Acorn Cambridge Workstation Documentation
Two Acorn documents for the Acorn Cambridge Workstation are hosted here: the ACW 443 Service Manual and the sales brochure that Acorn's Scientific Division issued for the Cambridge Workstation range.
ACW 443 Service Manual
[edit | edit source]The ACW 443 Service Manual is Acorn Computers' manual for authorised service agents, reference 0420,001, issue 1, dated 7 January 1987, written by C. Watters, J. Wilkins and others. It replaced a draft numbered 0.56. The copyright line on the title page reads 1985, and the monitor sections are copyright Microvitec plc 1986.[1]
The hosted file is a 195-page scan. Printed pages 1 to 153 (PDF pages 3 to 155) carry an OCR text layer; the OCR has errors, so check figures against the page image. The drawings and parts lists that follow are image-only. Printed page numbers are two lower than PDF page numbers throughout the text section.
Contents
[edit | edit source]| Chapter or appendix | Printed pages | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Introduction | 5-10 | Hardware overview, power supply tolerances, environment, keyboard, Panos and filing systems |
| 2 Assembly, packaging and installation | 11-24 | Rear panel connectors, safety, opening the case, the scissor-stay cradle, removing the power supply, CRT, monitor PCB, 32016 board, Adaptec board, host adapter, mouse board, drives and the I/O board |
| 3 The monitor | 25-32 | Microvitec colour monitor: user and factory adjustments, specification, circuit description |
| 4 I/O Processor board | 33-86 | Specification, circuit description, ROM fitting, selection links S1 to S30, component-level fault finding, IC descriptions |
| 5 32016 Processor PCB | 87-104 | Circuit description, configuration links, memory expansion, fault finding, the 32016 test program menu |
| 6 Winchester and floppy disc systems | 105-122 | Head parking, drive specification, SCSI and ST-412 interfaces, the 1 MHz bus, host adapter, current draw and fault finding |
| Appendix A | 123-126 | ADFS utilities disc, compacting the Winchester |
| Appendix B | 127-130 | Formatting floppy and Winchester discs, drive parameters |
| Appendices C to E | 131-138 | Star commands, guide to documentation with Acorn part numbers, glossary |
| Appendix F | 139-145 | Connector pinouts |
| Appendices G to J | 146-151 | 32016 memory chip and address map, oscilloscope sync aid, test software part numbers, memory test fault reports |
| Appendix K | 152-153 | Fitting the mouse adaptor |
Drawings and parts lists
[edit | edit source]The image-only section at the end of the scan holds, in PDF page order:[1]
- PDF 156-157: Winchester host adapter circuit diagram and assembly drawing.
- PDF 158: keyboard circuit.
- PDF 160-164: "Large" 32016 second processor circuit diagram, memory array and PCB layout.
- PDF 166-169: ABM control board (I/O processor) circuit diagram and component layout, board 0233,000.
- PDF 170: power distribution board circuit.
- PDF 172-175: Microvitec monitor circuit diagram, tube base and main PCB layout.
- PDF 176-179: assembly drawings.
- PDF 180-183: ACW 443 final assembly parts list (drawing 0020,233).
- PDF 184-189: ABM control board parts list (A4/0133,400, issue 3, 28 July 1986).
- PDF 190-192: 32016 Large (4 MB) PCB parts list.
- PDF 193: ABM power distribution PCB parts list (0120,005).
- PDF 194: ACW keyboard assembly parts list (0020,001).
- PDF 195: Winchester disc host adaptor assembly parts list (0127,000).
What it settles
[edit | edit source]- Power supply: +5 V 4.9 to 5.2 V and +12 V 11.4 to 12.6 V (printed page 6); the I/O board itself asks for +5 V ±0.1 V, +12 V ±10 % and −5 V ±10 % (page 36). The 32016 board needs at least 5.00 V at both of its Faston pairs (page 100). The supply is an 85 W unit, part 0831,104 (final assembly parts list, PDF 182).[1]
- DC wiring: Faston connectors with identical posts for positive and 0 V, coloured red +5 V, black 0 V, purple −5 V, orange +12 V, with a red and blue pair feeding the lower fan (page 17).[1]
- Fuse: the final assembly parts list gives a 3.15 A 20 x 5 mm HBC fuse, part 0815,223 (PDF 181), and a moulded mains cable with a 5 A plug (page 3).[1]
- The I/O processor board is the BBC Model B+ board with a few parts omitted, chiefly the UHF modulator (page 33). Its polarised capacitors are listed in Acorn Cambridge Workstation Capacitor Guide.[1]
What this manual does not contain
[edit | edit source]- No component data for the 85 W power supply, which Acorn treats as a field replacement unit (page 6).
- No parts list for the Microvitec monitor. Acorn refers servicing to Microvitec's own manual, GP0019AA0 (page 25), which is not hosted here.
- No component data for the Adaptec ACB-4000 Winchester controller or the drives, which Acorn says must be returned or replaced (page 108).
- An accurate text layer. The OCR has errors (the appendix H heading reads "Osilloscope", and printed page 144 is numbered 149); read the page image when a value matters.
Pages that cite this manual
[edit | edit source]- Acorn Cambridge Workstation
- Acorn Cambridge Workstation Maintenance Guide
- Acorn Cambridge Workstation Troubleshooting Guide
- Acorn Cambridge Workstation Capacitor Guide
- Acorn ABC210, Acorn ABC300, Acorn ABC310
Download: Acorn ACW 443 Service Manual.pdf
Cambridge Workstation brochure
[edit | edit source]Acorn's Scientific Division brochure for the Acorn Cambridge Workstation is a 12-page scan with a text layer. It is undated and carries no reference number.[2]
- Pages 1 to 4: the case for a desktop 32-bit workstation, distributed computing over Econet and an X.25 gateway, a direct link to a DEC VAX, and a SPICE circuit simulation timing against a VAX 11/750.
- Pages 5 to 8: the languages (Fortran 77, C, ISO Pascal, Cambridge LISP, BBC BASIC) and Acorn's company background.
- Page 9: the product range table for the ACW 100, ACW 121, ACW 143 and ACW 443, with the hardware and software supplied.
- Page 10: performance at an 8 MHz clock, with instruction times and the SPICE results.
- Pages 11 and 12: Panos and the supplied utilities.
It gives no service or circuit information.
Download: Acorn Cambridge Workstation brochure.pdf
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Acorn Cambridge Workstation
- Acorn Business Computer Documentation
- Acorn 32016 Second Processor Documentation
- BBC Microcomputer Service Manual October 1985 Section 2 (BBC Model B+, the basis of the I/O processor board)
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Acorn Computers, ACW 443 Service Manual, reference 0420,001, issue 1, 7 January 1987. Hosted on this wiki: File:Acorn ACW 443 Service Manual.pdf. Title page and document control page (PDF pages 1 to 4).
- ↑ Acorn Computers Limited, Scientific Division, brochure Acorn Cambridge Workstation, undated. Hosted on this wiki: File:Acorn Cambridge Workstation brochure.pdf.