Pictures of BBCs

Pictures are mostly 1600x1200 pixels / ca. 350 KB.

• Old case, with rough exterior, as used on machines with issue 1-4 PCB (images from machine with serial #309244 (Race))
  Side of the case, showing the roughness:
  
  

  Rear:
  
  Note the large ventilation opening and the rounded ADC port cutout.
  

  Bottom:
  
  Note the 3 keyboard screws, and the power supply vents.
  

  Inside: this issue 4 PCB machine has no plastic grille for the speaker (it was not removed or lost, as there are no holes in the keyboard PCB to fix the grille), and a mat is glued to the case to prevent gunk from entering.
  
  

  
  

  All other issue 4 machines I've seen have a standard grille.

• New case, with smoother exterior (used on machines with issue 4-7 PCB). Airflow is much impaired in this case, the only plus point is that the top is bit stiffer (images from machine with serial #ANB100 100092)
  Side of the case, showing the smoother surface:
  
  

  Rear:
  
  Note the smaller ventilation opening with obstruction and the square ADC port opening.
  

  Bottom:
  
  Note the 2 keyboard screws, and the almost closed power supply vents.
  

• New case 2: Used on a Hong Kong-made bbc micro, perhaps only used on machines made there; none of the late UK built BBCs I've seen have such a case (images from machine with serial #C-366-056-027):
  Rear and bottom:
  
  Note the area that's probably meant for a large label (used on the US BBC? Yes indeed).
  

  Bottom left and right:
  
  

  Keystrip: top of the 3 pictured is from the Hong Kong BBC:
  
  Note the 3 small holes on the right of that keystrip (also present on the left side)

  This case is also used on the USA version of the BBC micro, which has a 'made in Hong Kong' label..

  Something I don't like about this machine is the noise from the speaker. I checked that it does have the noise fix (BBCs have this from issue 4, which is R172 connecting the 1MHz bus audio-in to GND).

• USA BBC: made in hong kong, pictures to follow shortly...

Yellowing!

Yes, attentive visitors, this is an important subject for all of us. Beige cases suffer from 'yellowing' after many years, esp. when they've been placed in sunlight a lot. In extreme cases it's better to speak of 'oranging' (you were right Dave!) as you can see here:
The top of the case was not used (much) but replaced by a viglen case, so it remains a nice, near original, beige colour. Contrast this with the bottom part of the case!

Here are a few more cases, varying from near original beige (bottom one, on the left), to obviously yellowed (top one, on the right).

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Last modified: Fri Feb 13 09:18:46 CET 2009