Ing C Olivetti & Co affiliate Acorn Computers Plc, Cambridge, UK, could not contain its excitement on Friday when it unveiled the latest in its range of Archimedes 32-bit RISC computers, the A5000, based on Advanced RISC Machines Ltd’s ARM3 processor running at 25MHz and delivering 13 MIPS, costing only UKP1,500 for 2Mb RAM, 40Mb hard disk and multiscan monitor. Also launched was the latest version of Acorn’s RISC operating system, RISC OS 3, which is said to feature some 300 improvements, such as the inclusion of applications, support modules and fonts in read-only memory. In addition to Acorn’s pet market – schools, the A5000 is aimed at imaging, desktop publishing and multimedia applications. A 1Mb base model is also offered for just UKP1,000. The system features a serial port, Centronics printer port, enhanced AT keyboard, four expansion slots, and a floppy drive storing up to 1.6Mb. Via Acorn’s PC Emulator software, data generated by MS-DOS applications on the machine can be manipulated in the RISC OS 3 environment, and with !X software, the box can emulate an X terminal. Among other price cuts, UKP500 has now been knocked off the R260 Unix workstation, which now sells for UKP3,500. Other new products include an Olivetti ink-jet printer, badged the Acorn JP 150, available with the company’s Learning Curve consumer products.
