Acorn A3010

[A4]  [Computers ]  [A3020 ]  

Introduction

By 1992 the A3000 was getting a bit long in the tooth and in August Acorn announced the replacement computers:

• The A3010 for home use
• The A3020 for educational use
• The A4000   for a professional 3 box solution

 The 3 computers are very similar, being based around the ARM250 which combined the ARM2, MEMC1a, VIDC1a and IOMD chips on a single chip. The new ARM250 ran at 12MHz compared to the A3000's ARM2 which ran at 8MHz

The following models were produced [that I know of]:

• AGB11 - A3010
• AGB15 - A3010 2Mb, FD, Family Solution
• AGB50 - A3010 Action Pack
• ALC15 - A3010 1MB, FD, Learning Curve
• ALC16 - A3010 Learning Curve
• ALC17 - A3010 2MB, FD, Learning Curve
• ALC18 - A3010 2MB, FD, Early Years
• CON02 - A3010 2MB, FD, AKF52 monitor, Learning Curve
• CON03 - A3010 2MB, FD, AKF52 monitor, Early Years

 Manuals and documents

Here are the Acorn announcements:

• Acorn Targets new markets with major Products Launch
• Acorn Extends Best-Selling A3000 range 

In October 1992 Personal Computer World published a review titles "A3010, A3020 & A4000 ".

Here is the A3010 Welcome Guide. 

Here is the A3010, A3020 and A4000 Module Level Service Manual 

Here is the A3010, A3020 and A4000 Technical Reference Manual and technical drawings .

A3010

The A3010 was launched in Sept 1992, along with the A3020 and A4000, as a replacement for the A3000. The A3010 was nearly twice as fast as the original A3000. The A3010 was aimed at the home market and has a TV modulator, unlike the other Acorn 32 bit computers. There was no provision for a hard disc to be fitted, although that did not stop 3rd parties producing disc interfaces to go in the mini podule slot.

The ARM250 was a complex processor and was delayed as a result Acorn produced a daughter board with the ARM2, MEMC1a and VIDC1a on it which was used in early A3010s. My first A3010 is one of these. These A3010s could be upgraded with an ARM3 processor, the A3010s with the ARM250 could not be upgraded.

Early A3010

I bought my A3010 on ebay in 2001. It has a couple of interesting features, first the "Special Edition" sticker on the top of the case is almost intact (see photographs), second it has the ARM2 MEMC1a andVIDC on a daughter board called "Adelaide", instead of an ARM250. There were production delays with the ARM250 so this was a stop-gap solution. Its product code is ALC15 so once upon a time it was a Learning Curve model, but I have none of the packaging or software that originally came with it.
 
Here are some pictures:

A3010 running RISC OS 3.11

A3010 running RISC OS 3.11. Note the "special edition" stickers on the top of the case and the slightly unusual green function keys. I think the A3010 was the only Acorn computer to have green function keys.  

 A3010 right hand side

 A3010 right hand side, showing the floppy disc drive. The case is broken and the eject button is missing. However the eject still works if you stick a finger or pen in the hole! 

A3010 rear view

  A3010 rear view, showing the serial number and the interface ports, from left to right: parallel, serial, joystick, joystick, mouse, headphone, VGA monitor, TV modulator. Above the ports is the panel where a mini podule can be installed. Unlike the A3000 there is no 16 bit podule interface, where a full length podule can be installed, and no Econet socket.

 A3010 left hand side

A3010 left hand side showing the reset switch.  

A3010 open

A3010 with the top cover removed, showing the keyboard at the bottom, the power supply in the top left and the floppy disc drive in the top right. In the middle at the top is the panel that is removed when a mini-podule is installed.  

A3010 without keyboard

 A3010 with the keyboard removed, showing the metal screening with a hole on the right to access the RAM, there should be a cover but it is missing. This A3010 has had a 1MB upgrade installed.  

 A3010 motherboard

 A3010 motherboard, showing the power supply in the top left. In the center is a square daughterboard labelled "Adelaide" with the ARM2 CPU, MEMC1a, VIDC1a and IOMD chips on it. This shows that the A3010 is an early model, because this was replace by the ARM250 chip in later models. The 2 RISCOS 3.11 ROMs are to the right of the daughterboard. 

A3010 Adelaide daughter board

A3010 Adelaide daughter board fitted to early A3010s because of production problems which delayed delivery of the ARM250 chip.  

Standard A3010

I acquired this A3010 in a private sale in 2007. I had looked for An A3010 with the ARM250 chip for some time but not been successful.
 
Here are some pictures:

Acorn A3010 running RISC OS 3 

Acorn A3010 (front) 

The front of the A3010 showing the green function keys, this is because it was not a BBC Micro.

 Acorn A3010 (right side)

This shows the floppy disc with the green eject button.

Acorn A3010 (back) 

The back of the A3010 showing the I/O ports, from left to right:

• parallel port for a printer
• serial port
• 2 x Joystick connectors
• mouse connector
• headphones
• Analogue RGB
• TV modulator socket

On the left side is the serialnumer and on the right is the power cable and ON/OFF switch. Above the I/O ports is the Expansion card blanking panel.

Acorn A3010 with top cover removed 

Removing the top cover shows the psu at the left back and the floppy disc drive at the right back.

Acorn A3010 with the keyboard removed. 

Removing the keyboard shows the loud speaker on the right and the hole in the shielding to allow RAM upgrades, it should have a cover but it is missing.

Acorn A3010 motherboard

Removeing the RF shielding shows the A3010 motherboard with the ARM250 in the middle. It also shows:

• Power Supply (at top left)
• TV modulator (next to power supply)
• Keyboard connectors (below TV modular)
• Expansion card socket (above and right of the keyboard connector)
• ARM250 CPU (below expansion card connector)
• 2 x RISC OS 3 ROMs (to right of ARM250 CPU)
• 2 x 512KB RAM expansion chips mounted vertially (to right of RISC OS 3 ROMs)
• Floppy disc drive connector ( at top right)
• CMOS RAM Battery (above floppy disc drive connector)

Here is a HiRes picture of the A3010 motherboard .

Specifications: