STEAM for RISC OS?

I’ve found myself with a large number of older (26 bit etc) games/applications from various websites over the years and having just added a 40Gb(!) torrent to this collection, I’m at a loss how to get this all organised and easy to play old software.

Would a program similar to STEAM be useful to anyone?

Browse through your collection: click run and it either unpacks the zip or mounts the ADF and runs the application or just runs it from your hdd if installed

Of course this is without the store part

ADFFS goes some way to achieving this, although is only so simple for legally re-distributable titles. If you install PackMan, you can install ADFFS and a number of re-released games which have lots of ‘secret sauce’ to make them work on a Pi (rather than an Archimedes 310).

Learn all about it here: https://forums.jaspp.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=14

I like the idea of STEASM-style simplicity. You only have to skim this forum to see tales of getting software X working on hardware Y, with module version Z… and these combinations are only obtainable by emailing people for zips, or downloading bits and pieces from various web sites. I’m all for making it idiot-proof.

Hmm perhaps something more like Lutris, with scripts for each version/OS for it to run on.

I would be all in on this – currently running legacy apps/games on hardware/software based editions of RISC OS, is a very hackneyed process, feels like the equivalent of using masking tape to stick bits of balsa wood together, in the hope it makes a good glider.

Quite ironic that ease of use was a key tenet of RISC OS in the past, now the simple act of running a game is like having a root canal using a rusty spoon.

is a very hackneyed process

How so? Usually it is a game, and some stuff that might need to be stopped into System if you don’t already have them installed.

now the simple act of running a game is like having a root canal using a rusty spoon.

Given we’re talking about ADFFS here, a good equivalent would be a game written for MS-DOS. How would you run that on a modern machine? Oh, right, you can’t unless you run it inside some sort of virtual environment like DOSbox…

This may be slightly out-of-date info, but last time I wanted to try a particular game with DOSBox, I was able to download a pre-built macOS application which I just double-clicked and the game started. Easy-peasy.

As I alluded to earlier, ADFFS has got the principle. If you have RISC OS 5.3, get PackMan, and just pick the games you want. A few clicks to choose, download and install. Simple.

In general, however, the land of RISC OS requires you to discover applications via gossip, and install them by downloading zip file(s) from various places. Then have some more fun dragging files about and deciding where they should go. Oh, and have a panic that version X of component Y might not work on application Z. I am not sure why this is preferred.