The Acorn Electron Story | Nostalgia Nerd

The Acorn Electron. The BBC Micro for the home; or at least, that's what it was intended to be. Released in 1983, it had a troublesome start with various manufacture issues and a huge shortfall in the face of demand. Ultimately these problems would seal the fate for this sturdy little machine, which feels pretty sad to me. This is a very quirky machine, which tries to hard to be the BBC Micro, but falls down due to tough design compromises required to keep the price point low. Designed mainly by Steve Furber and Sophie Wilson (then, Roger Wilson), it's design housed the most complex custom chip of it's era, with a whopping 2,400 logic gates. The Ferranti ULA chip is a monster, and it's the heart which drives this throbbing, if limited, beast. Join me as we chart the story of the early Acorn years, the BBC Micro, Chris Curry, Hermann Hauser, the Sinclair rivalry and really delve into the meat of what the Acorn Electron was and how it brought to the 8 bit table.

We also explore BBC Micro Games, Acorn Electron Games, the hardware, the people behind the hardware, the advertising, and everything else in-between. Excuse me whilst I go and take a lie down.

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[jr]

Remember my mum nervously taking £200 cash to a computer shop in Bath before Christmas 1983 to get one (birthday + Christmas combined, and lots of jobs around the house, and I really need it for school...) and me asking her every day “has it arrived yet?” until mid February, when it actually did. I am now a prof working in computer modelling at the same university as Steve Furber and was totally star struck sitting opposite him in a boring meeting. Thanks Electron and thanks to the people that made it.

[EdnaMillion.]

My grandmother bought me one of these when I was a kid in 1984. It's largely the reason I've been a software engineer for over 25 years. I still look back on this era with quite a bit of nostalgia. It was an exciting time.

[Techmoan]

Very nice. The old Popular Computing Weekly mags brought back some Member Berries. I used to look forward to Thursdays just for these. Now it's just the day the bins get emptied.

[TheSNIPERmac]

Oh man, this was my first computer. My best mate has the Sinclair at the time and was playing Commando, it was magical. I had just started work and one pay day, I went to Dixon's with my £45 pay check because they had an Electron computer on offer for £99.00. I was given credit and went home so scared of what my dad would say I hid it at my friends and told him to bring it across later. We had our first gaming night playing a racing game and of course the one and only Commando, what a time to be alive..

[harunal-muhajir]

I was born in the US so learning about the UK's amazingly unique 8-bit scene is always interesting.

[jimthompson]

I remember the BBC Micro at school. I remember thinking it was bollocks compared to my Spectrum 48k. And the teachers did not really know what to do with it.

[foulplay]

I had one of these when I was 6, on a black and white TV. I played Repton to absolute death! I loved Citadel as well.

[electronuser]

An excellent and information story! I got my Elk for Christmas in 1987 and I'm still using it every day!! Many thanks!

[SteveBenway]

Bought mine in '86 and it remained my main gaming system till '91. Still got it.
Very enjoyable video :D

[hullcityafc]

Brilliant! We got one in 1985 & we bought 'Input' magazine to learn Basic and machine code. One of my friend's dads was a founder member of Texas instruments. I remember playing Sphynx Adventure, and my mum got hooked on Snapper!

[jrherita]

of all things, I actually have to admit being blown away by seeing Simcity on this system. Thanks for this great video!

[lucasrem]

I bought the Acorn Electron in 1984, in Amsterdam, the German version, as cheap as a new Walkman. Box, Books, some compact cassettes by Acornsoft.
great Basic system, i was not even a teen!
thanks for selling them this cheap, that kids could by them using pocket money! My parents did not know what it was.
I went to the UK every Holiday, to buy cassettes! the number #1 system in the UK.

[jamesgrimwood]

An Acorn Electron was my first ever computer. I'm sure there were much better computers available, but I was five years old. The instruction manual with the BASIC instructions was enough entertainment for me.

This particular school child probably did speak BBC Basic better than anything else ;-)

Oh, and the Ferranti factory was not far from where I lived. They also made analogue electricity meters.

[cambronsoftware]

Thanks for the mention (3:45) of the 6502 second processor - the "E2P". My company was Permanent Memory Systems back in the 80's. Great memories of exhibiting at Acorn User and Micro User Shows around the country. Keep up the good work!

[BadgerOff]

Christ, this takes me back! The Acorn Electron was the first computer I ever owned when I was like 5 or 6 years old. I hardly remember much about it now, except that it used to take *FOREVER* to load up games, but back then I accepted it. You had to, it was just how it was in those days. I can't even remember what games I had on it, but Repton definitely rung a bell with me. I know I played Chucky Egg too, but I'm pretty sure that was on the BBC at school. Grannys Garden was another I remember playing on the BBC. Those games look so simplistic now but back then you'd get so lost in these odd little worlds. Good times lol :)

[michaelaj]

Wow, I'm impressed with how well put together this is, I could imagine it on late night BBC2 as a little computer history lesson. It's a shame you haven't got more subscribers/views to match the content. You deserve them. Keep up the great work, I'm subscribing :)

[Taycos]

Wow... excellent job. Only just came across this four years after it was published. And I thought I knew everything there was about the Electron! Owned one from the beginning together with the Plus 1 and 3 interfaces and a ton of games. Still have it all now. Had various programs published as listings in the Electron User magazine too. All played a huge part of my life in my mid to late teens. An incredible machine and would attribute it to my career in IT and interest in programming ever since. A great nostalgic trip... well done.

[iStormUK]

I actually owned one of these with the Plus 1 interface and 'Saisho' tape deck xD So many days wasted playing Repton and life of Repton on this. xD Best keyboard ever!

[AvroHawker]

Love your documentaries. Takes me back to my youth. Does make me smile when you pronounce BBC as Beby C though 😉

[aishalotter]

I remember the Xmas that my brother and myself got a comador64 between us, we set it up about 6 am and it didn’t work, we were upset, a few days later it was taken back and an acorn electron came back, again we were upset !!! But after setting it up and it working things got better when I found games at the market for a quid, it lasted for years with a lot of abuse, lots of tea and coffee spilt over it coz the bit that took cartridges also held a mug( not an advertised feature) many hours of fun, f’ing great little machine, just none of my mates had one 2 borrow games from . One had a bbc micro so some games worked on the acorn, I remember sphinx adventure and mousetrap as two classics, thanks for the video you get a thumbs up off me !