website/content/museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3020.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Acorn Computer Archimedes A3020	Computers	Professional Computer	United Kingdom	1992	ARM 250 32 bit RISC	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos hardware emulators links docs related oc_id source Archimedes A3020 /media/museum/photos/acorna3020_system_2.jpg /companies/acorn-computer Acorn Computer label value NAME Archimedes A3020 label value MANUFACTURER Acorn Computer label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN United Kingdom label value YEAR 1992 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE BBC BASIC / RISC OS 3.1 label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke PC-102 style label value CPU ARM 250 32 bit RISC label value SPEED 12 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR MEMC (memory), VIDC (Video and Sound), IOC (I/O) label value RAM 2 MB (up to 4Mb possible with socketed zip ram chips) label value ROM 1 MB label value SOUND 8 voices label value I/O PORTS Centronics, RS423, VGA, Network, 1 expansion slot (same as A4000, A3000 and A3020) label value BUILT IN MEDIA One 3.5 label value OS RISC OS 3.11 label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PRICE £749 with floppy, £899 with a 60Mb hard disk. photos hardware emulators links docs 689 title subtitle text image SYSTEM /media/museum/photos/acorna3020_system_3.jpg title subtitle text image UNCOVERED Notice the (blue) Econet network card. /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3020_uncovered_1.jpg title subtitle text image MOTHERBOARD **(1)** Power supply area\ **(2)** Video and sound custom chip (VIDC)\ **(3)** Keyboard connector\ **(4)** Arm-250 RISC processor\ **(5)** Econet network optional card\ **(6)** Risc OS 3.0 ROM chips (2 x 256 KB)\ **(7)** 2 MB RAM chips (4 x Hitachi 514260)\ **(8)** I/O custom chip from CHIPS (IOC)\ **(9)** 2 MB expansion RAM sockets\ **(10)** Floppy disc and hard disc connectors /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3020_mboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image CLOSE-UP ARM microprocessor, RISC-OS ROM and base RAM memory chips. Memory extension DIP chips sockets are empty. /media/museum/photos/acorn_a3020_cpucloseup_1.jpg title subtitle text image 486 CARD 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 /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a39000_486card_1.jpg title subtitle text image GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR 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** /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_colorcard_1.jpg title subtitle text image CUMANA SCSI CARD 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** /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_scsicard_1.jpg title subtitle text image SERIAL CARD 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. /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a5000_serialcard_1.jpg title subtitle text image MIDI CARD Allowed Archimedes systems to interact with any midi sound device. /media/museum/hardware/acorn_a4000_midicard_s1.jpg title url platform text Arculator http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/ Windows An excellent Windows-based Archimedes emulator, plays many games and has simple usage. title url platform text Red Squirrel http://www.red-squirrel.org/ Windows An Emulator of Arm based Acorn machines for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP title url platform text Virtual Acorn http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk/ Windows Excellent but commercial software - £30 title url platform text ARCHIE http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/5427/ Multiplatform Archie is an emulation of the Acorn Archimedes hardware (A3xx/A4xx/A3xxx) for DOS/Windows title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com title url cover text TOM'S ARCHIMEDES DOCS (INTERNAL HARDWARE) http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/index.html /media/museum/docs/couvs/vide.gif [**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) /museum/acorn-computer-a4 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3010 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a4000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a5000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a7000 706 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230129160638/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=706 2023-01-29

The Acorn Archimedes A3000 was replaced by the Acorn A3010 and A3020, two simililar but slightly different models, aimed at the home and educational markets.

The A3020 was a lower-cost replacement for A3000 aimed at British classrooms. The case was slightly shorter at the back and an awkward to reach mouse port that was underneath the A3000 was moved to the back.

The RISC OS 3 operating system and more curved Logitech-built 3 button mouse used on the A4000/A5000/A4 were included as standard, as well as a 1.6MB floppy drive capable of reading all PC disks as well as the new extended Acorn 1.6MB format.

Upgrading memory to 4MB of RAM was simple with plug-in ZIP D-RAM chips.

Looking inside the machine however, Acorn have rather stupidly built-in the 220/240 volt power supply to the motherboard, making conversion to run on 110 volts for US and Japanese users impossible without very serious modification. If the power supply unit fails then repair would also be difficult.

The Acorn A3020 had a hard disk controller to which a standard 2.5" laptop-style hard disk could be added, and a DB-15 network port which the A3010 did not have.

Thanks to Jonathan Hayward for his help in Archimedes models.