Description; Early models

A 1st system were freed around June 1987, as a 300 & 400 series. the machines differed primarily in this a 400 series involved supplementary slot (foursome instead of deuce) & a ST506 controller for an internal hard drive. Each system involved a Arthur OS (later versions to exist as known as RISC OS, see beneath), BBC BASIC and an emulator for Acorn's earlier BBC Micro, and were mounted inside 2-bipartite instances using the little central unit, monitor on top, and the separate keyboard and three-button mouse. Completely system featured onboard Eighter channel stereo sound and were capable of 256 colour screenmodes.

4 system were at a start freed by having different numbers of memory, the A305, A310, A410 & A440. the 300 & 400 were followed by a total of machines by using minor changes & upgrades:

(A500 - Four MB RAM, Archimedes development machine, never sold [http://www.drobe.co.uk/riscos/artifact476.html]) A305 - 512 KB RAM A310 - One MB RAM A410 - One MB RAM A4Twenty - Two MB RAM, 20 MB firm disk A4Xl - Four MB RAM, 40 MB strong disk (A4xx/1 editions by using improved memory controller) A540 - Four MB RAM, C MB stiff Disk (A680 & M4 - 8 MB RAM, RISCiX development machines, never sold) R140 - Four MB RAM,   52 MB firm disk, RISCiX UNIX workstation R260 - 8 MB RAM, Century MB strong disk, RISCiX UNIX workstation R225 - Four MB RAM, RISCiX UNIX network computer

The A3000 and A5000

Act began in a successor to the Arthur OS, ab initio known as Arthur Ii, however by using the release of the Hollywood movie of the same name it was renamed to RISC OS 2. Along by using it, the total of freshly machines were introduced too, & within Can 1989 the 300 series was phased out in favor of the fresh Acorn A3000. A sooner system were capable of existence upgraded to RISC OS Two by replacing a ROM chips which contained the Operating Rules.

Unlike a former Archimedes system, a A3000 come within one-section experience similar to the Amiga 500 and Atari ST computers, with a keyboard connected to the independent unit. This rather housing consumes the great deal of desktop space, the condition that Acorn tried to overcome by offering a monitor could have that can be tied to the base unit. A newly model sole sported one expansion slot. Unlike a 300 series, a 400 series was saved around production.

a extra recently model, a A5000, come within a recently intentional 2-embellishment instance that scanned more conventional than the housings of its predecessors. It featured a newly Xxv MHz ARM3 processor, while a A3000 was however equipped by owning an Octonary MHz ARM2. A A3000 ran RISC OS Two, when a A5000 ran a fresh RISC OS Three.Cypher. It come by owning Deuce or even Little joe MB of RAM, in comparison a A3000's Unity MB, & featured either the Xl MB or even an Lxxx MB hard drive. Its cd capabilities were enhanced too & a A5000 may comfortably display VGA resolutions of up to 800 × 600 pixels. It was the 1st Archimedes to feature a High Density capable floppy disc drive as standard & can page through & write various formats, including DOS and Atari discs. The late version of the A5000 was available, featuring the 3Three MHz ARM3, Iv or even even Eighter MB of RAM, an Fourscore or Long hundred MB disc drive & the revised OS, videlicet RISC OS 3.Ten.

When antecedently, earliest machines were capable of existence upgraded to a fresh RISC OS Three, likewise when the ARM3 CPU. Vithe a third person update, earliest system may gain from either match videos performance to the A5000.

A new range and a laptop

Inside 1991, a newly range was produced, using the ARM250 microcontroller, an ARM2 processor with integrated memory & streaming videos controllers, performing better thanks to an increase within clock frequency, and running off RISC OS Three.Ten. the A30x0 series got a of these-piece project, similar to the A3000, when the A4000 scanned rather a slightly reduce A5000. the A3010 model was designed to become a home computing machine, featuring a TV modulator and joystick ports, while the A3020 targeted a front yard professional & training markets, featuring a built-inbuilt Ii.Quintet" hard drive. Technically, the A4000 was almost identical to the A3020, only differing in memory and hard disk size, and, of course, looks.

In 1992, Acorn also introduced a laptop computer called A4 that featured an ARM3 processor like the A5000, even though it had a slightly lower clock speed, and a LCD screen capable of displaying a maximum resolution of 640 × 480 pixels in 16 levels of grey. However, it did feature a monitor port which offered the same display capabilities as an A5000. Curiously, it did not have a specific built-in pointing device, so users had to resort to the cursor keys or a conventional Acorn three-button mouse.

The A7000, despite its name being reminiscent of the Archimedes naming conventions, was actually a low-end Risc PC – the line of RISC OS computers that succeeded the Archimedes in 1994.

Significance and impact

The Archimedes was one of the most powerful home computers available during the late 1980s and early 1990s; its main CPU was faster than the stock 68000s found in the more popular Atari ST and Commodore Amiga machines.

Despite a technical edge having been fully realised upon the release of RISC OS 2 in 1989, the Archimedes only ever met a moderate success, becoming very much a 'minority' platform outside of niche markets (not unlike the Apple Macintosh). The education markets of the UK, Ireland and Australasia were among the platform's most dominant zones of importance, along with specialised professional work such as radio, medical and train station management and music publishing. The success of the Archimedes in British schools was due partly to the Computers for Schools scheme organised by the Tesco supermarket chain in association with Acorn, and most students/pupils in the aforementioned countries in the early 90s will have seen/used an Archimedes.

The platform was very unusual in that it was and still is largely unknown outside of a handful of countries where most of its sales occurred. Very few people in Asia or the USA have ever heard of the Archimedes.

By the early 1990s however, the UK educational market which had been Acorn's perennial "money-spinner" was beginning to turn away from the Archimedes. Many schools (particularly in Scotland for example) were now turning to the Macintosh. Meanwhile, the IBM Compatible PC was gradually aligning itself as a potential contender with its increasing functionality as a multimedia computer, made possible by developments such as the Intel 486 processor.