Hardware

Photos: BBC Micro, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464 and more - the machines that defined British computing

By // February 26, 2015, 3:34 AM PST // nickjheath

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  • As the Raspberry Pi moves closer to claiming the title for the best-selling British computer of all time we look back at the classic machines to come out of the UK.

    You can find more details on each of these machines in this accompanying article.

    Acorn Atom

    Launched: 1980

    Specs: 1MHz MOS Technology 6502 CPU, 2KB RAM and 8KB ROM. Loaded programs from cassette tape or 5.25 floppy disks. Support for optional colour graphics or 256x192 monochrome display.

    Price: £120 as kit, £170 pre-built

    Image: Public domain

  • Acorn BBC Micro

    Launched: 1981

    Specs: 2MHz 8-bit processor MOS Technology 6502 processor, and came with 16KB to 32KB of memory. In most instances loaded programs from tape, floppy disc. Support for 640×256, two colour display.

    Price: Model A £235

    Image: Stuart Brady

  • Sinclair ZX Spectrum

    Launched:1982

    Specs: 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor, 16KB or 48KB of RAM and 16KB of ROM. 256 x 192 resolution display of up to eight colours. Software ran from tapes or floppy discs.

    Price: £125

    Image: Gamespot

  • Grundy NewBrain

    Launched:1982

    Specs:4MHz Zilog 80A, 24KB RAM. Output display to TV or monitor. Model AD had a one line 16-character fluorescent display built into the keyboard. Able to drive 640 x 256 display.

    Price:£199

    Image: The National Museum of Computing / http://www.tnmoc.org

  • Jupiter Ace

    Launched: 1982

    Specs: 3.85 MHz Zilog Z80, 3KB RAM, up to 256×192 graphics and storage via external cassette tape.

    Price: £89.95

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Dragon 32 and 64

    Launched: 1982

    Specs: 0.89 MZ Motorola MC6809E processor, 8-bit CPU with limited 16-bit capabilities, 32KB or 64KB of memory.

    Price: From £199

    Image: John Robertson / The National Museum of Computing

  • Camputer Lynx

    Launched: End of 1982 / 1983

    Specs: 4MHz Z80A CPU, from 48KB of RAM and a Motorola 6845 as video controller. Optional 5.25" floppy disk-drive available for higher specced models.

    Price: £225

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Memotech MTX

    Launched: 1983

    Specs: 4MHz Zilog Z80 A CPU, 32KB – 128KB of RAM capable of driving a display with a resolution of up to 256 x 192 with 16 colours.

    Price: From £275

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Acorn Electron

    Launched: 1983

    Specs: MOS Technology 6502A CPU clocked at 1MHz when accessing ROM and 1MHZ/0.5897Mz when accessing RAM, 32KB of RAM. Support for up to 640 x 200 resolution display with 2 colours. Loaded programs from cassette with optional floppy disk add-on.

    Price:£175

    Image: Rupert Goodwins / ZDNet

  • Oric

    Launched: 1983

    Specs: 1MHz 6502A processor, up to 48KB of memory. Display capable of two modes, LORES showing 28 rows of 40 characters and HIRES of 200 rows of 240 pixels above three lines of text.

    Price: £129  / £169

    Image: Nick Heath / ZDNet

  • Apricot Portable

    Launched: 1984

    Specs: 4.77MHz Intel 8086 CPU, 256KB of RAM and a 3.5-inch floppy drive. 80-column / 25 line LCD screen, speech recognition able to detect 64 words at any one time. Able to output 640 x 256 8-colour display to monitor.

    Price: £1965

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Amstrad Colour Personal Computer

    Launched: 1984

    Specs: 8-bit 4MHz Zilog Z80A CPU, 64KB or 128KB of memory split between video, ROM and user, integrated tape/disc depending on version. Display resolutions ranging from 160×200 pixels with 16 colours to 640×200 pixels with two colours.

    Price: From £249

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Enterprise

    Launched: 1985

    Specs: 4MHz Zilog Z80 CPU, 64 KB or 128 KB of RAM. Supports display with maximum resolution of 640×256 with 2-colours. Keyboard with integrated joystick.

    Price: £228

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • Acorn Archimedes

    Launched: 1987

    Specs: Single-core ARM2-based processor, from 512KB of memory. Supports up to 1152 × 896 resolution display with 2 colours.

    Price: From £799

    Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

  • RiscPC

    Launched: 1994

    Specs: From 30MHz ARM 610 CPU, maximum memory of 256MB DRAM and 2MB of video memory. Supports display with 16-million colours and 8-channel sound.

    Price: £1249

    Image: Public Domain

As the Raspberry Pi moves closer to claiming the title for the best-selling British computer of all time we look back at the classic machines to come out of the UK.

You can find more details on each of these machines in this accompanying article.

Acorn Atom

Launched: 1980

Specs: 1MHz MOS Technology 6502 CPU, 2KB RAM and 8KB ROM. Loaded programs from cassette tape or 5.25 floppy disks. Support for optional colour graphics or 256x192 monochrome display.

Price: £120 as kit, £170 pre-built

Image: Public domain

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By Nick Heath

Nick Heath is chief reporter for TechRepublic. He writes about the technology that IT decision makers need to know about, and the latest happenings in the European tech scene.