It’s a relatively small space, and places are limited - the 3 hour sessions on Saturdays are probably long enough to see what’s there, unless you want to dig in to the books (shelfies within) and the extensive magazine collection. Or you have the energy to play any number of games, or challenge yourself with type-ins on the various mostly 8 bit micros.
I did type in @scruss’s version of Langton’s Ant, on the sole Beeb. There’s an Electron there too - the general rule seems to be that if you can see it, you can probably have a go on it. Although maybe that doesn’t apply to the things in glass cases, like the ORAO, which is the first one I’ve seen, I think.
We had various chats with the staff - Neil himself, and also Holly, who is an Acorn fan as it happens, as am I.
Holly showed us around some of the backstage areas, and that was a bonus. We even got to see the arcade collection briefly, even though it wasn’t on our ticket. A couple of photos of that in the album, too.
Oh one thing I realised after we’d left - I’m pretty sure I didn’t see a PET. This might be a first - there’s always a PET! (If there’s one in my photos, that says something about my powers of observation…)
I don’t see a PET, either, but I do see a 128D with the cute under-chassis keyboard nook. My DCR keyboard (which I think actually has a different connector from the D, but maybe only in pinout?) has the clips for retention, but the DCR has no place for it.
The magazine shelves are very impressive but not so much visually - each issue is in a slip case (and white gloves are encouraged before handling) - there are were so very many platform-specific magazines in the late 80s.
