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A UK computer manufacturer, part of the AcornComputer Group plc. Acorn was founded on 1978-12-05, on akitchen table in a back room. Their first creation was anelectronic slot machine. After the Acorn System 1, 2 and 3,Acorn launched the first commercial microcomputer - theATOM in March 1980. In April 1981, Acorn won a contractfrom the BBC to provide the PROTON. In January 1982 Acornlaunched the BBC Microcomputer System. At one time, 70% ofmicrocomputers bought for UK schools were BBC Micros.The Acorn Computer Group went public on the UnlistedSecurities Market in September 1983. In April 1984 Acorn wonthe Queen's Award for Technology for the BBC Micro and inSeptember 1985 Olivetti took a controlling interest inAcorn. The Master 128 Series computers were launched inJanuary 1986 and the BBC Domesday System in November 1986.In 1983 Acorn began to design the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM),the first low-cost, high volume RISC processor chip (laterrenamed the Advanced RISC Machine). In June 1987 theylaunched the Archimedes range - the first 32-bit RISCbased microcomputers - which sold for under UKP 1000. InFebruary 1989 the R140 was launched. This was the firstUnix workstation under UKP 4000. In May 1989 the A3000(the new BBC Microcomputer) was launched.In 1990 Acorn formed Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM) inpartnership with Apple Computer, Inc. and VLSI to developthe ARM processor. Acorn has continued to develop RISCbased products.With 1992 revenues of 48.2 million pounds, Acorn Computers wasthe premier supplier of Information Technology products toUK education and had been the leading provider of 32-bit RISCbased personal computers since 1987.Acorn finally folded in the late 1990s. Their operatingsystem, RISC OS was further developed by a consortium ofsuppliers.Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.sys.acorn,news:comp.sys.acorn.announce, news:comp.sys.acorn.tech,news:comp.binaries.acorn, news:comp.sources.acorn,news:comp.sys.acorn.advocacy, news:comp.sys.acorn.games.Acorn's FTP server (ftp://ftp.acorn.co.uk/).HENSA software archive(http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/micros/arch.html). RichardBirkby's Acorn page (http://csv.warwick.ac.uk/~phudv/).RiscMan's Acorn page (http://geko.com.au/riscman/).Acorn On The Net (http://stir.ac.uk/~rhh01/Main.html)."The Jungle" by Simon Truss(http://csc.liv.ac.uk/users/u1smt/u1smt.html).[Recent history?]