Drobe Launchpad | 'RISC OS Mobile' plans leaked

'RISC OS Mobile' plans leaked

Published on 1st Apr 2005, 00:05:00, source is drobe.co.uk
By Chris Williams

RISC OS on mobile phone [Updated] Midday disclaimer

A large software corporation is exploring the possibility of using RISC OS in mobile appliances, a source has revealed. Our insider, a drobe.co.uk reader, couldn't believe his luck when he was recently assigned to a top secret software R&D team and witnessed first hand Adjust32 running on various ARM powered mobile devices. It's understood that the gadgets are development models, provided by hardware partners to software companies to produce products and upgrades for.

Browsing the web on a pre-release mobile phone powered by RISC OS

Yesterday, we received videos and photos of the OS in action on mobile phone hardware, showing RISC OS booting up and running applications. Earlier this year, rumours were rife that the developers of RISC OS had won a substantial six figure deal to produce an evaluation version of "RISC OS Mobile", an extremely minimal version of Embedded RISC OS as seen on other hardware products.

The well placed source, who refused to divulge precisely who he worked for, said: "This is the real deal. So far, management has shown a lot of enthusiasm for RISC OS Mobile, and having come from a Windows CE background, it's a joy to be coding for RISC OS again. A lot of my fellow developers are pretty glad that we're considering a platform that's no fuss and no bloat."

Amusingly running Ovation, ironic given that it's a desktop publishing application

Explaining that the success of RISC OS Mobile relies on the recent efforts to abstract hardware support from the OS, he added: "It's amazing what can be done on such small devices. The anti-aliased fonts, modest licensing cost and low processor overhead make it ideal. The toolchain is lacking somewhat, but I'm looking forward to persuading my boss to let me take my RiscPC into work."

Although RISC OS Mobile is understood to be running a minimal build of RISC OS 4.41 with wireless and compact media device drivers, our source managed to enable enough modules to reach the familiar desktop, allowing him to browse the web and run selected software.

The developers of RISC OS were unable to immediately comment on RISC OS Mobile, although one programmer told us to wait and see at May's Wakefield.

Media
Download the MPEG video of the development mobile phone booting up, noticeably fast and running some familiar software (works in KinoAmp on RISC OS and other mainstream players)

Our insider insisted that the final end user product version will be a lot more polished, and will probably not feature the words 'RISC OS' any where for PR reasons - punters aren't expected to endear to a product with 'risk' in its name. The video was recorded hastily whilst at work, we believe, so apologies for the jerkiness. Below are some stills from the video:

Update at Midday, 1st April
Read our midday disclaimer

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