Raspberry Pi hits usenet

May 192013
 

Violent streak makes up for its small size.

Along with the usual comp.sys.acorn.* usenet groups read by many RISC OS users, another group that might be worth a look is a new group set up to focus on the credit card-sized Raspberry Pi.

comp.sys.raspberry-pi went live on 2nd April, and is likely to carry more posts from users of operating systems such as Raspbian rather than RISC OS, though our favourite system has cropped up a small number of times in the month or so since the group was created. Continue reading »

MCPIO module released, Basalt updated

Dec 162012
 

This is not the droid you’re looking for. Because it’s not a droid – it’s a module.

Steve Drain has released version 0.20 of MCPIO, a small, specialised module to control the MCP23017 IIC expander ports on the Raspberry Pi, along with an updated version of Basalt with a new MCPIO keyword. Continue reading »

What a show – London 2012

Nov 232012
 

Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

First of all, I must apologise for the very long delay in producing this show report and keeping up with RISC OS news in general. The reason for this has been a combination of the usual workload (with the period after this show normally being one of my busy ones) with some health issues thrown in for good measure, including a short but unexpected – and very unwelcome – stay in hospital.

The most recent significant event in the RISC OS Calendar took place on October 27th, at the St Giles Hotel in Feltham, near Heathrow – the London Show, 2012 – and with new RISC OS computers, the official launch of RISC OS for the Raspberry Pi, and a visit from Eben and Liz Upton from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, that day can be summed up in one simple word: Wow!

Continue reading »

RaspberryJams

Aug 192012
 

A better late than never introduction for the RISC OS world to the #RaspberryJam

RISC OS users should by now need no introduction to the Raspberry Pi – but in case there is anyone reading this who has been living as a hermit for the last few years with no access to the internet (or any other news sources) in their cave, it is a very small, incredibly cheap computer based around a Broadcom BCM2835 ‘System on a Chip’ (or SoC). The heart of that SoC is an ARM processor, running at 700Mhz.

The idea behind the computer is to get children programming, to get them interested in computers and understand them – something which had been in an observable decline, with fewer and fewer students with less relevant skills applying to read Computer Science at University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory in recent years. Continue reading »

Raspberry Pi launch causes indigestion

Feb 292012
 
The Raspberry Pi at the RISC OS London Show in October 2011

The launch of the Raspberry Pi this morning was either a resounding success, or it was an abysmal failure, depending on your point of view – and for the network staff of two companies, it must have been a nightmare.

As expected, the first batches of the Model B device went on sale at 6am GMT, with an order restriction of one per customer. Licenced manufacturing deals were set up with Premier Farnell (see footnote) and RS Components, so that the two companies could deal with the distribution of the first batches of the Model B to arrive in the country, and after that they’ll be manufacturing and distributing the boards on behalf of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which means the device can be manufactured in large volumes much more quickly than the Foundation itself could manage. Farnell and RS Components, who both have worldwide distribution networks, will be manufacturing to meet demand. Continue reading »

The early bird catches the Raspberry Pi

Feb 272012
 

According to the latest post on the Raspberry Pi website, “The Raspberry Pi Foundation will be making a big (and very positive) announcement that just might interest you at 0600h GMT on Wednesday 29 February 2012.”

This is expected to be the first batch of the tiny computer going on sale; Eben Upton posted a status update on Saturday morning saying that they had “been assured this morning that a first batch of boards will ship to us either today or first thing Monday” – adding that “if you don’t own an alarm clock, this weekend might be a good time to do some shopping.”

Do bear in mind, of course, that while the RISC OS port is underway, it is still not complete – there remains work to be done. However, over on the RISC OS Open forum, Theo Markettos suggests that it might be helpful if a few people try to purchase one, either to help with development themselves or to lend to other developers working on RISC OS.

The South West Show is dead – long live The South West Show

Feb 262012
 

This year’s RISC OS South West Show almost didn’t happen. Paul Middleton of RISCOS Ltd, the show’s organiser for the last few years, revealed recently that he normally waits for the Webbington Hotel, the show’s usual venue, to reduce the prices of the rooms in which the show can be held – and it seems even more recently (early January, according to Archive 23:4, p4), Paul said that he wouldn’t be organising another show. Richard Brown of Orpheus Internet soon stepped up, with Andrew Rawnsley and R-Comp joining him to make sure we still had a show in the South West.

Considering that neither had any experience of actually organising a show, and that they only had a very short time in which to do it in order to ensure the show took place at its normal time of year, they should both be applauded for their efforts: Both visitors and exhibitors alike seem to have found the show an enjoyable and successful one.

Including me! Continue reading »

First Raspberry Pis to go under the hammer

Dec 312011
 

I mentioned in my report of the London Show, earlier this year, that the Raspberry Pi was expected to go on sale by the end of this year, and that a limited number would be auctioned on eBay at around the same time. Unfortunately, the first of these two events has had to be postponed, but the auctions are going ahead, starting tonight.

Two of the ten numbered beta Raspberry Pis will be put on eBay each day, starting with numbers #10 and #09 tonight from around 10pm (GMT), continuing as a countdown until numbers #02 and #01 appear on the site, which should therefore be the 4th January. Continue reading »

Date spotted in the wild for London 2012

Nov 282011
 

Although there has been no announcement yet of a London Show for 2012 – which is hardly surprising since only a month has passed since the 2011 show, at which we saw the Raspberry Pi running RISC OS, amongst many other things – it appears that ROUGOL (the RISC OS User Group of London, who normally organise the London Show) may have already made the decision to go ahead with a 2012 show.

They’ve posted the date of the 2012 show on their website: Saturday, 27th October, 2012.

piLEARN: Reuniting education and RISC OS

Nov 232011
 

Martin Hansen of The MathMagical Software Company has unveiled a new website, called piLEARN. The main thinking behind the site is for it to be a starting point for those people who wish to try out RISC OS on the ARM based Raspberry Pi computer, due to be launched in the next few weeks. He also hopes to have additional material and resources available from the site, with education being an obvious focus since the Raspberry Pi has been intended from the the outset to as a device on which kids can learn to program and Martin, as well as being a programmer himself, has taught mathematics for over twenty years – not to mention the obvious historical connection between RISC OS and education. Continue reading »

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