Portable RiscOS box: Clockworkpi

https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-rpi-cm3

“Does it run RiscOS?”

If it’s clockwork, why does it need batteries?

Which makes me think – Trevor Baylis developed (he’d say “invented” but I’d discount that on grounds of obviousness) a clockwork radio. Raspberry Pi’s power consumption surely is small enough it could be powered by a little clockwork generator too.

If it’s clockwork

I have long been thinking how good it would be not to have to buy those horrid polluting batteries, which are surely unnecessary if we have clockwork. It may have been an urban myth, but I am sure that I heard of some wise parent whose family had to pedal to power their TV.

family had to pedal to power their TV

Perfectly feasible, but whether anyone’s implemented it I don’t know. Just don’t try and pedal to run anything that uses a lot of power…

These things aren’t clockwork, i.e. a spring or descending weight mechanism proving power, they are wind up – a hand cranked generator recharges a battery.

Without the battery, you would have to be winding (or peddling) continuously, and if you slow down for a second it would crash.

Ah. I hadn’t even realized they had a hand cranked generator. I assumed you had to charge the batteries from the mains, I thought the “clockwork” tag was just a tradename.

Hand cranked generator and battery is a much better solution for radios, too, in general.