dokey, see you there :o)

[The1970sInfatuate]

CS4

[RetroGamerVX]

@The1970sInfatuate CS4?

[The1970sInfatuate]

@RetroGamerVX You probably used Adobe CS4 to edit this.

[RetroGamerVX]

@RetroGamerVX oic lol, naa, Sony Vegas :o)

[ap3xdotexe]

Great video, didnt know this incarnation of the BBC existed if im honest.

The brief discussion of the various companies making their bid to create a BBC computer reminded me of a TV film that was on last year I believe called "Micro Men". Did you happen to watch it? I very much enjoyed it!

[RetroGamerVX]

@ap3xdotexe Lol, funny you should mention that film, I have it on dvd in the laptop at the moment, brilliant. Yes, when I was offered this incarnation of the beeb, just a few months ago, I had to ask what it was lol

[atarileaf]

Fascinating little machine. That was quite an excellent overview of this system that, admittedly, I know nothing about. Glad to get a closer look at the disk drive because I've seen it in your other videos and from a distance I thought it was a coco disk drive. :)

[RetroGamerVX]

@atarileaf Glad you enjoyed it :o) I did not think that it would be common across the pond. I had only a few memories of it myself from school, so, when I got this, I did not even know how to boot a disk into it!!!

[RetroGamerVX]

@UKRetroGames I wonder if they realised the name of the song when they first chose it lolol. Funny you should mention electric dreams, I have the episode with teh bbc micro in open in my media player at the mo lol.

Yes, this program probably did spawn a lot of programmers, I am just slightly too young to remember it, teh first solid memories of computing I have was of my Vic20 in 1983 :o)

[RetroGamerVX]

@UKRetroGames Your right, it was a lot more expensive than the C64 and did not have the cult games of that system, that put it out of reach of most homes. Yes, I've never even seen an Apple II in the flesh, although I've seen a lot about them :o)

[MaximumRD]

I love old computer technology. The UK was not strong with specific consoles but early computer releases were interesting, I have been interested learning about the "Acorn" computers especially the Archimedes, the RISC based architecture was interesting indeed. Great video on another interesting machine.

[RetroGamerVX]

@MaximumRD Thanks RD, yes, these systems are more my cup of tea than consoles and I've been waiting a while to do a review of this one. Yes, this is the direct ancestor of your mobile phone etc :o)