13/07/95 A7000 2MB Net July 1995.
Network ready stations from Acorn
- Built-in Acorn Access and Acorn Access+ peer-to-peer networking
- Built-in multimedia sharing capability
- Built-in support for TCP/IP
- Built-in support for Level 4 file servers
- Used with a simple network selection program
- 'Combination' 10Base2/10BaseT Ethernet card
- Used in conjunction with a wide range of Acorn systems
- Outstanding video and graphics capability
- Integrated ARM7 cored processor with VIDC20 and IOMD elements from the internationally acclaimed Risc PC.
Highly configurable networked platforms
The A7000 2MB Net platform provides a discless station with built-in simple-to- use Ethernet networking capability. This combined with the outstanding video and graphics capability of the platform and the wide availability of curriculum-based applications make this platform the obvious choice for educational users. A platform ideal for users who appreciate the wide range of benefits that Acorn networking brings and who wish to make the most of their hardware and software resources.
Acorn Access/Access+
The whole of the A7000 and Risc PC 700 range has the acclaimed Acorn Access and Acorn Access+ software located within the ROM (Read Only Memory). This means that the range comes complete with peer-to-peer networking, and the capacity to share hard discs, printers and CD-ROM drives between computers over an Ethernet network. This brings many benefits to the user, including a substantial reduction in the number of floppy discs required for each lesson. Course work can be saved back to shared hard discs and applications can be obtained in the same way. This also means that only one machine need be updated when additional software or updates to applications become available.
Multimedia sharing
One of the benefits of Acorn Access/Access+ is the ability to share CD-ROM titles over the network. This applies to localised single drives as well as 'tower' systems that facilitate the sharing of several titles at once. Thus users are able to choose from the host of titles that are available for RISC and also makes the titles potentially available to a whole site of networked Acorn computers. The application !AccessCD provides a configurable caching mechanism that allows the 'sharing' machine to optimise the sharing of titles. For those users who wish to 'dedicate' a machine for CD-ROM sharing, a complementary product to this capability is available in the form of Access CDShare.
TCP/IP support
Support for TCP/IP is also included within the ROM system of A7000 and Risc PC700 series computers. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is currently used by some 90% of the world's computer community, both for local area networks and connections to the Internet. This has advantages for the user who wishes to adopt a mixed platform network strategy or wants to take advantage of the e-mail, news or World Wide Web applications available for Acorn platforms. Internet is utilised by a wide range of Acorn networking products and is consequently a very useful addition to RISC OS 3.60.
Use on Level 4 networks
Acorn's Level 4 file servers are currently installed in a wide range of primary and secondary schools, and Acorn has maintained its support for those within the latest range of platforms. Users of Level 4 are able to take advantage of this capability as well as continue their investment in AUN (Acorn Universal Networking).
Simple configuration
All of the networking capability that is built into the A7000 and Risc PC 700 computers can be used in conjunction with other Acorn AUN products such as Acorn OmniClient or Acorn InterTalk. !SetUpNet allows the user to take advantage of all of this bundled software or to use the configuration options to save on work space (required RAM), leaving more memory to run additional applications simultaneously. This optimises both network applications and memory on the user's workstations. .
Combination 10Base2/10BaseT Ethernet
Acorn Ethernet cards for the A7000 and Risc PC 700 series come complete with 'connectors' for attaching to 10Base2 or 10BaseT cabling solutions. These computers can therefore fit seamlessly into any Ethernet environment and allow the 'network designer' the ability to choose the solution that best meets their requirements. The A7000 Net comes complete with a pre-installed 'combination' Ethernet card, and separate cards are available for all the other platforms in the Acorn range. Acorn Ethernet networks can also utilise 10Base5 or Fibre Optic technologies to link Ethernet networks to produce site- or campus-wide networks.
This has the potential benefit of making every hard disc, printer or CD-ROM a site-wide resource with the control and security to dictate their availability.
Server requirement
A7000 Net can be used in conjunction with any Acorn computer running RISC OS .
3.10 or later, with 2MB of main memory (RAM) and 10MB of hard disc space. This system also needs to be running software supported by the A7000 Net. 'Server' solutions appropriate for use in conjunction with A7000 Net stations include Acorn Access/Acorn Access+ (peer-to-peer support) and Level 4 file servers.
Industry standard
Acorn utilises industry standard Ethernet technology conforming fully with IEEE .
802.3 recognised specifications. Note that !SetUpNet is required to configure connections to localised file servers which hold essential system configuration information for the A7000 Net computer. This is not included with the A7000 system and should be ordered in conjunction with the A7000 network (not computer) that is purchased.