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Acorn Electron — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-07T11:07:23.479Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 6bab9cd539fb57d3c5d6ea1572ad92281fb6c87fa6f3bf4426f1a43f200b75c4
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4f662fe313fa

How to cite

Acorn Electron — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4f662fe313fa (Metraipolis archive dc_4f662fe313fa, sha256 6bab9cd539fb57d3c5d6ea1572ad92281fb6c87fa6f3bf4426f1a43f200b75c4)

BibTeX

@misc{dc4f662fe313fa,
  title = {Acorn Electron — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4f662fe313fa; sha256 6bab9cd539fb57d3c5d6ea1572ad92281fb6c87fa6f3bf4426f1a43f200b75c4},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a price more competitive with that of the ZX Spectrum. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC II together with the operating system. Announced in 1982 for a possible release the same year, it was eventually introduced on 25 August 1983 priced at £199. The Electron is able to save and load programs onto audio cassette via a cable, originally supplied with the computer, connecting it to any standard tape recorder with the appropriate sockets. It is capable of bitmapped graphics, and can use either a contemporary television set, a colour (RGB) monitor or a monochrome monitor as its display. Several expansions were made available to provide many of the capabilities omitted from the BBC Micro. Acorn introduced a general-purpose expansion unit, the Plus 1, offering analogue joystick and parallel ports, together with cartridge slots into which ROM cartridges, providing software, or other kinds of hardware expansions, such as disc interfaces, could be inserted. Acorn also produced a dedicated disc expansion, the Plus 3, featuring a disc controller and 3.5-inch floppy drive. For a short period, the Electron was reportedly the best selling micro in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 machines sold over its entire commercial lifespan. With production effectively discontinued by Acorn as early as 1985, and with the machine offered in bundles with games and expansions, later being substantially discounted by retailers, a revival in demand for the Electron supported a market for software and expansions without Acorn's involvement. Its market for games also helped to sustain the continued viability of games production for the BBC Micro.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Acorn Electron» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron
Wikidata Q342163: «home computer prodotto dalla Acorn» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q342163
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1379747176, consultata il 2026-11-07T11:02:13.046Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 266db024f083b280f64b9cc70461c101e86447d14ed34e31984b5331319b34b7