ATOM-001
In May of 2024 I finally added an Acorn ATOM to my collection - it was the first non-rackmounted 8-bit Acorn machine, released in March 1980.
This ATOM has several modern expansions installed:
- AtoMMC v4 internal storage (by Roland Leurs)
- YARRB-M2, a.k.a. “Yet Another ROM/RAM Board” (by Roland Leurs)
- Acorn Atom 8k Video RAM and Noise Killer (by David Banks, a.k.a. ‘Hoglet’)
AtoMMC internal storage
Yet Another ROM/RAM Board
Acorn Atom 8k Video RAM and Noise Killer
Power supply
One of the issues with the Acorn ATOM is that the dual 5V power regulators get very hot - this explains the discoloration in the rear of the top case. To work around this, you can fit links LK6 and LK7 to bypass these regulators and use a regulated 5V, 3A power supply instead. The DC jack is a 5.0mm / 2.5mm barrel connector (center pin is positive 5V).
Next steps
- Replace the linear power regulators with a buck DC-DC converter to reduce waste heat - for example the HX1314G
- Find a proper DC jack plug, or replace the DC socket with a more common diameter
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