--- title: Oric ATMOS categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - United Kingdom years: - '1984' cpus: - 6502A params: name: ATMOS image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_system_s1.jpg company: /companies/oric company_name: Oric specs: - label: NAME value: ATMOS - label: MANUFACTURER value: Oric - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: United Kingdom - label: YEAR value: February 1984 - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Tangerine Basic (made by Microsoft) - label: KEYBOARD value: |- QWERTY, mechanical keyboard, 58 keys. 4 arrow keys.\ ESC, CTRL, DEL, RETURN, SHIFT (x 2), FUNCT. - label: CPU value: 6502A - label: SPEED value: 1 mHz - label: RAM value: 16 KB or 48 KB - label: ROM value: 16 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 chars x 28 lines - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 240 x 200 (+ 3 text lines) - label: COLORS value: '8' - label: SOUND value: |- Programmable Sound Generator AY-3-8912 (from General Instruments)\ 3 voices, 8 octaves + white noise - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 28 (W) x 17,5 (D) x 5,5 (H) cm - label: I/O PORTS value: Power supply, Expansion port, Printer/Centronics port, Tape-recorder DIN plug, RGB video out, RF TV out - label: POWER SUPPLY value: External PSU 9V 600 mA - -(o- + - label: PERIPHERALS value: 3'' floppy disc unit, 4 colour printer-plotter - label: PRICE value: |- 365 (France, december 84)\ 150 (France, december 85) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - software - emulators - links - docs - videos forum_thread: 94 photos: - title: LARGE VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_system_s2.jpg - title: FRONT VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_frontview_s1.jpg - title: BOTH SIDES subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_sides_s1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_keyboard_s1.jpg - title: ATMOS LOGO subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_oriclogo_s1.jpg - title: REAR CONNECTORS subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** RF/TV jack\ **(2)** RGB video output\ **(3)** Sound output and tape recorder In/Out\ **(4)** Parallel printer connector\ **(5)** Expansion bus connector, mainly intended for the floppy disk unit\ **(6)** Power input jack image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_connectors_s1.jpg - title: INSIDE THE ATMOS subtitle: '' text: |- The Atmos motherboard bears a striking resemblance with the Oric-1's one. Some modifications were made to the cassette interface, the RAM memory was increased to 64 Kb and now only one ROM chip holds the new version of the Basic interpreter. **(1)** A new FUNCT key is added to the keyboard, but is not used for anything ! You have to program it yourself.\ **(2)** 5 volts regulator with its cooler.\ **(3)** Unique 16 Kb ROM chip holding the improved version of the Microsoft (not official) Basic interpreter.\ **(4)** MOS 6502A 8 bits microprocessor.\ **(5)** AY-9512 sound chipset (3 voices, 7 octaves).\ **(6)** Eight 4164 memory chips (64000 cells x 1 bit) holding the 64 Kb. RAM memory used for user programs and text / graphic display.\ **(7)** Internal loudspeaker. Sound was one of the good features of the Oric systems, though there were no way to control the volume of this internal speaker.\ **(8)** TV signal modulator.\ **(9)** RGB video out connector (DIN) for a monochrome or colour monitor.\ **(10)** Cassette interface connector (DIN) with remote control.\ **(11)** Parallel / Centronics port (not standard) used to connect printers.\ **(12)** Expansion connector, used for example by the numerous disk-drives available for the Oric. image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_inside_1.jpg - title: THE BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_s1.jpg - title: 'BOX #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_2.jpg - title: 'BOX #3' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_3.jpg - title: YOUGOSLAV NOVA64 subtitle: '' text: |- A Yugoslavian company, Avtotehna of Ljubljana got a licence from Oric to make 5000 machines. All the parts were shipped from the UK. Some people in Yugoslavia suggest that more than 5000 were made, mostly for local schools.\ The Nova64 was same machine as the 48K Oric Atmos, apart from the power supply unit that could power both the computer and an separate 3.5" 2x400 KB FDD unit.\ A Yugoslav version of the manual was also available. Thanks to **Ranko Vukcevic** image: /media/museum/photos/oric_nova64_system_s1.jpg - title: INSIDE THE NOVA64 subtitle: '' text: |- The mainboard is same as the last Atmos board produced in the UK. Thanks to **Ranko Vukcevic** image: /media/museum/photos/oric_nova64_inside_s1.jpg adverts: - title: FRENCH ADVERT subtitle: '' text: |- ''Stop everything !''\ ''Atmos from Oric : the definitive computer'' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_arrettez-tout.jpg - title: 'FRENCH ADVERT #2' subtitle: '' text: |- ''It's time''\ ''ATMOS from Oric : the definitive computer'' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_ordinateur_definitif.jpg - title: 'FRENCH ADVERT #3' subtitle: '' text: |- ''Atmos from Oric : the definitive computer''\ ''Now, go !'' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_3.jpg - title: FRENCH ADVERT (JULY 1985) subtitle: '' text: '"compare!"' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_comparez.jpg - title: FRENCH ADVERT (JULY 1985) subtitle: '' text: '"Why paying more ?"' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_payer-plus-cher.jpg - title: FRENCH (STUPID) PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: |- Family life scene in front of a complete Atmos system carefully lined up on the coffee table in the living room, with a minimum of visible cables. The flaw?... No, it is not that it is rather difficult to use such a serious configuration for hours sitting on the floor. The flaw comes rather from the photographer who forgot to do the housework before taking the picture and left to posterity his accessories cartons right behind the low dresser. image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_4.jpg - title: FRENCH BROCHURE FRONT subtitle: '' text: |- Description of the complete Atmos system. Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_frbrochure_s1.jpg - title: FRENCH BROCHURE BACK subtitle: '' text: |- "Oric opens a full world to you" Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_frbrochure_s2.jpg - title: UK ADVERT (1984) subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Tony Mattson for this picture image: /media/museum/pubs/oric-atmos_pub-uk_1.png hardware: - title: JASMIN II F.D. UNIT subtitle: '' text: The Jasmin II was a 3" double-sided floppy drive unit. It was released in 1985, designed by T.R.A.N. and manufactured by Dattel, two french companies. Up to four units could be connected in chain. Each one featured an operating system called T.DOS then FT.DOS. Each diskette had a 357 KB capacity (2 sides x 41 tracks x 17 sectors x 256 bytes) image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_jasmin2_1.jpg - title: CUMANA EXPANSION BOX subtitle: '' text: This expansion holds a power supply unit and a dual expansion port allowing the floppy disk unit and another expansion device to be connected simultaneously. image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_cumanaexp_s1.jpg - title: VOCAL SYNTHESIZER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_synth_vocal.jpg - title: LIGHT PEN subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_lightpen.jpg - title: 8 IN/OUT BOARD subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_8_io.jpg - title: SOME ATMOS PERIPHERALS subtitle: '' text: We can see here the Oric Disk-drive and the Oric plotter (4 colors). image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_complete.jpg - title: JOYSTICKS INTERFACE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_joyinterf_s1.jpg - title: ATMOS MICRODISC subtitle: '' text: |- The official Oric disk-drive. Soooo beautiful... Disc drive uses 320 Kb. formatted, double side 3'' diskette. In the first versions, operating system only managed sequential files. image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_microdsic_1.jpg - title: ATMOS PLOTTER subtitle: '' text: This is the same as the MCP-40 for the Oric-1. This type of plotter (4 colors) was widely used for the micro-computers... image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_mcp40_1.jpg - title: INSIDE ATMOS PLOTTER subtitle: '' text: |- The MCP-40 plotter uses a Japanese printing mechanism manufactured by Sharp. It's a little mechanical marvel able to print extremely precise four colour texts and graphics. Text is printed with 40 or 80 characters per line, at 10 characters per second speed. Characters size and printing direction may be modified (horizontal, vertical or diagonal). **(1)** Paper used is a roller of 115 mm width.\ **(2)** Printer command buttons.\ **(3)** Electromagnet that pushes the pen against paper for writing.\ **(4)** The print head moves laterally right across the paper width and swivels to carry out a pen colour change.\ **(5)** The head is connected through a cable to an engine which ensures its side moving by 0.2 mm steps.\ **(6)** A second engine controls top and bottom paper moving, also by 0.2 mm steps. image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_mcp40_2.jpg emulators: - title: Euphoric url: http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/emulator.html platform: MS DOS text: The best ORIC emulators - title: Oric/MacOS url: http://www.bannister.org/software/oric.htm platform: Apple text: Oric/MacOS is an Oric emulator for the Macintosh. - title: Xeuphoric url: http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/xeuphoric/ platform: Unix / Linux text: Oric emulator for X11 platforms - title: AmOric url: http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/Amoric.lha platform: Amiga OS text: Oric emulator for the Amiga systems - title: ArcOric url: http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/ArcOric12 platform: RISC OS text: Oric emulator for RISC/OS - title: AtOric url: http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/atoric09.zip platform: Atari text: works with all Atari & Compatibles (Hades, Milan) - title: Oriculator url: http://code.google.com/p/oriculator/ platform: Multiplatform text: Oricutron (formerly known as Oriculator) is an emulator for the Oric series of computers. It is written in plain C, and uses SDL. It is designed to be portable. links: - title: Club Europe Oric Home Page url: http://ceo.oric.org/ text: Club Europe Oric (or CEO for short) is an Oric user group - title: Defence Force Oric url: http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/index.htm text: Some very interesting info here - title: Marc's Oric Page url: http://mapage.cybercable.fr/marcpage/oric.htm text: Personal home page with some original programs to download - title: My nostalgia Oric page url: http://www.geffers.demon.co.uk/oricpage.html text: From an old Tansoft programmer - title: ORIC International url: http://www.oric.org text: I think this is where you must go first. There is among other things, a huge software database - title: Oric WebRing url: http://v.webring.com/hub?ring=oric text: Everything for the Oric - title: Oric World url: http://oric.iFrance.com/oric/index_french.html text: The site of the famous Fabrice Frances (includes the Oric Story book) - title: Pascal's Oric Page url: http://pleclerc.free.fr/Oric/OricPage.html text: in french, with ROM file to make your Oric Euro-Compatible ! - title: Rhetoric url: http://www.rhetoric.8k.com/ text: The last remaining British Oric magazine. - title: Swedish Oric Homepage url: http://come.to/oric text: Home of the Swedish software archive - title: The Reluctant Dragon url: http://freespace.virgin.net/james.groom/index.htm text: Home of the Oric FAQ, the Oric Cheats Directory and more - title: TheSpider's Oric Web url: http://oricspider.home.insightbb.com/ text: Personal site dedicated to the Oric Atmos - title: Twilighte url: http://twilighte.oric.org text: Site of the excellent Oric programmer of Magnetix. Many useful info and impressive works ! - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: Discussion about Oric computers docs: - title: ORIC-1 BASIC PROGRAMMING MANUAL url: http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-1_basic-programming-manual.jpg text: |- [**ORIC-1 BASIC PROGRAMMING MANUAL**](http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm)written by John SCRIVEN  compiled/archived by Unknown\  type of document : PDF\  source : [Defence Force](http://www.defence-force.org/) - title: MANUEL DE L'ATMOS (FRENCH MANUAL) url: http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-atmos_manuel.jpg text: |- [**MANUEL DE L'ATMOS (FRENCH MANUAL)**](http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm)written by Ian Adamson / Oric International  compiled/archived by William Saint-Cricq\  type of document : PDF\  source : [Defence Force](http://www.defence-force.org) - title: ORIC ATMOS & ORIC-1 - GRAPHICS AND MACHINE CODE TECHNIQUES url: http://www.1000bit.net/support/manuali/manuali.asp cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-1-atmos_geoff-philips_1.jpg text: |- [**ORIC ATMOS & ORIC-1 - GRAPHICS AND MACHINE CODE TECHNIQUES**](http://www.1000bit.net/support/manuali/manuali.asp)written by Geoff Phillips  compiled/archived by Geoff Phillips\  type of document : PDF\  source : [1000Bit](http://www.1000bit.net/) - title: MANUEL D'UTILISATION DU SEDORIC (FRENCH) url: http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/manuel_microdisc_et_sedoric/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_microdsic-manuel.jpg text: |- [**MANUEL D'UTILISATION DU SEDORIC (FRENCH)**](http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/manuel_microdisc_et_sedoric/index.htm)written by Fabrice BROCHE & Denis SEBBAG  type of document : HTML\  source : [Defence Force](http://www.defence-force.org) - title: MICODISC MANUAL url: http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_microdisc_manual.jpg text: |- [**MICODISC MANUAL**](http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/index.htm)written by Oric Products International Limited  type of document : PDF\  source : [Defence Force](http://www.defence-force.org) - title: ORIC MCP-40 COLOUR PRINTER OPERATION MANUAL url: /media/museum/docs/oric_printer-mcp40_manual.pdf cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_mcp40_manual.jpg text: |- [**ORIC MCP-40 COLOUR PRINTER OPERATION MANUAL**](/media/museum/docs/oric_printer-mcp40_manual.pdf)written by Oric Products International Limited  type of document : PDF\  source : [Defence Force](http://www.defence-force.org) videos: - title: Oric Atmos 48K Computer advert url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-7974860455467320376&hl=fr text: 'Length: 32 s' related: - /museum/oric-1 - /museum/oric-nova-64 software: - /software/aigle-d-or-l - /software/manoir-du-docteur-genius-le - /software/moria-also-known-as-the-mines-of-moria - /software/retour-du-docteur-genius-le - /software/xenon-1 - /software/zorgons-revenge oc_id: 79 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230609053334/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=79 date: '2023-06-09' --- The Oric Atmos was the successor of the [Oric 1](/museum/oric-1/) and had almost the same features. Its main difference with the Oric 1 was the keyboard and the debugged ROM (the ORIC 1 had several bugs). Although improved, the loading process from tape was still very uncertain. The real mechanical keyboard was really better. Two versions were available, with 16 or 48 KB of RAM. 16 KB version couldn't be upgraded, very few of them were sold. There were also new Basic instructions and above all the Scart power supply was integrated on French models from 85! Fantastic, when you know that the Oric had the world record of cables and power supplies you had to use (1 for the computer, 1 for the tape recorder, 1 for the peritel supply and 1 more plug for the TV!). The Atmos had really large success in France like its little brother the [Oric-1](/museum/oric-1/). A lot of videogame companies got off the ground thanks to this machine, and quite a lot of people have a tender thought when then remember their Atmos. In 1985, Eureka Informatique, a french company, bought back Oric. The Atmos then lived a bit longer thanks to some improvements (peritel power supply and better tape reliability) and cheap prices policy. The Atmos was somehow legally licenced in Yugoslavia as the [Nova 64](/museum/oric-nova-64/).\ The [Pravetz 8D](/museum/pravetz-8d/) was a bulgarian clone of the Atmos.