Chris's Acorns: Companies

This website is an archived copy of "Chris's Acorns", now hosted by The Centre for Computing History as part of The Chris Whytehead collection.
To view the page in it's original forms without this header, append "?cfch-archive=orig" to the URL.

Companies

Introduction

Over its life time Acorn spawned a host of companies that lived off the Acorn market providing hardware upgrades, books, software etc. to Acorn users. Some of these companies disappeared in a short time, some are still in business and at least one is an internationaly successful company (it is ARM Ltd, of course). This section is an index to the companies with a bit of history where I know it and links to their products in Chris's Acorns. I have divided it into 5 sections:

It is relatively easy to pick up an upgrade from ebay, show charity stalls, Acorn newsgroups or car boot sales. But finding the documentation and software that originally shipped with it is much harder. Once you installed a new podule and configured it, you probably put the installation instructions and the support disc "somewhere safe" even if you needed to keep the User Guide to hand for a while. If you have unwanted installation instructions, user guides or support discs please contact me because I want them. You can tell if I already have them because they are will be listed onto this site.

There are so many upgrades and expansions that I will never have a complete collection, so you may not find what you are looking for. On the other hand I am continually acquiring new items and adding them to the collection.

Companies are listed in alphabetical order with Acorn at the front. You can jump to the initial letter using the table below:

You can also look up 8bit and 32bit Upgrades by function, for example all the 8bit second processiors or 32bit memory upgrades using the function indexes:
8bit Index by function
32bit Index by function

Acorn

Acorn Computers was founded in 1978 in Cambridge. Acorn produced a number of computers (including the Atom, BBC Micro, Elector, BBC Master, Archimedes and RiscPC) which are described in Chris's Acorns (See Computers link below). Acorn was finally broken up in 2000.

There are a number of detailed histories of Acorn Computers on the Internet, four of the best are listed on my Links page. The most complete is the Wikipedia entry Acorn Computers.

Finally I should point out that there is no connection between Acorn Computers (1978-2000) and the company currently trading as Acorn Computers and selling Desktop and Laptop PCs.

ACE

From Philipp Reichmuth: "ACE stands for Acorn Computer Enterprises. The firm was originally called MCS (MIDI & Computer Systeme) and sold Atari computers and MIDI equipment; later, when Atari went down the drain, we changed to PCs and Acorns. One reason for choosing the Acorn was that the shop owner, Mike Saxton, was British. MCS got renamed to ACE in 1996 when we moved to a new shop a couple of houses down the road. It was a rather small shop with never more than two or three full-time employees."

"We had two major hardware projects for the Acorn. One was the MidiConnect that you list on your site. The other was the Connect32 SCSI card for the Risc PC that we produced in 1996/97; it was a fast SCSI-II card based on an Adaptec chip with some cache. The card had an exceptionally clean layout and reached very high speed (among the fastest Acorn SCSI cards), but it had some problems; the driver programmer was a rather funny Greek who had a bit of a sloppy attitude towards programming at times, and the company that actually produced the boards made mistakes in some runs so I ended up soldering little resistors on some runs of fifty boards at a time. Nevertheless, the card sold rather well."

Ace Computing

Ace Computing produced graphics and animation software for Acorn RISC OS, best known are Euclid, Mogul and Tween, in addition they produced Printer Drivers for colour printers.

Acorn User

Acorn User magazine chronicled the Acorn story from 1982 to 2003, from the Acorn Atom to the StrongARM RiscPC. It covers the tortuous story of Acorn Computers from near the beginning to the end and beyond. It was also my favorite "Acorn" magazine. With permission from John Cartmell and Acorn Publisher, who now own the copyright, I have scanned and republished some of the articles, mainly hardware vreviews.

Advanced Computer Products (ACP)

ACP made ROM based software for the BBC and Electron as well as selling other Acorn ROMs and disk drives.

See also PRES which shared the Chobham address.

Advanced Memory Systems

Advanced Memory Systems produced the AMX Mouse and related programs for the BBC Micro as well as the Amstrad CPC, Commodore C64 and Sinclair Spectrum. I believe AMS were subsequently bought by Logitech.

Advanced Telecommunications Modules Ltd (ATM)

ATM Ltd was a Cambridge based company producing low cost ATM equipment, It was a party to the Cambridge Interactive TV trial supplying the ATM equipement

Advantage Six

See also Stuart Tyrrell Developments. "Advantage Six Ltd specialise in the design, manufacture and retail of electronic devices in the embedded and educational sectors." to quote from the web site. Products include the A9Home, A75, A6 and A5 computers

Akhter Compters Ltd

Akter supplied storage devices (floppy discs, Winchester discs and tape streamers) for BBC Micros. Still trading today but not involved in the RISC OS market.

Aleph1

Alpeph1 was founded in 1971 by Laurie van Someren. I remember it for ARM3 upgrades for the Archimedes A300, A400 and A400/1 computers. Later Aleph1 produced PC Expansion Cards for the Archimedes and subsequent RISC OS computers, including the A30x0 and A4000, and finally PCCards for the Risc PC. Aleph1 also specialised in ARMLinux and medical applications. The old Aleph1 web site still supports their PC card product range, but documentation and !PCPro software is has moved to the www.riscos.info the web site, as Aleph1 have departed from the RISC OS market..

Alsystems

Angelsoft Educational

Angelsoft produced softwaree for Econet and AUN networks, !AppFS was probably the best known product.

ANT

ANT originally developed Ethernet networking interfaces for the Archimedes and subsequent computers. They also developed TCP/IP software for Acorn. From this background ANT developed the first RISC OS commercial, integrated Internet suite (ANT Internet Suite) which enable Archimedes users to access the internet. The ANT Internet suite contains !Fresco (web browser), !Marcel (email and news reader) and a number of useful internet tools (e.g. FTP client). Later ANT developed a server suite to enable Acorn computers to provide internet services. When Acorn moved into Network Computers (e.g Netstation), Fresco was the default web browser in the NC's ROM.

Today ANT still sell Fresco, but have moved away from the dwindling Acorn/RISC OS market., selling into the Set Top Box, Digital media and IPTV markets (see the website for more details). There is no reference to or support for their legacy RISCOS products.

Aries Computers

Aries Computers produced a series of expansion boards for the BBC microcomputer. Later, I believe, Aries was bought by Watford Electronics who continued to sell the Aries expansion board and the used Aries as a brand for their PCs.

Argo Interactive

Argo Interactive produced drivers for the Iomega Parallel Port Zip drive for use with RISC OS computers. The company history is a bit complicated but it came out of QD Enterprises which at one time trades as VTi . It was related to the ArgoNet ISP. Argo Interactive still exists but is nothing to do with the RISC OS market.

Armadillo Systems Ltd

I can find no information on Armdillo Systems Ltd, so I assume they are no longer trading in the RISC OS market. In fact I am only aware of this one product from them.

APDL

APDL started in 1987 as the Archimedes Public Domain Library. APDL is still active in the RISC OS market but has moved focus from public domain to commercial software and hardware. It has taken over most (all?) other RISC OS Public Domain Libraries and then took over various commercial publishers' products as they either ceased trading or left the RISC OS market. Today APDL sells computers, upgrades and software. APDL are are one of the few active retaillers in the RISC OS market with a range of software that seems to continuously grow.

Ashiv

Ashiv is a French company specialising in teletext and datacast equipment. It still has a RISC OS presence on its website.

Atomwide

Atomwide supplied a variety of hardware for the Acorn market, from VIDC Enhancers to Ethernet network interfaces. The software for their network interfaces was supplied by ANT.

Today Atomwide still supply network hardware and solutions for the wider networking market, primarily in education. There is still some limited information on their Acorn products on their website which does not appear to have been updated since 2003.

ATPL

ATPL produced sideways RAM/ROM boards for the BBC micro. No further information available.

Audio Computers

Audio Dymanics

Audio Computers made a Dual MIDI Interface for Acorn Computers. Subsequently sold by Expressive Software Products (ESP)

AVIE

AVS

AVS deveoped advanced computer graphics for the broadcast industry. I have no other information avout AVS.

Baildon Electronics

Electronics design and manufacting company (based in Shipley, Yorkshire) which designed and manufactured cards for a number of Acorn OEMs. In particular took over manufacture of the ICS IdeA interface.

BBCSoft

The BBC produced a range of software (mainly educational) for the BBC Micro and Master.

Beebug

Originally founded as a commercial BBC Micro (Beeb) Users Group (hence the name). Beebug started as a magazine (called "Beebug") which was first published in April 1982 and ran for 11 years. Beebug was joined by Risc User in 1987 with the arrival of the Archimedes which ran for 12 years. Apart from software, first on the magazine discs and then independent software products, Beebug produced hardware upgrades for the BBC micro and later the early Archimedes, before renaming the Archimedes operation Risc Developments (see below).

Bud Computers

Bud Computers made Joystick interfaces for various howe computers in the mid-1980s, including the Electron and the Spectrum. I think it went into liquidation in 1985.

Busicomputers Ltd

Busicomputers Ltd of Peterborough produced computer sstems for accountants. They sold OEM versions of the Acorn Atom in 1979-1982 (?). The specifications of the systems suggest that they were targeted at a business market and some were sold in Holland. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any further information about the company either on the Internet or in old catalogues. If you have any further information, please contact me.

Calligraph

Calligraph produced direct drive Laserprinters (podule and printer) for the Acorn RISC OS computers. They are no longer trading, as far as I know. However it is still possible to get consumables for the Qume and Sharp printers they used. 4QD have a useful Calligraph FAQ .

Care Electronics

Care Electronics made ROM cartridges for the BBC Master. I have no further information.

Castle Technology

Before taking over production of the RiscPC and A7000+ when Acorn closed down its workstation division, Castle made SCSI podules for Archimedes computers. Castle still support their legacy products on their website, click on the 'Castle' link above. The latest versions of software and other support information is available HERE .

In October 2002 Castle launched the first all new RISC OS computer, the Iyonix, using the Intel X-Scale 80321 CPU with PCI graphics and UDMA. With the new computer came a new 32bit version of RISC OS (RISC OS 5). It was the first new RISC OS computer since the RiscPC was launched in 1996. For further information on the Iyonix click HERE .

Here is the Castle Technology entry in Wikipedia.

CCS

Cerilica

Cerilica were best know for the Vantage vector graphics package and other RISC OS software. However in 1999 Cerilica planned to use the Millipede Imago motherboard in a high end graphics workstation called the Nucleus.

Cheetah Marketing

Cheetah Marketing was a UK company that made joysticks and music peirpherals for the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum.

CJEMicros

CJEMicros is a major "Acorn" reseller and dealer. They have produced a range of upgrades for Acorn computers from ARM3 CPU upgrades, via memory upgrades to PCcard upgrades.

Clares Micro Supplies

Clares Micro Supplies was a RISC OS developer who produced, in particular, graphics, music, productivity and education software They also produced some supporting hardware. They are no longer trading and products are now available from APDL .

Commotion

Commotion supply the education market, in particular they supply measuring and control equipment to attach to Acorn computers. The company still exists, but there is no reference to legacy Acorn products on their web site.

Computer Concepts

Computer Concepts began by producing ROM based software for the BBC Micro. It also produced hardware and software products for the Archimedes and later Acorn computers. In particular, it distributed Wild Vision graphics and video cards. Computer Concepts still exists and support details for many of their products are available on their website. Computer Concepts was later renamed Xara Ltd after their PC Graphics program.

Here is the Xara entry in Wikipedia.

Computer Village

Computer Village produced a ROM board for the BBC micro. No further information available.

Control Universal

Control Universal were a Cambridge Company that started off sell Rockwe;; AIM-65 systems and then sold the Acorn System range. By 1982 the success of the BBC Micro meant thar Acorn were no longer interested in the System computers and sold the designs to Control Universal, who also developed their own designs including the CUBE and EuroBeeb.

Ctorwy31

Ebay seller producing upgrades for BBC Micros and RISC OS computers and selling in ebay auctions.

Cumana

Cumana, based in Guildford, Surrey, started business supplying disc drives and DFS upgrades to the BBC micro market. With the launch of the Archimedes, Cumana expanded into memory upgrades and interface podules. Later Cumana sold SJ Research's Econet and Nexus products under license.

Cumana closed down in 1995. Cumana was bought by Economatics (Education Ltd) and continued to develop and sell CDROM, ptTeus Optical drives and the SCSI 2 Interface. Cumana are now the educational products brand of Cannon Computing, their website only covers new PC and networking products and there in no mention of their legacy Acorn products.

D.T. Software

D.T. Software produced IDE hard disc systems for Archimedes and RISC OS computers, They also sold other hardware, such as scanners, and software.

Deltronics

Deltronics make control and data logging products for the education market. They have left the RISC OS market and there is no reference to legacy Acorn products on their web site.

Design IT

Design IT produces control and tesletext applications. When Cumana closed in 1995, Design IT took over production, sales and support of SJ Research Econet and Nexus products It April 1999 Design IT took over production and retailling of the i-cubed Ethernet product range when i-cubed withdrew from the Acorn market. Design IT's web site has now expired and I cannot trace them via Google. The website was last updated at the end of 2004.

Digital Services Ltd

Digital Services produced applications for RISC OS, including the Squirrel database, and the NetGain network application loader. Digital Services are no longer trading.

Digithurst

The Digithurst company was founded 1983 in Royston, Cambridge (GB). Until the end of the eighties Digithurst was developing Hardware and Software for the image processing sector, especially for the medical science. In 1992 Digithurst has replaced its working main focus exclusive on softwaresolutions for the radiology market. It is now based in Germany and has no invovlement with RISCOS. There is no legacy product section on its webside.

Eesox

Eesox was established in 1992 as a developer and retailler of hardware and software for the Acorn and RISC OS market. Eesox specialised in SCSI controllers, CD writing developments and CDROM networking With the demise of Acorn Eesox moved into the Mac/PC market while still supporting their Acorn/RISC OS products. Eesox appears to have ceased trading in December 2004 and the website no longer exists.

Element 14

Element 14 was formed in July 1999 after a buy out of Acorn's Digital TV division, it was bought by Broadcom in October 2000.

EMR

ElectroMusic Research Ltd (EMR), founded by Mike Beecher, produced music hardware and software for a range of home computers including the BBC Micro and Acorn Archimedes. An internet search shows that the company ceased trading in the mid-1990s.

Expressive Software Projects

ESP produced MIDI hardware and software for the Acorn RISC OS market. ESP are still trading and produce MIDI software for PCs and Macs.

FirstByte

As far as I know First Byte only produced a joystick interface for the Electron. But I could be wrong!

Focus IT

Focus IT sold sold hardware upgrade for Acorn computers, including those produced by Baildon Electronics. In 1999 Focus IT became Microdigital and started selling the Mico.

GCC (Cambridge)

General Information Systems Ltd (GIS)

GIS was founded in 1985 by Chris Curry and Ron van der Hoorn in Cambridge. Among it early products was the Red Box house hold control system,. GIS is still trading but has no connection with the Acorn/RISCOS market.

Gnome Computers

Gnome Computers produced transputer podules for the Archimedes and later produced a RISC OS X Window sytem.

HCCS

HCCS produced a range of products for Acorn ARM based computers, before they collapsed in 1997. Armstong-Walker designed many of these products and wrote much of the software. Andy Armstrong created a single page HCCS Survivors web site which has an updated IDEManager archive on it.

The most interesting products were the "Ultimate" expansion systems which were produced for both the A30x0/A4000 and Archimedes/A5000. This design had a carried podule which carried "micro-podules". I have a number of different micro-podules (see below). I imaging this was particularly attractive with the A30x0/A4000 which could only take one mini-podule.

Hybrid Technology Ltd

Hybrid Technology developed the Music 500 synthesiser for Acorn. They then developed the Hybrid Music System with the Music 5000 which was almost Identical to the Music 500, the Music 1000 amplifier, the Music 2000 MIDI interface and the Music 4000 keyboard. The Hybrid Music System was programmed using the AMPLE language.

As far as I can find out Hybrid technology did not migrate the 32bit Archimedes computers and stopped trading somewhere in the late 1980s.

i-cubed

i-cubed manufactured a range of Ethernet podules and Network Interface Cards (NICs) for the Acorn ARM based computers. The RiscPC NICs were also rebadged by Acorn. When i-cubed withdrew from the Acorn market on 1 April 1999, Design-IT took over and continued to produce and sell the i-cubed range of Ethernet cards. The i-cubed web site has now expired and is no longer available.

ICS (Ian Copestake Software)

ICS were based in Wirral, Merseyside and produced an IDE interface for Archimedes and RISC OS computers. ICS also sold a range of software..

IFEL

IFEL was an Acorn dealer, based in Saltash, Cornwall, who, like CJEMicros, also made a number of upgrades for Acorn ARM based computers. The web site, which had not been updated for some time, was hosted by Argonet which closed down in June 2005 and has not reappeared on Orpheus Internet. Since the company is listed as non-trading, I wonder if the web site will reappear. In the past I have found IFEL friendly, helpful and got some good bargains.

Interactive Media Solutions (IMS)

IMS produced software for RISC OS and EPOC (Pocketbook). In 1998 the introduced the Peanut laptop but is was cancelled in April 1999.

Intelligent Interfaces

Intelligent interfaces specialised in IEEE488 (GP-IB) expansions for Acorn computers. They designed and build the Acorn IEEE488 Interface and produced an IEEE488 podule for the Archimedes computers. Intelligent Interfaces are no longer active in the Acorn and RISC OS market, and ceased trading on 31 March 2008. Andy Ray Developments (Andy Ray was the technical director) is providing ongoing support and the web site is still available.

Iota Software

Iota Software, based in Cambridge, are mainly known for their software products (e.g. Data Power, Touch Type and Complete Animator). Iota did produce some hardware. Note that Iota have left the RISC OS market and support and development is now handled by R-Comp.

Irlam Instruments

Irlam Instruments produced a range of software and hardware products for Acorn computers mainly for the graphics, sound and multimedia use. Although there is an Irlam instruments web site, I can see no connection with the legacy Acorn products.

JGHarston

J.G.Hartson has a fascinating web site full of useful BBC micro and related information. Also a bit of RISC OS and Sheffield politics.

John Kortink

John Kortink has also produced hardware and software products for the Archimedes computer (i.e. Viewfinder, Digitiser and a range of software including !Translator). See also Zeridajh.

Kingston Technology Company

Suppliers of memory for all types of Computers not Acorn specific. I have used Kingston EDO RAM to upgrade a Risc PC.

Lawrie T&M Ltd

Lawrie T&M Ltd made "portable" versions of the BBC Micro and Master. I have no other details about the company.

Lingenuity

Lingenuity were part of Lindis International Ltd (an Acorn dealer in Suffolk) who produced hardware, in particular SCSI interfaces, and software , such as CableNews and Presenter for Acorn RISC OS computers..

LTC

I am not sure that LTC is a company, but I have an LTC Time Code Reader podule with no maker's name either on the card or in the podule ROM module.

Marconi

Martin Barr

MCS

MCS (MIDI & Computer Systeme) Was a German company based in Dortmund. It produced the Connect32 SCSI2 card for the RiscPC.See under ACE for more details.

Mertec

Mertec made an expansion unit for the BBC Master Compact to provide the "missing" ports.

Micro Electronic Systems

Microdigital

Microdigital was formed by Dave Aitkins to produce and sell computers based on Acorn motherboards. The first computer was the Medi, based on the A7500+ motherboard, which was just ready to launch when Acorn was broken up. The second was the Mico, based on andA7500FP CPU, which was sold in small numbers. The third computer was the Omega, which had a troubled life of missed deadlines and non-working features, eventually a few were delivered to customers. Then Microdigital collapsed went into liquidation.

Microlynx Software Engineering Ltd

Mycrolynx produce TopCat, a connectivity product, which allows RISC OS computers to boot from, and use, a Windows NT or 2000 server to access and run RISC OS and Windows applications and browse the web.

Microvitec

Microvitec supplied the Cub monitors widely used with BBC Micros and Masters. They are still trading, but have no reference to anything Acorn on their web site.

Millipede Electronic Graphics

Millipede, based in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, designed and manufactured professional TV graphics systems for use with Acorn computers. When Acorn was dismembered and the RiscPC 2 abandoned, Millipede designed the Imago motherboard to as a next generation motherboard for the RiscPC. Unfortunately problems with the FPGAs meant that although it was demonstrated it was never released.

Morley Electronics

Morley Electronics, based in North Shields, made upgrades and expansion cards for Acorn computers as well as EPROM programmers and Teletext receivers. The company still trades but, according to its web site, is now making access control systesm. There is no information about legacy Acorn products on the web site.

NetProducts

NetProducts was set up in 1996 to sell the Acorn NetStation NC. In 1998 NetChannel, the ISP providing content for the NetStations, was bought by NTL and NetProducts wound up.

Nidd Valley Micro Products

Nidd Valley produced the Digimouse for the BBC micro and a range of products for other micros including the Spectrum. I can not find them on the internet.

Oak Solutions

Octopus

Octopus Systems are software developers, producing caller display and other applications for RISC OS and now Windows. They still support Risc OS products on their web site.

Opus Supplies

Oregan Developments

Oregan Developments were mainly software developments for audio and video application. At a later stage Oregan Networks split off and produced the Oregano browse. Although Oregan still esists it is not active in the RISC OS market.

Orion Computers Ltd

Orion Computers were an Authorised Acorn Dealer based in Preston who produced some Acorn upgrades under their own name.

Pace

Pace started by supplying hardware (e.g. disc drives) and games for the BBC Micro. Pace moved into designing and manufacturing Set Top Boxs (STBS). Pace used NCOS (avariant of Acorns' RISC OS) as the OS. When Acorn Computers was broken up. Pace bought RISC OS IP from Element 14. Pace continued to develop RISC OS in particular converting it to 32-bit code. Pace granted a license to develop and sell a desktop RISC OS, based on Acorns RISC OS 3.8 sources, to RISCOS Ltd which became RISC OS 4. When Castle wanted a 32-bit RISC OS for the Iyonix, Pace sold them a license for the 32-bit RISC OS which became RISC OS 5. Later Pace sold the RISC OS IP to Castle Technology.

Pace are no longer involved with the RISC OS marketplace.

Here is the Pace plc Wikipedia entry.

Partis Computing

Partis products have been sold by Alsystems under the Power-tec name. On 14th Feb 2000 Partis took over responsibility for Alsystems products. Partis still provide support for their products and you can get the updated manuals and ROMs from them, therefore I have not included them on Chris's Acorns.

Peartree

Permanent Memory Systems (PMS)

Permanent Memory Systems (PMS) were a Scottish company that produced a 6502 2nd processor (B2P) for the BBC micro. They also produces a 6502 second processor (E2P) for the Electron.

Personal Computer World

Personal Computer World (PCW) is a computer magazine which was first published in Feb 1978 and is still published today, it has been through many changes in design and style during that time, but still provides wide coverage of computing. In the early years it covered the BBC Micro/Acorn and included BASIC program listings. I have scanned some relevant articles and they are available from Chris's Acorns. Articles from 1996 onwards can be found on the PCW website.

Pineapple

Pineapple were primarily a software developer and are best know for their Anti-Virus product. however they also produced some hardware upgrades. The Pinapple web site only refers to the Anti-Virus product.

Polebrook Computer Services

P.R.E.S . Ltd

PRES Ltd were based in Chobham, Surrey, and procduced a range of upgrades primarily for the Acorn Electron but also for the BBC micro and Master and A3000. PRES appears to have ceased trading in the mid 1990s.

See also Advanced Computer Products which traded from the same Chobham address.

Practical Computing

Practical Computing was the second popular UK computer magazine, after Personal Computer World. It's first issue was published in July 1978 and it ceased publications in the late 1980s. It covered all the popular micros from Commodore Pet to Apple II and IBM PC.. Towards the end it increasingly became a PC magazine. It provided regular coverage of the Acorn/BBC Micro. and included BBC BASIC program listings. I have scanned some of the articles and they are includeing in Chris's Acorns.

RAMAMP Computers

RetroClinic

Mark Haysman produces upgrades for the BBC Micro and Master. Products include Flash memory drives and a USB/IDE Interface.

RCP (Richards Computer Products)

RCP was founded by John Richards, the brother of Dr. Martin Richards who developed BCPL at Cambridge University in the 1960s. RCP produced the Acornsoft BCPL implementation for the BBC micro ( and versions for other popular micros). RCP also developed software for Reuters on BBC micros, because BBC micros are not suitable for rack mounting, RCP commissioned the Reuters APM board from Acorn. RCP still exists developing software for the Finance market, but with the replacement of the Reuters APM board has no further involvement with Acorn.

RH Electronics Sales Ltd

RH Electronics produced a range of hardware and software (games) for the BBC Micro. Products included a light pen and a video digitiser.

Risc Developments

Risc Developments, based in Luton, were part of Beebug , formed after the launch of the Acorn Archimedes to concentrate on products for the new computer and subsequently the Acorn RISC OS market. It produced both hardware and software products (the software titles included the DTP program !Ovation and terminal emulator !Hearsay). It was wound up with Beebug in 1999.

RISCOS Ltd

RISCOS Ltd was founded in 1999 to license and develop RISC OS 4 (based on Acorns RISC OS 3.8 (Ursula) sources. In July 1999 RISC OS 4.02 was launched with special version for Castle Kinetic RiscPCs (4.03 and 4.04), RiscStation (4.03) and MicroDigital Mico (4.03). RISC OS development continued with the Select subsription scheme resulting in 4 Select releases to subscribers and culminating in RISC OS 4.39 "Adjust" and RISC OS 6.

Here is the RISCOS Ltd entry in Wikipedia.

RISC OS Open Ltd

RISC OS Open Ltd was set up in 2006 to release the Castle owned RISC OS source code under a form of open source license.

RiscStation

After Acorn's demise, RiscStation produced a range of computers based on a Simtec motherboard with an ARM7500FP CPU. RiscStation also plannned to produce a laptop but it never materialised.

RiscStation/CTA Direct's premises were destroyed in an arson attack in June 2008.

Rombo Productions

Rombo Productions were an Edinborough based company that made video digitisers for a range of popular early 1990s computers including the Archimedes and Amiga.

Simtec Electronics

Simtec Electronics started in 1990 producing memory upgrades for the Acorn Archimedes, RISC OS 3 ROM carrier for A3xx series, IDE interfaces and recently USB and Unipod podules for the RiscPC. They also produced the Hydra multi-processor board. The Simtec web site has details of these products under legacy products. More recently Simtec have produced a number of ARM based development/evaluation boards including the Cirrus 7500FE board used by the RiscStation R7500.

SJ Consulting

SJ Consulting were based in Cambridge and were, I think, descended from SJ Research. SJ Consulting were involved with Set Top Box technologies and bought in 2006 by Amino Technologies.

SJ Research

SJ Research, based in Cambridge, developed Econet file servers (i.e HDFS, FDFS & MDFS) as well as other Econet products (e.g. Clock Boxes, Bridges, Socket boxes and terminators). After the launch of the Archimedes, SJ Research developed Nexus hard disc sharing which became Nexus networking. They continued to supply Econet components after Acorn ceased manufacturing them and were also supplied Acorns on an OEM basis.

When SJ Research left the Acorn market, the Econet and Nexus products were licensed to Cumana. When Cumana closed down SJResearch reassigned the Nexus license to a consortium of DesignIT, ExpLAN and CSS, which retained the product range when SJ Research folded.

Slogger

Slogger, based in Gillingham, Kent, produced a range of upgrades for the Acorn Electron, including the ROMbox which was a replacement for the Acorn Plus 1. No longer trading.

Solidisk Technology Ltd

Started in 1981 supplying upgrades to the BBC micro and other home computers of the period. STL produce memory and disc system upgrades for the BBC. STL also traded as Audio Computers.

STL appear to be still trading but out of the Acorn/RISC OS market.

Spacetech

Spacetech, based in Portland, Dorset, started supplying a satelite weather system for the Archimedes and astronomical software, but are probably better known for the Photodesk and Top Model application.

Spacetech are no longer trading.

Sprow

State Machine

State Machine were based in Luton and produced graphics card for the Archimedes computers.

Stuart Tyrrell Developments

Stuart Tyrrell Developments are a division of Advantage Six which produces the A6 range of Windows/Virtual Acorn computers and the A9home. STD produce upgrades and add-ons for Acorn computers

Technomatic

A BBC and Archimedes reseller, who produced a number of upgrades for Acorn computers. They are still trading but not in the RISC OS market.

The Concept Keyboard Company

The Comcept Keyboard Company made overlay keyboards for Acorn, Research Machines and other computers. The Concept Keyboard was originally designed for use with the BBC Micro. The keyboards were A4 and A3 sized with 128 keys. application specific overlays were placed on the keyboard. The company was originally called STAR Microterminals and changed name in the 1990s. In 1990 it was purchased by Bowthorpe plc and appears to no longer exist.

The Serial Port

The Serial Port, based in Wells, Somerset, was one of Hugo Fiennes many ventures, it produced various hardware upgrades for the Archimedes. and later Acorn computers.

Torch Computers Ltd

Torchwas founded in 1982 in Great Shelford near Cambridge, about the time the BBC micro was launched. For most BBC micro users Torch is best known for the Z80 DiscPack (a Z80 Communicator and twin DSDD 800K 5.25" floppy disc drives) which was possibly the first second processor available. They made a number of business oriented computers using a BBC micro as the I/O processor, and then moved into Unix systems such as the Torch XXX.

I found this review of a Torch C series Computer in Personal Computer World Jan 83.
In September 1984 Acorn User published a review of the Torch Unicorn titled 'Unicorn; cheapest route to Unix '
Here is the Torch Computers entry in Wikipedia.

Vertical Twist

Vertical Twist produced/distributed a variety of hardware and software for the Acorn Achimedes computer.

Video Electronics Ltd

Video Electronics designed manufactured graphics hardware for the Archimedes and A3000 using the ArVis brand name. I have no further information about Video Electronic Ltd.

Viglen

Viglen made addons for the BBC micro and BBC Master, then moved into PC manufacturing. In 1994 Viglen was acquired by Amstrad and when Alan Sugar took Amstrad private in 1997 Viglan became Amstrad's public PC arm. The Viglen web site has no reference to Acorn or BBC products.

Vine Micros

Vine Micros was founded in 1984 to make add ons for the BBC Micro. The company still exists and makes specialist graphics equipent, it has long since left the Acorn marketplace behind and there in no mention of any BBC era products on their web site.

Voltmace

Voltmace were a small UK company that made joysticks for the BBC Micro and other 1980s home computers.

Watford Electronics

Watford Electronics, based in Luton, began long ago selling RAM/ROM upgrades, DFSs and disc drives for the BBC Micro. However the company is now trading as Savastore.com and sells a range of its own and other PC hardware, software etc. There is no support for legacy products.

White Wing Logic

I have no details about White Wing Logic except for an old website which suggests it is a trading name for Mike Harrison. Is this the same Mike harrison who was behind many Archimedes hardware products?

Wild Vision

Wild Vision was based Tyne and Wear and founded by Peter Wild in 1990 and produced many add-ons for the Acorn Archimedes and later computers, mainly in audio and image processing. Computer Concepts badged and sold thier products In 1996 Acorn Risc Technologies (ART) acquired Wild Vision from Computer Concepts. Recent Peter Wild has joined Castle Technologies.

Xemplar

Xemplar was founded in 1996 as a 50/50 joint venture between Acorn and Apple to sell to the UK Education Market. In 1998 Acorn was looking to sell its 50% and seeking a buyer. In January 1999 Apple bought out Acorns 50% for £3 million. This ended Xemplar's involvement with Acorn and RISC OS based products.

Yellowstone Educational Solutions

Yellowsone Educational Solutions (aka Yellowstone Electronic Solutions) still exist, but in 2004 their web site was redesigned and the Acorn Poduct, Download and Support section has been removed. I take this to mean that Yellowstone are no longer active in the RISC OS market. I don't know if they provide any support for their RISC OS products or has sold them on to another company.

Zeridajh

John Kortink has developed hardware and software for Acorn computers. As Windfall Engineering he produced the ViewFinder for the RiscPC, as Zeridajh he produced a Video Digitiser, and GoMMC for theBBC. He has also written some well known (to me anyway) software.