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Article archives

Review: Nokia N770 Internet Tablet

Posted by Richard Goodwin on 18:00, 16/10/2007 | , , ,
 
A guilty secret: limited though they were, I used to love working with early Palm and Psion PDAs. Neal Stephonson wrote in his novel Cryptonomicon:
Eb is doodling on one of those little computers that uses a stylus so that you can write on the screen. In general, hackers don't use them, but Eb [...] wrote the software for this model and so he has a lot of them lying around.
...which stuck in my head as it described my situation at the time. Apart from the bit where Eb is an über-hacker and I was a junior Perl mangler, obviously. Screen-wise the Palm V was just low-res black on a sort of olive green, and getting data on to them usually required a precariously-balanced IR-capable mobile phone and a lot of patience (or the foresight to sync everything before leaving home), but a small, omni-present device that responded to the touch always seemed so much more satisfying than the mouse or the glidepoint.
 
Fast forward a few years, and along comes the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet: a small device with a touchscreen, but updated for the 21st century with wifi Internet access, a widescreen, full colour display, a proper Web browser and bluetooth connectivity. I'd looked at the proliferation of Windows-based PDAs over the years and they'd never appealed. Where the Palm and Psion devices felt like they'd been designed from the start with mobile computing in mind, WinCE always seemed like a big OS shoehorned into a little device, and wifi an afterthought if available at all. And don't get me started on small keyboards after the disaster that was the Psion Revo. Maybe this Linux-based device could put the fun back in to computing?
 
Continue reading "Review: Nokia N770 Internet Tablet" | 10 comments in the forums

Tiny Scotsman is energy-efficient supercomputer

Posted by Jeffrey Lee on 13:25, 22/3/2007 | , , , ,
 
Scottish companies Nallatech and Alpha Data have revealed "Maxwell", an FGPA-based supercomputer that is 10 times more energy efficient and up to 300 times faster than traditional equivalents. By reprogramming the FPGA chips at runtime, the machine is able to perform some calculations much more efficiently than a traditional computer, in a way somewhat reminiscent of the ill-fated Omega from MicroDigitalInfo. The design also requires less space and cooling than traditional supercomputers. Although the technology behind the machine is sound, there are still some implementation issues to resolve, such as determining the best way of programming the FPGAs for a given problem.
 
It's reported that other companies are also looking at using FPGAs in large numbers to produce similar supercomputers.
 
Knews knicked from CNET
 
9 comments in the forums

RISC OS - the week in comments

Posted by Phil Mellor on 12:00, 3/3/2007 | , , , , , , ,
 
Big BrotherOr: we read the newsgroups so you don't have to.
 
In this new, hopefully regular, column we collate the interesting, informative and funny comments posted on all the RISC OS web sites and newsgroups throughout the week. Our telescreens are everywhere, and we are always listening.
 
 
Continue reading "RISC OS - the week in comments" | Comment in the forums

A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection

Posted by Jeffrey Lee on 10:39, 31/1/2007 | , , ,
 
Vista is great, isn't it?
 
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
 
(Insert disclaimer here about how we're not going to become one of those sites that just links to other places etc. etc.)
 
25 comments in the forums

Insert witty remark about Amigas here

Posted by Jeffrey Lee on 12:54, 4/1/2007 | ,
 
The Inquirer have reported that AmigaOS 4 has now been released. But the only machine capable of running it natively went out of production last month. Doh!
 
The article goes into a fair amount of detail about the history of Amiga and Amiga-compatible hardware and operating systems, and reminds me somewhat of the Acorn/RISC OS story. But no matter how much the article tries to promote AmigaOS as being some miraculously small and fast OS, we all know that RISC OS is better. Right?
 
... right?
 
5 comments in the forums

Review - A9home

Posted by Chris on 18:03, 26/11/2006 | , , , ,
 
Icon Bar regular Chris reviews the recently-released A9home from Advantage Six.
 
Continue reading "Review - A9home" | 15 comments in the forums

Castle Up For Grabs

Posted by Richard Goodwin on 08:49, 6/7/2006 | , , , , , ,
 
CastlelogoCut to the chase: according to a recent press release, 30% of CastleInfo is about to become available:
Pattotek Ltd owns a 30% share in the voting capital of Castle Technology Ltd ("Castle"), owner of the RISC OS Operating System and developer of RISC OS based desktop computers. Pattotek Ltd today announced that, due to diverging business interests, it is examining its options regarding Castle and would like to hear from potential investors in the RISC OS community who could be interested in gaining control of this stake in Castle.
 
Pattotek's CEO, Pete Wild said, "after almost 20 years personal involvement in RISC OS, it is regrettably no longer core business and we must consider what is best for the future of the OS". He added, "However, Castle still has a dynamic management team, and exciting new plans for the future of RISC OS; here is an opportunity for the user community to have more of a say in those plans. Given the past history between Castle and RISCOS LtdInfo, this could represent a chance for the re-unification of efforts to move RISC OS forward."
 
Interested parties should email castleinvest@pattotek.com
Coming off the back of Intel getting shot of the XScale (StrongARM), now might be the time for RISC OS fans to look down the back of the sofa for that loose change...
 
Source: Google Groups
 
12 comments in the forums

Free copies of RISCWorld up for grabs!

Posted by fwibbler on 11:17, 21/6/2006 | , , , ,
 
RISCWorld LogoRISCWorld magazine have announced the offer of a free magazine (March 2006), the idea being that you'll be so impressed with it you feel compelled to take out a subscription to it.
 
Some of the articles the March issue contains:
  • eBay revealed (helping you get the best out of eBay)
  • Building a RiscPC in a PC case
  • Overhauling the old Acorn mouse
  • Review of the 4D Shootemup games CD
and much more including the regular latest freeware software releases and Hugh Jamptons big column!!!
 
A years subscription to RISCWorld costs £21.90 (UK) or £24.50 (overseas) and you can claim your free copy by sending an email with your name and address to:
 
subscriptions@riscworld.co.uk
 
10 comments in the forums

Wakefield 2006 show report

Read article... | Comment in the forums

Wakefield show report [updated^2: full report]

Read article... | 11 comments in the forums

Wakey Wakey, it's show time again!

Read article... | 2 comments in the forums

A9 gets bluetooth

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RISC OS on TV take 2

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RISC OS - 24 bits

Read article... | 5 comments in the forums
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