A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit (IC), or at most a few integrated circuits. The microprocessor is a multipurpose, clock driven, register based, digital integrated circuit that accepts binary data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. Microprocessors contain both combinational logic and sequential digital logic. Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary number system.
BBC BASIC is a programming language, developed in 1981 as a native programming language for the MOS Technology 6502 based Acorn BBC Micro home/personal computer. It is a version of the BASIC programming language adapted for a UK computer literacy project of the BBC. It was written mainly by Sophie Wilson.
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. Acorn's BBC Micro computer dominated the UK educational computer market during the 1980s. It is more known for its BBC Micromodel B computer than for its other products.
ARM, previously Advanced RISC Machine, originally Acorn RISC Machine, is a family of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architectures for computer processors, configured for various environments. Arm Holdings develops the architecture and licenses it to other companies, who design their own products that implement one of those architectures—including systems-on-chips (SoC) and systems-on-modules (SoM) that incorporate memory, interfaces, radios, etc. It also designs cores that implement this instruction set and licenses these designs to a number of companies that incorporate those core designs into their own products.
The RiscPC was Acorn Computers's next generation RISC OS/Acorn RISC Machine computer, launched on 15 April 1994, which superseded the Acorn Archimedes. The Acorn PC card and software allows PC compatible software to be run.
The Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge (England) and sold in the late-1980s to mid-1990s, Acorn's first general-purpose home computer based on its own ARM architecture. The first Archimedes was launched in 1987.
The Iyonix PC was an Acorn-clone personal computer sold by Castle Technology and Iyonix Ltd between 2002 and 2008. According to news site Slashdot, it was the first personal computer to use Intel's XScale processor. It ran RISC OS 5.
The Phoebe 2100 was to be Acorn Computers' successor to the Risc PC, slated for release in late 1998. However in September 1998 Acorn cancelled the project as part of a restructuring of the company.
ARX was an unreleased Mach-like operating system written in Modula-2+ developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in the Acorn Research Centre (ARC) UK and later Olivetti Research Center and later on Software Technology Laboratory at Palo Alto for their new ARM RISC processors based Archimedes computers range. According to the project Application Manager during the project, while Acorn was developing the kernel, it used C and Acorn Modula Execution Library (CAMEL) in Acorn Extended Modula-2 (AEM2) compiler, though never released externally, CAMEL was ported to use it in SUN Unix machines, in an effort to port Sun's workstations Sun NeWS to the Archimedes, and after Olivetti bought out Acorn, developed a compiler based on AEM2 for the Modula-3 programming Language.
RISC iX is a discontinued Unix operating system designed to run on the Acorn Archimedes. Heavily based on 4.3BSD, it was initially completed in 1988 – a year after Arthur but prior to RISC OS.
The Acorn Network Computer was a network computer designed and manufactured by Acorn Computers Ltd. It was the implementation of the Network Computer Reference Profile that Oracle Corporation commissioned Acorn to specify for network computers. Sophie Wilson of Acorn led the effort. It was launched in August 1996.
In computer architecture, 26-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 26 bits wide, and thus can represent values up to 64 mega. Two examples of computer processors that featured 26-bit memory addressing are certain second generation IBM System/370 mainframe computer models introduced in 1981, which had 26-bit physical addresses but had only the same 24-bit virtual addresses as earlier models, and the first generations of ARM processors.
The A7000 and A7000+ were Acorn Computers' entry level computers based on the RiscPC architecture. Launched in 1995, they replaced some of the models of the Acorn Archimedes range. After the breakup of Acorn Computers in 1998, Castle Technology bought the rights to continue production of the A7000+. The A7000 used the ARM7500 system on chip which combined the separate ARM CPU, MMU, VIDC20 video chip and IOMD IO controller of the RiscPC into a single chip.
The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by the Acorn Computer company in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. An accompanying 1982 television series, The Computer Programme, featuring Chris Serle learning to use the machine, was also broadcast on BBC 2.
RISCOS Ltd. was a limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It licensed the rights to continue the development of RISC OS 4 and to distribute it for desktop machines from Element 14 and subsequently Pace Micro Technology. Company founders include developers who formerly worked within Acorn's dealership network. It was established as a nonprofit company. On or before 4 March 2013 3QD Developments acquired RISCOS Ltd's flavour of RISC OS. RISCOS Ltd was dissolved on 14 May 2013.
NCOS is the graphical user interface-based operating system developed for use in Oracle's Network Computers. It was adapted by Acorn Computers from its own RISC OS, which was originally developed for their range of Archimedes desktop computers. It shares with RISC OS the same 4 MB ROM size and suitability for use with TV displays.
RISC OS, the computer operating system developed by Acorn Computers for their ARM-based Acorn Archimedes range, was originally released in 1987 as Arthur 0.20, soon followed by Arthur 0.30, and Arthur 1.20. The next version, Arthur 2, became RISC OS 2 and was completed and made available in April 1989. RISC OS 3 was released with the very earliest version of the A5000 in 1991 and contained a series of new features. By 1996 RISC OS had been shipped on over 500,000 systems.
Galileo was an unreleased 32-bit operating system that was under development by Acorn Computers. The operating system was scheduled to be the successor of RISC OS in 1998, but was cancelled when the workstation division closed as part of Acorn's restructuring in 1998.
The DeskLite was a thin client launched in 1998 by Acorn Computers. It was designed to provide access to Microsoft Windows applications via Citrix ICA. It has been described as probably being the last product made by Acorn.
