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Questions tagged [acorn]

The products of Acorn Computers Ltd., a British computer manufacturer founded in 1978.

15 votes
2 answers
690 views

Why did Acorn use the 6502?

It is an interesting quirk of the British microcomputer industry, that the main vendor of cheap microcomputers, Sinclair, used the better, more expensive CPU (Z80), whereas the main vendor of better, ...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 63.1k
19 votes
1 answer
648 views

Why did Acorn use LF+CR instead of CR+LF as a line ending?

The most common conventions for indicating newline nowadays are CR+LF (most famously Windows, but also the Internet standard) and bare LF (Unix and Unix-like systems). Historically there have been ...
Simon Kissane's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
714 views

Please identify this program for Acorn Archimedes

From the movie Murder Story This is the pc (is 90% Acorn Archimedes 305) This is the program another view Anyone recognize name of program? Thanks The os can be Arthur OS or RISC-OS
elbarna's user avatar
  • 2,341
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why doesn't the Acorn Electron use fast page mode?

The Acorn Electron, trying to provide 32K of RAM as cheaply as possible, uses four 64k chips, for a 4-bit data bus. Obviously, this involves trading away some performance. (In all the following ...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 63.1k
5 votes
1 answer
535 views

Are there any screenshots of Sherston Software's Around the World in 80 Days for Acorn Archimedes?

I've been trying to track down an educational game I played at primary school. This was in the UK, and would have been around 1994 to 1996. The game was based on Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 ...
Showsni's user avatar
  • 169
1 vote
0 answers
171 views

Running ssd files on Beebem emulator [closed]

I have downloaded L Mathemagical Adventure and I am running it on Beebem emulator. I selected the ssd file with load disk, but it came up with the error message that the file was read only. It talked ...
John Cena's Bing Chilling's user avatar
19 votes
8 answers
4k views

How were Acorn Archimedes used outside education?

Anyone who experienced the UK education system from the mid '80s to the mid '90s would no doubt have experienced Acorn computers (BBC and later Archimedes). At the time, these computers were almost ...
lfgtm's user avatar
  • 291
3 votes
2 answers
369 views

Atom BASIC, anyone here used it or can emulate it?

I'm reading over "Atomic Theory and Applications" (best name EVAR) but having never used the Atom a couple of things are confusing me. For one, did the Atom have a "full screen" ...
Maury Markowitz's user avatar
9 votes
6 answers
913 views

Would compare-and-branch have added an extra cycle on ARM-1?

The ARM-1 was an early RISC CPU, designed in 1986 (and even more typical of early RISC design constraints than the year would suggest, since Acorn didn't have the budget to pay for the latest process ...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 63.1k
2 votes
0 answers
221 views

Did other Acorn keyboards use two-shot molding?

The BBC Micro hardware specification includes the clause: The legend on the keys will be achieved by two-shot moulding This is a process by which the glyphs are made to run all the way through the ...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 63.1k
25 votes
4 answers
6k views

When did half-bad RAM chips stop being available?

The ZX Spectrum sold with either 16 or 48K RAM, necessitating an optional 32K memory bank which was achieved in a characteristically (for Sinclair) cleverly frugal way: with half-bad 64kbit DRAM chips,...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 63.1k
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is it still possible to access a BBS via dial up internet on the C64 (or other retro computers)

I was wondering if it is still possible to access any online BBS using dial up and an 80's era computer. I'm aware that some dial up internet providers still exist (eg Nippy Internet in the UK), but ...
gamer's user avatar
  • 103
9 votes
4 answers
1k views

Why didn't the Acorn Archimedes support general purpose co-processors?

Acorn's BBC Micro series is well known for the range of add-on processors (or Second Processors) that could be connected through it's Tube interface. These included the 6502, Z80, 80186, and also the ...
Kaz's user avatar
  • 8,186
12 votes
2 answers
576 views

What role did the BBC have in the development and marketing of Acorn Archimedes computers?

The BBC's Computer Literacy Project was launched in 1982, and saw the public service broadcaster seek to raise awareness and educate the general public about the growing field of computing. They ...
Kaz's user avatar
  • 8,186
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why did Acorn's A3000 have red function keys?

Acorn's line of ARM-based Archimedes computers was common in UK schools in the 1990s, and many classrooms had an A3000, A4000, or A5000 computer. The function keys of the A3000 were a distinctive red ...
Kaz's user avatar
  • 8,186

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