The Acorn Microcomputer, which became the Acorn System 1, was Acorn's first product. It comprised two Eurocards: a 6502 CPU Board and Keyboard, Display & Cassette Interface Board.
"The 6502 processor Eurocard (100 x 160mm) has crystal
control, 1K bytes of RAM and 512bytes PROM containing a system monitor. A second
Eurocard is mounted above it using pillars and the two are connected by ribbon
cable. This second card is fibreglass, through hole hard nickel plated with
solder resist and component identification. The nickel is used as the PCB is an
integral part of a click action 25-key hexadecimal keyboard. An eight-digit
seven-segment LED display is used for operator interface. The board also
contains a CUTS Tape interface, the design of which includes a dual op-amp input
and zero crossing detector for high reliability of data transfer.
The System 1 is provided with a Users Manual which includes
an introduction to binary numbers, descriptions of the 6502 internal
architecture and Acorn hardware, a listing and explanation of the instruction
set and monitor program and a step by step introduction to machine code
programming complemented by 16 original applications programs.
The System 1 serves as a low cost development system for
the microcontroller, a self-contained computer for the home enthusiast and by
virtue of its modular concept, the basis for a full scale computer with VDU,
floppy disk storage etc., it also represents the simplest intelligent controller
on the Econet.
The System 1 was available as either a kit (£65) or assembled and tested (£79). A detailed Technical Manual (see also System 1 Errata) was provided showing how to construct it and a comprehensive User Manual showing how to operate it.
If you wish to build an Acorn System 1 then Trevor Hamblett has produced replica 6502 CPU and Keyboard, Display & Cassette Interface Boards alternatively see my System 1 Trainer.
I have compiled a library of System 1 Applications.