Where to start?

Long time observer, first time poster. Be gentle, I bruise easily.

It’s over 15 years since I last did anything on a RISC OS system. My interest has been rekindled by discovering some very old development disks in the attic, subsequently picking up an A7000 cheap at a car-boot sale, and finding that the disks are still readable. Unfortunately the source doesn’t compile, but it was written in 1992, using I-can’t-remember-which compiler, and involved some serial port hackery to read multiplexed serial data from a number of data loggers. I’d like to get it running again, for old times sake, but I doubt that I will.

Aaaanyway, I could do with a programming project that is completely unconnected with my day job (also programming), and having had a play with RISC OS 3.7 on this A7000, I’ve fallen in love with it again, even if I can barely remember anything about ARM programming.

So, the question is: what should I ask Santa to buy me for Christmas? I was thinking of an Iyonix, but I’m wondering whether I should get a BeagleBoard or a Raspberry Pi.

Suggestions?

Don’t bother with an Iyonix; they have been out of production for several years, and can be temperamental. (I’m typing this on one; it’s my main machine.)

The BeagleBoard xM is a good choice; it has all the interfaces you need for normal computing (note that there is no analogue video out worth bothering with; you need a monitor with DVI-D or HDMI input capability), and there’s plenty of scope for hardware expansion if you wish. It is, however, a bare board, so you will probably need to procure or make some sort of case for it. Acrylic cases are available off the shelf; you can also pay rather more and buy the ARMini, which is fully cased and ready to go. RISC OS is pretty well developed for the BBxM and BB. (I also have a BeagleBoard and a BeagleBoard xM just to the right of me.)

The Raspberry Pi is so cheap you can have several. Again it’s a bare board, as far as I know. Expansion capability is not quite as extensive as the BBs. RISC OS is racing to arrive, fully enough formed, at the same time as the RPi.

I’m going to jump in here a bit..

My last dalliance with RISC OS was an A9 Home, kind of liked it, but was just too limited. If I was to get a BeagleBoard xM, what important stuff is missing? For me, networking is critical, and of course video. Not that bothered even about sound.

How are things with the Firefox/Gecko port? I’ve got some apps I’d love to port to RISC OS, but I’d need a good web renderer, including strong Javascript support.

Cheers

Garry

Thanks for your advice.

I just noticed an Iyonix on eBay that went for £300. I don’t want to pay £300 for second-hand kit if I can avoid it. I’ve been reading the xM spec this evening, and it really looks rather nice, and very reasonably priced. I have a monitor which speaks DVI-D, so that’s not a problem, and some project boxes in the attic, so putting clothes on it should be easy enough.

Boot from uSD… ok. What about hard drive storage? I have a WD external drive (USB2.0, 1TB) that I’m not using at the moment.

What about hard drive storage? I have a WD external drive (USB2.0, 1TB) that I’m not using at the moment.

That would do fine. I’m currently using a Seagate portable 250 GB USB2 drive. You’ll never fill 1 TB up with RISC OS :-)

I think you’ll have to format the drive down to 256 GB, as that’s the maximum size of drive that RISC OS can address.

No, 1TB is a bit of overkill, I suppose. But these days it seems to be cheaper to buy enormous drives than small ones.

Time to compose my letter to Santa, I think.

If I was to get a BeagleBoard xM, what important stuff is missing? For me, networking is critical, and of course video.

You get networking built in; you get DVI-D or HDMI video out, though you don’t get a full choice of refresh rates; the maximum pixel rate is rather lower than you’d expect from a PC graphics card. As for the rest, you’ll have to list what is important to you, then we can say yea or nay.

Not that bothered even about sound.

You get audio out anyway, and audio in hardware is there (line level only), but there is no audio in driver for RISC OS.

audio in hardware is there (line level only), but there is no audio in driver for RISC OS.

There’s also an audio in/out I2S header (P18) but no driver for that exists yet either.

I’ll just disagree with Dave a little on the Iyonix. If you can get a cheap one, they’re great machines. I’ve never had a tempermental one, and I’ve currently got three in day to day use.

But certainly the newer, smaller, boards represent better value for money. And in many areas are faster than the Iyonix too.

I have some experience with the Iyonix and A9 Home, I really liked the Iyonix, it was very solid. The A9 was (and is) a bit beta, and despite promises, updates never came. I think £300 for an Iyonix is actually pretty good.

One more question, I understand RISC OS can sort of run on an Always Innovating Touchbook, is the Wifi functional? If video, wifi and storage worked, it would be all I needed.

Touchbook, is the Wifi functional?

’fraid not. There are some specs on the AI site. The main thread is RISC OS Build On Touchbook.

video, wifi and storage

What do you mean by video? Storage is OK via a (slim) internal flash drive. When the SD card drivers are complete, they’ll provide access to additional storage. I use the Touch Book on a fairly regular basis, but I’d say it could still be considered as ‘beta’ hardware in some respects… and it’s not apparent whether it will or won’t re-emerge as a more finished product in the future.

Sorry, I just meant video, as in video card, i.e. the display works at the native resolution, and not painfully slow or flickery or anything like that.

I’m interested you use one regularly, it looks like a good tablet alternative, if it had maybe a better browser and wifi, I could probably replace my Chromebook with one.

if it had maybe a better browser and wifi, I could probably replace my Chromebook with one.

I suspect those two will be sticking points for a while, however it will run several other operating systems, so a dual boot system would seem the logical answer.

not painfully slow or flickery

Seems fine to me.

several other operating systems

I’ve only really tried AIOS and RISC OS, as Android didn’t seem to be correctly set-up (I bought the TB s/h and never tried a fresh install). AIOS is noticeably less responsive than RO, which is to be expected on a single-core ARM, I guess.

Fair enough, I’d love to see WebKit on RISC OS, would transfer it as a platform for me. I completely lack the experience to consider a port though.