BBC Cheese Wedge

A Cheese Wedge for the BBC Microcomputer was a peripheral in a box with the same profile and styling as the main computer.

econd processors

The Second Processors connected to Acorn's proprietary and trademarked "Tube" interface. The terminology of "second" processor was slightly misleading, since connected and switched on, the system worked on a "master-slave" model, with the processor in the cheese wedge taking control while the 6502 in the "main" computer simply took on responsibility for I/O.

6502 Second Processor

The 6502 Second Processor was clocked at 3 MHz, a full 50% faster than the 6502 inside a BBC Model B, and also had 64kB of RAM, of which 48kB would be free for applications (compared to as little as 8½kB on an unexpanded Model B).

Z80 Second Processor

The Z80 Second Processor required the floppy disk upgrade: it was aimed at business and enabled the BBC system to run CP/M programs.

32016 Second Processor

A sophisticated Second Processor sometimes branded as "Acorn Cambridge Co-Processor" with an Acorn logo, and sometimes as "BBC Microcomputer System 32016 Second Processor" along with the BBC Micro's owl logo. The device uses the National Semiconductor 32016 CPU and National Semiconductor 32081 FPU running at 6MHz. It runs the non-graphical Panos operating system. Various programming languages are available including C, FORTRAN, Lisp, and Pascal, in addition to a version of BBC BASIC. The processor comes with 1MB of RAM as standard.

The processor is also inside the "Acorn Cambridge Workstation" this time using 10MHz parts and 4Mb of RAM, sold as part of the Acorn Business Computer line.

ARM Evaluation System

One of the first production RISC processors, [ [http://www.heyrick.co.uk/assembler/proctype.html ARM Processor types] ] the ARM Evaluation System was part of the development programme leading to the Acorn Archimedes and its early Arthur operating system. It was not branded "BBC" but is physically contained within the family's "cheese wedge" case.

In 2007 a new ARM processor board using an ARM7TDMI processor was designed and sold, without an enclosure but able to fit within the original "cheese wedge" case. [ [http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/armcopro.htm] ]

Adapters

Teletext Adapter

The teletext Mode 7 inside the 8-bit BBC Micros made a teletext adapter an obvious expansion, and the BBC would broadcast telesoftware free over Ceefax.

Prestel Adapter

Similar to the teletext adapter, the Prestel adapter enabled the user to connect to viewdata services over the telephone line.

Econet Bridge

Used to connect two Econet segments together. An Econet Bridge is capable of automatically learning a simple network topology and selectively forwarding packets from one LAN segment to the other using a simple routing table based on the contents of the network byte in the Econet packet.

The Econet Bridge is unique among the cheese wedge expansions, in that it is a stand-alone device that does not require a BBC computer to operate.

References

External links

General

* [http://www.beebmaster.co.uk/MyCheeseWedges.html BeebMaster's Cheese Wedges]
* [http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/8bit_Upgrades/Acorn_ANC01_65022ndproc.html Chris' Acorns]

32016

* [http://www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk/Museum/Acorn/32016copro/index.php Binary Dinosaurs 32016 co-processor]
* [http://www.beebmaster.co.uk/Cambridge2.html BeebMaster's 32016]

Acorn Cambridge Workstation

* [http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Computers/ABC.html Acorn Business Computer]

ARM Evaluation System

* [http://www.heyrick.co.uk/assembler/proctype.html ARM Processor types]
* [http://www.stumpie.com/armeval/ ARM Evaluation System pictures]
* [http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/BBC/ARMeval.html ARM Evaluation System software]