An Introduction to the BBC Acorn A3000 Computer - Presented by Fred Harris

This video came as part of the Learning Curve package from Acorn when you bought an A3000 computer at the time.

[@Aerojet01]

I miss those days. Everything was clinical, methodical and precise. In my last year at school, they were transitioning to the Archimedes. It was a good educational machine for its time.

[@BillAnt]

Everything was new and exciting back then, even plugging in the cables into the proper sockets. hehe

[@MagikGimp]

"And switch on!" Turns switch off.

[@BillAnt]

At 0:42 "Let's get the machinery up and running" got me chuckling. hehe

[@johnwilliams7999]

nothing more satisfying than a floppy disk whirling in the floppy drive

[@stefanlagrange188]

I just love these vintage tech clips... I grew up with the BBC Micro. Cannot recall that it had a GUI like the Acorn. PS. In my country we call it a 'stiffy', not a 'floppy'.

[@speedbird737]

the UK never called it stiffy - called it diskette

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

Are we still talking about magnetic data storage or something else?

[@BillAnt]

The UK had a great government backed computer education program in the 80's. By getting those early home computers into schools, no wonder so many great programmers have been created.

[@stefanlagrange188]

@@BillAnt Spot on! I became a computer programmer, as a result of my early introduction to Logo and Basic on the BBC Micro!

[@BillAnt]

​@@stefanlagrange188 - I remember there were so many great C64 software publisher in the UK like Datel, Hewson, Mastertronic, etc.

[@offrails]

While the Archimedes never went very far beyond primary school classrooms for many of us, it was the first ever production computer to use an ARM processor, the CPU architecture used to power modern smartphones, tablets, Raspberry Pis, and numerous other devices.

[@jamesdickison8991]

My first computer. Oh the memories

[@taipo101]

Did I hear the word "apps" ? So BBC coined the phrase.

[@Howardthompson]

Great to see this blast from the past! Wonder why !Lander seemed to have the sound track from E-type Jag though!

[@sun-groupecommunications1331]

Minimalist but very pleasant, exactly what I love.

[@jonjohnson2844]

Sounds like USB would blow his mind, "how do I know which socket it goes in", "it doesn't matter", "What?"

[@CootChick]

I have a feeling he would say "what a clever idea!" and fully embrace it. This video was made around the time IBM introduced PS/2, where the mouse and keyboard had identical plugs (different from before), but you couId NOT switch them. After the Mac had a very similar plug for mouse and keyboard that you COULD switch and even daisy-chain, from the user's point of view very similar to what you can do with USB. So the concept was not new anymore and people at this time still made the bad decision to mess it up.

[@BillAnt]

Especially being able to plug in a USB-C cable either way.... just mind-blowing! hehe

[@berthold64]

50fps capture looks so nice

[@breakingbadatron8874]

Our primary school computers

[@ms-ex8em]

how can u be 100 % sure (positive) though that e type jaguar was used as the sound for lander back in 1989 ?? thanks..............

[@ME-ke7qc]

a pointer controlled by the mouse....i hope this catches on i really do.

[@ms-ex8em]

the sound of lander still remains a mystery even today !! strange a bit though ive been wondering this since 12 years ago or so ........................

[@01302]

I want to know about his jumper.

[@hrford]

It's woven into the fabric of time

[@01302]

@@hrford ha, very good

[@docdaneeka3424]

Lemon curry?

[@thefenlanddefencesystem5080]

It's just happy Gyles Brandreth didn't buy it for Countdown.

[@ms-ex8em]

yep im wondering the same thing - lander here HAS GOT sound whereas todays demo (the same exact thing) doesnt have ANY sound at all !!!??!!!!!!!!!!!! which is strange though a bit ?? thanks........ maybe David Braben kept the sound version to himself and distributed the one without sound maybe (just a thought)?? thanks................

[@MovieVertigo]

No, the sound you hear in the video during the lander demonstration is actually the sound from another game... "E-Type" by The Fourth Dimension. I'm guessing that when they edited the video they thought it was odd not to have any game sound, so they overlayed some. It was an odd choice though (a racing game). If you search KZbin for "E-Type (Acorn Archimedes game 1989)", you'll hear that it's the same.

[@ms-ex8em]

@@MovieVertigo okay thanks why did acorn choose 640 kb and 800 kb for its floppy disc storage capacity ?? could they not have chosen 900 k or even the full one megabyte of storage instead ?? thanks

[@MovieVertigo]

@@ms-ex8em ADFS F format (introduced with RISC OS) supported 1.6MB on high density floppy discs

[@ms-ex8em]

@@MovieVertigoyep thanks BUT why though why did Acorn choose 1.6 mb and microsoft choose 1.44mb ? why is this ? why couldnt have they both been 1.6 mb or 1.76mb even ?? thanks............

[@MovieVertigo]

@@ms-ex8em ADFS had less filesystem overhead than DOS, leaving more room for data.

[@damianbutterworth2434]

I`ve got an Acorn A3000 with monitor and 3 button mouse. I don`t like turning it on as it`s worth too much money lol.

[@dot1298]

Is a computer which never gets used even worth anything?

[@59withqsb12]

There is some very affordable maintenance you can do (replace capacitors in PSU and main board, for example) - or ask a friend who can solder!! Important: Have you snipped the battery off the main board? That will kill it as well if it leaks!

[@damianbutterworth2434]

@@59withqsb12 I`ve moved the battery off the main board. It had already leaked. I also fitted a new RTC chip. Not done the caps. I should do really. I`ve done up a few old computers recently. Amstrad cpc464, ZX Spectrum +2, 3 ZX spectrums. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3msmJ-bm7h4d9k

[@ms-ex8em]

it could have been done another way ? like programming maybe ? thanks.............. maybe im wrong but just maybe im right ????? thanks.....

[@neuzethmusic131]

Well I know a mouse. It is inside my cat.

[@Thiesi]

2:37 - Dude, have you ever opened the _shutter_ and looked at what's _inside_ the case? Have you ever _removed_ the case from what is inside? Hint: It's as _floppy_ as it is _disky._

[@keyboard_g]

I love that you’re talking to a 35 year old video that introduces people to technology.

[@Thiesi]

@@keyboard_g And it fails in this particular instance. Obviously, you and I know why a _floppy disk_ is called floppy disk, but a video meant for people who haven't had much exposure to computer technology should not crack a cheap joke at the expense of sacrificing what it's meant to do, i.e. actually _teaching_ stuff. That's even worse because they could have cracked that cheap joke but _also_ educated people by adding something like: "That was just a joke. If you look at the inside of the case, you will actually see a _floppy_ magnetic _disk_ which stores your data."

[@keyboard_g]

Map of Europe from before Germany was reunited.

[@Thiesi]

9:37 - Whoa, that has to be the sloppiest drawing of a Europe map _ever._ Germany looks particularly funny. Also, what happened to Mallorca? And doesn't Italy have a few islands too? Or are all those actually more a _gen z_ thing? Hmmm...

[@Matt-xp5fm]

Germany wasn't reunified until late 1990. That's how it looked then then

[@Thiesi]

@@Matt-xp5fm No.

[@Matt-xp5fm]

@@ThiesiOkay sure thing lmao

[@Thiesi]

@@Matt-xp5fm Yeah, your answer was laughable indeed. Great we're on the same page here.

[@Matt-xp5fm]

@@ThiesiYou're disagreeing that Germany was reunified in late 1990 and that is west Germany in dark green? Okay yeah a laughable answer, you muppet