Acorn A7000

[Risc PC Computers]     [A7000+]     [Computers ]

Introduction

The A7000 was launched in July 1995 as the "baby brother" of the Risc PC. It used the ARM7500 which, like the ARM250 before it, combined the ARM7 CPU, VIDC20 and IOMD in a single chip. To make the A7000 easier to manufacture and hence cheaper, most of the expansion capabities of the RiscPC have been removed:

At last Acorn adopted the PS/2 mouse in the A7000. which meant that PC standard P/S2 mice and keyboards could be used.

There are a number of different models of the A7000 with different memory, hard discs, NIC and CDROM. There is also a special Early Years version with bundled software. The A7000 runs RISC OS 3.60.
 
Some of the models are:

Documents and Manuals

Here is the Acorn promotional brochure APP868 ARM7500.

Here is the ART A7000  factsheet.

Here is the A7000 Welcome Guide.

A7000

 I am not sure where and when I bought my A7000 (AMC23), I can't find a record of it!. The A7000 has a CDROM drive and an i-cubed EtherLan 600 interface installed.
 
Here are some pictures:

 A7000 running Risc OS 3.60

A7000 running RISC OS 3.60

A7000 running RISC OS 3.60 with an old AKF18 monitor.

 A7000 and Acorn logo

Acorn Logo and A7000 label

A7000 Acorn logo on the front right of the case. Note there is no "+" after A7000.

A7000 back 

A7000 (back)

This shows the blank plate for the podule expansion and serial number in the middle. Along the bottom are the interface ports: reset button, audio out, video out, keyboard, mouse, Ethernet, parallel and serial ports.

A7000 open

 A7000 with the top cover off

This shows the CDROM and floppy disc drive. The network card is just visible at the bottom in the middle. The power supply is bottom left. There is no space for further expansion with a CDROM installed!

 A7000 motherboard and NIC

A7000 Motherboard & NIC

A7000 motherboard with i-cubed Network Interface in the network socket.

 A7000 motherboard

A7000 Motherboard

A7000 motherboard and speaker in the bottom of the case. At the bottom left is the 16MB EDO SIMM, in the bottom middle are the 2 RISC OS 3.60 ROMs and on the bottom right is the backplane slot. You cannot use a backplae if you have a CDROM drive installed as there is not enough space. In the middle left there are the IDE and floppy drive connectors with the battery for the CMOS ROM above them. In the middle of the board is the Network slot socket and to its lower right the ARM7500 CPU. The power supply connectors are on the right hand edge. Along the top are the connectors.

Specification:

Serial No.80-AMC23-1014337
Unique identity0050A4011A5F
Motherboard part no.1102,005
CPU TypeARM7500
CPU ModelVLSI VY27073B
1202,900 Rev A
CPU Clock32MHz
Memory ControllerIOMD
Memory4MB on board,
16MB EDO SIMM
Memory Clock16MHz
Video ControllerVIDC20
Floppy Disc Drive3.5" TEAC FD-235HF
Hard Disc Controlleron board IDE
Hard Disc Drive206MB Seagate ST3660A
CDROMSony CDU77E-Q6 x4
Backplane Modeln/a
Backplane part non/a
Podule 0n/a
NICI-cubed EtherLAN 600
OSRISC OS 3.60
OS Date13-Apr-95
SICK v1.22
Dhrystone/sec
kWhetstones/sec
 
24,252
137
ARMSi v4.0
MIPS
17.87