BBC Micro Model B+

The first working prototype of what would become the BBC Micro was built in about a week. The prototype computer created by Acorn as the follow-up to its Atom would go on to win a key BBC contract to produce a machine to tie in with the BBC's computer literacy project. Refined, the prototype became the BBC Micro, one of the most powerful, most desired but priciest home micros of the early 80s. The BBC Micro would become the computer most likely to be found in schools - closely followed by Research Machines' 380Z and 480Z - though it never achieved quite the mass following that arch-rival Sinclair's Spectrum garnered. But with support for networking, a user-definable IO port, the ability to connect to other CPUs -including an early RISC chip that would become the first ARM part - a Rom chip slot and eight graphics modes, including Teletext, it was a very technical computer.