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jmann99999 | 10 months ago

For those in the UK at the time, how was the code consumed? It sounds like the BBC Micro was somehow hooked up to the same "cable" as a TV. Is that right?

Did it decode the data automatically, or did programmers at home have to build something on top of it?

It just sounds incredibly ingenious on both ends. First, to invent the process and second, to use the data. I'd appreciate any knowledge that can help with the latter.

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shakna|10 months ago

The video of the Four Buffs might help you understand this better. [0]

There was an extra cable, containing a photo diode, that you just stuck to the screen itself.

[0] https://youtu.be/xxo1Gs46ti0?si=fqPIaxaHGFFFJmpF

jmann99999|10 months ago

OMG, I just watched that. Amazing. I get it now, and it is supremely simple but jaw-droppingly so.

When would a show like this be on? I don't remember anything like in the States in 1985 (I was rural though).

This video is like today's YouTube.

rahimnathwani|10 months ago

EDIT: Sorry! I answered without first reading the article. What I'm talking about below is different from TFA.

You could record the audio to an audio cassette tape. If you had a good enough cassette deck, you could use acoustic coupling (holding up the tape deck to the TV speaker).

The BBC Micro had a 7-pin DIN socket for audio in/out and remote control of an external tape deck.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-google&sca_e...

jmann99999|10 months ago

Thanks for that! That makes sense and is very cool. In the US in the 80s we did something similar from the radio (the UK probably did too). So, I assume it was a similar principle.

Love it.

rzzzt|10 months ago

Data broadcasting companies did use scanlines originally intended for Teletext/Ceefax in the 90s to transmit public information (e.g. weather forecasts, water levels): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datacasting

In that case the "antenna in" signal did go to an ISA decoder card in the PC, but it appears that the BBC Micro also had an adapter for receiving classic Ceefax pages, some of which also contained software: https://www.teletext.mb21.co.uk/gallery/ceefax/telesoftware/