Editing Acorn Archimedes A540 (section)

== Overview ==

The A540 represented Acorn's response to the need for a high-performance workstation in the Archimedes range. It was an anticipated consequence of Acorn's Unix workstation development, offering the same general specification as Acorn's R260 Unix workstation (running RISC iX) but without built-in Ethernet support and running RISC OS 2 instead of Unix. At £2,495 plus VAT, it was positioned as the top-of-the-range model, substantially more expensive than other Archimedes computers but offering unprecedented performance for the platform.

The A540 hardware was essentially identical to the R260 except that RISC iX was not installed; it could be purchased separately and installed on an A540. The machine was designed to appeal to professional users, educational institutions requiring maximum performance, and as a potential Unix workstation.