Blame: Acorn - Waikato Linux Users Group

Annotated edit history of Acorn version 27, including all changes. View license author blame.

Rev	Author	#	Line
26	AristotlePagaltzis	1	`!!! Prologue`
13	AristotlePagaltzis	2
24	DavidHallett	3	`[Acorn] is a now disfunct, innovative British system design company - and the story of an underdog who didn't but did win, kinda. See also [FOLDOC\|http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=acorn]`
13	AristotlePagaltzis	4
26	AristotlePagaltzis	5	`!!! Rising Action: Atom`
14	AristotlePagaltzis	6
27	IanMcDonald	7	`Acorn's first real computer product was the Atom, a computer with [BASIC] in [ROM] and with 2k [RAM] on a 6502 [CPU], which was released in 1980.`
19	JohnMcPherson	8
26	AristotlePagaltzis	9	`!!! Mounting Tension: [BBC]`
10	DavidHallett	10
26	AristotlePagaltzis	11	`The Acorn [BBC] Model A and B appeared in 1981, with a 6502 [CPU] and 16k or 32k [RAM], respectively. The [BBC] Model B had more video modes and better expandability, and vastly outsold the Model A. Because they were British, schools in the UK used the [BBC] computers. Some schools in NewZealand followed suit.`
14	AristotlePagaltzis	12
26	AristotlePagaltzis	13	The builtin [BASIC] dialect had some impressive language features; procedural programming with parameter passing and local variable scopes remained foreign to other microcomputers for a long time. The modularity of its OperatingSystem and its use of InterruptHandler~s were far ahead of the curve as well. There was a MOS for all the basic functions like video graphics, buffered keyboard input, vectored interrupts, and buffered sound. 16k [ROM]s were available to accomodate networking routines and many different programming languages ([BASIC], LOGO, [Pascal], [Forth], you name it.)
10	DavidHallett	14
26	AristotlePagaltzis	15	`!!! Electron`
10	DavidHallett	16
26	AristotlePagaltzis	17	The Electron HomeComputer was a later, smaller brother of the BBC, built to attack the Sinclair Z80 and early Commodore microcomputers. It a 6502B [CPU], 16k [RAM], [BASIC] in [ROM], and plugged into the television. You could load programs from cassette tape via a normal audio tape deck, or you could type them in. A floppy disk, even a harddrive, were available as insanely expensive expansion modules. Unfortunately, neither graphics nor sound capabilities could hold a candle to those of the very similarly specced [Commodore64].
17	MatthewHarrodine	18
20	AristotlePagaltzis	19	`''I had one of those.. sigh memories..'' --AristotlePagaltzis`
		20
26	AristotlePagaltzis	21	`In both the BBC and Electron computers, the graphics and sound hardware were well accessible with powerful <tt>plot</tt> and <tt>envelope</tt> commands, respectively (though there was little to access in the Electron). The envelope command took 14 parameters that controlled a full [ADSR] synthesizer.`
13	AristotlePagaltzis	22
26	AristotlePagaltzis	23	`!!! Climax: Archimedes`
14	AristotlePagaltzis	24
		25	This success was followed by the Acorn Archimedes, a computer that built a small but very loyal community for good reason. Its heart was [Acorn]'s own new [CPU], the [ARM] chip later to become incredibly successful, surrounded by a system whose design was a decade ahead of most competition. The RiscOS OperatingSystem running on this machine had a slick and gorgeous [GUI] and well thought out design to match the hardware it was runnning on. Unlike much of the competition, the machine had plenty of cycles left after managing the [GUI], which was further enforced by the fact that the [API] was friendly enough for writing graphical applications even in [Assembler]. As a result, it was a joy both to use and develop for (whether that be software or hardware). Many of the games that ran on it were nothing short of breathtaking to users of other systems. Software rendered vector 3D graphics were common at a time they were considered revolutionary in the rest of the commodity computing world.
		26
		27	`The Archimedes superseeded the [BBC] model B micros in a lot of classrooms before the rise of the [PC]. Eventually, though, schools and the public started using the cheaper mass-produced drivel that still haunts us today.`
13	AristotlePagaltzis	28
		29	`''I [DTP]ed our Te Awamutu College school magazine on an Archimedes (A3000?) back when a [GUI] was __seriously__ cool...'' --GreigMcGill`
		30
26	AristotlePagaltzis	31	`!!! Falling Action: RiscPC`
10	DavidHallett	32
22	JohnMcPherson	33	`An attempt to counter the rising popularity of the then so-called "[IBM] compatibles" was called __RiscPC__. These too ran RiscOS and had a novel system design consisting of modules, ie a box in the same design as the computer's case that contains the desired extension and plugs into the computer's [Bus] with a connector. To update or expand the hardware, you didn't have to open the case, you just stacked modules, much the way you'd "update" your ~HiFi stereo.`
17	MatthewHarrodine	34
21	AristotlePagaltzis	35	`While [Acorn] equipped their RiscPC started with the ARM610 (ARM6 core) and then the ARM710 (ARM7 core), later RiscPC clones such as those manufactured by Castle featured [StrongARM] processors.`
13	AristotlePagaltzis	36
26	AristotlePagaltzis	37	`!!! Denouement`
10	DavidHallett	38
11	AristotlePagaltzis	39	`In the end, [Acorn] Computers Ltd. was shut down (accompanied by much mourning in the connaissant geek community), as [WinTel] machines dominated the market and drove them out of business.`
10	DavidHallett	40
20	AristotlePagaltzis	41	`However, the [CPU] design had been sourced out to [ARM Ltd.\|http://www.arm.com], founded 1990 in a joint venture with AppleCorporation as an IntellectualProperty only company that holds the rights to the ARM processor architecture. Even [Intel] have licensed it, and a huge market share of hand held and embedded devices nowadays run on [StrongARM] derivatives.`
14	AristotlePagaltzis	42
		43	`So, in a way, "the king is dead - long live the king"...`
17	MatthewHarrodine	44
10	DavidHallett	45	`----`
12	CraigBox	46	`Part of CategoryCompany and CategoryOldComputers`

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MatthewHarrodine

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AristotlePagaltzis

Last edited on Saturday, July 23, 2005 6:08:44 am by IanMcDonald

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