The StrongARM Risc PC

    Acorn's Most Powerful Computer

    The StrongARM Risc PC combines the proven advantages of the Risc PC with the ground-breaking StrongARM SA-110 processor, developed jointly by ARM (TM) and Digital (TM) Semiconductor.

    The StrongARM processor at the heart of the StrongARM Risc PC is one of the fastest, most advanced processors to be fitted to a computer outside the workstation market.

    Speed

      The performance of the StrongARM Risc PC is apparent as soon as the machine is turned on:

      • the system boots faster and loads applications faster
      • the system handles processor-intensive tasks (eg JPEG rendering) with impressive speed
      • the system responds almost instantaneously to desktop events

      Tests have shown that the StrongARM Risc PC running RISC OS achieves the following benchmark results:

      Dhrystone 2.1: iterations Dhrystone MIPS
      Risc PC 700 55k 32
      DX2-66 PC / PCI bus 40k 23
      P200 PC / PCI bus 295k 169
      StrongARM Risc PC 356k 204

    Reliability

      The new StrongARM Risc PC runs cooler than any machine with comparable performance, and is very reliable.

      • Processor power consumption is less than 1 Watt, compared to at least 5 Watt for most ordinary PCs and up to 18 Watt for some Workstation-class processors
      • Cooler running removes the need for a potentially troublesome fan; the fan in the Risc PC is only required to cool the supporting components and drives.

    Upgrading

      In common with all Risc PCs, the StrongARM Risc PC has future-proofing as an integral part of its design specification.

      • User exchangeable processor cards
      • Modular case design expandable up to 7 slices; a 7 slice machine can contain up to 8 Eurocard-size expansion cards, 1 NIC card and 15 drives
      • Hundreds of different expansion cards available, enabling the machine to be configured to meet almost any need

    World class operating system

      RISC OS is a flexible working environment where excellent text and graphics capability is enhanced by high colour depth and easy to use interface paradigms (eg full implementation of drag-and-drop).

      • Modular structure makes RISC OS easy to enhance and expand
      • ROM based operating system for minimum memory footprint
      • Pop up menus reduce display clutter to a minimum
      • 3000 plus software titles available

    Multi-Platform

      The StrongARM Risc PC supports high quality access to PC business applications running under DOS or Windows with the addition of a 486 or 586 processor card.

      • Both operating systems have access to memory, drives and CD ROMs; memory is allotted to the PC card only when the card boots, and is released to the RISC OS free pool when the software which drives the card is quit
      • Move text and graphics easily between Windows and RISC OS
      • Read and write ordinary PC discs (even without a processor card).

    Networking

      The StrongARM Risc PC integrates easily into a wide range of different network configurations

      • TCP/IP, including NFS, ftp, telnet, gopher, http, icmp, smtp, slip, ppp clients and X Windows server
      • Peer to peer networking standard running over IP
      • OmniClient (TM) for inter-networking with non-UNIX PCs

    Multiple advantages in a multimedia world

      The new StrongARM Risc PC is one of the fastest, most powerful and most flexible solutions yet devised for creating outstanding multimedia projects.

      • Drag and drop text, graphics, Photo CD, sound and video resources from local hard drives, CD ROMs or the Internet
      • Image filing systems keep resources in their original form
      • Anti-aliasing for crisp clean text rendering
      • Professional graphics capability with up to 16 million colours
      • Create and edit movies with full-screen, full-motion video and CD quality stereo sound (16 bit, 44.1 kHz) without the need for additional graphics or audio cards.

    The ART of Progress

      Acorn's team of innovative engineers has pioneered most of the spectacular advances made by Acorn in recent years, including the development of the Risc PC.

      Now Acorn's expertise and experience have created one of the fastest and most powerful desktop PC's available: the StrongARM Risc PC.