Phoebe is an important machine for Acorn. It will act as a demonstrator for their hardware and software design skills, as well as being a test-bed for future Network Computer and Set-Top Box designs. Acorn want this computer to stand out from the crowd - it will visually, but what about technically?
The Information presented here was gathered from the preview, presentations, and Acorn Engineers themselves. If you spot any errors or omissions, please let me know. I would also welcome your analysis or opinions on Acorn's new design. Nick.
Support from Acorn Developers is crucial for Phoebe's success. Acorn were predicting that the majority of software applications will work on the new machine with little modification, although authors may wish to modify their products to exploit the new features. A notice on compatibility was published in the show guide.
Radical changes are likely in the hardware market, however. With its PCI bus, EIDE interface and support for multiple processors, Phoebe will cause many developers to rethink their product lines.
I spoke to several developers at the show regarding their plans for Phoebe, and it appears that there will be no shortage of expansion. This does not represent an exhaustive list of companies developing for the new machine - if any developer would like to publicise their plans, I would be happy to hear from you. Nick.
All the developers made the point that their work is critically dependent on obtaining working hardware and a stable OS from Acorn. Some believed that they had almost exhausted the work they could do before experimenting with prototypes in a real machine.
Coming Soon!