Acorn Computers Ltd Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a computer company founded in 1978 by Hermann Hauser in Cambridge, England. Later, Chris Curry joined Acorn from their Cambridge rivals Science of Cambridge, and they produced a number of computer models over the next decade and would go on to create their own CPU before Olivetti took control of the company in 1985.
Acorn continued to produce new computer models as a subsidiary of Olivetti until about 1996. In 1998 they abandoned the desktop market and renamed themselves Element 14 (not coincidentally the atomic number of silicon). Then, in 1999, the microcomputer division was acquired by Pace and the DSP division was subject to a management buy-out. The DSP division continued to be known as Element 14 before being purchased by Broadcom in 2000 for $594 million.
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2 The Atom, Proton, and Electron 3 The ARM architecture 4 The Archimedes and Risc PC 5 Oracle and The Network Computer 6 See also 7 External links |
Between 1979 and 1980 Acorn launched a number of MOS Technology 6502 based computers named System 1 (or System One) through System 5.
Early computers 1979–80
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Acorn System 1 upper board |
The System 2 made it easier to expand the system, by putting the CPU card from the System 1 in a 19" Eurocard rack which allowed a number of optional additions. The System 2 typically shipped with keyboard controller, and external keyboard, a text display interface, and a cassette operating system with built-in BASIC interpreter. The System 3 added floppy disk support, and the System 4 added a larger case with a second drive. The System 5 was largely similar to the System 4, but included a newer 2MHz version of the 6502.
In 1980 the engineers at Acorn took the internals of the System 3 and placed them inside the case of an external keyboard, creating a quite typical setup for an inexpensive home computer of the early 80s era — this one the relatively successful Acorn Atom. Work started almost immediately on a newer version of the Atom known as the Proton with better graphics, extensive expansion abilities, and the 2MHz 6502. as in the System 5.
The success of Atom prompted the British Broadcasting Corporation to include Acorn on the list of computer manufacturers with whom they discussed a contract for a microcomputer suitable to back their computer literacy TV series The Computer Programme. The BBC awarded Acorn the contract after seeing the prototype Proton (as well as lesser offerings from other vendors), and the machine was renamed the BBC Micro in November 1981. During the next five years, a number of variants of the same design were launched, including the Acorn Electron, the BBC Model B+ and the BBC Master in several models.
In 1983 Acorn asked Intel for a sample 80286 processor, and Intel refused. As a result of this refusal, and dissatisfaction with other CPU options such as the Motorola 68000, a team was set up within Acorn, led by Roger Wilson and Steve Furber, to try to develop a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) CPU. Such was the secrecy surrounding this project that when Olivetti took a controlling share of Acorn in 1985 they were not told about the development team until after the negotiations had been finalised. This effort led to the ARM (Acorn RISC Machine) chip.
The first ARM-based product was the ARM Development System, a second processor for the BBC Master which allowed one to write programss for the new system. It cost around £4,000 to buy, and included the ARM processor and three support chips, 4MB of RAM and a set of development tools with an enhanced version of BBC BASIC.
The second ARM-based product was the Acorn Archimedes desktop-computer, released in mid-1987. The Archimedes was popular in the United Kingdom, Australasia and Ireland, and was considerably more powerful and advanced than most offerings of the day, but the market was already stratifying into the PC dominated world.
Acorn continued to produce updated models of the Archimedes including a laptop (the A4) and the Risc PC where the top specification included a 200MHz+ StrongARM processor. These were sold mainly into education, specialist and enthusiast markets until Acorn finally abandoned producing desktop-computers in late 1998 in favour of set-top boxes. The last machine (codenamed "Phoebe" or Risc PC 2) was nearly fully developed at the time of the project's abandonment, and therefore was never produced in volume nor sold to the public (notably, numbers of its distinctive yellow case were produced and sold-off cheaply). The operating system developed for Phoebe (codename Ursula or RISC OS 4) was made available to Risc PC users by RISCOS Ltd, which licensed the operating system, and continues to develop, support and sell RISC OS today.
However, the market is still competive with two strands of the OS currently being developed, the 26bit RISC OS 4 which is currently sold for the Microdigital Omega, and the 32bit RISC OS 5 for the Castle Iyonix. This competition recently caused a crisis in the community, one that threatened the platforms existence.
In August 1996 Acorn launched the network computer, a diskless device which implemented Oracle's Network Computer Reference Profile. The operating system was strongly based on Risc OS These machines were Larry Ellison's view of the future of computing through the internet.
This is an Article on Acorn Computers Ltd. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Acorn Computers Ltd The Atom, Proton, and Electron
The ARM architecture
The Archimedes and Risc PC
Oracle and The Network Computer
See also
External links