Questions tagged [acorn]
The products of Acorn Computers Ltd., a British computer manufacturer founded in 1978.
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What are the legal values at offset 0x30 in the Risc OS AIF header
I'm now poking around in the binary executable file format of the Acorn Archimedes family of computers, Arm Image Format or AIF.
It doesn't have a magic word but the *nix file utility identifies them ...
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Did the BBC ask for extra line spacing?
Re-watching an episode of The Computer Programme, I notice a couple of unusual characteristics of the BBC Micro text – more specifically, program listing as software-generated text on bitmap – display,...
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What does “teletext” exactly refer to in BBC Micro specifications?
In the original outline specification for the BBC Micro, there are several mentions of teletext, in particular
Graphics: […] (b) Plot a low resolution graphics point to build Teletext graphic ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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" ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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,...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Acorn System 1 - is it a collectable? [closed]
I have one of these things gathering dust at home:
Acorn System 1
I have the original manual (when I find it?) too.
It did work, the last time I powered it up, 35 years ago.
Should I throw it in ...
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BBC/Acorn BASIC, what made it so fast?
As I look over old versions of BASIC trying to piece together their history, I come across repeated indications that BBC Basic was really fast. One list puts it running the Ahl benchmark (for all its ...
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Screen "garbage" in Acorn Electron games
A common feature of later games released for the Acorn Electron was the use of screen memory to store game code. This was commonly known as screen "garbage",
and can be seen on games like Exile.
I ...
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How long was the production run for the Acorn Electron?
I owned an Acorn Electron during the 1980s. It was a great little machine, which was still supported with magazines and games until about 1990. However I'm not sure how long the machine was actually ...
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Was the first ARM "processor" a BBC BASIC program?
The best background I have found so far on the early development of the ARM processor at Acorn comes from this interview with Steve Furber.
The interview does not mention the development of the first ...
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Acorn Electron to VGA/HDMI?
I am aware that there are answers regarding this but they do not seem to answer it for me.
A few years back I got a Acorn Electron and it works using the arial for video fine, but I would like to ...
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What BBC Microcomputer features were requested specifically by BBC engineers?
When requirements for the BBC Microcomputer were developed as part of the BBC Computer Literacy Project, an outline specification was created by an independent consultant, the late John Coll. This ...
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Why does my Acorn RiscPC display the POST boot error?
After removing the Intel DX 486 card from my RiscPC (running RiscOS 3.6), the computer doesn't start up properly. Instead, it displays the text POST in red.
What does this error message mean?
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How can I hook up my Acorn RISC PC 600 to a LCD monitor?
I own an Acorn RiscPC 600 which I picked up from Ebay years ago which apparently works but did not come with a monitor. I purchased a VGA to DVI connector to hook up the computer to my PC desktop ...
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Reading the BBC Domesday Project
In 1986, the 900th anniversary of the original Domesday Book, the BBC coordinated a project to document modern Britain. This was claimed to be data to last for the next thousand years.
Data was ...
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How did the Sideways address space work?
I was researching the BBC Micro when I found the Sideways address space: a 16KiB memory space allowing access to up to 16 16KiB external blocks of ROM (or RAM).
But 16 blocks of 16KiB is 256KiB, ...
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Acorn Electron fails to load .UEF files converted to .WAV
I have an Acorn Electron that came without tape recorder, so I'm using Audacity to record and replay programs which works fine. Now I also have some software as UEF (Universal Emulator Format) files. ...
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