End User

I have been using RISC OS on my Raspberry Pi which I have had for about a month now. Previously my use of RISC OS was via emulation on a PC. I know its alpha and freezes occasionally, but that aside its still quite fun to use. I can put up with the odd reboot, but it will be nice when the release version is available

I’m really loving running RISC OS on the Pi and feel that I would like to contribute in some way to the project. I’m a nurse and don’t have a technical background, so no real development skills. Is there anything I can do as a basic user to help with testing or maybe with the documentation?

You probably saw this coming, but one thing you can do is donate to the bounties. I know begging initiatives in the RISC OS community have a rather ignoble record, but we’re all hoping really hard that some of them will eventually be taken up by developers.

As for documentation, I believe a new version of the Welcome Guide is in the works, so the only documentation we really need is entirely technical in nature. But there’s definitely demand for testing, specifically on the Raspberry Pi.

Hi Martin. I’m sure contributing financially would be an important help. I certainly intend to when I can afford to but right now I have just finished university and am waiting for my registration to be sorted out so I can look for a job.

I’ll have a look at the testing thread later and see if there is anything I can help with.

Cheers.

Actually, Rebecca, there is something you can help with right away.

Just use RISC OS. If anything looks odd, strange, inconsistent… talk to us about it.

The problem we have is that most of the people around these parts are of nerdy persuasion; so stuff that seems obvious or logical to us may not be so clear to everybody else.

I will give an example. I have a little digital video recorder that records stuff off TV to an SD card. There are some file management functions built in. You go to select a file, you choose “Copy”… and nothing happens!
You see, because the thing was put together by geeks, they figured to “copy” the file and “paste” it someplace else; but I rather think normal people might expect something to happen when they choose to copy a file.

So… please… use RISC OS and let us know what you think and if things can be improved or clarified.

Just use RISC OS. If anything looks odd, strange, inconsistent… talk to us about it.

Absolutely – I’ve come and gone from the little RISC OS scene over the years but in the last while (thanks to ROOL, Jeffrey, the Pi and plenty of others…) there’s been lots of activity and it’s been great just hearing people playing around with this stuff and trying stuff out and improving things here and there.

I’m pretty sure you’d be very welcome as a proof reader for all sorts of things. As has been mentioned before countless times, one problem with the ROOL site as a whole is that it’s a little too leaning towards the technical. I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t be hosting all that stuff, but from the PoV of a newbie to RISC OS or even someone who’s familiar with it but not very technical, it’s pretty hard-going. What I would love is for someone to review the site from that angle and come up with a list of suggestions for what additional information might benefit those users, where it should be and how navigation through the site could be improved. That’s the sort of thing that could usefully be a new forum thread that everyone chucks their thoughts into the mix. And with any luck, we might find some time to actually implement some of the changes!

Hi Steve. I can do that. Will start having a look tomorrow. I have a couple of things that annoy me a little about the current distribution. I’m not sure if they are actually bugs as such but they are quite irritating. Is there an appropriate thread to post in?

I’m pretty sure you’d be very welcome as a proof reader for all sorts of things.

I’d never really thought about the proof reading aspect before. I will prod the wife and see whether she wants to “play” – She’s a trained proof reader.

She’s a trained proof reader.

Excellent. A rare and highly valuable resource that is woefully misunderstood and under appreciated.

But then I’m told all wives are.

Is there an appropriate thread to post in?

Feel free to create one somewhere. “ROOL site usability” or something like that.