3 1 Getting started To get your computer working you will need a television set for a screen. Most people at home will use their ordinary colour or black and white television to show the pictures that the BBC Microcomputer produces. You will also need a cassette recorder if you wish to save and load programs. If you have a high quality monitor (for example in a school) then it can be connected directly to one of the sockets at the back of the computer. To connect the monitor to the computer you will need a special monitor lead. Assuming that you want to use your normal television set, then you can connect it to the computer using the aerial lead that is supplied with the computer.
One of the plugs on this lead has a long central prong which fits into the socket on the back of the computer marked UHF out. The other end of the lead goes into the back of your television set in place of the normal aerial lead (see figure 1). Don’t worry about the cassette recorder for the moment. Next, plug your computer into the mains and switch it on (the On/Off switch is at the back). It should make a short ‘beep’ and the red light marked caps lock should come on. Turn the television on too and let it warm up for a moment. Probably all you will see on the TV screen at this stage is a ‘snow storm’.
You will have to tune the TV so that it can receive the transmissions from the BBC Microcomputer. When your television is tuned correctly words will appear on the screen. Your television probably has some push-buttons which can be used to select different channels. Often button number 1 is tuned to BBC 1, button number 2 to BBC2, button number 3 to ITV and so on. It is best to tune a spare channel for the computer, for example channel 8. You can then use this for the computer without interfering with the tuning of the normal channels. Different televisions tune channels in different ways. For some of them, you turn the same knob that you use to select the channel.
For others, there are separate controls. In either case, you should depress a spare channel button and then adjust it, or the associated control, until you get a good picture on the screen. A message similar to Acorn OS 64K BASIC >