Acorn BBC Model B

The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers Ltd in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness and expandability. The Micro began life as an upgrade to the Atom, originally known as the Proton.

My Model B is signed by Steve Furber, the principal hardware engineer for the BBC Micro.

Acorn BBC Model B (Viglen Case)

Viglen Ltd (based in Hertfordshire, 1975 – present) produced aftermarket hardware upgrades for Acorn computers such as the BBC Model B and Master, including a case & keyboard upgrade kit – this would be used to replace the upper case of an existing computer, including two 5.25″ bays for floppy disk drives and an external shell and cable for the original keyboard.

Kindly donated by David Nolan in Liverpool.

Acorn BBC Micro 6502 Second Processor

The 6502 Second Processor was an expansion unit for the BBC Model B and Master, which used the proprietary Acorn “Tube” interface to add a coprocessor to the computer in a “host-parasite” model, where the external processor takes overall control. These kind of expansion units had a case with the same profile and styling as the main computer, which became affectionately known as the “cheese wedge”.

Acorn Electron

The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational computer introduced by Acorn Computers Ltd on 25 August 1983. It has 32 KB RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC v2 along with its operating system. The Electron was one of the best selling microcomputers in the UK, and is estimated to have sold between 200,000 and 250,000 machines over its commercial lifespan.

Acorn Electron Plus 1

The Acorn Plus 1 added two ROM cartridge slots, an analogue interface (supporting four channels) and a parallel port to the Electron. The analogue interface was normally used for joysticks, and the parallel interface was typically used to connect a printer. Cartridge games would boot automatically; language cartridges would take precedence over BASIC. Six ROM cartridge titles were announced for the launch of the Plus 1.

Acorn Electron Plus 3

The Acorn Plus 3 was a hardware module that connected to the Acorn Electron and provided a “self contained disc interface and 3.5 inch single sided disc drive” offering over 300 KB of storage per disc using the newly introduced Advanced Disc Filing System (ADFS). The original Electron edge connector was repeated on the back of the Plus 3, allowing the Plus 1 to be used in conjunction with the Plus 3.

Kindly donated by Steve & Pom Cordery.

Acorn Archimedes A3000

In May 1989, the Acorn 300 series was phased out in favour of the new A3000, reported to be the first home microcomputer to use SMD technology in its construction. The A3000 featured an 8 MHz ARM2 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and RISC OS on 512 KB of ROM. Unlike the previous models, the A3000 came in a single-part case similar to the Amiga 500 and Atari ST, with the keyboard and disc drive integrated into the base unit.

Acorn Archimedes A3010

In 1992, several new Archimedes models were introduced to complement the A3000 and to replace the low-end A400 series: the A3010, A3020, & A4000. These utilised the first ARM SoC – the ARM250 – a single-chip design including the functionality of an ARM2 (or ARM3 without cache), the IOC1, VIDC1a and MEMC1a chips integrated together. The ARM250, running at a higher 12 MHz clock frequency and used with faster 80ns memory chips, compared to the 8 MHz of the ARM2 and the 125ns memory of the A3000, gave a potential 50% performance increase, achieving a reported 7 MIPS.

From the collection of Chris Storey.

Acorn RISC PC 600

Acorn launched the Risc PC 600 in 1994, their first major hardware change since the launch of the A540 and the ARM3 CPU in 1990. The Risc PC 600 had a 30MHz ARM610 CPU and a new version of RISC OS (3.50) to support the new hardware – the support chips (VIDC, MEMC and IOC) were upgraded to the VIDC20 and IOMD. The Risc PC 600 changed to a standard PC AT keyboard, but kept the proprietary Acorn 3 button mouse.

My RISC PC has a 200MHz StrongARM and a 40MHz 486 CPU, and 32+2 MB RAM.

Kindly donated by Austin Pass.

Acorn AKF-17 CRT Monitor

The Acorn AKF-17 is a 14″ 15KHz CRT colour monitor, often bundled together with an Acorn Archimedes computer in electronics stores. These are compatible with the A3000, A3010, A3020, A4000, and A5000 computers, featuring a DB9 RGB video connector.

Microvitec CUB 653 CRT Monitor

The Microvitec CUB CRT was the 14″ medium-resolution option from the range of Microvitec CUB range of colour displays. The 653 incorporates a medium-resolution CRT with 653 addressable pixels horizontally by 585 addressable pixels vertically; many systems were supported, including the BBC Micro.

Opus 5802 5.25″ FDD

The Opus 5802 is a 5.25″ floppy disk drive (FDD), which supports double-sided single density disks (1MB unformatted, 800KB formatted), and is switchable between 40 track and 80 track operation. The drive can be controlled and powered from a BBC Micro.

BBC 40T 5.25″ FDD

The BBC 40T SS 100K is a 5.25″ floppy disk drive (FDD), which supports double-sided single density disks (1MB unformatted, 800KB formatted), 40 tracks only The drive can be controlled and powered from a BBC Micro.

Cumana 232P CD-ROM Drive

The Cumana 232P is a parallel port external CD-ROM drive for the Acorn Archimedes range of home computers, with internal mains PSU.

From the collection of Chris Storey.