yann64andClaude Opus 5.5
b274874139
1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
223 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
223 lines
9.0 KiB
Markdown
---
|
||
title: Acorn Computer Archimedes A5000
|
||
categories:
|
||
- Computers
|
||
types:
|
||
- Professional Computer
|
||
origins:
|
||
- United Kingdom
|
||
years:
|
||
- '1991'
|
||
cpus:
|
||
- ARM 3 32 bit RISC
|
||
params:
|
||
name: Archimedes A5000
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_system_s1.jpg
|
||
company: /companies/acorn-computer
|
||
company_name: Acorn Computer
|
||
specs:
|
||
- label: NAME
|
||
value: Archimedes A5000
|
||
- label: MANUFACTURER
|
||
value: Acorn Computer
|
||
- label: TYPE
|
||
value: Professional Computer
|
||
- label: ORIGIN
|
||
value: United Kingdom
|
||
- label: YEAR
|
||
value: '1991'
|
||
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
|
||
value: BBC BASIC V
|
||
- label: KEYBOARD
|
||
value: Full-stroke 102 keys PC-style
|
||
- label: CPU
|
||
value: ARM 3 32 bit RISC
|
||
- label: SPEED
|
||
value: 25 or 33 Mhz.
|
||
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
|
||
value: MEMC (memory), VIDC (Video and Sound), IOC (I/O)
|
||
- label: RAM
|
||
value: 2 to 4 MB
|
||
- label: ROM
|
||
value: 2 MB
|
||
- label: TEXT MODES
|
||
value: 80 columns x 25 rows up to 132 x 32
|
||
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
|
||
value: VGA video output. Several graphic modes. Among them 640 x 256 or 512 pixels
|
||
- label: COLORS
|
||
value: '4096'
|
||
- label: SOUND
|
||
value: 8 voices synthesizer
|
||
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
|
||
value: 43 (W) x 33.5 (D) x 9.8 (H) cm
|
||
- label: I/O PORTS
|
||
value: Centronics, RS423, VGA, Econet, 4 expansion slots
|
||
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
|
||
value: 3.5'' FDD (800 KB, 1.44 MB and 1.6 MB formatted capacities), HDD from 20 MB
|
||
- label: OS
|
||
value: RISC OS 3 then 3.11 (in ROM)
|
||
- label: POWER SUPPLY
|
||
value: Built-in power supply unit
|
||
- label: PRICE
|
||
value: From £1,000 to £1,800
|
||
tabs:
|
||
- photos
|
||
- adverts
|
||
- hardware
|
||
- emulators
|
||
- links
|
||
- docs
|
||
forum_thread: 693
|
||
photos:
|
||
- title: MAIN UNIT
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: Special thanks to **Jerome Mathevet**
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_system_s3.jpg
|
||
- title: RUNNING
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: 'When no hard disk is found, the A5000 offers several applications available in ROM: Hardware and peripherals configuration, Time and alarm, Editor, Calc, Paint and Draw programs, as well as a complete help system.'
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_system_s2.jpg
|
||
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE UP
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: Same keys layout as a standard PC-AT keyboard, apart from the Reset switch and mouse socket located on the back side.
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_keyboard_s1.jpg
|
||
- title: REAR PANEL
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: |-
|
||
An optional piggy-back card have to be installed to run the Econet network interface.\
|
||
The video socket is a standard 15-pin model.\
|
||
The parallel interface is bi-directional.
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_backside_s1.jpg
|
||
- title: OPENED
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: Note the 3.5" floppy drive (800 KB, 1.6 MB and 1.44 MB formatted capacities) and a Conner 420 MB IDE HDD.
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_opened_s1.jpg
|
||
- title: MOTHERBOARD
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: |-
|
||
This version has 4 MB on-board RAM. It is also equipped with a dual card 8 MB RAM expansion.
|
||
|
||
**(1)** I/O management VLSI custom chipset\
|
||
**(2)** VLSI custom video chipset\
|
||
**(3)** Econet card connector\
|
||
**(4)** 2 MB ROM chips. Hold the RISC OS 3 and several applications - Paint, Draw, utilities...\
|
||
**(5)** 8 MB expansion RAM chips\
|
||
**(6)** 4 MB on-board chips\
|
||
**(7)** ARM 3 processor, moved to the RAM expansion card\
|
||
**(8)** On-board memory management VLSI chipset\
|
||
**(9)** Second memory management chipset, specific to the RAM expansion card\
|
||
**(10)** Optional math coprocessor\
|
||
**(11)** IDE HDD and dual FDD connectors\
|
||
**(12)** HDD and FDD power leads.
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_inside_s1.jpg
|
||
- title: RAM EXPANSION CLOSE-UP
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: |-
|
||
The RAM expansion is composed of two cards linked together by a flat cable:\
|
||
• The RAM card is connected to the expansion slot,\
|
||
• the CPU card is connected to the on-board CPU socket, the ARM CPU is thus moved to its new socket. The card also holds a specific memory management chipset.
|
||
image: /media/museum/photos/acorn_a5000_cpuexp_s1.jpg
|
||
adverts:
|
||
- title: ENGLISH LEAFLET
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: Intended for educational market.
|
||
image: /media/museum/pubs/acorn_a5000_pub_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
|
||
- title: RAM CARD
|
||
subtitle: ''
|
||
text: |-
|
||
2MB RAM Expansion for A5000.\
|
||
Company: RISC Developments.\
|
||
To increase the max RAM to a total of 4MB.
|
||
|
||
Thanks to **Chris Syntichakis**
|
||
image: /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_ramcard_1.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-a3010
|
||
- /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3020
|
||
- /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a4000
|
||
- /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a7000
|
||
oc_id: 710
|
||
source:
|
||
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605132547/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=710
|
||
date: '2023-06-05'
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
The Acorn A5000 was an all new model of the Archimedes family replacing the A540. It had 4 slots like previous models but a larger wider case making it look like a workstation computer.
|
||
|
||
It was built on the new fast ARM3 processor as used in the A4 laptop. VGA output and new extra screen modes were introduced as well using cheap standardised IDE hard disks. The keyboard was the quality 'Brisbane' model as used on the previous high end Acorns. (Or could 'Brisbane' be the codename for the A5000, as I discovered it inside the keyboard PCB when I did some repairs on mine?)
|
||
|
||
Many A5000s were fitted with SCSI controller cards and used with caddy-type external CD ROM drives for multimedia applications.
|
||
|
||
Early models had just 2MB of RAM with a slot to allow a 4MB RAM card to be mounted on top. Later A5000s were slightly faster, had 4MB on the motherboard as standard and more generously sized hard disks.
|
||
|
||
There are rumours that some of the Liteon built Acorn AKF18 SVGA multisync monitors normally supplied with the A4000/A5000 were recalled as they could overheat and catch fire! :(
|
||
|
||
Information supplied by **Jonathan Hayward**
|