The A9home was a niche
small-form-factor desktop computer running
RISC OS Adjust32. It was officially unveiled at the 2005
Wakefield Show, and is the second commercial
ARM-based RISC OS computer to run a
32-bit
In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...
version of RISC OS. When the
Iyonix PC was withdrawn from sale, the A9home remained the only hardware to be manufactured specifically for the marketplace.
Details
The A9home was smaller than the
Mac Mini
Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...
and housed in cobalt-blue aluminium casing, measuring × × in size. The machine runs on a
Samsung
Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
ARM9 processor, has 128 MB
SDRAM
Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (synchronous dynamic RAM or SDRAM) is any DRAM where the operation of its external pin interface is coordinated by an externally supplied clock signal.
DRAM integrated circuits (ICs) produced from the ...
of main memory and VRAM and houses an internal
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
of . On the front, it features two ports, a
microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...
and a
headphones
Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...
socket. On the rear, it has two ports, two
PS/2
The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM PC, XT, AT, and PC Convertible in IBM's lineup. Many of the PS/2's innovations, such as the 16550 UART (serial por ...
ports, 10/100
BaseT network port, a
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...
serial port and a power connection socket. Like the Mac Mini of 2009 and earlier, it is powered by an external
PSU (, ). Furthermore, it has a power/reset switch, a status/health indicator and a drive activity indicator LED. The A9home is not designed to be internally expanded.
The A9home could use a program called
Aemulor to emulate older
26-bit
In computer architecture, 26-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 26 bits wide, and thus can represent unsigned values up to 67,108,863. Two examples of computer processors that featured 26-bit memory addressin ...
applications. This was originally developed for Castle's Iyonix PC.
In April 2006, Advantage Six Ltd announced that they were focussing on connectivity in the run-up to that year's Wakefield Show. At the show, they demonstrated integrated
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...
. Although the A9home was officially released for purchase by
end user
In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ultimately use a product. The end user stands in contrast to users who support or maintain the product, such as sysops, system administrato ...
s, its custom version of remained unfinished. ,
RISCOS Ltd
RISCOS Ltd. (also referred to as ROL) was a Private company limited by guarantee, limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It licensed the rights to continue the development of and to distribute it for desktop machines (a ...
closed after failing to release any information in 2012 about when or if the OS will become
feature complete
The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...
.
History
In 2004, RISCOS Ltd privately began work on a version of RISC OS that supported 32-bit addressing modes found on later ARM architectures, RISC OS Adjust (Adjust 32), which is compatible with current ARM processors and designed for both embedded and desktop forms. The first, and so far only, machine to make use of the 32-bit version of the OS is the Advantage6 A9home. It was released in May 2006 after a 12-month Beta testing process, although the current build of Adjust 32, namely RISC OS 4.42, is a prerelease and no final version of the OS has yet been released. It was intended to be the first in a series of machines, with others running
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
.
Both 26- and 32-bit builds of new RISC OS 4 releases can now be compiled from the same
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
,
[
] but will have to be modified to run on each individual machine supported, as the OS has no
HAL
HAL may refer to:
Aviation
* Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia
* Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL)
* HAL Airport, Bengaluru, India
* Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...
at present. Instead it has a hardware-abstracted kernel, which allows specific code to be substituted for each platform supported.
Other configurations
The A9home was the retail version of the A9, for OEM customers was the A9 also available in a half-width single
rack unit
A rack unit (abbreviated U or RU) is a unit of measure defined as . It is most frequently used as a measurement of the overall height of 19-inch and 23-inch rack frames, as well as the height of equipment that mounts in these frames, whereby th ...
(1U) rack mountable ruggedised case, "A9RM" and as a wall/bulkhead-mountable unit with integral TFT touchscreen, GPS and GSM/GPRS, "A9Loc". These were marketed from about 2004 through 2009.
References
External links
About The A9homeAdvantage six reveal A9Home to the press
News article on the A9homeA9home specification brochure
{{RISC OS
RISC OS
ARM-based home computers
Computer-related introductions in 2006