Martin Hansen wrote a review of the ‘Advantage Six’ (first, second part), a PC solely created to run RISC OS and other StrongARM software in emulation. Martin is discussing the differences between using reference Risc PC, the Iyonix XScale machine and the emulator‘s hardware, and also benchmarks them.
The A6 Vs the Real RISC OS Thing
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Eugenia Loli
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“Designed from the ground up to use VirtualRPC-SE technology”
hmm.. like saying Designed from the ground up to run Excel.
since its just an emulator, I dont see why anyone would want to pay from 600-1000 pounds for an athlon 2500 machine with vrpc-se included.
the Iyonix sounds a lot neater tho, desktop arm..
a lot of money for a lot of nothing.
Isn’t getting away from x86 the major reason for getting a RISC-PC in the first place? (for me it was one major reason for buying an iBook
)
Software (RISCOS, Aqua, XP) can be programmed on any machine, so that’s no reason (though most software is only available on specific platforms, there could be open-source initiatives to clone and port them).
any1 know where one can download a full version of this VirtualRPC ?
from the website that sells it as a fully licensed product with RISC ROM’s etc for 170 GBP.
http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk/products/vrpcse.htm
And yes, I bet those of you outside the RISC OS scene were thinking, “170 quid per user? Is this a big iron, enterprise class operating system or have we just been sent back to the late 1980s?”
is there a cheaper mac version? lol
Who uses RISC OS anyway?
“Who uses RISC OS anyway?”
Apparently, it’s still in use in some TV studios. But the days of it being a mainstream OS are pretty much over now.
The people I know who use RISC OS really value performance and a slick UI — it’s coded mainly in assembler, and has to be seen to be believed. I picked up an old A7000 box a few months back, and it’s amazing to boot up.
Anti-aliasing, soft marble widgets, very consistent interface layout and clever use of the three mouse buttons, and more. Plus, even on that 30 MHz-ish box, it’s much, much faster than Windows, MacOS or even a really light Linux WM. Astonishing.
Of course, you have a more limited software and hardware range. There are Web browsers, IM clients, office tools, MP3 players and all the usual stuff, but as it’s quite an esoteric OS, it’s hard to port apps. There’s a UNIX compatibility layer in the works; how well it’ll work remains to be seen though.
If you can, give RISC OS a try. You probably won’t want to switch to it full-time, but it’s fascinating. Oh, and it’s where the taskbar started. RISC OS had a little grey bar on the bottom of the screen, showing running apps, a clock and a menu, long before Microsoft did. Whenever anyone tells you that the taskbar was a Microsoft innovation, point them at a RISC OS screenshot 🙂
It’s funny how you’re saying the A7000 was so fast. The CPU in the A7000 is only as fast as a DX2-66. StrongARM RiscPCs go up to 300MHz.
I think this is a testament to just how bloated Windows and Linux are. It is insane that Linux/KDE take longer to boot up on my Athlon Thunderbird than Win3.1 does on my old 486.
I wonder how the Iyonix performs with a 600MHz XScale
i want virtualrpc, but i sure don’t want to pay upfront for it & definitely not 150+UKP! Ridiculous! I’ve got redsquirrel & i’d like it to be faster but I’d rather spend 150+quid on a new CPU for my PC than on what is basically a whimsical upgrade. If a shareware vs exisited & i was impressed by it, i’d donate…. *types virtualrpc into klite* hehe…
Andrew, why is 150UKP “ridiculous” for a commercial emulator, complete with technical support, networking, a raft of other featues and a fully licensed version of RISC OS? And, of course, it’s much, much faster than Red Squirrel.
Having seen VirtualRPC on a friend’s computer, I have to conclude, as have many others, that it is indeed a very impressive, highly-polished package. It feels as smooth as my StrongARM RiscPC.
The fact that you think it a “whimsical upgrade” indicates that you don’t use RISC OS for any proper work, so I doubt anyone will take your evalutation of its value seriously.