Risc PC to Cease Production
Mike Williams
years the RiscPC is shortly to cease production. Once current RiscPC
supplies have been exhausted the RISC OS market will be based on the
Acorn A7000+ and IYONIX pc, both produced exclusively by Castle, and
other RISC OS machines from independent manufacturers.
The RiscPC was announced by Acorn early in 1994 and went on sale in
the spring of that year. At the time it was the worlds fastest desktop
computer based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technology.
Originally using the ARM600 processor this was subsequently replaced
by the ARM700. A major step forward came with the advent of the
StrongARM processor in the autumn of 1996 giving a significant boost
in performance. The StrongARM processor remained the basis of the
RiscPC from then on.
After Acorn pulled out of the desktop computer market in September 1998
Castle took over the production of the RiscPC and A7000+ computers, and
RISC OS Ltd released RISC OS 4 the following year. In the autumn of 2002
Castle announced the all-new IYONIX pc, running on an XScale processor
and with a new, updated, version of RISC OS, RISC OS 5.
Given the short lifespans of so many other computers it is a striking
affirmation of Acorn's original design for the RiscPC that it has
remained at the centre of the RISC OS world for nearly ten years.
Customers benefitted from a string of upgrades that meant the RiscPC
could be continually upgraded to the latest specification.
With the successful launch of the IYONIX pc, now a year old, it will
have been obvious to market watchers that the RiscPC could not continue
indefinitely. The time has now arrived when no more RiscPCs will be
manfactured, but RISC OS will continue on the IYONIX pc, now the
preferred platform of choice among RISC OS users.
Jack Lillingston said, "The demise of the Risc PC is the end of an era.
It has served the RISC OS market for an incredibly long time and proved
a wonderful tool for those who appreciate RISC OS systems. The
increasing difficulty in obtaining components and its relative lack of
speed in today's demanding markets, make it no longer viable. As far as
Castle is concerned the future of RISC OS computing now lies with the
IYONIX pc and the continuing development of RISC OS 5. Nevertheless, the
Risc PC will be greatly missed for what it has allowed users to achieve
during its long lifetime."
Issued by Akalat Publishing on behalf of Castle Technology Ltd.
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