(Oh, and by the way, there’s a new RISC OS system available for that day only!)
If you’re a bit fed up with those pesky Overpuddlians bringing their practices and other atrocities over here, such as the increasingly common use of ‘invite’ as a noun, or annual sales events like ‘Black Friday’ (which tend to last longer than that one day) – and even worse, certain operating systems, when we have a rather nice (if slightly flawed) home grown one that runs on a family of processors which also began life here – then look no further than RISCOSbits for an attempt to create an equally home-grown frivolous sales event: Stonking Saturday!
Hoping it will become yet another worldwide phenomenon – if only amongst RISC OS users – the idea behind Stonking Saturday is that, in Andy Marks of RISCOSbits own words, “the most generous RISC OS vendors give away free RISC OS-capable computers to those who make a seasonal investment in some new, excellent value RISC OS kit!”
Andy has selected tomorrow – Saturday, 11th December – to be the inaugural Stonking Saturday, and to mark the event is introducing a new system, the SimplEDOS 400, which will only be available for that day, and anyone who purchases this machine on Saturday will receive another RISC OS-capable system free of charge. All subject to available stock, of course.
The SimplEDOS 400 is based around the Raspberry Pi 400 (the keyboard-based computer that is itself based around a modified Raspberry Pi 4 design) and includes all the kit necessary to use it as both a RISC OS system and a Linux one, including the ability to switch between the two operating systems, and the sharing of files. The only kit you need to add yourself is a suitable screen.
The specification of the main part of the kit – the Pi 400 – is:
- A Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC (overclocked to 2.2GHz under RISC OS).
- 4GB LPDDR4-3200 RAM.
- Gigabit Ethernet.
- Three USB ports – two of which are USB 3.0 and the other USB 2.0.
- A horizontal 40-pin GPIO header.
- Two micro-HDMI ports.
- A microSD card slot for operating system and data storage.
- Dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz) IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ac Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.0 (Not currently supported under RISC OS).
- UK configuration compact keyboard housing the computer itself, with a similar footprint on your desk to keyboard computers like the Acorn Electron.
- A 5V DC (USB-C) connector
- A large internal heatsink plate and underside vents for cooling.
And the additional bits of kit that turn this already handy piece of kit into RISCOSbits’ SimplEDOS 400, are:
- A wired Mouse.
- A micro HDMI cable.
- A 5.1v 3a USB type C power supply unit.
- A 64GB MicroSD card with RISC OS and EDOS loader installed.
- A 32GB USB 3.1 drive, with shared drive system, for access from both RISC OS and Linux.
- A 16GB MicroSD card with Raspberry Pi OS installed for Linux recovery and diagnostics.
- A Linux-based Getting Started guide.
And all for the Stonkingly good price of £135.00.
If you’re looking for a Christmas present for your favourite child – or perhaps two, not forgetting that freebie system, which you could give to the other kid who doesn’t quite meet your high standards, but he’s yours so you have to put up with him anyway – it’s worth noting that the SimplEDOS 400 kit will be supplied in a single, compact presentation box, which can be easily wrapped and popped under the tree. RISCOSbits notes that one or two items may arrive separately – it may depend on how snowed under they are with orders – but in a plain brown envelope that won’t look at all suspicious, and won’t lead your highly intelligent, favourite child (or that other one) to realise that you’re hiding a stonker.
Stocks are limited – so the SimplEDOS 400 will be available not just for one day only, but also on a first-come, first-served basis, and the offer will be withdrawn when all the Stonking Stock is sold – or when Stonking Saturday becomes a plain old Sunday.
Unfortunately, Andy adds that the Stonking Saturday offer is only available for delivery to UK addresses, though overseas customers are welcome to contact RISCOSbits directly to discuss alternative, less-stonking, options.
While you’re looking at the superb Stonking Saturday deal, you might find it worthwhile considering a WiFi HAT carrier board for the Pi 400, designed to neatly house the Elesar WiFi HAT board, to provide the RISC OS system with a WiFi connection – available not just for Stonking Saturday, but also the rest of the year for just £15.00.
