User:Trevj/Beebug

Beebug is a computing company. It was formed in 1982 and has operated in various computing sectors. In the 1980s and '90s it was an influential company in the Acorn Computers market.

Its activities have included development of hardware and publishing of books, magazines and software. With the rise in popularity of the PC compatible in the 1990s, the company concentrated on the schools education market.

History
The BBC Micro promotional leaflet from September 1981 included a Beebug subscription letter. The company was formed by Lee Calcraft and Sheridan Williams in 1982. Calcraft and Williams were contributors to Personal Computer World magazine (PCW) at the time, and Calcraft was writing under pseudonyms in PCW, Acorn User and The Micro User. The name Beebug is derived from "Beeb" (the BBC Micro) and "user group".

The first newsletter for the user group was dated April 1982, with the user group being described as an "independent national user group for the BBC Microcomputer", and a "registered referral centre for the BBC Project".

After the 1987 launch of the Acorn Archimedes, Beebug established a division devoted to the new architecture called Risc Developments.

Publishing
The company established the magazines BEEBUG (April 1982), ELBUG, RISC User (November 1987) and the ill-fated Acorn Action (which had less than 200 subscribers and only lasted one issue: July/August 1994).

Published books included Wimp Programming for All, File handling for all, Getting Into Ovation and The PC Survival Guide.

Software
DeskEdit, ArcScan,, Ovation Pro, , Sleuth, Quickcalc, EasyC/C++

Hardware
Master 128 modem