If you have a RISCOSbits FAST system, the company is now able to provide you with a new, additional piece of kit – which doubles up your RISC OS computer, making it a Linux one as well. Easy Concurrent Operating System (ECOS) 5 was announced in the run up to the RISC OS North show, with no product available to sell at that point, only to show off on the day.
Although the reason ECOS5 wasn’t available was due to holiday timings, it means RISCOSbits was able to listen to feedback from potential customers who checked it out on the day, and refine it before making it available – and available is what it now is.
The product’s origin story dates all the way back to Wispy, the purpose of which was to allow RISC OS users to connect their systems to wireless networks; it was a small system in its own right, running a minimal Linux build, and which supported wireless networking. The RISC OS computer would connect to it using a wire, and piggy back off the wireless connection. In addition, other things running on that Linux device could be accessed from within RISC OS – most notably, Firefox, using VNC.
Based around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, ECOS5 takes the latter part of that a whole lot further, with a full Linux system (a customised version of Raspberry Pi OS) as standard. The board itself sports 4GB RAM and runs at 2.4GHz, and there’s 32GB of fast eMMC storage provide as well.
In addition, the device has a built-in NVMe slot, and RISCOSbits can supply the OS pre-installed on an NVMe drive if required), and customers can also opt for the 8GB or 16GB versions of the board if preferred, and to have that 32GB of eMMC doubled-up to 64GB – and an add-on that allows the audio from the Linux system to be routed to a panel-mount 3.5mm jack on the ITX case, which means you can have the Linux system handling your music, while you beaver away on RISC OS.
ECOS5 is an internal device aimed at FAST SATA and FAST NVMe systems – although it may fit inside other systems that use ATX and Mini ITX sized motherboards. Being internal, ECOS5 means a wireless router will have to be used to provide its internet connection (most people will probably have one of those these days) but is powered directly from the FAST motherboard, so there are no additional messy wires.
There’s also an external version for those with cases that won’t fit the internal version – whether that’s because of their size or what else they contain. This is called ExCOS5, and comes in a case with a mere 99mm x 71mm footprint. This version can be connected by ethernet (so may be useful where Wi-Fi isn’t an option), and doesn’t even have to be placed on the desk – it can be seated behind the router, for example, which in some cases may also be able to power it from their USB ports.
ECOS5 starts at £129, and ExCOS5 starts at £129.
