http://www.osnews.com/story/16563/RISC_OS_6_Select_4_Preview_Released Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:11:57 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?185369 http://osnews.com/thread?185369 There must be some fanbase behind this system. First firefox and flash now a new OS release, too bad I can't locate one for sale in the US without Ebay. Go RiscOS Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jholt538) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185378 http://osnews.com/thread?185378 What's the deal with RISC OS anyway? I know it's a CPU architecture, but this is an OS for what, exactly?

Is this like an Amiga thing where hardcore fans, with way too much time, are trying to keep antiquated equipment alive? Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185382 http://osnews.com/thread?185382 OSNews had a good article about this a while ago:

http://www.osnews.com/story.php/15798/The-Slightly-Strange-World-of...

In short: there's certainly an element of it being hardcore fans with too much time, but that's probably not the whole story.

You can always try for yourself: there are lots of emulators (some free) and if you're a Linux user, ROX is supposed to replicate many of the "unique" features of the OS (though I've not tried it myself). Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (flypig) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185386 http://osnews.com/thread?185386 Isn't a strong but small following a good thing? You don't hear RISCOS users bitching off at users of other operating systems. They've managed to keep a market afloat enough to allow for new OS releases and new hardware. Personally, I think that's fantastic. I'd much rather humble RISC OS hardcore fans around than linux/apple/microsoft hardcore fans an their trolling. Sat, 25 Nov 2006 21:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185401 http://osnews.com/thread?185401 Personally, I think that's fantastic. I'd much rather humble RISC OS hardcore fans around than linux/apple/microsoft hardcore fans an their trolling.

It's not quite so simple as that. Not that I question the humbleness of RISC OS users, but it's kind of hard to get involved in flame wars, and cult of personality (like Mac fans with Jobs)crap when Firefox just recently got ported to your platform.

IMHO, there are really 2 things that determine the amount of fanboys of a particular platform.

1. Size of the userbase. You need whackos to blindly follow corporate myths and ignore platform drawbacks. Thankfully, on average are rare, so you need a large userbase.

2. Profile of the userbase, you need people who will pimp your platform, people who need to promote the idea of feeling special/different for making a certain choice. A userbase that is concerned with usability/performance/having the right tool for the job or even nostalgic computing don't really qualify. Sat, 25 Nov 2006 22:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Wintermute) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185431 http://osnews.com/thread?185431 Is this like an Amiga thing where hardcore fans, with way too much time, are trying to keep antiquated equipment alive?

Not quite. The three main reasons that users stick with RISC OS are:

Strength of GUI The intuitive WIMP implementation, including window order control, dynamic window focus and near OS-wide drag and drop. Put simply, it is very easy to use and is arguably more productive than other desktop GUIs.

Software Although the amount of available software is pretty dire, there is still enough software available to allow users to use RISC OS for some actual work. Sibelius (undeveloped, but still available) is the big name, while Techwriter (word processor), OvationPro (DTP) and ArtWorks (vector drawing) keep many users on the platform.

ROM-basis OK, it's very 1980s, but having your OS on 6MB of (Flash) ROM means it's corruption proof and you can boot from cold in less than 5 seconds.

And don't forget there are two (kinda) modern RISC OS machines, including one which was only released this year.

For example I'm a die hard fan, but I certainly don't have too much time (if any spare!). Often RISC OS saves me time. But what is needed now is more developers and more software. And a bit of marketing. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 06:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (timephoenix) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185441 http://osnews.com/thread?185441 It might be a bit hard getting your hands on RISC OS hardware, but you might want to buy Virtual RiscPC, it's quite cheap compared to the native stuff and it'll run on a Windows PC.

CJE Micro's, a RISC OS dealer will ship hardware over to the US, although it might be a bit pricey.

http://www.cjemicros.co.uk
http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cheatwarrior) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185444 http://osnews.com/thread?185444 Or he could just buy a nice new Iyonix.

http://www.iyonix.com

You don't want to go down the emulated route, it is a dead end in my opinion. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (RISCOSMike) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185447 http://osnews.com/thread?185447 Yeah, but some people might not have £799+ to spend and it'll cost a fortune for the Iyonix to be shipped over to the US. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 12:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cheatwarrior) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185450 http://osnews.com/thread?185450 Phloptical wrote:

Is this like an Amiga thing where hardcore fans, with way too much time, are trying to keep antiquated equipment alive?

How much time is "way too much"? Or is this just a derogatory comment on users of non-mainstream systems? Sun, 26 Nov 2006 13:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mypinkshrimp) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185451 http://osnews.com/thread?185451 If there's an emulator for it, sure...why not, I'd give it a go. Of course it sounds like I wouldn't be able to get a hold of the latest version out.

No big deal. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185452 http://osnews.com/thread?185452 If you buy Virtual RiscPC-Adjust and subscribe to the RISC OS Select scheme (which is a bit pricey)then you will be able to run the latest version of RISC OS (RISC OS 6) on an emulator. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cheatwarrior) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185453 http://osnews.com/thread?185453 Exactly who's bitching? I'm asking what this is all about. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185456 http://osnews.com/thread?185456 Don't get me wrong, I like to tinker too. My first PC was a Coleco-Vision Adam. I enjoyed it 20 years ago, but I wouldn't want to try to get USB working on it today, for example. Even if I did, at the end of the day, I've still got useless 20 year old technology that can now partially recognize a flash drive.

Is it simply about bragging rights? Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185472 http://osnews.com/thread?185472 According to the RISC OS Six site it is not being developed for VRPC. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 15:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (RISCOSMike) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185477 http://osnews.com/thread?185477 Link:

http://rox.sourceforge.net

http://arcem.sourceforge.net Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Tom5) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185479 http://osnews.com/thread?185479 The current RISC OS 6 preview will work on Virtual RPC-Adjust machines but not VRPC-SE. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cheatwarrior) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185481 http://osnews.com/thread?185481 huh? People have used Risc OS for years and love it. Why leave it for something they deem to not be as good? Risc OS supports USB among other things, I knew one guy that used a nicely beefed up Risc PC 700 (scsi, new video hardware, overclocked strongarm cpu etc) and he absolutely loved it. And it was remarkably fast too.

Ever stop to think its just WHAT THEY LIKE? 'bragging rights' or whatever have absolutely NOTHING to do with it.

What OS/hardware do you use? Why do you use it? Stop and think before posting. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 16:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (helf) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185487 http://osnews.com/thread?185487 I was replying to the post about extending hardware like the Amiga system. If you want to use LOGO as a platform, that's your business.

Try reading the thread before you post. Sun, 26 Nov 2006 17:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Phloptical) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?185511 http://osnews.com/thread?185511 oh, touché.

My point still stands though. If you like it, and its usuable for you, why not extend its abilities? Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (helf) Comments