With the BeagleBoard forming the heart of R-Comp Interactive‘s ARMini computer, it’s easy to see that some of R-Comp’s developments and releases for their computer might be relevant to those people who have put together their own RISC OS computers using the board. Well, now those “DIY” users have a way to access those developments: R-Comp have announced an annual subscription based scheme whereby users of home built RISC OS computers based around a BeagleBoard can receive the software* and support enjoyed by ARMini owners. Continue reading »
Sep 102011
QuadDioph is a new piece of software from Martin Carradus. It’s an application that solves or finds “solution of certain Quadratic Diophantine Equations, of the form x^2 + B.x.y + A.y^2 = z^p, (e.g. x^2 + y^2 = z^2, two squares adding to a square, or x^2 + y^2 = z^3, two squares adding to a cube).” The application is free to download from Martin’s website.
Martin Wuerthner has announced that an ARMv7 compatible version of InterGif. Version 6.18 can be used on the BeagleBoard, ARMini, etc. InterGif is an application for converting graphics from RISC OS Sprite and Draw formats to GIF format with optimised palettes, allowing them to be viewed on other platforms, and used on websites. Originally written by Peter Harley and now maintained by Martin Wuerthner, the software also allows GIF animations to be created from a series of Sprites, and can also convert from GIF to Sprite format.
Jul 242011
Back in May, on the RISC OS Open forum, Rik Griffin identified a possible new target for a RISC OS port, from The Raspberry Pi Foundation, “a UK registered charity (Registration Number 1129409) which exists to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing.”
The foundation is developing a very small computer, about the size of a USB stick, with an intended price tag of £10 to £15. David Braben – a name anyone familiar with the Acorn and RISC OS worlds should recognise – took a prototype along to the BBC in May to talk about it and the motivation behind The Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Jul 202011
As sold by R-Comp, the ARMini comes shipped in much the same way any other computer running RISC OS has done – you connect it up, switch on, and moments later you are presented with the familiar RISC OS desktop. For many users, this is what they want – that’s why they’ve bought the ARMini, an out of the box solution, rather than the more DIY approach of a Beagleboard-xm and the necessary bits and pieces to get it up and running. That doesn’t mean users have to stick with just RISC OS, though – ARM Linux has been an alternative for some time for other RISC OS (and ARM based) computers, and R-Comp have themselves opted to put together a suitable Linux distribution (based on Lubuntu – a lightweight variant of Ubuntu) for the ARMini (and Beagleboard-xm).
Jun 212011
David Higton reported on the RISC OS Open forums that at the Southamton Acorn Users Group meeting on 14th June, to which he took his BeagleBoard for the purposes of this, he “demonstrated copying the files from a bootable SD card to an empty (formatted) SD card and booting from the latter.” Continue reading »
RISC OS Open Ltd, who only made a formal announcement about their bounty scheme earlier this week, have followed that news this evening with a pledge that they will, up to a £1,000 total limit, match every donation into the bounty scheme themselves, with the exception of donations to the administration bounty.
This means that while this scheme is in place – i.e. until that £1,000 is used up – every £1 you donate to the bounty scheme will be worth £2 to whichever developer is able to fulfull the requirements of the specific bounty to which you donate – so if there is something you particularly want to see worked on, a donation now is a good way to increase the incentive for potential developers beyond what it would have been without the pledge. Continue reading »
May 262011
Anyone reading the RISC OS Open Ltd forum, or who spoke to the team at the recent Wakefield Show or attended their theatre talk, will be aware that a bounty scheme has been brewing. The scheme provides a mechanism whereby developers could receive a cash reward for results in those areas that users have deemed worthy enough to contribute towards.
Such a bounty scheme could be beneficial to both developers and users alike, and therefore to the operating system and our little community as a whole. It can benefit developers because it can provide direction, by letting them know what areas the users are most interested in seeing developed, and it can of course provide an incentive in the form of the bounty. It can benefit users because, by getting behind the bounty scheme and contributing, users can influence developers by providing said bounty.
The scheme and relevant pages have actually been on the site for a while now (and may or may not have inspired The Icon Bar’s April Fool this year), but today it has been formally announced with the following press release: Continue reading »
Apr 062011
As the 2011 Wakefield show creeps ever closer, Andrew Rawnsley of R-Comp has initiated a discussion on the RISC OS Open Ltd forums regarding some areas they’d like to see addressed in RISC OS before their ARMini computer goes from being a ‘coming soon’ to a current machine.
Andrew is quick to point out that they “can’t afford to throw mega-bucks at anything” (an understandable position, given the size of the RISC OS community) and that they’re “basically budgeting money from the ‘pre-order’ pot for dev work.” In some cases, for which he believes the amount of work required is relatively small, the offer is for payment in kind (e.g. free software from their catalogue), rather than money.
Mar 032011
Following the recent Archive sampler, with its news of a new computer running RISC OS natively that might be unveiled at the South West Show on Saturday, R-Comp Interactive have issued a press release about this new machine, which now has a name; ARMini. Here’s what they had to say:
Showing a level of initiative often sadly lacking these days in the RISC OS community, the current editor and publisher of Archive Magazine, Jim Nagel, has made available a sampler of issue 22:12 (volume 22, issue 12). His main motivation for doing this is that the physical magazine is only due back from the printers on the eve of the South West Show this coming Saturday and, as reading the sampler reveals, the news pages obviously cover the show; it’s clear that in an ideal world Jim would have liked that issue to be on our doorsteps before the show takes place – in particular because at least one item of news it contains might encourage more people to attend the show.
And what is that news?
