PC fettling and repairs thread

[GuyBoden]

You might have gathered that I dislike Microsoft and Apple for their backwards computer technology, their focusing on putting marketing first.

The BBC micro, which used ARM processors, was the best home computer there ever was in my opinion.

The BBC micro was much faster than any Apple at the time.

 

[ColinJ]

Seems like a very nice phone, much better than my Huawei phone, that my sister gave me for nothing.

'Nothing' IS a very good price!

I got my phone (Google Pixel 5) for £190 on ebay. The man selling it wanted £250 but I suggested that a faulty phone was not worth that much. (The microphone didn't work so he couldn't make calls.)

I had a hunch and took a punt. I was right - a minute or two of work with a pin and I had cleared the fluff that was blocking the recessed grille covering the microphone!

The BBC micro, which used ARM processors, was the best home computer there ever was in my opinion.

The BBC micro was much faster than any Apple at the time.

I bought a BBC micro to take to university in the 1980s. I used it for 3 years and then sold it to the company that I was working for after graduating. They had test software running on those machines and needed another one. I got a big chunk of my money back!

 

[StuAff]

You might have gathered that I dislike Microsoft and Apple for their backwards computer technology, their focusing on putting marketing first.

The BBC micro, which used ARM processors, was the best home computer there ever was in my opinion.

The BBC micro was much faster than any Apple at the time.

BBC Micro was 6502. Archimedes was the first ARM system.

 

[GuyBoden]

BBC Micro was 6502. Archimedes was the first ARM system.

Yes, all developed by Acorn Computers.

ARM was first used with a BBC computer, before Archimedes.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

BBC Micro was 6502. Archimedes was the first ARM system.

I had the 6502 assembler manual for BBC micro. Programming using the many interrupts available. Happy days for a teenager. As you say it was not a ARM (Acorn at time) designed CPU based computer.

 

[DCBassman]

Windows 11 64GB
Linux Mint 15GB
Ubuntu Lite 8GB

Except that although W11 insists on 64GB, it most certainly does NOT need it. It takes up just a few GB more than W10 did. My personal take is that, under the guise of greater security, MS and PC makers have tried to move more boxes. They might well suffer from a Linux backlash because of that.
If you want REALLY small, MenuetOS is based on nothing else, is a fully fledged 64-bit system, and fits on a single 3.5" floppy diskette, if you still have one. That's right, everything you need, nothing you don't, in 1.44Mbytes. Full symmetric multi-processing up to 32 CPUs. Not cores, CPUs. Resolution up to FHD.
Now, that should run...rapidly. It's written in assenbly language.

 

[StuAff]

You can still buy USB floppy drives…bought one twenty years ago for my then-new Power Mac G4, and hardly used it. Can't remember the last time I did! I've still got it, and a load of discs.

 

[cougie uk]

I've just bought a Chromebook as mentioned in the bargains thread. Seems excellent for the £70 or so so I'm interested to see what my £400 laptop does better.

 

[GuyBoden]

I had the 6502 assembler manual for BBC micro. Programming using the many interrupts available. Happy days for a teenager. As you say it was not a ARM (Acorn at time) designed CPU based computer.

Yes, all developed by Acorn Computers.

ARM was first used with a BBC computer, before Archimedes.

I think that the ARM processor made by Acorn Computers, was an addition to the BBC computer also made by Acorn Computers, enabling it to become the main CPU of the system.

"The BBC tasked Acorn Computers in Cambridge, England with designing and building the BBC Micro. Acorn would go on to become ARM, whose processor designs are at the heart of almost every smartphone in pockets all over the world."

https://microbit.org/news/2021-12-02/the-bbc-micro-is-40/

Mostly thanks to: Sophie Wilson CBE FRS FREng DistFBCS

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think that the ARM processor made by Acorn Computers, was an addition to the BBC computer also made by Acorn Computers, enabling it to become the main CPU of the system.

"The BBC tasked Acorn Computers in Cambridge, England with designing and building the BBC Micro. Acorn would go on to become ARM, whose processor designs are at the heart of almost every smartphone in pockets all over the world."

https://microbit.org/news/2021-12-02/the-bbc-micro-is-40/

Mostly thanks to: Sophie Wilson CBE FRS FREng DistFBCS

Nope ARM chips never added to the BBC range, they were 6502 cpu and it’s derivatives . The first computer that appeared with RISC OS / ARM chips was the Acorn Archimedes which did run BBC Basic but wasn’t a BBC computer.

 

[newfhouse]

I think that the ARM processor made by Acorn Computers, was an addition to the BBC computer also made by Acorn Computers, enabling it to become the main CPU of the system.

There was a co-processor slot that allowed a Z80 to be used but I think you have your chronology slightly mixed up about ARM chips.

 

[MontyVeda]

This ARM chip dates from the mid seventies, if that helps...

 

[MontyVeda]

All the bits have finally arrived; PSU, SSD, RAM, CPU, etc... so it's ready to assemble.

Do I need to worry about static whilst I'm mounting the CPU... or is it one of those insignificant things that geeks spend far too much time talking about?

 

[ColinJ]

Do I need to worry about static whilst I'm mounting the CPU... or is it one of those insignificant things that geeks spend far too much time talking about?

Don't WORRY about it... DO something about it! (Earth yourself.)

You may well get away with being careless, but wouldn't you be somewhat peeved if you didn't?

Read THIS.

I went to a conference in London once and there was so much static build-up from walking down a particular carpeted corridor that everyone got zapped when they reached for the door at the far end. I stood and watched for a few minutes, and then dashed out after someone else opened the door!

 

[MontyVeda]

Don't WORRY about it... DO something about it! (Earth yourself.)

...

so just... touch the radiator first?