Castle Technology
Encyclopedia
Castle Technology Ltd. is a British limited company engaged in computer software
and IT consulting. It produced and sold ARM
computers, and sold the Acorn
-branded range of desktop computers that run RISC OS
. Prior to Acorn's demise, it was the largest of their dealerships. It is based in Cambridge
, England
.
Following the breakup of Acorn
in 1998, Castle Technology bought the rights to continue production of the Risc PC
and A7000+
computers under the Acorn brand name.
On 4 July 2003, Castle bought the rights to RISC OS
from Pace Micro Technology and released the first Intel XScale
-based desktop computer, the Iyonix PC
, which runs a full 32-bit
RISC OS 5. Castle and RISCOS Ltd
subsequently agreed to merge and together. In 2004, Castle announced priorities for development of the OS under a project named Merlin.
Production of the Iyonix PC ceased on 30 September 2008.
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
and IT consulting. It produced and sold ARM
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
computers, and sold the Acorn
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK. These included the Acorn Electron, the BBC Micro, and the Acorn Archimedes...
-branded range of desktop computers that run RISC OS
RISC OS
RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988...
. Prior to Acorn's demise, it was the largest of their dealerships. It is based in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Following the breakup of Acorn
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK. These included the Acorn Electron, the BBC Micro, and the Acorn Archimedes...
in 1998, Castle Technology bought the rights to continue production of the Risc PC
Risc PC
The RiscPC was Acorn Computers's next generation RISC OS/Acorn RISC Machine computer, launched on 15 April 1994, which superseded the Acorn Archimedes. The Acorn PC card and software allows PC compatible software to be run....
and A7000+
Acorn A7000
The A7000 and A7000+ were Acorn Computers's entry level computer based on the Risc PC architecture. Launched in 1995, they replaced some of the models of the Acorn Archimedes range. After the breakup of Acorn Computers in 1998, Castle Technology bought the rights to continue production of the A7000+...
computers under the Acorn brand name.
On 4 July 2003, Castle bought the rights to RISC OS
RISC OS
RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988...
from Pace Micro Technology and released the first Intel XScale
Intel XScale
The XScale, a microprocessor core, is Intel's and Marvell's implementation of the ARMv5 architecture, and consists of several distinct families: IXP, IXC, IOP, PXA and CE . Intel sold the PXA family to Marvell Technology Group in June 2006....
-based desktop computer, the Iyonix PC
Iyonix PC
The Iyonix PC was an Acorn-clone personal computer from Castle Technology. It was released in 2002 and runs .- History :The Iyonix originated as a secret project by Pace engineers in connection with development of set-top boxes . Pace had a licence to develop RISCOS Ltd's OS sources for use in the...
, which runs a full 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
RISC OS 5. Castle and RISCOS Ltd
RISCOS Ltd
RISCOS Ltd. is a limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It licensed the rights to from Element 14 and subsequently Pace Micro Technology. It continues to develop...
subsequently agreed to merge and together. In 2004, Castle announced priorities for development of the OS under a project named Merlin.
Production of the Iyonix PC ceased on 30 September 2008.