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Open Forum 83 (1983) FOUF059H

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Wynne Brindle: Another device that's made its 
  appearance in recent years...

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..is the micro computer. The cheapest 
  models are now available in the High Street...

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..for less than £100. To look at the impact of
   micro computers on the OU,

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we first spoke to Darrell Ince and asked him 
  about OU courses...

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..that are specifically designed with 
  micro computers in mind.

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Darrell Ince: Well this is HEKTOR. It'
  s a micro computer that's...

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..being developed at The Open University for 
  use on some of it's courses.

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TM222 is about the architecture of a digital 
  computer and we...

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..use HEKTOR to get over concepts about the 
  machine and about programming.

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There're also a pair of courses which 
  were financed by the Department of Industry.

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There's PT501 which is really a course
   for managers, telling them...

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..what a micro computer is, what software is, 
  how it can be used in their products etc.

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And PT502 which is a course for engineers, the
   sort of thing they would do...

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..would be use a micro as part of a monitoring
   system which...

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..might monitor the temperature of a blast furnace.

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Fourthly, there'll be industrial applications 
  of computers.

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Now this is a proposed Masters course 
  which has been financed by...

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..the Science and Engineering Research
   Council. And who this is intended for is...

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..engineers and technical managers who
   feel they've been slipping behind...

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..or there's big gaps in their knowledge; they
  're seeing micro computers...

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..come into their work and they don't 
  know what to do with them.

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And so a student on this course will use 
  either HEKTOR...

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..or something very similar to do two 
  types of computing.

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You'll either use the computer in a stand-
  alone way or he'd use the computer as...

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..a terminal using the phone link that
   he has in his home to do...

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..the sort of very big computing, the 
  computing that requires lots of space...

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..and lots of power which a micro computer 
  couldn't really handle.