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Acorn Archimedes

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Acorn Archimedes
Archimedes 400 series computer: note the standard grey function keys on the keyboard; on BBC branded models, the function keys were red
TypePersonal computer or Home computer
Release dateJune 1987
Discontinuedmid-1990s
Operating systemRISC OS or RISC iX
CPUARM
Memory512  KB–16  MB

The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers' first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.

Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.[1]

The name is commonly used to describe any of Acorn's contemporary designs based on the same architecture, even where Acorn did not include Archimedes in the official name.

Description and history

Early models

The BBC Computer Literacy Project 'Owl' appeared on the keyboard, above the function keys on the Archimedes 300 series and A3000 keyboards

The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The 400 series included 4 expansion slots (although a 2 slot backplane could be added to the 300 series as an official upgrade, and third parties produced their own 4 slot backplanes) and an ST506 controller for an internal hard drive. Both models included the Arthur operating system (later replaced by RISC OS as a paid-for upgrade), BBC BASIC programming language and an emulator for Acorn's earlier BBC Micro, and were mounted in two-part cases with a small central unit, monitor on top, and a separate keyboard and three-button mouse. All models featured onboard 8 channel stereo sound and were capable of displaying 256 colours on screen.

Four models were initially released with different amounts of memory, the A305, A310, A410 and A440. The 540 was unveiled in September 1990, and included higher speed SCSI and provision for connecting Genlock devices.[2] The 300 and 400 were followed by a number of machines with minor changes and upgrades:

A3000 and A5000

Work began on a successor to the Arthur operating system — initially named Arthur 2, but with the release of the Hollywood movie of the same name[citation needed], it was renamed to RISC OS 2. New computers were shipped with it pre-installed. A number of new machines were introduced along with RISC OS 2 and in May 1989, the 300 series was phased out in favour of the new Acorn A3000 (the 400 series was kept in production). Earlier models which shipped with Arthur could be upgraded to RISC OS 2 by replacing the ROM chips containing the operating system.

The A3000 used an 8 MHz ARM2 and was supplied with 1 MB of RAM. Unlike the previous models, the A3000 came in a single-part case similar to the BBC Micro, Amiga 500 and Atari ST computers, with the keyboard integrated in the base unit. This kind of housing consumes a lot of desktop space, a problem that Acorn tried to overcome by offering a monitor stand that attached to the base unit. The new model sported only a single internal expansion slot, which was physically different from that of the earlier models, although electronically similar. An external connector could interface to existing expansion cards, although they really needed to be housed in an external case joined to the main unit.

A300 series, A400 series, R140 and A3000 machines had the VIDC1a video chip, which provided a wide variety of screen resolutions:

  • 160 × 256 with 4, 16 or 256 colours
  • 320 × 256 with 2, 4, 16 or 256 colours
  • 640 × 256 with 2, 4, 16 or 256 colours
  • 640 × 512 with 2, 4, 16 or 256 colours
  • 1152 × 896 with 2 colours.

The palette range was 4096 colours (12-bit) and the VIDC1a had 16 hardware palette registers. This meant that in screen modes with sixteen colours or fewer, the colours could be mapped to any of the 4096 available. However, in 256 colour modes, 4 bits of the colour data were hardware derived and could not be adjusted. The net result was 256 colours, but only 16 of them could be assigned as desired, covering a range of the 4096 available colours.[3] It also had no Horizontal sync interrupt, meaning that it was difficult to display additional colours by changing the palette for each scan line, but not impossible, thanks to the 2Mhz IOC timer 1[4]. Many demos managed to display 4096 colour on screen or more with dithering [5] It had also one hardware sprite, with 32 pixels width and unlimited height, where each pixel is coded on 2 bits: value 0 is for transparency, and the 3 others are freely chosen from the 4096 colour palette. [6] [7]

A5000 with top removed

In 1991, the A5000 was launched. It featured the new 25 MHz ARM3 processor, 2 or 4MB of RAM, either a 40 MB or an 80 MB hard drive and a more conventional 2U rack pizza box-style two-part case (HxWxD: 100 x 430 x 340 mm [8]). Its enhanced video capabilities allowed the A5000 to comfortably display VGA resolutions of up to 800×600 pixels. It was the first Archimedes to feature a High Density capable floppy disc drive as standard. This natively supported various formats including DOS and Atari discs. A later version of the A5000 featured a 33 MHz ARM3, 4 or 8 MB of RAM, an 80 or 120 MB hard drive.

The A5000 initially ran the new 3.0 version of RISC OS, although several bugs were identified; most were shipped with RISC OS 3.10 or 3.11. As before, earlier machines were capable of being upgraded to the new RISC OS 3, though some needed help,[9] as well as the ARM3 CPU.[10] Earlier models could also benefit from the video performance of the A5000 via a third party upgrade.[11]

New range and a laptop

A3010

In 1992, a new range was produced, the first ARM macrocell: the ARM250 microprocessor, a single-chip design including an ARM3 chip without cache, and the IOC1 (Input Output Controller), VIDC1a (VIDeo and sound Controller) and MEMC1 (MEMory Controller) chips all integrated into one chip. The increase in clock frequency, from 8 MHz to 12 MHz, gave a performance of 7 MIPS. They run RISC OS 3.10. The A30x0 series had a one-piece design, similar to the A3000 but far smaller, while the A4000 looked like a slightly slimmer A5000. The A3010 model was intended to be a home computing machine, featuring a TV modulator and joystick ports, while the A3020 targeted the home office and educational markets, featuring a built-in 2.5" hard drive and a dedicated network interface socket. Technically, the A4000 was almost identical to the A3020, only differing in hard disk size (3.5" in the A4000), though it sported a different appearance. All three ARM250-based machines could be upgraded to 4 MB with plug-in chips (though the A3010 was designed for 2 MB, third party upgrades overcame this) and one "mini-podule" slot as used for internal expansion in the A3000.

Also in 1992, Acorn introduced a laptop computer called A4 that featured an ARM3 processor like the A5000, even though it had a slightly lower clock speed, and a LCD screen capable of displaying a maximum resolution of 640 × 480 pixels in 15 levels of grey. However, it did feature a monitor port which offered the same display capabilities as an A5000. A notable omission from the machine was a built-in pointing device, requiring users to navigate with the cursor keys or attach a conventional Acorn three-button mouse.[12]

The A7000, despite its name being reminiscent of the Archimedes naming conventions, was actually more similar to the Risc PC, the line of RISC OS computers that succeeded the Archimedes in 1994. It lacked, however, the DEBI expansion slots and multi-slice case that characterized the RiscPC (though by removing the CDROM, a backplane with one slot could be fitted).

List of models

Model Memory (RAM) Hard disk space ARM core Launch date UK retail price at launch Notes
BBC Archimedes 305 512 KB (512 KB) - ARM2 July 1987 £799 [13] -
BBC Archimedes 310 1 MB (1 MB) - ARM2 July 1987 £875 [13] -
BBC Archimedes 310M 1 MB - ARM2 July 1987 Unknown Includes PC emulation software
Acorn Archimedes 410 1 MB - ARM2 July 1987 £1399 [13] -
Acorn Archimedes 440 4 MB 20 MB ARM2 July 1987 £2299 [13] -
BBC A3000 1 MB - ARM2 May 1989 £649 [14] This model was the last ever BBC Microcomputer
Acorn Archimedes 410/1 1 MB - (ST506 interface on motherboard) ARM2 June 1989 £999 Improved MEMC1A memory controller over previous 410 model
Acorn Archimedes 420/1 2 MB 20 MB ST506 ARM2 June 1989 £1099 -
Acorn Archimedes 440/1 4 MB 40 MB ST506 ARM2 June 1989 £1299 Improved MEMC1A memory controller over previous 440 model
Acorn R140 4 MB 47 MB ST506 ARM2 June 1989 £3,500 RISC iX workstation
Acorn Archimedes 540 4 MB (max 16 MB) 100 MB SCSI ARM3 June 1990 £2499
Acorn R225 4 MB - ARM3 July 1990 £3000 RISC iX network workstation
Acorn R260 8 MB 100 MB SCSI ARM3 July 1990 £5000 RISC iX workstation
Acorn A5000 1, 2, 4 or 8 MB 20 MB to 160 MB IDE ARM3 September 1991 £999 or £1499 25->33 MHz ARM3 processor, launched with various sub-models
Acorn A4 2 MB or 4 MB 40 MB or 60 MB IDE (2.5") ARM3 June 1992 £1399 or £1699 Notebook model with ARM3 processor clocked at 24 MHz (1 MHz slower than usual), 640x480 greyscale LCD screen
Acorn A3010 1 MB - ARM2/ARM250 September 1992 £499 ARM250 processor (early models had an ARM2 mezzanine processor[15] codenamed "Adelaide")
Acorn A3020 2 MB 0 MB - 80 MB IDE (2.5") ARM250 September 1992 £799
Acorn A4000 2 MB 0 MB - 210 MB IDE ARM250 September 1992 £999

Also produced, but never sold commercially were:

  • A500: 4 RAM, ST506 interface, Archimedes development machine[16]
  • A680 and M4: 8 MB RAM, SCSI on motherboard, RISC iX development machines

Significance and impact

The Archimedes was one of the most powerful home computers available during the late 1980s and early 1990s; its main CPU was faster than the 68000 microprocessors found in the more popular Commodore Amiga and Atari ST machines. An 8 MHz 68000 had an average performance of roughly 1 MIPS for 16-bit workloads and 0.5 MIPS for 32-bit workloads, with peak performance of 2 MIPS for simpler 16-bit instructions. The 8 MHz ARM2 yielded 4.5 - 4.8 MIPS for 32-bit workloads in repeatable benchmark tests.[17] (The Archimedes did not have the custom graphics chips that the Amiga did, however, such as the "Fat Agnus" chip with its powerful bit blitter that made the Amiga very fast at bitmap manipulation; the Archimedes outperformed the Amiga easily for 3D applications but the Amiga retained an edge in 2D.[citation needed]) The computer was exhibited at the 1987 Personal Computer World Show, along with Amigas, Atari STs and video game consoles. Commenting on the show, Crash magazine reported that "despite whiz-bang demos of Acorn’s Archimedes" the 8-bit machines were not dead.[18]

The Archimedes won significant market share in the education markets of the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; the success of the Archimedes in British schools was due partly to its predecessor the BBC Micro and later to the Computers for Schools scheme organised by the Tesco supermarket chain in association with Acorn, and most students and pupils in these countries in the early 90s were exposed to an Archimedes or A-series computer. The Archimedes range was available in the US and Canada via Olivetti Canada.[19] Despite a technical edge[citation needed], the Archimedes only ever met a moderate success beyond the education sector, becoming a 'minority' platform outside of certain niche markets. These niche markets included professional work such as radio, medical and railway station management and music publishing[citation needed].

By the early 1990s, the UK educational market began to turn away from the Archimedes. Apple Macintosh computers or IBM compatible PCs eclipsed the Archimedes in their multimedia capabilities, which led to an erosion of the Archimedes market share. The Tesco Computers for Schools scheme later changed partnership from Acorn to RM plc and many other computer-related suppliers, which also led to the decrease of the Archimedes' educational market share.

See also

References

  1. ^ Hammond, Ray (1987-06-18). "'Fastest' micro in the world". New Scientist. p. 41. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ Williams, Mike (1990-11). "The RISC OS Time Machine — A £3000 computer". RISC User. RISC User. Retrieved 2011-06-08. [...] further differences, one of major importance. This is the SCSI connector on the rear of the SCSI interface card [...] Internally, provision has also been made for Genlock and similar video digitiser boards to be connected directly into the Archimedes. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Riscos : Specifications of Legacy RISC OS machines
  4. ^ IOC Timer / IRQs - comp.sys.acorn.programmer | Google Groups
  5. ^ ftp://arcade.demon.co.uk/flist.txt
  6. ^ Retro Treasures: Acorn Archimedes A3000
  7. ^ RISC OS News, Software and Information
  8. ^ "A5000 Spec's". Classicacorn.freeuk.com. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  9. ^ "Chris's Acorns: 32bit Upgrades & Expansions by company". Acorn.chriswhy.co.uk. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Chris's Acorns: 32bit Upgrades & Expansions by company". Acorn.chriswhy.co.uk. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Chris's Acorns: 32bit Upgrades & Expansions by company". Acorn.chriswhy.co.uk. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Announce/A4_Launch.txt
  13. ^ a b c d Archimedes High Performance Computer Systems Retail Price List. July 1987 http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Misc/Acorn_ArchimedesPriceList.pdf. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ Cain, Chris (July 1989). "Acorn A3000". Personal Computer World.
  15. ^ "A3010 Specs". Classicacorn.freeuk.com. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
  16. ^ "Rare A500 surfaces on ebay | Drobe.co.uk archives". Drobe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "Chris's Acorns - RISC OS Performance Page". Acorn.chriswhy.co.uk. 2008-10-31. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "News from the PCW Show". Crash. Newsfield Publications. 1987-11. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-12. Despite the number of STs and Amigas demonstrating titles at the show, despite whiz-bang demos of Acorn's Archimedes, and despite the undeniable interest shown in the games machines, The PCW Show indicated to me that it's a bit early to announce the death of the 8-bit machines. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Roger Wilson (April 10, 1990). "Acorn Micros?". Newsgroup: comp.misc. 5357@ucrmath.UCR.EDU. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
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