#bbcmicro

Boosted by

@aral@mastodon.ar.al · Apr 23, 2026

Did you know there was a system called Red Box for the BBC Micro that enabled you to turn home appliances off and on using your computer? So, basically, an early version of HomeKit, etc. In 1986. https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/36892/BBC-Micro-Red-Box/ #BBCMicro #RedBox #homeAutomation

13

3

8

0

Boosted by

Charlie Stross @cstross@wandering.shop

electron.greg

@electron_greg@oldbytes.space · Apr 15, 2026

Tested various micros running this FLOATING POINT program. It derives Pi to 20 decimal places. Interesting stats. 1 N=20: L=INT(10*N/3): DIM A(255): Z$="000000":T$="999999" 2 FOR I=1 TO L: A(I)=2: NEXT I: M=0: P=0: FOR J=1 TO N: Q=0: K=2*L+1 3 FOR I=L TO 1 STEP -1: K=K-2: X=10*A(I)+Q*I: Q=INT(X/K): A(I)=X-Q*K: NEXT I 4 Y =INT(Q/10): A(1)=Q-10*Y: Q=Y: IF Q=9 THEN LET M=M+1: GOTO 7 5 IF Q=10 THEN PRINT STR$(P+1);LEFT$(Z$,M);: P=0: M=0: GOTO 7 6 PRINT STR$(P);LEFT$(T$,M);: P=Q: M=0 7 NEXT J:PRINT STR$(P) #RC2014 : 14 (thank you JonV) #BBCMicro : 19 #AmstradCPC : 22 (thank you Devlin) #AcornElectron : 25 #C128 : 27 (fast mode - thank you Jonas H) #VIC20 : 36 #AcornAtom : 37 #CBMPET : 43 #C64 : 43 #Dragon32 : 44 #C16 : 46 #Altair8800 : 52 #MSX : 53 (thank you Pixel Purrito) #C128 : 56 (default "mode") #ZX80 : 57 #ZXSpectrum : 68 (thank you Adam) Edit: now ordered (seconds)

63

36

32

2

In reply to

Aral Balkan

@aral@mastodon.ar.al · Apr 11, 2026

Wish me the luck, the little guy’s going under the knife… the video signal cuts out intermittently so I’m going to try changing the 16MHz oscillating crystal. 🤞 #BBCMicro

30

0

4

0

In reply to

Aral Balkan

@aral@mastodon.ar.al · Apr 11, 2026

So mine’s apparently an Issue 4 from 1982. Although there’s a sticker in it that reads 1 Nov 83 (maybe when it was sold/serviced?) The board’s out and yes, I was a bit of a barbarian and, since I’m not going to be using the composite out, cut the wires to it instead of desoldering them. If I ever need it, I can just connect the wires again. Now the bit that scares me… #BBCMicro #repair

8

0

1

0

In reply to

Aral Balkan

@aral@mastodon.ar.al · Apr 11, 2026

Note, if you will, the beauty of this design: There are seven places where the power supply attaches to the main board but there’s no way you can get it wrong as the lengths of the wire won’t let you. (You still have to know black is 0v.) #BBCMicro #repair

23

9

4

0

In reply to

Aral Balkan

@aral@mastodon.ar.al · Apr 11, 2026

Yep, it’s been half an hour and no dropouts… I’m calling it, my lovely new BBC Micro B is fixed :) Yay! Soooo excited to play with it tomorrow 🥳 Here’s a before video: https://vimeo.com/1181523949#t=26 And an after: https://vimeo.com/1182284426 And the issue, for anyone else who stumbles on this thread, was the 16MHz oscillator circuit (marked X1 on the main board). Also, I could only find a lot of 50 of them, so if anyone needs one, just hit me up and I’ll send it to you :) Huge thanks to the folks on the stardot.org.uk for sharing the fix: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=246304#p246304 #BBCMicro #BBCMicroModelB #video #dropout #issue #fix #x1 #oscillator

26

3

7

0

About This Hashtag

#bbcmicro

Related