RISC OS Archive

Castle have issued a new RISC OS 5 ROM for brave Iyonix users to beta test. Version 5.10 is mainly a bug fixing exercise, and coincides with a USB mass storage update that also corrects a few glitches. "It is intended that these updates will go in general circulation in a few days time, unless anything hugely untoward crops up. We have been running these for a while now," said Castle's John Ballance. This update also includes the updated GeForce 2 driver, bringing 3D acceleration to RISC OS.

AdvantageSix are expanding their A9home user base by inviting "experienced" users to apply for a development machine. Previously, only RISC OS software programmers could sign up and pay for the ARM9 powered computer, which is still in a beta stage of development. The machine runs RISC OS Adjust 4.40, a strand of RISC OS developed especially for the new machine.

Simon Wilson has released the first public version of his 3D graphics driver for Iyonix users. The software library, ported from BeOS and compatible with the popular OpenGL interface, employs the Nvidia PCI graphics card used in the XScale powered Iyonix. OpenGL based applications built with Simon's port should enjoy hardware accelerated graphics, thanks to the modest GeForece 2 MX card which, until now, has been left unutilised under RISC OS.

The idea of porting RISC OS to x86 comes up regularly, and although it sounds like a good idea, it's not. This article discusses the problems, and why in reality, it's simply not a good use of resources.

Hardware accelerated 3D graphics on RISC OS took a step closer to reality, thanks to Simon Wilson. He claims to have ported Mesa 3.2, a 3D graphics library that sports an OpenGL software interface. More importantly, he says he has also ported an Nvidia graphics accelerator from BeOS to harness the GeForce2 video card in the Iyonix to plot graphics fast in hardware.

RISC OS users have crowed for years about the intuitiveness of their operating system's GUI. But that vaunted usability is of little utility in this modern world without a modern web browser to go with it. So you'll understand the importance of the RISC OS Firefox port released today.

Castle logoCastle have provided a beta ROM image of RISC OS 5.09 for Iyonix users, prior to an official post-Wakefield roll out of the new version. The beta release includes "updated USB" support.

Memory ProtectionOne common complaint or feature request for RISC OS improvement is to add "memory protection". This is largely a result of the relative ease of which single programs can take out the entire operating system, combined with a misunderstanding of what precisely memory protection is. In this article, Peter Naulls will try and cover some of the issues around memory protection, and why RISC OS is often so susceptible to breakage and some of the measures which can be taken to improve the situation.

There are two main strands of RISC OS. Version 5 and Select. Many consider the latter to be the most feature rich version, and therefore preferable for desktop use. Interestingly, the Iyonix, currently the platform's fastest machine, uses RISC OS 5. Drobe looks at the exciting prospect of a new RISC OS Select machine.

A German RISC OS dealer managed to get some local TV coverage. It's not often you'll see mainstream TV coverage of any alternative operating system.

Porting large numbers of programs to RISC OS introduces many new problems - most notably, how to keep them all up to date. In this drobe.co.uk article I discuss the development of an autobuilder for RISC OS ports, and encourage people to contribute to it.

Amidst uncertainty over Select support for the Iyonix, RISCOS Ltd. have today announced a brief list of features intended for RISC OS Select 4.

drobe.co.uk editor Chris Williams has been out in the field to investigate the continuing role of RISC OS machines in education. Once upon a time, Acorn, with their BBCs and later RISC OS machines were very significant in British education. Today, that role is much reduced, but they hang on in certain niches. Read about Chris' findings in his article.

Castle have announced a promotional offer which will bring the cost of a RISC OS 5 computer below the £1000 UK mark for the first time ever. This will no doubt allow many more eager users to upgrade to the 32bit version of the operating system running on brand new, fast hardware.