Newbie question about ROS5 upgrade

Hi
I have a RiscPC strongarm 233 Mhz which currently has a 4.02 rom with a 4.02 system installed on the hard disk. I would like to update this machine with RISC OS 5 ROMs, as I am looking for good compatibility with ADFFS. My understanding is that RISC OS 5 is the most ADFFS compatible OS on the Risc PC.
I would like to order the physical ROMs, but I have two questions:

I understand that I need to use the HardDisc4 file to update my system, but I don’t understand what I actually need to do with this file. I thought it was a complete hard disk image, but apparently that’s not the case. What should I actually do with this file? I’m not a very advanced RISC OS user, I come from the Amiga world, sorry if the question look strange.

I understand that I also need to update my network card driver. I have an Icubed card

https://i.postimg.cc/SKHpHGc3/IMG-0743.jpg

Is it supported? If so, what do I have to do to update the card?

Thanks for your help!

I have an Icubed card […] Is it supported? If so, what do I have to do to update the card?

Yes, the i-Cubed NICs are amongst those supported. It’s also worth reading the ROM buyer’s guide if you haven’t done so already.

I understand that I need to use the HardDisc4 file to update my system, but I don’t understand what I actually need to do with this file. I thought it was a complete hard disk image, but apparently that’s not the case. What should I actually do with this file? I’m not a very advanced RISC OS user, I come from the Amiga world, sorry if the question look strange.

If you’re not overly familiar with how RISC OS fits together I’d probably suggest taking things in small steps rather than going direct to replacing the system ROMs and disc contents.

Something like:

1. Get the PlingSystem update and install that
2. Reboot (still on RISC OS 4.02), that’ll get you an updated C Library at the very least, check with *Help SharedCLibrary
3. Now download the NIC drivers and initially just load that from disc (by *Unplug EtherH the one on the NIC itself)
4. Reboot (still on RISC OS 4.02), check you’re now using the newer EtherH with *Help EtherH
5. You could now program that NIC driver into flash, that will be needed before going to RISC OS 5 since the loader originally shipped in flash is not 32 bit compatible
6. Try softloading RISC OS 5
7. Install the ROM version of RISC OS 5

I’ve been a bit vague about point 6 because it’s expert skill level to deal with the computer starting running RISC OS 4.02 in 26 bit mode, getting far enough through the boot sequence to softload RISC OS 5, then restarting in 32 bit mode with the same boot sequence.

In many ways if you’re just interested in running a specific application (ADFFS) then jumping straight to step 7 is simpler as you’d replace the entire boot sequence and only ever be booting RISC OS 5 from ROM, which is far simpler. But steps 1-5 are worth doing anyway to become familiar with how things hang together, and even if you don’t decide to go any further at least you’ve ended up with a slightly updated system.

Whilst ADFFS is an amazing piece of software, and may well be the best way to run games on that machine, putting RISC OS 5 ROMs in it removes your ability to run any older 26bit software without ADFFS.

Back in the day, most games were usable natively, either directly or via GameOn/StrongGuard, although to be fair, ADFFS allows some Arch-era games to work that never did with StrongGuard.

So, assuming ADFFS runs every program you want, you’re all set. But, if there are other 26bit applications that you wanted to run (perhaps non-game programs?) then you lose the ability to do so natively, which is a major reason to run a RiscPC rather than a cheap Raspberry Pi (which makes a great ADFFS platform for a LOT less money).

Sprow’s advice is absolutely correct, however, but just be aware of what you’re doing before you replace your RO4 ROMs. My own RiscPCs still run 4.02 / 4.39 for example, as that can run 26 and 32bit software without needing emulation. But RO5 might well give better ADFFS handling – check with Jon Abbott about how well it runs on that hardware – I’ve never used it on Acorn-era systems.

I’ve already answered the initial query on StarDot. Namely get a Pi for gaming, but if it must be a Risc PC, use RO3.71 ROMS. Anything else can then be softloaded if necessary.

Nobody to my knowledge uses ADFFS on a RiscPC, so it doesn’t see a lot of testing. I suspect there’s a lot of unreported bugs, both in ADFFS, the game scripts and the packages – which aren’t an issue on ARMv5+ systems as they’re the main target platform for the project.

Hi, thanks all for the answers. Yes, Jon is very helpful about ADFFS on my RiscPC, I opened a thread on Stardot
https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=421579#p421579

My goal is to launch those old games on my RiscPC, because I like the idea of the legacy machine still used. I meanwhile tried ADFFS on my Pi400, and I confirm that everything works like a charm on this platform (what still sounds weird to me, after all, how a newer machine that was never built with the idea to be legacy compatible with the RiscPC / Archimedes platform can perform better in compatibility area that the real legacy device, but I’m biased, as I come from the Amiga world).

Now I ordered a 3.7 ROM set to see if the incompatibilities comes from RISC OS 4.x, what is suspected, and I would like to make the same testing with RISC OS 5, for the sake of testing :-)

But the valuable information I got here is that actually ADFFS isn’t the only one possibility to make old games launchable on the RiscPC, I learned here the existence of GameOn and StrongGuard. I will investigate this path too.

I think that my main misunderstanding was to think that ADFFS was developed for Risc PC too, now I understand that the main target is the Pi. I assumed this, because on my Archimedes 2010, I have a CF installed with many games, and ADFFS is present too and used to launch those games. To me, if ADFFS was used on the Archimedes to launch games, it was assumed that it’s the same on the Risc PC. But at this time, I saw ADFFS as a floppy emulator, not understanding that it goes far more deeper than this.

Thanks to all!

What you could try on the RPC is download the latest HD file use SparkFS to decode it and set your old !Boot dir to 2Boot and then see if all works on RO4.

Then if you want download & softload RO5
and see what works.

To help with 26bit only progs like Impression – there is Aemulor prog for RPC.

[Edit]
Woops

thanks for the tip!

There were also quite a few patches produced for SA/RO4 machines to run old games. For example, the Krisalis Gold CD that we produced had patches to make every Krisalis game (and there were quite a few) work on a RISC OS 4 RPC with StrongArm. I think Jon can provide those (if he doesn’t already) as I provided him with all that when we sorted out the rights a few years back. Otherwise, I may have one or two of the CDs in the bottom of a box in the office.

There was also a (dutch?) website with a lot of SA/RO4 games patches. Ah, that’s right, Theo van der Boogaert. The best I can offer is…

https://web.archive.org/web/20050206100142/http://home.wanadoo.nl/tvdb/

I think there were more produced – a lot of the 4th Dimension games were patched for RO4/StrongARM.

The ones that I think remained troublesome were some of the RISC OS 2 era ones like the Eterna range, and some of the more evil copy protection systems.

there is Amulator prog

Aemulor amusingly explodes into itty bitty pieces when you ask it to run 1stWord+ or AcornDTP.
Given both came from the same place (IIRC), I wonder what they’re doing that’s weird and upsetting Aemulor. I mean, if it can run ArtWorks and Impression, it should not be fazed by something as simple as 1stWord+.

in the bottom of a box in the office.

On a completely unrelated note, does anybody happen to have any instructions for EDWORD2 lurking at the bottom of a box?

Aemulor amusingly explodes into itty bitty pieces when you ask it to run 1stWord+ or AcornDTP.

I don’t think there is anything particular hideous in the portable C of 1stWord+, although there could be some self modifying stuff in the assembler of AcornDTP, as was often the fashion.

However, what is probably tripping things up is the ancient compression of the !RunImages. The current AIF loader or the xpand util wont handle it, but luckly the uncompressAIF source which I provide with ARMalyser will. Replace !RunImage with it’s uncompressed version and see if that works.

@ Andrew Rawnsley:
This is a very precious information, looks like this CD is exactly what I need! And thanks for the link, I will give a try. I would be very happy if you could sell me one CD, if it’s possible!