RISC OS 5.20 (stable) is now available
Posted by Steve Revill Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:00:00 GMT
RISC OS Open Limited (ROOL) are pleased to announce the immediate release of the latest stable RISC OS ROM release, it incorporates a massive 625 changes for the Tungsten platform (used in the IYONIX pc from Castle Technology) and 654 changes for the OMAP3 platform (used in the ARMini from RComp).
For the first time the stable release includes the IOMD platform (used in Acorn’s Risc PC, A7000, and A7000+), and users can purchase this on physical ROMs for their computer too.
You can download RISC OS 5.20 free of charge from the ROOL downloads page and there are some brief upgrade instructions on this wiki page
This software is subject to continual improvement and work has already commenced on RISC OS 5.21! Using the convention of even numbers for stable editions and odd numbers for development editions, users can feedback any issues seen to make it into the next version.
Before you start
RISC OS is more than just a ROM image. The disc based components have also been substantially overhauled with over 632 changes, as well as incorporating theme designs as featured in RISC OS 3, Ursula, the Iyonix, and Raspberry Pi to customise the way the applications look.
One important change to note is the streamlining of !Boot and resolution of a number of longstanding defects. Therefore, as a minimum, you must replace the !Boot directory.
Fortunately the new !Boot is backwards compatible with earlier ROM based versions of RISC OS (right back to RISC OS 3.10), so it is suggested to install the new !Boot first and be happy that it works before proceeding to upgrade the OS ROM.
Known incompatibilities
A bug fix to the C library means that anyone using EasiWriter or TechWriter from before version 8.63 will need to upgrade. Contact MW Software to get a newer version.
Some applications erroneously do a *ICONSPRITES command but don’t supply any sprites, this is now reported as an error. You should either design and add some icons (in a file called !Sprites), contact the application author to obtain the missing icons, or comment out the command with a ‘|’ character in the respective obey files.
Notes for the IYONIX pc
The new ROM image should be able to upgrade all versions of RISC OS from version 5.07 or later and is provided with a flash programming tool (which also takes a backup of the previous version just incase you wish to go back).
As the ROM now includes extra modules, some of the module location numbers have changed. Because the *UNPLUG settings only remember the module location numbers you may need to review any unplugged modules after the upgrade to ensure the desired ones are unplugged, and that crucial modules are not left unplugged by mistake.
A softloading version allows compatibility testing prior to reflashing the onboard memory chip.
Notes for users of Beagleboard and derivatives
Simply replace the file called “riscos” on the SD memory card, or rerun !SDCreate which is included in the download with the development editions.
As the ROM now includes extra modules, some of the module location numbers have changed. Because the *UNPLUG settings only remember the module location numbers you may need to review any unplugged modules after the upgrade to ensure the desired ones are unplugged, and that crucial modules are not left unplugged by mistake.
Notes for the ARMini
RComp will be contacting owners with details to guide them through installing the new version.
Notes for the Risc PC, A7000, A7000+
The ROM sets include a CD-ROM which will update the disc based software for you, and guide you through the rest of the installation process.
Bandwidth costs money
Putting together this latest release takes considerable time and effort, as well as using the bandwidth allocation for the server that this website runs on. Anyone downloading RISC OS 5.20 is encouraged to donate to one of the open bounty scheme items to help fund changes into the future, we suggest a minimum donation of £5 would be apt.
An excellent and comprehensive explanation.
The downloads page still has no reference to v5.20, just 5.19, 5.19, & 5.21. Is this a cache problem somewhere, or a web page problem?
Will there be a ‘stable’ version of HardDisc4 available?
The 5.20 summary pages are indeed excellent!
Captain Muppet here… this news post was supposed to be ‘draft’ and not released yet! I’m still working on the sales and download pages. Keep watching…!
Fantastic!
Everything should be live and correct on the site now. Please let us know ASAP if you spot any problems with the new 5.20 pages.
If you have any problems with 5.20 itself, then the best advice is to report stuff on our Forums
Before you start … Therefore, as a minimum, you must replace the !Boot directory.
With what? An empty !Boot which is filled by !ROM520 or by something else? Sorry, this bit is not clear.
Great balls of fire! Well done ROOL and all other contributors. I will be buying the CD or donating, may be both.
But, no mention of Pandaboard or OMAP4. :-(
With the stuff from the stable HardDisc4 image. E.g. move your old !Boot to one side and put the new one in there, then pull your old bits across. I’m afraid this step isn’t very easy but it’s unfortunately the way things are.
Maybe in future we’ll modify the whole RISC OS boot sequence to be easier to upgrade…
Correct – there’s no ‘stable’ build for them. What they would require is some respected champion to step forward and do all of the requisite testing to give a ‘stable’ build their stamp of approval.
Are you saying that the bug reports for OMAP4 are not being acted upon? Surely there’s a lot of beta testing going on. I didn’t know there was no-one actually collating it and deciding what work was needed to get it stable. We need a ‘road map’ for OMAP4 so we at least know how much work is needed. For example the problems with sound (pitch and timing) on OMAP4. I know a ‘to do’ list is sometimes an excuse for doing the work! But we don’t have a ‘to-do’ list even?
He’s not saying that they’re not being acted upon, just that (a) they’re not being guaranteed to be acted upon, and (b) there’s no formal testing taking place.
We have parts of a to-do list, but not a full to-do list. This is because nobody’s stepped forwards to do a round of “let’s get this ready for a stable release” testing.
Yes, the pattern up to now seems to be someone with a strong vested interest in a given platform – usually a commercial interest – steps forward and says “I will work with ROOL through the test cycles required to arrive at what I am prepared to declare as being a ‘stable’ build”. For the Iyonix, that was Castle (for obvious reasons), for the ARMini (BeagleBoard) it was RComp and for the IOMD machines it’s Sprow/ROOL. We’d need someone to do similar for the Raspberry Pi and OMAP4 platforms before we could release a ‘stable’ (even-numbered) RISC OS build.
What kind of help do you need with the test cycles? Doing manual testing? Running automated tests (unlikely I guess)? Defining test cases?
A little more information might help get more people involved.
What is involved in the testing? If it is a question of time, I have
plenty. My feeling is that there are (a small number of) known issues
which prevent a stable release, that no amount of testing will cure.
I am experienced in assembly programming and BASIC but C is a closed
book to me. I can manage to compile a ROM by following instructions.
If there is anything I can do to help let me know.
I have also volunteered to help with news postings (months ago) and to
update the BBC BASIC Reference Manual (at the Kenilworth show) but in
each case had no reply. The news posting one was in response to a call
for volunteers.
My background is mechanical engineering but I did a lot of technical
writing/reviewing in my career.
FWIW I did offer to do the OMAP4 testing, but I was told that overall the feeling was that managing the release for the current platforms was enough, and OMAP4 was still a bit too new to the build system to be quite suitable for 5.20. I suspect it is a case that 5.22 will be the first even-number OMAP 4 build.
For example, from what I’m told by Willi, there’s still a fair bit of stuff that hasn’t made it from his codebase to the ROOL CVS, so until all that is sync’d up and sorted, it would have been foolish to produce a 5.20. And that would have delayed 5.20 for everyone else.
I think it’s safe to say that 5.22 will have a stable build for both OMAP4 and Raspberry Pi.
Aren’t the RPi Foundation and/or its commercial resellers interested in doing this for the RPi?
Is there a stable build for the RPi yet?
I see the RaspberryPi site’s download page still has an RC. Perhaps there are still tweaks being made for the Pi, or perhaps it just needs final packaging into an appropriate final distribution?