The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputer designed and built by Acorn Computers Limited in the 1980s for the Computer Literacy Project of the BBC. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. The machine was the focus of a number of educational BBC TV programmes on computer literacy, starting with The Computer Programme in 1982, followed by Making the Most of the Micro, Computers in Control in 1983, and finally Micro Live in 1985.
BBC Micro Model A/B (standard configuration)
Some of the BBC Micro team in 2008
Keyboard of a Model B, one of two very similar designs used on the model
Rear of the BBC Micro. Ports from left to right: UHF out, video out, RGB, RS-423, cassette tape, analogue in and Econet.
A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Microcomputers became popular in the 1970s and 1980s with the advent of increasingly powerful microprocessors. The predecessors to these computers, mainframes and minicomputers, were comparatively much larger and more expensive. Many microcomputers are also personal computers. An early use of the term "personal computer" in 1962 predates microprocessor-based designs. (See "Personal Computer: Computers at Companies" reference below). A "microcomputer" used as an embedded control system may have no human-readable input and output devices. "Personal computer" may be used generically or may denote an IBM PC compatible machine.
The Commodore 64 was one of the most popular microcomputers of its era, and is the best-selling model of home computers of all time.
Raspberry Pi, a popular modern-class microcomputer
Three microcomputer systems frequently associated with the first wave of commercially successful 8-bit home computers: The Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 Model 1
A collection of early microcomputers, including a Processor Technology SOL-20 (top shelf, right), an MITS Altair 8800 (second shelf, left), a TV Typewriter (third shelf, center), and an Apple I in the case at far right