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Micro Men - 720p (2009)

gimpymoo

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  • Recommended by 15 people: 15 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2015 to 2024.

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461K views13 years ago15 recommendations

History and cultureHistory of computingPeople who shaped computingInside tech companies

A BBC drama depicting the fierce 1980s rivalry between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry during the rise of the British home computer market.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5b92 DURATION: 1 HOUR, 20 MINUTES Affectionately comic drama about the British home computer boom of the early 1980s. Legendary inventor Clive Sinclair battles it out with ex-employee Chris Curry, founder of Acorn Computers, for dominance in the fledgling market. The rivalry comes to a head when the BBC announce their Computer Literacy Project, with the stated aim of putting a micro in every school in Britain. When Acorn wins the contract, Sinclair is furious, and determines to outsell the BBC Micro with his ZX Spectrum computer. Home computing arrives in Britain in a big way, but is the country big enough for both men? BBC - Please release this on Blue Ray with some nice extras, it is a work of art. Credits Clive Sinclair Alexander Armstrong Chris Curry Martin Freeman Hermann Hauser Edward Baker-Duly Steve Furber Sam Phillips Roger Wilson Stefan Butler Jim Westwood Colin Carmichael Nigel Searle Derek Ridell Valerie Rhona Croker Cynthia Anne Beth Hayes Ann Sinclair Nicola Harrison Director Saul Metzstein Producer Andrea Cornwell Writer Tony Saint

Why it's here

15 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as an excellent and entertaining dramatization of the early British home computing boom and the origins of ARM.

jdietrichon Hacker News • Recommends

On “PiTubeDirect: A Raspberry Pi as a BBC Micro Second Processor”

I can highly recommend the BBC drama "Micro Men", about the early years of the British home computer boom and the rivalry between Sinclair and Acorn. It gives a real flavour of the mad, maverick years before the IBM clones took over. link to this video

joosterson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Codecademy vs. the BBC Micro”

If you haven't already seen it, 'Micro Men' is an excellent TV drama that details the history of the BBC's computer project and the battle to be the chosen computer: link to this video

tpmxon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Sir Clive Sinclair has died”

The excellent Micro Men docudrama ( link ) has somehow been on Youtube since 2013: link to this video (1h24m) Micro Men, working title Syntax Era, is a 2009 one-off BBC drama television programme set in the late 1970s and the early-mid 1980s, about the rise of the British home computer market. It focuses on the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair (played by Alexander Armstrong), who developed the ZX Spectrum, and Chris Curry (played by Martin Freeman), the man behind the BBC Micro. (Sinclair didn't exactly like it though.)

louthyon Hacker News • Recommends

On “March 5, 1981: Timex Sinclair ZX81 Launched (2018)”

Nice reference there! Micro Men really is a great docu-drama, it really feels like it captures the time very well. As my first computer was a BBC Micro, it really struck a chord. It’s great seeing the specs for the (yet to be built) ARM chip on the board in the Acorn office, and it’s also awesome that Sophie Wilson playing the barmaid too! For those that haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth a watch 1 1 link to this video

andyjohnson0on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Sophie Wilson, Acorn and the development of ARM”

Micro Men is available on youtube 1 and is definitely worth a watch. The scene were one of the characters is eating noodles using multimeter probes as chopsticks made me smile. 1 link to this video

hyperpalliumon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire”

"26 years" is oddly precise, but the sinclair C5 was 1985, 34 years ago, so it's probably just how long he's served or something. link BONUS "Micro Men" documentary/drama about Sir Clive Sinclair vs Acorn (from which grew Acorn RISC Machine -> ARM) link to this video (1h 24m) "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"

chvidon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Micro Men – 10th Anniversary – With Chris Curry, Steve Furber and Hermann Hauser”

link to this video The full BBC movie without commentary. An authentic drama about the heyday of British home computing featuring Clive Sinclair plus Curry, Furber, and Hauser from Acorn computers. Also appearing are the ZX Spectrum, the BBC Micro, and the ARM processor on a whiteboard.

codeulikeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “If-then-else had to be invented”

ah yes you are right, the in-line ELSE Obligatory shout out for 'Micro Men', about the making of the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum link to this video

29athrowawayon Hacker News • Recommends

On “The Acorn Archimedes and the first ARM processor”

Acorn was not obscure. It was a household name, with TV ads and such. There's this nice TV show about Sinclair and Acorn from BBC 4. link to this video (Micro Men)

ffhhjon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Movies every physics lover should watch (2020)”

link Favorites about real and fictional creators: Micro Men link to this video Pirates of Silicon Valley Halt and Catch Fire ... and some documentaries like "Mother of all Demos", the history of Internet Explorer vs. Netscape, and the creators of the spreadsheet

klelattion Hacker News • Recommends

On “ZX Spectrum at 40: a look back”

…genius for designing and then marketing products that caught the public imagination. Sadly, he seemed to lose interest in building on his success and quickly moved on to the next project. Famously the C5 electric "car" but also wafer scale memory! 1 If anyone hasn't seen Micro Men, on the Sinclair vs Acorn rivalry, its definitely worth a watch: link to this video And seeing some of the participants watch it and recall their own versions of the story is good too: link 1 link…

billywhizzon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Celebrating 40 years of ZX Spectrum”

one of the reasons it was cheap was they got faulty 64k ram chips at a knock down price - hence the 48k. this film about sinclair is well worth a watch. link to this video

thorinon Hacker News • Recommends

On “BBC Basic Editor”

And if you're interested in that watch the movie :-) link to this video Micro men, story of the zx spectrum vs the bbc

ochriston Hacker News • Recommends

On “BBC Basic returns on multiple platforms, open sourced”

To people asking why a broadcasting corporation needed a programming language you might watch 'Micro Men'. It's available on YouTube. link link to this video

lprovenon Hacker News • Recommends

On “ZX Spectrum Documentary 'The Rubber Keyed Wonder' Gets London Premiere”

I second this recommendation. Both SD and HD versions are on Youtube in their entirety. This is the 720P version: link to this video

tobychon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The BBC Microcomputer User Guide”

The BBC made a drama, "Micro Men" (2009), about some of the behind-the-scenes drama behind the BBC Micro. As I recall, it doesn't explain the whole Fred, Jim and Sheila thing though. Martin "Bilbo Baggins" Freeman is in it. link to this video