Penguin

Differences between version 23 and predecessor to the previous major change of Acorn.

Other diffs: Previous Revision, Previous Author, or view the Annotated Edit History

Newer page: version 23 Last edited on Monday, May 2, 2005 12:05:50 pm by IanMcDonald Revert
Older page: version 16 Last edited on Tuesday, September 2, 2003 1:28:39 am by AristotlePagaltzis Revert
@@ -3,21 +3,24 @@
 [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] 
  
 %%% 
  
-!!!Rising Action: Electron  
+!!!Rising Action: Atom  
  
-(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].  
-  
- ''I had one of those.. *sigh* memories. .'' --AristotlePagaltzis  
+Acorn's first real computer product was the Atom . ''AddToMe - needs description .'' 
  
 %%% 
  
 !!!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 Acorn [BBC] Model B appeared in 1981 . 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. Its 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 operating system and its use of interrupts 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, 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 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 ). 
+!!Electron  
+ The Electron was a later, smaller brother of the BBC built to attack the Sinclair Z80 and early Commodore microcomputers. This HomeComputer 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 ].  
+  
+''I had one of those.. *sigh* memories..'' --AristotlePagaltzis  
+  
+In both computers , the graphics and sound hardware were well accessible with powerful __plot__ and __envelope__ commands, respectively (though there was little to access in the Electron ). The envelope command took 14 parameters that controlled a full [ADSR] synthesizer
  
 %%% 
  
 !!!Climax: Archimedes 
@@ -31,20 +34,20 @@
 %%% 
  
 !!!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__. 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.  
+  
+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
  
 %%% 
  
 !!!Denouement 
  
 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. 
  
-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. 
+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. 
  
 So, in a way, "the king is dead - long live the king"... 
  
 ---- 
 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...  
The following authors of this page have not agreed to the WlugWikiLicense. As such copyright to all content on this page is retained by the original authors.
  • MatthewHarrodine
The following authors of this page have agreed to the WlugWikiLicense.

PHP Warning

lib/blame.php (In template 'html'):177: Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() (...repeated 3 times)

lib/plugin/WlugLicense.php (In template 'html'):99: Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

lib/plugin/WlugLicense.php (In template 'html'):111: Warning: in_array() [<a href='function.in-array'>function.in-array</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument