![]() ![]() The Acorn Microcomputer, later renamed the Acorn System 1, was designed by Sophie Wilson (then Roger Wilson). The Acorn System 1, upper board this one was shipped on 9 April 1979. CPU's role gradually changed as its Acorn brand grew, and soon CPU was simply the holding company and Acorn was responsible for development work.Īt some point, Curry had a disagreement with Sinclair and formally left Science of Cambridge, but did not join the other Acorn employees at Market Hill until a little while later. to commercialise the Cambridge Ring networking system Hopper had worked on for his PhD, but it was soon decided to bring him into CPU as a director because he could promote CPU's interests at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.ĬPU purchased Orbis, and Hopper's Orbis shares were exchanged for shares in CPU Ltd. March 1979 price listĪround this time, CPU and Andy Hopper set up Orbis Ltd. It also had the attraction of appearing before " Apple Computer" in a telephone directory. Acorn was chosen because the microcomputer system was to be expandable and growth-oriented. The microcomputer kit was named as Acorn System 75. This system was launched in January 1979 as the first product of Acorn Computer Ltd., a trading name used by CPU to keep the risks of the two different lines of business separate. JSTOR ( March 2010) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ĬPU had financed the development of a SC/MP based microcomputer system using the income from its design-and-build consultancy.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section called "The microcomputer systems". This section called "The microcomputer systems" needs additional citations for verification. Initially, the ACE controller was based on a National Semiconductor SC/MP microprocessor, but soon the switch to a MOS Technology 6502 was made. The ACE project was started at office space obtained at 4a Market Hill in Cambridge. CPU soon obtained a consultancy contract to develop a microprocessor-based controller for a fruit machine for Ace Coin Equipment (ACE) of Wales. (CPU) as the vehicle with which to do this. (1978–1983) Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry in CambridgeĬurry and Hauser decided to pursue their joint interest in microcomputers and, on 5 December 1978, they set up Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd. ![]() During the development of the Mk 14, Hermann Hauser, a friend of Curry's, had been visiting SoC's offices and had grown interested in the product.ĬPU Ltd. In June 1978, SoC launched a microcomputer kit, the Mk 14, that Curry wanted to develop further, but Sinclair could not be persuaded so Curry resigned. After losing control of the company to the NEB, Sinclair encouraged Chris Curry to leave Radionics and get Science of Cambridge (SoC-an early name for Sinclair Research) up and running. The failure of the Black Watch wristwatch and the calculator market's move from LEDs to LCDs led to financial problems, and Sinclair approached government body the National Enterprise Board (NEB) for help. On 25 July 1961, Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics to develop and sell electronic devices such as calculators. Many British IT professionals gained their early experiences on Acorns, which were often more technically advanced than commercially successful US hardware. In 2010, the company was listed by David Meyer in ZDNet as number nine in a feature of top ten "Dead IT giants". Īcorn is sometimes referred to as the "British Apple" and has been compared to Fairchild Semiconductor for being a catalyst for start-ups. Some activities established by Acorn lived on: technology developed by Arm, created by Acorn as a joint venture with Apple and VLSI in 1990, is dominant in the mobile phone and personal digital assistant (PDA) microprocessor market. One of its operating systems, RISC OS, continues to be developed by RISC OS Open. Though the company was acquired and largely dismantled in early 1999, with various activities being dispersed amongst new and established companies, its legacy includes the development of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) personal computers. Acorn's BBC Micro computer dominated the UK educational computer market during the 1980s. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. ![]()
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