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RISC OS News Article
Wakefield photos and gossip
Published: 15th May 2004, 15:11:42GMT  Source: drobe.co.uk
By Chris Williams
Page 1 of 1
The fun has begun
Wakefield 2004 Earlier today, drobe.co.uk webmaster Ian visited the Wakefield show for a while and took some photos as the first day of the weekend long event unfolded. Already news and gossip is seeping to the outside world, and most people we've spoken to have described the show as "busy".

Excuse the lack of thumbanils, we'll gallerise these in time. Notable photos include: Ben Dooks from Simtec, working hard recently to finish UniPod drivers... A glowing Iyonix... Qercus editor, John Cartmell looking happy... NetBSD stand, bringing NetBSD ever closer to the Iyonix... Drobe editor Peter Naulls manning his stand... "I'll put it on the gold card"... The new A75 native hardware... UniPod on display... Castle and APDL stands... Overhead view of the show... And more photos to follow, of course, plus there's Iconbar's live roving camera and gossip page.

So what's been revealed? Well, Castle reportedly have USB2 in beta and have said lots of companies are showing an interest in using RISC OS outside of the desktop arena, with talk of a 50000 unit project in the works. An Omega with a working network card was spotted, and STD have Unipod stocks at the show, with drivers literally hot off the Simtec press.

More details and reports to follow, once everyone's checked in.

Links
Larger photos, smaller photos - unsorted, at the moment, but enjoy.
Went to the show? Tell us about it.

Related articles
Wakefield 2008 show photos
Wakefield 2008 show live news
Wakefield 2008 show preview

This article has been linked to, or is available in the following formats:  
 
 
 
 
 
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skock 
Face
15/5/04 10:04PM
Can't you make the pictures smaller? THey take forever to download. Some of us are still on dial-up, you know!
piemmm(valued user) 
Face
15/5/04 11:07PM
There you go.
AndrewDuffell(bad user / troll)www (+0.5)
Face
15/5/04 11:30PM
<shameless plug>
monkyson has written a great report on The Icon Bar
[Link: www.riscos.me.uk]
</shameless plug>
monkeyson(bad user / troll) 
Face
16/5/04 12:17AM
Nice photos!
diomus(valued user)www 
Face
16/5/04 12:46AM
That's a funky report, Phil, congrats. I wonder if there will be any surprises, or whatever comes close for the RISC OS market, for Sunday.

Chris. Just me.
piemmm(valued user) (-0.1)
Face
16/5/04 8:57AM
Yes, yes. It only cost me 27ukp to get up there, run around taking photos spending 20mins actually /at/ the show, and then driving back down (242m round trip).

And chris is only revising for his exams at Uni, which it taking rather a lot of his time, and he has already said this on several occasions.

If the show was 1 month later then it would have been a different matter entirely. As it wasn't, tough.
cynic (-0.1)
16/5/04 9:00AM
So nothing much that was really new then......?

No faster processor for the Iyonix. No genuine RISC OS portable - again!

More VA machines - and a new 7500FE machine.

RISC OS is really going places - just not sure where!
AndrewDuffell(bad user / troll)www (-1.0)
Face
16/5/04 10:29AM
You missed these

News of 50000 unit project from castle
USB 2
Unipod
Development of Oregano2
mrchocky(valued user) 
Face
16/5/04 10:59AM
In reply to cynic:
what are you talking about, there is no faster processor to put in it, no matter how much RISC OS users whinge about it.

As for the rest of the complaints about our "lack of report", I can't help feeling these are incredibly short sighted and selfish. Last week was one of our busiest weeks for news _ever_. Furthermore, no less than 3 Drobe writers were extremely busy with their own stands. Another is at a crucial point in his degree.

We will have our report in due course - in the meantime, if you want to see what we thought, then you'll have to wait.
Dazzy (-1.1)
16/5/04 11:13AM
Why have all the iconbar.com post been modded down? They were not off topic in the slightest? And they were good posts.
Do some (not all) of the Drobe editors have problems with the sharing of relevent info if it involves other sites?
mripley(good user) (-0.1)
16/5/04 11:17AM

I had to read Iconbar to make this
comment ! but... I read that not only
is Castle rewriting ADFS but so is
RISCOS Ltd. Hmmmmm I thought having a
split in the OS was bad but now ADFS
will go off in different directions as
well. This is so ........ crazy (insert
swear word that resembles designer
label)

Of course there's no way Castle will
come to their senses since they're all
right jack with the potential 50,000
units. There's now way that ROLtd
will come to their senses with the
increasing virtual RO sales.

Can someone get the head honchos of
Castle and ROLtd together in the same
room and knock their obstinate heads
together. Here, I'll even help with
naming the merged OS in case that's one
of the trivial petty problems : "Riscos
Select 6"

regards,

Even more annoyed Malcolm
piemmm(valued user) 
Face
16/5/04 12:04PM
In reply to Dazzy:
The moderation system is controlled by users, as well as the editors, and there are a lot more users than editors.
Maybe you would like to think a little first before making such rash generalisations about Drobe and it's editors.
Snigwww (+1.0)
Face
16/5/04 12:08PM
Nice to see that readers show their appreciation. :(
Well done drobe.co.uk & iconbar for great show build up and reporting.
JessFranco 
16/5/04 1:00PM
The 500000 project is really big news. If customers like this can be found by Castle the RISC OS scene will get cheaper 32-bit RISC OS hardware and faster development as a side-effect.
cynic 
16/5/04 1:08PM
*In reply to mrchocky and Andrew Duffell:*

There are newer (faster maybe?) processors - and RISC OS will have to migrate to these if only because the current Xscale won't go on for ever.

It is really the lack of a genuine hardware portable that lets our platform down at present. I'd really rather not be dependent on a Windows notebook when the RISC OS solution could be so much more elegant.

The possible large order for embedded units sounds promising - if it comes off. Lets hope so - and possibly in the future this might help produce the hardware progress that will be needed (portable too!).

I agree that current Iyonix is OK for now - but lets hope its not a cul-de-sac! I'm amazed that there is still so much promise and potential in the RISC OS world - I just hope it goes somewhere. I also hope that Castle and RISCOS Ltd don't tear apart what little we have got!

Anyway, I'm not really wingeing - just being cynical!
mrchocky(valued user) 
Face
16/5/04 1:26PM
There are no faster ARM (compatible) processors available, as has been said a number of times. And before anyone mentions the 80331 again, it is, as I say, not available.
monkeyson(bad user / troll) 
Face
16/5/04 1:55PM
In reply to JessFranco:
it's 50,000 not 500,000. But I bet Castle would like that even more!

In reply to cynic:
"It is really the lack of a genuine hardware portable that lets our platform down at present."
I agree. Commercial projects are being put at risk by this: they will migrate to other operating systems if they have to.
AMS(valued user) 
16/5/04 3:08PM
In reply to cynic:

The availability of faster ARM processors is at the whim of Intel (or whatever other ARM architecture licensees) dictate. I find the Iyonix plenty fast, I am sure that if/when a faster ARM processor becomes available the changes in RISC OS 5 are such that porting to a new processor will be easied.

I'd make the point also that further developments depend on people actually buying real RISC OS hardware the sort of things you're saying are more likely to discourage that.

As for other developments there have been piles (and I even read somewhere that USB 2 for Iyonix is in beta at the moment, so cheer up man and don't sound so glum ;)

In reply to monkeyson:

The lack of availability of a portable is a problem. But it's not a problem that can be solely laid at the foot of Castle, to justify the expense they'd need to be sure of sales - and with the open promotion of Windows based RISC OS emulation laptops that probably tips the balance the wrong way ---- that having being said I just get the gut feeling that a real RISC OS laptop with a compedative ARM/xScale would probably sell quick nicely (handheld and desktop products seem less tied to windows in the minds of customers). In fact promotion outside the usual RISC OS enthusiast market may offer other sales that might not exist for an equivilent desktop product (yet...).
mavhc(bad user / troll)www 
16/5/04 4:40PM
In reply to ams:
so you're saying the fault is ROLs for allowing emulators?
Revin Kevin(valued user) 
Face
16/5/04 4:58PM
From the reports there seems plenty to look optomistic about. The 50,000 units Castle expect to sell, the A75 with the specilist sells that will get, USB2 unipod Artworks 2
markee174(good user) 
16/5/04 7:45PM
The new Oregano 2 (which needs to be fully tested before they release it) had flash 5 and a much better refresh rate.

Castle were selling lots of kit - they'd run out of the model I wanted by saturday evening.

There were also new faces there such as X-Ample, Riscos Packaging Project, CD burn, new versions of TechWriter and several companies back in the market such as Argonet. That must be good news...

I left SE Show with a slight sense of disappointment, having found little new to buy or inspire. I left Wakefield feeling much happier (but with considerably less cash).
dgs(valued user) 
16/5/04 9:03PM
In reply to markee174:
Which Iyonix model had they run out of?

dgs
markee174(good user) 
16/5/04 9:14PM
X112 (X100 256 meg) version. I think the 512 meg version was sold out as well.

I was also impressed to see Jack helping several customers to carry out their kit to their cars - can't see Michael Dell doing that!
dgs(valued user) 
16/5/04 9:29PM
In reply to markee174:
Can't see David Atkins doing that, either.

I know there was an Omega at the show (the same tired old partly-faulty one at the RISCOS Ltd stand?), but was anyone actually selling Omegas at the show?

If not, there's not much future for the supposed "choice" between top-end machines.

As for the Iyonix, Castle had always been swamped by orders for the 512MB midi-tower version previously, so perhaps overlooked the amount of demand for the X100. I still want to know if they can sell me an Iyonix with 1GB RAM ;-)

dgs
tamias(valued user) 
Face
16/5/04 10:36PM
In reply to dgs:
There was another working Omega in a very interesting flat, glass-topped case at the Liquid Silicon stand, with working ethernet too.

I've put some photos temporarily at http://www.tamias.co.uk/omega/

I suppose it could be argued that Alan (as a RISC OS dealer) was in a position to be selling Omegas, though I have no idea if he actually did or not.

Good to see Castle making good sales. Shame Iconbar's poll doesn't seem to agree though ;-)
Stewy(good user)www 
Face
17/5/04 12:03AM
In reply to dgs:

"Can't see David Atkins doing that, either."

In my experience, David Atkins has always been very helpful and, the first time that I met him, he 'walked' me to my car, just to continue the friendly chit-chat.

I hope you're not attempting a personal slur. If so, it has made me a bit sad. Or did I misread your sentiments? I really hope so...

In reply to tamias:

Thanks for putting up the photos of the Omega in the glass rack. I was hoping somebody took a snapshot! The glass-encased Omega looked gorgeous. As you say, networking was working well; thanks to Alan Gibson for the demonstration and knowledgable advice and support when I've purchased products from Liquid Silicon.
dgs(valued user) 
17/5/04 7:07AM
In reply to Stewy:
David Atkins wasn't even at the show, to the best of my knowledge. Or was he hiding?

"I hope you're not attempting a personal slur. If so, it has made me a bit sad."

I'm sorry if my observation made you sad, but it's up to MicroDigital as to how they present their company and their products (or not).

Getting back on topic, do you know if Omegas were available at Wakefield to actually take away on the day?

dgs
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