This article appears to contradict the article Acorn Computers#Network Computers. Please discuss at the talk page and do not remove this message until the contradictions are resolved. (July 2011)
The NCOSoperating system used in this first implementation was based on RISC OS and ran on ARM hardware.[2][3] Manufacturing obligations were achieved through a contract with Fujitsu subsidiary D2D.[4]
In 1997, Acorn offered its designs at no cost to licensees of RISC OS.[5]
Hardware models
Original model
The NetStation was available in two versions, one with a modem for home use via a television, and a version with an Ethernet card for use in businesses and schools with VGA monitors and an on-site BSDUnix fileserver based on RiscBSD, an early ARM port of NetBSD. Both versions were upgradable, as the modem and Ethernet cards were replaceable "podules" (Acorn-format Eurocards). The home version was trialled in 1997/98 in conjunction with BT.[6]
The Home NC and Corporate NC both used the ARM 7500FE and supported PAL, NTSC and SVGA displays. They had identical specifications.[7][8] The Office NC used a StrongARM SA-110 200 MHz processor.[9] The ARM7500-based DeskLite was launched in 1998.[10]
StrongARM
Acorn continued to produce ARM-based designs, demonstrating its first StrongARM prototype in May 1996,[11] and the Office NC 6 months later.[12] This evolved into the CoNCord, launched in late 1997.[13][14]
New markets
Further designs included the Set-top Box NC (STB NC), the ExecPhone NC, and the NC TV.[12][15]
Later versions
The second generation Network Computer operating system was no longer based on RISC OS. NC Desktop, from Oracle subsidiary Network Computer Inc., instead combined NetBSD and the X Window System, featuring desktop windows whose contents were typically described using HTML, reminiscent of (but not entirely equivalent to) the use of Display PostScript in NeXTStep. The product ran on ARM, StrongARM and x86 architectures and could be run on traditional personal computers.[16] NC Desktop was the recommended software solution for products based on the StrongARM-based Digital Network Appliance Reference Design (DNARD).[17] Later NCs were produced based on the IntelPentium architecture such as products from Accton Technology Corporation[18] and UMAX Data Systems.[19]
^
Loosemore, Tom (1996-10-04). "Five Go Nuts in Cambridge". Wired UK. Guardian Media Group/Wired Ventures. pp. 44–47. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-04. [Ellison's] proposed Network Computer needed things Acorn already possessed in spades: a cheap, powerful processor in the form of the ARM 7500; a compact ROM-based operating system, RISCOS; TV compatibility.
^"Acorn and BT trial consumer NC". ZDNet. June 11, 1997. Retrieved December 15, 2011. The trial will combine Acorn's NC technology with BT's communications network and will be centred around BT's laboratories in Martlesham, Suffolk. [...] "our aim with this trial is to prove the technology and services over a six month period, ending in March 1998 [...]"
^Davis, Jim (1997-10-06). "Acorn launches fast home NC". CNET.com. Retrieved 2011-06-10. [...] one of the fastest set-top boxes today, one with a 233-MHz processor [...] new Concord network computer [...]
