The Acorn Electron was designed as a budget-friendly alternative to the popular BBC Micro. While it shared many features with its more powerful sibling, the Electron was aimed at home users and families looking for an affordable way to explore computing and programming. Despite some hardware limitations and initial supply shortages, the Electron developed a strong following, especially among hobbyists and programmers of the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hardware Specifications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Processor<\/strong>: 8-bit MOS Technology 6502A running at 2 MHz<\/p>\n\n\n\n Graphics<\/strong>: Up to 160×256 pixels with 16 colors or 320×256 pixels with 4 colors<\/p>\n\n\n\n Memory<\/strong>: 32 KB of RAM<\/p>\n\n\n\n Storage<\/strong>: Cassette tapes (via standard cassette player), expandable with floppy disk add-ons<\/p>\n\n\n\n Audio<\/strong>: Single-channel sound<\/p>\n\n\n\n Operating System<\/strong>: Acorn MOS, similar to the BBC Micro\u2019s OS<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connectivity<\/strong>: Edge connector for expansions, cassette interface for loading software, RF video output to connect to a TV<\/p>\n\n\n\n Original Release Date:<\/strong> 25th August 1983<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discontinued:<\/strong> 1985<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost (New in 1983):<\/strong> \u00a3199<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost (In 2024 Price):<\/strong> \u00a3630<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modifications I have performed:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n None<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost to me for computer \u00a350.99<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost to me for repairs and upgrades \u00a30.00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Acorn Electron was designed as a budget-friendly alternative to the popular BBC Micro. While it shared many features with its more powerful sibling, the Electron was aimed at home users and families looking for an affordable way to explore computing and programming. Despite some hardware limitations and initial supply shortages, the Electron developed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1980s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksvintagecomputers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}