RISC OS Open

Last updated

RISC OS Open Ltd.
Company type Private
Industry Computer software
Founded Worthing, UK (20 June 2006;18 years ago (2006-06-20))
FounderBen Avison, Andrew Hodgkinson, Andrew Moyler, Richard Nicoll, Steve Revill
Headquarters
Cambridge
,
UK
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
 Steve Revill, Co-founder and Managing director
Ben Avison, Co-founder
Andrew Hodgkinson, Co-founder
Products RISC OS 5
Services IT consulting
Website riscosopen.org

RISC OS Open Ltd. (also referred to as ROOL) [1] [2] is a limited company engaged in computer software and IT consulting. [3] It is managing the process of publishing the source code to RISC OS. [4] Company founders include staff who formerly worked for Pace, the company which acquired RISC OS after Acorn's demise. [5]

Contents

The source code publication was initially facilitated by a shared source initiative (SSI) between ROOL and Castle Technology (CTL), [6] prior to a switch to the more widely recognised Apache licence in October 2018. [7] ROOL hopes that by making the RISC OS source code available for free it will help stimulate development of both the RISC OS source code and the platform as a whole. [8] [9]

Operations

Ben Avison showing a BeagleBoard in 2009 ROOL RO5.15 on BeagleBoard.jpg
Ben Avison showing a BeagleBoard in 2009
Steve Revill in 2011 Steve Revill of RISC OS Open.jpg
Steve Revill in 2011

ROOL set initial goals to make the source code easily available (on the web), and also to establish a wiki, forum and bug tracker. [10] These have been available since December 2006. [11]

Operations exist to facilitate tasks related to ROOL's goals. Additionally, staff undertake development work on the code themselves. Since early 2009, ownership, development and sales of the Acorn C/C++ tools were transferred to RISC OS Open. [12] As an extension to the initial goals, in 2011 ROOL introduced a bounty scheme to encourage further development. [13]

Attendance at RISC OS computer shows is often arranged, with other knowledgeable coders sometimes standing in when ROOL staff are unavailable. [14] A Facebook page and Twitter feed was created in 2012 to communicate events via social media. [15] [16]

Publishing

A number of book titles have been published starting in 2015 with the RISC OS Style Guide, a three book set in support of the Desktop Development Environment, BBC BASIC Reference Manual and the RISC OS 5 User Guide.

Forum

Online discussions take place on the forum. Developers can seek technical assistance with writing software, debugging, and porting the operating system to new hardware. End users can seek assistance with applications, emulation, and enquiries of a more general nature. A common area exists to make announcements that are broadly related to the theme of RISC OS, and discussion of future wish list features or applications.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acorn Computers</span> British computer manufacturer

Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England in 1978 by Hermann Hauser, Chris Curry and Andy Hopper. The company produced a number of computers during the 1980s with associated software that were highly popular in the domestic market, and they have been historically influential in the development of computer technology like processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Risc PC</span> Family of personal computers

Risc PC was a range of personal computers launched in 1994 by Acorn, replacing the Archimedes series. The machines use the Acorn developed ARM CPU and were thereby not IBM PC-compatible.

RISC is an abbreviation for reduced instruction set computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RISC OS</span> Computer operating system by Acorn Computers Ltd.

RISC OS is an operating system designed to run on ARM computers. Originally designed in 1987 by Acorn Computers of England, it was made for use in its new line of ARM-based Archimedes personal computers and was then shipped with other computers produced by the company. Despite the demise of Acorn, RISC OS continues to be developed today by the RISC OS Open community on version 5.0 of the system that was open sourced in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iyonix PC</span> Acorn-clone personal computer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe (computer)</span> Proposed computer by Acorn, cancelled 1998

The Phoebe 2100 was to be Acorn Computers' successor to the RiscPC, slated for release in late 1998. However, in September 1998, Acorn cancelled the project as part of a restructuring of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NetSurf</span> Web browser

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Technology</span> Computer company based in Cambridge, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A9home</span>

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.

The Fourth Dimension (4D) was a major video game publisher for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Acorn Archimedes and RiscPC between 1989 and 1998. Previously, The Fourth Dimension had been known as Impact Software, which specialised mainly in BBC Micro games. Some of 4D's staff had worked for Superior Software. Notable release included Cyber Chess, Stunt Racer 2000, Galactic Dan and Chocks Away.

<i>Acorn User</i>

Acorn User magazine was founded by Acorn Computers in 1982, contract-published by Addison-Wesley, to coincide with the launch of the BBC Micro. It covered the range of Acorn home computers, the BBC Micro and Atom at first and later the Electron, Archimedes and Risc PC.

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.

<i>Drobe</i> Computing news web site with a focus on the RISC OS operating system

Drobe 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.

The Icon Bar is a computing and technology website with a focus on the RISC OS computer operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acorn C/C++</span> C compiler for RISC OS

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VirtualAcorn</span>

VirtualAcorn is the brand name of several commercial emulators of Acorn Computers computer hardware platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aemulor</span>

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.

References

  1. ↑ Hansen, Martin (21 July 2007). "RISC OS Open: One year on". Drobe . Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Holwerda, Thom (10 December 2008). "RISCOS Ltd Might Take Legal Action Against RISC OS Open Ltd". OSNews . Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "About us: RISC OS Open Limited FAQ". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 22 February 2011. RISC OS Open Limited (ROOL) [...] can author software for an existing hardware design or develop a complete hardware and software solution.
  4. ↑ "Welcome". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 3 January 2020. RISC OS Open (ROOL) is an organisation run on a largely voluntary basis. We are managing the process of publishing the source code to RISC OS [...]
  5. ↑ "Ex-Pace staff back RISC OS Open Ltd". Drobe. 9 July 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2011. As a divisional director, Richard Nicoll, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, oversaw the 'information appliance division' in Cambridge at Pace. [...] RISC OS Open director and company secretary Steve Revill owns a 20% stake in RISC OS Open, as do each of fellow ex-Pace and ex-Tematic engineers Ben Avison and Andrew Hodgkinson [...]
  6. ↑ "Castle and ROS Open reveal plans for 2007". Drobe. 20 January 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2011. [...] the shared source initiative - which is designed to get the source code to RISC OS 5 out into the open for free [...]
  7. ↑ "RISC OS is open for business!". RISC OS Open. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2020. RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL) are hugely proud to [...] republish the source code to this popular niche operating system under the Apache 2.0 License, in a move aimed at removing existing barriers to entry for developers [...]
  8. ↑ Cartmell, John (Summer 2007). "Interview". Qercus. No. 283. Finnybank Ltd. We really want to stimulate development both in and around RISC OS
  9. ↑ Smith, Louie (November 2008). "Interview". RISC OS Now. No. 9. [RISC OS Now]. The whole project is based on the fundamental premise that the software will die out if there are no developers.
  10. ↑ Cartmell, John (2006). "News". Qercus. No. 278. Finnybank Ltd. According to Steve Revill at the South East Show, RISC OS Open Ltd. has been formed to achieve a number of goals: Provide an interface for people to get at the source code of RISC OS; Manage developer forums; Manage a faults database; Provide a wiki for people to contribute to
  11. ↑ "News: Official new site announcement". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 18 May 2011. RISC OS Open are pleased to announce that their new web site has now gone live.
  12. ↑ "News in brief". Drobe. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2011. RISC OS Open has taken over sales of the Acorn C/C++ development suite, known as the Norcroft compiler, which is used to build RISC OS.
  13. ↑ "Bounties". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 16 May 2011. The RISC OS Open bounty scheme allows the community to sponsor development of features and fixes in RISC OS.
  14. ↑ Mellor, Phil (14 September 2009). "Retro Reunited and Acorn World 2009". The Icon Bar . Retrieved 28 September 2011. [...] talk was by Robert Sprowson who was representing RISC OS Open Ltd.
  15. ↑ "RISC OS Open on Facebook". RISC OS Open. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "Keeping up to date". RISC OS Open. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.