An Acorn representative admitted that the BBC Model B would not be competitive throughout the term of the renewed contract and that a successor would emerge. A new contract between Acorn and BBC Enterprises was agreed in 1984 for another four year term, with other manufacturers having tendered for the deal. As a concession to the BBC's expectation of "industry standard" compatibility with CP/M, apparently under the direction of John Coll, the Tube interface was incorporated into the design, enabling a Z80 second processor to be added. Based on the Proton prototype the BBC signed a contract with Acorn as early as February 1981 by June the BBC Micro's specifications and pricing were decided. Although BBC expected a computer with the Zilog Z80 CPU and CP/M operating system, not the Proton's 6502 CPU and proprietary operating system, the Proton was the only machine to match the BBC's specification it also exceeded the specification in nearly every parameter. The team worked through the night to get a working Proton together to show the BBC. The machine was only at the design stage at the time, and the Acorn team, including Steve Furber and Sophie Wilson, had one week to build a working prototype from the sketched designs. Known as the Proton, it included better graphics and a faster 2 MHz MOS Technology 6502 central processing unit.
The Acorn team had already been working on a successor to their existing Atom microcomputer. It developed an ambitious specification for a BBC computer, and discussed the project with several companies including Acorn Computers, Sinclair Research, Newbury Laboratories, Tangerine Computer Systems, and Dragon Data. The list of topics included programming, graphics, sound and music, teletext, controlling external hardware, and artificial intelligence.
The BBC wanted to base its project on a microcomputer capable of performing various tasks which they could then demonstrate in the TV series The Computer Programme. The project was initiated partly in response to an ITV documentary series The Mighty Micro, in which Christopher Evans of the UK's National Physical Laboratory predicted the coming microcomputer revolution and its effect on the economy, industry, and lifestyle of the United Kingdom. While nine models were eventually produced with the BBC brand, the phrase "BBC Micro" is usually used colloquially to refer to the first six (Model A, B, B+64, B+128, Master 128, and Master Compact) subsequent BBC models are considered part of Acorn's Archimedes series.ĭuring the early 1980s, the BBC started what became known as the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Acorn later employed the machine to simulate and develop the ARM architecture. It was also successful as a home computer in the UK, despite its high cost. Renamed the BBC Micro, the system was adopted by most schools in the United Kingdom, changing Acorn's fortunes. An accompanying 1982 television series, The Computer Programme, featuring Chris Serle learning to use the machine, was broadcast on BBC2.Īfter the Literacy Project's call for bids for a computer to accompany the TV programmes and literature, Acorn won the contract with the Proton, a successor of its Atom computer prototyped at short notice. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Printer parallel, RS-423 serial, user parallel, Econet (optional), 1 MHz bus, Tube second processor interface Keyboard, twin analogue joysticks with fire buttons, lightpen