Risc PC 486 Card Q&A document 3rd February 1995 Q. What is the Risc PC 486 Card and why might someone need one? A: The Risc PC 486 Card is a card upgrade which slots into one of the two processor slots inside the Risc PC and enables Windows and DOS software to be run on a Risc PC. It consists of a PCB (printed circuit board), a 486 chip and an ASIC which provides the interface between the 486 chip and the Risc PC, and is supplied with IBM PC DOS (version 6.3) but not Windows. Anyone wishing to run Windows and DOS software on Risc PC, in addition to RISC OS software, will need the Risc PC 486 Card. Q: How much does it cost? A: The Risc PC 486 Card costs #99 ex.VAT if purchased at the same time as the Risc PC system, or #199 if purchased as an upgrade at a later date. Q: When is the Risc PC 486 Card planned to be available? A: The Risc PC 486 Card will be available from Acorn dealers from April 1995. Q: What has happened to the 500 evaluation units? A special production schedule of 500 evaluation cards is underway for press reviews, for key customers (Acorn dealers, Acorn In Education Centres and Software developers) and for use at exhibitions. The first batch have just been completed and dispatched to Acorn Germany, Australia and New Zealand, with some made available for press reviews. It is expected that the full schedule of deliveries, which are on strict allocation, will be completed early in March. Q: Can you guarantee a date for the card? A: All the design and component work has been completed and approved so that commercial manufacturing can commence. Q: What dates will cards be ready for review by journalists? A: Evaluation cards are ready now and allocated to identified press for reviews. Q: What level of functionality will the pre-production cards have? Will customers be able to run all their Windows, DOS and PC CD ROM applications? A: The evaluation cards will have issue 1 PCBs and components, software and manuals. All customers of these cards will be automatically upgraded with the final release of the software and manuals. These cards will offer a level of performance and functionality close to the finished production build. It is expected that the software upgrades will be issued throughout the life of the product as new features are added to meet the requirements of our customers. Customers of the evaluation cards will be able to run Windows and DOS applications. They will also be able to run PC CD ROM applications, but will require the Risc PC 16-bit sound card and Soundblaster emulation software, due to be available also in April, for sound output. Q: Why aren't the manuals final versions? A: The manuals for the 500 evaluation cards are not the final versions because the move to using IBM PC DOS with the product involved additional work, including revision to the manuals. Q: How many different versions of prototypes and the final versions will there be? A: A small number of prototypes have been built for testing purposes, with a build of 500 evaluation units for key customers underway, to be followed by the final production units. Acorn reserves the right to incorporate future enhancements in technology into any of its products after product launch. Q: What about other Operating System options? A: We are now investigating the supply of a wider range of operating systems than originally intended. This is partly due to the increased acceptance of the Risc PC in new markets. Acorn are currently in discussions with other vendors to provide different operating systems for the Risc PC 486 card in addition to Windows and DOS. At this stage these talks are confidential but include IBM with a view to offering OS/2 as a licence option. The Risc PC 486 cards include a processor chip which, assuming the necesary software drivers are developed, is capable of running OS/2 and generic PC software, including SCO UNIX and standard productivity tools. Q: What Processor Chip will be used? A: The first ten thousand units will use the TI 486 SXL chip, which meets the required specification and runs at 33 MHz rather than the 25MHz originally published by Acorn. However, a variety of different processors can be fitted into this design subject to price, availability and market requirement. Q: Why did Acorn launch a product promoting its cross-platform functionality, knowing the functionality would not be ready for at least a year? A: At the time of launching Risc PC, the estimated time of arrival of the Risc PC Card was Q4 1994, with the first prototypes being built in September: about 6 months after Risc PC launch. The cross-platform functionality is a key aspect of the flexibility and expansion capability of Risc PC and gives added value to customers, who have the assurance of knowing their system can be expanded in the future. Q: Will you be relying on Aleph One for future bundled second processor cards? A: Aleph One have an established track record in delivering PC card technology to run on Acorn RISC based systems, and Acorn may use Aleph One for future developments. Acorn are aware of other third parties developing their own second processor cards, and in the future it might be appropriate for Acorn to include these with the Risc PC. Q: How many customers have prepaid for the Risc PC 486 Card. A: A few dealers have recently taken orders for the Risc PC 486 Card, contrary to Acorn's instructions. The #99 ex. VAT price for purchasing the card as part of the purchase of a complete Risc PC system will be available to all Risc PC owners for a period of 3 months after the Risc PC 486 Card becomes available. Q: Will you be reimbursing customers who will experience this delay? A: Customers who have prepaid for the card, and require reimbursement, should take this up with their dealer. Q: Is this delay affecting sales of the Risc PC given its selling point of cross platform functionality? A: It is hard to say if customers are delaying purchase but this seems unlikely, as sales of Risc PC continue to exceed expectation, and are still currently outstripping supply. The flexibility of the Risc PC architecture for future expansion is a key selling point, since it provides future proofing. Q: Doesn't this development throw into doubt the whole concept and credibility of the Risc PC? A: The opposite is true. The Risc PC 486 Card provides a route to add PC capability to Risc PC at very low cost, by exploiting the flexibility of the design architecture. This flexibility will allow other processors to be added at low cost without significant loss in performance. Q: Has Acorn applied to clone the Apple computer operating system? A: No. Q: Did Apple refuse Acorn the technology and if so, why? A: Acorn has expressed no interest in the Apple PC hardware or software technology. Risc PC was specifically designed to deliver second processor capability at high performance and low cost, and the Risc PC 486 Card is developed specifically to optimise and exploit the opportunities of the Risc PC architecture. Q: Is Acorn considering a PowerPC capability for Risc PC? A: Acorn is evaluating PowerPC with a view to adding this capability to Risc PC, and Acorn's closer links with IBM will help in this area. However, PowerPC capability would not allow Apple software applications to run owing to the prohibitive licensing costs and the failure of Apple, to date, to comply with PReP (PowerPC reference standard). Q: What plans are there amongst third party developers for other Risc PC second processors? A: Aleph One has publically announced its commitment to market an enhanced capability Risc PC Card, based on a higher specification and more expensive 486 chip. This product will be positioned above the risc PC 486 Card in price and performance. In addition, Aleph 1 has stated its intention to provide a Power PC chip device. Acorn is not able to disclose information on other third party developments without permission from the relevant third parties. Q: Is there a real and clear commitment to cross-platform functionality or is it a marketing ruse to shore up your market share? A: Acorn had already developed and marketed a DOS capability as part of the BBC Master 128 range in the 1980s, and before this CP/M for the BBC Model B. Soon after Acorn launched Archimedes in 1987 it made a software emulator available which enabled DOS programs to run on Archimedes. However there are limits to the performance that can be achieved using software emulation alone, and in 1993 Acorn launched its first PC Cards for the A3020 and A4000 computers. The Risc PC 486 Card is therefore the logical development in a policy of providing cross-platform capability for a decade. An integral component of the Risc PC design philosophy was the flexibility of adding other processors at low cost and as a user upgrade. Q: Will all Windows and DOS applications be able to run on the Risc PC? Will they run as fast as the equivalent PC? A: Almost all Windows and DOS applications tested to date run on the Risc PC when fitted with the Risc PC 486 Card. Users have commented that applications run as fast as, or close to the speed at which they run on the equivalent specification PC. Q: Will customers be able to play all their PC CD ROMs? A: In general, with the Risc PC 16-bit sound card upgrade installed, together with the Soundblaster emulation software, as well as the Risc PC 486 Card, it should be possible to run most MPC compliant CD ROM titles. Sound input on PC titles is not supported, but this will affect few titles. Q: Will customers need to have MS DOS or will DR DOS be fine? A: Acorn has chosen to provide IBMs PC DOS. It is not necessary to have MS DOS or DR DOS, but these also work with the card. Q: Might some Windows programs run a little faster on the Risc PC than normal? A: It is possible that some Windows programs will run slightly faster when performing graphics intensive tasks, and indeed this has been observed and is demonstrable. Q: Will the Risc PC 486 Card run Chicago? A: The Risc PC 486 Card should be able to run Windows 95, and a beta version has been tested and runs. Q: How do I fit the card to the Risc PC? Will it require a podule (expansion card) slot? A: The card fits into a special slot on the motherboard. There are two slots for processor cards. One of these will already contain a card bearing the ARM processor. This card should occupy the forward of the two slots (ie the one nearest the front of the computer). The Risc PC 486 card should be plugged in to the slot nearest the back of the computer. No podule (expansion card) slot is needed by the card though it may in the future be able to take advantage of expansion cards supplying particular features such as PC soundcard facilities. Q: Is the fitting of the Risc PC 486 Card a dealer only upgrade? A: No. Fitting requires the removal of the lid of the computer and the insertion of the card followed by the refitting of the lid. This procedure may be carried out in a matter of minutes and requires no special tools or particular expertise on the part of the user. Q: How do I make use of the Risc PC 486 Card to run PC software? A: The Risc PC 486 Card comes supplied with a front-end program which allows the user to run PC software both within a window in the RISC OS environment as well as in full-screen mode. The software is configurable to cater for the wide number of variations in the Risc PC hardware that may be used as well as the differing needs of individual users. Q: Can I run Windows and DOS using a 5MB Risc PC and the Risc PC 486 Card? A: While it is possible to run DOS programs effectively on a 5MB computer, the limited amount of memory which can be allocated to the PC environment means that Windows will run very inefficiently and the range of programs that may be run in this environment is limited. A 9MB Risc PC has enough memory to run both DOS and most Windows programs efficiently. An Application Note is available from Acorn Customer Services which contains advice on using the Risc PC 486 Card in limited memory circumstances. Q: Which graphic operating systems are currently supported by the Risc PC 486 Card? A: The following graphical user environments have been confirmed as working fully with the Risc PC 486 Card: Windows 3.1 Windows for Workgroups 3.10 Windows for Workgroups 3.11 A Beta version of Windows '95 has been tested and runs. Q: How much memory can I allocate to the PC environment on a 9MB Risc PC? A: It is possible to allocate up to 7MB to the PC/Windows environment, but 6Mb is a more sensible figure, allowing for a fair balance between PC and RISC OS environments. Q: How is memory allocated to the PC environment? A: The front-end software may be configured with the amount of memory it is intended to allocate to the PC Card. Q: Why do I require so much memory to run Windows programs? A: The Windows operating system requires a far greater amount of memory to run than is the case with RISC OS. Unlike RISC OS, the speed at which programs run can depend on the total amount of memory available. Therefore, as a general rule, the more memory available to Windows, the more efficiently it runs. Many base level PCs now come equipped with 8MB of memory as standard. Q: I own a 9MB Risc PC. Should I add more memory to support the Risc PC 486 card? A: While a 6MB PC card memory allocation will be adequate for many users, there are speed benefits to be gained by having a greater amount of memory. Even doubling the screen memory from 1MB to 2MB is likely to improve the speed of the Windows environment. However, it would be sensible to increase the amount of Risc PC memory by at least 4MB DRAM in order to create a better balance between the needs of RISC OS and the needs of the Risc PC 486 Card. Q: Are DOS and Windows supplied with the Risc PC 486 Card? A: The Risc PC 486 Card will come supplied with PC DOS 6.3, which is the IBM equivalent of Microsoft MSDOS and has the same functionality. Windows is not supplied with the card but is available from 3rd party vendors. Q: What screen resolutions are supported by the Risc PC 486 Card and its software? A: Standard supported resolutions are VGA (640x480) and SVGA (800x600) in DOS mode and Windows mode, though higher resolutions may be used in Windows. 16 and 256 colours are supported in Windows but only 16 colours are currently supported when running under DOS. These limits may be lifted with later releases of software. Q: Will the PC Card support a directly attached, dedicated, PC formatted, hard disc? A: No. The PC Card will support specially created partitions on Acorn format hard discs. Q: What speed can I expect from the 486 PC Card? A: In general, you will get the same speed as on a "native" PC fitted with a 486 33MHz CPU. It should be borne in mind that different PC models with the same processor may show very different speed characteristics, depending on elements of the architecture which support the CPU. The performance benchmarks return figures consistent with those obtainable from a standard PC with 486 CPU. Q: Will the Risc PC 486 Card work with all current filing systems? A: Yes. The Risc PC 486 Card will work with all the filing systems currently recognised by RISC OS. The software which supports the PC Card includes support for CD ROM access in addition. Q: Can I run PC games? A: Some PC games place very heavy strains on the system they run on and have large memory/disc space and processor demands. It can not be guaranteed that every PC game will run properly but the majority should run successfully. This is the same situation that is found on many so-called PC clones. Q: Is the Risc PC/486 Card combination compliant with the MPC I and II specifications for multimedia PCs? A: With the addition of a double-speed CD ROM drive and a 16-bit soundcard, the RiscPC/486 Card combination will meet all the requirements of the MPC II specification with the exception of the sound input capabilities, mixing and joystick support. Q: Does the Risc PC 486 Card support PC format CD ROMs? A: With the fitting of a CD ROM drive, PC format CD ROM discs can be run successfully. Both IDE and SCSI CD ROM drives are fully supported. Acorn and the Acorn device are registered trademarks. The Risc PC and the Risc PC logo (trademark application 1569058) are trademarks of Acorn Computers Ltd. PowerPC is a trademark of International Business Machines. Microsoft is registered. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are acknowledged.