The Wakefield Show took place in a slightly windswept Wakefield today. The hotel has introduced charges to discourage people from using their ample car park for general parking. There was a tablet to avoid these for all attendees at the show desk.
The show format was very familiar from previous years with 2 rooms (a RISC OS room and an 8bit room), a theatre.
The Exhibitors Sadly there was a last minute cancellation as Jim Nagel was ill and unable to attend. Otherwise, there was a really good range of exhibitors, and even some younger people attending!
In our
pictures article you can see all the exhibitors. There were lots of intersting things to see and ethusiastic and knowledgeable exhibitors to discuss all things RISC OS or 8bit with.... Rather than just describe each stand, here are the things I personally saw/noticed.
RISC OS Open had some really nice bootable cards for Beagleboard and Pandaboard now (as well the existing Pi cards). There are new bounties
now online. RISC OS is now on GitLab, which makes it much more user-friendly for modern developers.
Chris Hall had a large selection of books and maps about Railways, all produced using RISC OS software.
Steve Fryatt now includes his Launcher application in the software available on his site and on charity CD. It makes it very easy to run your applications quickly from the desktop.
Sine Nomine will have a new version of Reece and RiscOSM available as an update in the next few weeks with several enhancements and bug fixes.
Elesar is working on a new hardware project.
Ident have released a CD with full instructions on if you want to build your own Pi case.
AMCOG had some young people on their stand and some new games to play.
The RISC OS awards run by RISCOSitory will be closing on the bank holiday weekend so you have a week or so left to vote.
RISC OS Developments had some cups for sale with slogans (diversifying into hardware!) and Richard had his ARMX6 in a shiny new case (the industrial unit version).
The Talks The talks were all recorded and should be online soon.
R-Comp/RISC OS DevelopmentsAndrew Rawnsley recapped on the move to purchase and license RISC OS as Open Source. The R-Comp RISC OS laptop would not exist without the move to Open Source.
The 2 RISC OS web browsers OWB and Iris are both progressing. OWB is a smaller, faster browser while Iris is a full port of the latest Webkit engine (used in several other Browsers). OWB has a Browse style interface and loads within 3 seconds. OWB is now using a font rendering layer so you can now have fast and pretty! Fast scrolling, text selection and pasting into other tools are all supported. There is JavaScript but has not been optimised for speed. OWB is using an older version of Webkit and the focus is getting the UI finished on a stable version. Still in development so not yet available for release.
Iris was shown up and running (we only had screenshots at SW Show). It also loads fast. Iris is tracking WebKit and has a much more complex build. Iris supports tabbed browsing. Thumb extensions will be needed for future WebKit releases and WebKit may be dropping ARMv7 support without them (or RISC OS community may need to step in to maintain v7 version). Needs work to optimise Iris for better performance.
Investors in RISC OS developments will get access to OWB/Iris first, before a general free release. Video support is not yet in the browsers. People can still invest in RISC OS Developments if you want to encourage development.
R-Comp has released Netfetch 5.5 - adds the latest support for latest SSL technology and encryption using the RISC OS open bounty releases. Also adds a quick fetch feature for individual mailboxes. FireWorkz 2.22 with its statement mode was demoed. Andrew also showed you could also-skip empty fields in mail merging. The Genealogy software now includes support for results of DNA analysis.
The native ARM laptop was available to try and buy (it will dual boot into Linux). The first batch of machines for customers arrives in early May. Price is 399 pounds if you paid the deposit (so sign-up now!). Wi-fi drivers are not yet available and will be a later chargeable upgrade. The mini.m version of the ARMX6 was also shown off. The Titan is also available as a cheaper cased version of the Titanium.
RISC OS OpenSprow updated us on events at RISC OS Open with a recap on changes in the last year (most noticeably the Open Sourcing of RISC OS). Relicensing did not alter users experience (still same code) but helped to ensure RISC OS is now back on NOOBS (with support from Pi foundation) for Pi and Open up interest.
Explained how Version control is now on GitLab (welcome to the 21st Century!) rather than CVS. https://gitlab.riscosopen.org/). There is a nice web interface there as well.
Downloads from ROOL site now are broken down into packages so you can download just new stuff in PackMan and easily roll back changes.
Since introduction in 2011, bounties have raised 51,000 pounds. 5 major completed, 4 in progress, 6 collecting and 1 new. FileCore includes 48,123 lines of assembler so being rewritten in C. Looking for beta testers on new versions of Norcroft C compiler as now supports ARMv6. Demo of enhanced clipboard support with Draw now supporting it and writable icons now being selectable.
New bounties are awaiting your cash on the ROOL website - USB stack, TCP/IP (first 5 figure bounty), Wifi bounty, Toolbox reunification (new Interface toolbox book), PNG export of bitmap images in Paint and ChangeFSI, LanManFS update and simplification.
RISC OS 5.27 daily builds can be downloaded and tested.
A bounty for a RISC OS git client will be opened shortly so developers can access Git under RISC OS.
Sine NomineDemo of RiscOSM and Reece. Style editor makes it very easy to customise maps in RiscOSM. You can choose when images appear on a map based on image scaling and also turn off features. Further enhancements are planned for style editor so still a work in progress.
Reece is the image plugin for RiscOSM to add pictures from Flickr and StreetView to Maps. It was launched at the South-West show. Reece was used for bringing up photos of the Cedar Court Hotel. You can click to move around the images, and also move your location on the RiscOSM map. Blue crosses show third-party images added by other parties on the Internet which can also be accessed.
Ident/ Wi-fi sheepTom introduced us to Wifi sheep, his youtube channel. Weekly twitch show. Live 5th May session starting 8pm with Amcog games. There is a released Disc image of unpublished BBC games on the website after SW show to celebrate reaching 500 shows. Single click to play games!
The released version of RISC OS build used by Ident for Raspberry Pi is now available as a free download. Adds lots of additional software and customisation to standard RISC OS build. The aim is to promote RISC OS with online material to show-casing software. Trying to get new users onto the platform.
Tom asked anyone to help promote wifi sheep by subscribing on youtube - no cost to you but helps boost the site.
Tom is re-releasing the IdentOne as a set of plans using standard materials. There is a 15 and 25-pound version. You can also buy the keyboard for 20 pounds.
Licensing agreement with RiscosBits has now ended (amicably) so Ident will be selling products directly (stock still available from both Companies). Watch out for some possible new ideas at the London Show.
CJE Micro'sChris arrived with a pile of boxes. Affirmed his support and enthusiasm for Open Sourcing of the RISC OS Operating system.
Ran through a selection of retro hardware. CJE has new stocks of Econet clock hardware (new design). Interface to plug a USB mouse into BBC. There is a replacement real-time clock for RiscPC which can plug onto the PCB - does not need a podule slot. ZIDFS podule and mini-podules makes it easy to install SSD drives on older machines. 7 and 10 inch Displays with HDMI input.
For later machines, CJE has some nice KVM switch boxes which support double inputs (ie Titanium). Lots of case options for Raspberry Pis including SSD drive. Covered range of computers and cases sold by CJE.
CJE is moving after 36 years to new (bigger) premises in Littlehampton (hopefully July). Most sales now online or remote (not even in UK) so shop not really needed. People can still drop in.
