Acorn Archimedes
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Acorn Archimedes, (BBC Archimedes)
a family of personal computers or workstations by Acorn Computers Ltd launched from July 1987 to the 90s, their first general purpose computer based on their own 32-bit ARM architecture with ARM2 and later ARM3 CMOS RISC processors running at 8 MHz. Acorn Archimedes were mounted in two-part cases with a small central unit, and monitor on top, and a separate keyboard and three-button mouse. The RISC OS operating system employs cooperative multitasking, featuring a command-line interface and a WIMP graphical user interface. The core OS was stored in ROM. While the Archimedes is no longer sold, computers such as the Raspberry Pi can still run its operating system [2], RISC OS (at least later versions) as they use ARM chips that are (mostly) compatible [3].
Contents
Models
| Model | Year | RAM [MiB] |
Hard disk [MiB] |
Processor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A305 | 1987 | 1/2 | ARM2 | |
| A310 | 1987 | 1 | ARM2 | |
| A410 | 1987 | 1 | ARM2 | |
| A440 | 1987 | 4 | 20 | ARM2 |
| A420/1 | 1989 | 2 | 20 | ARM2 |
| A540 | 1990 | 16 | 120 | ARM3 |
ARM Development
The Acorn Archimedes was development platform for many ARM2 based chess entities and dedicated chess computers, which software was not sold for the Archimedes itself - notably the World Microcomputer Chess Champion of the WMCCC 1991 and World Computer Chess Champion of the WCCC 1992, Gideon for the TASC ChessMachine by Ed Schröder, likely also The King by Johan de Koning for the same platform, and their dedicated RISC branches such as the Mephisto RISC.
Chess Programs
See also
Manuals
- Acorn Computers Ltd (1987). Archimedes High Performance Computer Systems. pdf from Chris's Acorns: Archimedes
- Acorn Computers Ltd (1988). Archimedes 300 Series Module Level Service Manual. pdf
- Acorn Computers Ltd (1991). Archimedes 500 Series Acorn R200 Series Service Manual. pdf
External Links
Acorn Archimedes
- Acorn Archimedes from Wikipedia
- old-computer.com Museum ~ Acorn Computer Archimedes
- Chris's Acorns: Archimedes
- Chris's Acorns: Acorn Archimedes A300 series
- 4corn Computers: The Acorn Archimedes
- Digibarn Systems: Acorn Archimedes
- Strong ARM: The Acorn Archimedes is 25 by Tony Smith, The Register, June 01, 2012
- ARX, Arthur and RISC OS by Paul Fellows, RISC OS User Group Of London, October 15, 2012
Software
- RISC OS Open
- RISC iX from Wikipedia
- BBC BASIC from Wikipedia » BBC BASIC
- Acorn Archimedes Game List
- Acorn Gaming: Database
- Acorn Archimedes games from Wikipedia
- ArcEm - The Acorn Archimedes Emulator
- RPCEmu
Chess Programs
- Battle Chess for Acorn Archimedes - GameFAQs » Battle Chess
- Chess 3D Box Shots and Screenshots for Acorn Archimedes - GameFAQs » Micro Power Chess 3D
- Cyber Chess from Wikipedia » Cyber Chess
Archimedes
References
- ↑ Acorn Archimedes. Photograph taken and edited by Philcrbk, Wikimedia Commons
- ↑ RISC OS Open: Raspberry Pi
- ↑ Acorn Archimedes from Wikipedia
- ↑ Chris's Acorns: Acorn Manuals
