Ийоникс: Клон Acorn на базе процессора Intel XScale

Acorn clone personal computer

The Iyonix PC was an Acorn clone personal computer sold by Castle Technology and Iyonix Ltd between 2002 and 2008. According to news site Slashdot, it was the first personal computer to use Intel's XScale processor. It ran .

The Iyonix originated as a secret project by Pace engineers in connection with development of set top boxes (STBs), and has been noted as a successor to the RiscPC. Pace had a licence to develop RISCOS Ltd's OS sources for use in the STB market. The Iyonix was developed under the code name Tungsten and uses , which is a version of RISC OS that supports ARM CPUs with 32 bit addressing modes. The sources and hardware design were subsequently acquired by Castle, who developed them into the final product. Castle continued to keep the project a secret, requiring developers to sign a non disclosure agreement. Information was distributed to such developers via a confidential section of the website. Customers were occasionally able to buy the computer as a bare bones system for self assembly. After speculation on the usenet newsgroups, a website for the hardware was spotted in mid October 2002. Units first went on sale in December 2002. Prices started from £1249. Castle ceased production of the Iyonix after the July 2006 introduction in the UK of the RoHS Regulations. The design was not compliant and Castle did not redesign the Iyonix. Sales continued for another two years via a newly established company, Iyonix Ltd, which enabled Castle itself to circumvent the regulations.