Micro Men (Sinclair Vs Acorn)

[The Pepsi Challenge]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...b5l/Micro_Men/

Those of a similar generation to my own, might well enjoy this thoroughly entertaining insight into the Clive Sinclair (Sinclair) Vs Chris Curry (Acorn) rivalry during the 80s.

I got to know Clive quite well over the last couple of years, and I can tell you he still hates Chris Curry with a passion.

[Bobinovich]

LOL I was a die-hard Speccy fan and watched it with interest, although only caught it from part way through. It was weird to see the shenanigans going on at the time - most of us end users, although aware of the intense rivalry between the two brands (and the others Commodore, etc) - were blissfully unaware of the war going on in the background.

Must check the TV schedules and watch ir again from the start .

[badger]

Fascinating programme - no time to watch it all now but will have to. I remember my nephews' first Sinclair ZX81 (is that right?) - can't say I was terribly impressed at the time but knew nothing about computers then. Our first one was an Amstrad with a cassette tape which I proudly set up for my young son as a surprise. After that he taught me.

Always wanted one of those little Sinclair cars

[Geo]

I got to know Clive quite well over the last couple of years, and I can tell you he still hates Chris Curry with a passion.

Was the program a fair representation of him?

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Was the program a fair representation of him?

Let's just say Clive didn't think the competitive aspect (between himself and Curry) was very accurate. At all. Still, as a television piece, it was highly enjoyable; for me, that is, anyway.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Syntax Error.Thats aw I remember fae those days of computerdom.

Ye wid type in LOAD

The tape recorder would whirl,took five minutes to load the game.At 4 mins 58,the screen wid shout SYNTAX ERROR.

Ye whit!Thank God for ma poster of Linda Lusardi and Sam Fox on the wall above the telly,at least I had something to look at while waiting.

[Gizmo]

I have it recorded on Sky+, looking forward to watching it. Although I never owned a Speccy or an Acorn back in the day, I had the much superior BBC B, and I desperately wanted to be one of The Whiz Kids

The Whiz Kids

[Metalattakk]

Oh aye, I fondly remember typing hundreds and hundreds of lines of code taken from the pages of Sinclair User or Your Sinclair only to get the dreaded

2 - Variable not found:

Then having to laboriously sift through it all to find and fix the offending error.

Let's face it, it doesn't really get any better than this:

10 REM temperature conversion
20 PRINT "deg F", "deg C"
30 PRINT
40 INPUT "Enter deg F", F
50 PRINT F,(F-32)*5/9
60 GO TO 40

[Mrs Bucket]

But when you did get it going it was marvellous

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Halcyon days right enough.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

The problem was that Commodore,controversial,left Spectrum and all the rest miles behind.Then Nintendo and SEGA left Commodore miles behind.Put in a game,no loading.Cartridge instant,oh yes.So let Clive and Chris fight it out.The rest is history.

[Kevin Milkins]

In the mid 80's at the center of this programme I remember the kids coming home from school and Mrs M shouting at them to change there school clothes and eat there tea before even considering setting up there computer to play games on the telly.

I also remember driving up past the Hoover factory in Merthyr and seeing a Sinclair C5 displayed as pride of place in the stairwell window for all to see and it was going to be the savior of this flagging factory as they were going to produce millions of these washing machine motors for this revolutionary new mode of transport.

It was the late 90's before I got brave enough to even consider using a computer, and even then it was out of necessity (IE learn computer or loose your job). I was in the office one day waiting for the manager to give me a rollicking for something and I touched the printer out of curiosity and it started up, (the office next door sent a document through for printing) I ran from the office scared stiff that I had broke it and that was me done for.

[Aaldtimer]

During my years as a touring cyclist, it was to my eternal regret of never coming across a Sinclair C5 ...just so's I could overtake it!

[Gizmo]

I have it recorded on Sky+, looking forward to watching it. Although I never owned a Speccy or an Acorn back in the day, I had the much superior BBC B, and I desperately wanted to be one of The Whiz Kids

The Whiz Kids

What a div, i've just realised my mistake, of course i owned an Acorn computer, the BBC B was made by Acorn...doh!, i had forgotten that nugget of wisdom, i just always equated the name Acorn with the Electron and totally forgot that they made the BBC B model...oops!

[Metalattakk]

What a div, i've just realised my mistake, of course i owned an Acorn computer, the BBC B was made by Acorn...doh!, i had forgotten that nugget of wisdom, i just always equated the name Acorn with the Electron and totally forgot that they made the BBC B model...oops!

R Tape loading error, 0:1

I had to add these just to reach 10 characters for the post to be accepted.