Support forum

Bearing in mind the increasing numbers of users who are posting here because they are having trouble getting their hardware running, or are having problems with using (as opposed to developing) the OS, would it be appropriate to create a new forum for this kind of high-level peer-to-peer technical support instead of dumping it all in “General”?

Might be a good idea.

Quite simply – yes!

Very good idea Martin.

Given that the bar is still far too high for someone who is completely new (you never know it might happen) to RISC OS being able to understand what is going on, a support area is vital

“Completely new” Hmmm, I’m sure I’ve seen a user or two that had never seen RO in action before in these forums.
A trawl of the Pi forums shows interest building and once word is out that the OS boots virtually instantaneously it will more than teachers looking for interesting items for their pupils.

Be prepared.
In recent years RO used to be the OS that ran on slow hardware that cost a lot. RO kit now seems to range from 25 quid and a download through to 599 quid depending on the robustness of your pocket.

You might see a programmer or two.

Might be a good idea.

Agreed. I have tried to make the ‘help’ page for the Raspberry Pi rom as simple as possible. There are certainly new users now appearing on the Raspberry Pi forum under the ‘operating system/RISC OS’ tab.

OK:

https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/11