Differences between version 18 and predecessor to the previous major change of Acorn.
Other diffs: Previous Revision, Previous Author, or view the Annotated Edit History
| Newer page: | version 18 | Last edited on Sunday, November 9, 2003 3:51:59 am | by MatthewHarrodine | Revert |
| Older page: | version 16 | Last edited on Tuesday, September 2, 2003 1:28:39 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | Revert |
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@
!!!Rising Action: Electron
(One of?) their first products was the Electron computer. It plugged into the television, had 16 KB of memory, and ran [BASIC] in [ROM]. 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. The [CPU] was a 6502B, just slightly different from what powered the hugely successful [Commodore64] home computer. Unfortunately, neither graphics nor sound capabilities could hold a candle to those of the [Commodore64].
+
+UPDATE [www.museummc.org.uk] :Acorn's first real computer product was the Acorn Atom, the Electron was considerably later - after the BBC Model B in fact....
''I had one of those.. *sigh* memories..'' --AristotlePagaltzis
%%%
@@ -15,9 +17,11 @@
!!!Mounting Tension: [BBC]
The next model was the Acorn [BBC]. Because they were British, schools in the UK used the [BBC] computers. Some schools in NewZealand followed suit. The [BBC] Model B also had a 6502 processor. This was probably mid-to-late 80's to early 90's.
-The BBC's graphics and sound hardware were well accessible under [BBC] [BASIC] with the powerful plot and envelope [1] command, respectively. They were both far ahead of anything any other computer in this class had to offer. What really set the [BBC] apart was the modularity of its operating system and its use of interrupts. There was a MOS for all the basic functions like video graphics, buffered keyboard input
, vectored interrupts, buffered sound. 16k ROMs were available to accomodate networking routines and many different programming languages ([BASIC], LOGO, [Pascal], [Forth], you name it).
+The BBC's graphics and sound hardware were well accessible under [BBC] [BASIC] with the powerful plot and envelope [1] command, respectively. They were both far ahead of anything any other computer in this class had to offer. What really set the [BBC] apart was the modularity of its operating system and its use of interrupts. There was a MOS for all the basic functions like video graphics, buffered keyboard intut
, vectored interrupts, buffered sound. 16k ROMs were available to accomodate networking routines and many different programming languages ([BASIC], LOGO, [Pascal], [Forth], you name it).
+
+UPDATE [www.museummc.org.uk] :The BBC Model B actually appeared in 1981. Most impressive feature of BBC BASIC is procedural programming with parameter passing and local variable scopes, rather than its graphics and audio capability
.
%%%
!!!Climax: Archimedes
@@ -31,9 +35,13 @@
%%%
!!!Falling Action: RiscPC
-An attempt to counter the rising popularity of the then so-called "[IBM] compatibles" was called __RiscPC__ and ran the [StrongARM] series [CPU]s. These too ran RiscOS and had a novel system design consisting of modules. To update the hardware, you didn't have to open the case, you just added a new module just as you do to "update" your stereo system. Unfortunately
...
+An attempt to counter the rising popularity of the then so-called "[IBM] compatibles" was called __RiscPC__ and ran the [StrongARM] series [CPU]s. These too ran RiscOS and had a novel system design consisting of modules. To update the hardware, you didn't have to open the case, you just added a new module just as you do to "update" your stereo system.
+
+UPDATE [www
.museummc
.org
.uk] : RiscPC started with the ARM610 then the ARM710 based on ARM's ARM6 and ARM7 core. These processors are not in the StrongARM series. Later RiscPC clones (such as those manufactured by Castle) feature StrongARM processors. I'm not sure than *any* Acorn branded machine used one....
+
+UPDATE [www.museummc.org.uk] : Modules were a feature of the OS on all of Acorn's ARM based machines not just the RiscPC. Modules are software components and their performance is obviously limited by the hardware itself. No machine yet invented allows you to update (change??) the hardware without opening the lid!
%%%
!!!Denouement
@@ -42,9 +50,11 @@
However, the [CPU] design was sourced out to the newly funded [ARM Ltd.|http://www.arm.com], an IntellectualProperty only company that holds the rights to the [StrongARM] architecture. Even [Intel] have licensed it, and a huge market share of hand held and embedded devices nowadays run on [StrongARM] derivatives.
So, in a way, "the king is dead - long live the king"...
+
+UPDATE [www.museummc.org.uk] : The CPU design was actually "sourced out" to ARM in 1990 (way before Acorn's demise) in a joint venture with Apple.
----
Part of CategoryCompany and CategoryOldComputers
[1] Actually, the electron had the envelope command as well (it also ran BBC BASIC). The envelope command took 14 parameters, and I must have spent many hundreds of hours playing with the parameters to see what effect it had on the resulting sound, without ever figuring out what each parameter did :) Obviously it wasn't just a single pitch; one command could rise and fall multiple times with varying loudness...
