The hardware page !

Reference documents

plus Data Sheets
The ULA as viewed by Michael Brown: (also in ascii format with figures in Xfig or Postscript format. And an history too)

Oric Schematics: Oric Motherboard, parts 1 and 2; Microdisc controller, parts 1 and 2

Telestrat's motherboard pictures: parts 1 and 2

The hardware page !

What's new ?

Picture gallery of Oric computers for the 3rd Millenium

DIY serial interface

Here is a serial interface that you can build yourself, it uses only 4 chips ! It is compatible with the microdisc controler, and it uses the $031C-031F address range like on the Telestrat. The diagram is here, and the connection list here.

A simple cable to catch the vertical retrace signal ! If you have developed games on the oric, you know that moving objects smoothly on screen is not easy because you don't have any way to synchronize with the CRT and so your objects are subject to flicker. Well, just build a two-headed cable from your existing RGB cable, with only one wire to solder from the SYNC pin of the RGB DIN plug to the TAPE IN pin of a new tape DIN plug, et voilà ! Then, every vertical retrace pulse will generate a corresponding interrupt thanks to the VIA (CB1 flag). New demos are going to show the benefits of this simple wire, and some people are patching old games to remove the flicker.

An interface to standard Apple2 disk controllers

Yes, thanks to George Dramcheff from Bulgaria, you have the opportunity to connect an Apple2 disk controller to your Oric. The interface is easy to built, just have a look at the schematics George sent me. If you are desperately looking for a disk controller, it might be easier to find one for the Apple2 and to build this interface. However, if you are looking for a genuine Oric disk controller, of course it's not the same thing. Here are the pros and cons of this interface :

pros: it allows you to read Apple2 disks, this is great if you have Apple2 disks and want to have a try at porting some software from the Apple2. The interface has few components, it might even be simplified/enhanced. Apple2 disk size is 5"1/4, that's easier to find than 3" disks.

cons: you can't read Oric or PC floppy disks with it (Apple2 disk controllers use GCR encoding, not MFM), and standard Apple2 drives are single-sided (a standard 5"1/4 Apple2 disk has a formatted capacity of 140 KB)