Acorn Serial Numbers
Acorn Serial Numbers
I started recording Acorn serial numbers here, from my own collection and from information people had sent in. The idea was to build up a detailed list of all the different Acorn serial numbers, in order to try to draw some conclusions from the product code and serial number. I haven't really got very far with it, but below are some tables of what I have managed to work out so far.
8-bit Computers
| Serial Number | Description | Notes |
| nn-ANA01 | Tape-only BBC Model A | I previously thought the "04" etc. at the beginning related to the serial number. I am not so sure now (see later). |
| nn-ANA02 | BBC Model A Econet | This is confirmed by the Econet System User Guide on page 2. |
| nn-ANA03 | BBC Model A with 8271 DFS? | I am not sure if the Model A came out of the factory with a disc upgrade. I would doubt it as it would require the addition of the disc drive connector and all the sockets for the disc interface chips which would not normally be present on the Model A. |
| nn-ANA04 | BBC Model A with disc & Econet | Again, I'm not sure if a BBC Model A as expanded as this was ever issued straight from the factory. Possibly ANA03 and ANA04 never existed. |
| nn-ANB01 | Tape only BBC Model B | - |
| nn-ANB02 | BBC Model B with Econet | This is confirmed on p.2 of the Econet System User Guide |
| nn-ANB03 | BBC Model B with 8271 DFS | - |
| nn-ANB04 | BBC Model B with disc and Econet | - |
| 03-ANB01 | BBC Model B | This is the serial number from my Issue 2 BBC Model B with disc & Econet. However, the disc and Econet upgrades have been added later, so this would have started out as a tape only machine, hence the ANB01. I did think it was an A-to-B upgrade previously but maybe I am wrong. Decide for yourself here. |
| 02-UNB09 | BBC Model B | - |
| 02-ALA01 | Acorn Electron | - |
| 06-ALA01 | Acorn Electron | - |
| 07-ALA01 | Acorn Electron | - |
| 07-GLA01 | German Acorn Electron | - |
| nn-ANB51 | BBC Model B+ tape only? | - |
| nn-ANB52 | BBC Model B+ with DFS? | What concerns me here is that there were two DFS options on the BBC B+. Perhaps the only factory ones were the 1770 version. Otherwise you might have expected an ANB55 to take account of both disc options. |
| nn-ANB53 | BBC Model B+ with Econet? (but see below) | - |
| nn-ANB54 | BBC Model B+ with disc & Econet? | - |
| 01-ANB53 | BBC Model B+ 64K | - |
| 01-ANB55 | BBC Model B+ 128K | - |
| AB Electronic Systems Ltd | BBC Model B | This is from one of my Model Bs and is followed by a seven-digit number. In the early days, Beebs were made by a number of different manufacturers so perhaps this is one from that era. |
| 1006036 | US BBC Model B | This is from an American Model B and does not seem to conform to the normal Acorn serial number system. |
| 02-B01 | US BBC Model B | A possible variant on the US serial number? |
| 01-AMB15 | BBC Master 128 | This appears to be the standard number for the Master 128. It also seems to apply to the Master Turbo and Master 512. |
| 01-ADB12 | BBC Master ET | The Econet Terminal looks like it is the only variant in the Master Series with its own serial number. |
| 01-AVC12 | BBC AIV System | - |
| 25-ADD04 | BBC Master Compact | This is from my Master Compact drive unit with 1 floppy drive. |
| 27-ADB10 | BBC Master Compact | This is from my Master Compact keyboard unit |
| 07-ADB10 | BBC Master Compact | Keyboard unit |
8-bit Accessories
| Serial Number | Description | Notes |
| 03-ANC01 | 6502 Second Processor | I had thought that the initial two numbers were, in the case of a Beeb, the issue number of the motherboard inside the machine, and in the case of other things, the BBC motherboard number in production at the time of manufacture. My issue 2 Model B puts the damper on this theory though. |
| 25-ANC01 | 6502 Second Processor | This doesn't help either! |
| 04-ANC04 | Z80 Second Processor | - |
| 23-ANC06 | Acorn Cambridge 2nd Processor | - |
| 01-ANE01 | Teletext Adapter | - |
| 12-ANE02 | Prestel Adapter | - |
| 842600793 | IEEE488 Adapter | Cheese Wedge version |
| 863801479 | IEEE488 Adapter | I suspect the first four digits with the IEEE488 adapter are the date code and then the number of units produced to date. |
| ANF03 | BBC Cassette Recorder | - |
| AND01 | BBC 100K single disc drive | I saw this on E-Bay |
| 03-ANV-02 | Music 500 | - |
| AMC06 | 65C102 co-processor | This was from a leaflet from 1986 but I am not sure it is accurate (see below) |
| 01-ADC06 | 65C102 Co-processor | - |
| AMC03 | 32016 co-processor | Was this ever produced??? |
| ADF13 | Master ROM Cartridge | - |
| ADF14 | Master ROM Cartridge | - |
| 25-ADC08 | 80186 co-processor Board | Even though the Master 512 has an AMB15 number, the 512 board itself has its own separate serial number. |
| 23-ADC08 | 80186 co-processor Board | - |
Econet
| Serial Number | Description | Notes |
| 04-AEH15 | Level 1 Terminator | - |
| 04-AEH14 | Level 1 Clock | - |
| AEH05 | Terminator (level 1?) | Econet System User Guide p.65 |
| AEH04 | Clock (level 1?) | Econet System User Guide p.65 |
| AEH08 | Power Supply | Econet System User Guide p.65 |
| AEX03 | Econet Cable | Econet System User Guide p.65 |
| AEX01 | 1 Econet Lead + 1 T-piece | Econet System User Guide p.65 |
| AEH17 | 100m Econet Cable | Econet Design & Installation Guide p.22 |
| 04-AES20 | Level 1 file server 40T disc | - |
| 25-ADF10 | Early Econet Module | This is the one without collision detect, describing itself as "B Econet" on the board. |
| 01-ADF10 | Later Econet Module | The Iss 1 or Iss 2 Econet Module (they are both the same) with the collision detect circuitry. |
| 92-AEH52 | A3020/A4000 Econet Kit | This is the serial number relating to the actual full upgrade kit for the A3020 and A4000. It includes instructions and a lead as well as the 32-bit module itself, which has a separate serial number. |
| EM-223 | 32-bit Econet module | - |
| EM-043 | 32-bit Econet module | - |
| 25-ALA66 | Acorn A4 Econet Module | - |
| 01-AEH26 | FileStore E01 | - |
| 01-AEH35 | FileStore E01S | This is from my own FileStore E01S |
| 01-AFH27 | FileStore E20 | - |
| 24-AEH25 | Econet X25 Gateway | - |
32-bit Computers
| Serial Number | Description | Notes |
| 27-AKB15 | Archimedes 310 | - |
| 27-AKB40 | Archimedes 410 | - |
| 01-AKB01 | Acorn A3000 | This is from my own A3000 which has RISC-OS 2.00 |
| 25-AGB12 | Acorn A3010 | - |
| 93-AGB22 | Acorn A3020 | It looks like the first two digits had become the year by this point. |
| 01-AGC10 | Acorn A4000 | - |
| 25-ALB12 | Acorn A5000 | - |
| 92-AKB64 | Acorn A4 | - |
| 80-AMC50 | Acorn A7000+ | - |
| 72-ACB71 | RiscPC700 | - |
Since my theory that the first two digits of the serial number (at least before the year code took over) related to the BBC issue number appears to have been comprehensively shot to pieces by the above, I wonder now if it is a factory or manufacturer code. Maybe "01" was the main Acorn operation in Cambridge (if there was one) and other numbers were allocated to different factories and companies. We all know that the BBC micro was originally manufactured by two or three different companies around the country (see Beebug Vol. 1) which would explain why we do not find "01" at the beginning of BBC Model B serial numbers.
If you can help piece together this puzzling mystery, please e-mail me!