BBC Micro

I started computing back in 1982 on the BBC Micro. Like many thousands of others I found this to be an excellent introduction to computing. At one point Great Britain was the most computer literate country, mainly due to the vision of the BBC and the skill of Acorn and the creators of the BBC Micro. On this page you will find files and step by step instructions for how to get a BBC emulator up and running on a Windows PC. I have also provided the best Web links I can find if you want to find games and information about the BBC Micro.

You can obtain several BBC emulators. I have tried the first two listed below:

• BeebEm. Download it here (2,620 KB). BeebEm works in Windows and is freeware.

• PCBBC. There is a free demo version which works in DOS. You can download the demo here.

• Horizon. This emulator runs in Windows, you can download a restricted demo version here.

• B-EM. A freeware emulator which runs in DOS. Download a copy here.

• Beeb-It. Another Freeware emulator for the RISC OS operating system. Click here.

In order to run the emulators you will need copies of the OS, BASIC and disk operating system ROMS. The BeebEm file above includes the OS, BASIC and Disk Operating System ROMS.

Here are some step by step instructions for Windows users to get BeebEm up and running:

1. Download the BeebEm22.exe file.

2. Use the automatic setup utility to extract the files to C:\Program Files\BeebEm\.

3. Place a disk image in the DiscIms subdirectory. As an example, you could try Snapper. You will find plenty of other games by following the links below. Note that BeebEm comes with a test disk image already placed in the DiscIms directory.

4. Run the executable called beebem.exe.

5. You should now see the image below. 'Watford Electronics DFS 1.44' means the disk operating system ROM has loaded. 'BASIC' means that the BASIC ROM has loaded.

6. Make sure you have sound set to on in the sound menu.

7. Load the disk image by selecting File \ Load Disk 0 and then browsing to the snapper.img.

8. Boot the disk by pressing SHIFT - BREAK.

9. If the disk image doesn't BOOT then you may need to LOAD"filename" and RUN or CHAIN"filename" the file.

10. If you have problems with stuttering sound and very low frames per second, try deselecting buffer in video RAM from the view menu.

Download the BBC User Guide here (255 KB).

The BBC Micro used BBC BASIC, which is an excellent beginner's programming language. The User Guide was very well written, within a few minutes of starting you can write your own simple programme. Many of the best games were written by people who taught themselves programming.

Virtually all of the hundreds of games written for the BBC are available for download on the internet. The main three publishers were Acornsoft, Superior Software and Micro Power. I have taken some screen shots of some of the best games (see below). My personal favourites are Revs, Elite, Starship Command and Snapper. Unlike today's computer games, you don't need to spend 2 days reading the manual before you can start playing. Drop me an email if you have any problems running any games.

LINKS

The BBC Lives! site below is the most comprehensive resource for the BBC Micro:

Other sites which I highly recommend:

BBC Games from the past

BBC Micro and Electron Games - The Stairway To Hell

BBC Micro Documentation Project

Ian Bell's Elite pages

Screen Shots:

All of the games above are excellent fun - I am currently working on my status in Elite.... You can download the games by visiting the sites listed above in the links section of this page.

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Page last updated : 15 January 2010