Acorn Archimedes

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morcar

morcar

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I cant believe i missed these computers as i just tried an emulator and it blew me away. To me its like an Amiga only when it comes to 3D it blows the Amiga away.

I am now on the look out for one after the new year and maybe add it to my collection.

Which model would be the best to run all the disks and be expandable ?
 
I would go for the A3010 my friend as it has joystick ports too and RISC OS 3 which will run most software & can also run with a VGA Monitor.
They can be picked up quite easily & cheaply you know where ;)

They are fantastic platforms indeed & use of a std disc controller means you can also use omniflop to recreate floppy disc software images using your PC.

TC :cool:
 
sweet i have a 21 inch crt monitor doing nothing at the moment so that would be perfect
 
I have a A3000 and have just bought a A3010 and I'm loving the A3010 :)

Stripped mine down yesterday, replaced the battery and gave it a good cleaning and bar a little yellowing on the keys it's come up like new and it's a really lovely looking machine (looks better than a Amiga IMO).

I've got 2mb memory and a 200mb 2.5" Hard drive on a Castle Technology IDE podule but I'm looking to up the memory to 4mb and try and find a way of attaching a 512mb memory card to the IDE interface or buy a complete kit. Also need to sort out a RGB Scart Lead for it as I'm using it through TV modulator at the moment, I've tried it on a SVGA LCD but when I try and run a game I get no picture. From what I've learnt SCART RGB is the way to go.

The other thing I've found with the Archimedes is there's next to no community and it's very hard trying to find out any info. Like I would love to setup a nice desktop and have everything that's worth having installed on to hard drive but I haven't a clue how to achieve this :lol:

Go for it though it's a great machine and IMO the best machine to have is the A3010 even if it is just for the Green Keys :D
 
It does blow the Amiga away since the CPU (being a RISC design) has alot less to think about with certain functions being removed that rarely get used. Athough the Amiga (CISC) trumps the Acorn with sprites and other 2D related stuff.

Don't back me up on this but it was from a tech video in the late 80's.
 
pinchez said:
I have a A3000 and have just bought a A3010 and I'm loving the A3010 :)

Stripped mine down yesterday, replaced the battery and gave it a good cleaning and bar a little yellowing on the keys it's come up like new and it's a really lovely looking machine (looks better than a Amiga IMO).

I've got 2mb memory and a 200mb 2.5" Hard drive on a Castle Technology IDE podule but I'm looking to up the memory to 4mb and try and find a way of attaching a 512mb memory card to the IDE interface or buy a complete kit. Also need to sort out a RGB Scart Lead for it as I'm using it through TV modulator at the moment, I've tried it on a SVGA LCD but when I try and run a game I get no picture. From what I've learnt SCART RGB is the way to go.

The other thing I've found with the Archimedes is there's next to no community and it's very hard trying to find out any info. Like I would love to setup a nice desktop and have everything that's worth having installed on to hard drive but I haven't a clue how to achieve this :lol:

Go for it though it's a great machine and IMO the best machine to have is the A3010 even if it is just for the Green Keys :D
Click to expand...

There is a community: check iconbar.com or comp.sys.acorn
 
TheCorfiot said:
I would go for the A3010 my friend as it has joystick ports too and RISC OS 3 which will run most software & can also run with a VGA Monitor.
They can be picked up quite easily & cheaply you know where ;)

They are fantastic platforms indeed & use of a std disc controller means you can also use omniflop to recreate floppy disc software images using your PC.

TC :cool:
Click to expand...
I disagree the best one to go for is the A3020. It as the advantage of 2mb ram and an IDE interfaces as standard.
If you plan on using it for games then a VGA monitor would not be the best option, a lot of games and other programs will switch the screen mode to one that is incompatible with the VAG monitor. You'll be looking at a blank screen when you load these. Best to get a SCART lead, they work fine with a LCD TV.
When you're ready to buy one, if you cannot find any in the usual places, you could try CJE micros

John
 
Jomor58 said:
.....
I disagree the best one to go for is the A3020. It as the advantage of 2mb ram and an IDE interfaces as standard.
If you plan on using it for games then a VGA monitor would not be the best option, a lot of games and other programs will switch the screen mode to one that is incompatible with the VAG monitor. You'll be looking at a blank screen when you load these. Best to get a SCART lead, they work fine with a LCD TV.
When you're ready to buy one, if you cannot find any in the usual places, you could try CJE micros

John
Click to expand...

I agree, I have a 3020 and knocked up some SNES controller to Parallel port Joypads to compensate for lack of a Joystick. Have a look HERE
Most games play using the keyboard though.

Having 2MB of RAM straight away and an internal 44 pin IDE interface as standard is very useful, lots of the games are hard drive installable.
There are very few essential upgrades, and beyond getting an extra 2Mb which is useful for some applications, it is not really necessary.

I'm quite lucky in that I have an old VGA multisync monitor which happily copes with all the outputs. For instance you can have it working very nicely in most games and the desktop, but try and play Cannon Fodder or Chuck Rock and it throws it out of sync leaving you with a heavily distorted display.
A VGA to SCART cable would be a very good alternative.
 
I can see that the A3020 as the best specification because of the standard 2mb memory and IDE interface but if you get a A3010 with those upgrades already as I did then I would argue that it's a nicer looking machine and slightly rearer with less chance of any school markings. Also lets be honest most of us are just going to run old games for nostalga and as long as it does that then all's good :thumbsup:

I remember when I used to go to computer fairs in the early 90's (before they turned into just markets) when enthusiasts would take along their computers to show them off etc. I had my first encouter with the A3010 playing starfighter and honestly at that time as an Amiga owner it blew me away!!!

I always fancied owning one I now I do, Give me green over red function keys all day long ;)
 
pinchez said:
I can see that the A3020 as the best specification because of the standard 2mb memory and IDE interface but if you get a A3010 with those upgrades already as I did then I would argue that it's a nicer looking machine and slightly rearer with less chance of any school markings. Also lets be honest most of us are just going to run old games for nostalga and as long as it does that then all's good :thumbsup:

I remember when I used to go to computer fairs in the early 90's (before they turned into just markets) when enthusiasts would take along their computers to show them off etc. I had my first encouter with the A3010 playing starfighter and honestly at that time as an Amiga owner it blew me away!!!

I always fancied owning one I now I do, Give me green over red function keys all day long ;)
Click to expand...



Ah someone gets my point at least :lol:

Seriously though they are a lot cheaper too.
 
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