--- title: ORIC 1 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - United Kingdom years: - '1983' cpus: - 6502A params: name: ORIC 1 image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_right-side_1s.jpg company: /companies/oric company_name: Oric specs: - label: NAME value: ORIC 1 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Oric - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: United Kingdom - label: YEAR value: '1983' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Oric Extended Basic v1.0 - label: KEYBOARD value: Chicklet keyboard, 57 keys. ESC, DEL ,CTRL, 2 x SHIFT, RETURN, 4 x arrow keys and one large spacebar - label: CPU value: 6502A - label: SPEED value: 1 MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: Custom gate array chip - label: RAM value: 16 KB or 48 KB - label: ROM value: 16 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 x 28 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 240 x 200 (high resolution) - 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 17.8 (D) x 1.5 (H) cm / 848 g - label: I/O PORTS value: Bus, Printer, Tape, RGB - label: POWER SUPPLY value: 'External power supply unit : 9v - -(o- +' - label: PERIPHERALS value: 4-pen plotter printer, 3'' floppy disk drive unit - label: PRICE value: £129.95 for 16K model with starter pack (UK 1983) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs forum_thread: 190 photos: - title: ORIC-1 subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_right-side_1.jpg - title: FRONT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_front_1.jpg - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_right-side_2.jpg - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_rear_1.jpg - title: BELOW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_below.jpg - title: FRONT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_front_2.jpg - title: DETAIL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_detail.jpg - title: EARLY MODEL subtitle: '' text: This is an early version, because the ORIC logo is black & white. Later versions have a colored logo. image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric1_2.jpg - title: INSIDE ORIC 1 subtitle: '' text: |- Though its technical design is quite close to that of its major competitor, the <$223$>Sinclair Spectrum, the Oric 1 offers some advantages : sound dedicated chipset, easy to manage graphics and more convenient Basic language, despite some bugs. **(1)** TV signals RF modulator.\ **(2)** RGB video connector. Until later versions of the Atmos, an external power supply unit was needed to commute the TV in monitor mode through the scart connector.\ **(3)** Tape recorder DIN connector with remote control.\ **(4)** Parallel / Centronics printer connector, needs a special cable.\ **(5)** Expansion connector, used for example by the numerous disk-drives available for the Oric.\ **(6)** Power plug. Power is supplied by an external PSU.\ **(7)** 5 volts regulator with its cooler.\ **(8)** Two EPROM holding the Microsoft Basic language and Input/Output routines.\ **(9)** MOS 6502A 8 bit microprocessor.\ **(10)** Dedicated Input / Output management chip (keyboard, printer, video...).\ **(11)** 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.\ **(12)** AY-9512 sound chipset (3 voices, 7 octaves).\ **(13)** Video dedicated chip which manages texts, graphics and colours.\ **(14)** Eight 4164 memory chips (64000 cells x 1 bit) holding the 64 Kb. RAM memory used for user programs and text / graphic display.\ **(15)** Internal clock for microprocessor and various chips synchronization.\ **(16)** TV aerial connector.\ **(17)** The Oric keyboard is original. Solid and accurate, it allows a sure and quick typing, after an adaptation time. image: /media/museum/photos/oric_1_inside_1.jpg - title: PROTOTYPE subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Paul Kaufman for this picture ! image: /media/museum/photos/oric_prototype_1.jpg - title: ORIC BREAD-BOARD SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Paul Kaufman for this picture ! image: /media/museum/photos/oric_breadboard_1.jpg - title: ORIC-1 BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/oric_oric-1_box_2.jpg adverts: - title: FRENCH AD (JULY 1983) subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_oric-1_pub_2.jpg - title: UK ADVERT, OCT 1983 subtitle: '' text: Notice that the pictured floppy drives have never been released. image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_1_pub_s1.jpg - title: FRENCH AD (DEC. 1983) subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_oric-1_pub_recevez-tout-de-suite.jpg - title: 'FRENCH BROCHURE #1' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_1_frbrochure_s1.jpg - title: 'FRENCH BROCHURE #2' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_1_frbrochure_s2.jpg - title: 'FRENCH BROCHURE #3' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_1_frbrochure_s3.jpg - title: 'FRENCH BROCHURE #4' subtitle: '' text: Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** image: /media/museum/pubs/oric_1_frbrochure_s4.jpg 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: ORIC-1 MICRO DISC subtitle: '' text: This rare item didn't live long and was quickly replaced by the black Atmos version. image: /media/museum/hardware/oric_oric-1_microdrive.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) related: - /museum/oric-atmos - /museum/oric-nova-64 oc_id: 180 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605143231/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=180 date: '2023-06-05' --- This British computer was one of the most popular computers in Europe in the beginning of the 80's. It was a small computer, which was a competitor of the [Sinclair Spectrum](/museum/sinclair-zx-spectrum/). The two models (16 and 48) had the same technical characteristics.\ A small plotter was available for this computer. Notice that the sound chip was the same one used in the [Amstrad CPC](/museum/amstrad-cpc-464/), [MSX computers](/museum/msx-1/) and [Atari ST](/museum/atari-520-st-st-stm/)! Its ROM was very buggy, & was later replaced with the [Oric Atmos](/museum/oric-atmos/).