I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that the first working ARM processor was on the 26th April 1985 ( at 3PM ) and that the Acorn Master 128 ( 8-bit ) computer was launched in January 1986! ARM is almost 40 years old. Champagne was opened to celebrate these histroric ARM events. - ThreadSky

kevedwardsretro.bsky.social • 45 days ago

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that the first working ARM processor was on the 26th April 1985 ( at 3PM ) and that the Acorn Master 128 ( 8-bit ) computer was launched in January 1986! ARM is almost 40 years old. Champagne was opened to celebrate these histroric ARM events.

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breakintoprogram.co.uk•45 days ago

That's a pretty impressive turnaround.

allan175.bsky.social•45 days ago

My son works at Arm in Cambridge.

kevedwardsretro.bsky.social•45 days ago

That's so cool, Allan. You must be so proud of him. I visited Cambridge at the end of last year. Sadly, didn't get chance to hunt out the ARM and old Acorn / Sinclair buildings. That's for another time.

allan175.bsky.social•45 days ago

Definitely.
He's much cleverer than me! And a lot taller!

kevedwardsretro.bsky.social•45 days ago

No way!

steverudland.bsky.social•45 days ago

Oh wow!

vance.bsky.social•45 days ago

I don't think the Acorn line made it to the US so every time I saw something from it, it always seemed a bit futuristic

taynappe.bsky.social•45 days ago

We were burned by making a BBC Micro variant for the US

kevedwardsretro.bsky.social•45 days ago

I have some of the original US User Guides. It's interesting that they launched it as BBC Microcomputer.

nemo20000.bsky.social•45 days ago

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the most mysterious Acorn character set is the undocumented “Mexico” from the BBC Master’s International ROM – it’s clearly a modified IBM CodePage but has sod-all to do with Hispanic languages, so I wondered if it referred to the factory for the US Beebs –

nemo20000.bsky.social•45 days ago

i.e. was this anatopistically US-centric CodePage intended for another go at the US market; for some potential customer who backed out; or for Olivetti use?
It did not make it to Arthur, and try as I might I’ve not been able to match it to any documented CodePage. But it’s clearly CodePage-style.

taynappe.bsky.social•44 days ago

None at all

nemo20000.bsky.social•44 days ago

If you don't know...

kevedwardsretro.bsky.social•45 days ago

They did launch the Model B in the US, but it didn't get anywhere at all. The Apple II machines had already grabbed that share of the market and overseas computers stood little chance of succeeding!

cleminan.uk•45 days ago

Acorn had offices in California for a while.

Outside of Europe they were most successful in AU/NZ, I believe.

rhchipp.bsky.social•45 days ago

Odder than that (although I'd have to look up the specific dates etc again), semiconductors were invented long before thermionic valves, but took a while to catch on, being initially stuck at the simple PN junction of the cat's whisker diode.

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