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User:Flibble/Acorn Stuff

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Queen's award for technology

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http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/themicrouser/news/02-04.htm

Restructures

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These two contradict themselves.

Olivetti

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People

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Managing Director

CEO

Chairman

Refs per version

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1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

Licensing issues and unrelated

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RISCOS Ltd said on their website: "We await the full details of the licensing terms and conditions that will be applicable to RISC OS 5 source code. When these are known we shall be able to review the situation. However the current expectation is that there are very few features that are present in RISC OS 5 that are missing in RISC OS Six, that have a very high priority for inclusion in future releases of RISC OS 6."[1]

Managing Director Paul Middleton told Drobe News that the company would not be open sourcing its OS code in the same way.

He said: "It is probably worth pointing out that the 'open sourcing' of RISC OS is going to solely cover RISC OS 5 versions. We do not intend to 'open source' RISC OS 4 versions as some people seem to have assumed."

"I would point out though that we have always been happy to work with developers who require source level access to RISC OS, in the same way that Acorn made sources available for particular projects. The difference between us and ROOL is that we do require any changes made to be fed back to us, as we only want one version of RISC OS 4 to be available." [2]

An Iyonix-compatible version of RISC OS 6 is described as a possibility. From the RISC OS 6 FAQ : "Some people have assumed that because we have not made any definite announcements with respect to Select 4 on the Iyonix, that we are not interested in doing the work. The facts are however that our resources are limited, and priority has been given to working with partners who actively want RISC OS Select features on their products."

RISCOS Ltd and ROOL have agreed to cooperate, but expect to continue working on their own forks of the source tree.[3]

More recently however, concern has been expressed concerning the exact licensing terms and ownership of RISC OS, with some commentators claiming that recent efforts to port RISC OS to platforms other than Iyonix might not be permitted.

RISCOS Ltd and Castle continued maintaining separate development branches of the RISC OS operating system for some time, but as a result of a lengthy dispute over licensing during 2004[4] the two companies agreed to merge the two competing streams.[5] After taking over development from Castle, RISC OS Open Ltd later distanced themselves from this announcement, indicating it was technically impossible[6] but indicated[7] they would work together to smooth incompatibilities.


Some pieces of software famous to other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Linux have been ported to RISC OS, most notably Firefox[8] and Thunderbird.[9]

Links about Acorn history to read and possibly use as refs for Acorn Computers article

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Wired Articles

Interview with S Wilson

Stuff I'd forgotten I'd scanned (ART factsheets good for a7000/rpc spec)

Misc

Really good paper about ARM/Acorn history and ARM spinout

Size of Acorn 32bit market.

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  • 01403810 - 05/12/1978 ACORN COMPUTERS LIMITED -> 5/01/1999 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 2 LIMITED -> 15/06/2014 Dissolved
  • 01618697 - 02/03/1982 CHENALSOUND LIMITED -> 17/05/1982 ACORN OVERSEAS LIMITED -> 01/11/1983 ACORN COMPUTERS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 3 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 02926030 - 05/05/1994 ACKRACK LAW LIMITED -> 06/07/1994 ONLINE MEDIA LIMITED -> 01/12/1998 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 15/01/1999 ACORN COMPUTERS LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 7 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 01708846 - 23/03/1983 SACKVICK LIMITED -> 19/04/1983 ACORN COMPUTER GROUP PLC -> 08/05/1997 ACORN GROUP PLC -> 15/02/2000 CABOT 1 LIMITED
  • 03143694 - 04/01/1996 AMIDSHIPS LIMITED -> 02/04/1996 XEMPLAR EDUCATION LIMITED -> 04/05/1999 APPLE XEMPLAR EDUCATION LIMITED -> 21/10/2014 Dissolved
  • 03319314 - 17/02/1997 TENDERTAPE LIMITED -> 31/07/1997 ACORN TECHNOLOGY LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 4 LIMITED -> 11/07/2000 Dissolved
  • 01524763 - 28/10/1980 ACORN SOFT LIMITED -> 14/06/1984 ACORNSOFT LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 5 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 01774344 - 30/11/1983 ACORN VIDEO LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 6 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 02557590 - 12/11/1990 WIDELOGIC LIMITED -> 03/12/1990 ADVANCED RISC MACHINES LIMITED -> 21/05/1998 ARM LIMITED
  • 02548782 - 16/10/1990 STYLETHEME LIMITED -> 11/12/1990 ADVANCED RISC MACHINES HOLDINGS LIMITED -> 10/03/1998 ARM HOLDINGS PLC
  • 01357972 - CAMBRIDGE PROCESSOR UNIT LIMITED -> ACORN LEASING LIMITED -> 03/11/1992 Dissolved
  • 03827652 - 13/08/1999 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 27/07/2004 Dissolved
  • MSDW INVESTMENT HOLDINGS LIMITED

Stock Symbols

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  • ARMH - ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ-GS)
  • ???? - Acorn Computer Group PLC (LSE GB0000061167)

Acorn 1998 Timeline

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http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4036313/Acorn-cancels-RISC-computer-project http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/1839304/press-watch-what-papers

  • ??/09/1995 Acorn Computers Ltd diversify, Acorn Risc Technologies, Acorn Online Media, Acorn Network Computing [10]
  • Acorn bring things back together again, Workstation division etc
  • 17/06/1998 - Stan Boland takes over from David Lee as CEO of Acorn [11]
  • 17/09/1998 - Acorn close workstation division cancel phoebe [12] [13] and redefines business activity into 2 areas a) a set-top-box business to cover digital tv market and b) a silicon and software design business to develop a high performance Media DSP - Chairman's report in 19990427 - Acorn audited results for 1998.pdf
  • 12/10/1998 - Castle takes over as distributor [14] [15]
  • ??/11/1998 - Hires 7 silicon design engineers (formerly of ST Microelecctronics, gains second site in Bristol - Chairman's report in 19990427 - Acorn audited results for 1998.pdf
  • 08/01/1999 - Sale of Xemplar stake [16] [17] [18]
  • 02/01/1999 - Acorn rename to Element 14 [19][20] [21]
  • 05/03/1999 - Element 14 sells license to RISCOS Ltd to develop and release RISC OS 4 [22] [23]
  • 27/04/1999-03/06/1999 - Buyout of Acorn Group PLC by MSDW
  • 01/06/1999 - Sale of STB business to Pace [24]
  • 26/07/1999 - Element 14 successfully detaches from Acorn Group PLC [25]
  • 02/08/1999 - Element 14 secure venture capital [26]
  • 09/02/2000 - Element 14 hires former Alcatel DSL engineers - Change in focus 'The recruitment of DSL designers reflects a shift in focus by Element 14 which is now concentrating solely on broadband access communications ICs.' Gains 3rd site in Belgium. [27]
  • 14/10/2000-24/11/2000 - Broadcom buy Element 14 [28] [29] Becomes or is absorbed into the DSL buisness unit.

RISC OS Emulators

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This is a list of the emulators that are capable of running RISC OS, I think I've got all of them. I've decided not to commit this directly to the RISC OS article as due to being involved with two of them it is a conflict of interest. However if someone thinks that they're NPOV enough please add them to the page. If there is not a wiki page yet for an emulator it links to the emulators homepage. Also note that the emulators listed at http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/List_of_computer_system_emulators#Acorn_Archimedes has many issues, not least that many listed are not system emulators.--Flibble (talk) 11:43, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

RISC OS capable hardware emulators
Emulator Machines Emulated Host Platforms Supported Latest Release
!A310Emu Archimedes RISC OS
Archie Archimedes Windows, DOS 0.9 10th February 2001
Arcem Archimedes Windows, Linux, Mac OS 1.50 16th December 2012
Arculator Archimedes Windows, Linux

0.99 15th August 2009

Virtual A5000 Archimedes Windows 1.4
Red Squirrel Archimedes, Risc PC, A7000 Windows 0.6 28th October 2002
RPCEmu Risc PC, A7000 Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Open BSD 0.8.10 27th March 2013
VirtualRPC Risc PC Windows, Mac OS Update Patch 22nd January 2009


  1. ^ RISC OS Six Frequently Asked Questions, RISCOS Ltd, accessed 2008-11-29
  2. ^ RISC OS 5 source code release revealed, Drobe.co.uk, 29th Sep 2006
  3. ^ RISC OS camps to discuss future development, drobe.co.uk, 27th November 2007
  4. ^ Castle spills beans on ROL dispute, drobe.co.uk, 21 Jun 2004, accessed 2009-07-16
  5. ^ RISC OS 4 and 5 to merge, drobe.co.uk, 16 Oct 2004
  6. ^ Comment posting by riscosopen, drobe.co.uk, 30 Apr 2009
  7. ^ Version and feature detection between operating system branches, riscosopen.org forum, 28 Apr 2009
  8. ^ New release of RISC OS Firefox available, drobe.co.uk, 22 Feb 2008
  9. ^ Thunderbird Port for RISC OS Released, osnews.com, 31 Jan 2007
  10. ^ Chris's Acorns - Acorn Risc Technologies
  11. ^ Acorn Management restructuring - Chris Cox VP, Workstations Division
  12. ^ Jaffa Software - Phoebe: Risc PC 2 No More
  13. ^ Stuart Halliday - Acorn Cybervillage Announcement - Workstation Division to close, Risc PC 2 work stopped, Acorn World Show postponed
  14. ^ The Register - Acorn builds Castles in the Air
  15. ^ Acorn Computers Press Release - Acorn announces distribution deal with Castle Technology for RISC based products
  16. ^ The Register - Acorn falls off education tree
  17. ^ Acorn Computers Press Release - Acorn sells Xemplar stake
  18. ^ Acorn Computers - News and press releases
  19. ^ The Register - Acorn’s new name is…
  20. ^ EETimes - Acorn renamed, refocused as Element 14
  21. ^ Acorn Computers - News and press releases
  22. ^ The Register - RISCOS to continue OS 4 development
  23. ^ RISCOS Ltd Press Release - RISCOS Ltd acquires license to develop and release RISC OS 4
  24. ^ Thompson Reuters - Pace Micro Technology PLC acquires Element 14 Ltd-Set-top Box Bus from Broadcom Corp
  25. ^ Sophie Wilson - Element 14 BBQ
  26. ^ The Register - Atlas coughs up $13m for Acorn spin-out
  27. ^ ElectronicsWeekly.com - Element 14 snatches Alcatel DSL designers
  28. ^ The Register - Broadcom eats Element 14
  29. ^ Business Wire -Broadcom Completes Acquisition of Element 14

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