RISC OS Roadmap

The intention of this page is to host a list of possible software development “work packages” which we and others believe might possibly be performed in order to move RISC OS significantly forward from where it is today.

We have made no attempt below to set priorities, define interdependencies, scope out the work for each task, determine the skill set required, etc.

Our intention is to allow people to add to this list and at some future point we can start to do all of the above and look for a way to match tasks to developers, from higher priority items down…

• 64-bit disc addressing
• 64-bit file pointers
• 64-bit integer and structure support in BASIC
• A9Home port
• Adapting the Wimp for multiple monitor support
• Add BZ2 and LZMA imagefs support (sponsor SparkFS?)
• Add partition table support to FileCore, remove 4 floppy+4 HD limit
• Animated window and menu transitions
• API to read window contents as bitmap (even if not at front) – from transparent window work
• Bring Toolbox API up to par with ROL version
• Compressed ROM images (primarily to fit more in an Iyonix)
• Cross compilation
• Drag-and-drop in writeable icons
• EDID monitor negotiation
• Full ARMv7, Thumb and UAL support everywhere
• Full media stack (hey, I can wish)
• Get VFP support code integrated into FPEmulator, maybe write VFP emulator
• Implement new sprite types in ColourTrans/SpriteExtend (as per this wiki page)
• Improve GraphicsV to support multiple monitors, hardware overlays, etc. (see this forum thread)
• Improve scroll wheel support
• Improved task/process management (e.g. making more state per-process instead of global. An important stepping stone to full preemptive multitasking, and will benefit us now by making taskwindows more reliable/versatile. Some related notes also at ROX Desktop.)
• Increased memory protection (e.g. move zero page)
• Kernel todo list – A collection of large and small items which vary greatly in terms of how much they will/may benefit the OS.
• Integrate theme configuration into disc image
• Larger RAM disc support
• Multi-CPU support and preemptive multitasking (a simple job, clearly)
• Multi-touch / gesture support
• NAND flash FS / driver
• New FileCore format for huge modern discs
• Non-rectangular and transparent windows
• OMAP3 DSP support
• OpenGL support
• SD card FS / driver
• Standardise audio capture
• Support for asynchronous/background/threaded file transfers
• Support for Cortex-A9 (e.g. OMAP4 PandaBoard) and Freescale, Samsung, Qualcomm ARMv7 chips
• Touchscreen drivers
• Update Internet stack from FreeBSD – IPv6 etc
• Update JPEG support code
• Update USB stack from NetBSD – perhaps incl USB3 support
• More complete Unicode support
• USB CD support
• Use of VFP for floating point in BASIC64
• Vectorise code for graphics rendering and sound mixing
• WiFi support (from BSD?)