The Oric FAQ
For Microtan 65, Oric 1, Oric Atmos & Stratos
IQ164/Telestrat
Last updated 6 June 2004
Contact: Jim Groom
(james.groom@virgin.net)
This FAQ is designed to provide information on the computers developed by Tangerine and Oric Products. It is constantly being updated. In order to improve this FAQ, your help is required. Please e-mail the maintainer with any information or corrections you may have. The layout is unashamedly based on the Atari 2600/7800 FAQ. Imitation is the sincerist form of flattery! Questions without a link (not underlined) are not available yet.
Return to the 'Reluctant Dragon' - the home of the Unofficial Oric FAQ
Prologue
The Maintainer
What's new?
What information is missing from this FAQ?
Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
General
What is an Oric?
What Usenet groups exist to discuss the Oric?
What is the comp.sys.oric charter?
What is the comp.sys.oric etiquette?
Is there a mailing list for discussion of all things
Oric?
Is there any place to talk Oric in real time?
Are there any software lists?
What magazines exist/have existed for the Oric?
What books can I get for the Oric?
Were there any Oric TV adverts?
What does 'Oric' mean?
What happened to Tangerine & Oric?
Whatever happened to.......?
Software
Where can I find software for the
Oric?
How do I get hold of program instructions?
My tape programs won't load, what can I do?
How do I transfer my programs to PC?
I am confused by all the various Oric DOS's that exist,
help!
What are the best games for the Oric?
What is the most common and most rare software?
What software was promised but never released?
What games take advantage of joystick interfaces?
What programs are compatible with what machine?
Are any new programs available?
I'm interested in programming the Oric, what
programmers resources are available?
Has anyone managed to do one screen of Damsel In Distress,
let alone finish the game without cheating?
I've seen pictures of a Dungeon Master style game
for the Oric, is it available?
Hardware (General)
What are the different Oric models?
What clones exist?
How many Orics were made?
Are there any emulators for the Oric?
Where can I get real Oric computers?
What hardware peripherals were produced?
What hardware and peripherals were in the pipeline,
but never released?
I've got an Oric up and running, but the picture is
poor, help!
Where can I get my Oric fixed?
How do I turn the sound down?
Hardware (Technical)
What power supply does the Oric need?
The computer won't boot properly.
What are the specifications for the Oric machines?
What is the extra 16K of RAM? What does it do?
Where can I get information on the pin-outs of the
various ports?
How big can the programs be?
Projects
What projects are currently in
progress for the Oric?
How do I build a sound control for the Oric?
Epilogue
Acknowledgements of thanks.
Prologue
Q: The Maintainer
The current (and so far only) maintainer of this FAQ is
Jim Groom. Information in this FAQ has come from a wide variety of
sources, magazines, interviews, all of you out there, technical articles,
books and hearsay. The information here is given in good faith and
although the intention is to provide facts, I accept no responsibility for
any inaccuracies it contains. You should be particularly aware that
'fiddling-around-under-the-lid' involves a degree of risk of damage - to
your equipment and possibly to yourself. Do not attempt anything that is
outside of your capabilities unless you are prepared for possible loss.
That said, this FAQ aims to maintain a high level of quality and accuracy.
6 June 2004
Two updates to news of people from Oric history. Sadly, it reveals that Peter Harding and Kester Cranswick have died.
26 July 2002
The name of the Yugoslav manufacturer/assembler of Oric's is revealed as Avtotehna.
23 July 2002
A new section was added, "What
is the extra 16K of RAM? What does it do?" which explains that
the Oric actually has 16K more RAM than it says on the box. Yes, a 48K
Oric actually has 64K of RAM and yes, you can use it! This replaces the
completely erroneous information on overlay memory which existed before.
Pravetz 8D information updated with info from
DBug.
Some more minor mistakes have been corrected, links repaired etc.
Q: What information is missing from this
FAQ?
Exact Telestrat specifications. Although I've got one, I
need to do a bit more research.
Q: Where can I find the latest version of this
FAQ?
The following URL should point you in the right
direction:
http://freespace.virgin.net/james.groom/index.htm
General
Q: What is an Oric?
Oric Products International Ltd. was the company which
launched the Oric family of 8 bit computers, back in 1983. The first one
was the Oric-1 computer, powered by a 6502 processor and an extended 16K
Basic, with sounds, colour graphics, printer port, and 16 or 48 K ram
(plus an extra 16 K ram which you do not normally see. This RAM is very
interesting! See the section on overlay RAM for
more details). Programs were stored on audio tapes. Then followed the
Atmos, with a better keyboard and debugged Basic, along with an optional
Microdisc controller (3" disks). The latest computer, intended to be
named Stratos, was born in France after the English company's financial
problems, under the TeleStrat name. For a complete story, I recommend you
read Jonathan Haworth's excellent book: "Oric, The Story So Far..."
available at Oric
World.
Q: What Usenet groups exist to discuss the
Oric?
comp.sys.oric exists for Oric users with Usenet access.
Occasional mentions of Oric appear on comp.sys.sinclair (usually
derogatory!).
Q: What is the comp.sys.oric charter?
CHARTER: comp.sys.oric
"To provide a forum for the discussion of every Oric-related subject: the Oric1, Atmos and Telestrat computers, peripherals, one of the seven disk operating systems available, emulators, programming techniques, games, clubs, magazines, local events... The group will not be moderated."
END CHARTER.
This is the place to come to ask questions on ANY Oric related question
you may have.
Q: What is the comp.sys.oric etiquette?
When posting to the comp.sys.oric newsgroup, there are a
few things you should bear in mind.
1. Firstly, the accepted language of the group is English. No one will
mind if you post messages in any other language, but there will usually be
a flurry of requests for translations into English and translations by
others that may misrepresent what you said. So if you can post in English,
it is recommended that you do. If you can't post in English, please do
post your message in your own language! We want to hear what you've got to
say even if we have to do our own translations!
2. Please only post messages in plain text. Do not use HTML.
3. Please do not post binaries or attachments to the group. If you have a
file that you want to share, place it in some web space and send a message
with an appropriate hyper link.
Q: Is there a mailing list for discussion of
all things Oric?
Yes, there is. Send an email to:
oric-request@lyghtforce.com
with the following message in the body text:
join oric your.e-mail@address
replacing your.e-mail@address with your real e-mail address.
Q: Is there any place to talk Oric in real
time?
Yes, there are a few ways you can do this. Firstly, a
number of Oric users use ICQ. If you are familiar with this system of
contact, look out for the ICQ numbers of other Oric users. Secondly, there
is an IRC group at Oric
International. The information you need for you IRC program in order
to connect is:
SERVER: irc.oric.org
PORT: 6667
CHANNEL: #oric
You can see who is currently connected to the chat server, from the Oric
International website. ATMOS is a bot, so don't try talking to it! It is
used to keep the channel open when no real people are there.
Q: Are there any software lists?
Yes. There are a few now:
The Reluctant Dragon has a software list
here
and an adventure game list
here.
Muso also maintains his own lists
here. He has three for you
to choose from, Commercial Titles, Type-Ins (listings from magazines,
etc.) and Other Software.
Defence Force has a good list
of Oric books.
There is a project going on at
Oric
International to produce a more detailed database of Oric software.
Q: What magazines exist/have existed for the
Oric?
The newest magazine to be produced for the Oric is
Rhetoric. It is produced in the UK
by a group of Oric fans. Contact Simon, the editor at
chaosmongers@yahoo.com or
write to:
Rhetoric
c/o Simon Ullyatt
32 Peter Paine Close,
Butterwick,
Boston,
Lincolshire.
PE22 0HA
UK
The longest running Oric magazine was Oric User Monthly, which released its final issue (145) in September 1999. Well done to Dave and all his regular contributors for years of sterling service! Thank-you!
The final Oric magazine still in existance is the CEO-MAG produced by Club Europe Oric. the magazine produces articles in a number of languages, mainly French and English.
A large number of magazines and newsletters have fallen by the wayside over the years. The term 'Professional' below means that the magazine was, shall we say, a 'commercially published' magazine rather than a fanzine.
From the UK:
Oric Computing (professional) by Tangerine User Group. Follow up to TUG.
(5 Issues).
Oric Owner (professional) by Tansoft. Followed on from the Tansoft
Gazette. (10 Issues).
I.O.U. by the Independent Oric User Group. (23 Issues).
Your Oric (8 Issues).
From France:
Micr'Oric (professional) by ASN (official Oric importers). (10 Issues).
Theoric (professional) by Soracom (37 Issues).
Club Disc Oric Bulletin (8 Issues).
JEO-MAG by Club Europe Oric (? Issues).
There may be more - I need your help there, French chums!
For the Microtan 65, there were two magazines, TUG of the Tangerine User Group (36 Issues) and the Tansoft Gazette by Tansoft (8 Issues).
Q: What books can I get for the Oric?
A list of books for the Oric is maintained in Excel and
Ability spreadsheet compatible formats at
The Reluctant
Dragon, on the downloads page. All British produced books are
believed to have been recorded, but the list of French and other nations
books is not complete. A section on books can be found at
Defence Force. This site is
highly recommended. It includes scans of the book covers, a brief synopsis
of the book and some of the books are available to download.
Q: Were there any Oric TV adverts?
Yes, and a copy was found in April 2002. You can find it
on the net at Will's 80's
TV Ads page. Many thanks to Peter Reynolds and Will Datsun for that.
Q: What does 'Oric' mean?
There was a lot of speculation in the press when the Oric
came out about this. Some thought it was named after the
plastic-box-with-lights in called Orac from the BBC TV series 'Blakes 7'.
The truth (according to Paul Kaufman, who worked for Tangerine, Oric and
Tansoft in the early years) was that the company tried to come up with a
name by juggling the letters of the word 'micro'. The best they could do
was 'oric' (must have lost the 'm' under the table somewhere) and the name
stuck.
From Steve Marshall comes the following: "I have a theory about the red 'tick' on the Atmos. I reckon it was put there for when people ask where the 'M' is (see the story above about the missing M). Stick a mirror on the top of the Oric logo and the 'M' is revealed !" You need to get out more Steve!
Q: What happened to Tangerine and Oric?
Tangerine (formed in 1979) originally produced the
Microtan 65 computer, ancestor of the Oric 1. There was also a business
machine called the Tigress. In 1982, they formed Oric Products
International Ltd to produce a new micro. Tangerine remained as the
research and development arm of the group until dissolved (what
year anyone?). Oric were taken over by Edenspring Investments
in November 1983, a move which raised a much-needed £4 million of
extra capital (partly from what Edenspring paid and partly through sales
of shares). Oric went into receivership in February 1985. Ownership of the
company then moved to France (but that part of the story is very
complicated - I'll get my head round it one day!) going bust again in
December 1987. It traded on in the hands of the receiver until December
1988, a pale shadow of its former self. For more details, you should read
'Oric - The Story So Far' by Jonathan Haworth. An online version is
available at 'Oric
World', where you can also find details of how to obtain a paper
copy.
Q: Whatever happened to.......?
If you know the fates of any of the old Oric crew, then
let me know. Of particular interest are Dr Paul Johnson, Peter Halford,
Andy Brown, Chris Shaw, John Tullis, Cathie Burrell, any of
the 'Oric Angels' and Carolyn Grunewald, but info on anyone from the Oric
World would be relevant.
Barry Muncaster - Founder of Tangerine and Oric
Products and one of its directors, till the end of the UK company.
Barry is alive and well and has returned to the UK after spending a few
years in the USA working as a senior person in the Biotechnology industry.
Sources: Jon Haworth, Search of "Barry Muncaster" using the
Google search engine. Date: May 2001.
Peter Harding - Peter was Sales Director at Oric Products and announced the launch of the Oric1 with the quote "We're going to beat Clive Sinclair by offering much more for much less money".
Sadly, Peter died in Spring 2004, after a battle against Motor Neurone Disease.
Sources: Peter's family. Date: April 2004.
Bruce Everiss - Head of Tansoft near the end of its
life.
Bruce is now working for Codemasters as Head of Communications (www.codemasters.com).
He also runs the All Formats Computer Fairs which appear all over the
country (see www.afm96.co.uk for
more details).
Source: Bruce Everiss. Date: August 2000.
Paul Kaufman - Involved with Tangerine, Oric and
Tansoft and co-founder of Orpheus.
Paul seemed to be everywhere in the Oric world back in 1983 and 1984! In
2000 he was European Director of LANSource Technologies. All the evidence
points to him being the crazed character on the front of the Rat Splat
cassette!
Sources: Internet Date: February 2000.
Geoff Phillips - Oric programmer and author.
Geoff wrote several programs for Tansoft, including Oric 1 and Atmos
Welcome tapes, Multigames 1, House Of Death, Zodiac, Oric Munch, Oric
BASE, Oric CALC and the Linkword Language series. After Tansoft, he was
one of the founder members of software house Orpheus and wrote Trouble In
Store for them. He also wrote the excellent "Oric Atmos & Oric 1
Graphics and Machine Code Techniques" book and had a number of
articles published in Oric Owner magazine. In 2002 he was still a software
engineer and has a website,
well worth looking at. He can occasionally be found making posts on
comp.sys.oric.
Sources: Geoff's website and Geoff!. Date: July 2002.
John Marshall - Oric Programmer - Rat Splat &
Insect Insanity.
John moved to the USA eventually. By 2001 he was back in the UK and met
up with Geoff Phillips and Paul Kaufman at their old watering hole when
they all worked for Orpheus.
Sources: John Marshall via e-mail Date: December 2001.
Kester Cranswick - Editor of Oric Owner.
Kester edited issues 7 and 8 before departing, a factor which seems to have caused a small amount of chaos in the production of issue 9. At some point he appears to have moved to Australia to become an IT journalist. He died of cancer in 1996 aged just 37. The Kester Cranswick Lifetime Achievement Award is an Australian IT writers award named after him.
Sources: Steve Marshall, internet search for Kester Cranswick Date: April 2004.
Software
Q: Where can I find software for the Oric?
There are a number of websites out there with stuff
available. Have a look around! New software is
produced by the
CEO and
Rhetoric at regular intervals. A
number of individual programmers are also releasing stuff.
Q: How do I get hold of program instructions?
There is no general resource available as yet. There are
a few guides for certain games out there, such as
Oric Trek. A
request to comp.sys.oric is your best bet. Steve
Marshall has some inlays and instructions available.
Q: My tape programs won't load, what can I do?
Most original tapes for the Oric are now very old and
never designed to last this long. It is hardly surprising that many tapes
are now difficult to load. The Oric was notorious for being a fussy
loader. Having said that, there are still quite a few things you can do to
try and resurrect your tapes. Firstly, see if you can find a tape that
will load - why not save a short program to tape and then reload it? If
you can do this, it confirms that your computer, tape recorder and lead
are all working ok. Once you've confirmed the hardware is working ok, put
the non-loading cassette back in the player and try again. If it doesn't
work, try altering the volume. Increase it a little, then try loading
again. Repeat this until the program either loads or you reach maximum
volume. If this doesn't work, try decreasing the volume. If that doesn't
work, you need to try and alter the azimuth setting of the tape head. The
play head of the cassette recorder has a little screw that can be adjusted
to alter the angle of the head against the tape. If it isn't in the right
position, the program won't load. Take the tape out of the machine and
remove the cassette lead to the Oric. Lift up the lid which protects the
tape while it's playing and press play. The tape head will be thrust
forward and you should be able to see it. There should be a small hole in
the casing just behind the play head that is just big enough to insert a
small screw driver (usually Philips/crosshead type). If you can see this,
try reaching it with a screwdriver. If you can, we can go on to the next
step. Some computer tape recorders have this screw fully exposed when the
play head is forward, so there is no hole to find. Now press stop to
retract the head, and place the tape in the machine. Turn down the volume
to something you can bear and press play. Wait for the noise of the
program to blare out of the speaker. Insert the screwdriver into the hole
and locate the screw. Now turn the screw gently one way. You should hear
the pitch of the sound coming out of the speakers alter. Turn the screw
the other way and it will change again. You will notice that sometimes the
sound is low -pitched, dull or bassy (sounding like it is coming from
another room, for example), sometimes it is high pitched and shrill. You
want to try and get the sound as high pitched as you can - this is the
optimum head setting for the Oric. Also, if you have treble controls on
your tape unit, you want to increase the treble. After adjusting the
azimuth, try connecting everything up and try loading that tape again. If
it doesn't work, go through the volume control routine again. If it
doesn't work after that, put the tape away for a few months and try again
- this sometimes works! One final tip - make sure you are using the right
computer! A program that is compatible for the Oric 1 might not work on
the Atmos and vice versa. Check the label on the tape and ensure you are
using a compatible machine.
Q: How do I transfer my programs to PC?
The best advice is given in the HTML manual that comes
with the Oric emulator, Euphoric. This is available from
Oric World.
I must admit that I have had no luck transfering software using
soundcards. I have not tried the parallel cable, but will one day. If you
have a 3.5 inch disc system with your Oric, then transfer is easy using
the readdsk program, available again from
Oric World,
look under the Tools section.
Q:I am confused by all the various Oric DOS's
that exist, help!
There were/are nine different DOS's available for the
Oric. Namely, they are:
OricDos, the
original DOS from Oric, now in release 1.13
BDDOS, exclusive to the Byte
Drive 500
Cumana Dos 1.0, exclusive to
the Cumana drive
Cumana Super2 DOS, same
instruction set but compatible with any drives
Opelco ROMDOS, same as Oric Dos
Opelco RANDOS, as before but
with random file access added
FT-DOS, exclusive to the Jasmin
drive
Sedoric, one of the best 8 bit
home computer DOS,
Stratsed, the Sedoric
equivalent for the Telestrat
Sedoric and Stratsed feature a multitude of commands (without the need for the '!' prefix), an extended Basic, sequential files and direct files. They are the only ones that you are recommended to use (Sedoric for the Oric-1/Atmos, Stratsed for the Telestrat). An online version of the manual for SEDORIC 2 is available here in English. A French version is available at Defence Force.
Shortsed is a mini-set of Sedoric, I think, that
enables you to get a disc working of programs working without having to
use the full Sedoric disc.
Steve Marshall thinks there may have been a system called XLDOS. Anyone
know any more?
Q: What are the best games for the Oric?
Always a very subjective topic. For arcade fans I
recommend Manic Miner by Software Projects, Rat Splat and Insect Insanity
by Tansoft, Xenon 1 by IJK and Magnetix, Zebulon and Zip'n'Zap by
Twilighte for starters. For Role Players, try Tyrann by No Mans Land and
Le Fer D'Amnukor (Tyrann 2) by Norsoft. For adventurers, any of the
Mysterious Adventures series, Level 9 series, Pinforic (use it to play
Infocom adventures) and Krystal Worlds by Mirage should keep you
interested. There are many more, but a lot of Oric software is, being
diplomatic, distinctly primitive.
Q: What is the most common and the most rare
software?
Some of the most common software includes the Oric and
Oric Atmos Welcome tapes, Loki by Joe The Lion, Xenon 1 by IJK and
possibly Forth by Tansoft as this was given away with early 48K Oric 1's.
There is a lot of rare stuff. I have a copy of Leopard Lord by Kayde
(doesn't load, shame). Other rare titles include The Castle by Bug Byte
and Tevrogs Kingdom by Tevward Microtech. Anyone got Dreadnought Disaster?
A Yugoslavian contact mentioned some games from there. Although exact
names and companies were not mentioned, he remembers Tetris (an excellent
version), Break Out, Poker, text and graphic adventures. Most arcade games
were of the Invaders/Galaxians ilk. There were also utilities and
educational programs.
Q: What software was promised but never
released?
Zodiac 2: By Geoff Phillips, this was to be a machine
code follow up to his BASIC adventure program Zodiac (released by
Tansoft). The project never advanced beyond the design stage. It would
have featured an assembler adventure parser, which Geoff had sketched out
and partially designed which had improved sentence syntax compared to his
earlier adventure programs. Source: Geoff Phillips.
Midwinter / After The Fire / Beyond The Infinite: These were three
adventures in the Channel 8 / Digital Fantasia, Mysterious Adventures
series (remember Waxworks, Wizard of Akyrz, Golden Baton et al?). These
were planned, but never written for the Oric and I don't think they made
it onto any other formats either.
Harridges by Tansoft: Never released under that name or by that software
company. It became Trouble In Store by Orpheus.
Insect Insanity by Tansoft: Never released by Tansoft, this was the
follow up to Rat Splat. Fortunately the program survived and it was
released by Oric User Monthly's software label in the early nineties.
Q: What games take advantage of joystick
interfaces?
There were some programmable joystick interfaces which
claimed to work with any game. IJK produced an Interface which worked with
many of their games. PASE joystick controls were an option in a few games.
More details as you give me them. There is also the excellent
Shoot
Again! website which describes how to patch many games for use with
joystick.
Q: What programs are compatible with what
machine?
Microtan 65 software will only work on the Microtan 65.
Most early Oric 1 stuff required modification to work with the Atmos. Some
companies went bust before the Atmos was released or decided not to
convert their older or poorer programs. These programs are best used on an
Oric-1 to avoid crashes/weird affects. After the Atmos was released most
programs will run on either machine quite happily. A few later programs
are Atmos only. Telestrat software works only on the Telestrat, but the
Telestrat could be made to emulate an Oric 1 or Atmos using a plug in
cartridge, thus maintaining compatibility. More details as I get them.
Euphoric can be run as either an Oric 1, Atmos or Telestrat, so you
shouldn't have any problems there. Microtan 65 emulators are also
available.
Q: Are any new programs available?
Yes they are. Twilighte seemed to be the only person
producing high quality software in the 90's with such classics as Sonix
(music creator), Magnetix, Zip 'n' Zap, Zebulon and more. At the time of
writing (July 2002) he is working on an Oric version of "Times Of
Lore" by Origin. Several other programmers have since appeared
working either seperately or more recently they have been joining
together. Dbug's work has mainly concentrated on pushing the boundaries of
what is possible and he has introduced many new ideas to the Oric
community. He has produced some fantastic Oric demos. The latest Oric
demos have been amazing demonstrations of the what the machine can do and
these have been the collaborative work of several people, especially DBug,
Twilighte and Jede. Several other programmers have also been active, at
all levels of ability, with me at the bottom, who has only just worked out
how to plot a character ons creen using machine code.
At the time of writing, a new programmer has appeared from nowhere and is
working on a conversion of Xenon 1 by IJK for the PC! This 're-make' is a
new and interesting development in the Oric world, something that has been
popular with ZX Specrum games for quite a while.
Q: I'm interested in programming the Oric,
what programmers resources are available?
Your'e in luck, there is quite a bit! Between the
following sites, you should be able to get a fair idea of whats going on.
Oric World
- Useful utilities and documentation.
Swedish Oric Website
has an online copy of the Oric 1 manual.
Twilighte - Extensive hardware
guide and useful programming insights.
Geoff Phillips' Homepage -
A full transcription of his book, Advanced Graphics and Machine Code
Techniques.
Defence Force - Dbug is an
extremely capable programmer. He has quite a few programming tips here,
and some useful books to download.
There are plenty of other snippets out there too.
Q: Has anyone managed to do one screen of Damsel
In Distress, let alone finish the game, without cheating?
Well I haven't. Over to you Graeme Burton! I am writing
this in July 2002 and I STILL have not finished one screen!
Q: I've seen pictures of an excellent
Dungeon Master style game for the Oric, is it available?
That would be Dbugs
program. Sadly it isn't anywhere near finished and probably never will be.
But, if we bully him enough, who knows ;-).
Hardware (General)
Q: What are the different Oric models?
Including Tangerine's machine we have:
1. Tangerine Microtan 65
2. Oric 1 (the last batch had a coloured Oric logo on the case -red, blue
and green, earlier models were three tone grey).
3. Oric Atmos
3a. Oric Atmos (French model. The differences over the English model were
-
4. Oric Stratos (IQ164)
The Stratos never really made it, the company going into receivership the
day after its launch. The models that were displayed at this time are
believed to have been empty cases. If anyone has one, let me know.
5. Oric Telestrat
The Telestrat was what the French did with the Stratos - awesome.
Q: How Many Orics Were Made?
Quite a few. I have no idea of the exact number. They
were available from most high street chains in the UK (my first Oric 1 48K
was from Rumbelows in Birmingham). According to a press release from Oric
dated 19th October 1983 and published in Oric Computing Issue 1, Rumbelows
had ordered 10,000 Oric 1 48K's and Comet had ordered 5,000 Oric's and
1500 printers (MCP-40's). Although nowhere near as common as machinces
such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, they are not as rare as many
eBay sellers would have you believe!
Q: What clones exist?
A Yugoslavian company (believed to be Avtotehna, based in
Ljubljana) obtained a licence to make 5000 machines. Machines were made,
but whether they were under license or not is not known in any detail. It
is thought that they assembled parts shipped from the UK. I have a contact
in Yugoslavia who says there were several in his village and about 30 in a
school in the next village. This may suggest that more than 5000 were
made. They were known as the Oric Nova 64 and were Atmos based (exact
appearance and internal details unknown).
The specifications of the Yugoslavian machine are as follows (as reported by my contact from the Yugoslavian manual):
TECHNICAL DATA ABOUT MICROCOMPUTER "ORIC NOVA 64":
CPU: 6502A
ROM: 16 Kbit
RAM: 64 Kbit
Keyboard: Profesional QWERTY keyboard.
Maximum resolution: 200 x 240 pixels
Text resolution: 28 x 40 characters
Sound: 15Hz - 62 KHz (7 Octaves) 3 channels + 4 sound effects (ZAP, PING,
SHOOT, EXPLODE) via sound amplifier.
Colours: 8
BASIC: Microsoft BASIC V1.1
Dimensions : 280 x 175 x 52 mm
Weight: 1.1 KG
Connectors: Power, Expansion, Centronics Parallel printer port, Tape
(DIN), RGB, UHF.
Power supply:
IN 220V (+10;-15 %); 50 Hz.
OUT 7V DC
BRUM 50 mV IN 2.5 A
Dimensions: 310 x 125 x 75 mm
Weight: 1.25 kg
The supply unit had space and connectors for an optional floppy disc
controller connected via the expansion port. Disc drive specified was 3.5",
double sided with 400K capacity per side. There was a Yugoslav version of
the manual - "BASIC - ORIC NOVA 64"(Slovenian language edition)
written by Jure Spiler and published in 1985.
A Bulgarian machine called the Pravetz 8D is known to have existed,
and a few are owned by Oric owners. This was a copy of the Atmos 48K and
was produced between 1986 and 1989. It wasn't yellow as stated here
before, it was white! It has an integrated power supply and both a Western
European and Cyrillic alphabet - the upper case character set produces
Western European characters, which lower case gives Cyrillic letters. In
order to ease the use of the two alphabets, the Pravetz 8D is fitted with
a CAPS LOCK key.
Q: Are there any emulators for the Oric?
Yes, quite a few. Emulators exist for :
DOS, Windows, Linux and Macintosh (Euphoric).
Amiga (Amoric).
Atari ST (Atoric).
Acorn (ArcOric).
MESS has Oric drivers available.
There is also a joke emulator for the ST available, which simply puts up
the Oric starting screen.
For more on Oric emulators, visit
Welcome To Oric
World.
Q: Where can I get real Oric computers?
If you keep an eye on an online auction such as
Ebay, then you may be 'lucky' enough
to pick up some Oric hardware, software or books. Just be ready with your
chequebook though - I have seen an Oric1 sell for £100 and an Atmos
for £200. Thats for the basic machine, cables and a couple of games,
nothing more! Usually, they go for much less.
Steve Marshall may be able to
help as he keeps a few spares.
Q: What hardware peripherals were produced?
Lots. The following list is by no means complete:
Disc Drives and Interfaces
Cumana Disc Interface. One of the most popular interfaces and used
by many Oric users to this day. Consisted of a black box wih a large
on/off switch (and a handy reset button (no more turning the Oric upside
down and poking around with a pen)). The device also powered the Oric so
there was no need to find an extra power point at the wall and the Oric
could be turned on or off by using the switch on the Cumana unit - very
useful ( I blew up an Oric once while fumbling around trying to connect
the power lead into the back and finding the expansion port instead).
There are three sockets on the unit - one connected to a disc drive using
a Shugart type ribbon connector, one connected the unit to the Oric via
its expansion port. The third port is labelled "Expansion" and
is presumably an extension of the Oric's own port so that other devices
can be connected to the expansion port without having to unplug the Cumana
interface.
Oric Microdisc. The original Oric Micro Disc was first available
for the Atmos. The version you can see in old Oric 1 adverts was never
released. It contains its own interface in the drive, just plug in and go!
It takes 3" discs (as used on the Amstrad CPC 6128 and Spectrum +3)
with 160K per side capacity. Other slave drives could be daisy-chained to
it. The slaves were identical to the Master drives in appearance, but they
did not contain the interface circuitry.
Expansion Interfaces
RS232-C Interface. This device, from MCP, comes with Prestel
software and is designed to work with a Telemod modem.
300/300 Baud Serial Interface Module. Produced by Kenema
Associates/Oric User Group is designed to allow connection to Modems,
printers etc.
Joystick Interfaces (Visit
www.48katmos.freeuk.com for
more details on Joystick Interfaces)
D'Ktronics made one and I think they did the Oric one, (in Oric
colours) but see the Pennant interface also.
Downsway Programmable Joystick Interface. Downsway Electronics
produced this device. You could program it to produce the equivalent
effect of key presses, but I found it a bit flaky.
MCP (Modular Concepts Peripherals) produced a joystick inteface
that included a speech synthesizer as well as two Atari-type joystick
ports. The synthesizer had a fixed vocabulary of about 200 words. There
was also a separate joystick interface available for a much lower price.
PASE produced one of the first. This was an interface which
plugged into the Oric printer port. There were sockets for two Atari-type
joysticks.
Altai made a Pase compatible one which OUM sold quite a few of.
Plugs into the printer port and can support up to two Atari-style
joysticks.
Pennant produced a self centering micro-switch based joystick
(which looked like the analogue ones that were used on the Dragon) and
interface, which plugged into the printer port. The interface was
supported by software house IJK and later became....
.....Oric Joystick Interface. Made by Oric and supported by IJK
and Tansoft, this interface was basically the Pennant interface.
Protek Programmable Joystick Interface. This info on this device
from Steve Marshall: "You flick a switch and then press the key you
want to program and press the joystick up a lot of times and then repeat
for all other positions and then get bored and go and watch the telly."
A number of joystick interfaces were also produced in France.
Joysticks
There was also an Oric joystick in Atmos colours.
Loading Aids
Easi-Load. Produced by Rainbow Electronics. Connecting between
Oric and tape recorder, this device was said to improve loading and saving
performance.
Modems
Oric V23 Modem. This modem was designed mainly to allow access to
the Prestel system. Operated at 1200 baud half duplex or 1200/75 full
duplex.
Power Buffers
Nike AT is a device containing rechargeable nickel-cadmium
batteries. These are kept powered up by the mains supply and if the mains
goes off, will keep an Atmos powered for 30 minutes - hopefully enough
time to restore power or save your work. The device also offers some
protection against some mains borne interference.
Printers
Oric MCP-40. Oric produced their own 4 colour plotter which used 4
pens of different colours to write to a roll of 4.5 inch paper (use it to
draw designs on your bog-roll!). While adequate for program print-outs and
such like, it wasn't very useful for business or formal letters. Luckily,
the Centronics port allowed easy connection to most common printers of the
day. This device was available in Oric 1 or Oric Atmos colour schemes.
These printers were based on the Tandy/Radio Shack CGP-115 and pens and
paper for this device will fir the Oric printer.
Speech Synthesizers and Sound Devices
Programmable Voice Synthesizer. Produced by the
Oric User Group/Kenema Associates (from what I can tell these two
organisations appear to have been effectively one and the same).This
device connected to the Centronics printer port and used an allophone
system, allowing an unlimited vocabulary. Allophones are groups of letters
which the device can pronounce. Words are made up using these groups and
with a bit of experimentation, the device can be made to say virtually
anything. This device also worked with the Microtan 65 and was available
for several other micros (not specified in Oric adds). The manual was also
available in a foreign language edition (languages not specified).It could
be connected to a hifi system for better amplification. The price in
November 1983 was £29.95 plus £1 for postage and packing.
See the MCP Joystick Interface - this included a speech
synthesizer.
A number of voice synthesizers were produced by French companies using
the MEA 8000 processor. These are reported as having French accents, while
English produced synthesizers have English accents :-)
Consoles
Not sure how to classify this, but Express Computers Limited produced a
plastic unit to house your Oric 1 in. This helped hide away all the wires
and included a recess for a pad and pens, a cassette shelf and was able to
support a TV. Looked very neat in the advert! Cost was £29.95.
Q: What hardware and peripherals were in the
pipeline, but never released?
The Oric-1 colour-scheme microdisc drives seen in old
adverts were never available.
Peter Dickerson used to work for Oric and has some
interesting information on some projects that never made it:
"An Oric based on the 68008. The idea was to produce a 68K product
based on the Oric/Atmos gate-array. Unfortunately we
could not resolve the memory sync problems reliably - memory errors every
15 mins."
"Z80 system. Chris Shaw and I worked on a joint Oric/CPM system like
the Torch BBC/Tube system. He wrote the CPM side of the drivers while I
wrote the 6502 side."
"Chris Shaw and I also colaborated on the PC clone project. We both
spent about six weeks together in Colorado designing some gate arrays for
this system (at NCR in Fort Collins). The financial situation closed in
before we could run with it. The gate arrays were never used."
Maintainers note: Interesting news that, Oric may have become one of
the UKs PC manufacturers if only they had a little more time and money.
They may have even been still around today! Back to Peter:
"The Stratos project (not released, but formed the basis of the
French Telestrat) was pretty much complete when the Receiver was called
in. I don't recall too much about it other than we seemed quite pleased
with ourselves. I don't recall contributing much to this other than
testing and some bankswitch stuff. The new error correcting cassette
load/save code and some new graphics facilities were written by John
Dugrez-Lewis. I can bring a few other faces to mind but not their names.
Dave Hutchinson (?) designed the Stratos gate array with some input from
PJ (Maintainers note: PJ = Paul Johnson I presume)."
Q: I've got an Oric up and running, but the
picture is poor, help!
First, make sure your TV is tuned in as best you can to
UHF Channel 36. If the problem continues, have a look underneath your
Oric. You should see two holes, one round, one oval. There is a small
screw inside each one. You can turn these (only slightly!) with a
screwdriver to optimise the picture. Do not turn them more than half a
turn in either direction. Some of the UHF boxes inside Orics were of poor
quality and there is nothing you can do unless you replace them (a job for
those who know what they are doing). Unfortunately, faint lines down the
screen are commonplace. These are equally spaced across the display and
can be used to good effect in platform games as they give you points of
reference for jumping. The appearance of these lines can be reduced by
anti-wrinkle cream, er, no, sorry. You will need to twiddle the screws
underneath the Oric and the Brightness/Contrast settings of your TV.
Alternatively use a monitor and the RGB port or an emulator. For those of
us living in Britain, there is the added problem that Channel 5 uses
channels near channel 36 for its signal and you may therefore get
interference if you use an aerial splitter to connect your aerial and Oric
at the same time (also beware of portable TVs with their own aerials). I
have had no problems however.
Q: Where can I get my Oric fixed?
Steve Marshall
has some spares, including power supplies.
Q: How do I turn the sound down?
You can't. I used to put my Oric on a pillow for play
into the night. This should successfully muffle a lot of the sound.
There is another option.
Hardware (Technical)
Q: What power supply does the Oric need?
The input power needs to be 9V, 600 mA. Visit
Twilighte for
more information. Steve Marshall
usually has spare power supplies for sale.
Q: The computer won't boot properly.
There are a few things I am aware of that may prevent the
computer booting.
Q: What are the specifications for the Oric
machines?
|
|
Q: What is the extra 16K of RAM? What does it
do?
The Oric 1 and Atmos have 16K RAM more than they say they
do. This RAM is referred to as the "Overlay". In the memory map,
this RAM occupies the same addresses as the ROM (#C000 to #FFFF).
Obviously, the computer should only access one set of physical memory at a
time from these addresses, either the RAM or the ROM. Which memory in the
address range #C000 to #FFFF can be accessed is determined by the ROMDIS
status. On a cassette based Oric setup, the status is set so that the
computer is diverted to the ROM locations and the overlay RAM is hidden
and cannot be used.
IIf you look in Appendix 11 of the Oric Atmos manual, you will see that
pin 2 on the expansion port is labelled ROMDIS. This pin gives external
devices the ability the change the status of ROMDIS and the Oric Microdisc
takes advantage of this facility. When the Oric is booted with a microdisc
interface connected, the ROMDIS status is altered and the DOS is loaded
into the 16K overlay RAM. A small piece of code is also loaded into memory
(between #0400 and #04FF). This code determines whether to use ROM or
overlay RAM when address in the range #C000 to #FFFF are used. So when a
microdisc is fitted to the Oric, it really becomes a machine with 64K RAM
and 16K ROM. It is possible to use the overlay RAM for your own use by
overwriting the DOS. In fact, if you look at the VIP4 demo by the Defence
Force group, they wrote their own disc handling routines which occupied
only a few hundred bytes of memory, therefore leaving almost 64K for the
demo program.
Q: Where can I get information on the pinouts
of the various ports?
Twilighte
has the information you need. Look under 'Hardware'.
Q: How big can programs be?
It is possible to access almost 64K RAM by using the
Overlay RAM. There was talk, a year or two back, of work allowing the Oric
to access 4MB of memory, using paging techniques.
Don't forget that if you use a disc drive, the size of programs can be almost limitless ;-)
Projects
Q: What projects are currently in progress
for the Oric?
Fabrice Frances maintains a list of projects at
Oric World.
Q: How do I build a sound control for the
Oric?
You will need to get hold of Issue 40 of Oric User
Monthly, page 7, or CEO-MAG (I think its Issue 5 or 6?). Its quite easy to
build.
Steve Marshall has developed his own volume controller (internal), sound on/off switch and earphone socket. He can also fit these to your machine if you don't feel up to it. If this interests you, drop a line to Steve for more details, price, etc.
Epilogue
Acknowledgement of thanks:
Many people have helped with the information and in this
FAQ (sometimes unknowingly!):
From the Oric World:
Jonathan Haworth - who has uncovered more Oric history than I thought
possible. Much of the historical information in this FAQ can be traced
back to his efforts.
Jon Bristow (Twilighte), Fabrice Frances (Euphoric, FF, Mr Emulator - who
stands to make £10,000 if I ever win a million on the lottery - its
a shame I don't buy a ticket!), Simon Ullyatt (Chaos), Matt Coates
(Stato), Steve Marshall (Muso), Rob Cook, Mike Pointier (Dbug), "Mysterious
Yugoslav Contact", Jean Boileau (Mr Atmos, Mr Bostik (he, he!)),
Simon Guyart (Symoon) , Dave Dick (Thanks for all your service to the Oric
community over the years, Dave) ,Oguzhan Yilmaz (Peacer), Ivan Naidenov,
Robert Graham, Peter Reynolds, Will Datsun, Branislav Gavric and all
others I have forgotten to mention.
Special thanks to those responsible for the Oric and
its software:
Peter Dickerson & Ivan Mahon.
Geoff Phillips (Geffers).
Paul Kaufman
Bruce Everiss
From elsewhere:
Zube, for advice.
Bam for supplying food and cups of tea and Lothlin for not attacking me
while typing (surely the Worlds most psychotic cat?)
And anyone who I've forgotten.