A new machine has joined the collection: an Acorn A3010, with its external power supply and leads. The case has yellowed in places, but the green function keys and the badge are intact.
// HISTORY
Acorn launched the A3010 in 1992 at £499, aimed at homes rather than schools. Like the Amiga 500, it put the whole computer inside the keyboard. Inside was the ARM250, a single chip combining the ARM2 processor with the memory, video and I/O controllers. That made it a much cheaper, smaller version of the Archimedes design. It ran RISC OS 3.1 from ROM.
The A3010 had features aimed at gamers, including two Atari-style joystick ports and a TV output. It was often sold in bundles with games or educational software. It sold reasonably well, but it never broke the Amiga's hold on the UK home market.
// SPECS
CPU ........ ARM250 @ 12 MHz
RAM ........ 1MB (2MB on some models and with upgrades)
VIDEO ...... up to 640x512, 256 colours from a 4096-colour palette, TV out
SOUND ...... 8-channel 8-bit stereo
STORAGE .... 3.5" floppy (1.6MB high density)
OS ......... RISC OS 3.1 in ROM
I/O ........ 2x joystick ports, serial, printer, internal expansion slot
// HOW IT WAS USED
The A3010 was a family computer. Parents liked that it matched the Acorns their children used at school. Children liked that it had joystick ports and could play games such as Chocks Away, Lemmings and James Pond. RISC OS 3 came with a word processor, a paint program and a drawing program in ROM, so it was useful straight out of the box.
// WHAT'S NEXT
Here's the plan before it gets switched on:
[ ] open up and check the board for battery leakage
[ ] check the external PSU output
[ ] clean the case and keyboard
[ ] power up and boot RISC OS 3.1
Progress updates will be posted here. For more vintage machines, see the hardware section.