Visitors to the Acorn World '98 Show (16-18 October, London Arena, Docklands) are in for a real surprise when they see the bright yellow box that is the new face of Acorn's brand new computer - the Phoebe Risc PC 2.
The new machine should be a pleasant surprise as Acorn aficionados come to appreciate that the change of colour heralds a host of highly significant advances on the inside too.
But - and it's a very important 'but' - they'll be delighted to recognise that all the important characteristics which make an Acorn computer what it is are still there.
Chris Cox, General Manager of the Workstations Division comments: "With the Phoebe Risc PC 2, Acorn has built on the success of the Risc PC, in particular the easy to upgrade processor which has worked so well. We have addressed many of the weaknesses, such as the I/O capability, memory architecture and speed and delivered a new machine which is designed to be expandable, easy to upgrade and, of course, increased performance, harnessing the full potential of StrongARM. Our new computer offers PCI capability, the best possible graphics performance and innovative casing."
Chris continues: "The design of the Risc PC was like a Cosworth engine in a Beetle car. Acorn was determined to open up the potential of the functionality of the RISC OS and really let it fly.
"The Phoebe Risc PC 2 is the result."
New architecture adds power and speed At the heart of the advances incorporated in the Acorn Phoebe Risc PC 2 is the new memory and I/O controller with its 0.35( geometry which builds on the 233MHz SA110 RevT chip giving the new machine the power and speed to outwit its more conventional rivals. With its improved 64MHz bus speed, the new hardware lets the user take full advantage of the greatly enhanced RISC OS operating system functionality featured in the new Acorn.
OS development While still compatible with existing RISC OS application packages, the improved OS allows faster, simpler task swapping, supports more files in a directory, allows the use of longer file names and supports larger capacity disc storage - up to 128GB for IDE.
Desktop advances The combination of a 64MHz bus and enhanced OS has meant that Acorn has been able to take a fresh look at the PCs GUI and introduce a set of fresh and sexy new icons.
In itself, this may not mean a great deal but the new icons give access to some greatly improved desktop functionality with Filer, Configure and Help, in particular, considerably improved.
"We gave particular attention to the Configure," says Chris. The Configure is now open-ended and will allow third party developers to configure their own applications whilst Help will 'pop-up' throughout the desktop.
Serious fun and games For sheer versatility, the Phoebe Risc PC 2 continues the Acorn tradition with even better video (up to 100 per cent faster!) and sound systems, the latter incorporating a new Midi interface and Soundblaster compatibility. Staying on the lighter side of computer use, the new Acorn features a PC style games port.
Inside the yellow box Turning to the yellow box itself, users will find it easy to get inside (no screws involved) to access the works of what has to be the most expandable PC on the market. In fact, the motherboard is designed to simply roll in and out making it easy to change a DIMM or any other peripherals - without clambering across a pile of cables.
Processor upgrades, PCI card swapping (four slots) and memory expansion could hardly be simpler than the new the interior configuration allows and a combination of two serial ports, IrDA support and a parallel port mean that connectabilty is first class too. For good measure, a new power supply unit provides an assurance of reliability that does nothing but build on the Acorn tradition.
Chris concludes: "Acorn thought long and hard about the weaknesses of our previous offer and have addressed these with Phoebe. We've updated the RISC OS to provide support for new hardware, updated the device drivers and improved the overall look and feel whilst still allowing Acorn users to run existing applications.
"Be warned, Phoebe is set to take the world of computing by storm."