Showing off RISC OS - a unique opporunity - software contributions welcomed

We have a somewhat unique opportunity to show RISC OS off to an international audience as part of our work with the Far East.

I am putting together a “presentation image”, but am mindful that these things have a habit of being copied/leaked.

I would welcome suggestions on the contents of the image (although I cannot promise to take every suggestion). At present, we have a basic ROOL image, plus audience-specific theme, updated modules, Netsurf, StrongEd and so on.

I have written a simple guide to getting started with RISC OS, although it absolutely rams home why the userguide PDF needs to be available openly, and NOW. It’s beyond a joke that new users have to pay to find out how to use the OS.

It is slightly frustrating that most of the best apps are commercial, but I’d still welcome software contributions and suggestions of how to present RISC OS in the best light.

as part of our work with the Far East.

How much Far East? That description counts for numerous different cultures.

am mindful that these things have a habit of being copied/leaked.

The Chinese will copy anything?
https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20161220

The original is a twenty quid oscilloscope kit using a little 320×240 LCD, an STM32 processor, and some other bits.

And the one I got from Amazon was a fake. Why? You wouldn’t think there’d be any point in faking something like that. But, voilà, there it is.

it absolutely rams home why the userguide PDF needs to be available openly, and NOW.

+1. Sell the dead trees, give away the PDF. Then everybody is happy.

on the contents of the image

Wouldn’t that largely be dictated by how you’re trying to promote the system? There are many limitations – practically no video support, Or WiFi, Bluetooth, multi core support, etc etc.
So how are you differentiating RISC OS from all those Linux clones?

Knowing exactly how you plan to promote the system should hopefully guide you to things that play to its strengths.

It is slightly frustrating that most of the best apps are commercial,

It’s annoying that things aren’t free like many other places, but given that most RISC OS apps are written by individuals and not teams, and can’t “monetize” peripheral content (like location, activity, etc) … one doesn’t code for RISC OS to get rich, but even so bills need paid if the application is something that takes a large amount of time.

I did the maths a long time ago for an app I wrote. If I got paid the £15 I was asking at the time, it would work out to be about a 2p an hour for the development time. I’d need to have sold about three hundred or so copies just to equal minimum wage. Sure, this doesn’t really help when LibreOffice and MuseScore are free (and open source), but it is useful to have perspective of both sides.

Besides… Aren’t you R-Comp? Don’t you sell said commercial software? ;-p

Hi Andrew

What a fantastic opportunity and you are right to focus on the things RISC OS can do , though a plug for helping to close the gaps may be something you could slip in as well.

At present, we have a basic ROOL image,

Is that the base ROOL image or the Pi specific one as if it is the later then surely that doesn’t matter if it is copied being as everything is available already.

I guess that things like the Free versions of Organizer, FireWorkz, Ovation, DigitalCD, RiscOSM, DigitalCD,KinoAMP etc would help give a good idea of the across board things it can do as well as perhaps a selection of your own software.

Also apps like BusTimes/TrainTimes,Manga, RobotArm show what is possible in a small application and by a single developer.

Anyway I suppose as Rick says it is really down to what you are trying pass on to your audience.

Good luck and just shows what is now possible.

Rick – yes, the frustration over the commercial software is the likelihood of “distribution” means that anything included would have to be on the verge of going freeware anyway (ie. things we’d be giving away anyway). That’s the bit that is difficult, as I still need to make a living!

Doug – there’s a free version of RiscOSM? That’s surprising to me, as I thought the converted data needed to use the program was a big selling point? Do I have it backwards?

Agreed on some of the other things you mention, though. Organiser and Ovation can find a home in Apps, and Manga might go down well in Diversions.

Andrew,

there’s a free version of RiscOSM?

Well perhaps it is better to say demo version and restricted to Isle of Man data only.

I guess a talk with Sine Nomine is the best option.

You could show MapView instead of RiscOSM. However, it is a bit fiddly in the config department – freely available tile servers and all that.

and Manga might go down well in Diversions.

I have absolutely no problem with anybody putting Manga in Diversions – same goes for ROOL if they ever plan on updating the stuff in the SD image. Oh, and don’t forget Koi-Koi. ;-)

However, Andrew, I should sound a note of warning since you are intending to demo this stuff to East Asians… Manga is a GUI front-end to a website called Manganese (bloody autocorrect) MangaReader which specialises in something called “scanlations”, that being that somebody scanned in the frames of the manga, rubbed out the original dialogue, and then placed English translations into the speech bubbles. It’s a grey area as it’s difficult to argue “loss” for something that isn’t available “in the West”, but it is technically copyright infringement.
I don’t imagine the Chinese will be overly concerned, but Japanese (who gave us the word “Manga” and count for about 99% ¹ of the available content) might not be overly impressed.

¹ The other 1%, if that, is “manhua”, which is Chinese (sometimes Korean gets lumped in with it), but the general lack of content and the high WTF factor ² mean there’s not a lot of it.

² I’ve literally only read two manhua in my life – picked the two at random. Okay, the first one was a cartoon chicken that made people explode, and the second one appeared to be two gay boys being seduced by…a dragon…that breathed a shower of flowers (instead of fire). Symbolism much?

As you’re dealing with East Asians, especially if Japanese ¹, are you aware of business card etiquette?

Briefly:

• Have business cards, in a holder (specific card holder, never a wallet).
• If offered in both hands, take it likewise.
• Visitor usually offers first, so just do what they do, but make sure the card you offer is the right way up and facing them (writing facing you has bad connotations).
• Once you have been given a card, be sure to actually read it. Yes, then and there.
• Place card(s) either on the card holder or on the table near it for the duration of the meeting. Keep it visible.

It’s a means of formal introduction, they’ll treat it almost as an extension of themselves, therefore, never ever:

• Stick it in a wallet
• Or a pocket
• Or fold it – never fold it
• Or grab it, toss it on the table, and shake their hands vigorously (you can see why Americans freak them out!)

Google “meishi koukan” for more info.

¹ Even primary school age children have their own cards – https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%AD%90%E4%BE%9B%E5%90%8D%E5%88%BA&tbm=isch&sa=X. It’s serious stuff.

IMHO, you should not see this as a problem. RISC OS is free software. For apps, it they (who?) wan’t it to be free, they just need to code it. See that as an opportunity. The only subject is DDE as a BSD licenced project. The free software apps wil come later… or not.

The argument is that RISC OS is:

• Light: desktop works on ARM v5 hardware when Linux is really slow.
• 8-bit’ish, so perfect for bare metal programming.
• Fun / pleasant.

This is fantastic stuff. Fantastic, thankyou.

Regarding RiscOSM:

The demo version includes Isle of Man data, but if you download the British Isles data and use that !OSMData instead of the one supplied with the demo, you’ll find that as well as the Isle of Man you get a chunk of Wales available too. (The demo can also do part of the Netherlands with the right dataset.) Plus you can download the British Isles contours and they will work too. Just merge the two !OSMData directories.

Run RiscOSM and click on the iconbar icon to open the new map window. Start typing a place name in the box and the autocomplete will show place names in the British Isles. They will mostly be in grey, meaning you need a licence to see the map. But if you try Swansea you’ll get a decent sized city without a licence.

Are you going to be doing a live or recorded demonstration? Or is this just supplying a disc image for people to explore themselves. If you’re doing a demo I can give you a quick run-down of things to show off in RiscOSM if that would be of interest.

If you could suggest a far-eastern city likely to be of interest, we could maybe convert the data and make a RiscOSM version available to you that would render a limited area free. We’ve shied away from doing data for Asia because of the limited font support. At present RiscOSM’s style sheets default to using Homerton, which is fine for eastern Europe because it includes glyphs for Czech, Polish etc. We could supply a stylesheet for you which used a font of your choice that could do Chinese or Japanese, but I’ve no idea how well it would work. At least they go left to right. RiscOSM is hopeless if you try it with Arabic.

But you may be doing this at very short notice. Let me know your deadline, and we can take this to private e-mail.

RiscOSM is hopeless if you try it with Arabic.

FTFY.

Doug – there’s a free version of RiscOSM? That’s surprising to me, as I thought the converted data needed to use the program was a big selling point? Do I have it backwards?

I think you do. The data is free (it can’t be otherwise, given its source), and you can download OSMConvert to make your own if you wish. Sine Nomine sell pre-converted data on SD card as a convenience, but copies of the same files are also available for free on their website.

The non-free bit is the viewer required for RISC OS: the RiscOSM software itself.

You are more than welcome to use anu of my software if you want.

BusTimes and TrainTimes would be of little interest in the far east as it just does the UK.

You are welcome to use any of my software. SatNav isn’t much use without a GPS module though. I’m sure RiscOSM could do a demo version specific to a small part of whatever country you are targetting (perhaps not the Far East though).

Hi Andrew,
You’re welcome to include any AMCOG software. Please drop me a line if I can be of any help.
Best Regards,
Tony