User:Flibble/Acorn Stuff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Queen's award for technology

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/themicrouser/news/02-04.htm

Restructures

These two contradict themselves.

Olivetti

People

Managing Director

CEO

Chairman

Refs per version

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

Licensing issues and unrelated

RISCOS Ltd said on their website: "We await the full details of the licensing terms and conditions that will be applicable to RISC OS 5 source code. When these are known we shall be able to review the situation. However the current expectation is that there are very few features that are present in RISC OS 5 that are missing in RISC OS Six, that have a very high priority for inclusion in future releases of RISC OS 6."[1]

Managing Director Paul Middleton told Drobe News that the company would not be open sourcing its OS code in the same way.

He said: "It is probably worth pointing out that the 'open sourcing' of RISC OS is going to solely cover RISC OS 5 versions. We do not intend to 'open source' RISC OS 4 versions as some people seem to have assumed."

"I would point out though that we have always been happy to work with developers who require source level access to RISC OS, in the same way that Acorn made sources available for particular projects. The difference between us and ROOL is that we do require any changes made to be fed back to us, as we only want one version of RISC OS 4 to be available." [2]

An Iyonix-compatible version of RISC OS 6 is described as a possibility. From the RISC OS 6 FAQ : "Some people have assumed that because we have not made any definite announcements with respect to Select 4 on the Iyonix, that we are not interested in doing the work. The facts are however that our resources are limited, and priority has been given to working with partners who actively want RISC OS Select features on their products."

RISCOS Ltd and ROOL have agreed to cooperate, but expect to continue working on their own forks of the source tree.[3]

More recently however, concern has been expressed concerning the exact licensing terms and ownership of RISC OS, with some commentators claiming that recent efforts to port RISC OS to platforms other than Iyonix might not be permitted.

RISCOS Ltd and Castle continued maintaining separate development branches of the RISC OS operating system for some time, but as a result of a lengthy dispute over licensing during 2004[4] the two companies agreed to merge the two competing streams.[5] After taking over development from Castle, RISC OS Open Ltd later distanced themselves from this announcement, indicating it was technically impossible[6] but indicated[7] they would work together to smooth incompatibilities.


Some pieces of software famous to other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Linux have been ported to RISC OS, most notably Firefox[8] and Thunderbird.[9]

Links about Acorn history to read and possibly use as refs for Acorn Computers article

Wired Articles

Interview with S Wilson

Stuff I'd forgotten I'd scanned (ART factsheets good for a7000/rpc spec)

Misc

Really good paper about ARM/Acorn history and ARM spinout

Size of Acorn 32bit market.

  • 01403810 - 05/12/1978 ACORN COMPUTERS LIMITED -> 5/01/1999 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 2 LIMITED -> 15/06/2014 Dissolved
  • 01618697 - 02/03/1982 CHENALSOUND LIMITED -> 17/05/1982 ACORN OVERSEAS LIMITED -> 01/11/1983 ACORN COMPUTERS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 3 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 02926030 - 05/05/1994 ACKRACK LAW LIMITED -> 06/07/1994 ONLINE MEDIA LIMITED -> 01/12/1998 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 15/01/1999 ACORN COMPUTERS LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 7 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 01708846 - 23/03/1983 SACKVICK LIMITED -> 19/04/1983 ACORN COMPUTER GROUP PLC -> 08/05/1997 ACORN GROUP PLC -> 15/02/2000 CABOT 1 LIMITED
  • 03143694 - 04/01/1996 AMIDSHIPS LIMITED -> 02/04/1996 XEMPLAR EDUCATION LIMITED -> 04/05/1999 APPLE XEMPLAR EDUCATION LIMITED -> 21/10/2014 Dissolved
  • 03319314 - 17/02/1997 TENDERTAPE LIMITED -> 31/07/1997 ACORN TECHNOLOGY LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 4 LIMITED -> 11/07/2000 Dissolved
  • 01524763 - 28/10/1980 ACORN SOFT LIMITED -> 14/06/1984 ACORNSOFT LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 5 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 01774344 - 30/11/1983 ACORN VIDEO LIMITED -> 03/08/1999 CABOT 6 LIMITED -> 05/09/2000 Dissolved
  • 02557590 - 12/11/1990 WIDELOGIC LIMITED -> 03/12/1990 ADVANCED RISC MACHINES LIMITED -> 21/05/1998 ARM LIMITED
  • 02548782 - 16/10/1990 STYLETHEME LIMITED -> 11/12/1990 ADVANCED RISC MACHINES HOLDINGS LIMITED -> 10/03/1998 ARM HOLDINGS PLC
  • 01357972 - CAMBRIDGE PROCESSOR UNIT LIMITED -> ACORN LEASING LIMITED -> 03/11/1992 Dissolved
  • 03827652 - 13/08/1999 ELEMENT 14 LIMITED -> 27/07/2004 Dissolved
  • MSDW INVESTMENT HOLDINGS LIMITED

Stock Symbols

  • ARMH - ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ-GS)
  • ???? - Acorn Computer Group PLC (LSE GB0000061167)

Acorn 1998 Timeline

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4036313/Acorn-cancels-RISC-computer-project http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/1839304/press-watch-what-papers

  • ??/09/1995 Acorn Computers Ltd diversify, Acorn Risc Technologies, Acorn Online Media, Acorn Network Computing [10]
  • Acorn bring things back together again, Workstation division etc
  • 17/06/1998 - Stan Boland takes over from David Lee as CEO of Acorn [11]
  • 17/09/1998 - Acorn close workstation division cancel phoebe [12] [13] and redefines business activity into 2 areas a) a set-top-box business to cover digital tv market and b) a silicon and software design business to develop a high performance Media DSP - Chairman's report in 19990427 - Acorn audited results for 1998.pdf
  • 12/10/1998 - Castle takes over as distributor [14] [15]
  • ??/11/1998 - Hires 7 silicon design engineers (formerly of ST Microelecctronics, gains second site in Bristol - Chairman's report in 19990427 - Acorn audited results for 1998.pdf
  • 08/01/1999 - Sale of Xemplar stake [16] [17] [18]
  • 02/01/1999 - Acorn rename to Element 14 [19][20] [21]
  • 05/03/1999 - Element 14 sells license to RISCOS Ltd to develop and release RISC OS 4 [22] [23]
  • 27/04/1999-03/06/1999 - Buyout of Acorn Group PLC by MSDW
  • 01/06/1999 - Sale of STB business to Pace [24]
  • 26/07/1999 - Element 14 successfully detaches from Acorn Group PLC [25]
  • 02/08/1999 - Element 14 secure venture capital [26]
  • 09/02/2000 - Element 14 hires former Alcatel DSL engineers - Change in focus 'The recruitment of DSL designers reflects a shift in focus by Element 14 which is now concentrating solely on broadband access communications ICs.' Gains 3rd site in Belgium. [27]
  • 14/10/2000-24/11/2000 - Broadcom buy Element 14 [28] [29] Becomes or is absorbed into the DSL buisness unit.

RISC OS Emulators

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI