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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 30th Jul 2017, 12:33 pm   #1
electronicskip
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Default Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

A few years ago I had the opportunity to clear a school out of their old tech stuff inc BBC /Acorn equipment for a nominal sum.

Ive mucked around with these Acorns for a while but am yet to find anyone else who dabbles in the Acorn A3000/10/20 stuff.

Does anyone else here have a liking for these machines?
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Old 30th Jul 2017, 2:08 pm   #2
jay_oldstuff
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

yep I have an A3010 (with 4mb ram and internal HD) and an A7000 alwayse loved them from useing them at high school.
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Old 30th Jul 2017, 2:47 pm   #3
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

I had an A440 followed by an A5000 followed by an RPC 610 back in the day. Gave up after that!
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Old 30th Jul 2017, 3:29 pm   #4
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

No A3000s in my collection at present, but I have an A4000 and a couple of A5000s.

I could hardly describe myself as a user though.
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Old 30th Jul 2017, 7:06 pm   #5
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

I think most of mine are pretty standard but i might be wrong , i dont really know what to look for in the way of mods etc, they were all stored in a loft at the school for a long time after the event of IBM /Windows era so they prob never been modified
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Old 4th Aug 2017, 12:34 pm   #6
dominicbeesley
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

There is still a quite active scene for these older Acorn machines http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewforum.php?f=16 I have an A3000 and some RiscPCs. All in storage at the moment. However I have got some older Acorn stuff sitting right beside me (A Master 128 and a frankenstein BBC B that is being slowly made into a 6809 homebrew machine)
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Old 18th Aug 2017, 9:06 am   #7
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

Along with the school disposals i did get a couple of BBC Mastersystems but ive never even switched them on to be honest.

Maybe i should drag them out of the loft?
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Old 18th Aug 2017, 10:07 am   #8
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

They are good machines. Definitely worth it.

Watch out for three problems though:

1. They tend to blow up after a few minutes if they've been sitting around for 20 years. Check the shiny gold RIFA X2 capacitors in the power supply - it's always them.
2. There are occasionally leaked batteries inside them.
3. Forget about setting the date post-Y2K unless you have a patched ROM.
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Old 19th Aug 2017, 3:43 pm   #9
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

Ive pulled one out of the loft today, im going to run it up very slowly on a variac .
Ive checked inside and its very clean with no leakages or unsightly components so lets see what happens.
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Old 19th Aug 2017, 4:04 pm   #10
TonyDuell
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

I'm not sure about this machine, but a lot of switch-mode PSUs do not like being run up on a Variac. Remember a switch-mode PSU approximates a constant power load and will draw more current at a lower input voltage.
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Old 20th Aug 2017, 6:34 am   #11
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

Yep...love em!

Know I had two A3000s in the loft - but they never surfaced when we moved house so goodness only knows what happened to them. Will need to replace them sometime. Also got an A5000 and A7000.

BBC Master was the first machine I ever really used, and as such is very high on my "must own one day" list.

Likewise as always having been a fan, I'd dearly love to own a RiscPC one day.

Just sadly lack the space for a permanent display/installation for any of these just now as the Amiga has the only spot on that desk. Do hope to expand the workstation space in there one day so an Acorn machine can join it.
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Old 22nd Nov 2017, 12:14 pm   #12
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

There used to be a dedicated Acorn shop in Gloucester in the 90s purely selling Acorn/BBC Computers and software.The shop is still there today although it now sells satellite tv equipment .
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Old 22nd Nov 2017, 5:08 pm   #13
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

We still run the business on Acorn though! PC with VirtualRPC and a real RISCPC doing server duties for CallerID over the network. Word processing and DTP are all done on the RISC OS.

Still have a few drawers full of of BBC odds and ends!
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Old 22nd Nov 2017, 8:09 pm   #14
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

Oh my goodness, how fabulous, I didn't realise the business was still in the same hands, and that's really good to see.

If you still have old BBC Stuff for sale I might pop down and say hi to you.
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Old 22nd Nov 2017, 8:43 pm   #15
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

Only odds and ends, but you would be welcome to see if anything is of use to you. I have keycaps for BBCs, some ROMs and other bits.
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Old 5th Dec 2017, 3:56 pm   #16
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Default Re: Any Acorn A3000/10/20 Users here?

If the price is right, id probably be interested in taking the lot off your hands.as I'm a bit of a BBC nut loll./
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