Owlet is a welcome modern editor for BBC Basic since editing Basic on the original BBC Micro was clunky and slow. Try it here with this example of “Space Probe” a game I’ve written recently.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
In a remarkable fusion of past and present, a trio of innovative programmers – Dominic Pajak, Matt Godbolt, and Kieran Connell – have breathed new life into a classic piece of computing history. Their project, the BBCMic.ro editor, also known as Owlet, is not just a nod to nostalgia; it’s a full-blown resurrection of the BBC Micro.
The Power of Emulation
The Owlet emulator is a marvel that runs BBC Basic right in your browser, encapsulating the essence of the original BBC Micro. But that’s not all – the team has also introduced the BBCMicroBot, a tool that can execute BBC Basic code and display the results in a tweet, merging the old with the new in a way that’s both ingenious and inspiring.
Inspirations and Creations
Dominic Pajak, in explaining the motive behind this project, said it was about “bringing back to life a classic 80s computer that inspired a whole generation in the UK.” This emulator has become a canvas for creativity, with users creating everything from pixel art to fractals. Notably, Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton has even contributed an implementation of Conway’s Life in 6502 machine code, showcasing the emulator’s capability to handle complex computations.
A Platform for Experimentation
Pajak and his collaborators view this emulator as more than just a tribute to the past. They believe it encourages experimentation, much like Raspberry Pi and Arduino do for the current generation of developers. This philosophy is evident in the emulator’s design, which includes a 10GHz 6502 emulator on the backend. This feature dramatically accelerates the computing process, allowing users to accomplish in seconds what would have taken an entire night on the original BBC Micro.
The Best of Both Worlds
The BBCMic.ro editor and the BBCMicroBot represent a unique intersection of retro and modern computing. They offer a glimpse into the past while providing a platform equipped with the speed and efficiency of today’s technology. This project isn’t just about reliving old memories; it’s about creating new ones, using a piece of history as the foundation for new learning.
Some Discoveries
- When running BBC Basic on this emulator, don’t forget to click into the right hand window in order to interact with the screen.
- When using Random numbers in BBC Basic, the Owlet environment will end up giving you the same number on each run. When running the same code on a machine, random numbers behave better!
- The GXR (Graphics Extension ROM) is standard in this emulator, which a normal BBC Micro B wouldn’t have. When I was using commands to draw circles or elipses, such as the planet in the graphic above, I wasn’t aware that this was an extended graphic command, so the code didn’t draw the planet at all on a native machine.
- When clicking on items in the gallery of examples, they don’t seem to load and seem to suppressed by having your current coding project reload instead (this at least happens in the Chrome browser)
- Owlet can contain the whole code of your BBC Basic program in a link – so easy to share your programming projects on a forum for example.
- Owlet can save your code as a SSD (Disk image) ready to copy onto a USB memory stick, to be read by a GOTEK device. So Owlet is ideal for development and transfer of programs back to the original machines.