--- title: Acorn Computer Archimedes A3010 categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - United Kingdom years: - '1992' cpus: - ARM 250 32-bit RISC params: name: Archimedes A3010 image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3010_system_2.jpg company: /companies/acorn-computer company_name: Acorn Computer specs: - label: NAME value: Archimedes A3010 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Acorn Computer - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: United Kingdom - label: YEAR value: '1992' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: BBC BASIC / RISC OS 3.11 - label: KEYBOARD value: Full-stroke PC-102 style - label: CPU value: ARM 250 32-bit RISC - label: SPEED value: 12 Mhz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: MEMC (memory), VIDC (Video and Sound), IOC (I/O) - label: RAM value: 1 MB (up to 4 MB possible with socketed zip ram chips) - label: ROM value: 1 MB - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: VGA 640x256, SVGA 800x600, up to 1152 x 896 dots - label: COLORS value: 16 (SVGA) up to 256 (VGA) among 4096 - label: SOUND value: 8 voices syntesizer - label: I/O PORTS value: Centronics, RS423, VGA, 1 expansion slot (same as A3000, A3020 and A4000) - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: One 3.5'' 1.6 MB floppy disk-drive - label: OS value: RISC OS 3.11 - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply unit - label: PRICE value: £399 tabs: - photos - hardware - emulators - links - docs forum_thread: 690 photos: - title: REAR CONNECTORS subtitle: '' text: |- Rear connectors for both the 3010 and 3020 are quite similar, except for additional RF output and joystick connectors on the A3010 **(1)** Parallel printer DB25 connector\ **(2)** Serial DB9 connector\ **(3)** Optional Econet LAN card\ **(4-5)** Atari compatible joystick connectors\ **(6)** Mouse mini-din connector\ **(7)** Stereo headphones jack\ **(8)** Analog RGB 15-pin connector\ **(9)** Monochrome composite RCA jack image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3010_back_1.jpg - title: MAINBOARD subtitle: '' text: |- The mainboard design is quite similar to that of the Archimedes 320. The main differences are:\ **(1)** An RF modulator allowing a TV set to bet used as video monitor\ **(2)** Two Atari compatible joystick connectors\ **(3)** A different RAM configuration. Two soldered chips hold the 1 MB base memory. Additional memory could be added by using DIP chips. image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3010_mainboard_1.jpg - title: MAINBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: ROM, RAM and custom memory management chips. image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3010_mboardcloseup_1.jpg hardware: - title: 486 CARD subtitle: '' text: Allowed Archimedes series computers to run 32-bit PC-DOS software. It was delivered with a manual, a driver disk and PC-DOS 6.3 image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a39000_486card_1.jpg - title: GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR subtitle: '' text: |- Graphics accelerator card (called "ColourCard") for A3000, Archimedes and A5000.\ Company : Computer Concepts\ Enhanced potential for Archimedes series including 15-bit desktop modes (i.e. 800\*600 @ 256 colours). Thanks to **Chris Syntichakis** image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_colorcard_1.jpg - title: CUMANA SCSI CARD subtitle: '' text: |- 16-bit SCSI-1 card\ Company: Cumana.\ There are an external port for scanners/CD-ROM etc. and 2 internal ports for SCSI and Floptical drives. Thanks to **Chris Syntichakis** image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_scsicard_1.jpg - title: SERIAL CARD subtitle: '' text: |- From Atomwide's site:\ High speed serial card featuring three ports, each in the shape of a standard 9-pin ‘D’ plug. Each port on the card is capable of running at up to 460,800 bits per second, and employs a 16-byte FIFO buffer to reduce loading on the host computer’s processor, so improving communications reliability. All serial cards are standard single-width podules, and are fully compatible with Atomwide 6 and 8-slot RiscPC backplanes. image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_serialcard_1.jpg - title: MIDI CARD subtitle: '' text: Allowed Archimedes systems to interact with any midi sound device. image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a4000_midicard_s1.jpg emulators: - title: Arculator url: http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/ platform: Windows text: An excellent Windows-based Archimedes emulator, plays many games and has simple usage. - title: Red Squirrel url: http://www.red-squirrel.org/ platform: Windows text: An Emulator of Arm based Acorn machines for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP - title: Virtual Acorn url: http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk/ platform: Windows text: Excellent but commercial software - £30 - title: ARCHIE url: http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/5427/ platform: Multiplatform text: Archie is an emulation of the Acorn Archimedes hardware (A3xx/A4xx/A3xxx) for DOS/Windows links: - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: '' docs: - title: TOM'S ARCHIMEDES DOCS (INTERNAL HARDWARE) url: http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/index.html cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/vide.gif text: |- [**TOM'S ARCHIMEDES DOCS (INTERNAL HARDWARE)**](http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/index.html)written by Tom Mowalker  compiled/archived by Tom Mowalker\  type of document : HTML\  source : [Arculator](http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/index.html) related: - /museum/acorn-computer-a4 - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3000 - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3020 - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a4000 - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a5000 - /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a7000 oc_id: 707 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230329004911/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=707 date: '2023-03-29' --- The Acorn Archimedes A3000 was replaced by the Acorn A3010 and A3020, two simililar but slightly different models, aimed at the home and educational market. See common features text in [A3020](/museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3020/) page. For the first time, the A3010 was sold in electrical retail stores, next to the Amiga A1200 and Atari Falcon 030, as well as 486 class PCs which where starting to become popular in UK homes. The Acorn A3010 had two Atari style joystick ports, green function keys and, previously unheard of in the Archimedes family, an RF port for TV, which the A3020 did not have. There was a little known rare German version of the A3010 which had grey rather than green keys and a German QWERTZ keyboard. Information supplied by **Jonathan Hayward**