EMULATION
How to emulate an Oric 8-bit computer
Les Pounder puts a daffodil in his lapel and enters his surprisingly spacious blue police box to once again take us back to the 1980s…
OUR EXPERT
Les Pounder is associate editor at Tom’s Hardware and a freelance maker. He blogs about his hacks and maker projects at
bigl.es.
QUICK TIP
Having trouble finding the “ key on the Oric? We did this key is mapped to the # key on a UK keyboard. US keyboard layouts have the key in the “correct” place.
T he 1980s home computer scene was such an important time in our (GenX) lives. Intel was yet to make its mark in the UK, and we still favoured Commodore, Sinclair and Amstrad machines.
In 1982 the Cambridgeshire-based Tangerine Computer Systems released its Oric-1. This was a 1MHz MOS Technology 6502 CPU powered 8-bit computer that came with either 16 or 48KB of RAM. It was designed and priced to compete with Sinclair’s Spectrum.
The Oric-1 and the ZX Spectrum shared one design trait: an awkward keyboard. Where the ZX Spectrum used “dead flesh” rubber keys, the Oric-1 used small, thin plastic keys that were a typist’s nightmare. This issue was later fixed in 1983 with the introduction of the Oric Atmos, essentially an Oric-1 with a better keyboard and improved BASIC ROM. It also saw the release of a number of peripherals; a printer, disk drive and modem were initially promised for the Oric-1. The Atmos has the better keyboard, but the Oric-1 has a charming design aesthetic.
With the ever-rising cost of retro hardware, emulation has become the most popular means to relive the past. For the past 18 month we at Linux Format have covered the most popular machines, and a few of those niche machines that “your cousin or mate at school” had and no-one knew about. The 1980s saw so many machines that you would be forgiven for missing out on some hidden gems, and the Oric machines are just that. We took an Oric-1 for a spin via an emulator and enjoyed our time learning about the rich range of games and a competent BASIC coding experience.
Emulating an Oric
To emulate an Oric-1 and Oric Atmos we need to use Clock Signal by Thomas Harte (https://github.com/TomHarte/CLK). Clock Signal is an impressive emulator that does away with complex configuration. Instead it uses drag and drop to load ROMs and images.
Clock Signal can emulate the Oric-1 and Oric Atmos, but you’ll also notice that it can emulate quite a number of other machines: the Apple II, Amstrad CPC, ZX80/81 and even an Atari ST.