RISC OS 2 Kernel Source Code

Recently rediscovered

http://www.marutan.net/riscos2/

Hmm, I’ve had that kicking around for years. Has it been sanitised at all? If not, some of the comments can be…amusing.

Hmm, it looks like you’re missing a tonne of stuff though (consider the pmf and vdu subdirectories in the current sources; namely keyboard, osbyte, the entire VDU subsystem…).

Interesting, if you’ve got those bits I’d be happy to add them.

Yes, I have the services (PMF) and VDU code (note to self: in the 20180919 archive).

But… who will give permission to distribute them? ¹ When I was given the code, it was done more or less under penalty of death if I share, distribute, wet, crundle, fold, mutilate, or staple…

¹ Ownership of RISC OS 2? OH MY GOD! Run for the hills!

If anybody has a copy of the source to RISC OS 3.10 kicking around, I’d be interested to read through the self-test code. My A3000 and A5000 were fine, but I knew a guy who had to set the CMOS bit to disable the long system test as it almost always got stuck on a light blue screen ¹, and that was a machine with nothing usual added!

¹ A blue screen of death before blue screens of death existed – see how Acorn were in the forefront back then? ;-)

But… who will give permission to distribute them?

Technically no-one, but this is not because they don’t wish to give it, more that they most likely no longer exist or are no longer aware they own any rights to it.

I have checked with the more recent groups and they confirmed they didn’t hold any rights to it and had no interest in blocking me.

As such I was willing to take the chance for such historic code.

If anybody has a copy of the source to RISC OS 3.10 kicking around

My advice to anyone with any code such as this, if nothing else, make sure you have extremely good backups of it. At this stage you may well be the only person with extant copies.

At this stage, stick it up, there’s no one left to complain.

My advice to anyone in possession of “lost” RISC OS source trees – of any vintage – is to first offer them to the copyright holders, currently RISC OS Developments Ltd. It’s their decision how they should be redistributed, and they’re generally nice guys who are likely to turn a blind eye to how you came to have them.

Think of it like “lost” episodes of Doctor Who. The BBC wiped their only copies of lots of them back in the 1970s, but they still own the copyright to them, and they have the sole right to make public releases of any episodes that are found decades later in a mislabelled film can in the basement of a disused cinema.

It’s true, the source code as it was within Acorn/Pace was full of swear words and criticisms of other companies and named individuals. At the point when ROOL started distributing the RISC OS CVS tree, and Castle was the copyright holder, it was agreed that this could only be done on condition that we read through it all and sanitised it, for fear of opening up either party to charges of libel or worse. It’s one thing to file something as it is in a museum or similar, as a matter of historical record, but quite another putting it on a website, which is effectively publishing it worldwide.

Now that RISC OS Developments are the copyright holders, they may take a different position, but only they can say.

At this stage, stick it up, there’s no one left to complain.

Ah, the age old principle of abandonware. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work like that.

they’re generally nice guys who are likely to turn a blind eye to how you came to have them.

Not really up to them how I came to have it, it’s more their concern what I do with it next.

was full of swear words and criticisms of other companies and named individuals.

Oh yes. That was my primary concern, but I didn’t wish to highlight it. I’m not that bothered by “intellectual property” or whatever in the code, as it’s practically the same thing as is released to the public.
But the comments…they’re a whole different proposition. Amusing as hell in parts ¹ but never intended to see the light of day.

I sent an email to ROOL (I forgot about ROD, duh)… last night? this morning? I forget. Will see what they say, if they say.

Now that RISC OS Developments are the copyright holders,

Yeah, I do recall saying “run for the hills”. ;-p

¹ My personal favourite is the long slap down of the keyboard hardware in the keyboard IRQ handler.

Message sent to RODev, I’ve also offered to help sanitise the source if they’re interested. We’ll see……

With a slightly more official ROOL hat on, I should probably say that we only audited the versions in CVS (and now GitLab), and can’t warranty anything about other versions. If you’re thinking of publishing, it’s worth making sure that there aren’t other copyright holders involved (for example, I’ve been reminded that MSDW may have some rights to early RISC OS versions – it’s up to you to establish who owns what).

I’ve been reminded that MSDW may have some rights to early RISC OS versions

MSDW? Morgan Stanley Dean Witter? WTF have they got to do with it? The vultures picking over the rotting carcass of Olivetti?
There I was thinking more along the lines of Aaron or… what was his name… Paul something?

it’s up to you to establish who owns what

I’ll wait to see what RODev says. If it’s “not us” or “dunno”, I’ll just let it drop. It’s purely a hysterical interest thing so not worth loosing sleep over. I already have quite enough of paperwork with the NatWest managing to receive all the documentation for closing down my mother’s account and losing the enclosed copy of my passport which is “a certified identity document”, which is frankly a pain in the ass from another country. So I have to go back to my bank here (who seem to think the NatWest are nuts, as them making a copy doesn’t really prove anything) and ask them to do it again. I will, of course, be in full sarcasm mode.

As for the copy in the wild… Other Man. ;-)

Not really up to them how I came to have it, it’s more their concern what I do with it next.

Like if someone didn’t lock down the permissions on an FTP server and a casual user downloaded everything they could see…

Omnibus (with a sort of London bus type icon) for example.

They probably ought to have deleted it long ago, then again they probably can’t recall exactly where it’s stashed.

Re: MSDW – this gives a reasonable summary:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/04/29/arm_denies_role_in_acorn/

At some point MSDW owned Acorn lock-stock-and-barrel and then sold off the DSP piece (element 14, which then got bought at a hugely inflated price by Broadcom) and the set top box business (Pace, but RISC OS went that way).

The question is, what was left in the bit that MSDW had? It’s quite possible there was a rump of the business there that Pace and E14 didn’t want (liabilities for supporting ancient OS versions could well be one of those things)

Hum… but a closed source version, free, would be still possible.
A good way to enhance some 3.1 kernel features for emulators.

Anyway, I always thought that the ROM should be free, at least under RISC OS. Archiemu + a Configure frontend, and you’ll have a very good solution for old software. The same with BBC emulator and ROMS.

Hum… but a closed source version, free, would be still possible.

Not really. It’s pretty much just the kernel and some filesystem bits; none of which are particularly more advanced than Arthur.
The big changes happened for RISC OS 3.

A good way to enhance some 3.1 kernel features for emulators.

It’s RISC OS TWO. If anybody has 3.1, they aren’t saying.

I always thought that the ROM should be free

I doubt anybody would object to it being free, given the latest is both free and open source. The problem is working out who to ask.

BTW, David, is BFMTV right wing? It seems like every time I see it on the TV at work, they’re interviewing Marine Le Pen ¹ (or won’t the other channels have her?).

¹ France’s version of Farage, only better looking ² and less of an ass.

² Not saying that because she’s a she – Thatcher is better looking than Farage, even now as a seven year old corpse…

The question is, what was left in the bit that MSDW had?

Oh what a mess.

Shame though. There might be official sources for some of the 6502 era stuff kicking around that nobody remembers.

I’m still hoping for the FileStore (E01S) source code…but to be honest it’s about the same level of hope as “winning the lottery”.

It’s RISC OS TWO. If anybody has 3.1, they aren’t saying.

I was talking of the possibility to get RISC OS < 5 code.

BTW, David, is BFMTV right wing?

TV free home :)

AIUI The rights to RISC OS 3.8 and some ancillary software (Disc components used by 3.8) went from Acorn to Pace to Castle to ROD
Pre RISC OS 3.8 and other IPR, Acorn owned would have ended up at MSDW. I think the company owning the rights was eventually liquidated. MSDW may have moved any remaining IPR to another company (They probably didn’t think they had any) if they didn’t transfer them the assets ‘rights’ will have ended up at the Treasuries Solicitors (Bona Vacantia)
But it gets quite a bit more complicated if we start to talk about the software that was on a standard Acorn hard drive. Some of the software was written by Acorn employees in their own time and they had the copyright. They granted Acorn the rights to include it on a Hard Drive. I doubt Acorn would have had the rights to pass it on to a third party.