Show report: Wakefield 2019

Six months on from the show itself… that’s almost as long as the Long Gap between the Wakefield and London shows! Ahem. The place to be for discerning RISC OS users (and retro Acorn enthusiasts) on Saturday, 27th April, was Wakefield – more specifically, the Cedar Court Hotel in Calder Grove – because that was where the annual Wakefield Acorn and RISC OS Computer Show took place.

Show report: Southwest 2019

It was the dawn of the third age of mankind second venue for the RISC OS Southwest Show Since its inception, each and every Southwest Show until this year’s had been held at the Webbington Hotel in Somerset – a grand total of twenty one shows, with twenty years between the first, which took place on 7th February, 1998, and last year’s event, which took place on 24th February, 2018.

Mathematics in BBC BASIC on RISC OS

Introduction “Essential Maths” was a book covering the programming of mathematics concepts like Trigonometry. The book was published thirty five years ago for owners of the BBC and Electron computers – remember those? The writer, Czes Kosniowski, wouldn’t be surprised to know that the principles are as relevant today as they were when he wrote it. Did you know for instance that in a ‘prime sequence’ the only even number is two?

Escape from the Arcade now available from !Store

The latest addition to the AMCOG Games catalogue was initially launched at the recent Wakefield Show, and it is now available to buy from !Store for just £10.99. That game is Escape from the Arcade – something you wouldn’t have to do if you didn’t get trapped inside an arcade machine, and that happened because you chose to play a faulty machine. Oops. Damn those dimensional faults – and damn your foolish ignorance of the warning sign!

News nybble: R-Comp and RCI at the Wakefield Show

R-Comp and RCI will be at the Wakefield Show on 27th April with a number of updated software packages. NetFetch 5.50, released earlier this month, benefits from increased security thanks to the new AcornSSL module, and Messenger Pro 8.02 gains ‘Big mode’ support on ARMBook laptops. Fireworkz Pro 2.22 sees further improvements to its database integration and more, while Genealogy Records adds support for DNA testing and matching, and other features. The ARMX6 graphics acceleration module, meanwhile, will see a new version released in time for the show with some…

Show report: London 2018

Just in time for Wakefield! With half of a year having passed since the London Show (and the Wakefield Show almost upon us), the RISCOSitory report is more than a little overdue – again! The usual main excuse applies, which is that it’s always busy here in the bunker, and some things have to be put off in favour of other, more important tasks. However, it is now the turn of that task to be used to put off other less important things – so here, at long last, is…

RISC OS Awards: Deadline, and an overdue look at the alternative suggestions

The annual RISC OS Awards poll has now been open for just over two months, and is due to be closed fairly soon. Shortly after the poll began I moved home and didn’t properly set up any computers for quite some time, so the planned occasional review and post of the ‘alternative’ entries didn’t happen, other than one quiet afternoon when I scanned through the votes that had been received at that point and tweeted those alternative entries.

Show report: Wakefield 2018

That’s last year’s record for a long-delayed show report broken! This year’s Wakefield Show took place on 21st April, at the Cedar Court Hotel, organised by the local user group – the Wakefield RISC OS Computer Club (WROCC). Like last year, I must apologise for another long-delayed RISCOSitory show report. As ever, this is mainly because of how busy I am outside the world of RISC OS, but also because I wanted to edit down my video recordings of the theatre talks to a more manageable length – and video…

AMCOG’s Stunt Drivers now available

AMCOG Games launched a new title at the London Show two weeks ago, and it is now available to purchase via !Store, priced at just £9.99. A top-down racing game, Stunt Drivers pits you as a driver in a three-lap race against a number of computer controlled cars around a track on which there are obstacles to overcome – hazards such as oil spills, and ramps for you to use to jump over other objects.

Meet the mini.m and see the si.zeRO in London on Monday

Both small, but still visible without the use of a magnifying glass! This year’s Wakefield show (report coming to be started soon at some point) saw the launch of a new computer from R-Comp, called the mini.m. The system is most easily described as a mini version of the ARMSX ARMX6, squeezed down so that it fits in a cube measuring just two inches in each dimension. But what if you weren’t at Wakefield, and want to see this computer with your own eyes? Your best bet is to hope…