Latest Additions
Some of our latest additions are shown below - clicking on the link will take you to the items main page and will also show any further photographs.
SyQuest 44MB Removable Hard Disk Cartridge
Jaz 2GB disk
Vertical Twist 8-Bit SCSI Interface (Issue 2)
The SCSI interface was designed by PCA and sold by Vertical Twist. It has a 50 pin internal and external connector. The board has a NatSemi DP8490N 8-bit SCSI-1 controller and an 8-bit SCSI V1.00 ROM.
The Vertical Twist SCSI Card and Drive User's Manual is available HERE.
The Vertical Twist SCSI Utilities disc is available HERE .
Acorn ARM610 CPU and Risc OS 3.50 Roms
Production ARM610 CPU card with GPS P610ARM-B KG CPU clocked at 33MHz. Fitted to late model Risc PC 600s, it gave approximately 10% performance improvement.
The 30MHz ARM610 CPU is the standard CPU card in the Risc PC 600. The later models (ACB6nn), which were launched at the same time as the Risc PC 700, had a 33MHz ARM610 CPU. The ARM610 was made by GEC Plessey Semiconduction (GPS), one of ARM's many licencees.
Acorn A5000 and A540 FPA Upgrade Kit
The Floating Point Accelerator upgrade kit significantly enhances the performance of a Risc OS machine when making intensive use of floating point operations.
The FPA may be fitted to the Acorn A5000 and A540. Note however, that the FPA10 is a 26MHz chip, and must not be installed in ARM chips that run faster than 26MHz.
The Serial Port, Dual Serial Port (Issue 1)
An Issue 1 Dual Serial board which has the power distribution modification applied. It has ROM version B0.37 These boards have a maximum speed of 115,200 bps. These boards have a maximum speed of 230400 bps.
Later serial cards were produced by Atomwide . Detail of the Atomwide card is HERE .
Issue 1 & 2 boards only work in RiscPCs if the EPROM is removed and the driver softloaded. The latest drivers for Issue 1 & 2 cards is HERE .
Further details of the Dual Serial Board and the driver software are available on Hugo Fiennes web site.
Oak Solutions 8-Bit SCSI Interface
This is a relatively early SCSI interface originally produced for RISC OS 2 based systems (i.e. A400/1 and upgraded A300s and A440s). The Oak SCSI User Guide is in the documentation section.
The Oak SCSI Manager software is available in the software section.
Computer Concepts Lark Sound Card
The Computer Concepts Lark was designed and made by Wild Vision and sold by Computer Concepts. It is a multi function sound card which can:
- Record sound samples from an external source
- Manipulate sound samples and save then in different formats
- Provides high quality stereo output
- Includes a MIDI interface which can be interfaced to MIDI compatible peripherals
- Can be used as a MIDI device
The Lark came with a manual and 3 discs,. Disc 1 contained the !AudioCtl and !AudioWrks applications, Disc 2 contained audio samples and Disc 3 contained sample MIDI files.
Here are the Computer Concepts Lark User Guide
AudioWorks which was supplied with Lark is now available from APDL
Watford Electronics Scanner Interface
There are several different versions of the Watford Electronics Scanner interface and are typical scanner interfaces of the early 1990s. They were usually supplied with a GeniScan hand scanner.
Lingenuity 8Bit SCSI Interface
The Lingenuity SCSI interface is a SCSI I interface dated 1989. There appear to be 2 versions of the interface, both dated 1989. This version is manufactured by Wild Vision (Issue 1.02). It has an AM5380PC 8bit SCSI-1 controller and an Acorn SCSI/CDFS ROM. It has an 50 pin interface.
The Lingenuity SCSI Interface software is available HERE.
The Installation instructions for the Lingenuity SCSI Interface card are available HERE .
Genius LAN Personal Netware Jumper&Jumperless NE2000 Compatible Ethernet Card
Dragon 32 (House Box)
Many Dragon 32s were upgraded by their owners to 64K. A few were further expanded to 128K, 256K, or 512K, with home-built memory controllers/memory management units (MMUs).
A broad range of peripherals existed for the Dragon 32/64, and on top of this there were add-ons such as the Dragon's Claw which gave the Dragons access to the BBC Micro's large range of accessories (a particularly important factor in the UK home market). Although neither machine had a built-in disk operating system (cassette tapes being the default data-storage mechanism in the home computer market at the time), DragonDOS was supplied as part of the disk controller interface from Dragon Data Ltd. The numerous external ports (by the standards of the time), including the standard RS-232 on the 64, also allowed hobbyists to attach a diverse range of equipment.
An unusual feature was a monitor port for connection of a computer monitor, as an alternative to the TV output. This was rarely used due to the cost of dedicated monitors at that time. The port is actually a Composite Video port and can be used to connect the Dragon 32 to most modern TVs to deliver a much better picture.
Deltronics Analogue & User Port
The Deltronics Analogue & User port podule adds a BBC-sytle analog and user port to an Archimedes. These were particularly useful in schools, where thye were used in control, monitoring and data-logging applications. BBC applications could be ported to the Archimedes with minimal change.
Acorn A5000 2MB RAM Upgrade
The A5000 was configured with 1MB or 2MB options, like all MEMC1a based computers it has a maximum memory of 4MB per MEMC1a. Acorn produced this upgrade to increase the installed memory to the Maximum 4 MB on a 2MB system. The RAM Upgrade was installed in the front left of the computer and pluged into the connector on the front left hand edge. It was unusual in that it lay flat above the motherboard and underneath the hard disc. The non-socket end was supported on plastic legs.
Acorn ARM610 "Spinner" CPU
ARM610 CPU card design to be mounted horizontally for use in the Online Media Set Top Box STB1.
The 30MHz ARM610 CPU is the standard CPU card in the Risc PC 600. The later models (ACB6nn), which were launched at the same time as the Risc PC 700, had a 33MHz ARM610 CPU. The ARM610 was made by GEC Plessey Semiconduction (GPS), one of ARM's many licencees.
Acorn AKA01 A300 Backplane
Unlike the A400 series, the Archimedes A305 and A310 did not have a podule backplane installed when they shipped. This is Acorns backplane upgrade which was required before podules could be installed. Other companies also produced backplanes for the Archimedes A300.
The instructions for installing a backplane are in the Backplane installation leaflet in the documents section.
Simtec Hydra
The Hydra was designed to take up to 4 additional CPU cards and to schedule a RiscPCs resources between them. Because RISC OS is not designed to support multiple processors, Simtec produced an interface module which could be used by multi-processor aware applications and allowed them to use the additional CPUs. The Hydra was killed off by the arrival of the StrongARM CPU because a single StrongARM CPU was faster than a fully populated Hydra. In 2003 Simtec sold off their remaining stock of Hydras in a clearance sale., at the time Simtec were quoted as saying that a Hydra with 5 ARM710 CPUs was slightly slower than a strongARM CPU.
Further details can be found on the Simtec website under Legacy Products
The Simtec Hydra Overview is available HERE , note this is a text document.
There is a review of the Hydra in Risc User Volume 9 Issue 7.
Acorn ART10 200MHz StrongARM CPU
This is an Acorn Risc Technologies (ART) StrongARM CPU for a RiscPC as supplied in the original StrongARM Upgrade packs and shipped in the first generation StrongARM RiscPCs. The CPU is made by Digital and clocked at 200 MHz. Later StrongARM CPUs were made by Intel after Digital sold its semiconductor business to Intel before the Compaq takeover.
The StrongARM 200MHz CPU gave a performance improvement of around 750% over the original RiscPC600 with a 30MHz ARM610 CPU.
The Serial Port, Dual Serial & Printer Port (Issue 2)
An Issue 2 Dual Serial & Printer Board with ROM version 0.41. These boards have a maximum speed of 230400 bps.
Later serial cards were produced by Atomwide . Detail of the Atomwide card is HERE .
Issue 1 & 2 boards only work in RiscPCs if the EPROM is removed and the driver softloaded. The latest drivers for Issue 1 & 2 cards is HERE .
Further details of the Dual Serial Board and the driver software are available on Hugo Fiennes web site.
HCCS A5000 IDE Interface
HCCS IDE Interface bus allows IDE discs to be fitted to Archimedes range computers, and may also work in an A5000 or RiscPC, This podule is designed to take a 2.5", laptop, disc drives on board (not fitted) and also provide a second IDE connector for an internal disc. The circuit board has the holes for an external connector but it is not fitted and the blanking plate is left intact.
The circuit board is labeled "A5000 IDE Issue 3". The ROM label reads "Armstrong Walker Ltd IDE A400 Version 5.00".
Here is the HCCS IDE Manager, which enables you to configure the card.
Casio FX-82C
The Casio fx-82C is a scientific calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has 52 functions, 38 keys and an LCD (liquid crystal) display. The power source is 2xAA batteries. The calculator was manufactured in Japan.
Facts at a glance:
| Type | Scientific |
| Functions | 52 |
| Keys | 38 |
| Precision | 8 |
| Logic | Algebraic |
| Display type | LCD |
| Display size | |
| Printer | |
| Length | 152 mm |
| Width | 76 mm |
| Thickness | 22 mm |
| Weight | 61 g |
| Power Source | 2xAA |
| Country | Japan |
| Original price | unknown |
| Est. current value | unknown |
| Year introduced | 1989 |
| Year discontinued | 1989 |
Calligraph Laser Printer Interface V3
The calligraph is a direct drive printer interface, which were common in the early 1990s because laser printers were expensive, particularly the memory require to create page images before printing. So the idea is to use the computers CPU and memory to create the page image and then feed it directly to the print mechanism, and save money on the way. The Calligraph printers were originally Qume and laterly Sharp or Dataproducts. The early, pre-RiscPC, Calligraph interfaces did not work with the RiscPC and Caligraph launched the v3 card for RiscPCs.
4QD have a useful Calligraph FAQ
Here are the Calligraph Printer drivers .
Wild Vision Chroma 300 (Issue 1.5)
IThe Wild Vision Chroma 300 is a genlock and overlay system which allows the video output from the computer to be superimposed, in full colour, on a PAL video signal from an external source. Graphics, text or captions can be overlaid onto video pictures from cameras, camcorders or VCRs.
This is issue 1.5, it has some minor changes to the previous version.
Computer Concepts Scanlight Video 256
The Scanlight Video 256 combines functionality of the ScanLight 256 greyscale scanner and the GreyHawk greyscale video digitiser. The podule is designed by Wild Vision and sold by Computer Concepts.
Futher details can be found on the Computer Concepts website.
HCCS Ultimate A5000 Multipod Version D
HCCS produced the Archimedes Multipod podule with the Ultimate A5000 ROM to support multiple micro-podules. The podule could support 2 micro podules which slotted into the connectors in the middle of the card and cutouts in the backplate.
Here are the Vision Digitiser micro module and the MIDI micro podule which are fitted to the version D system.
Oak Solutions 16Bit SCSI Interface
This is a relatively early SCSI interface originally produced for RISC OS 2 based systems (i.e. A400/1 and upgraded A300s and A440s). The issue 2 Interface is dated 1989
The Oak SCSI User Guide is in the documentation section.
The Oak SCSI Manager software is available in the software section.
Aleph One 486PC (Elvis) Expansion card
The Aleph1 486PC (Elvis) Expansion card (revision 2) was the third generation of Aleph1 PC Expansion cards. It provided a complete PC on a podule card complete with up to 16MB RAM and an optional 387 FPU. The 486PC Expansion card has a Cyrix 486SLC2 and a 2, 4, 8 or 16 MB SIMM. Unlike the previous generations the Elvis cards has and IDE interface for direct connection of a PC IDE hard disc. It has its own serial and parallel ports. The PC Expansion card enabled an Archimedes to run MSDOS or Windows 3.1 in a RISC OS window.
The Aleph1 PC Expansion Cards User Guide (Issue 5) is available HERE .
Here is the Aleph1 !PC r2.06e software to configure and run the PC expansion card.
Castle 32/16 bit SCSI II
This is Castle's SCSI II card from 1997.
Here is the Castle SCSI User Guide Issue 2 May 1996.
Here is the Castle SCSI User Guide Issue 6 Oct 1997.
Here is the Castle SCSI Management & Disc Formatting Utility - !Setup - A Quick Reference Guide Issue 27 Oct 1997.
Here is the Castle SCSI Utilities Disc and the Castle SCSI Extras Disc .
More details including software drivers and documentation are available on the Castle web site.
Castle Technology Euro IDE interface
The Castle EuroIDE interface card is designed to support a 2.5" Laptop disc on the card and has an internal 39 pin connector to support a second internal IDE disc (not mounted on the card).
The original A300s and A400s have an on-board ST506 interface which was limited and became obsolete. SCSI discs (as fitted in the A540) remained relatively expensive. So IDE podules became a cheap way to add a hard disc. Laptop 2.5" discs were designed to use a 5v power supply delivered on the ribbon connector and did not require external power.
The EuroIDE interface could be used in any Archimedes, but apparently can be sensitive to radio frequency interference from the backplane and prefers a 4 layer backplane.
Ingersoll R1800 Console
Cumana 16/32 Bit SCSI II
Cumana launched the 16/32bit SCSI II interface for RiscPCs in 1994, although it may work in older models, it was one of the first SCSI II interfaces.
The Issue 1 card (serial number 998) shows patch wires on both the front and back, suggesting it is a early release and had to have an number of post-manufacture fixes applied. By way of contrast the issue 4 (serial number 4038) card shows no patches.
The SCSI support disc is available from the Software page here .
The latest version of the SCSI drivers is in the SCSIFlash application from the software page here .
EMR MIDI 4
One of the few double width podules for the Archimedes, the EMR MIDI 4 interface has 4 MIDI In and 4 MIDI out channels.
Wild Vision Hawk V10 Digitiser
The Wild Vision Hawk Digitiser, from 1989, takes a video input and can save 256x256 images. This is the Hawk V10 digitiser Issue 1.1 with Hawk V10 Issue 0.42 ROM.
Acorn AKA10 with AKA15 MIDI upgrade
The Acorn AKA15 MIDI Upgrade is an upgrade to the Acorn AKA10 I/O podule . It consists of some additional ICs and the MIDI IN & OUT sockets and the ribbon connectors to the board.
Wild Vision Hawk V9 Colour Video Digitiser
The Wild Vision Colour Video Digitiser, from 1989, takes a video input and can save 256x256 images. This is Issue 3 with Hawk V9 issue 1.06 ROM.
Pineapple Video Digitiser V1.01
The Pinapple 16-bit Digitiser is a double width podule for the Archimdes.
Here is the Archimedes Colour Video Digitiser manual
Atari Megafile 60
The Megafile 60 as the name suggests was a 60 MB External hard drive for the Atari ST and Mega ranges, replacing the earlier SH drives.
Atari Mega 4
The MEGA series was intended to be "professional" versions of the 520 and 1040 ST lines. Still running a 68000 8 MHz processor, the MEGA computers could also be connected to a high quality laser printer that was a direct competitor to Apple's LaserWriter (at a significantly lower price). This led to the Atari slogan "Power Without the Price". The machine, like other ST's, could be connected to a color or monochrome monitor and had a matching hard drive unit.
The machine was enhanced by it's use of a battery backed clocked, a Blitter coprocessor which assisted mainly in speeding up graphics and a CPU expansion port. Inside it contains a 720k floppy drive and this mega 4 has 4mb of RAM.
Sadie 3 Classic DAW Card and 1 Breakout Boxes
Yamaha Digital Mixing Card DS2416 and AX44 Expansion Unit
PCI bus it's a complete Yamaha 01V Digital Mixer in card format.
Works in conjunction with the Yamaha AX44
Maximum Sampling Rate 24 Bit (48 kHz)
Mic/Line - RCA
a desktop platform. This includes 24 channels of digital mixing with a full range of on-board digital effects and dynamics
audio to and from the computer’s disk drive. On-board effects include 12 reverb types, 11 modulation types, 2 distortion types,
Computer Concepts Laser Direct Issue 2
In 1992 Issue 2 of Laser Direct for the Canon LBP8 was released. It had a new layout and faster components so I expect it had a better all round performance.
Gunboy
This contains two N64 style joypads, one of which holds the battery pack and the built in games, it also has a cartridge slot to take Famicom games. The other plugs into the first for the second player.
Starts with a menu for 7,800 games, this is in fact the same 64 games multiplied many times.
EMR SMPTE Card
The SMPTE card provides a sync to tape facility
which conforms to ANSI/SMPTE 12M-1986 time and control code for video
and audio tape. It is designed for use with EMR's Studio24Plus on the
Archimedes range of computers.
The EMR SMPTE Card for Archimedes 300 & 400 series A3000 Tower Instructions for Use are the full instructions for using the card with Studio24Plus.
The EMR Podule Installation Leaflet tells you how to install the podule.
Olivetti M-15 Plus
The Floppy on the righthand side is a 3.5"(no idea of capacity), and there's room for another on the lefthand side, too.
In addition, there's a D37 connector for an external Floppy at the rear. There's also a Printer and D25 serial port, and a switch marked 'HDU' on the rear.
There are two 3.5'' drives, one on each side, one has a pull down flap covering it.
Our machine boots, and passes the diagnostic test, before being unable to find the HDU, then requiring a system disk to continue.
Guan Haur KHP-4006A
Manufactured in Tai Pei,Tai Wan this clone was one of many that were involved in a patent investigation involving 20 other companies.
Only Guan haur and one other company, Collins, participated in the evidentiary hearing. We have included a PDF of the findings here, which make interesting reading of copyright infringment litigation concerning the fledgling home computer industry.
Unlike the real machines, these clones show no signs of yellowing.
Linotype-Paul - APL 100/200
An Apple II clone, that has been adapted for Typesetting.
It contains the computer board, a monitor, and two 5.25 disk drives in one case, added to this was an external keyboard (missing)
The two disk drives have extra large Apple logos on them, and round the back from left to right are:
Master Reset Switch
AF Out
Utility 1 Socket
RF Out
Type Setter and Proof Printer Socket
A Blank Network & Serial Comms Port
Apple I/O Port
Keyboard Port
Brilliance, Contrast and Volume Knobs
On/Off Switch
Power Socket
Machine is 115v AC Needs a Step Down
Reproduction Apple 1
A reproduced Apple 1 board, which has been reconstructed into a fully working machine by David Williams, who has done a superb job of populating the board, attaching it to a smart base and power supply, and also has supplied a full travel keyboard.
Originally designed and built by Steve Wozniak in 1976, the Apple 1 Computer, shortened to Apple 1 was a desktop computer, and the first product by Apple.
Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs wanted to sell the machine, and part funded the project by selling his VW Microbus, Wozniak sold his HP 65 Calculator.
The machine was first seen at the Homebrew Computer Club in California in July 1976 and was discontinued in September 1977, shortly before the introduction of its successor the Apple II.
There are thought to be just 63 Apple 1 machines in existence, with only 6 verified as working.
The last auction of a working machine by Christies in London fetched $365,000 dollars.
A working prototype, dubbed the holy grail of computers, built by Steve Jobs himself sold for $815,000 on August 26 2016.
Sun Blade 1500
A Solaris workstation computer developed by Sun Microsystems.
An Ultra Sparc IIIi, Red Motherboard. Tomatillo UltraSparc IIIi 1.062GHz CPU
Four 184-pin DIMM slots; must be installed in pairs
Up to 4GB
Four audio ports: Front: headphone(out) and microphone(in) Rear: line-in and line-out
Single 10/100/1000Mb Ethernet Port.
Main board has four 33 MHz and one 66 MHz PCI slots. The 33 MHz slots are comprised of two 32-bit and two 64-bit. These slots provide 5 VDC power. The 66 MHz slot is 64-bit and supplies 3.3 VDC.
Two Asynchronous RS-232 Serial (DB9)
Up to two 80 GB ATA100 IDE Hard Disk Drives
16 x Speed DVD ROM
DigiComp
Standing of course for Digital Computer, this is a plastic, mechanical machine, that allowed the user to play games, solve riddles and do arithmatic.
The manual descibes it as the first mechanical binary computer, able to solve problems in the same way as an electronic computer.
Using metal rods attacked to a plastic 'Clock Rod', a 'Logic' one, plastic pegs could be attached to enter the 1 and 0 binary code.
Toshiba T2000SX
One of Toshiba's T Series machines
Could run programs designed for the IBM XT/AT machines, or MS-DOS 4.01 or 5.0
Watford Electronics A310 2MB Upgrade
The Archimedes A310 was designed for a maximum of 1MB RAM. Although the MEMC could manage up to 4 MB, the address and control lines are missing for more than 1MB unlike the A400 and A400/1 range. Watford Electronics solution is to replace the MEMC with a daughter board with 2MB (or 4 MB) and plug it into the MEMC socket on the motherboard and to fit a second daughterboard to the VIDC socket and access the required line via a ribbon cable. One disadvantage of this arrangement is that you could not fit an ARM3 upgrade. There is a plastic insulation sheet fixed to the back of the boards to prevent contact with other parts of the computer and especially the disc drive bracket.
Wild Vision Midi Max II
The Wild Vision Midi Max and Midi Max II were sold by Computer Concepts. The difference between to two boards are the ROM and the UART. The Midi Max has a TI TL16C550AFN and the Midi Max II has a TI TL16C550CFN.
Wild Vision Midi Max
The Wild Vision Midi Max and Midi Max II were sold by Computer Concepts. The difference between to two boards are the ROM and the UART. The Midi Max has a TI TL16C550AFN and the Midi Max II has a TI TL16C550CFN.
Ashiv Octopus 8 Port Serial Card
This is an 8 port serial card ideal for a Archimedes running a bulletin board or similar service.
