Video: Prof Steve Furber on 8-bit Acorn days and beyond

In an interview filmed at Manchester University on August 17, Prof Stephen Furber CBE talks about his involvement with the Mk14, how he became involved with Acorn Computers, the success of the BBC Micro, the development of the ARM processor and his latest project: SpiNNaker.

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Discussion

Wow, this is great. Very interesting. Nice to hear that he still uses an BBC emulator and an Archimedes emulator! I wonder which emulators he uses? Footie on 4/9/09 7:03AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Yeah, good interview and lots of interesting stuff about the development of the ARM1. I didn't know they started work on it in 1983 before. ninja on 4/9/09 1:34PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

I found it really interesting. Prof. Furber seems like a really nice chap. I found him really interesting to listen to. His new project sounds really fascinating too. Becky on 4/9/09 4:54PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Anyone in the south east of England who wants to see Prof. Furber talk in person, he will be at ROUGOL on Monday 16th November. Entrance is free, all welcome! helpful on 4/9/09 6:02PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

What a superb interview and around an hour's worth of footage too from such a genius and a very warm person. Personally, I'd like to see more depth on the 'hurried' subjects but it's probably not possible as Prof Steve is a busy man. Shame really. A great viewing indeed and reminded me of that good read 'The soul of a new machine'. Element14 on 4/9/09 7:58PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Oops, credit where it's due: Roger/Sophie Wilson guided me to read that book some years ago. Element14 on 4/9/09 8:00PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Hi Element14 and others ... Thanks for the kind words regarding the interview. Steve is indeed a great guy and time is of a premium, but there's always a possibility of a more indepth interview on a specific topic in the future. This is my first real attempt at a proper interview and was worried how it would turn out, so to hear the positive comments is very encouraging. The next interview is with Chris Turner, again of BBC Micro fame, which will be filmed next week and put on line in about a month. Remember all this time and effort costs money, so feel free to click the 'donate' button on the page where the video is !!! Cheers! Jason ComputingHistory on 4/9/09 8:52PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Fantastic stuff, looking forward to the Chris Turner interview. diomus on 4/9/09 9:48PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

I look forward to seeing the next interview. I might even be in a position to click the donate button soon Again thanks for a brilliant interview. Will you be interviewing Sophie Wilson? I read somewhere that she modelled the entire ARM command set in BBC BASIC. That has got to be worth talking about. Becky on 5/9/09 9:38AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

I asked her some questions about that for a feature but they had to be cut for length. They're at the bottom of this blog posting. [link] killermike on 6/9/09 3:19PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ] "Will you be interviewing Sophie Wilson? I read somewhere that she modeled the entire ARM command set in BBC BASIC." Steve Furber did. Apparently (according to the talk he did for WROCC, which looks similar to what is planned for Huddersfield next Sunday) he recently re-discovered the files on an old disc in his garage. ARM still consider them commercially valuable, however, so don't expect to see them released on the internet any time soon. stevef on 6/9/09 4:45PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Hi Becky, I am hoping to interview Sophie but have yet to persuade her!! Watch this space ... ComputingHistory on 6/9/09 1:24PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

That would be brilliant. Becky on 7/9/09 6:27PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Finally finished watching. Very interesting interview. killermike on 8/9/09 5:50PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

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