Acorn Phoebe
 | |
| A Phoebe 2100 in its yellow case (photo: airsynth, CC BY 2.0) | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Acorn Computers (Workstations Division) |
| Type | Desktop computer (cancelled before release) |
| Discontinued | Cancelled 17 September 1998 |
| Intro price | £1,500 ex VAT announced; £950 ex VAT to registered developers |
| CPU | StrongARM SA-110 at 233 MHz |
| Memory | 32 MB SDRAM, up to 512 MB; 4 MB EDO VRAM |
| Storage | E-IDE (four drives); CD-ROM |
| Display | VIDC20 (revised) |
| Sound | — |
| ROM | 4 MB |
| OS / Firmware | RISC OS 4 (codename Ursula) |
| Predecessor | Risc PC |
| Codename | Phoebe |
The Acorn Phoebe 2100, also called the Risc PC 2, was the computer Acorn Computers developed in 1997 and 1998 to succeed the Risc PC. It had a 233 MHz StrongARM, a new memory and I/O controller with a 64 MHz bus, PCI slots and a bright yellow tower case, and was to run a new version of RISC OS. Acorn showed it at shows in 1998, mostly in non-working form, and cancelled it on 17 September 1998 when it closed its Workstations Division.[1][2]
No Phoebe was ever sold. Wikipedia records that the only known working Phoebe 2100 is in the collection of The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.[1]
History
[edit | edit source]Design work began in November 1996. Acorn's aims were to use the full speed of the StrongARM, to support several processors and PCI expansion, and to keep running existing RISC OS software. Reusing the Risc PC case was dropped because of the power supply and electrical interference.[1] Acorn previewed the prototype at the Wakefield Acorn Spring Show on 16 and 17 May 1998, saying it would be formally launched in September.[3]
Registered developers were offered pre-launch machines for £950 ex VAT, against a public price of £1,500 ex VAT. The first motherboards with the IOMD2 in silicon, instead of an FPGA, ran on 15 September 1998, with bugs in the sound DMA and general instability. Acorn cancelled the project two days later.[1] To prepare developers for the new operating system, Acorn had released RISC OS 3.80 (Ursula), which soft-loaded on ARM6 and ARM7 Risc PCs but not StrongARM ones.[2][1] RISCOS Ltd later licensed and finished RISC OS 4, releasing it in July 1999 for the Risc PC and A7000.[1]
The project used names from the television series Friends: Phoebe for the machine, Ursula for the operating system, Chandler for the IOMD2, Rachel for the processor card and Monica for the PCI bridge.[1]
Specification
[edit | edit source]| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor | 233 MHz StrongARM SA110; multiprocessing support in hardware |
| Memory and I/O | New IOMD2 with a 64 MHz bus; up to 512 MB SDRAM, 32 MB standard; 4 MB ROM |
| Video | New VIDC20, quoted as 100% faster; 4 MB EDO VRAM |
| Expansion | Four 32-bit 33 MHz PCI slots; three standard podule slots |
| Storage | E-IDE for four drives; 32-speed CD-ROM |
| Sound and ports | PC-style game port; line in, line out, microphone and headphones; Soundblaster sound with a Waveblaster header; two serial ports, IrDA and a parallel port |
| Case | New case and power supply |
Sources: Acorn's specification sheet and press release.[4][3] Wikipedia adds a PLX PCI9080 PCI bridge, an SMC37672 Super I/O chip, a 230 W power supply and an NLX-format tower case with a yellow front panel.[1] The new filing system was to allow far more files per directory (up to 80,000 in Acorn's sheet), long file names and IDE discs up to 128 GB.[4]
Surviving hardware
[edit | edit source]Chris Whytehead notes that the yellow tower cases turn up on eBay from time to time.[2] After the cancellation, the surplus yellow NLX cases were sold by CTA Direct, sometimes with an NLX-compatible PC inside, so a yellow Phoebe case on its own does not mean a Phoebe motherboard is inside.[1] Check the motherboard before buying one as a Phoebe.
The Phoebe was never released, so Acorn published no service manual, and no circuit diagram has been found.
Gallery
[edit | edit source]-
The yellow front of a Phoebe 2100 case (photo: Flibble, CC BY-SA 3.0) -
Acorn publicity photograph, 1998
.jpg)
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Phoebe (computer)", Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-10-02). Specification; development from November 1996; VIDC20R and IOMD2; shows in 1997 and 1998; developer pre-orders at £950 and public price of £1,500 ex VAT; first silicon IOMD2 boards on 15 September 1998; cancellation on 17 September 1998; code names; RISC OS 4 and RISCOS Ltd; surplus cases sold by CTA Direct; the only known working Phoebe at The Centre for Computing History.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Whytehead, Chris. "Acorn Phoebe 2100", Chris's Acorns, The Centre for Computing History (retrieved 2026-10-02). Shown mostly non-working at Wakefield (May 1998) and the South East show (June 1998); yellow tower cases turn up on eBay; RISC OS 3.80 (Ursula) released to developers; hardware and software specification; links to the press release, specification sheet, Clan announcement and Beebug leaflet.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Acorn Computers, press release "Acorn Previews Phoebe at Wakefield Show", 16 May 1998. Hosted on this wiki: File:Acorn Phoebe 2100 press release (16 May 1998).pdf. Prototype; formal launch planned for September; 233 MHz SA110 with a 0.35 micron memory and I/O controller and a 64 MHz bus; four PCI slots; screwless case with a motherboard that rolls in and out; new power supply.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Acorn Computers, Phoebe 2100 Specification, 16 May 1998. Hosted on this wiki: File:Acorn Phoebe 2100 specification (16 May 1998).pdf. Software and hardware specification.