User:Flibble/Acorn Stuff

Queen's award for technology
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/themicrouser/news/02-04.htm

Restructures

 * Sep 1995 -> Acorn into Acorn Education and Applied Risc Technologies http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Misc/Acorn_RestructuringofAcornSept95.pdf
 * Sep 1995 -> Acorn into Online Media and Applied Risc Technologies http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Clan/Acorn_AcornsRestructuring_Sep05.pdf

These two contradict themselves.

Olivetti

 * July 1996: 31.2% Olivetti Telemedia - http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/ART/ART_DS000_ARTCorporateOverview.pdf

People
Managing Director


 * Hermann Hauser (1984) JOINT http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/themicrouser/news/01-11.htm
 * Chris Curry (1982-1985) JOINT? http://yourcomputeronline.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/march-1982-news/ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LIk0x7VI-C0C&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=acorn+computers+managing+director+chris+curry&source=bl&ots=9V5NAZ49jD&sig=nSf3HYyS474lO2r0dEAt6lr_yRo&hl=en&ei=ZZwlTsfeCYfTsgbIkfG_CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=acorn%20computers%20managing%20director%20chris%20curry&f=false
 * Dr Alex Reid (1985)
 * Brian Long (1985-1987) http://www.stairwaytohell.com/articles/AU-AcornHistory.html
 * Harvey Coleman (1988-1990) http://www.stairwaytohell.com/articles/AU-AcornHistory.html http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL18.pdf
 * Sam Wauchope (1990-1995) http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200812161349412246K http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/acorn/doc/risc-pc http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/PR/New_MD_at_Acorn.txt
 * David Lee (1995-1998) http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/PR/New_MD_at_Acorn.txt http://www.poppyfields.net/acorn/news/acopress/apple.shtml http://www.poppyfields.net/acorn/news/971016.shtml http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/PR/Management_changes_at_Acorn.txt

CEO


 * Stan Boland (1998-1999) http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/PR/Management_changes_at_Acorn.txt

Chairman


 * Hermann Hauser (1983) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pKU5MXqo4UYC&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267&dq=%22hermann+hauser%22+acorn+chairman&source=bl&ots=yPK7r9mVvp&sig=RBLMVbPPo7J2PWwr-ib_tmnFSK0&hl=en&ei=ldsmTsDcCo33sgbI5eXPCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22hermann%20hauser%22%20acorn%20chairman&f=false
 * Dr Alex Reid (1985)
 * Alessandro Uboldi de Capei (Spetember 1985- Jan 1986) https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01708846/filing-history/MDA5MjY0MzY5NmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
 * Bruno Soggiu (1986-1988) http://www.stairwaytohell.com/articles/AU-AcornHistory.html
 * Elserino Piol (1988) http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/NL/Acorn_NewsIss4.pdf
 * Ettore Morezzi (1991-1992)
 * Ernesto Musumeci (1992)
 * Gordon Owen (1997-1999) http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/1997/03/12/3133/Acorn-reduces-loss-in-transitional-year.htm http://marutan.net/wikiref/msdw/19990504%20-%20MSDW%20Recommended%20offer%20for%20Acorn.pdf

Refs per version
1987


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP118_Archimedes.pdf APP118 Archimedes High Performance Computer Systems 1st Edition June 1987

1988


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP151_RISCOperatingSystem.pdf RISC OPERATING SYSTEM

1989


 * http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~theom/riscos/docs/ArthurAppsAuthorGuide.txt Archimedes Applications: Authors' Guidelines (although 1989 mostly Arthur)

1990


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL19.pdf Developers' Newsletter No.19 August 1990 "The penetration of RISC OS is now so high -estimated at greater than 90% of Archimedes computer owners - that we would suggest that support for Arthur is no longer a requirement"


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL20.pdf Developers' Newsletter No.20 October 1990 "RISC OS 2.01 new modules"

1991


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL24.pdf Developers' Newsletter Number 24 November 1991 "The following information tries to summarise the differences between RISC OS 2.00 and RISC OS 3."


 * http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~theom/riscos/docs/RO3MarketingQandA.txt RISC OS 3 Q&A

1992


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL26.pdf Developers' Newsletter No 26 - May 1992 Queens award for ARM citation. "To date, some 180,000 ARM-powered machines have been sold by Acorn."


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Tech/Acorn_RISCOS3Rel_NoteVsn310.pdf RISC OS 3.10 Release Note


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/PR/RISC_OS_3_available.txt (27 Aug 1992) Acorn's RISC OS 3 Now Available for All


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Tech/Acorn_RISCOS3Rel_NoteVsn311.pdf RISC OS 3.11 Release Note

1993


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL28.pdf Developers' Newsletter No 28 - March 1993, "Versions of RISC OS 3", Stlye guide 2 "Adoption of a 3D 'Look and Feel'"


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL29.pdf Developers' Newsletter No 29 August 1993 "NewLook will be made available to the general public at the Acorn World Show"

1994


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/AN/253.pdf Acorn App note: New features of RISC OS 3 Version 3.5


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL33.pdf Developers' Newsletter No 33 - April 1994 "Acorn launches the Risc PC"


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL38.pdf Developers' Newsletter No 38 August 1995 "Now that around 80% of users have RISC OS 3.1 (or a later version), there should be no need for Developers to support earlier versions of the operating system"

1995


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Tech/Acorn_RISCOS3Vsn360_RelNote.pdf May 1995 RISC OS 3.60 release note


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/Clan/Acorn_Clan_RISCOS360.pdf Sept 95, Acorn Clan RISC OS 3.60 factsheet

1996


 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/ART/ART_DS013_AcornRISCOS.pdf ART RISC OS datasheet "RISC OS has been shipped on over 500 ,000 systems worldwide."
 * http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/AN/295.pdf Acorn App note: Introduction to StrongARM and Programming Guidelines "We also introduce RISC OS 3.7, and describe its enhancements over RISC OS 3.6."

Licensing issues and unrelated
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."

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."

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.

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 the two companies agreed to merge the two competing streams. After taking over development from Castle, RISC OS Open Ltd later distanced themselves from this announcement, indicating it was technically impossible but indicated 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 and Thunderbird.

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


 * http://yoz.com/wired/2.09/features/acorn.html
 * http://yoz.com/wired/2.05/features/hauser.html

Interview with S Wilson


 * http://speleotrove.com/acorn/acornWilson.html

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


 * http://www.iconbar.com/forums/viewthread.php?newsid=1079

Misc


 * http://web.archive.org/web/19990129063254/www.acorn.co.uk/acorn/news/
 * http://web.archive.org/web/19990506183321/www.acorn.co.uk/acorn/news/press/e14qa.html
 * http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/people/sjf39/ford_failing_to_disrupt.pdf

Really good paper about ARM/Acorn history and ARM spinout


 * http://www2.sa.unibo.it/~simone.ferriani/Download/Speciation%20through%20Entrepreneurial%20Spin-off.pdf

Size of Acorn 32bit market.

 * 1992 Autumn - ~240,000 RISC OS 2.x, 3.00 and 3.1x - http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/DN/Acorn_DevNL28.pdf Acorn Developer Newsletter 28, page 1
 * 1996 July - Over 500,000 RISC OS systems shipped - http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Acorn/ART/ART_DS013_AcornRISCOS.pdf ART RISC OS datasheet
 * 2005 August - 3,000 Virtual Acorn users - http://www.drobe.co.uk/article.php?id=1420 Drobe
 * 2007 July - 6,000 RISC OS 4 ROM sales, 1,800 Adjust ROM Sales, 1,000 RISC OS Select subscriptions - http://www.drobe.co.uk/article.php?id=1989 Drobe

UK Company numbers of Acorn related businesses

 * 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

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

Acorn 1998 Timeline
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
 * Acorn bring things back together again, Workstation division etc
 * 17/06/1998 - Stan Boland takes over from David Lee as CEO of Acorn
 * 17/09/1998 - Acorn close workstation division cancel phoebe 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
 * ??/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
 * 02/01/1999 - Acorn rename to Element 14
 * 05/03/1999 - Element 14 sells license to RISCOS Ltd to develop and release RISC OS 4
 * 27/04/1999-03/06/1999 - Buyout of Acorn Group PLC by MSDW
 * 01/06/1999 - Sale of STB business to Pace
 * 26/07/1999 - Element 14 successfully detaches from Acorn Group PLC
 * 02/08/1999 - Element 14 secure venture capital
 * 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.
 * 14/10/2000-24/11/2000 - Broadcom buy Element 14 Becomes or is absorbed into the DSL buisness unit.

RISC OS Emulators
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.wikipedia.org/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)

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