🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <488ecb1381webmaster@argonet.co.uk>,
 Acorn Arcade (webmaster) <webmaster@acornarcade.com> wrote:

> For full details, see:
>   http://www.acornarcade.com/cgi-bin/go-aa?news/chiber/

Having looked at this page I'd appreciate more information.

The text reads as if this is currently 'vapourware' - i.e. we are being
promised something and asked if we think it is a nice idea. However, the
page shows a picture of *something*. So what, exactly, does this picture
show? What is the development status of this?

Also, is the intention that 'ChiOS' will support *all* current RiscOS apps
and code as they stand? e.g. will it provide full support for ARM code,
SWIs, modules, and BBC Basic? If so, will this mean rewriting the entire
OS, or using a standard 'RiscOS' ROM set and patching it somehow?

Would it be possible to run one of these in a 'PC box' *without* windows,
indeed, perhaps without *any* 'main box' OS? ...With linux?... Personally,
I wouldn't like a box that required whinedoze to run, even as a precursor
to reaching 'RiscOS'...  although if it was that or nothing, I guess I'd
put up with it!  :-)

What timescale is envisaged for producing such a product?

How would Acorn feel about there being a 'clone OS/machine' like this
which presumably 'borrows' their GUI look and feel and might undercut them
in other markets? (You may respond, "who cares what Acorn think", but
remember they have some intellectual property rights here.)

In principle, this seems a neat idea, but I confess I am bothered that it
*may* undercut support for any current attempt to rescue a Pheobe-like
machine and then, itself, ultimately prove to be less than RiscOS *users*
require. I don't just want boxes that have a RiscOS-like GUI. I also want
them to run all the apps I use, from professional ones like TechWriter to
all the modules and basic utilities, etc, I have built up over the years.

I am attracted by the idea of liberating 'RiscOS and its apps' from the
current hardware ties to IOMD/VIDC, but it isn't clear to me that we might
not be better advised to wait a little while yet, before deciding the way
forward. The appearance/non-appearance of a 'Pheobe' would make a big
difference to the 'urgency' and the size of market for a 'ChiBER PCI card'.

In brief, I find this very interesting, but I am currently undecided about
what I think about it. I am not trying to be negative, but am expressing
my concerns. In principle, it seems a neat idea. Whether it is 'good' or
'bad' depends on information I do not yet have. 

Slainte,

Jim

-- 
Electronics  http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
MMWaves  http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/MMWave/Index.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html
TechWriter http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/TechWrite/Tips1.html
Dutton CDs  http://www.duttonlabs.demon.co.uk/index.html