Date   : Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:14:18 +0000
From   : robert@... (Rob)
Subject: Compromises

On 8 January 2015@..., John Kortink <kortink@...> wrote:
>
> Obviously, Acorn was not forced to use digital RGB, even at that
> time. It was just a choice they made. I've always thought that
> using flashing colours instead of proper ones was daft. Even
> then. Not least because flashing colours can be achieved in a
> different way.

Indeed.  However having the colour palette redefinable (even within
the limited colour range) WAS a good idea, and was used to some good
effect by some programs - (draw everything in black, then suddenly
reveal it!)

Remember, though, people - at the design stage, Acorn was a small
company working in a hurry to get the project completed!  Much of the
BBC Micro design can be traced to their prior offerings, e.g. the Atom
and System ranges, hence the choice of 8271 - although old at the
time, they knew it well, so could slot it in with minimum effort.  I
imagine the use of digital RGB was down to something similar; a "we've
always done colour this way" rather than a specific decision not to
support an analogue (and thus more colours) output.

 I have a feeling that analogue RGB monitors were more expensive than
digital ones, too, and this was well before SCART connections on TVs
were common (or any sort of external input - I remember having a very
hard time trying to find a small TV with an RGB input ) - If you
wanted to use a TV, you used RF modulators to connect in!  So if you
wanted a better image you stumped up for a monitor.

I love the Beeb, so its hard for me to come up with any "things I
would have done differently."   I've always assumed that the pinout on
the domino socket for the RS423 was a mistake - to use a plug that
could go in two different ways for an interface that has two different
operating modes (DCE and DTE) would have been brilliant IF it had been
wired so that you could swap mode by turning it over...

The serial ROM support on the keyboard was a bit of a waste of time -
if it had been offered in the basic models, rather than as part of a
rarely-fitted speech upgrade, then it would have been useful and
probably much more widely used.  As it was, "the ashtray" became a bit
of a white elephant and was dropped totally for the Master.

Rob