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RISC OS News Article
A9home emerges in beta form
Published: 21st May 2005, 15:43:32GMT  Source: drobe.co.uk
By Chris Williams
Page 1 of 1
Specifications, analysis, photos [Updated]
A9homeHoused in a tiny metallic blue box, the a9home was modestly presented to the crowds at Wakefield 2005. Its developers, AdvantageSix and Simtec, looked decidedly exhusted, having spent the week building a9home units by hand after a parts supplier let them down. Yet, as the machine was unveiled and powered up, the applause from the floor and rush of questions from users spurred the proceedings on.

On Saturday morning, CJE Micros confirmed that they were the Ad6's retail partner, the company that will deal with sales and end user support whilst Ad6 and their developers concentrate on the technical side of business. The machine is currently not for sale, unless you're a developer and want to help AdvantageSix in beta-testing the machine. Otherwise, the system is priced at 499UKP not including VAT or carriage, although no release date has been revealed. Those signing up to the developer scheme can claim back 50 quid from the retail price.

The system uses a Samsung 400MHz ARM9 processor, similar to the S3C2410 as apparently the chipset is aimed at touchscreen based mobile applications. The graphics processor is a Silicon Motion off-the-shelf chip for embedded applications. At the moment, it's being used merely as a framebuffer, although the chip can provide hardware acceleration which the Simon team are reportedly working on. In fact, we're told that a lot of the A9home's chipset has yet to be taken advantage of by RISC OS 4 - the machine will increase in speed once systems such as motherboard DMA are enabled and used.

From a few minutes of toying with it, the machine feels a lot faster and more responsive than a StrongARM RiscPC. Dragging windows around the screen is a lot slower than expected, although AdvantageSix said this would be addressed when the on-board hardware is fully utilised. Booting up into the desktop is smooth and certainly less than 30 seconds. The device is silent too and consumes just 20W of power from a 5V external supply. Also, we're told that sound output is non-functional, although networking, USB and other sub-systems are.

AdvantageSix are said to be discussing with Spellings Software, to arrange for a version of Aemulor for the A9home: because the A9home is running a 32bit only ARM9 processor, 26bit software will not run on it, as we saw around the launch ofthe Iyonix. Aemulor currently provides a 26bit environment and ARM610 emulation for the XScale powered Castle Iyonix, and at the show, am a9home compatible version of Aemulor was briefly trialed and run - long enough to deomstrate a 26bit copy of DTP package Impression running on 32bit RISC OS 4.

A9home Specifications
168x103x53mm in a blue metal box
400MHz Samsung ARM9 processor
Embedded graphics processor
128M SDRAM
8M VRAM
2.5" laptop sized 40GB hard disc
4 x USB sockets
Microphone in
2 x PS/2
10/100MBit network
RS232 serial
5V power supply, 20W power
32bit RISC OS Adjust
Simtec USB stack

Photos
26bit Impression running on 32bit RISC OS 4
Adrian Lees, Aemulor author, stunned and shocked that his a9home build of Aemulor worked first time and so well
A9home boot up screen
Artworks Apple rendering in 3-4 seconds on the a9home at 1024x768 in 32bpp
The a9home computer, from behind
The AdvantageSix tent
Another photo of the a9home. On the front there are 2 USB sockets, a status LED and the reset switch. On the back there are another 2 USB sockets, video, serial and PS/2 outputs
Punters getting stuck in, using the a9home


Links
AdvantageSix website
Thanks to Ian Jeffray and Alex Macfarlane Smith for the photos

Related articles
Who would want an A9home PDA?
A9home DIY laptop: first pictures
Review: A9home v. Koolu

This article has been linked to, or is available in the following formats:  
 
 
 
 
 
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helf 
21/5/05 3:48PM
*drool*
TTX9 
21/5/05 4:08PM
"The machine is to retail at 499ukp not including VAT - for developers only who wish to beta test the > unfinished system."

I am not sure I understand this sentence? Are you saying that it will eventually retail for more than 499ukp+VAT to ordinary punters? Sorry, I used to be a bean counter in my last profession.

charles 
21/5/05 7:59PM
no. The "developers only" bit applies to current sales.
sa110(good user) 
Face
21/5/05 9:22PM
Current pricing is 449 + VAT for the Developer Issue (not quite finished one - free upgrade to finished version), with £499 being the retail price for the finished version.

Optional extras include: -
external dvd drive £79.75 + VAT
Colour matched wireless keyboard/mouse £39.75 + VAT
Flight Case (purchased with) £10.00 + VAT
Flight Case (purchased later) £30.00 + VAT
Carriage on machine £15.00 + VAT
sa110(good user) 
Face
21/5/05 9:24PM
I beleive I was the only one walking round the show with the A9 flight case, having purchased one with Flight Case and external dvd drive. The A9 itself will be sent out to me in the week.
mavhc(bad user / troll)www 
21/5/05 9:47PM
I'd rather a cheaper machine than a smaller machine, wonder if they'll do one in a larger case with 3.5" HD, normal DVD drive, room for expansion etc.

Does it come with a keyboard and mouse?</macmini>
sa110(good user) 
Face
21/5/05 9:57PM
Wired PS2 keyboard and mouse are standard.
Sawadee(valued user) 
Face
21/5/05 11:05PM
Is the A9home running RO4 / 32 bit like the Advantage Six says?

If it could run !Sibelius7 music software, is there room for a MIDI card or would it need an external MIDI card?

The small size and the flight case part is interesting as a portability feature, does the flight case have not only have some room for the A9, keyboard, mouse, but also a flatscreen monitor and some extra external devices?
sa110(good user) 
Face
21/5/05 11:55PM
In reply to Sawadee:


The A9 is running 32 bit Adjust, RO 4.4.
There is no room for internal expansion.
External expansion is via the Serial or USB ports
You might be able to squeeze and 4"or 5" screen in the case.
a fold away keyboard would fit, but not a standard one.
Mouse may also fit.
Will see what I can fit into it when the A9 itself arrives.
SimonC(valued user) 
Face
22/5/05 12:08AM
In reply to mavhc:

Considering the RISC OS market, I think £500 is a pretty good price. Having said that, I was too impatient to wait and walked out of the show with an Iyonix.
jlavallin(bad user / troll) 
22/5/05 2:05AM
I am looking for a new RISC OS computer but the A9 doesn't seem to fit the bill. If futher expansion became available it could turn into a rash of little blue boxes. Iyonix then
JGZimmerle 
Face
22/5/05 2:07AM
What about Sound? I see "Microphone in" mentioned, but no line out?
sa110(good user) 
Face
22/5/05 9:25AM
In reply to JGZimmerle:


There is no line out,but it does have a head phone socket.
nijinsky(good user) 
22/5/05 9:41AM
Blooming heck....

I looked at the we picture and thought that there was a blue bit on the side of the main casing. However, I just clicked on the picture and saw that, in the large image, the blue bit is the whole computer. WOW.

What kind of weight is is. I as impresseed with the mac mini but thought it was a bit heavy. Is the A9Home a lot lighter than that?

cheers
bob
flypig(valued user) 
Face
22/5/05 2:03PM
In reply to nijinsky:

I picked up one of the machines at the show to see how heavy it was. I was expecting it to feel like a block of lead with everything crammed in.

As it turned out it I was pleasantly surprised. As well as being tiny, it's also quite light and wouldn't be a burden to carry around. Unfortunately I don't know the exact weight though.
hzn(valued user) 
22/5/05 2:48PM
The small case is nice for traveling ... but since it needs the external power supply and a monitor I guess a bit bigger case with the power supply built in and a built-in CD/DVD drive (and be it a slimline one) would be a good idea and they exist as CD/DVD writers too.
andretim (+1.5)
22/5/05 5:17PM
Anyone noticed the module list from the pictures on IconBar? The addresses are the same as in 26-bit.
I guess that at the moment it's 32-bit OS in the strict sense of making it run on a pure 32-bit hardware and that they have morework to do before they can offer large wimpslots.
alex 
Face
22/5/05 5:34PM
We have been slashdot-ed:

[Link: hardware.slashdot.org]

Alex.
JGZimmerle (-1.4)
Face
22/5/05 5:47PM
Yes, and as usual the /. Community think they know enough about RISC OS to slagg it off, even if they know next to nothing about it and have never used it.
maus 
22/5/05 9:30PM
IMO, a majority of the ./ comments was rather well founded. Unfortunately, they compare the A9home with a Mac Mini, just because the machines have similar dimensions.
Sawadee(valued user) 
Face
22/5/05 11:43PM
Maybe the A9home could soon have a choice of a "2 slice" set box for those who want to expand later?

The "2 slice could even be only half the thickness again if double is too much?
SimonC(valued user) 
Face
23/5/05 1:01AM
The majority of the /. comments seemed to think that the only thing that matters in a computer is the price : MHz ratio.
markee174(good user) 
23/5/05 9:02AM
They also miss the point the base Mac mini needs a ram upgrade to make it really usable, which ups the price. The A9 has enough memory as is......
olster 
Face
23/5/05 9:37AM
In repy to sa110:

I'm pretty sure there was a line-out on the front, it's just it doesn't work yet. There were definitely two jacks on the front anyway.
Archie 
23/5/05 11:13AM
In reply to markee174:

I wonder if they should double the memory given the expected requirements of Firefox?
ninja(valued user) 
23/5/05 1:49PM
Am I wrong to be wondering if that 8MB of framebuffer RAM is going to be sufficiently futureproof? Could the resolution of LCD screens rise that much in the next few years - certainly higher dpi LCDs exist already, though I haven't seen them in 17" and larger sizes.

Still, I'm happy with a 1024x768 display on my RiscPC. So long as there's enough video bandwidth to cope with an 8MB screen mode at a decent frame rate, I'll be content.
guestx 
23/5/05 2:23PM
The A9home would be pretty interesting for certain embedded Linux projects, I suspect. Are there any plans for a non-RISC OS version of the product? (In other words, does Linux run on it yet?)
Spriteman(valued user) 
Face
23/5/05 5:16PM
The price:MHz ratio is important. Being a RISC OS user I love the look of this new machine but what does it offer a PC/Mac/Unix user that they can't already get for less money in their own world? Sure, the UI of RISC OS is nice, but if you aren't used to it then it's a pain to swap over. I mean, how many of us still don't get on well with Windows? :)
--
Spriteman
ninja(valued user) 
23/5/05 5:44PM
To answer my own question, if the video chip is what it is rumoured to be, the biggest screen mode should be 5MB or thereabouts - so until that changes you'll have VRAM to spare.

You couldn't have two screenbuffers of the biggest mode, but drop the colour depth or resolution a notch and you'd be able to run games in those modes.
Loris(valued user) 
Face
23/5/05 5:49PM
Noone gets on well with Windows. Apart from the Nunlad, and his magical crash-preventing stick.

With regard to the Mhz thing, I think some of the defenders on slashdot go a bit too far. OK so maybe an ARM does more per clock tick in integer arithmatic (although perhaps not nowadays). But I'm fairly confident that the real difference in responsiveness is down to the load on the machines by their respective operating systems.
I think we really are going to need wads more power in the not so distant future, simply to crunch the data we want. But for now, the RISC OS world looks to be doing well.
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