Bright Basic Computer - Working computer with Basic interpreter: explore, play games, & write programs!

* Working 8-bit 128KB microcomputer, programmable with Basic interpreter.
* Inspired by 70s/80s microcomputers like Sinclair ZX81, Apple 1, & Commodore Pet.
* 40col*25row colour 4:3 CRT text monitor, working disk drive & copy/trans disks.
* Includes new games, plus converted 70s Basic programs like "The Orgeon Trail".
* Detailed 86 page PDF User Manual/Programmer's Guide. True retro computing in SL!

The Bright Basic Computer (or "BBC") is a working microcomputer, which can be programmed using the BASIC programming language.

It is similar to the 8-bit computers of the late 70s and early 80s, such as the Apple I, the Commodore PET, and the Sinclair ZX81.

It runs slowly, interpreting Basic at around 5-10 lines per second, and (like the machines above) it runs in text mode, without drawing or pixel mapping: so it does not have the speed or graphics for real-time or arcade-style games.

However, there exists a huge library of non-real-time, text mode programs, originally written for early microcomputers in their various versions of BASIC, which can be adapted to "Bright Basic" and run on the BBC. We have included some, including the much loved text adventure "The Oregon Trail" played in many US schools, games from various 1970s issues of "Creative Computing" magazine, and a dozen new games we wrote ourselves for the BBC.

Bright Basic was designed to support the most common features of the various BASIC dialects popular at the time, and should feel immediately familiar to anyone who has used them.

The Bright Basic Computer comes with a 40 column x 25 row, cursor-addressable colour monitor with a 4:3 aspect ratio, typical to those of the period.

Both the computer and the monitor run entirely in-world. The monitor displays output using real, Second Life textured prims, and so does not require users to activate web-on-a-prim style "shared media" streams to view. And BASIC programs are executed by scripts inside the computer, with no dependency on off-world emulators.

You can write programs by clicking the keyboard, entering commands in chat, or writing programs on notecards and then dropping them into the computer. You are naturally also free to share these notecards with anyone else who owns a BBC.

And the system features a floppy disk drive, and is supplied with transferable, copyable floppy disks. You can save programs from your BBC onto a floppy: to keep a backup for yourself, or to share with other BBC users.

The system has highly configurable security control, so you can - if you wish - protect your computer against use by others, leave it rezzed in a public space for anyone to use, or restrict it to a "kiosk like" mode in which visitors may run the programs you install, but not break out of them or reprogram the machine.

The Bright Basic Computer is a loving recreation of the early days of popular computing. Use it to write and run your own programs, or to provide realistic, detailed, and interactive scene dressing for a public venue.

10 PRINT "HAVE FUN!"
20 GOTO 10

PS. The name "Bright Basic Computer" was chosen both because it was descriptive - it is a computer which runs Basic - and as a fond tribute to a British computer called the "Acorn BBC Micro", released in 1981 by Acorn Computers Limited. Acorn's machine was, in turn, named after the British Broadcasting Corporation, who commissioned it for use in their "BBC Computer Literacy" project, and the Acorn BBC was adopted in many schools to teach computing, making it culturally iconic in Britain. However, the Bright Basic Computer is not an exact emulation of the Acorn BBC micro, or of any single machine. It draws on many popular mainly US and UK microcomputers of the period, from Commodore, Sinclair, Apple, Acorn, and others.

• Working 8-bit 128KB microcomputer, programmable with Basic interpreter.
• Inspired by 70s/80s microcomputers like Sinclair ZX81, Apple 1, & Commodore Pet.
• 40col*25row colour 4:3 CRT text monitor, working disk drive & copy/trans disks.
• Includes new games, plus converted 70s Basic programs like "The Orgeon Trail".
• Detailed 86 page PDF User Manual/Programmer's Guide. True retro computing in SL!