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Acorn A3010, A3020 and A4000 Technical Reference Manual

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The Acorn A3010/A3020/A4000 Technical Reference Manual is Acorn Computers' hardware reference for the Acorn Archimedes A3010, Acorn Archimedes A3020 and Acorn Archimedes A4000, Issue 1, January 1993, copyright Acorn Computers Limited 1991, 1992, published by Acorn Computers Technical Publications Department. 66 pages. The scan has no text layer, so it cannot be searched and values must be read from the page images.

Contents

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  • About this manual; Safety
  • Part 1 — System description: ARM250, system timing, memory system, I/O system, floppy disc drive, IDE hard disc interface (not A3010), video circuit, audio circuit, keyboard and mouse, power supply, ARM250 pin out, links, plugs, sockets
  • Part 2 — Parts lists, one per assembly: A4000 main PCB; A3010 1M and 2M final assembly; A3010 1M and 2M main PCB; A3010 1M and 2M (ARM250) main PCB; A3020 2M and A3020 2M HD final assembly; A3020 2M main PCB; A3020/A4000 Econet PCB; A3020/A3010 CPU module PCB
  • Appendix A — monitor adaptor cables; Appendix B — timing diagrams; Appendix C — RAM chip signals
  • Appendix D — engineering drawings: final assembly drawing, main PCB assembly drawing, main PCB circuit diagram, 4 MB RAM upgrade circuit diagram, backplane circuit diagram, keyboard adaptor PCB circuit diagram

Part 2 is the part worth having: a separate bill of materials for each board and each memory variant, so a reader can tell which parts list applies to the board in front of them rather than assuming the three machines share one.

What it settles

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Acorn's own comparison table, on the first page of Part 1, gives the supply rating for each machine and rules out any shared figure:

From the manual's feature comparison table
Feature A3010 A3020 A4000
Design Single box Single box Twin box
Computer system IC 12 MHz ARM250 12 MHz ARM250 12 MHz ARM250
Base memory 1 MB DRAM 2 MB DRAM 2 MB DRAM
Expandable to 2 or 4 MB 4 MB 4 MB
Hard disc N/A Optional internal 2.5 inch IDE Optional internal 3.5 inch IDE
Keyboard 103 switch, integral 103 switch, integral 103 switch, separate
PSU 10 W 12.5 W 24 W
Colour TV modulator Yes No No
Internal network expansion slot No Yes Yes
Switched joystick inputs 2 No No
Rechargeable battery to power RTC Yes Yes Yes

All three carry a rechargeable cell for the real-time clock, which is why a leaked cell is a routine fault on these machines and why a primary lithium cell is the wrong substitute.

What this manual does not contain

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  • No fault-finding procedures and no repair chapter. This is a reference, not a service manual; for diagnosis see Acorn A3010, A3020 and A4000 Service Manual.
  • No power supply parts list. The supply is rated in watts in the comparison table and described in Part 1, but no component-level breakdown is given.
  • No monitor coverage.
  • No text layer, so the parts lists cannot be searched or copied — only read.

Pages that cite this document

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Download here: Acorn A3010 A3020 A4000 Technical Reference Manual.pdf