[citation needed] Both Oric-1 versions have a 16 KB ROM containing the operating system and a modified BASIC interpreter.

Two graphics modes are handled by a semi-custom ASIC (HSC 10017 ULA) which also manages the interface between the processor and memory.

Like the Spectrum, the Oric-1 suffers from attribute clash–albeit to a much lesser degree in HIRES mode, since 2 different colours can be defined for each 6x1 block of 6 pixels, The system has a built-in television RF modulator as well as RGB output.

A short time after the release of the Atmos machine, a modification for the Oric-1 was issued and advertised in magazines and bulletin boards.

This modification enabled the Oric-1 user to add a second ROM (containing the Oric Atmos system) to a spare ROM-socket on the Oric-1 circuit board.

Earlier titles from publishers that no longer existed or had stopped producing software for the Oric were unlikely to be updated.

The Stratos and Telestrat increased the RAM to 64 KB and added more ports, but kept the same processor and graphics and sound hardware as the Oric-1 and Atmos.

The display adapter will drive a PAL UHF colour or black and white television receiver on approximately Channel 36.

Display features are: Available colours are black, blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow, and white.

The graphics mode consists of 200 pixels vertically by 240 pixels horizontally plus 3 lines of 40 characters (the same as character mode) at the bottom of the screen to display system information and to act as a window on the user program while still viewing the graphics display.

For BASIC programs, four keywords generate pre-made sounds: PING, SHOOT, EXPLODE, and ZAP.

Available basic commands are CLOAD, CSAVE (for programs and memory dumps), STORE, RECALL (for arrays of string, integer or real, added with Oric Atmos roms).

Options on the commands exist for slow speed, verification, autorunning of programs or specification of start and ending addresses for dumping memory.

Most contemporary computer printers could produce text output without requiring specific drivers, and often followed de facto standards for simple graphics.

More advanced use of the printer would have required a specific driver which, given the proliferation of different home computers and standards of the time, may or may not have been available.

The same mechanism was also used as the basis for similar low-cost plotters produced by various home computer manufacturers around that time.

These included the Atari 1020, the Commodore 1520, the Tandy/Radio Shack CGP-115,[8] the Texas Instruments HX-1000, the Mattel Aquarius 4615,[9] and probably also the Sharp MZ-1P16 (for MZ-800 series).

The biggest change on the hardware side is the larger white case that hosts a comfortable mechanical keyboard and an integrated power supply.

A Disk II compatible interface and a custom DOS, called DOS-8D, were created in 1987–88 by Borislav Zahariev.