So for me, previous ARM devices were pretty much every model of the Apple Newton up to the 2100 and the emate. And now I have a 4GB Raspberry Pi which sits on my desk, so I guess that qualifies if the Newton devices don't.
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Anyone else already had an ARM powered desktop?
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No, really? ?
Nor was the BBC Micro mentioned in post 14.
I’m acutely aware of the facts. I mentioned it as a simple aside that I was there at the birth of Acorn Computers.
Hmm. My first experience working with and programming a microcomputer was a 4 MHz 8 Kbit Z80 North Star Horizon running North Star Dos. This was in 1977-78. I don’t think many people here have longer experience than me. (I’m old). Of course this was in high school. My family didn’t have nearly the cash to buy a micro in the late 70s early 80s—equivalent to about $7500 in 2020 dollars. The first computer I personally owned was a Mac 512K when I started working after college.
North Star Horizon
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Groundbreaking machine. We had a BBC Micro model B. Served us well for years.
btw, for anyone in the UK the National Museum of Computing is well worth a visit (as is Bletchley Park next door). They have a whole Acorn room. Plus Colossus of course (worlds first electronic computer) and WITCH (worlds oldest working digital computer), you can program that one and see it calculate at around 1 instruction every 3 seconds!
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I had a ZX81, then a C=64 but I lusted so hard after an Acorn Archimedes. I would've been one of a handful of users in Belgium. I remember visiting their reseller in Antwerp and drooling over the machines. The markup they charged compared to a pound conversion was insane. It was the same for other imports: I ended up taking a Eurostar to London in 1997 to buy my first Psion (a 3c) because it was cheaper than buying one in a Belgian shop.
I've always been attracted to alternative computer architectures. I spent a nice few years first programming, then training programmers, on DSP processors. I was the CTO of a startup that built cameras based on the Raspberry Pi. I reused one with an Allo Boss DAC, which is incredible value for money. Despite my natural attraction to ARM macs, I have to admit that for "PCs", I have to put usability first. And that currently involves Windows, if only to run MS Project. I don't see that happening soon on ARM, unfortunately. And the days of alternative computer architectures being interesting because you could do things in a different way, are long gone now that everything is plug-and-play to get you as quickly as possible to the stage where you're running applications.
I've always been attracted to alternative computer architectures. I spent a nice few years first programming, then training programmers, on DSP processors. I was the CTO of a startup that built cameras based on the Raspberry Pi. I reused one with an Allo Boss DAC, which is incredible value for money. Despite my natural attraction to ARM macs, I have to admit that for "PCs", I have to put usability first. And that currently involves Windows, if only to run MS Project. I don't see that happening soon on ARM, unfortunately. And the days of alternative computer architectures being interesting because you could do things in a different way, are long gone now that everything is plug-and-play to get you as quickly as possible to the stage where you're running applications.
I had a ZX81 as well, which came with 1kb of memory, but then I bought the massive 16kb external expansion pack that introduced a lot of instability and it would crash constantly unless it was forced into place with blu-tack. The apps were installed using a cassette player and you would sit there watching black & white lines flash across the TV screen while waiting for the app to load.
Archimedes died as there was no software for it, kind of similar to the original BBC models. They were overshadowed by more popular 8 and 16 bit models.
While we are talking about ARM desktop OS’s...
I’m one of what seems like very few people that really liked Windows RT and the devices it ran on. I used a Surface RT daily until about 2018, and I wish it had gotten better software support. It is pretty much killed off by Microsoft now, since no Store apps can write on it, and the only browser compatible with it is Internet Explorer 11 from 2013.
I’m one of what seems like very few people that really liked Windows RT and the devices it ran on. I used a Surface RT daily until about 2018, and I wish it had gotten better software support. It is pretty much killed off by Microsoft now, since no Store apps can write on it, and the only browser compatible with it is Internet Explorer 11 from 2013.
That opinion has also been levelled at Apple. It’s as untrue now as it was then.
As an owner of a BBC Micro, Archimedes and RiscPC I never found software availability nor quality lacking. Loads of software was available, often from less well known developers, but usually of a higher quality.
Quite a lot was market leading too - Elite, Impression, ArtWorks, Sibelius, Revs, Star Fighter, etc etc. Oh and of course there was The Domesday Project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Domesday_Project).
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Hmm, I won't reply or argue for a now over 25 year old machine, I think that user page3
have explain enough, (I have deleted my original response a few hours ago - for people
which don't have experience with Acorn Archimedes in this time period reply is unnessesary),
normally, but okay...
RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computing => one cycle - one operation !
Acorn Standard APPs in RISC-OS ROM, so no boot need for full functionality...
You can also have a look at wikipedia for corporation history and early models:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes#Early_models
Officially only available in the British Commonwealth between 1990 and 2000 these
machines have had enough power for the price to outperform most Amigas,
DOS / WIN 3.1 PC or Apple MacIntosh with Finder 7 OS.
If you look between 1990 and 2000, there were some very professional Applications
natively written in C, BBC Basic or 32Bit Assembler, but mostly from small GB / UK
Software corporations.
These computers first were educational systems, no game machines - games natively
written for the RISC CPU were much faster than games, which are badly transfered
from 16Bit systems. Good Applications are coming for example from Krisalis and a few
other national UK-based Software corporations - but that means officially no sales
in hardware or software in the USA or EU mainland for long term period !
There are for such an "exotic system" comparatively a lot of software. These computers
are dead because of Distribution in British Commonwealth only and a lot of uninformed
people. But also Amiga. Atari ST, RISC PC or other computers are old and exotic today...
In the year 1990 - 2000 as I read Product review of Acorn Archimedes A3000 you must
understand, that these Computer and the technology gave much people the hope and
spirit to get an experimental SGI Workstation (in comparation with Amiga or 386 PC)
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The education market propped up the Acorn machines all due to the UK gov’t funding schools. When that funding dried up then Acorn pretty much disintegrated. Archimedes were fast but no software as few machine sales to consumers. Kids didn’t want Acorn machines as their mates had Commodore, Atari ST and Sinclairs.Acorn Archimedes A3000 you must
understand, that these Computer and the technology gave much people the hope and
spirit to get an experimental SGI Workstation (in comparation with Amiga or 386 PC)
That should be true but first the parents have a look at the price and
the kids are look for possibility to change games at schools playground ? !
Invest more money to system extensions and software wasn't that what
much people want - targeted customer / consumer groups were different.
Kids and games on one side, professional solutions compare to MacIntosh and
PC on the other side. One machine fits for all for a price like used computers today
on ebay was not possible between 1990 and 2000 and for professional Acorn
Software users must pay often a professional price...
...but what matters
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Acorn didn't "pretty much disintegrate". It was still a viable, though niche, concern into the mid-1990s, catering mainly to enthusiasts. It was only when ARM's stockholders got greedy (Acorn's shareholding in ARM was worth more than Acorn itself) in the late 1990s when it got closed down. There's still a community supporting RISC OS to this day, and there was plenty of software for consumers - be it games or serious stuff. The hardware was always quite expensive, but the software prices were comparable to other systems. (For a list of RISC OS software, see: http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/prices/index.shtml)
You also need to decide which Acorn computers you're talking about. The thread is about ARM-based computers, which for Acorn means the Archimedes, A3000/4000/5000 and RISC PC series. Sinclair wasn't a competitor for those, and neither was it for Amiga and Atari. In the early 1980s, it was C64 vs Sinclair vs Beeb (vs Apple). By the mid 1980s, it was turning into Amiga vs Atari vs PC vs Mac, with the old 8-bit stuff trailing well behind. By the mid-1990s, Amiga and Atari were in major decline and Acorn and Apple were chasing scraps, with Windows starting to rule the waves.
In answer to the original question, I had an A3010 (green keys) in 1992 and a RISC PC in 1996. I still have both. Previously I'd owned an Electron and a Model B.
Before the internet upcoming much german Acorn users have read the
"Computer Flohmarkt" as a forum for used Acorn parts and monthly
discussions...
there was a Forum and Community in paperwork and for most people which
are growing up with internet was that a time of impossible status. I was based
from 1994 to 1999 as employee for electrican engineering in the city of Oldenburg
(NDS, Germany) with a little Acorn scene based on the local Oldenburg university.
We got new software for Acorn from local Acorn Shop (!), directly from UK
or university FTP server !
For those which have no experience in the 90th and life at the beginning of
downloads at expensive internet cafes and upcoming CD-ROM technology that
might be stone age !
If I'm sitting today in front of my iMac I don't want to change...
"Computer Flohmarkt" as a forum for used Acorn parts and monthly
discussions...
there was a Forum and Community in paperwork and for most people which
are growing up with internet was that a time of impossible status. I was based
from 1994 to 1999 as employee for electrican engineering in the city of Oldenburg
(NDS, Germany) with a little Acorn scene based on the local Oldenburg university.
We got new software for Acorn from local Acorn Shop (!), directly from UK
or university FTP server !
For those which have no experience in the 90th and life at the beginning of
downloads at expensive internet cafes and upcoming CD-ROM technology that
might be stone age !
If I'm sitting today in front of my iMac I don't want to change...
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What about ARM Mac ?
At the end of 2020 this upcoming Apple Silicon machine should be
fast enough, hopefully it's the same in 2025...
At the end of 2020 this upcoming Apple Silicon machine should be
fast enough, hopefully it's the same in 2025...
I use a NVidia Jetson Xavier NX daily as a desktop system. It has a 6-core NVIDIA Carmel ARM 64-bit CPU. Works great. Runs Ubuntu 18.04 LTS as OS
And the GPU is fantastic for ML. From Nvidia:
Jetson Xavier NX delivers up to 21 TOPS, making it ideal for high-performance compute and AI in embedded and edge systems. You get the performance of 384 NVIDIA CUDA® Cores, 48 Tensor Cores, 6 Carmel ARM CPUs, and two NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerators (NVDLA) engines. Combined with over 51GB/s of memory bandwidth, video encoded, and decode, these features make Jetson Xavier NX the platform of choice to run multiple modern neural networks in parallel and process high-resolution data from multiple sensors simultaneously.
And the GPU is fantastic for ML. From Nvidia:
Jetson Xavier NX delivers up to 21 TOPS, making it ideal for high-performance compute and AI in embedded and edge systems. You get the performance of 384 NVIDIA CUDA® Cores, 48 Tensor Cores, 6 Carmel ARM CPUs, and two NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerators (NVDLA) engines. Combined with over 51GB/s of memory bandwidth, video encoded, and decode, these features make Jetson Xavier NX the platform of choice to run multiple modern neural networks in parallel and process high-resolution data from multiple sensors simultaneously.
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It is pretty nice. One of the best things is it has a M.2 NVME slot on the bottom. I put a Samsung 500GB drive on mine and it is very fast.