RISC iX
RISC iX running on the Acorn A680
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| Developer | Acorn Computers Ltd |
|---|---|
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Working state | Historic |
| Initial release | 1988 |
| Platforms | Acorn Archimedes |
| Default user interface | Graphical user interface |
RISC iX is a discontinued Unix operating system designed to run on the Acorn Archimedes. Heavily based on 4.3BSD, it was initially completed in 1988 – a year after Arthur but prior to RISC OS.
Later versions upgraded the X11 server to release 4, and was certified to conform to the X/Open Portability Guide 3 Base profile.
The native file system implemented a transparent executable file compression mechanism that took advantage of the hardware's 32 KiB page size and sparse files. Additionally, the console featured a two-cursor text copying mechanism inspired by Acorn's own earlier 8-bit range including the BBC Micro.
RISC iX was either supplied preinstalled on new computer hardware or was installed onsite from a portable tape drive by Granada Microcare, who would take the installation tape away with them. The cost of purchase was £1,000.
Once installed a backup of the core operating system to three floppy disks was possible, allowing future reinstallation.
An unreleased machine, built internally by Acorn for the development of RISC iX. Reputedly only three were built and one of them has subsequently been destroyed. All known examples are owned by The National Museum of Computing.
Unreleased but widely prototyped, the A680 contained an ARM2 processor, 8 MiB RAM (dual MEMCs) and a 67 MB hard drive running from an onboard SCSI controller (no other machine from Acorn Computers included integrated SCSI). It is rumoured that overheating from the SCSI controller was one reason for the machine to never be released.
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