Castle and RISC OS Open announce release of RISC OS sources to the community
Posted by Andrew Hodgkinson Sat, 19 May 2007 07:08:00 GMT
Wakefield, 19 May 2007
Castle Technology Ltd (Castle) and RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL) are pleased to announce that they are now in a position to begin the release of RISC OS source code. This follows a previous announcement between the parties declaring their intention to make RISC OS sources available to as wider audience as possible. Since that announcement Castle and ROOL have been working to put into place the necessary source management infrastructure and accompanying licence agreement to enable the controlled release of the sources.
As of today ROOL are providing web access to the ‘official’ RISC OS source repository at Castle via the ROOL web site at http://www.riscosopen.org/. Official releases are available and maintained from this site. There are a variety of components which will be released in the first batch, details of which can be found on the ROOL web site. These are the first parts of RISC OS sources to be released to public, with more sources to be released on the ROOL site as they are processed.
Licensing of the released RISC OS software is being made available to third parties via a free of charge (FOC) Licence which gives an individual/company the right to download, modify and publish RISC OS source code provided it is not sold as part of a hardware product. Full details of the FOC licence are available from the Castle web site at http://www.castle-technology.co.uk/riscosbaselicence.htm. Details will also be available in the source archive.
Download Process: Please visit the sources page to download and install the build environment. Documentation inside the archives describes how to integrate the build with the AcornC/C++ tools. If you do not have the tools, then these can be obtained by contacting ROOL at info@riscosopen.org. Then download the sources of interest and build them. Users should be aware that this activity is in its early stages and that further documentation and sources will be made available over time. Developers are encouraged to feed back modified code to the ‘official’ source repository where it can be merged back into the source tree and released to all. For further information please refer to the documentation on the ROOL web site.
Representatives from ROOL and Castle will be available at the Wakefield 2007 show to answer questions.
Administration by ROOL of RISC OS is being performed on a not-for-profit (NFP) basis and is therefore dependent upon contributions from the community to help support the operating costs. Users can contribute via a donation mechanism on the ROOL web site. Given the NFP status of this activity ROOL will additionally be selling a selection of branded merchandise in order to raise funding at the Wakefield show.
Steve Revill, Director of ROOL commented, “This is a big day in the history of RISC OS. For the first time, ordinary developers and users will not only be able to look at the source code for their favourite OS, but they will be able to add to it in ways that have until now been impossible.” Steve added “At ROOL, we are very pleased to be a part of the process of opening-up access to the sources for many key RISC OS components. With the help and support of the RISC OS community, I am sure that there will be even more to follow. It is our sincere hope that this will stimulate the growth of our community and introduce a new era of development.”
Speaking today Jack Lillingston (Managing Director of Castle) said, “This step is a further major landmark in the development of the highly respected software platform. A primary objective of Castle and ROOL is to bring RISC OS software to a wider community and to encourage growth in both the RISC OS user base and the developer community.” Jack added, “This will be augmented by more rapid development of the software base and removal of critical barriers to use, normally associated with proprietary platforms.”
About RISC OS Open (ROOL)
In addition to managing the source opening activity, ROOL will provide services for customers wishing to deploy RISC OS commercially. ROOL will deliver value to its clients by being an expert in the design, development and integration of products built around ARM compatible processors. The core team of ROOL’s engineers originally formed the nucleus of Pace’s Cambridge Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) development team and previously worked for Acorn Computers. The experienced team is able to help partners and customers to quickly integrate, optimise and deploy efficient RISC OS based solutions in order to take advantage of the market leading MIPS per watt performance from the ARM architecture. ROOL are able to author software for an existing hardware design or develop a complete hardware and software solution. The engineering team has already developed and deployed RISC OS based products such as IP set-top boxes and desktop computers, including the IYONIX PC.
About RISC OS
RISC OS was designed in Cambridge, England by Acorn for their 32-bit ARM based Archimedes computer and was first released in 1987. RISC OS was specifically developed for the ARM core and its origins can be traced back to the original team that developed the processor architecture. In 1999 the rights to RISC OS were acquired by Pace and then in 2003, by the present owner, Castle.
The RISC OS platform has been deployed in over a million Consumer Electronics (CE) products. Product solutions based on RISC OS are sophisticated, proven, reliable and mature, having had over 600 man years of development to date. RISC OS products are universally recognised as faster, more reliable and more efficient than many comparable competitive products. However one consistent objection to the use of RISC OS has been the fact that it is proprietary. With today’s announcement, the parties believe that such an issue will no longer be a hindrance to its use.
