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Acorn Archimedes Dead

Acorn Archimedes
KindMachine
Introduced1987
Discontinued1996
StatusDead
ManufacturerAcorn
ClassHome computer
PlatformARM2 — first ARM machine
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗

The first ARM-based personal computer — eight times the Atari ST's power on paper. RISC OS ran it; the ARM architecture it debuted now out-ships everything else combined.

Created by Acorn Computers
Hosted RISC OS

The Archimedes (June 1987) debuted the ARM2 — Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber's RISC design, 4 MIPS when the 68020 did 2 — running Arthur/RISC OS, an instant-boot ROM OS.

It was technically dominant (eight times the ST, faster than early 386 PCs) and commercially British — Acorn's education market couldn't fund the architecture's future. ARM Holdings was spun off in 1990; ARM's licensing model then conquered the world.

Sources

  1. bitsavers.org/pdf/acorn/
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes