In Brief
"They came together as young graduates – mainly from the University of Cambridge. They weren't there because of their business
ability, so some things went wrong. Everything relied on individual motivation and a deep
personal sense of responsibility. No one tried to control anyone. It was a very open environment.
You were expected to see what needed to be done and get it done. Most of the time it worked
spectacularly well. When it failed, it was equally spectacular."
David Bell, Acorn's Technical Director (1990–1995)
In the late 1970s, amid Britain's economic and social turmoil, post-war recovery had stalled,
but there were a few with the vision and the courage to act.
The Manpower Services Commission engaged the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to study the new field of microelectronics. This coincided with the 1979 election, when Margaret Thatcher's Conservative
Government swept to power; thus began the BBC Computer Literacy Project and government initiatives to wake a sleeping nation.
VOICES FROM A FUTURE PASSED describes how rapid change erupted in Britain during the last 20 years of the 20th century - technological,
social, political, economic.
Early contributors to the information age describe their roles. For
contributions to science, industry and innovation, two would be knighted and others would become internationally recognised for their achievements .
Working with Acorn Computers and the BBC in the early 1980s was an adventure.
These bright independent people were loyal to their colleagues and committed to their shared goals.
These attitudes were never seen as being virtuous – they were fun!
It began in the UK and USA, but its effects are now felt across the globe. Their work changed all our lives,
as new uses for transistors and digital computers sprang up everywhere. What followed – the highs and lows, the wins and losses
– continue to shape the lives of everyone living today, as it will for future generations.
Acorn, a small company in Cambridge, UK was selected to build a million BBC Microcomputers in the early 1980s.
People who led development of the now ubiquitous ARM microprocessor (more than 30 for every human on the planet) and the engineers, scientists and mathematicians
who worked in Cambridge and Palo Alto recollect those years. Together, they build a clear image of extraordinary achievements.
Much has happened since the 1980s. Memories have become blurred, but solid evidence was found through intensive research
for what is presented here. It may be as close to certainty about the history of these events as is possible to achieve.
chapters
Further Reading
It started here
I have a vivid memory of saying to an able young man, David Allen, that there may be something in this microelectronics thing, and worth looking into.
That casual request led to the Computer Programme – first broadcast on BBC television in 1982. It was a world-first initiative that addressed the potential impact of the emerging field of digital electronics; but that was just the beginning. Other award-winning programmes followed, well into the next decade, influencing generations of viewers.
While I don’t pretend to understand digital technology, who can fail to appreciate the remarkable changes made in every aspect of our lives?
Rob Napier’s well-researched history, Voices from a Future Passed, brings the story to life through the recollections of people who were directly responsible for bringing a virtual revolution to Britain and the rest of the world.
Sheila Innes
Formerly Controller of Educational Broadcasting
British Broadcasting Corporation
Prologue
Our story begins at 4A Market Hill in Cambridge, where graduates, students and researchers (obsessed with digital electronics) designed and built computer hardware and wrote software that could run on these tiny but capable machines. This team of engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists launched one of the UK’s most successful startups.
Barking Mad
To reach 4A Market Hill, Cambridge in 1981, you passed through an unimpressive entrance beside the Eastern Electricity showroom at the Market Square. The end of the passageway was so poorly lit, even the graffiti was difficult to read. A door into the building passed by the mail room where Dave Bard fought a never-ending struggle to process Royal Mail deliveries of packages – mostly computers returned for repair.
A second, heavier door led to an electricity substation that shared the ground floor. The low hum of its large transformers was barely noticeable, except in winter when electricity demand peaked; then the noise sounded like a continuous drumroll.
It was in these unimpressive surroundings that a small team of engineers would achieve what seems, even now, to be impossible: to design and build a functioning computer in four days. At stake was the chance to win a contract to produce another one million machines.
Anyone who believed it was possible, would have to be barking mad!
David Allen
Head of Continuing Education, Television, Sheila Innes appointed two BBC television producers, Robert Albury and David Allen, to investigate and report on the likely impact of microelectronics. The BBC had connections within some of the world’s best research institutions, universities and corporations. After tapping into that network, Robert and David were convinced that BBC Television should help its viewers prepare for a future that would be dominated by computers.
As producer of the BBC Computer Literacy Project, David championed the need for action. His contribution, and the work of others at the BBC, the Department of Industry, in the education sector, and Acorn Computers ignited an interest in computer literacy in Britain. This had a life-changing influence on David’s career.
The Langham Decision
When the BBC started looking for a UK computer company, Acorn Computers operated in an environment where it had no serious local competitors. In 1980, the market was vastly different from what it is today. US companies Commodore, Apple and Tandy dominated home computer sales. Sinclair had the ZX80, but like most British home computers, it was little more than a toy.
At first, there seemed to be few records to prove that the tender selection process was fair. The investigation that fixed the various dates, would have made Miss Marple proud. This involved finding supporting documents and speaking to the evaluation team who had all retired long ago. The goal was to find records of the BBC's contacts with Acorn; and to learn how they made their decision. Being an open tender, any sign of bias would call the process into doubt. Finally, a trove of vitally important documents was found.
Spoiler alert! The tender process proved to be completely impartial.
Richard Russell
Now retired from BBC Engineering, Richard Russell has championed the virtues of the BBC BASIC programming language for more than 40 years. A graduate of Hertford College, Oxford, Richard was a junior engineer with the BBC when computer education was introduced into television programming. As well as liaising with Acorn Computers on behalf of the BBC, he developed a personal interest in writing BBC BASIC for other platforms. This became a lifetime interest. Thanks to his talent, drive and hard work, BBC BASIC runs on most machines available today.
Sinclair v BBC v Acorn
The Computer Literacy Project began for all the right reasons, but it was a turbulent era in post-war Britain. The BBC's market research and analysis were inadequate for what lay ahead. There is no shame in acknowledging that some assumptions were completely wrong; but even their internal correspondence avoids addressing its contribution to the problems created by its runaway success.
In Cambridge, Clive Sinclair, Christopher Curry and Hermann Hauser had a lot in common. Even the BBC’s first attempt to develop a computer started with a machine from Newbury Laboratories that had begun life at Sinclair Radionics. This part of the story looks at some of the BBC’s decisions and its relationships with Acorn and Sinclair during the turmoil of the 1980s.
When responding to Clive Sinclair's relentless campaign, which opposed the appointment of Acorn Computers, the BBC engaged in strategic and tactical planning not seen since the Queen’s coronation.
Christopher Curry
– before Acorn
The story of Acorn Computers begins with another Cambridge business: Sinclair Radionics. Hermann Hauser and Christopher Curry enlisted the aid of Chris Turner to develop the MK14 microcomputer kit for Science of Cambridge – another Sinclair business. This set the pattern for the way Acorn recruited Britain’s best and brightest.
Christopher’s involvement with Clive Sinclair began in the late 1960s. The relationship changed over the years: starting as an employee, he became a business partner, then later a strong competitor; but he always regarded Clive warmly. Considering the battles they fought in the media, in Parliament, with the BBC and at a pub in Cambridge, it made for an odd friendship. Christopher Curry shows himself to be a loyal, highly creative and an enigmatic leader who helped to inspire a generation.
Christopher Curry
– Acorn harvest
Though Christopher Curry had first set his sights on an electronics career, his focus was less hands-on by his mid-thirties. In an interview for the October 1982 issue of Practical Electronics magazine, he showed his flare for marketing that influenced the success of Acorn Computers. He demonstrated a mature understanding of the market forces and the impending changes that loomed large on the horizon. Despite knowing what was coming, he couldn't prevent the inevitable. This concludes Christopher’s story...
Andy Hopper
Though completely deserving the title, ‘Sir Andrew Hopper’ sounds a bit posh for someone who likes to be called Andy; but that makes this British-Polish computer technologist and entrepreneur even more likeable. An active mind with the drive to push boundaries and make the most of every opportunity, that’s Andy in a nutshell.
Acting as a conduit between Acorn and the extensive talent and resources at the University of Cambridge, he provided ideas for several innovations including early work on the Econet local area network and one the world’s most successful chips – the ARM processor. As well as his many academic roles (including Head of the University Computer Laboratory), Andy became CEO of the Olivetti Research Laboratory in Cambridge in 1986, which established a series of successful spin-off companies to capitalise on the laboratory’s advanced research.
In recognition of his contributions to British and global technology that created many billions of dollars in new industries, Andy was awarded a CBE and then knighted in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday honours. He has been recognised with Fellowships of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Other awards include an Honorary Fellowship of Swansea University and an Honorary Degree from Queen’s University Belfast, the Royal Society’s Bakerian Medal and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award.
Sam Wauchope
Acorn Computers was forced to sell Olivetti a 49% share of the business early in 1985. A team from Olivetti later found that Acorn was in far worse financial shape and needed more than the initial £12 million bailout, but Olivetti was reluctant to tip more cash in.
Acorn's collapse would reflect badly on the Thatcher Government, the BBC and Britain’s emerging status in high tech industries. After some ‘encouragement’ from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Norman Tebbit, Olivetti reluctantly agreed to purchase Hermann Hauser’s and Christopher Curry’s remaining 30.8% shareholding at a much lower valuation of £4 million – but also with other conditions. These included debt write-downs from Acorn’s bankers and major creditors, which included the BBC.
These events led to Christopher departing and Hermann stepping aside from day-to-day management. A few of Acorn’s directors and senior managers also left after some heated exchanges with Olivetti’s senior management, where each blamed the other’s perceived failure.
Sam Wauchope was a consultant with Arthur Anderson’s London office when he accepted his assignment with Acorn. He expected this task to last only a few months. How wrong he was!
Chris Turner
Chris Turner had a boyhood interest in electronics, building homebrew radios, hi-fi amplifiers and even a few Sinclair electronics kits. This led to his first job as a technician in the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge. He worked there by day and studied electronics engineering part-time at the Cambridge campus of what is now Anglia Ruskin University. One project was to design and build a high-speed image capture system for one of the research students: Hermann Hauser.
Chris moved to the Pye Group as an electronics design engineer in 1976, where he worked with advanced measuring instruments and microprocessors. While designing television studio equipment he worked with BBC Research. Exposure to television technology would prove useful in ways he could never have imagined at the time.
Disciplined and detail oriented, he has a reputation for keeping extensive notes and recording his initials on his work; so, ‘CBT’ appears regularly in old tech notes and schematics. Those records, his remarkable memory, and his attention to detail proved invaluable when researching this biography.
Steve Furber
Professor Emeritus Stephen Furber CBE FRS FREng DFBCS FIET CITP CEng was appointed to the ICL Chair of Computer Engineering at the University of Manchester in 1990. After a Rolls-Royce Research Fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he joined Acorn and led development of the BBC Microcomputer and the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) microprocessor with Sophie Wilson.
Professor Furber is a Fellow of the IEEE, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Computer Society, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. His awards include a Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, and the IET Faraday Medal. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was a 2010 Millennium Technology Prize laureate, awarded by the Technology Academy of Finland. He is a recipient of the Computer History Museum Fellow Award (Mountain View, CA), and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Anglia Ruskin University and Queen’s University, Belfast and Oxford University.
Sophie Wilson
Sophie Wilson is said to be one of the most influential women in computing in the world today. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to computing and elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is an honorary fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and has received the Royal Society Mullard Award with Steve Furber for work on ARM and was honoured as a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. In 2022, she shared the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering with Steve Furber, John Hennessy, and David Patterson for their invention, development, and implementation of RISC chips.
Andrew Gordon
Andrew Gordon joined Acorn as the first shipments of BBC Microcomputers were leaving the Cleartone plant in Wales. He was one of the first to move into the new offices – a refurbished water treatment plant at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge. His first day was particularly memorable because he arrived when most of Southern England was closed due to an unusually heavy snow fall.
He spent his gap year working on its operating and filing systems; followed this with three years of study at the University of Cambridge, 20 years at SJ Research, and occasionally returning to Acorn for special projects.
Arthur Norman
Dr Arthur Norman is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself in a long career as Director of Studies for Computer Science, and lecturer in the Computer Science department. He could be described as a force célèbre in Cambridge.
It’s worth noting that there are more people on Earth able to perform brain surgery than there are expert developers of high-level language compilers. But don’t be concerned; what Arthur will tell you here isn’t brain surgery!
When presented with this observation Dr Norman checked World Data to confirm that there are some 25,000 specialists developing compilers, and about 67,000 brain surgeons on the planet. That attention to detail reflects this man’s approach.
In a partnership outside of their university responsibilities, Arthur Norman, Alan Mycroft and John Fitch developed the C language compiler, which was vital to the runaway success of the ARM chip.
Brian Cockburn
Brian Cockburn joined Australia’s Acorn and Sinclair distributor, Barson Computers, in 1982. He was one of two people hired at about the same time. Being second to start, he missed having to deal with the growing pile of broken Sinclair ZX80s and ZX81s. When Brian joined the firm, he was assigned to support Acorn Atoms and Eurocard Systems. He quickly became technical lead of the new BBC Microcomputer and contributed to its Econet development.
A few years later, Brian moved to Cambridge as an Econet lead developer. When he arrived at Acorn, his coworkers believed they already had enough Brians – Brian Jones and Brian Robertson. They were inspired by Monty Python’s ‘The Bruces’, which claims all males in Australia are called ‘Bruce’. That’s why this is Bruce’s story...
Carl Dellar
Carl Dellar was born and raised in the Cambridge area. He studied computer science at the University of Manchester where he learnt to play darts and drink Boddingtons Bitter. After being awarded a First in computer science in 1976, he started a paid job writing COBOL. It didn’t take long to realize there was more to computing than what he was doing.
After developing the first Econet file server, he moved to the USA, where he worked for Texas Instruments and Hewlett Packard, before becoming deputy head of the Acorn Research Centre at Palo Alto in Silicon Valley.
Colin Priestley
Colin Priestley managed the production of Acorn Systems and Atoms during its critical growth phase between 1979 and 1982. His abilities as a logistics manager helped to keep the company alive during its startup phase. Later, he demonstrated those same skills on the other side of the world after joining Barson Computers.
David Bell
1982 was a challenging year for the British Broadcasting Corporation and Acorn Computers. The first BBC Micros shipped in February but demand outstripped supply by a huge margin. Being sponsored by the BBC, consumers expected everything to run without a hitch.
Acorn was a small startup working in cramped offices dotted around Cambridge, but they were facing a Tsunami. Despite their best efforts, there were production delays, quality control issues, poor customer service, weak technical support, development delays, logistical problems... The list goes on.
To save its reputation and the project, the BBC engaged an external consultant who recommended that Acorn should employ an experienced middle-level manager to liaise with the BBC. The person recruited to fill that role was David Bell.
David remained at Acorn throughout its highs and lows, finally leading the team that developed the Archimedes series of desktop computers.
Jes Wills
Jeremy Wills, better known as Jes, is often mentioned in conversations about Acorn. A highly capable computer scientist, he extended Econet performance and developed verification and validation software that was used to test the first generation of ARM chips. Now living in Austin, Texas, he recalls his time with Acorn...
Jim Mitchell
As an undergrad at the University of Waterloo, Jim led a small team that developed WATFOR, found to be about one thousand times faster than IBM’s own Fortran compiler – which to be fair, had different design goals.
Jim completed his PhD at Carnegie Mellon University, where he invented a method widely used today in interactive languages like Python. He has since made extensive contributions to operating system development, peta-scale supercomputers, microelectronics packaging, and silicon photonics for chip-to-chip communication.
As head of Acorn Research, Jim helped guide the heavily classified Project A team in Cambridge that created the ARM RISC chip, while also leading the ARX operating system team as President of the Acorn Research Centre at Palo Alto in Silicon Valley.
In 1997, Jim was awarded the J. W. Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation in recognition of his contributions to the tidal wave of success that Java has experienced. Jim offers some insights on this part of his remarkable career...
Joe Dunn
Joe always appeared quietly confident, someone open to suggestions and feedback. Dealing with engineers on the other side of the planet, he never complained when they reported Econet bugs, and always welcomed feedback. Joe treated everyone as part of the team. He built confidence to push ahead, even though it was never clear when the next bug might undermine consumer confidence.
Joe Dunn’s contributions to the Acorn Econet can’t be overstated. His ability to engage with people draws on the way he trusts and is trusted by others. He demonstrates that in the world of high-tech research and development, trust is a vital commodity. While soaking up the sun in Fiji, Joe took time out to reminisce.
John Cox
Just before his eighteenth birthday, while waiting to start first term at the University of Cambridge, John joined Acorn Computers. During his eight short months at Fulbourn Road, John ported the Eurocard System disk controller software to become the BBC Micro’s Disk Filing System (DFS).
Jon Thackray
Jon joined Acorn Computers at the beginning of 1982, having completed his studies at the University of Cambridge. He was hired to replace Paul Bond, who had written the first release of the BBC's Machine Operating System (MOS). Jon would lead development of all further releases of the MOS, as well as assemblers, debuggers, emulators and a successful adventure game with Acornsoft. For Jon, life was never dull. For example, he appeared as expert witness in a stressful copyright dispute on the other side of the world.
Kim Spence-Jones
Kim graduated as a civil engineer and earned his MA in Engineering Science from the University of Cambridge. As a young graduate, he worked in the offshore oil industry where he developed a technique for connecting pipes underwater. In the late 1970s, with an interest in electronics, he developed industrial control equipment.
Kim made important contributions to several Acorn projects, and established SJ Research, which became a leader in Econet add-ons during the BBC Micro years.
Laurence Hardwick
Laurence grew up in the Midlands and attended a comprehensive school where, like many bright pupils of the time, he was singled out as being different. His way to escape bullying and isolation was to pass the entrance exam for the University of Cambridge.
He contributed to early development of Econet and the cassette tape interface, dealt with the deluge of customer enquiries until formal structures were set up. While still young, Hermann gave him a motorbike to travel the UK promoting and supporting Acorn products.
Laurence presented the BBC Micro to Prince Charles in London on the IT82 train, and to the Queen and Prince Phillip at an army barracks in India. He later led product support in Australia – then worldwide, working with Acorn's partner, Oracle.
Paul Fellows
Paul joined Acornsoft toward the end of 1981 while still at university. He became one of its most valued and longest-serving software specialists. At Acornsoft, Paul led the programming languages team which later developed the first operating system to work with the ARM chip – Arthur.
His analysis of Acorn's and Acornsoft's internal management decisions (and their impact on the business) is sometimes raw, but always insightful.
Ramanuj Banerjee
Wire wrapping is a prototyping technique used to join IC socket pins together. Ramanuj Banerjee, better known as Ram, achieved what seemed impossible in a 35-hour non-stop wire wrapping marathon. Under Steve Furber’s direction, he made the prototype Acorn Proton. This enabled Steve and Sophie Wilson to demonstrate a working machine when the BBC came to call the following day.
The stakes were high – though no one knew just how high at the time – to win the contract to build more than one million BBC Microcomputers. Even the BBC’s estimate of 20,000 machines would still be a big leap forward in the fortunes of Acorn.
Hermann Hauser often demonstrated his ability to persuade people to achieve the impossible. Asking Ram to build the prototype in two days was one of those times.
Acorn Downunder
Consolidated Marketing Corporation (CMC) was a small business that imported and distributed anything electronic that might turn a dollar. Bedhead clock radios were all the rage in hotels and motels in the 1980s. It was considered very 20th Century to reach above the pillow and adjust the radio/alarm clock installed in the bedhead.
Handheld calculators were still something of a novelty. CMC was also Clive Sinclair’s calculator distributor in Australia. Along came the ZX80 so CMC found itself in the computer business – supplied through Bob Bayham of Sinclair International.
Christopher Curry was still with Sinclair Radionics at the time. He knew Bob well, so when Acorn wanted to find overseas markets, he turned to Bob for advice. Believing Acorn was no competitor in the antipodes, Clive gave Bob his blessing to set up Acorn International. CMC became Barson Computers – selling Atoms and Eurocards, then later the BBC Microcomputer and Archimedes.
Barson Computers floated on the stock exchange, but was bailed out by Acorn, just as Acorn had been saved from liquidation by Olivetti.
A Fairytale Ending
It may seem that Acorn Computers changed little in 20 years. In fact, it was regularly engulfed by external forces over which it had little or no control, forcing it to reinvent itself each time. Hermann Hauser and Christopher Curry recruited clever people who helped them build the business. Acorn reached for the stars, not just once, but several times. Winning the contract to create the BBC Microcomputer and later the ARM RISC processor are two examples; but they were innovators and technical leaders in an era when others slavishly followed the market leaders.
Some observers link Acorn’s highs and lows to changes of leadership, though the opposite is nearer the truth. At the top, at least, leaders changed in response to external influence. What remained constant was the small group of very capable hardware and software engineers who stayed true to the ideals on which Acorn was founded.
As for Acorn Group plc, its fairy godmother, in the form of a merchant banker, showed them how to have a happy ending.
Special Mention
This chapter remembers two people who have died. Rob Napier recalls a telephone conversation with Basil Sands, Head of BBC Enterprises Australasia, interrupted by a terrorist bomb exploding near Basil's office – and his apparent indifference.
The second is John Coll, author of the BBC Microcomputer System User Guide. John possessed an extraordinary ability to accurately predict the future that we live in today.
The final story in this chapter describes the sad events when an Australian reseller of BBC Micros attempted to tunnel into the vault of a neighbouring bank.
The Radcliffe Report
BBC Executive Producer, John Radcliffe, prepared a detailed report in April 1981, two months after Acorn was selected. It provides his perspectives on the events that led to the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Sadly, John died during the writing of this book. This chapter is a unique opportunity to understand his and the official BBC perspective at this critically important point in the project.
Before the Revolution
Every human living today plays some part in the technological changes that began during World War II. While most of us have benefited from this non-stop development, we’ve also contributed through our seemingly insatiable demand for new and better. In some of the most remote parts of the world, people may struggle to get potable water, but many still have solar panels to charge their mobile phones.
Reflecting on the IT revolution, there are lessons to be learned – hopefully to avoid making the same mistakes in the future; and while the events of many decades ago may seem irrelevant today, we can all benefit from revisiting them.
The Acorn story began in the late 1970s but to understand how and why, it helps to step back to the early 1950s, when the foundations of the modern digital era were laid. Most of what we take for granted today: digital television, computers, mobile phones, global positioning systems, CAT scans, and so much more, would not exist had it not been for those first steps that coincided with the era of the baby boomers.
BBC BASIC - A Primer
The British public was introduced to BBC BASIC in February 1982, when The Computer Programme was first broadcast on BBC Television. Timing is significant as this was just a year after the evaluation team met with Acorn engineers for the first time to look over a hastily built prototype. It serves as a great example of what can be achieved when people work together in a spirit of cooperation.
The BBC wanted to offer an improved version of Microsoft BASIC so viewers could enter program listings from computer magazines, which was how a lot of self-taught programmers started. But even Microsoft BASIC had so many different versions; and as popular as it had become, some important features were missing.
This chapter explores the way people were introduced to computers back then, and the value of the BASIC programming language to many of us today.
Cambridge v Manchester
Among British universities Oxford, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast are perhaps the best known. In the field of computer architecture, Manchester and Cambridge have been centres for Britain’s computer industry. Spurred along by development during World War II, both centres established themselves as pioneers.
Their lists of outstanding contributors continue to grow, but the names from the history books who are most often recognised are: George Boole, Alan Turing, Maurice Wilkes, Roger Needham and Karen Spärck-Jones, David Wheeler, Freddie Williams, Tom Kilburn and Max Newman.
Well qualified to discuss the history of computing in the United Kingdom, Professor Emeritus Stephen Furber discusses the competing environments at the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge.
Acorn Machines
From 1978, when Acorn Computers began developing a single board computer, until 1998 when it cancelled its most ambitious project the Phoebe, the company displayed a level of innovation seldom seen in a business of its size. There were six categories:
Early Acorn Computers were Eurocard Systems and the Atom, including local area networking with the Econet. This period ends with the BBC evaluating the Proton, which led to Acorn being chosen to produce the BBC Microcomputer in February 1981.
BBC Microcomputers and 8/16-bit spin offs started with the BBC Micro. It was followed by the lower-cost Electron, a version of the BBC Micro for the US and Canadian markets, various second processor options, the Master series and packages for office applications. One anomaly was the 16-bit Acorn Communicator.
32-bit computers re-set the company’s direction when it developed its own microprocessor – the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM). This spawned new hardware for computer and communication applications, and significant operating systems.
Acorn diversification reflects Acorn’s restructure into Acorn Network Computing, Online Media and Acorn RISC Technologies in 1995.
Acorn reunification To strengthen its image, Acorn kept its internal divisional structure but marketed all of them under the Acorn name.
Re-branded computers Acorn repackaged other brands (Olivetti and Psion) to meet specific marketing objectives. Neither is significant in the history of the company but are included here for completeness.
Support your local museum
In recognition of the work to preserve the history of technology, the author will donate part of each sale of Voices from a Future Passed to a selected museum:
- The Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, UK
- The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley, UK
- The Home Computer Museum, Helmond, NL
Simply purchase a copy online from Amazon and we'll do the rest.
How to Order
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