Wakefield 2007 live news and photos

Published: 19th May 2007, 07:52:39 | Permalink | Printable

The fun starts here

We're reporting live from the show floor and you can catch up with the latest notes and gossip from the link below. A preview of the show is here, and a full report to follow later.

Click here for the live news page

Quick photos

Captions (left to right): The fake A9home-mini; And again; One of the ARM9 STBs; And another; The front of one; And another; The crowds; Some more people; NetSurf's Daniel and Mike; CTL's Jack Lillingston and Qercus's John Cartmell; Ad6's Andrew Hill explains something; Soft Rock Software shows off its graphical adventure game; It's Mac OS X VirtualRiscPC; Classic Elite; Ad6's Andrew again; The back of the A9home hidden in a monitor; And the front of it; The NetSurf banner.

Taken photos? Heard anything interesting? Email us.
Visit the Wakefield show website

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Discussion

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I demand pictures of the A9home mini!

jymbob on 19/5/07 11:20AM
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Okay I'm going to get flamed for this but I'm really wondering about the future marketting of the platform.

When arranging a show did no one look at other major occasions that would prevent people going? Hmmmm the FAcup in today.... Coices. Go to a computer show or watch the FA cup. Mind you ther eis a bar. :-)

But for future I feel that things like this should eb considered. PS what is the A9mini. I want one. Is there a price etc?

Can it be put through a video input into a laptop (i'm thinking about the video in on my IBM) :-)

ATB Bob

nijinsky on 19/5/07 1:08PM
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Ahhh just read it is the "FAKE" A9 home mini. What the heck is that. A joke or a fake intended machine.

Bob

nijinsky on 19/5/07 1:13PM
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nijinsky - For years the Wakefield show has clashed with the Cup Final - although of course it was often a two day event.

Couldn't really make it this year.

Checked on Drobe to keep imformed.

Cheers, Dave C.

DaveC on 19/5/07 2:13PM
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The FA cup final is today? Oh. I had no idea! No idea who is playing, and care less. Nasty violent pastime for the proles, AFAICS. [DARFC] :¬)

lproven on 19/5/07 2:53PM
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A couple of points based on the nine quick photos above:

1. This A9home-mini thing, assuming it's genuine and uses the case on display, is actually smaller than the mouse that's right next to it. That gives me a brilliant idea... why not design an A9 mini so that it goes *inside* a mouse! :-)

Just think of the kudos and the Apple-style vibe that you'd get out of that! Forget the latest iMac spin of "the monitor *is* the computer"; with RISC OS we could go one better:

"The mouse *is* the computer! The mouse *is* the computer!"

(Think of the tone of voice for "There's no step 3! There's no step 3!" from the original 'deflated beachball'-style iMac adverts.)

2. There are piles of ROOL mouse mats in some of the pictures, and I'm amazed by the fact that (a) they're so tiny and (b) they're square! In one of the pictures, the mat looks as though it might actually be shorter than the mouse that's supposed to be able to slide around on it!

I thought they were supposed to be mouse mats, not beer mats! RISC OS beer mats might have been an even better idea, actually. People would buy several rather than just one.

Seriously, they look as though they'll make terrific drinks coasters, but as mouse mats they appear to be far too small. Anyway, I'll be interested to see mine when it comes through the post.

RichardHallas on 19/5/07 4:01PM
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Any news on Flash 3 progress for the A9?

lym on 19/5/07 4:02PM
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New software at the show or due for release shortly afterwards included Artworks 2.7, MPro5, Netsurf 1.0, Photodesk (I finally bought a copy as CJE were offering a free upgrade).

MW hopes to have an update of TechWriter for SE Show.

There were lots of people there in the morning and it was a very picturesque location by the canal.

The 'ex-Oregano 3 man' was there on the Castle stand

markee174 on 19/5/07 5:31PM
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RichardHallas: Those are coasters, not mousemats!

SimonC on 19/5/07 5:56PM
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Ahh the A9 home is a fake afterall.

Ah well

BFN Bob

nijinsky on 19/5/07 8:05PM
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nijinsky:

There was a football match on? ;-)

More seriously, shows aren't arranged on a whim the weekend before. There are many constraints on the date chosen, and avoiding a single sporting event is just one of them (and, if we're honest, probably a fairly insignificant one in the grand scheme of things). I don't know when the 2007 Cup Final date was announced, but I suspect that the show date was at least provisionally selected before it happened. I don't know for sure; I wasn't involved with that side of things.

What I *can* say is that, with another (non RISC OS) hat on, we're selecting dates for this kind of thing over 12 months ahead and have to just hope that they don't clash with too many other things when the date arrives. That's how it works.

stevef on 19/5/07 8:06PM
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SimonC: Ah, really? So they had some coasters made to the same design as the mouse mats... fine. Makes sense. They certainly *look* like coasters in the picture.

So the next question is... how do I get my set of matching ROOL drinks coasters? :-)

RichardHallas on 19/5/07 8:50PM
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They were 90 pence at the show. And they work as well!

AW on 19/5/07 9:30PM
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Football is a awful.

Secondly, any more details to be had on the settop box that runs RO5?

killermike on 20/5/07 12:52AM
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I'm going to be really pedantic and argue that the very first Elite is Classic Elite, and the version shown in the picture is the later Master version.

Anyway, it was a good day, although a bit rushed for me due to train times (spent more time going to and from the show than at it

). Holding it in the smaller venue did sadly reflect the shrinking market, but OTOH the atmosphere felt positive and friendly - as someone else has already pointed out somewhere, in rather stark contrast to the average argument on here or the mailing lists or comp.sys.acorn.*!

I really liked the idea of putting the A9 in a monitor, and with wireless keyboard and mouse, and perhaps wireless networking too, that would be the ultimate computer for a confined space!

Once again a big thank you to the organisers.

SimonC on 20/5/07 10:33AM
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As for the RO6 offering:

<ul> <li>Pity they only offer such to those who can visit a show. With a one-day-event the cost to travel there is just too high (unless you know of enough offerings beforehand).</li> <li>Can those who have subscribed for UKP 155 now quit and resubscribe for UKP 99? How must those who kept on subscribing to Select and thus paid three years subscriptions feel that those not having money to throw away are proven right to have quit select since now they get it much cheaper?</li> </ul>

<strong>Lucky</strong> me having an IYONIX pc so that both doesn't really affect me

hzn on 20/5/07 3:17PM
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Sorry for the bad layout - preview looked much better! So I repost

As for the RO6 offering: - Pity they only offer such to those who can visit a show. With a one-day-event the cost to travel there is just too high (unless you know of enough offerings beforehand). - Can those who have subscribed for UKP 155 now quit and resubscribe for UKP 99? How must those who kept on subscribing to Select and thus paid three years subscriptions feel that those not having money to throw away are proven right to have quit select since now they get it much cheaper?

Lucky me having an IYONIX pc so that both doesn't really affect me

hzn on 20/5/07 3:19PM
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Congratulations to all involved with making the show such a success - I had a great day and spent a fortune! To be fair, over 50% of what I spent was VirtualRPC for my iMac.

As for the FA Cup Final - for the last 12 years the competition has been dominated by four rich clubs. I'm a football follower (as you can see from my avatar - Prescot Cables Football Club) but I'd rather go to a computer show than watch one of the four rich clubs buying the FA Cup.

If we can't return to the usual venue next year can we find a pub with real ale? I had to drink Guiness (only one, as I was driving).

PS - just in case anyone's worried, the comment about moving to a real-ale pub was flippant - I don't really think that's an important consideration for a computer show.

cables on 20/5/07 4:19PM
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In reply to hzn:

You posted the same comment I think on the IconBar !

The RISC OS 6 was not just for the show day. In fact the sngle machine licence offer allows you to upgrade for the different in price upt the 31/07/07 for instance. Those renewing also get it for 99 ukp currently or 105 ukp if not a foundation member but the offer was for everyone at 99 ukp. The stand was Very, very busy with new subscribers and renewals. Actually I think they were the busiest stand aprt from R-Comp and M W software.

Wakeman on 20/5/07 4:42PM
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In reply to cables:

Thanks for the support, glad you enjoyed it. :-)

I spent to much as well.

Regarding the venue, regreatbly we can't use this venue again, on 16th June it closes to be re-opended as an 'adult friendly' wacky warehouse.....

Our old venue at Thornes park athletics stadium, is no longer viable cost wise.

This venue was my third possible venue, we have already started a search for a possible venue for next year.

As for clashing with FA Cup final, well we have sometimes missed it in the pass and we do take note of it when planning, In fact the FA told us it would be on the 12th not the 19th. I won't repeat what i said when we discovered it was actually on the 19th.

Wakeman on 20/5/07 4:49PM
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IN reply to Wakeman.

Ahh I guessed (wrongly) that you hadn't considered it. The fact you did and was bamboozelled by the FA is not your fauly. I'm sorry I brought it up now without checking.

PS I'm in Scotland and a Dumbarton supporter. Who else has a ground at the bottom of a volcano (okay dead for the last 250M years) [link]

'Mon the sons

Bob

nijinsky on 20/5/07 6:49PM
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In reply to Nijinsky

"PS I'm in Scotland and a Dumbarton supporter. Who else has a ground at the bottom of a volcano (okay dead for the last 250M years)"

I hope your right that its totaly extinct!

On subject - Wakefield was an excellent day out and worth the trip. ROOL?Castles announcement was positive and so too was the £49 single user option of RISC OS 6. I'm all most convinced that some one must have had a "Marketing for Beginners" book recently. Any way a good move and one I can see repeated at each future major release to help draw in upgraders and those who will not sign up until they have some thing available to use. With this offer there is really no excuse not to upgrade to RISC OS 6 if you have a RISC PC and RISC OS4 as a minimum.

bluenose on 20/5/07 9:42PM
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I've spent some of today adding in a photo gallery application to the ROOL site and you can now find my own pictures from Wakefield here:

https://www.riscosopen.org/photos/projects/show/1

Some of the pictures make it much more clear which things are mouse mats and which are coasters :-)

We intend to produce a second run of 100 mats and 200 coasters which we'll sell through the web site and/or at whatever other shows, user group meetings etc. we attend in the future.

adh1003 on 20/5/07 10:48PM
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Think I would've rather gone to the Wakefield show than watch this year's FA Cup final - had to be the most boring football match I'd ever seen - shame I couldn't make it.

mfraser on 21/5/07 8:32PM
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Well I thought the show had a very positive drive forward. Advantage Six seem to be promoting their little box of tricks well, and so too were Risc OS Ltd, with Risc OS 6. I think I came away with more stuff than I usually buy, although I having problems using HForm on my RiscOS 4.39 disc (OK, so I opened a folder this one time containing New Look from the old 3.11 days, and it totally messed up my long file names), and now I'm buring my head in the sand, and saying to myself, "Why did I do that!?!?! - I thought only Microsoft could do this to me!" So anyway, I'll just have to pull the drive, and format it in another 4.39 machine.

My thanks to the RComp team, for giving a Messenger pro for us windows dummies. I'd been spending ages on my Iyonix trying to set it up, and with a quick guide, I'll be up and running on my RiscPC - When I get Risc OS 6 up and running - When I........ And so on. We all have to have something fun to do on our computers these days. I'm not saying it's a bad thing all this setting up - It's the crashing part after that Windows manages to do well at that keeps the cleaver/dumb thing in ballance.

I did think quite hard about Castles Risc OS 5.12/5.13 upgrade, but I though, the upgrade mainly addresses the new series of graphics cards, and when asked about the new series of cards (in terms of redraw speed), they were frank, and said not much. So sadly I passed on this opertunity to upgrade.

Good thing too as CJE Micros were raking in the money (including myself). They had a very good line up of extras, A9Homes, Poduals, and more extras. Leaving with the now hard to find Viewfinder, I hope this little gem will beef up my viewing plesure on my RiscPC.

As advertised by APDL, Draw Works XL is top of the line. Until now, I'd been using Draw Plus, from 199 something.

Finnaly, I hope everyone can forgive me for this rather long post.

CrazyRisc on 23/5/07 9:06PM
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If you get the VF to start up on RO6 let me know!

It's a shame CJE didn't have any unipods but they are out of production at the moment AIUI.

AW on 23/5/07 11:39PM
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When is the full Drobe show report going to appear... I was unable to make it due to car MOT coming up and a few bits needing done...

IIRC drobe usually has the report online within a day or two of the show (so I patiently checked every 10min or so since monday)...

On a more serious note glad to see everyone seemed to have a good time and all the feedback and comments I have read seem to be so upbeat.

Hope to make next years and or one of the other shows.

John

mrmac on 24/5/07 3:06PM
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AW if it is any use I think we have two UniPods in stock for sale. We usually carry a small number of them (and PS2 interfaces) from STD/A6 as a service to customers. Drop me a line if you're looking for one.

arawnsley on 24/5/07 6:14PM
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Will do thanks.

AW on 24/5/07 11:34PM
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