website/content/museum/oric-atmos.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Oric ATMOS	Computers	Home Computer	United Kingdom	1984	6502A	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware emulators links docs videos related software oc_id source ATMOS /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_system_s1.jpg /companies/oric Oric label value NAME ATMOS label value MANUFACTURER Oric label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN United Kingdom label value YEAR February 1984 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Tangerine Basic (made by Microsoft) label value KEYBOARD QWERTY, mechanical keyboard, 58 keys. 4 arrow keys.\ ESC, CTRL, DEL, RETURN, SHIFT (x 2), FUNCT. label value CPU 6502A label value SPEED 1 mHz label value RAM 16 KB or 48 KB label value ROM 16 KB label value TEXT MODES 40 chars x 28 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES 240 x 200 (+ 3 text lines) label value COLORS 8 label value SOUND Programmable Sound Generator AY-3-8912 (from General Instruments)\ 3 voices, 8 octaves + white noise label value SIZE / WEIGHT 28 (W) x 17,5 (D) x 5,5 (H) cm label value I/O PORTS Power supply, Expansion port, Printer/Centronics port, Tape-recorder DIN plug, RGB video out, RF TV out label value POWER SUPPLY External PSU 9V 600 mA - -(o- + label value PERIPHERALS 3'' floppy disc unit, 4 colour printer-plotter label value PRICE 365 (France, december 84)\ 150 (France, december 85) photos adverts hardware software emulators links docs videos 94 title subtitle text image LARGE VIEW /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_system_s2.jpg title subtitle text image FRONT VIEW /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_frontview_s1.jpg title subtitle text image BOTH SIDES /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_sides_s1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_keyboard_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ATMOS LOGO /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_oriclogo_s1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR CONNECTORS **(1)** RF/TV jack\ **(2)** RGB video output\ **(3)** Sound output and tape recorder In/Out\ **(4)** Parallel printer connector\ **(5)** Expansion bus connector, mainly intended for the floppy disk unit\ **(6)** Power input jack /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_connectors_s1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE THE ATMOS The Atmos motherboard bears a striking resemblance with the Oric-1's one. Some modifications were made to the cassette interface, the RAM memory was increased to 64 Kb and now only one ROM chip holds the new version of the Basic interpreter. **(1)** A new FUNCT key is added to the keyboard, but is not used for anything ! You have to program it yourself.\ **(2)** 5 volts regulator with its cooler.\ **(3)** Unique 16 Kb ROM chip holding the improved version of the Microsoft (not official) Basic interpreter.\ **(4)** MOS 6502A 8 bits microprocessor.\ **(5)** AY-9512 sound chipset (3 voices, 7 octaves).\ **(6)** Eight 4164 memory chips (64000 cells x 1 bit) holding the 64 Kb. RAM memory used for user programs and text / graphic display.\ **(7)** 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.\ **(8)** TV signal modulator.\ **(9)** RGB video out connector (DIN) for a monochrome or colour monitor.\ **(10)** Cassette interface connector (DIN) with remote control.\ **(11)** Parallel / Centronics port (not standard) used to connect printers.\ **(12)** Expansion connector, used for example by the numerous disk-drives available for the Oric. /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image THE BOX /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_s1.jpg title subtitle text image BOX #2 /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_2.jpg title subtitle text image BOX #3 /media/museum/photos/oric_atmos_box_3.jpg title subtitle text image YOUGOSLAV NOVA64 A Yugoslavian company, Avtotehna of Ljubljana got a licence from Oric to make 5000 machines. All the parts were shipped from the UK. Some people in Yugoslavia suggest that more than 5000 were made, mostly for local schools.\ The Nova64 was same machine as the 48K Oric Atmos, apart from the power supply unit that could power both the computer and an separate 3.5" 2x400 KB FDD unit.\ A Yugoslav version of the manual was also available. Thanks to **Ranko Vukcevic** /media/museum/photos/oric_nova64_system_s1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE THE NOVA64 The mainboard is same as the last Atmos board produced in the UK. Thanks to **Ranko Vukcevic** /media/museum/photos/oric_nova64_inside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT ''Stop everything !''\ ''Atmos from Oric : the definitive computer'' /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_arrettez-tout.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT #2 ''It's time''\ ''ATMOS from Oric : the definitive computer'' /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_ordinateur_definitif.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT #3 ''Atmos from Oric : the definitive computer''\ ''Now, go !'' /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_3.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (JULY 1985) "compare!" /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_comparez.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (JULY 1985) "Why paying more ?" /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_payer-plus-cher.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH (STUPID) PROMOTIONAL PICTURE Family life scene in front of a complete Atmos system carefully lined up on the coffee table in the living room, with a minimum of visible cables. The flaw?... No, it is not that it is rather difficult to use such a serious configuration for hours sitting on the floor. The flaw comes rather from the photographer who forgot to do the housework before taking the picture and left to posterity his accessories cartons right behind the low dresser. /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_pub_4.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH BROCHURE FRONT Description of the complete Atmos system. Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_frbrochure_s1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH BROCHURE BACK "Oric opens a full world to you" Thanks to **Jacques Sorro** /media/museum/pubs/oric_atmos_frbrochure_s2.jpg title subtitle text image UK ADVERT (1984) Thanks to Tony Mattson for this picture /media/museum/pubs/oric-atmos_pub-uk_1.png title subtitle text image JASMIN II F.D. UNIT 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) /media/museum/hardware/oric_jasmin2_1.jpg title subtitle text image CUMANA EXPANSION BOX 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. /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_cumanaexp_s1.jpg title subtitle text image VOCAL SYNTHESIZER /media/museum/hardware/oric_synth_vocal.jpg title subtitle text image LIGHT PEN /media/museum/hardware/oric_lightpen.jpg title subtitle text image 8 IN/OUT BOARD /media/museum/hardware/oric_8_io.jpg title subtitle text image SOME ATMOS PERIPHERALS We can see here the Oric Disk-drive and the Oric plotter (4 colors). /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_complete.jpg title subtitle text image JOYSTICKS INTERFACE /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_joyinterf_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ATMOS MICRODISC 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. /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_microdsic_1.jpg title subtitle text image ATMOS PLOTTER 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... /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_mcp40_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE ATMOS PLOTTER 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. /media/museum/hardware/oric_atmos_mcp40_2.jpg title url platform text Euphoric http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/emulator.html MS DOS The best ORIC emulators title url platform text Oric/MacOS http://www.bannister.org/software/oric.htm Apple Oric/MacOS is an Oric emulator for the Macintosh. title url platform text Xeuphoric http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/xeuphoric/ Unix / Linux Oric emulator for X11 platforms title url platform text AmOric http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/Amoric.lha Amiga OS Oric emulator for the Amiga systems title url platform text ArcOric http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/ArcOric12 RISC OS Oric emulator for RISC/OS title url platform text AtOric http://oric.ifrance.com/oric/EMULATORS/atoric09.zip Atari works with all Atari & Compatibles (Hades, Milan) title url platform text Oriculator http://code.google.com/p/oriculator/ Multiplatform 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. title url text Club Europe Oric Home Page http://ceo.oric.org/ Club Europe Oric (or CEO for short) is an Oric user group title url text Defence Force Oric http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/index.htm Some very interesting info here title url text Marc's Oric Page http://mapage.cybercable.fr/marcpage/oric.htm Personal home page with some original programs to download title url text My nostalgia Oric page http://www.geffers.demon.co.uk/oricpage.html From an old Tansoft programmer title url text ORIC International http://www.oric.org I think this is where you must go first. There is among other things, a huge software database title url text Oric WebRing http://v.webring.com/hub?ring=oric Everything for the Oric title url text Oric World http://oric.iFrance.com/oric/index_french.html The site of the famous Fabrice Frances (includes the Oric Story book) title url text Pascal's Oric Page http://pleclerc.free.fr/Oric/OricPage.html in french, with ROM file to make your Oric Euro-Compatible ! title url text Rhetoric http://www.rhetoric.8k.com/ The last remaining British Oric magazine. title url text Swedish Oric Homepage http://come.to/oric Home of the Swedish software archive title url text The Reluctant Dragon http://freespace.virgin.net/james.groom/index.htm Home of the Oric FAQ, the Oric Cheats Directory and more title url text TheSpider's Oric Web http://oricspider.home.insightbb.com/ Personal site dedicated to the Oric Atmos title url text Twilighte http://twilighte.oric.org Site of the excellent Oric programmer of Magnetix. Many useful info and impressive works ! title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com Discussion about Oric computers title url cover text ORIC-1 BASIC PROGRAMMING MANUAL http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-1_basic-programming-manual.jpg [**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 url cover text MANUEL DE L'ATMOS (FRENCH MANUAL) http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_manual_oric/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-atmos_manuel.jpg [**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 url cover text ORIC ATMOS & ORIC-1 - GRAPHICS AND MACHINE CODE TECHNIQUES http://www.1000bit.net/support/manuali/manuali.asp /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric-1-atmos_geoff-philips_1.jpg [**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 url cover text MANUEL D'UTILISATION DU SEDORIC (FRENCH) http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/manuel_microdisc_et_sedoric/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_microdsic-manuel.jpg [**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 url cover text MICODISC MANUAL http://www.defence-force.org/computing/oric/library/lib_dos/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_microdisc_manual.jpg [**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 url cover text ORIC MCP-40 COLOUR PRINTER OPERATION MANUAL /media/museum/docs/oric_printer-mcp40_manual.pdf /media/museum/docs/couvs/oric_mcp40_manual.jpg [**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) title url text Oric Atmos 48K Computer advert http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-7974860455467320376&hl=fr Length: 32 s /museum/oric-1 /museum/oric-nova-64 /software/aigle-d-or-l /software/manoir-du-docteur-genius-le /software/moria-also-known-as-the-mines-of-moria /software/retour-du-docteur-genius-le /software/xenon-1 /software/zorgons-revenge 79 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230609053334/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=79 2023-06-09

The Oric Atmos was the successor of the Oric 1 and had almost the same features. Its main difference with the Oric 1 was the keyboard and the debugged ROM (the ORIC 1 had several bugs). Although improved, the loading process from tape was still very uncertain. The real mechanical keyboard was really better.

Two versions were available, with 16 or 48 KB of RAM. 16 KB version couldn't be upgraded, very few of them were sold.

There were also new Basic instructions and above all the Scart power supply was integrated on French models from 85! Fantastic, when you know that the Oric had the world record of cables and power supplies you had to use (1 for the computer, 1 for the tape recorder, 1 for the peritel supply and 1 more plug for the TV!).

The Atmos had really large success in France like its little brother the Oric-1. A lot of videogame companies got off the ground thanks to this machine, and quite a lot of people have a tender thought when then remember their Atmos.

In 1985, Eureka Informatique, a french company, bought back Oric. The Atmos then lived a bit longer thanks to some improvements (peritel power supply and better tape reliability) and cheap prices policy.

The Atmos was somehow legally licenced in Yugoslavia as the Nova 64.
The Pravetz 8D was a bulgarian clone of the Atmos.