London looms – show in just three weeks

Issues with the venue at which it has been hold since its inception meant that the RISC OS London Show hasn’t been held for a couple of years, and that following one brief reappearance after the hiatus caused by COVID. However, this year it’s back in a new location, and it’s time to get your travel plans sorted if you wish to attend – and why wouldn’t you?

Getting the most important information out of the way first, the show is set to take place on Saturday, 26th October – three weeks away from yesterday – and the doors will be open to the public from 11:00am until 4:00pm, with an entry fee of £7.00 (which can be paid in cash or by card). That’ll be discounted to £0.00 for anyone under 16. And the new location is:

The Harrow District Masonic Centre,
Northwick Circle,
Kenton,
Harrow,
HA3 0EL.

For those not driving off straight after the show, the venue has a bar that should be open from 2:00pm, and other local amenities include a Premier Inn (with an attached Beefeater pub/restaurant) within half a mile, and a large Sainsburys, which includes a coffee shop, just a few minutes away.

Details of how to find and travel to the new location can be found on the venue page of the show website.

There are currently almost twenty exhibitors lined up, including many show regulars – not all of whom appear at all shows – along with one new exhibitor, and the welcome return of another.

Getting that last one out of the way first, CJE Micro’s will have a stand at this year’s show – the first time Chris Evans’ company has exhibited since Wakefield 2022 – so if you’re looking for that obscure or small item, this might be a good chance to seek it out.

The new exhibitor (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) is PixelBlip, aka digital artist Mike Rose, who creates artworks using pixel graphics with some particularly good images created on the BBC’s MODE 2 (which, for those who don’t remember, was the BBC micro’s most colour rich mode, but also its lowest resolution). Mike has been tinkering with Illusionist and Euclid on RISC OS to create 3D scenes – so pay a visit to his stand to make him welcome as a first time exhibitor at a RISC OS event, and see how he produces his images.

There will be a new game available from AMCOG Games – an anaglyph 3D space game, which will be supplied with a pair of 3D glasses (of the red/blue tinted lens type), although there will also be an option to play the game in 2D. Tony will also have his back catalogue of games available, as well as his development kit to allow you to write your own.

Another exhibitor worth visiting for games players will be Cameron Cawley, who will have the latest version of ScummVM, which makes it possible to run a large number of games from other platforms that were developed for use in the various engines it supports.

Software of other sorts will also be available, with exhibitors such as Sine Nomine, for example – developers of the incredible RiscOSM mapping application, and maintainers of the powerful Impact database, amongst other items.

You’ll also be able to address your software fix at the same time as your hardware fix by visiting companies like R-Comp, with a wealth of applications available, along with a range of hardware to suit every need.

Other hardware vendors include RISCOSbits, with a similarly diverse range of products – some with particularly fun names.

If your hardware needs aren’t ARM-based, but you still need to run RISC OS, the developers of RPCEmu will be able to show you the latest version of the emulator, which allows you to enjoy all that RISC OS software on your Windows or Linux PC.

The operating system itself is also catered for at this event with both the owners (RISC OS Developments) and maintainers (RISC OS Open) on hand to tell you whats what.

There will also be a show theatre, in which currently four exhibitors – RISC OS Developments, R-Comp, RISC OS Open Ltd, and Sine Nomine – have taken slots to talk about what they’re up to and demonstrate some of their products.

And that’s far from everything – there will be smaller developers, user groups, the charity stand, and even the most RISC OS friendly ISP exhibiting, so to reiterate the question that ended the first article of this post: Why wouldn’t you want to attend?

See you there!

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