RPi 4 software compatibility

How good is the RPi 4 on the software compatibility front, now that it’s been in use for a while? Are there any significant applications that still do not work on the Pi4 but which work on earlier RPi versions?

I see that Aemulor is available for the RPi4. Does that only help with running 26-bit software, or can it also cover for the other processor differences?

I’m running my 4té for more than a year now and I never noticed any incompatibility. And yes, Aemulor helps running the 26-bit software, although I rarely need it. Is there any particular software that you want to know about?
I still have the ARMiniX as a back up, but the 4té is superior in every aspect.

Is there any particular software that you want to know about?

Hard to come up with a complete list as it’s for my parents, and I am not sure exactly what they use. It would include Messenger Pro, Ovation Pro, Schema (I think, probably not frequently used), EasiWriter, Zap. Zap may be one of the more troublesome ones!

Looking at your list, I use Schema2 amd Techwriter and never had any problems. Others include Artworks, TextEase OHP, and off course RiscOSM. As Paul said the Pi4 is a great performer, especially since it runs overclocked at 2.1GHz without any issues

OvationPro works very well – if it weren’t, I wouldn’t have bought a 4té. Zap has always been somewhat troublesome on my former computers, reason why I eventually abandoned it. But a quick test shows that it loads and runs with no problem. I don’t use Messenger Pro, but since both the 4té and Messenger are RComp products, I’d be surprised if they don’t work together. In short, I haven’t yet come across a program that doesn’t work on the Pi4. But of course, I don’t use all of them.

Interestingly, !Enigma 1.40 (by Paul Reuvers) has always failed to run on my ARMiniX, causing a lot of ôfláôflá errors and freezes, but runs happily on the 4té.

But a quick test shows that it loads and runs with no problem.

It went through a period of not having any love. The current sticky plaster is a community effort, but it works… for now.

ARMiniX, causing a lot of ôfláôflá errors and freezes, but runs happily on the 4té.

Can’t say why it runs on one and not the other, but ofla errors implies that it has issues with null pointers, whatever machine it is running on.

It also implies that you’re still running a low vector version of RISC OS. There’s not really any need these days, now that RISC OS (high vector default) supports a compatibility page to help broken software keep on running.

It also implies that you’re still running a low vector version of RISC OS.

On both the ARMiniX and the 4té the ‘alignment exceptions’ are off. Is that what you mean?

It also implies that you’re still running a low vector version of RISC OS.

ARMX6 OS versions from RComp tend to be low vector ‘for compatibility’. You have to work a bit to load a high vector OS. Dunno about the 4té.

What does *Memory 0 give, Paul? My high vector ARMX6 has four words of FDFDFDFD then the !!!NULL.POINTER.DEREFERENCE!!!! string.

Another way of finding where the vectors are.

PRINT "Finding vectors"
SYS "OS_PlatformFeatures",0 TO vectors%
vectors%=vectors% AND (1<<20)
IF vectors% THEN
  PRINT "High vectors"
ELSE
  PRINT "Low vectors"
ENDIF

!Enigma 1.40 (by Paul Reuvers)

Enigma 1.70 starts up on the RPi400.

Although *memory 0 doesn’t have exactly the same output as on Stuarts ARMX6, Davids code reveals that my 4te uses High vectors. I would actually be surprised if it didn’t.