Archimedes
<computer> A family of microcomputers produced by Acorn Computers, Cambridge, UK.
The Archimedes, launched in June 1987, was the first
RISC based
personal computer (predating Apple Computer's
Power Mac by some seven years).
It uses the
Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) processor and includes Acorn's
multitasking operating system and
graphical user interface,
RISC OS on
ROM, along with an interpreter for Acorn's enhanced
BASIC,
BASIC V.
The Archimedes was designed as the successor to Acorn's sucessful
BBC Microcomputer series and includes some backward compatibility and a
6502 emulator.
Several utilities are included free on disk (later in ROM) such as a
text editor, paint and draw programs.
Software emulators are also available for the
IBM PC as well as add-on Intel processor cards.
There have been several series of Archimedes: A300, A400, A3000, A5000, A4000 and
RISC PC.
Usenet FAQ (ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/acorn/). Archive site list (http://www.cs.vu.nl/~gerben/acorn/acorn-archives.txt). HENSA archive (ftp://micros.hensa.ac.uk/).
Stuttgart archive (ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/acorn).
See also
Crisis Software,
Warm Silence Software.
