 | |
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | Chris Williams |
| Created by | Peter Price |
| URL | drobe |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | October 1999 [1] |
| Current status | Offline |
Content license | CC BY-NC-SA |
Drobe (also referred to as Drobe Launchpad) was a computing news web site with a focus on the RISC OS operating system. Its archived material was retained online, curated by editor Chris Williams until late 2020. [2]
Drobe was founded in 1999 by Peter Price. [3] In 2001, Peter handed the site over to Chris Williams as editor. [2] After 10 years, it closed as a news site in 2009. It was retained as an historical archive until 2020 when the site went offline. [1] [4] [5] [6] A few weeks after the site's closure Williams posted articles on Micro Men , the television drama about the rivalry between Acorn and Sinclair in the 1980s. He subsequently stated that such articles may continue to appear periodically. [7]
At launch, the site featured a news feed, POP email checker and a search facility "incorporating AcornSearch.com". [3] As of 2013 [update] , the site features archived RISC OS articles, news and other media. It also hosts an online emulator for the BBC Micro, using the Java Runtime Environment.
Registered users were able to apply for user webspace in order to host their own projects. These subsites continue to be hosted by Drobe.
BBC BASIC is a version of the BASIC programming language released in 1981 as the native programming language for the BBC Micro home/personal computer, providing a standardized language for a UK computer literacy project of the BBC. It was written mainly by Sophie Wilson.
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK, including the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. Acorn's BBC Micro computer dominated the UK educational computer market during the 1980s.
The Risc PC is Acorn Computers's RISC OS/Acorn RISC Machine computer, launched on 15 April 1994, which superseded the Acorn Archimedes. The Acorn PC card and software allows PC compatible software to be run.
RISC OS is a computer operating system originally designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England. First released in 1987, it was designed to run on the ARM chipset, which Acorn had designed concurrently for use in its new line of Archimedes personal computers. RISC OS takes its name from the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture it supports.
The Iyonix PC was an Acorn-clone personal computer sold by Castle Technology and Iyonix Ltd between 2002 and 2008. According to news site Slashdot, it was the first personal computer to use Intel's XScale processor. It ran RISC OS 5.
ARX was an unreleased Mach-like operating system written in Modula-2+ developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in the Acorn Research Centre (ARC) United Kingdom (UK) and later by Olivetti - which purchased Acorn - for Acorn's new Archimedes personal computers based on the ARM architecture reduced instruction set computer (RISC) central processing unit (CPUs).
NetSurf is an open-source web browser which uses its own layout engine. Its design goal is to be lightweight and portable. NetSurf provides features including tabbed browsing, bookmarks and page thumbnailing.
Castle Technology Limited, named after Framlingham Castle, was a British computer company based in Cambridge, England. It began as a producer of ARM computers and manufactured the Acorn-branded range of desktop computers that run RISC OS.
The A9home was a niche small-form-factor desktop computer running RISC OS Adjust32. It was officially unveiled at the 2005 Wakefield Show, and is the second commercial ARM-based RISC OS computer to run a 32-bit version of RISC OS. When the Iyonix PC was withdrawn from sale, the A9home remained the only hardware to be manufactured specifically for the RISC OS marketplace.
Acorn Computers Ltd was a British computer company based in Nottingham, England in the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2009. It licensed, in early 2006, the dormant Acorn Computers trademark from French company Aristide & Co Antiquaire De Marques. This company sold IBM PC compatible computers and had no connection to ARM, a spin-off from the original Acorn Computers.
RISC OS Open Ltd. is a limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It is managing the process of publishing the source code to RISC OS. Company founders include staff who formerly worked for Pace, the company which acquired RISC OS after Acorn's demise.
RISCOS Ltd. was a limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. It licensed the rights to continue the development of RISC OS 4 and to distribute it for desktop machines from Element 14 and subsequently Pace Micro Technology. Company founders include developers who formerly worked within Acorn's dealership network. It was established as a nonprofit company. On or before 4 March 2013 3QD Developments acquired RISCOS Ltd's flavour of RISC OS. RISCOS Ltd was dissolved on 14 May 2013.
Acorn Arcade is a computing resource website with a focus on the RISC OS operating system and its gaming scene. It has been recognised by Acorn User magazine and was an award winner at the Wakefield Acorn Computer Show.
The Icon Bar is a computing and technology website with a focus on the RISC OS computer operating system.
Acorn C/C++ is a set of C/C++ programming tools for use under the RISC OS operating system. The tools use the Norcroft compiler suite and were authored by Codemist and Acorn Computers. The tools provide some facilities offered by a fully integrated development environment.
RISC OS, the computer operating system developed by Acorn Computers for their ARM-based Acorn Archimedes range, was originally released in 1987 as Arthur 0.20, and soon followed by Arthur 0.30, and Arthur 1.20. The next version, Arthur 2, became RISC OS 2 and was completed and made available in April 1989. RISC OS 3 was released with the very earliest version of the A5000 in 1991 and contained a series of new features. By 1996 RISC OS had been shipped on over 500,000 systems.
The MicroDigital Omega was a home computer developed and sold in the early 2000s by MicroDigital. It runs the RISC OS operating system.
VirtualAcorn is the brand name of several commercial emulators of Acorn Computers computer hardware platforms.
In computing, Aemulor is an emulator of the earlier 26-bit addressing-mode ARM microprocessors. It runs on ARM processors under 32-bit addressing-mode versions of RISC OS. It was written by Adrian Lees and released in 2003. An enhanced version is available under the name Aemulor Pro.
Impression is a desktop publishing application for RISC OS systems. It was developed by Computer Concepts and initially made available in pre-release form during 1989, having been demonstrated in February 1989 at the Which? Computer Show and subsequently announced as being available from June 1989. The "completed" version was eventually delivered on 18th January 1990.
On Monday, September 21, drobe.co.uk will turn 10 years old, marking nearly a decade of online and freely available news publishing for the RISC OS and Acorn kit-using platform. And, for many reasons and after much deliberation, it's time to take a new direction. Drobe's RISC OS news service, which launched in October 1999, will sadly cease from Monday.
The site was founded in 1999 by Peter Price, who handed over the reins to Chris Williams in 2001. Hosting and webmaster work is taken care of by Ian Hawkins.
[...] longtime RISC OS news and articles website Drobe has closed... or, rather, entered "archive mode".
Drobe.co.uk, the premier RISC OS news website, today announced that it has entered archive mode and will no longer function as a news reporting source.
I don't mind doing the odd special feature from time to time, when the right opportunity arises, but I just can't find the time or energy to do day-today RISC OS news, sorry..
