Pros and Cons of a RiscPC RO5

I understand there’s a thread on the Select list about this, some of it not very well informed by the looks of things. With that in mind, I’d like to assemble an exact list of pros on cons of RISC OS 5 on a real RiscPC. Certainly, the biggest advantage is its working with RPCEmu, but apart from that, my consideration here is with the many owners of real RiscPCs, who either have RO4, or who would like to move on for Select for what ever reason.

It’s clear that a RO5 on RiscPCs would not be for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth while. RiscPC owners form the single largest group of RISC OS users.

Cons:

The biggest problem here is podule code. In particular, it’s possible that ViewFinder might never work properly under a 32-bit RO5 on RiscPCs. Also, the other numerous legacy podules – RapIDE, other IDE cards. It might however, be possible to get 32-bit versions of software for Unipod/VPod, if STD were to be coaxed, and certainly of the Castle USB podule.

Adrian has mentioned that Aemulor might be able to run some of this code, but I suspect that VF might be beyond its reach.

The second obvious problem is legacy 26-bit software. Likely most RPC owners have a great deal of it, although most of most used software has long since been 32-bitted, so there shouldn’t be any surprises here compared to those moving to Iyonix/A9. For the rest, Aemulor can run a great deal of this code.

Loss of Select/Adjust functionality.

You would probably have to replace your Boot sequence with a RO5 one.

Pros:

More effective use of memory for shared libraries/dynamic areas/etc.

Ability to actually see inside the OS you’re running, and examine the sources if need be.

Benefits of general ongoing RO5 improvements.

Possible revival of interest in legacy users who now have an OS they can upgrade to for free.

In my opinion another big pro is simply the potential of having the majority of the RISC OS userbase on the same OS. Yes, lots of podules and other things would become redundant but I think a significant number of remaining RiscPC users would move on to RO5 just to be a part of an OS that’s at last evolving again.

Then there’s all those cheap 30 quid RiscPCs floating around eBay to get people up and running…