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Notes |
Manufacturer |
Acorn Computers Ltd (UK) |
Model |
Atom |
Date Launched |
March 1980 |
Price |
£140 as a kit |
Microprocessor type |
MOSTEK 6502 @ 1 MHz |
ROM size |
8 kilobytes |
Standard RAM |
2 kilobytes |
Maximum RAM |
12 kilobytes on the main board. |
Keyboard type |
Typewriter style |
Supplied language |
BASIC (fast-running but integer only) plus assembler. |
Text resolution |
32 x 16 |
Graphics resolution |
Nine different modes with resolutions from 64 x 48 to 256 x 192 pixels. |
Colours available |
Monochrome (or 4). |
Example Screenshot |
|
Sound |
Single channel through internal speaker |
Cassette load speed |
300 baud |
Dimensions (mm) |
380 x 235 x 57 |
Special features |
It was possible to add two extra ROM chips (e.g. to give floating point arithmetic) to sockets already on the board. |
Good points |
Good specification for the price in 1980. |
Bad points |
The standard 2 KB RAM was too small to use high resolution graphics and extra RAM cost £11.22 per kilobyte. |
How successful? |
Quite popular for an early computer, about 20,000 were sold. |
Comments |
The Acorn Atom was derived from the company's System 1, launched in April 1979, but with an integrated graphics chip to replace multiple components in the System 1. |
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