RISC OS 3 PRMs

Anyone from ROOL know what the licensing situation is with the PDF/HTML format RISC OS 3 PRMs, as supplied on the Castle C CDs? I know there’s a move to convert them to wiki, but in the meantime might it be feasible to make available the PDFs or HTML? I know they’re wildly out of date, but at least having the info in the public domain would be better than not.

The PDF/HTML format PRMs were created by RISCOS Ltd from the Framemaker Files supplied to us by Acorn / Element14. They are part and parcel of our rights to RISC OS. They are not wildly out of date, as they are a reference to RISC OS 3, which hasn’t changed in over 10 years. If (as I suspect) the ones on the C Cds, are simply our versions with a bit of mangling then the answer is they are not in the Public Domain. The RISC OS 3 PRM CD is still available to buy for just £6.50.

At risk of inciting riot – the pdf format documentation issued by Castle was (perhaps likewise) created from the framemaker files delivered as part of our deal with Pace. They are not, I believe, the same as the ROL ones (or a subcontractor really conned us – unlikely) BUT.. also are NOT in the public domain at this time.

I suspect that the CTL ones are essentially vanilla from Acorn/Pace, although of course there is the other stuff on the CTL website, etc and things relevant to RO5. I do know that ROL put a considerable amount of effort into corrections and improvements of their PRMs (even before consideration of RO4 material), so likely those are of significantly better quality, especially as a web format, and certainly compensation is justified.

The situation here is perhaps a bit unfortunate. Whilst there would be much value in a wiki format, the original PRMs remain a fantastic example of technical documentation, which the ROL HTML version does much to maintain, and might not survive well wikification – although you can put literal HTML into a wiki.

Thanks guys for clearing up the situation. Good to know that there’s a low-cost route for people to get hold of the electronic copies.

(In case anyone is confused, by public domain I meant accessible by all. I wasn’t implying anything about their copyright status. And Paul’s right, they’re perfectly valid as a reference to RISC OS 3, just not the last decade’s RO4, 5 or 6)

Paul i have sent an email to the ROL sales email address about how to buy the RISC OS 3 PRMs cd.