Nintendo 64 & Cube

I have both the above in great working condition. I know the 64 runs RISC OS and I wondered if it’s possible to somehow run say BBC Basic and/or other RISC applications rather than games on these old 90s monsters?

I know the 64 runs RISC OS

[citation needed]

Athough the Nintendo 64 has a MIPS R4300i processor, which is a RISC processor, I doubt it will run RISC OS. There is a big difference between a Reduced Instruction Set Computer processor and one that will run RISC OS which uses ARM code RISC instructions. Unless someone wrote an ARM instruction emulator for it!

Given that the N64 runs an 64bit NEC VR4300, which is basically a hacked around MIPS 3 core with a 32 bit bus (cheaper), the prospect of it being capable of running RISC OS is absolutely definitively zero.

Given that the N64 runs an 64bit NEC VR4300, which is basically a hacked around MIPS 3 core with a 32 bit bus (cheaper), the prospect of it being capable of running RISC OS is absolutely definitively zero.

Given that it has a MIPS 3 core I think there is a high likelihood it runs risc/os which as most people round here know is not RISC OS and risc/os has no implementation on ARM architecture processors.

[citations for links needed] – due mainly to the location of the links.

How about the GameBoy Advance? I heard that has an ARM processor. Would it be able to run any version of RISC OS at all? I mean, if you took the time to hack/port it to work with the GameBoy Advance hardware.

16.8 MHz ARM, 256k of RAM, and eight(?) buttons. You’d presumably need to run the OS from a cartridge. It might be possible…

RISC OS would need a serious slimming course for this. But that could be interesting for embedded electronic and micro-controllers… when Linux is not present. A kind of BBC MOS 32bit :)

How about the GameBoy Advance?

No MMU.

Potentially you could port RISC OS to an MMU-less system, but for applications to work the system would need some RAM to be available at the usual location of &8000. But the GBA doesn’t have any RAM at &8000, so no RISC OS port for you.

Good argument :)

Gamecube is PowerPC based so no go there either.

Besides most phones, tablets and set top boxes there are other things out there with an MMU and ARM architecture. The only one that comes to mind is the Palm Tungsten series of PDAs. I think the original Tungsten|T had an OMAP SoC.
What else had one. For the life of me I can’t think.

What else had one. For the life of me I can’t think.

Pretty much any PDA, surely? Especially clamshell ones with keyboards like the Psion, Sharp Zaurus, etc. Although maybe the earlier Psions managed to survive without an MMU. There was also a Psion Netbook port, but it never really went anywhere, and there are much better alternatives available now, both for netbook/laptop (Pi-Top) and PDA (Pandora/Pyra) form-factors.

Plus more games consoles – Nintendo 3DS + Switch, PS Vita. But something with a keyboard (and from a manufacturer that isn’t hostile towards the homebrew community) would obviously be better.

Although maybe the earlier Psions managed to survive without an MMU.

If by “earlier Psions” you mean the 3/3a range, they were based upon x86 architecture (a customised V30 core).

Plus more games consoles – Nintendo 3DS + Switch, PS Vita.

The 3DS can run a browser and video player with its three internal processors (dual core ARM11 and an ARM9), and 128MB (-32MB for the OS), it ought to be technically capable of running RISC OS; though good luck getting any sort of documentation. Oh, and with nothing that resembles USB, you’re going to need to design a UI that can work with thirteen buttons and a circular thingy.
The Vita is technically better, but again lacks a USB port and the expansion memory cards are proprietary.

Games consoles are a serious market. Over in the nutzoid leftpondian world, it is illegal to jailbreak or otherwise technically modify a games console.

With this in mind, it would be a far less onerous exercise to port RISC OS to a different ARM board (perhaps one based upon the A10, do we have sufficient docs on that?) than to waste any effort whatsoever thinking about games consoles…

…something like this, perhaps? Though maybe one provided by a company willing to offer more than the comically abysmal 30 day warranty that Pine seems to want to provide.

it is illegal to jailbreak or otherwise technically modify a games console

Maybe is the US, but it’s perfectly legal in the EU

Didn’t you realise American law applies everywhere? :-)

Seriously, though… yes, it is acceptable in the EU however when console makers are openly antagonistic towards the homebrew community and use little loopholes like “something on a web page viewable in the US falls under US jurisdiction” as an excuse to get information taken down, really seriously the only reason to go near a console is if you’re a fan of Mario or The Last Of Us…

Although maybe the earlier Psions managed to survive without an MMU.

If by “earlier Psions” you mean the 3/3a range, they were based upon x86 architecture (a customised V30 core).

Ah – I’d forgotten that the Series 3 used a completely different CPU architecture.