Date   : Fri, 05 May 2006 12:40:31 +0100
From   : "Austin Pass" <austinpass.bbc@...>
Subject: [Off-Topic] Acorn Reborn!

Apologies for the non-BBC 8-bit posting, but I thought that it might be of
interest to some on the list nevertheless:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/05/acorn_computers_reborn/

The link contents for those reading on non graphical systems:

That one-time pioneer of British home computing Acorn is to sprout once
again. The creator of the Atom, Electron, Archimedes and BBC Micro machines
,
of the ARM chip company and of the RISC OS is to be revived next week as a
purveyor of notebook PCs.

The company's refusing to say anything about the motivation behind the
revival, or who's spearheading the move, until it's formally launched on 10
May. It has said it will offer four notebooks: the 12.1in Solo Note, 14.1in
Solo Book, 15.4in Desk Note and 17in Desk Book, all equipped with WXGA
displays, run Windows XP and will bundle Sun's Star Office.

Acorn said it would pitch the machines at home users, education buyers,
small businesses and public sector purchasers. Its launch next week will be
accompanied by a reseller recruitment drive.

Family tree

The original Acorn was founded in 1978 by Herman Hauser and Chris Curry. It
went on to launch five incarnations of its System machine before debuting
the Atom in 1980. A year later it launched the BBC Micro Models A and B, th
e
latter one of the most popular home computers of the era.

In 1984, the now saturated home computer market crashed leaving many
manufacturers, Acorn one of them, left with massive stocks built up in the
anticipating of higher-than-ever sales. Acorn survived in part by striking
a
deal with Olivetti, a move that allowed it to look beyond the home to the
education market, where it had already proved a strong player.

The Archimedes followed in 1987 on the back of the in-house development of
a
groundbreaking new chip based on RISC technology. In 1991, the chip divisio
n
was spun off as ARM - originally Acorn Risc Machines - and continues to
prosper today. Acorn, meanwhile, continued to offer ARM-based machines usin
g
its home-brewed RISC OS, but it dropped out of the hardware business in
1998. A year later, Acorn spun off its DSP chip business as Element 14
before being acquired by Broadcom two years later. =AE


Kind regards,
Austin.