Acorn Archimedes - A Technical Introduction - 1987 BBC VHS Video

Fred Harris talks to Roger Wilson about the technical aspects of the Acorn Archimedes A305. Also features footage from Zarch by David Braben. Produced by the BBC. Digitised from VHS Video Tape by The Centre for Computing History.

[@yogibear2k220]

This computer made the Amiga and Atari ST look like baby toys! This was a AMAZING machine!

[@avaughan585]

No manufacturer gives such detailed and helpful technical advice like this for their computers today.

[@chrishalsall188]

They don’t need to. Operating systems have been simplified and optimised along with 30-40 years of computer using experience in the population at large means you can either make a computer do what you want already or you don’t even try. Nobody these days is taking classes on how to produce word documents or poring over 400 page user manuals.

[@Cassp0nk]

Niche product back then…

[@user-ir2fu4cx6p]

@@chrishalsall188 M$$ never did this during 80s 90s they want to charge $300/hour tech support fees from their poor clients.

[@tasercs]

I could listen to Fred Harris all day long. One of the best presenters of this era. I wonder what modern-day clown-like presenters really think when they watch professionals like Fred?

[@moonshinepz]

shouty nobs wouldn't appreciate the professionalism

[@jakubkrcma]

This video is seriously like one hundred times higher quality than what the current clowns do. You can see the effort that went into this! ❤❤❤

[@volo870]

Linus Sebastian would drop the poor thing, and then shove a lot of annoying LEDs into it.

[@volo870]

@@ronald666mcdonald Then afterwards pawn the thing on the side. Come to think about it - Linus sounds more like a drug junkie, than a computer expert.

[@delibellus]

yes, tech youtubers are usually very bad presenters, and some rely more on faking a sense of humor.

[@pipschannel1222]

@@delibellus I'd say you've been watching the wrong channels my friend 🙂

[@batlin]

The amount of information and the clarity and comprehensibility of its delivery here are incredible. People need to be referring to this as an example of technical communication done right.

[@therealbluedragon]

I love it whenever he says "podules".

[@michaelturner4457]

This video is quite relaxing to listen to, especially every time he says "podules".

[@bastardtubeuser]

I remember my teachers being very excited about the Archimedes, i remember seeing one but only remember using and learning on BBC micro (typing and spreadsheets). Great time.

[@Gannett2011]

First computer I remember was an RML-380Z in 1980, then we got a load of BBC micros. Left school in 1988, so just before the Archimedes came out. Visited my old school in 1990 and they had a room full of Archies, very impressed at the time. Now I have a MiSTer FPGA with the Archie core and can experience these awesome machines once again. they reallywere underrated at the time.

[@kevinhogan1819]

We had a 380Z at our school as well. It was the first computer I ever saw. It seemed amazing at the time!

[@phrtao]

I remember watching this video at school. I had just been told (I think it was the same day) I could no longer study computers because I was not a good enough 'programmer'. I remember being interested but also feeling upset because it was beyond my understanding. Happy Memories

[@adadadad5780]

I clicked here because I thought the title was Acorn Antiques! Still a very interesting watch.

[@SionynJones]

Sophie Wilson legend she's designed some great chips ARM and of course Firepath. The UK always has punched above its weight in computing from colossus to the archimedes. Sophie is definitely up there with the greats. The UK has a huge legacy and I say its time return to those days.

[@0x0fffff]

Wait? Roger had a wife?

[@michaeljarcher]

Roger had gender re-assignment many years ago and thus Roger became Sophie. And She is Sophie Wilsom CBE @@mikeesull

[@jamieh9351]

"Podules" - awesome!

[@necrodrucifver]

Oh my God Roger Wilson!

[@tahirahmed33]

Wow. Podules ,what a amazingly upgradable state of the art computer

[@paulharrison8379]

"Wi-Fi Sheep" channel's video series on RiscOS on the Raspberry Pi is a good introduction to the Archimedes RiscOS operating system. The first video in the series is entitled "RISC OS Direct EP1 - Getting Started With RISC OS". The RiscOS Direct distribution is the best RiscOS download for the Raspberry Pi because lots of optional utilities are crammed into its 7.5 Gb SD image.

[@jtpinnyc]

I can't believe the effort that's gone into making that model of the board

[@Maxibon2007]

my school was using those same models to teach "computing" well into 1997 when for better or for worse the "outside world" had embraced Windows PCs!

[@xoio]

Roger, now Sophie Wilson! Considering how globally pervasive ARM chips are ALL over the planet, in every device imaginable. Sophie deserves to be as lauded, celebrated and recognised as 'Sir' Tim Berners-Lee!!!

[@cpcnw]

Agree. On this video though at 8:29 the presenter refers to Roger *as* Sophie - no wonder I'm already confused lol! Also, check the rework operator at 16:12 - maybe I really need to get on board with gender neutrality?

[@ChrisThomas-lt8jd]

At 8:29, Fred asks, "Can you give an example, of an instruction you could take away SAFELY", not Sophie :). But anyway. Yeah, Sophie/Roger is certainly a key person in the UK tech scene, and yes, she really does deserve an OBE. David Braben, who coded the Zarch game, and Waving Union Jack glag in the end demos, is now an OBE. So come on Pime Minister, please reward Sophie for her wizard chip design skills!

[@synaesthesia2010]

Sophie really does need to be recognised as one of the founders of modern computing due to her work with ARM, but because she's trangender, she just doesn't get the recognition she deserves :(

[@petermitchell6348]

I agree, Sophie is an absolute genius. It is said she designed the ARM chip in her head on the way back from the States where they had been looking for a replacement for the Motorola 6502 used in the BBC Micro.

[@Dragonblaster1]

David Braben was co-writer of the original _Elite_ and the lead on all the games in the series since, currently _Elite: Dangerous_

[@Respected_Gentleman]

There are no adverts on the BBC, unless they're flogging their own stuff.

[@nickblackburn1903]

Love Fred Harris, first seen on Chockablock! That solder flow system is amazing

[@tahirahmed33]

He's a great presenter with great knowledge and expertise.

[@Thunderpuddle]

I had a mate who had one of these. He envied my Amiga 500. I envied his Acorn for word processing.. I just gamed.

[@AgnostosGnostos]

Roger Wilson (Sophie Wilson) couldn't realize how popular would be his (her) ARM processor with smartphones, tablet and recently Apple computers.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

my goodness computers being made in Welwyn Garden City? blimey. things you never think of. ah back when we made stuff. ftr i got an a440 series one soon as they were 1st out! memories :) winchester disk indeed.

[@adruvitpandit5816]

32 Bit RISC processor in 1987, WoW! Commodore was overhyped being 8 bit machines. Acorn is some impressive machine.

[@xeroniris]

Acorn was very impressive, but it's not fair to say that Commodores were 8 bit in 1987. The Amiga 500 and 2000 had already launched at that point.

[@peterpereira3653]

Both Commodore and Atari had their 16 bit machines out by that time and were both selling well.

[@tahirahmed33]

That game virus was amazing

[@lilacfloyd]

@@tahirahmed33 It was called Zarch. Great game.

[@tahirahmed33]

@@lilacfloyd yes ,the Amiga versions was called virus , written by David Braben

[@bill5974]

We had these towards the end of my comp years. Awesome piece of kit.

[@markorollo.]

I started senior school the year before this. School was far from my favourite time but I always get the nostalgia's for that time when I see things like this, and it really happens when I see those Amstrad PCW's with the green screen, had those at school

[@TimChuma]

I remember we had exactly one of these in each computer lab. Was a paint program with an image of a pool that gradually became an orgy as students added to it over the years. No one bothered to reset it.

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

19:48 - Is this the first ever 'try turning it off and on again' tech support on national television?

[@LawnMowersThingsThatMakeNoise]

Roger (pre -Sophie) is a genius. She knows what she is talking about.

[@EstraNiato]

Even after -Sophie :)

[@catriona_drummond]

she hadn't even reached her final form. XD

[@PanPuchacki]

It always be HE

[@grantross2609]

proof that people are more complicated than computers......

[@Krgpt99]

@@PanPuchackiat least she did something with her life and doesn’t let her trans identity define her for her accomplishments. Without her we wouldn’t have most modern day phones. The computer science community is filled with queerness and we’re proud. The father of computer science himself was gay. So the way I see it, u can either comment hateful shit on videos u have no idea about, or just go on with ur life, appreciate their work, and not let their personal decisions affect u

[@xKynOx]

We got one of these when i was in senior school only got to use it a couple of times ,we where still using BBC's

[@dvdchas]

A great video. If only I'd been able to watch it when I first owned my A310. No youtube back then:-) And a310 not upgradable... hah. 4Mb ram, Arm3, Arthur, then Riscos 2 then Riscos 3, 80mb Hard drive, 16 bit sound etc. Simpler times

[@simonanthony5304]

I've never seen this video, even though I was a BBC a and Arch 305 user, upgrader and journalist. Also, I worked at BBC TVC, the at Enterprises - how did I miss it ? Great stuff

[@salemkid1979]

Can someone point me in the general direction of the video where fred harris shows users how to get online porn with the archimedes?

[@Pearmain2009]

The BBC always made first-class computer programmes from Model A and B to the Archimedes. Nothing like it today whether for pc or Mac

[@volo870]

I now want one. Damn, Archies worth a fortune these days!

[@hippyraverocker]

thanks for sharing

[@jrherita]

Were any videos like this ever made for the Amiga? This is such an awesome video, and I'm impressed with the BBC MIcro emulation discussion too.. Archimedes is really awesome!

[@6581punk]

Fred did do an introduction on the Amiga 1000 when that came out, but on Micro Live I think, I remember him playing the sampled guitar on the keyboard.

[@cdl0]

The 6502 emulator for the ARM system is faster than the original hardware.

[@Cassp0nk]

Here kzbin.info/www/bejne/pISyf36DntiKn9U

[@kumachan9311]

Chock a bloke, checking in !

[@michaelturner4457]

Podule, a village in central Poland, population 185.

[@chrissxMedia]

pre-transition sophie

[@RetroJack]

So good to know that Roger/Sophie Wilson is the person she wants to be now.

[@robertplestenjak]

Wow! Presenter was out of this world, truly amazing craft.

[@notanfningain]

I only went to the comments section to see how many people had commented about podules.

[@adroharv9213]

fantastic music at the end. Own up now, who was it?

[@datashat]

For anyone wondering the theme music is this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnfaY5ygnayNqMU

[@stephthestar90]

The chips in these computers (ARM) are what powers modern phones and tablets!

[@bcbock]

Not really. But they are the great, great grand parents of your phone’s chips. Apple chips, for example are not ARM chips, but they licensed the ARM instruction set and Apple designs their own chips with a lot of specialty functions that are not part of the ARM intellectual property.

[@stephthestar90]

@@bcbock That's what I meant. But it's still an impressive legacy for a computer brand which wasn't well known worldwide (Acorn was mainly used in the UK)

[@djmips]

You could say there's an acorn in every apple!

[@ALoonwolf]

When I was programming the 86 series of processors I stuck with the 80186 instruction set because all the fancy new instructions were just time savers, and almost immediately I made my own BASIC compiler, so making assembly language programming less laborious is pointless. Simple is better!

[@HFamilyDad]

I can't figure out why Fred decided to show everything to do with maintenance of the Archimedes?

[@Trusteft]

To piss off Apple.

[@ms-ex8em]

did Lander have sound (i reckon it did) back in 1989???? thanks.

[@wicksee]

Lander didn't, but Zarch did.

[@ms-ex8em]

this short demonstration program in this video (does any1 have a listing of it??) thanks.................

[@gnamp]

'Podules'- I knew that one wouldn't fly. But what do I know? I think I might be the only person in the world who still refers to the CPU as 'the mill'.

[@RobBCactive]

There actually are videos about an alternative CPU design called the mill 😁

[@mazharsaid4812]

hello does any 1 know if someone is writing a sound version of lander from 1989 at all thanks

[@cromulence]

Ah there we are, it wouldn't be an Archimedes video without Mazhar asking about lander.

[@lmiddleman]

Pyramid, Sun, HP, Apollo… ARM outlasted them all (assuming the modern HP is primarily Compaq).

[@ms-ex8em]

what does he mean by disk drive postioned above the memory? does he mean floppy or hard disc???? thanks.

[@djmips]

Hard drive. He referred to it as a Winchester, which was another name for a hard drive in the early days.

[@ms-ex8em]

i was trying to read it (the demo listing) but cannot because it is only 480p not clear in other words ???!!??????????

[@al7aker]

Just I watched this video to see Sophie Wilson before last upgrade.

[@featherbird666]

me at the beginning of this video, looking through the comments and seeing everyone talk abt the way he says "podules": what me now:hehehe...... podjuls

[@chrismorris5022]

whoah that mouse must have been about, 0.01 DPI!

[@TheStevenWhiting]

And the government let ARM get away buy allowing the sale to the Japanese. Who although had to agree to keep the UK base open, I doubt they will once that clause is up.

[@monetize_this8330]

It's disgusting how UK companies are acquired 100% The Japanese don't allow their companies to be, so why does our Gov't still allow this nonsense?

[@keithdunn521]

@@monetize_this8330 Yeah they paid peanuts for ARM when you look at how many cpu's are built based on their design. I have heard that other big firms like Apple and Samsung kind of did a double take and then said.. What? It was for SALE! We'd have wrote you a check for ANYTHING!!! :(

[@djmips]

And now they've not been allowed a transfer to Nvidia

[@TheStevenWhiting]

@@keithdunn521 Could blame the major share holders for that, for allowing it to be sold so cheaply.

[@mazharsaid2548]

The demo game Lander (did it have sound does any 1 know)???? because in the intro video of the BBC A3000 Lander did actually have sound if u listen carefully thanks many thanks.

[@xyzzy3000]

Lander does not have sound, but it is actually a cut down version of one of the first commercial games released for the Archimedes, 'Zarch', by David Braben. Zarch does have (simple) sound effects. People often confuse the two, as they are visually almost identical apart from the scoreboard at the top of the screen.

[@logtothebase2]

Poor Acorn they had last laugh, but both home and business PC market were on different vector lead by US market and Archimedes is a PC backwater even in the day. Im writing this on an M1 Mac however, best of class laptop of today thats made or ARMs as is my Phone.

[@ramasamystudios4101]

It was 50 years later, that David realized he forgot to key out the green...

[@mazharsaid4812]

Back in 1989 the fred Harris video the lander game had sound but today's acorns lander doesn't have sound any ideas why maybe????????? Also what's the BBC web page to contact anyone know????

[@andywatts8654]

It's blazing fast

[@connectorxp]

Now that Apple is fully embracing the ARM microarchitecture in their custom silicon can give a chance for the ARM based CPUs/SOC to go beyond portable and low powered devices.

[@djmips]

It happened. The M1.

[@mazharsaid4812]

hello did the lander game from 1989 have sound at all? in the video from 1987 it had sound does any one know at all thanks is there a * star command to type to get sound from lander thanks?

[@ackman3981]

To replace the AA batteries you will need to remove the hard drive to get to them. Not shown how easy it is to "replace annually" with one installed above the batteries.

[@AakarshNair]

genius

[@mazharsaid4812]

does any 1 know how to insert adf floppy disc image into the qemu risc os emulator at all? im trying to run lander on the qemu thanks

[@98Zai]

5:45 A real-time clock! No way! 18:00 a lead solder steam bath!

[@aris95]

WIMPS= Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers

[@farmersteve129]

Before the days of the Web and we still have the obligatory cat image on a computer screen... methinks that we are not the highest form of life on earth!

[@mazharsaid4812]

does any 1 know if lander had sound back in 1989? 1987 1988 or 1991? thanks

[@xyzzy3000]

Lander never had sound. Zarch did.

[@diamonddave2622]

Does it run Cry...

[@kristianTV1974]

Wow, the 'first' ARM chip, how many billions of ARM architecture devices are in circulation in phones worldwide 3 decades later?

[@tahirahmed33]

70 billion

[@cthutu]

The Archimedes had the 2nd ARM chip. The first was only ever used in prototypes and as a 2nd processor via Tube for the BBC micro.

[@ObviousSchism]

Anybody remember Render Bender?

[@herby4215]

Breakthrough in computers

[@tahirahmed33]

Wow. 4 MB ram and a Winchester drive this is unbelievable in 1987!!!

[@davidlloyd3116]

Hard to believe my phone has half a gigabyte of ram!

[@JonnyInfinite]

64 Meg of memory...you could just about run XP SP2 with that

[@RWL2012]

SP2 is much worse with low amounts of RAM than RTM and SP1.

[@YouTubeSupportTeams]

Wimps probably wasn't the best choice of name

[@tinblue]

I've been working with computers since the early 80's. I've NEVER heard the term WIMPS. EVER.

[@ftumschk]

It seems that the term had been in use since the 1970s, but fell out of fashion in the 1980s, when true GUIs started to become popular. See also the entry for "WIMP (computing)" on Wikipedia.

[@cthutu]

It was used up to the 90s. It wasn't common but it was used. I wished it had stuck!

[@andyhall7032]

trouble is the archimedes just wasn't as accessible and fun as the beeb...and the rm nimbus was around about the same time...so it just got lost in the ether unfortunately...

[@Degenerate76]

It was just too bloody expensive. And while the Archimedes certainly had a massive edge in raw CPU power, the Amigas for half the price had excellent custom graphics and sound hardware that made the performance difference less clear in many real world applications.

[@djmips]

It was just price. And they really missed out by not putting effort into the graphics side.

[@CaptainSmirk1]

Ah.. the person surnamed Wilson. In all your decisions in life, I can only say “nice one” as an electronics engineer.

[@gthreek]

A trans woman was instrumental in developing the CPU architecture that powers the vast majority of intelligent electronic devices on Earth today. What have you done with your life that makes you qualified to question anything that she's done?

[@heedmywarning2792]

4:51 resolution of (monochrome) 1280 X 986 .... in 1987!!!! F*n' ALIEN TECHNOLOGY!

[@user-ir2fu4cx6p]

HD TV video ahead of it time .

[@DS-pk4eh]

No, it existed, but was reserved for very expensive workstations. This was new for the computer in that price range.

[@stevenyamada70]

Finkle is Einhorn, Einhorn is Finkle !

[@johnflano]

ARM wrestling :)

[@user-ir2fu4cx6p]

11:32 dose he/she said 1992 , and here 4:40 said 1983 !

[@justin3594]

He says 1982 but it does sound like 92 with the accent.

[@user-ir2fu4cx6p]

@@justin3594 That's one year old comment, anyway thanks to remind me to rewatch this masterpiece once again, as software engineer I felt miniature in front of these giants.

[@GrahamToal]

Real shame this entire video is at the wrong aspect ratio. Everything that displays as an ellipse here was circular when originally displayed and broadcast. Would be nice to correct it and reupload so it's not so jarringly incongruous.

[@bastardtubeuser]

Shows how much games really drove sales at home, if only Archimedes had Turrican, Shadow of the beast and a rampant copying scene.

[@amigabang6157]

@Cameron McCourtney It wouldn't have been so good at 2D games as it only has 1 hardware sprite.

[@Archimedes75009]

@@amigabang6157 And what do you know about that exactly ? Fast blitting chunks of memory is a capability built in the ARM chips. See what I am working on at the moment : kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGKyaGijr9miZqM You, the Amiga fanboy, don't understand what it means to have a CPU that accesses memory at least 4 times faster than a 68000.

[@amigabang6157]

@Zarchos Nice, I hope to see it in a game! I would think that dedicated hardware for a task would be more than 4x faster than otherwise, but I do like the Acorn computers and hope to see what they can do.

[@Archimedes75009]

@@amigabang6157 Thanks.

[@xyzzy3000]

@@amigabang6157 The Arc had a few Amiga ports and they ran fine on the most basic spec machine.

[@JWS1968]

Did you hear that? one of those machines has a FULL MEGABITE OF RAM!!!!! 😂Crazy stuff. Where will this all lead?

[@redlinetelevision]

8:29 he calls Roger " Sophie" 😂

[@finnw1]

That one was "safely"

[@benwherlock9869]

This is laughable and amazing at the same time.

[@grantross2609]

you keep expecting a caveman to come on to test it.........

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

That machine is very fast wow, that Roger had a sex change to become Sophie Wilson.

[@mikekaraoke]

some 80's PC's are classics

[@IkarusKommt]

Interesting, it could be a nice PC clone if they not pushed their proprietary crap so hard.

[@JohnDoe-qd2tm]

The Amiga was just better

[@-_James_-]

It really wasn't. :)

[@cthutu]

@@-_James_- Well it depends what you're comparing. The Amiga was better in graphics, sound, software support, OS (first real-time multi-tasking OS for a home computer) and price. However, the Archimedes trumped the Amiga for processing power (ARM > 68K) and its version of BASIC.

[@-_James_-]

@@cthutu The thing is though, all those custom chips in the Amiga still weren't a match for the ARM processor. The bitplaned video memory was a pain to write for, especially when writing things yourself, such as 3D graphics. The max 32 colours (or 64 in EHB mode) didn't compare to the 256 colours of the Archimedes. (Excluding blitter tricks that could be used for backgrounds, of course.) And the Atari ST had better audio capabilities, which is why that was used by many audio producers of the time. I had an Amiga, so I'm definitely not biased in that regard, but I did far more programming on the Archimedes than my Amiga. (Although to be fair, the Amiga work I did, did get me a job at Bullfrog, so I'm not going to complain too much.) I distinctly recall the Amiga version of Lemmings, for example, slowing to a crawl with 100 lemmings onscreen, while the Archimedes version didn't break a sweat. And the Amiga version of Zarch wasn't a patch on the original.

[@cthutu]

@@-_James_- The ST only had better audio capabilities if you plugged in additional hardware. The vanilla experience was no better than a Spectrum 128K :) Amiga's audio hardware was amazing for its time. True, the Arch had more colours and a sensible framebuffer compared to the Amiga, but the blitter, sprite hardware and hardware scrolling really set up the Amiga for gaming success (until you tried 3D!). The ARM trumped every processor at the time so no surprise it could handle 100 lemmings :) I think I preferred AmigaOS to RiscOS mainly due to its multitasking nature. I loved DevPac and Asm-One on the Amiga. Never had the pleasure of actually programming the Archimedes.

[@-_James_-]

@@cthutu BBC Basic V was awesome. Not only was it far better than any other Basic out there, you could also inline ARM whenever you needed more performance.