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

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Acorn Computer Archimedes	Computers	Home Computer	United Kingdom	1987	ARM-2 32 bit RISC	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware emulators links docs related oc_id source Archimedes /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_system_s1.jpg /companies/acorn-computer Acorn Computer label value NAME Archimedes label value MANUFACTURER Acorn Computer label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN United Kingdom label value YEAR 1987 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1989 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE BBC BASIC V label value KEYBOARD Complete 102 keys full-stroke keyboard - PC/AT layout label value CPU ARM-2 32 bit RISC (ARM-3 in the A500 series) label value SPEED 4 / 8 mHz label value CO-PROCESSOR MEMC (memory), VIDC (Video and Sound), IOC (I/O) label value RAM 512 KB (up to 16 MB) label value ROM 512 KB label value TEXT MODES 132 chars. x 32 lines maximum label value GRAPHIC MODES 21 screen modes, including: 640x480 (256 colours), 640 x 512 (256 colours), 800x600 (16 colours), 896x352 (256 colours), 1280x960 (monochrome) label value COLORS 256 maximum label value SOUND 8 voices label value I/O PORTS Centronics, RS423, Video composite, RGB, Econet (network 250 KBits). Optional 4 expansion slots (podule slots), the 400/500 series came with 4 slots. label value BUILT IN MEDIA 800 KB 3.5'' floppy drive, 3.5'' disk-drive, from 20 to 53 MB label value OS ARTHUR (and RISC OS later) label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in switching power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS Various expansion cards label value PRICE A300: from $800 to £1200 - A400: up to £3150, depending on the monitor supplied photos adverts hardware emulators links docs 90 title subtitle text image LARGE VIEW /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_leftside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image FRONT VIEW /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_frontside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image TOP VIEW /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_topview_s1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR SIDE /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_rearside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image 440/I FRONT PANEL CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_frontpanel_s1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP The keyboard has the same layout as a standard PC/AT keyboard with the addition of a reset switch, a mouse plug and a plastic stand which allowed users to insert command summaries for various programs. /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_keyboard_s1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR CONNECTORS **(1)** Optional buffer card connector. Allows connection of an external 5.25" floppy disk unit.\ **(2)** Monochrome monitor Video and Sync jacks\ **(3)** Analog RGB video output DB9 plug\ **(4)** Serial DB9 plug\ **(5)** Stereo audio output jack\ **(6)** Parallel DB25 plug\ **(7)** Power in and out plugs and power switch /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_rearside_s2.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE **(1)** Optional drive buffer\ **(2)** 4 expansion connectors back plane\ **(3)** The 440/I version shipped with a 53 MB HDD /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_inside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image MAINBOARD EXPLAINED **(1)** 2 MB RAM chips (32 x 84256-10)\ **(2)** Memory controller custom chip (improved in the 400 series)\ **(3)** Acorn ARM-2 processor\ **(4)** Expansions back plane connecctor\ **(5)** RISC OS 3 and built-in programs ROM chips\ **(6)** Video controller custom chip\ **(7)** Econet card connector\ **(8)** I/O controller custom chip\ **(9)** MFM hard disk drive connectors. Up to 2 HDD can be connected\ **(10)** Floppy disk drive connector\ **(11)** HDD and FDD controller chips /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_mainboard_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ACORN MANUALS /media/museum/photos/acorn_archi440_manuals_s1.jpg title subtitle text image FIRST AD (SEPT. 87) It is unlikely that this hideous advert helped early sales of the Archimedes.\ It said: Acorn are proud to announce the fastest micros in the world * The Archimedes high performance Computer Systems * Using a 32 bit RISC chip, Archimedes represents a breakthrough in microprocessing technology allowing a new order of magnitude in power... /media/museum/pubs/acorn_archimedes_pub_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 Archie http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/5427/ MS DOS Archie is an emulation of the Acorn Archimedes hardware (A3xx/A4xx/A3xxx) for Dos/Windows 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 A popular Archimedes emulator 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 Wocki's Acorn-Site http://acorn.revivalteam.de/ Downloads for use with emulators and home of ArcDisc 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-a3000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3010 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a3020 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a4000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a5000 /museum/acorn-computer-archimedes-a7000 75 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230609041933/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=75 2023-06-09

The Archimedes was the first RISC home computer. There were three series, the 300, 400 and 500 which shared the same hardware basis: the ARM-2 processor (ARM-3 for the A500) and three custom chips dedicated to memory (MEMC), video (VIDC) and I/O (IOC) controls.

The ARM 2 RISC (8Mhz) had about 4 Mips, this means seven times faster than a Amiga 500 (68000 CPU)!

The 300 series had 512 KB to 1 MB of memory and two expansion slots (64 pin). The 400 series had 1 to 4 MB of memory and four slots (three 64 pin and one 96 pin). The 500 series had 16 MB of RAM.

The operating system, first named Arthur then subsequently RiscOS, was in ROM along with the WIMP graphic interface (Windows Menu Icon Pointer), the fast BBC BASIC V interpreter and various utility programs, among them a Paint package, a music editor and an Acorn BBC model 2 emulator.

The built-in 800 KB 3.5" floppy drive was compatible with the old 640 KB format. A lot of expansion cards were developed for the Archimedes : MIDI, SCSI, Oscilloscope, IEEE 488, speech recognition, scanner, floating point co-processor.

Many programming languages were released as well : BASIC (which could be loaded from disk and ran faster than the ROM BASIC), C, Fortran 77, Pascal, Prolog and Lisp.

Although it was at least two times faster than the Atari ST and Amiga models, the Archimedes had no real success because of its high price, except in its country of origin (Great Britain) where it was very well-known and commonly used (especially in schools).

These computers were followed by a great family of computers called RISC PC which are still in production.

Here are the different Archimedes A300 - A400 - A500 versions :

A305 - 512 KB RAM
A310 - 1 MB RAM
A410 - 1 MB RAM
A420 - 2 MB RAM, 20 MB Hard disk
A440 - 4 MB RAM, 40 MB Hard disk
A540 - 16 MB RAM, 120 MB Hard Disk

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.