1983: Meet the COMPUTER ADDICTS | Newsnight | Retro Tech | BBC Archive
"I may be an addict but I call myself an enthusiast, not an obsessive person." - Phyllis Arrandale.
Newsnight's Julian O'Halloran reports on the growing craze for home micro-computing, which has seen hitherto respectable people exhibiting levels of fervourish devotion to computer programming and game playing that borders on addiction.
Julian meets Chris Carter, a seemingly ordinary man who works for his local council, but who spends his lunch breaks in the local pub, playing the arcade machine. Chris has spent thousands of pounds on home computers, and spends 20 to 40 hours a week programming them - sometimes right through the night. His latest project is a house design program - one that he expects to spend at least 6 months writing - but one that he does not envisage using himself.
Next, Julian speaks to Graham Hawker, who has developed an obsession with computer games, he is currently working his way through Adventure in Serenia. Graham finds the idea of pitting his wits against a perfect machine incredibly compelling.
Finally, Julia visits Hertfordshire sweet shop owner Phyllis Arrandale. Phyllis originally bought a computer to help out with her accounts, but was so impressed with it that she began programming software of her own. Now, she is attempting to make a printed circuit board, with the ultimate aim of making her own computer from scratch.
Clip taken from Newsnight originally broadcast on BBC Two, 19 January, 1983.
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A quick google reveals that Phyllis passed away in 2003, 20 years after this show. I hope those 20 years were filled with countless hours of joyful tinkering and hacking away at computers.
That's sad to hear. :-( I love her enthusiasm for computing, I remember that she also appeared in the first episode of The Computer Programme. kzhead.info/sun/ndiGh6mhepapmZs/bejne.htmlsi=vBRvDTDPGtYBlAGW&t=705
I'm glad she was able to find meaning in the hobby of electronics when she did. I can only imagine what she could accomplish in the modern era with made-to-order PCBs, Arduinos, etc.
@@cptnkrenonthanks for sharing the link!
Ah very sad to hear that. She is shown in an episode of The Computer Programme, still available on the BBC iPlayer. Well worth a watch.
... Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus
"He puts in 20 - 40 hours a week at the keyboard" damn what an addict * sweats nervously *
I spend like 70-80 Hours at day on my computer.
@@chimpcurious3203 what is your secret? How do you live more than 24 hours a day?
@@dwithunbrahma9253 Im a being outside the space and time.
@@dwithunbrahma9253meth
@@dwithunbrahma9253 tryhard enough
People staying at home with on their computers instead of having friends? That’ll never happen.
Can you imagine what those people would be like if it did happen? They might be like ... people! People like you and me! 😮
It’s the same in the states, and even more isolated by the numbers.
.... Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Holy Spirit Can give you peace guidance and purpose and the Lord will John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus
you'll believe anything you see on trash tv
😂
Phyllis got a computer and saved herself 5 hours of paperwork per day. She then basically decided to learn coding and electrical engineering. Today we would celebrate her as a genius, curious and resourceful person. Back in the day computers were new, so she was simply described as an “addict”? It’s pretty interesting how we perceive new things as “addictive” and dangerous. We spend 8 hours in front of a computer every day, but we don’t call it an addiction, just “work”
Don't lump other people in the notion of "we" What you describe is a handful of people who want to control and dictate other peoples lives as much as possible
@@lukemorgan6166 only a handful of people work in front of computers? In what universe?
8 hours? You gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.
Graham always wore a suit and tie to play computer games - what a splendid chap!
I am crying with laughter reading your comment. Well done Graham.
@@ajs41 And standing while playing the adventure game........... good on you Graham!!
People generally dressed better back then.
Haha, that is one of the things that computers were responsible for as well... the destruction of dress codes at work. It was tech workers who first refused to get all dressed up for no reason, and companies had such a hard time finding anyone who could actually do the work that they relented about dress codes. It used to be a requirement at basically any office job that you had to wear a suit and tie every day. But what do you do when you can't fill a job because all the potential workers are weirdos who won't put up with that nonsense?
"20-40hrs a week day and night" LMAO RIP 2024 people, that sums up like 90% of us all now
Those are rookie numbers.
Average GTA player, tbh.
@@f4ckutube fr
@@f4ckutubeand then there are Rust players...
@@f4ckutubeyou can't get XP sleeping.
"Why do people climb mountains" is a great argument whenever people ask dumb questions. Apparently, some pointless activities are great and build character while other pointless activities are just pointless. I don't enjoy art, but I can't go around saying that being a painter is pointless when I spend hours listening to music 🤷♂️
saying you don't enjoy art is wild. Art is part of what it means to be human. Even karl pilkington likes lowry.
What a lot of people miss here is context. There were 10 years before these interviews, all the jobs donr by computers would have been done by hand, making them necessary jobs. That's all people saw computers as, a way to do necessary work. What people didn't realize in this EXTREMELY EARLY age of modern computing was that a computer could do more than the tasks laid out for it. Climbing a mountain is indeed an unnecessary task, but it poses the challenge of conquering something so physically straining. Computers didn't have such a reputation of being straining in any real way, besides learning to use one. Thus, in the early days, when people say others working at computers, they saw a person doing an unnecessary task without any visible strain to make it worthwhile. It was only when the internet got involved and computers started appearing everywhere that people realized that these machines were not simple tools, but a toolbox for making tools, a toolbox that required mental strain to understand and modify. In short, I'm saying not to be too hasty about what the interviewer said way back when. Context is important, especially when something so abstract to normal human achievement is so new.
Every day playing at a coin-operated "computer" at a pub at lunchtime and then in the evening, at home: abnormal, an addict. Every day, having drinks at a pub at lunchtime and then after work, maybe again at home: completely normal, no addiction there at all.
What they were saying was that he works with them all day at work (even in his lunch break), then again in the evening and sometimes (often?) through the night. People rarely drink in the same way.
Normal's just what most people do. It's when people object to conformity and go their own way that the "normal people" get startled with the thought that what they themselves are doing isn't normal anymore.
This is England, Alcoholism is a major part of their national identity.
Lots of business deals were stuck in pubs and many of the worlds problems solved
@@andywatts8654pretty certain London didn’t solve many world problems…cause them yes..solve no
The good old days when computers were fresh and exciting. I admired Phyllis for embracing computers and spending hours learning it from stock control to being a hobbyist.
Modern version of this - messing around with LLM's on your nvidia GPU.
@@mornnb Good point. It's also like the dating game. GPU is supplicated, intelligent and flawless. Whereas, some people like personality and quirkiness.
@@mornnb Or AMD GPUs with AMD ROCm or Zluda ;)
There's always something new & fresh with computers and technology
People i speak to who were around then say they thought they were rubbish even back
Graham Hawker in the clip "...the computer's perfect it doesn't make mistakes it responds in an absolutely predictable way so in exploring anything that the computer's doing with you anything that happens that you didn't want to happen is purely your fault" - Graham has obviously not yet encountered any software written by Microsoft or Adobe...
Or cosmic rays flipping memory bits
Yeah that remark really captured how I fell out of love with computers after being totally obsessed for 30 years. They aren't predictable anymore. Working with them now is less like operating a machine, and more like trying to influence a person.
@@Xezlechonestly yeah agreed
@@Xezlec Yup. There's so much abstraction upon abstraction that tries to mimic human thinking that at some point it just becomes counterintuitive because not everyone thinks alike.
And to a degree he was conflating ‘perfect’ with ‘unbiased’ - the computer will only operate according to its programming… …imperfections these days are the result of programmer bias.
"Why do people climb mountains?" He sums it up well.
It's amazing how corporations managed to use all the added efficiency and productivity that computers brought while still simultaneously crushing the souls of their employees.
that is on purpose
That's the classic Luddite fallacy, people change jobs but there aren't less jobs to be done.
Yep and now we see this with AI.
It's amazing how the employees let that happen. They just scrambled amongst themselves and never said anything to the corporate Masters because they're so weak and cowardly.
@@swingtag1041You think you can do better?
That Phyllis lady is awesome. No fear, she just dove right in and became a power user.👍
From the Herald Express 18/9/1982: 'BRAIN in a sweet shop' THE 21st century has come a little carly to Phyllis Arrandale's tiny sweet shop. Tucked away in a room behind a shop decked out with jars of humbugs and cough candies and adorned with flowery chocolate boxes is a microcomputer, which makes her life so much simpler. Phylis is one of many small shopkeepers who are investing in a computer to save time and energy in dealing with their ac- counts, stocks, and other paper- work. Now aged 66 and having had the computer for three years, Phyllis said: "So many people in small shops and businesses do not realise what a boon a computer could be to them,"' Phyllis spent more than £3,000 on the computer and it has solved many of her pro blems. She said: "I buy my goods from 42 firms and before I got the computer, the paperwork was unbelievable, I was gelting so far behnd with it as I could not keep pace. "i used to open the shop at eight in the morning and close at six in the evening. Every night I had to deal with the paperwork until I flopped into bed exhausted.'' Phyllis learned how to pro- gramme the computer to keep details of her stocks of confec- tionery and tobacco and if bills had been paid. She is now so adept with the computer that three other firms based near the sweet shop in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, are us- ing it to help work out their ac- counts. Phyllis believes that this is the shape of things to come in small shops and Businesses as small computers are so useful in cutting out time - wasting paperwork. This is especially true in the case of her one - woman business which has sales of about £20,000 a year. A spokesman for Informa- tion Technology Year 1982, said: "'Systems like these can keep prices down and service is considerably improved by en- suring stocks do not run down and a wider choice is available. "In a competitive high street it is as important for the small stop to provide such benefits as it is for the large retatl outlet. "Even very small businesses can now afford microcom- puters. Many weighing machines and cash registers are now available for the small stopkeeper, processing tran- sactions in a form that makes keeping their books and con- trolling their stock far easier, "Inexpensive computers can now cut down the hours of paperwork which is pro- bably the most tedious chore for one person businesses and they also provide far better information on how the business is doing.
Those days you dropped right into a terminal where you could start programming. Well, you had to start programming to make it do useful stuff, so you learned how it worked. We have a lot of computers and computing and software today but there's so much of it and so complex that it doesn't occur to most people that you too could make your own programs. Or change how your computer behaves. Of course you can't readily just reprogram much of what runs on most computers anyway so you have that working against you. You still get a lot of people that are like Phyllis of course but I'd like to see more.
As a thirteen year old I look back and can't believe I was lucky enough to have had parents who could afford (if only barely) to support my habit. Thanks Mom and dad. I'm sure you sacrificed so I could never see sunlight.
Kkkkk cada uma!!
“As a thirteen year old I look back…” might be the most pompous opening I’ve ever read to anything
The story of Phyllis was surprisingly heartwarming. Seeing a lady and an older one at that interested in computers so much and right at the start of the home computer revolution was fantastic! I wasn't even alive when this report was made but I think I would have gotten on well with her and shared the same computer hobbies as her. I hope she finished building those computer parts and more.
It was refreshing to see and certainly destroys the old boomers of todays' way of thinking.
@@jamesherman3750Do you think she was the norm of her generation? Don't generalize entire generations part and parcel simply because there happen to be a lot of s***heads amongst them. Newsflash, that's true for every generation. (btw, I'm a Millennial. I've known a wide range of people and personalities of all ages. Boomers included)
If not completing her goals, I bet she had so much fun pursuing them, and that is what counts.
She’s a legend. I really hate it when people say they’re too old to learn x or change their ways. Very refreshing and inspiring.
I was absolutely blown away by Phyllis. Especially as someone now who just orders a PCB from PCBWay. Amazing.
Is this a sponsored comment?
@@awii.neocities looks like hhhhhahaha
The scary thing is that those ‘83 middle age and old people have a more open mind and will to experiment out of their comfort zone than nowadays’ boomers. The old lady literally ran a shop, made her own program and made their own hardware, that’s sick.
It's what happens when everything is served to you on a silver platter...
Yep and it’s hear everyday from muppets, I did t grow up with computers like you. Hold on old boy. I did t get a computer until I was 18, my primary school had 1 computer for 250 students to use . My highschool had one computer lab of 15 computers for 1000 students. I didn’t get a phone until I was 20 . Your excuses don’t fly with me old man
My grandpa was her age and refused to have anything more than a landline up until his death and he was a wealthy man!
In the years between 1984 and 1998, they bought their first computer. Still can't get to Gmail by themselves.
@@unnamedchannel1237 didn't have my first computer until i was 18(dell inspiron 1545) and first phone when i was 13. LOL
„I like computers.“ The 70s - „?“ The 80s - „That’s odd“ The 90s - „I’ll make you a millionaire.“ The 2000s „I’ll make you a billionaire.“ The 2010s „You’ll have a stable job“ The 2020s „I’ll replace you with AI!“
*The 2030s and beyond...I have become A.I. 😄👍*
2040 We will be at war with Skynet 😂
2030s - I'll program my own AI and lease it to your competitors. Check Mate.
@@Politely_Indifferent 2100 Humans lost the battle against machines
imagine "ai" become a subscription model and people start hiring staff again because it was cheaper
The only obsession here was on the journalist trying to convince the interviewees that they were addicts.
It's called ignorance
And you can be sure that they all had the potential to earn outrageous money with their level of knowledge at that time. 10 or 20 years later at least
I love the way Phyllis opened the box of electronic parts, it looked like she was opening a tasty box of chocolates. LOL.
I wonder about those pots and caps tho. Did she order a computer or a synth kit??? "Well luv, they're supposed to go BLEEP and BLOOP, aren't they?" 😆 For that matter, wonder if she ever finished that project.
@@NuGanjaTron Maybe for manual control of cooling fan? :)
Phyllis is amazing! 😊
Would have been an awesome granny. I didn't really had one. Still became a computer addict ..eh I mean enthusiast.
good man… You guys are watching this on uour phone because of man like this.
The dawn of the home and office computers age - Kraftwerk had just released their "Computer World" album, which proved to be truly prophetic.
It amazes me how prophetic that album is in terms of its central theme (Computer World and Computer Love especially) and how influential it was in the evolution of electronic music, and yet it doesn't get the 100th of the mass recognition it should rightfully have in both aspects.
Incidentally, I thought Chris Carter's computer was similar to the one on the cover of the album, but Wikipedia states it's actually the Hazeltine 1500.
@@jeshkam I remember my mum's Amstrad PC - her first home computer and one I also used occasionally (as a word processor, mostly). There was an annoying tendency for documents to get lost between sessions or turn up in the wrong folder - it was long before the later easy-to-use, intuitive library interfaces that would arrive during the 1990s...
@@louise_rose Yes, using those 1980s old timers was definitely not an easy thing to do. 😉
I dont know what to do . I need a rendezvous
Not addicts, just people enthusiastically embracing change. The people calling them addicts should be a lesson to us all, don't get stuck in your old ways.
To be fair, they could be both...! But I agree with you 100%. Literally everything there is changing. Nothing in this universe is unchanging and permanent. The best thing we can do for our own happiness is to embrace change and see all change with equanimity. ❤
"Hello I am your typical dull 1980s British TV reporter. I am here to make anything that doesn't fit the standard 9-5 office job lifestyle sound silly and strange, so you keep doing your 9-5 office job. Now get down to the pub at lunch like normal people and drink some beer"
@@ncot_tech crazy how it changed decades after.
Not every instance of change in society is good. Change isn't necessarily good for its own sake. "Getting stuck in your old ways" can be following the scientific method, for example. Why would you want to change the fact that 2+2=4?
@@arvaneret_329 that makes no sense since everyone has learned 2+2=4
OMG...I'm seeing at least 25,000 lines in that BASIC program of his! And so many condensed one-liners! This dude was a God level BASIC programmer.
Maybe... but it was pretty common to skip up to some very large line number like 10000, if you suddenly needed a GOSUB. You might be writing code at line 250, but you wouldn't want to start a subroutine at 251 or 300, because you might need to go back and modify the code above the subroutine, causing it to grow
I programmed a debtors system in the early 90's. 32000 lines of Turbo Basic and 34 modules. I'm now coding a code editor amongst other large system apps.
Last thing I did with BASIC was an AOL IM bomber in the mid 90s. I sucked. To be fair I was 12.
@@mach5406 That's just what the world needs..yet another code editor.
@@jinxterx The difference is that my code editor is way different to any others I've seen or used, so no, not YET another. It's a completely new take.
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 in 1982, this paved the way for my career. And here I am in 2024, with decades of IT experience and a specialist in my chosen field. I began with BASIC on the ZX81, followed by assembly language on the ZX Spectrum. Amazing years I look back on very fondly. Was lucky to have dropped out of school at 16 and become a programmer.
My late grandfather kept his mental faculties through his whole life, and I have no doubt that the time he invested on his computer helped that. First on a Commodore 64, then on a Macintosh. As a kid, the simple programs were like magic to me.
I mean they are. I still play around with my commodore and that thing impresses me to no end. Knowing that all of this is going on inside a tiny 8 bit processor that costs like 20 bucks is insane and then seeing how it scaled into my ryzen 5 on my gaming rig is miraculous. Its mental how much progress has been made.
Man, I'm from Uruguay (south America) and even though *someone* had computers in 1983, it was mostly for the very well off and most people were definitely not thinking of implementing it in their own small business! Only big businesses did, I was born in '88 and my birth certificate isn't even digital (the original one), had to go through a process so it was digitalized and I could access it online! I swear the English and many Americans were basically living in the future at that time.
I always wondered where Uruguay was.
I wasn't expecting the shop owner to be the computer geek at the end.
Calling enthusiasts addicts distracts from the very real difficulties true addicts face.
Well said.
these people were genuine computer enthusiasts modern computers addicted are real, just looking for blasts of dopamine learning nothing im one of them
7:42 "What they don't tell you is that you just might find your relationship with the machine more intense than you expected." If only they knew...
Phillys at the end there. Wow.
5:50 and onward is some ASMR Heaven. RIP her beautiful soul.
She'd have loved to work at Bletchley, perhaps she did...
These documentaries are just outstanding, is like opening a door, looking through it and seeing the past. I also consider myself an enthusiast of computers not an addict despite of spending from 18 to 20 hours a day in one. I don´t really use my cellphone much and I don´t use social networks either. Thanks to these enthusiasts is why technology has progressed so much, thanks for their time! life well spent!
I'd love to know what these people are doing now.
the first google result for Phyllis Arrandale shows that she lived in Hitchin, Hartfordshire for the rest of her life and died in 2003. So presumably she'll have moved on to more modern systems later on, or lost her interest in programming.
Pushing up the daisies 😅
dead
Many 80s "computer addicts" became successful business leaders. Those who bullied or labelled them? Working for them as janitors? Only in a perfect world.
20 to 40 hours/week at the keyboard! Most developers only dream of a job where they could spend 20-40 hours/week at the keyboard instead of in meetings!
I am at a keyboard all day 😅
agile development my beloved
I'm a developer, and utterly confirm I spend over 50% work time in pointless meetings.
I’ve slowly morphed into this guy. As a software engineer , nothing has changed ! 3 months of dev, doubt he does TDD.
At 5:26 I remember that lady was in an episode of The Computer Programme. Her little sweet shop was called The Chocolate Box. EDIT That episode can still be seen on the BBC iPlayer.
Since appearing in that show a year earlier I note that Phylis now has _two_ Commodore PETS! Business for her then must’ve been booming because PETS weren’t cheap and otherwise beyond the means of a sweet shop owner one would think.
She really progressed, what a star!
@@makara80 Under counter dealing perhaps? Her sweet shop just a front for organised drug gangs ?
@@makara80 I don't know anything about her business, but my guess would be she was not a person to spend her money on things like going out. And as this was her hobby, she probably spend some of her savings on that. You didn't exactly have to be loaded to own two computers in 1983.
I love how she wanted to multi-task... so just owns two Commodores :D
Hopefully this man is still alive.
He's alive and doing quite well! Went on to create a hit show in the 90s called "The X-Files!" 😊
@@orangejjayNo. That's another Chris Carter.
@@baardbino same one
1983 is the year I started, with my Commodore 64. I'm a software engineer to this day. I am doing what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Ooo!! What would you say your favourite language of all time is and why? I bet you’ve worked with a fair number!!
@mrgaudy1954 it was C++ for a long while, but I'd say C# now. C# is more forgiving of things like memory leaks. I also do a lot of TypeScript (strongly typed JavaScript). Used several others but never in large projects. I'd really want to learn Rust when I find the time. But I might go back to C++ for some game development (Unreal engine)
It's inspiring how articulate and respectable these lads where!
This is very heartwarming. Glad YT recommended this. ❤
What a joy to watch. Absolutely adorable and refreshing. Makes you appreciate these machines even more.
Now they should do one about folks that arent addicted to screens.
That old lady doing hardware interfacing with the Commodore Pet computer is amazing! These folks PASSIONATE about computers not addicts! This is the very trait that companies like Google, etc., were founded.
A Commodore PET! Ah, memories... also: 0:30 Mr Do! We had one of those in my first year at uni (1983, as it happens).
Technically not a PET. They were called Commodore CBM 3000 here in the UK because of Philips owning the PET trademark.
@@wasitacatisaw83 Are you sure? I know the name was different at some point, but I'm certain we had PETs at school and that's what they were called.
@@macronencer Yup. Everyone knows them as Commodore PETs these days, but at the time they came out in the UK, they were the CBM 3000.
@@wasitacatisaw83 Thanks. I just checked some photos on Wikipedia and I think the ones my school had were probably CBM 8000 with the proper keyboard. However, I know I've used an earlier one too with the toy keys. At some point I definitely used one that said PET on the front... but perhaps it was imported? I expect that must be what happened. It was at a facility owned by Bristol University IIRC. I suppose it could be a false memory! That can happen :)
Phillis would have loved Ben Eater’s KZhead channel.
Got my first PC at Radio Shack, a Tandy 1000 TL, a couple of years after this video was made. 8MHz, no hard drive, and was like lifting a cinder block. "Micro computer that just about fits in a spare bedroom," made me laugh pretty hard.
This man was the OG of OG hackers
The old Lady "Phillys" That Ran the Sweet shop LOL... Honestly Shocked me I Thought she was going to be into PacMan if it was out then or some game like it.. I Defo did not think that Lady was Building PC's in the back of the shop And not just been able to code but been able to build & Code,,, Super Impressive & At her Age to take such an interest .. I Hope she is still alive its what 40 years ago If she is i Bet she has a Gaming PC , Water cooled With Lights & its see thru that she built her self of course lol.. Super Impressed by her!!
Highly doubt she’s still a then again she may only be in her 70s now LOL English women look elderly by their 30s
@@maxhatush5918 She died in 2003 , in her 70's
@@bardo0007 Awh No way!! She seemed Like the Nicest old Lady Ever I Truly Mean That!! , I say old Lady,,, ( Even tho i knew she was only in here 40's at the time , it was just the era & the how most women he age would have dressed, Its how my Grandmother used to dress, But she seemed So *Nice* ) She Really did tho.. She Seemed Really Kind & Someone who Cared for others,, Is the vibe i get from her "Phillys" She Reminds me of a shop i used to buy sweets at on my way to school ..lol I'm 37 was born in 1986 & I grew up in a Small Town , But every town & Village had shops like that .. Where it was a family thing for generations.. But Sadly,, You never see shops like that any more,, Its all Asda , Gala , Centra Tesco etc ... Big Name brands ,Its Nothing like it used to be , & what i Really mean is ,, It was the Person more so than the Shop.. It was *Always* A really nice kind man or a Really nice woman in her 40's or 50's That Knew everyone And *Not* in a Bad way , Yes she would hear everything but it was people going in for a pint of milk & Staying half an hour for the company ,, Everyone at the time even the early 90's where i lived it was On a First name basis & I'm a pound short , James don't worry about it ill put you down in the book ,, Or I even remember been able to buy a single cigarette ( Been a bold boy lol ) Its sad that the Tesco's & Dealz forced them all out of business.. I *was Really hoping* She would still be alive, I Hope she has Kids & they get to see this .. The loss of a Loved one is So Hard & When a video or picture Pop's up out of the blue It gives you a sad but then a Really Warm Feeling ( I Lost my baby brother in his 20's we were best friends & there is not a 4 to 5 Min Gap Every hour of every day i do not think of him, It was Covid before the Jab ) .. I Only say this because last week i seen a video of him by accident because there really hard to watch But because it was out of the blue it gave me a really Warm & Happy feeling of there is my Brother & Best Friend.. Sorry went on a tangent there Well thanks @bardo0007 for letting us all know & I *Truly* Hope she has Family that she this as she is so Happy here. & Even tho i never met the woman im Irish You can tell how Nice & Kind & Caring she was! He Memory will never die thanks to the BBC.. Love this Channel
this guy's lifestyle has aged like wine
I remember many an all-nighter spent typing in long listings in BASIC or assembler to create even the simplest of outcomes. There were scores of magazines that consisted largely of BASIC program listings that offered games and a wide range of other applications. Unlike today, there was next to no compatibility between brands and models -- although they all shared the BASIC language, each one had radically different ways to create graphics and sound so a new machine meant learning things all over again if you wanted to program it for anything other than trivial purposes.
Yes I had a Sinclair QL and did just that. The sense of accomplishment was amazing
I still code in Basic. but I use Liberty Basic, which runs on windows, and i think, they also have Apple and Linux platform version as well. I started in H.S learning Apple basic on an II E, and have loved it ever since. I know there are other High level programming languages, but I am reluctant to learn them as Basic is what I am most proficient at.
Remember “Input” magazine? I was about 7 or 8 when the advert appeared on a TV commercial. I coudnt wait for it to appear at the newsagents 😵💫
Well, count me into the In-Crowd! As an avid typist, I am so preoccupied with the microcomputer that not only I want to concentrate on aiming forward; I want to use my color laser printer and label printer, so that I may spend much time inside instead of outside. This show gives me additional appreciation to [modern] computer technology a lot more than I have imagined.
Remember, if everyone is doing it, nobody is an addict. Computers today.
2:13 Los números de línea (como 2300, 2400) y las instrucciones PRINT seguidas por cadenas de texto son característicos de BASIC. Además, se puede observar el uso de GOTO y RETURN, que son instrucciones de control de flujo típicas en BASIC, lo que refuerza la idea de que estamos viendo un programa escrito en este lenguaje. BASIC era un lenguaje comúnmente implementado en sistemas como el IBM PC, Commodore 64, Apple II y otros, y era conocido por su accesibilidad para principiantes y su uso en educación y entre aficionados a la informática. El comando READY. al final indica que la máquina ha terminado de ejecutar el programa o está lista para recibir más comandos, lo cual es típico del prompt en los intérpretes de BASIC.
Just wanted to give a shout out to the TV show Halt and Catch Fire, can’t believe I missed it first time around. I suspect most people 40+ who lived through the early days of the internet will enjoy it.
Yeah loved that show!
i rememeber when i first worked with a computer it was MS.DOS, loved it.. still loving it..
Not relevant but gotta love a bit of Nudges unlimited by Barcrest, I’m having trouble identifying the first machine we see next to the one he’s on. Could anyone help?
I love how the point of this was to clown them and instead this is the literal dream for programmers today; a family, a home, and a $400,000 salary for being obsessed with understanding how computers work
Phyllis' clever approach to problem solving and inquisitive mind is very inspiring. What an awesome woman she was.
7:14 I love how shes got the circuit board stored in the cigar box. Reminds me of my grandma storing her sewing supplies in those round blue cookie tins. Its a shame they make you pay for a computer license in the UK though
What is the computer license?
Jesus, Phyllis was unreal. Pity she wasnt around to see the real takeoff of home computing and the Internet in the mid to late 90s.
She was. Died 2003 though.
She’d probably have loved the onset of the worldwide web in the early 90’s and have had her own website, bless her
@@okee9 Guaranteed she had a Geocities web site.
She probably would have been one of those people like me who is annoyed that most 500 dollar phones from a DECADE ago had 1440p screens, and now 1080p is somehow accepted on thousand dollar phones as well as sub-100 dollar phones. Some tech peaked to such a degree that OEMs had to gaslight people into thinking that less was somehow more (and it worked somehow!!!). Real tech enthusiasts don't make excuses for downgrades in tech, and I get the vibe that she would be out there as part of the right to repair movement, trying to get companies to remember that durability and stability can be a premium feature.
@@awesomeferret People is stupid. That's why apple sell well, and tesla and any other stupid company.
*1:58** This girl is a genius....she's cracked it 😊👏*
Phyllis Arrandale is hero
I had a Bournemouth computer at the time. My mum had a Petticoat 5, which was designed for ladies.
I wanted a Bournemouth, but it was involved in the margarine riots.
Haha, I know this reference.
I don't know this reference 😢
@@MOSMASTERING Bletchley Park was where the first programmable valve computer was created during the second world war to break German Enigma codes. She'd be about the right age for working there.
@@MOSMASTERING Look around you!
how was i happy when i start installing widows 3.1, so much floppy's , one day loosed/// so happy and than basic language secrets...programming... i still love computers , still busy most of the day with them, they are fantastic
Phyllis, what a legend ❤
Bought the BBC Model B when it first came out. Moved up to a BBC A3000 - then 2-slice RISC PC 600 upgraded to StrongArm (with a PC Co-Processor) SCSI Drive & TELETEXT Adapter :-)
Chris Carter and I should be best friends. I would love to see the PC's he has maintained and kept over the decades. I have my library of PC operating system books from MS-DOS, up until Windows 10.
He was really hellbent on proving computers were an "addiction" wasn't he? Silly man lol... Still, these brilliant people were able to share some interesting insights at the time into a growing culture in face of all that. I adore Phyllis!❤
Is it worth getting one of these "computer" thingies?
Nah, everybody will just end up walking around glued to a screen, trust me...😅
@@jimsimpson1006 So don't put it in your pocket? I'm hearing angellic trilling... voices in my head saying... flip? Flip phone? Wonder what that could mean.
Is it worth it? I dunno, man. I hear on those things that people go woke and end up hating people less. Is that the world you want to be a part of? 😂
I can relate with all of them 😭😭
I legitimately thought this was a comedy video, similar in tone to the 'Look Around You' series from BBC. Wasn't until I read through the comments that it confirmed it actually contained real computer enthusiasts of the time.
Wonder what happened to them now
They have multiple accounts where they troll on reddit with.
@@nataliep6385the old lady is the worse, she drops the hard r at a moments notice
@@danielktdoranie"That's just what we call them! I'm not racist! I don't see coloreds!" 😂
Huh. Today, i learned I'm a computer addict myself
Old people then: literally building their own computers and being rather humble about it Old people now: can't even open a PDF file and will throw a tantrum if someone doesn't help
I love this video. It's so well made you almost believe it was made in 1983.
Old people back then were so excited to learn the new tech and try and BUILD A PC! Old people now don't even want to figure out how to send an email in the most user-friendly environments.
Phyllis, you have our hearts! What an inspirational person she must have been:)
1:25 "spare bedroom". Fast forward to 2023 and that is the entire apartment, minus w.c.
Like you don't take your phone into the bathroom...
Bro would have to be a millionaire to afford that luxury in 2024.
Highly intelligent and socially anxious. He must have spread his seed for it to be so common place today.
I never understood that even with these addictions - these people are still able to marry and have children.
I admire this guy. 🎉
Ah, the myth that computers never make mistakes, we used to believe, they certainly do say if a capacitor that holds bits is damaged or they were not made perfectly
And that randomness might be one of the reasons we get AI and minecraft. Also cosmic bit flips are common although we have specialized equipment to reduce that.
Most of the computers in this video are Commodores obviously because of the Commodore logos. Are they more specifically Commodore PET's? 0:22 and 5:45 are the parts I'm most curious about. Commodore CBM is on one but that's just short for Commodore Business Machines.
Yep, they are the PET machines. By 1983 those were already discontinued and deemed a relic since they weren't really expandable the same way an Apple // machine could be enhanced into. Plus, you had the 16 bit PCs out by then that was way better suited for business tasks.
Technology changes so unrecognisably fast that when looking at these peoples choices of how they spent their time, the only thing that matters is the enjoyment they got from whichever way they chose to spend their time.
I want to know where Chris Carter is today
Works in Carphone Warehouse
Chris had a successful career in computers and he and Judy are living happily in Devon. Looks like some 'addictions" can be useful.
He went on to create the X- Files and made a fortune.
@@FCT5809No. That's the California version of Chris Carter.
@baardbi i know mate, it was a joke.
Only 7 seconds in and I cannot contain my excitement seeing a C64!
The CBM PET was even more exciting! I started using one at age 10.
"You might find your relationship with a machine more intense than you expected," yeah... fair point.
I wish we could learn more about how their lives continued after this. I wonder if the lady's electronics hobby evolved into significantly bigger projects.
Phyllis Arrandale ❤️
Being a computer addict payed off for Chris Carter, he went on to create X-Files and laughed all the way to the bank!
"right through the night" That hits.
This whole "computer" thing doesn't seem like it's really going anywhere... Give it a few years, I'm sure we'll all be over this obvious passing fad. (Either that, or we'll all end up spending every day and night staring into them, like zombies. Nah...)
You can't have it both ways. "It either will be a hit or it won't be." Yeah. Duh. That's how things tend to work. They either are or are not. Sure, there's tons of gray areas but usually gray areas can still be included in those options.
always wondered what these guys would think if they saw even a touch of games today.
Obession in valuable things which actually help contribute to society is actually the best...thing that has happened to mankind.
Phyllis was so inspiring. Here I am wondering if I can switch from network engineer to pursuing a degree in mathematics and thinking I'm too old to do it.
I wonder if the Post Office Horizon systems still use these ... ? 😊
These dudes were just innovators ahead of their time
Wow, I'm surprised! Did considerable expertise used to be required to operate computers back then? I've only ever used Windows and later PCs, so I'm not familiar with the details, but were there no 'mouse' at that time?
Yes, all Command-line driven. No mouse, no Icons to point at - just an unfriendly blinking cursor at the top of the screen. If you didn't know the commands, then you couldn't do anything. But a very similar system can be, and is, still used by technicians to find and fix faults on the computers, so it's not entirely dead - just not presented to users anymore, thankfully.
I believe some computers came with manuals at the time to help