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---
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 &lt;$223$>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/).