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Acorn Atom

Acorn · 1980

Acorn's first complete computer, sold as a kit or built, and the machine that got the company into the room for the BBC contract. A 6502 with Acorn's own BASIC in ROM, expandable to floating point and colour, in a wedge case with a real keyboard when rivals offered calculator keys. Most interesting as the direct ancestor of the Proton prototype that became the BBC Micro, and as evidence of how quickly Acorn moved between 1980 and 1981.

As catalogued

Maker
Acorn
CPU
MOS 6502-1
Memory
2K, 12K
Styles
Atom (kit-built), Atom (factory-built)
Regions
PAL (UK)
Chassis
white and blue case, integrated keyboard
OS
Atom BASIC

Chips

5
CPU
MOS 6502, Synertek SY6502
Floppy controller
Intel 8271, none fitted
MOS ROM
Atom MOS
BASIC ROM
Atom BASIC
Video (VDG)
Motorola MC6847

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