RISC OS System Programming Book
Bruce Smith (1838) 31 posts |
Raspberry Pi RISC OS System Programming Revealed (The Book) is now available on Amazon. If you are able – please spread the word to make this a viable project. |
Bob (2194) 6 posts |
Hi Bruce, I plan to buy a copy, are there any plans to produce a Kindle version? (Handy for reading on the train) Regards |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8172 posts |
s/ variable/ viable |
Bruce Smith (1838) 31 posts |
@Bob: No plans at present – I am not sure it would work that well as an eBook due to formatting issues and the relative complexity of some of the tables etc. |
Bob (2194) 6 posts |
No problem Bruce, I received the book from Amazon yesterday and so far it’s proving to be a very good read! |
Ralph Barrett (1603) 154 posts |
Ditto – just ordered a copy. RISC OS needs good documentation if its going to ‘rise back from the dead’ and become a mainstream operating system once again, so well done to Bruce for jumping (back) onto the RISC OS roller coaster ride and writing these new books … In many ways RISC OS is the perfect OS for the RPi, and deserves to get more widely used. Ralph |
Bruce Smith (1838) 31 posts |
@Bob and @Ralph – Thanks very much gents, agree with you so please spread the word as and when you can! Would really help if you can get anyone who gets a copy to write a small review on Amazon and encourage others to get a copy. This is not to make me a fortune (It would need to sell and awful lot of copies to do that) but to make it a viable proposition to produce a follow up. If folks start seeing RISC OS books out there and available they will start to think “RISC OS” and look further, and hopefully move towards identifying it as you say @Ralph the perfect OS for the RPi! |
Steffen Huber (91) 1953 posts |
Confusingly, for “RISC OS System Programming Revealed”, you are “Mr. Bruce Smith”, while for your other two Pi books, you are “Bruce Smith”. |
Bruce Smith (1838) 31 posts |
Thanks for pointing that out @Steffen – I’ll have to email Amazon to get it changed. |
Steffen Huber (91) 1953 posts |
@Bruce thanks for writing a RISC OS book in the first place! Much appreciated. Had a good time reading it. |
Peter Memmott (2256) 10 posts |
Hi, just put my order in. I’d like to start using Risc OS again after a long time away. Fortunately I’ve got a lot of spare time coming up over the summer so I’d really like to get involved with some Risc OS development in some way. Whether it’s app development or something lower-level. And this book looks like an ideal starting point. Thanks. |
Trevor Johnson (329) 1645 posts |
Peter, are you within reach of a local user group? |
Peter Memmott (2256) 10 posts |
Hi Trevor. Actually, I’m not all that far from the Wakefield group. I was thinking about popping over to a meeting at some point. I’m certainly planning to attend the show in April. |
Chris Evans (457) 1614 posts |
Welcome back Peter:-) |
Peter Memmott (2256) 10 posts |
Hi Chris. Well, from what I remember, I think there were a couple of graphics demos and a 3D object designer or something like that, on an A3000. Most of it was in BASIC and C, but I covered some RISC assembly as well. Experience-wise, mainly graphics, physics and networking. |
Clive Semmens (2335) 3276 posts |
I don’t have a problem with the PRMs – been using the hard copy version for years and of course have the Pi version on my Pi. Will this tell me anything they don’t, Pi specific stuff or anything? £16.89 isn’t a trivial amount for me (I’m a pensioner) but it’s not beyond the pale if it’ll be useful. |
Theo Markettos (89) 919 posts |
I think it’s fair to say that most of what’s in the book is in the PRMs, though there are sections where the PRMs haven’t been updated and the book has newer information. There are some Pi specific parts described (like how to use the GPIO). If you know the PRMs back to front you might find a lot you’re already familiar with. The target audience is more intended for those who are daunted by thousands of pages of documentation and don’t know where to start. There’s nothing on keyboard handlers from what I remember. You’re probably better off starting a thread here. IIRC everything changed quite substantially with Unicode-isation but I don’t recall any documentation on the subject. |
Clive Semmens (2335) 3276 posts |
“…everything changed quite substantially with Unicode-isation…” |