1981 · Educational Broadcast Computer · Work 976 of 1,871
The dining room of a semi-detached house in the English Midlands on a December evening, on a dark wooden table a broad flat gently wedge-shaped computer in finely grained cream plastic, its keyboard set in a dark grey well with black keys, above them a row of ten red keys, every key plain, smooth and unmarked, three tiny lamps at the front left, beside it a black cassette recorder and a paperback lying face down, a cup of tea, an adult seen from directly behind, face turned fully away, a hand in a grey cardigan sleeve on the red keys, a television on the sideboard glowing soft and blurred, a fringed table lamp.
What it was used for
A computer tied to a television series. In early 1981 the BBC drew up a list of requirements for its Computer Literacy Project and awarded the contract in March 1981 to Acorn Computers, which won with its Proton prototype; Sinclair Research, Tangerine Computer Systems, NewBury Laboratories and Dragon Data had also shown interest. Launched in December 1981: Model A with 16 KB at 299 pounds, Model B with 32 KB at 399 pounds, a MOS 6502A at 2 MHz and 32 KB of ROM; BBC BASIC was written mainly by Sophie Wilson. The Science Museum Group records that the machine was heavily used in schools.
What was new
What stands out is where the specification came from: not a manufacturer deciding what the machine should do, but a broadcaster that needed it for its own series. Both models used the same circuit board, so a Model A could be upgraded to a Model B; it could be expanded with disc drives, a second processor and the Econet network. Demand broke the plan: the Science Museum Group records that the BBC initially ordered 12,000 machines, that 24,000 were made in 1982 alone; the Centre for Computing History adds that production problems delayed deliveries.
What the sources leave open: The total sold is unclear: the Centre for Computing History gives over 1.5 million in its body text and over 1 million in a testimonial on the same page, neither with a date or a source. No total appears in the text. The Science Museum Group dates its example to 1982-1984 and names ASTEC Components as manufacturer.