No, not that Fast Show. You’ll not find Rowley Birkin QC here! The RISC OS Southwest Show is so incredibly close now that the exhibitors are in the hall, teeth chattering and knees knocking at the prospect of the huge throngs of people that will be coming through the door in about half an hour’s time. They’re already lining up outside, and I gather the numbers are so high the queue is visible from the International Space Station.
The first significant event in the RISC OS calendar for 2023 is the Southwest Show, and it will take place in one week’s time on Saturday, 25th February, at:
A week later than it would normally take place, the next meeting of Bristol RISC OS Users (BRU) is set for Wednesday, 18th January. The group normally meets on the second Wednesday of odd months, but was put back by seven days to avoid a clash with the recent Wakefield meeting.
A regular exhibitor at RISC OS shows, RISCOSbits would have been at the one originally planned for tomorrow. However, as we (hopefully) all know, the London Show isn’t going ahead – but over the Summer and early Autumn Andy Marks from RISCOSbits has been working on a few new bits and pieces; things that would have been launched, released, shouted about from the rooftops (or at least a set of tables) at the show. So let’s pretend we’re there, and look at what Andy would be telling us on the…
ALso: The Midlands User Group now has a YouTube Channel – the RISC OS MUG Zone. The inaugural virtual show hosted by the Midlands User Group (MUG) took place on 2nd July – and being an online event, it’s no surprise that the various presentations were recorded with the aim of making them available online after.
Strap yourselves in… there’s a lot in this post! Andy Marks of RISCOSbits has been busy in the extended period between the last physical show and Saturday’s London Show, and has a number of new products that he’ll be bringing along to show – and hopefully sell – to you.
Depending on which platform you use, there may be a number of different options available to you for RISC OS itself. As well as the standard distribution from RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL), for example, there’s also the ePic option, also from ROOL, which – for a price – adds a great deal of bundled commercial software. Then there’s RISC OS Direct from RISC OS Developments Ltd, and if you’re opting for an emulated solution, what about older versions of RISC OS?
Open for approximately three months, the 2020 RISC OS Awards poll covering 2020 ran from April until June of this year, and received 141 valid votes. The results were calculated a little later than planned, but making a change from the normal approach of publishing them on Twitter and then the Awards website, this time around they were presented live at the RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) meeting on 16th August.
RISC OS Developments Ltd has announced that the work that has been underway for some while by Chris Johns and others to bring Python 3 to the platform has now seen fruition, with the latest version of the very popular programming language now generally available.
The 2020 RISC OS London Show was originally scheduled for 24th October, but due to the ongoing pandemic, the decision was taken some time ago to cancel the physical event and instead take it online, using video conferencing software Zoom – so it’s still scheduled for that date, only now you don’t have to go to the show; the show can come to you.