The tech industry is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the BBC Microcomputer.
The system was built by Acorn Computers as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project.
It ran a new programming language, BBC BASIC (beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code), and helped bring computing into people's homes and schools.
However, trying to establish an "official" launch date is tricker than it sounds.
Although the computers were demonstrated at trade exhibitions and reviewed in the press in 1981, a production snag pushed back deliveries.
A circuit, which controlled the "high definition" screen display, was found to have a higher than acceptable failure rate.
A redesign was ordered and as a result only a few hundred computers out of a planned batch of 3,000 were ready in time for the start of the "The Computer Programme" when the first episode was broadcast in January 1982.
This initial hiccup proved far from fatal. After Acorn overhauled its production system, the Model A and the more expensive Model B went on to sell more than 1.5 million units, wildly exceeding expectations.
The BBC asked seven people whose lives were changed by the computers for their memories.
Mike Lynch, Co-founder of Autonomy
The BBC Micro was pretty fundamental to how my life turned out, in it was the first computer that I ever owned.
I still remember exactly how much it cost - a whopping £400, which I raised through a vast amount of odd jobs, saving money, begging, and borrowing, all in order to get my hands on one.
When I did, it was truly inspirational and a revelation for me.
I feel very lucky to have been part of the early days of home computing with the BBC Micro, because you could actually get at everything and do everything; not only could you access all of the devices directly through the software, but you could even take the lid off - they gave you a circuit diagram and you could mess with it.
The first thing that I tried to do was become as famous as Duran Duran by turning this 8-bit microprocessor into a sampler, so that I could become a pop star and have hordes of women screaming after me.
This involved religiously programming the computer, as well as also taking the unprecedented steps of cutting tracks on the PCB for bits that were upsetting its ability to make music.
I learnt more about practical computing and solving programming problems from dealing with the BBC Micro than I could ever have learnt on any university computer science course.
I still have my original BBC Micro in pride of place; I look back at it and it brings back the fondest memories of a time when all seemed possible.
Mike Lynch is the co-founder and chief executive of Autonomy, the business-analytics software firm which was bought by Hewlett Packard earlier this year.
Conrad Wolfram, Co-founder of Wolfram Research
I kept to the deal with my mum over her buying a BBC Micro: she'd write, I'd play around and help her set up.
What I hadn't signed up to was ongoing parental tech support or her game-playing addiction that the likes of Defender and Pac-Man produced.
My programming time got rather curtailed - but fortunately most people's didn't.
The Beeb introduced a generation of British children to the power of programming and indeed I want to see this return in a modern form, part of my computerbasedmath.org agenda.
To be honest I was never an aficionado like some of my friends, being more interested in getting real results (which the Beeb wasn't always great for) than the intricate quirks that lead to that end. ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065
The system was built by Acorn Computers as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project.
It ran a new programming language, BBC BASIC (beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code), and helped bring computing into people's homes and schools.
However, trying to establish an "official" launch date is tricker than it sounds.
Although the computers were demonstrated at trade exhibitions and reviewed in the press in 1981, a production snag pushed back deliveries.
A circuit, which controlled the "high definition" screen display, was found to have a higher than acceptable failure rate.
A redesign was ordered and as a result only a few hundred computers out of a planned batch of 3,000 were ready in time for the start of the "The Computer Programme" when the first episode was broadcast in January 1982.
This initial hiccup proved far from fatal. After Acorn overhauled its production system, the Model A and the more expensive Model B went on to sell more than 1.5 million units, wildly exceeding expectations.
The BBC asked seven people whose lives were changed by the computers for their memories.
Mike Lynch, Co-founder of Autonomy
The BBC Micro was pretty fundamental to how my life turned out, in it was the first computer that I ever owned.
I still remember exactly how much it cost - a whopping £400, which I raised through a vast amount of odd jobs, saving money, begging, and borrowing, all in order to get my hands on one.
When I did, it was truly inspirational and a revelation for me.
I feel very lucky to have been part of the early days of home computing with the BBC Micro, because you could actually get at everything and do everything; not only could you access all of the devices directly through the software, but you could even take the lid off - they gave you a circuit diagram and you could mess with it.
The first thing that I tried to do was become as famous as Duran Duran by turning this 8-bit microprocessor into a sampler, so that I could become a pop star and have hordes of women screaming after me.
This involved religiously programming the computer, as well as also taking the unprecedented steps of cutting tracks on the PCB for bits that were upsetting its ability to make music.
I learnt more about practical computing and solving programming problems from dealing with the BBC Micro than I could ever have learnt on any university computer science course.
I still have my original BBC Micro in pride of place; I look back at it and it brings back the fondest memories of a time when all seemed possible.
Mike Lynch is the co-founder and chief executive of Autonomy, the business-analytics software firm which was bought by Hewlett Packard earlier this year.
Conrad Wolfram, Co-founder of Wolfram Research
I kept to the deal with my mum over her buying a BBC Micro: she'd write, I'd play around and help her set up.
What I hadn't signed up to was ongoing parental tech support or her game-playing addiction that the likes of Defender and Pac-Man produced.
My programming time got rather curtailed - but fortunately most people's didn't.
The Beeb introduced a generation of British children to the power of programming and indeed I want to see this return in a modern form, part of my computerbasedmath.org agenda.
To be honest I was never an aficionado like some of my friends, being more interested in getting real results (which the Beeb wasn't always great for) than the intricate quirks that lead to that end. ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065
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