Watford Electronics A3000 IDE Hard Disc

The Watford Electronics A3000 IDE Hard Disc is an IDE mini-podule with a 2.5" IDE hard disc mounted on it. The mini-podule fits in the A3000 internal expansion slot. The hard disc is a 31.9MB Western Digital Tidbit 30. Watford Electronics also produced versions with 21MB, 44MB, 60MB and 80MB hard discs. The ROM is labelled "IDE A3000 FOR BBC Micro V2.10"

Cumana EMU

The Cumana EMU is similar to products from Commotion and HCCS which address the limited expandability of the A3000, A3010, A3020 and A4000, with a carrier board with functional micro podules. In this case the micro podule is a BBC User port.

The Cumana EMU consists of a base unit and up to 3 micro podules attached to the podule backplate. There is a BBC User port micro-podule plugged in to this unit. It it similar to the HCCS Ultimate podule range which has a selection of micro-podules to plug into the base unit. The sockets are the 3 vertial connectors on the base unit. 

HCCS IDE A3000 Interface

An IDE interface (serial no M-IDE-A3-100806) it has a 21MB Conner CP2024 hard disc attached to the top of the mini-podule. The drive takes its power from the ribbon cable connector. On the backplane there is a BBC User port and 40 pin IDE connector. All the logic is on the bottom of the circuit board. The ROM is HCCS IDE A3 V3-00.

The HCCS IDE Manager software is available on Andy Armstrong's HCCS Survivors  web page and HERE.
 
The HCCS IDE User Guide  documents how to configure and partition an IDE disc using !IDEMgr.

Morley Electronics A3000 RAM Upgrade

The Morley Electronics A3000 RAM Card can be configured for 2 or 4 MB there is a wirelink next to the "Tested Batch" label which sets this. The card has 8 x MCM514256AZ10 ICs (256K x 4bit DRAM).

Cumana A3000 1MB Memory Upgrade V1

This upgrade board fits in an Acorn A3000 computer and provides 1MB of additional memory. This is Version 1. 

HCCS A3020 Ultimate Expansion

The HCCS A3020 Ultimate Expansion system has 3 slots for HCCS micro-podules and a BBC User port. The serial number is ULT3020-102167 and the ROM version is ULTIMATE MP A3020 Version G. The micro podules are the same as those used with the HCCS Archimedes Ultimate Expansion, but the card can support 3 micro podules, instead of the 2 on the Archimedes version, because it is wider.

There is a power in connection (probably 5V DC) to power connected devices (e.g. a 2.5" IDE Disc) because there is insufficient power on the expansion bus. Whether the external power is required will depend on what you have connected.

IFEL MABB A3000 RAM expansion

This IFEL upgrade for the A3000 has 8 KM44C1000AZ-8 FPM DRAMs which are 1Mbx4. There is solder link at the left end to set the upgrade to 2 or 4 MB. MABB Issue 1. 

HCCS 1MB RAM upgrade

The Acorn A3000 had 1 MB memory and was upgradeable to a maximum of 4 MB. This is the HCCS 1MB to 2MB upgrade. Issue 4. 

CJE Micros A3000 1-2MB Upgrade

The Acorn A3000 had 1 MB memory and was upgradeable to a maximum of 4 MB. This is CJE Micros' 1MB to 2MB upgrade. Issue 2. 

HP 7470A Plotter

Two pen plotter, originally retailing for $1550, unlike other contemporary plotters,this machine moved the paper for the pens to draw, rather than having to pin the paper down, and move the pens around on a complicated mechanical arm. This reduced the size of the machine, due to having less parts.

It had three interfaces, HP-IB, RS-232-C and HP-IL for connection to HP handheld computers.

TI-990 Prom Programmer

Metal case and internal electrics for this device, the front panel is missing.

Techno Sound Amiga Stereo Sampling Cartridge

This 8-Bit device connected to the parallel port of the Amiga and allowed it to record and edit samples, which could then be used with an attached midi interface.

Apple Macintosh 800K External Drive

Released in 1986, this drive used the new HFS disk format, and was compatible with all Macs except the original 128K, which did not have that standard.

It also supported the older 400K disks, the drive was also quieter and faster than the older 400k model.

The arrival of the Mac plus with its increased RAM, an external drive became less of a neccessity.

Commodore GL-989R

One of a line of Commodore Calculators that has a rechargeable internal battery charged by an external PSU, very forward thinking for the time.

Information supplied by Calculator.Org

Our calculator has a serial number of 065341.

Decimo Vatman

Size (approx): 83mm (max) x 132mm x 30mm (max) (w,h,d)
Weight 142g excluding batteries
Power: 2 x AA size batteries

Usual Calculator functions, also a +/- button, and square route function, despite its name it is actually a typically sized pocket calculator.

Our calculator has a serial number 821610

Sharp EL-531LH Electronic Calculator

TDS Quora eesox Graphics Tablet

Graphics tablet package for Archimedes, PC and Macintosh, including cordless peripherals

NCR 462 Paper Tape Punch

Nintendo Classic Mini

The name says it all, this is a tiny edition of the popular console, that has HDMI output for modern TVs, it has an internal lithium battery that can be charged via a USB connection.

There are 30 built in games ranging from the Mario series to some less well known RPG games.

The machine was controversial, in that demand far outstripped supply, with many retailers having to cancel orders that they could not fulfil.

HP 9871A Printer

Large and very heavy printer that originally retailed for $3740 in 1975, for use with the 98X5 series of computers and calculators.

IBM 2741 Communications Terminal

IBM 2741 removed from a BCL Susie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_2741

Bigger & Johnson Tape Reader

Identical in function to the ICL Tape Reader

Compaq Ministation/TR

Expansion device for connecting the series 2850 Notebook to a monitor and printer desktop setup.

uWink Eyecom

One of the many pay to use devices from the company uWink, a company setup by Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari.

The machine itself is a very heavy monitor on a swivel base, and a multi arcade board installed, it was operated by inserting coins, or a pre paid pay as you go sim, which would buy you time in the game.

There are no controllers for the machine, as it is an early touch screen console, originally developed for the Chuck-E-Cheese family entertainment centres, but does not seem to have been launched.

General Electric PTR 66 1A Tape Reader

Photo Electric Sensing

Asynchronous Stepping

Maximum Stepping Speed 150 Characters per Second

Integral Power Supplies

Didaktik v.d.Skalica Typ U9334

Russian Spectrum Clone

The Didaktik M introduced in 1990, was more advanced in design and reliability. The machine resembled more of a professional home computer with arrow keys separated from the rest of the keyboard and a more ergonomic shape of the case. Inside there was only 64 KB of total memory (16 KB ROM and 48 KB RAM) which was a disappointment in comparison to the Gama. The computer was considerably redesigned. A custom circuit from Russian company Angstrem was used instead of the original ULA as a result the screen had a square aspect ratio instead of a rectangle 4:3. In addition the whole RAM was realized by one set of 64 KB chips from which only 48 KB were used and there was no difference between the fast and slow memory with the video content. There were two separated connectors for joysticks, one Sinclair Standard, and one Kempston, also one connector for additional interfaces, such as a printer interface. Unlike the previous version of Didaktik, these connectors were typical "socialistic solution" compatible with nothing that was then available in the ČSSR. Thus, users were forced to develop and produce various and sometimes funny home-made interfaces to satisfy their needs. Data storing and monitor type was the same as in the case of the Gama.

Internal PICONET Serial Interface Card

RM Nimbus Internal PICONET Cable

RM Nimbus External Winchester Controller

RM Nimbus internal Floppy Drive Controller

RM Nimbus Parallel and User port Card

RM Nimbus PC TN (Early model)

This is the early version of the RM Nimbus PC. It is a TN model which denotes it is a network only model, and does not have a disk controller. It will boot remotely off our RM Nimbus Network servers, via the onboard ZNET port.

It is fitted with 1 Mbytes of RAM, has the standard 80186 processor. These early models had two cartridge slots on the front, which allowed for a ROM cartridge and also licence control dongles to be inserted. These slots were removed on the later beige coloured machines as they proved to be of little use, as most machines were used on school networks, and software could be loaded off the server negating the need for ROM cartridges. Very few software providers were interested in putting in the development time to use the dongle port.

TI LCD Programmer

From the Datamath Calculator Museum

The TI LCD Programmer is a very unusual calculator doing math not only on the base-10 system like our natural life but on base-8 and base-16, too. Long before SW-engineeres got nice languages like JAVA or C++ they were used to program the microcontrollers in their native assembler languages. The only operations such a microcontroller is executing, are simple instructions to manipulate data. With the TI Programmer you could simulate these operations, e.g. AND, OR, XOR and SHIFT's in the dataformat of modern microcontrollers (hex or base-16) or oldfashioned minicomputers (octal or base-8). 

From the technical aspects the TI Programmer is at first glance nothing else than a TI-55-II with one removed line of keys to give the layout of the TI Programmer known from the Majestic line. Dismantling the calculator reveals with the CD4569 a single-chip architecture based on the TP0456 calculator circuit family.

Casio FX-502P

Information from the Calculator.org website

The Casio fx-502P is a programmable calculator with 10 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has an unknown number of functions, 50 keys and one of the early LCD (liquid crystal) displays which incorporated a yellow filter. The power source is 2xCR2032 3V. The calculator was manufactured in Japan.

Facts at a glance:

Decimo Super Vatman M

Size (approx): 83mm (max) x 132mm x 30mm (max) (w,h,d)
Weight 142g excluding batteries

6V (4 x AA).

8 digits, green fluorescent.

4 function, %, memory, square root, square, reciprocal.

84 mm x 132 mm x 30 mm (3.3" x 5.2" x 1.2").

Made in Japan.

Our calculator (serial number 1214785)

Busycom 118B

Display is 8-digits, green vacuum fluorescent (VFD).

2x AA batteries.

4-function, %, memory, square root.

Integrated circuit - Sharp LI2013, here date coded to early 1978.

77 x 126 x 22 mm (3.0" x 5.0" x 0.9").

Busicom Model 811 DB Calculator

Information from Vintage Calculator web Museum

Display is 8-digits, green vacuum fluorescent (VFD).

2x AA batteries.

4-function, %, memory, square root, square.

85 x 155 x 25 mm (3.3" x 6.1" x 1.0").

Made in Japan.

This calculator is from the time after the Japanese Busicom company went out of business. It was apparently made by another company and was badged Busicom by Broughton's of Bristol.

Our Model has the serial number 5601229.

Tealtronic LE-8 Calculator

Tealtronic was a company associated with AML Distributors Ltd.[1], of Palmers Green, London.
There may have been a connection with the Japanese Teal company. It has an unusual horizontal format.

From VintageCalculators.com

Display is 8 digits, red LED.

Four function.

Power supply: 9v (6x AA cells).

Integrated circuit: Texas Instruments TMS0105.70 x 142 x 30 mm (2.75 x 5.6 x 1.2").

This is identical to the TEAL LE-8, which suggests a link between TEALTRONIC and TEAL.

Our calculator with a serial number of 0120755 was very kindly donated by Francis Hookham

Decimo Vatman

Size (approx): 83mm (max) x 132mm x 30mm (max) (w,h,d)
Weight 142g excluding batteries
Power: 6.0V DC, 4 x AA size batteries
Case: Chunky two piece plastic case. Bottom is beige, top is matt black.
Display: 8 digit green VFD display - ninth used for minus and memory sign.
Features: Basic five function including percentages, three function memory.
Made in Japan

Our calculator has a serial number 503 56274.

Commodore LC925 Calculator

The Commodore LC925 is an arithmetic calculator with 8 digits precision and algebraic logic. It has 8 functions, 26 keys and one of the early LCD (liquid crystal) displays which incorporated a yellow filter. The power source is 2x AA 1.5V cell.

Joycestick Joystick Interface

Joystick interface for the PCW range, though not a lot of the meagre software library supported it, the device plugged into the serial port, and converted down to the 9 pin standard joystick port of the day.

Vtech 386sx.33

HCCS A3000 SCSI Interface

The HCCS A3000 SCSI Interface is an internal 8 bit mini-podule and supports external SCSI devices. It uses the NatSemi D8490N SCSI-1 controller and has a 50pin external interface.

Here is the HCCS SCSI User Guide.
 
Here is the HCCS !SCSIMgr application .

HCCS A3000 Ultimate Expansion

The A3000 Ultimate expansion card has a user prot built in, slots for 3 micro podules and space for a 2.5" hard disc. This card has a Mitsumi CDROM micro podule  installed.

Oak Solutions A3000 Internal Expansion Option B

Syscom Products A3000 internal Expansion mini-podule was badged and sold by a number of companies including Oak and FocusIT. There was a range of 3 internal expansions for the A3000 which replicated the I/O ports on the BBC Micro. The 3 mini-podules are:

• Option A User port only.
• Option B User and Analogue ports.
• Option C User and Analogue ports and disc buffer to allow connection of additional, external, floppy disc drives.

The user port uses an R6522AP Peripheral Interface Adapter. The Analogue port uses an NEC D7002C Analogue/Digital Converter. 

This is Option B. 

Watford Electronics A3000 BBC User I/O

The card is intended for the internal expansion slot in machines such as the A3000, A4000, A3020 and A3010. The card basically offers an 8-bit Input/Output (I/O) port together with a 4-channel analogue to digital converter. The I/O card can therefore be used to control external devices (with additional hardware), or indeed to monitor the surroundings (again, extra hardware and/or transducers may be needed). Software written in BASIC for the BBC Micro will work with this card providing the legal SYS (from BASIC), SWI (from Assembler) or OSBYTE calls have been used.

The I/O port is port "B" of a 6522 VIA, and so offers eight I/O lines plus control lines CB1 and CB2. The pin-out on the back of the card is exactly the same as the "user port" on the bottom of the original BBC Micro. Each of the eight I/O pins can be set in software to be either an input or an output, in any combination.

On the analogue side, the four input channels are obtained from a uPD7002 chip, again as supplied with the BBC Micro. In addition to the user port and A/D converter described above, there is also an inter-IC (I2C) bus present.

The Watford Electronics BBC A3000 I/O Card User Guide is available HERE 

Oak Solutions A3000 1-4MB RAM Upgrade

The A3000 was shiped with 1MB RAM but the MEMC could support up to 4MB, this encouraged 3rd parties to produce RAM upgrades. This is a Oak Solutions 1MB RAM upgrade, it has 8 256 x 4 Kb RAM chips.

Acorn A3000 1MB RAM Upgrade

The upgrade came with these instructions.

CJE Micros A3000 2/4MB RAM

This RAM upgrade for the A3000 has 8 x M514400-80Z 1M x 4bit DRAM = 4 MB. The jumper on the left hand side selects between 2 & 4 MB.

Watford Electronics A3000 1MB RAM

The Watford Electronics A3000 1MB RAM is a 1MB upgrade for the A3000, giving a total of 2MB. The white plastic sheet in the bottom picture is to prevent shorting on other components.  

Beebug A3000 1MB upgrade

The Acorn A3000 had 1 MB memory and was upgradable to a maximum of 4 MB. This is Beebug's 1MB to 2MB upgrade. 

Simtec A3000 RAM Upgrade Issue E

The Acorn A3000 had 1MB RAM, although the memory controller could support 4MB, many OEMs supplied upgrades to increase RAM to 2MB or 4MB. 

This is a Simtec A3000 3MB RAM upgrade (Issue E) manufactured in 1995. 

Simtec A3010 4MB extra RAM

The Simtec A3010 4MB extra RAM upgrades the A3010 from 1 or 2 MB to 4MB which is the maximum RAM supported. The circuit board is marked UL 94-V0 A30103MB RAM IssA ©1993, other versions may differ slightly.

Watford Electronics A3000 3MB RAM

The Watford Electronics 3MB RAM is an upgrade to the A300 to upgrade to a total of 4MB. It fits onto the A3000 memory expansion socket.

Acorn A5000 ALB35

The Acorn A5000 was an all new model of the Archimedes family replacing the A540. It had 4 slots like previous models but a larger wider case making it look like a workstation computer.

In 1991, the A5000 was launched. It featured the new 25 MHz ARM3 processor, 2 or 4 MB of RAM, either a 40 MB or an 80 MB hard drive and a more conventional two-part case. Its enhanced video capabilities allowed the A5000 to comfortably display VGA resolutions of up to 800×600 pixels. It was the first Archimedes to feature a High Density capable floppy disc drive as standard. This supported various formats including DOS and Atari discs. A later version of the A5000 featured a 33 MHz ARM3, 4 or 8 MB of RAM, an 80 or 120 MB hard drive and a revised OS (RISC OS 3.10).

The A5000 ran the new 3.0 version of RISC OS 3.0. As previously, earlier machines were capable of being upgraded to the new RISC OS 3, though some needed help, as well as the ARM3 CPU. Earlier models could also benefit from the video performance of the A5000 via a third party upgrade.

A5000 ALB53 had a ARM3 processor running at 33 MHz

Simtex A30x0 IDE Interface

This is an 8bit IDE interface for the A30x0 and A4000 computers. Details are still available on the Simtec web site. 

Serial No. 99001113880.

Here is the Simtec Mini-podule fitting  instructions.
Here is the Simtec 2.5" drive fitting  instructions.

The latest version of the IDE software can be downloaded from the Simtec site under Legacy Products .

Jaquard Cards

This series of punched cards, connected together by string, controlled a Jacquard loom.  They date from 1926, when they were used by Warner & Sons of Braintree, Essex.

The Jacquard loom, invented in the first decade of the 19th century, was a device fitted to a power loom that simplified the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns like brocade and damask.  Joseph Marie Jacquard recognized that although weaving was intricate, it was repetitive, and saw that a mechanism could be developed for the production of sophisticated patterns just as it had been done for the production of simple patterns.  Punch cards like these items in our collection were used to guide the loom, in much the same way as a player piano is controlled by punched cards.  Their use can be seen as a form of programming - the automated, variable control of machinery.

Operating on the same principle, punched cards were commonly used to program computers up until the 1970s.  For this reason, Jacquard's invention is viewed by some as a precursor of modern computing science.

The donor of these cards provided us with the following information:

"..These cards date from around 1926 when they were first cut at Warner & Sons New Mills in Braintree Essex to weave the damask for Hampton Court Palace. They have the job written on them which adds a certain interest. They are fragile but still intact and show the program for a twill tie construction in the weave of the cloth. We still weave this pattern today which can be seen on our website and downloaded. I saved the cards in 1971 when Warner shut down at Braintree, and still have the machine in store that used them. The setting of the card layout of eight selections across the card was a standard that many looms adapted across much of the industry from 1820’s onwards. The black marks reveal where the needles in the machine were physically pushed to select in the process of weaving.  This format gave way to smaller and more refined systems as engineering progressed through the 19th Century..."

and

"..Cards were cut in widths of single rows to 12 holes across x 50 rows gave you a 600 hook selection. These cards were difficult to cut as your thumbs as well as all 8 fingers were used for the punch positions on the piano card cutter – we kept to 8 holes across for speed and my card cutter could cut a 400 card in less than one minute, so 400 pitch was the best layout for speed. The 600 (12x50) gave you the ability to have richer design – I would recommend reading Hand Weaving by Luther Hooper if you want more detail on compound harnesses which needed 600 hooks in the Jacquard. There is an article about Jacquard on our website which is a free download..."

The Serial Port A3000 Turbo SCSI

The Serial Ports 8bit A3000 Turbo SCSI Adaptor was made by Thor Electronic Systems, Worcs. It is based on the NCR 53C94 SCSI IC. The drivers were in a ROM on the back right of the card (see first picture) but it appears to be missing on my card.

A little more information and the SCSI drivers and format program can be found on Hugo Fiennes's web site under ARXE (HD/)SCSI .

Lingenuity A3000 SCSI Upgrade

The Lengenuity A3000 SCSI upgrade issue 4 has 2 x 25pin D plug interfaces. The empty IC Sockets on the right are for termination resistors (not sure if they are used in the version. The controller is an AMD AM5389PC SCSI controller. The ROM on this card is a Lingenuity SCSI Share v3 ROM.

Lingenuity SCSI Share

SCSI share was a Lingenuity product which was a low cost way of connecting small groups of Archimedes and A3000 computers to a single hard disc. Its transfare rate was up to 54 time faster than Econet. It enabled up to 6 computers to share a hard disc, limited by cable lengths. All computers could load the same applicationat the same time. It was dramatically faster than using the floppy disc drive. The SCSI Share appears to the user as 2 hard discs, the first is a read-only partition that protects application software and the second is a read/write partition for user files and work space. Partition sizes are manager defined upto the size of the hard disc.

Here is an archive of the Lingenuity SCSI Utilities disc. Please note that in 1990 when the issue 3 mini-podule was released the current version of RISC OS was RISC OS 2.00.
 
Here are the Installation instructions for the Lingenuity SCSI Interface card .

HCCS A3010 Ultimate Expansion

The HCCS A3010 Ultimate Expansion adds a 21MB 2.5" IDE hard disk, user port and two micro-podule slots to the A3010. It also includes a small fan. The serial number is ULT3010-100745 and the ROM version in Ultimate MP A3010 Version G. The micro podules are the same as those used with other HCCS Ultimate Expansion systems.

There is a socket for an external power supply, but I don't know what voltage. (probably 5V DC) to power the disc drive and other connected devices.

For some micro-podules see HCCS in 32bit Upgrades.