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ROOL goes dutch at RISC OS eXperience 2018

Posted by Steve Revill Mon, 07 May 2018 08:38:00 GMT

Saturday 12th May sees the Big Ben Club hosting this year’s international RISC OS eXperience show. We look forward to seeing you there!

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RISC OS 5.24 stable is now available

Posted by Steve Revill Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:57:00 GMT

After a long run up RISC OS Open Limited (ROOL) are pleased to announce the much anticipated latest stable RISC OS release for many of the computers your favourite OS currently runs on.

CC-BY Richard Humphrey

What’s stable, and how is it different to what I’m running now?

The stable release criteria are used to evaluate which ports are awarded a 5.24 badge, and which need some more work to finish them off. Using the convention of even numbers for stable editions and odd numbers for development editions, work has already commenced on RISC OS 5.25, we hope to add more stable ports for when RISC OS 5.26 comes along.

For the Tungsten platform (used in the IYONIX pc from Castle Technology) it incorporates a massive 633 changes, 707 changes for the OMAP3 platform (used in the ARMini from RComp), 708 changes for the OMAP4 platform (used in the PandaRO from CJE Micros and ARMiniX from RComp), and 633 changes for the IOMD platform used in the Acorn Risc PC/A7000/A7000+.

For the first time the stable release includes the hugely popular Raspberry Pi series (costing less than £30), and also the Titanium port (used in the Rapido-Ti from CJE Micros and TiMachine from RComp).

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RISC OS Open at Wakefield 2018

Posted by Steve Revill Mon, 16 Apr 2018 21:25:00 GMT

RISC OS Open look forward to seeing you at the Wakefield RISC OS show, this Saturday 21th April 2018.

We’re on stand 15 all day, or come to hear what we’ve doing and how to get involved in the midday theatre slot.

New releases

It’ll be a chance to get hands on with RISC OS 5.24 – the new stable release – making its first public outing, packed with over 650 changes and improvements since the last version in 2015. Newly updated editions of the popular RISC OS Pi and ePic SD cards will also be launched on Saturday.

The recently revised Desktop Development Environment (DDE28b) will be on sale for budding developers.

And as if that isn’t enough, the brand new edition of the RISC OS 5 User Guide will be available to take away on the day; light reading for the long journey home.

Easier ways to buy

Following feedback at previous shows (we do listen!) we’ll also be able to take payment by card for the first time, including contactless payments. It’s never been easier to buy merchandise or pledge towards one of the open bounties.

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Padlock clicks shut on network stack project

Posted by Steve Revill Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:54:00 GMT

We’re excited to be able to reveal two important steps in the overhaul of RISC OS’ creaking network stack today.

It’s a lock-in on step 1

After a number of briefcases containing keys were exchanged, and several complex meetings concluded in a three way handshake the bounty, which opened in February 2017, has now begun at a top secret location.

This particular bounty received a generous sponsorship from equally hush hush RISC OS Developments Ltd as part of their vision to improve that particular area of the OS. We’re very grateful for that, and invite other companies to present giant cardboard cheques to accelerate their favourite bounties towards each target amount too.

Image courtesy of Margo Wright and April McDonald

Even while compiling this article, service providers are announcing that support for insecure protocols are being dropped, and that security blunders mean actually checking certificates for validity or revocation is essential.

Once the next stable release is out of the way there will be an opportunity to test drive the new AcornSSL compatible module – opening up a raft of new possibilities connecting to web based services like banking apps, social media, and file sharing.

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