Raspberry Pi To Embrace RISC OS

[XDelusion]

Sometimes, on a rather boring and run-of-the-mill Monday, I get news in the submission queue which just puts a gigantic smile on my face. We've talked about the Raspberry Pi before on OSNews, and other than reporting that everything's on track for a Christmas launch, it has also been announced that the Raspberry Pi will be able to run... RISC OS. A British educational ARM board running RISC OS? We have come full circle. And I couldn't be happier. Update: Theo Markettos emailed me with two corrections - Markettos isn't actually a representative of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and the quoted bits are transcribed, they're not Markettos' literal words. Thanks for clearing that up!

Almost ten years ago, I created a mental list of operating systems I wanted to use and test. Most of the systems on the list were easy to acquire and ran on standard hardware - save for three: AmigaOS, MorphOS, and RISC OS. I've used the first two extensively - but RISC OS always remained elusive. It runs on expensive hardware, often completely sold-out, and only available with price tags noted in pounds.

Until today: it has been revealed that RISC OS will be available for the Raspberry Pi ARM board, which will cost $25 or $35 (depending on the version). RISC OS recently became available for the BeagleBoard, which was already a step in the right direction - but the BeagleBoard is still over €100, and for a hobby project, that's just a little too much for my taste. In the Raspberry Pi, RISC OS has found its perfect partner.

At the moment, RISC OS boots and runs on the Raspberry Pi, but lack of drivers for the Raspberry Pi's USB interface necessitates the use of a netbook hooked up to the Pi's serial port to actually use a mouse and keyboard. USB drivers will of course be added eventually.

At the RISC OS London show, Theo Markettos, postdoctoral researcher in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and representative of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, [correction: he's not actually a representative at all] talked about RISC OS on the Pi. "Adrian Lees has RISC OS booting on the Raspberry Pi into the full RISC OS desktop. Lack of USB drivers then prevents user interaction," RISCOScode transcribed Markettos' words, "Work in progress on cannibalising Linux USB drivers to get RISC OS running fully on the Raspberry Pi."

"RISC OS is desirable on the Raspberry Pi as it's just about the only OS left that can still be grasped by one person," RISCOScode transcribed Markettos' words, "Also smaller memory requirements, and a smoother desktop feel."

Markettos further explained that the purpose of the Raspberry Pi is to get developers rethinking the whole approach to how children and young adults can be enticed and excited by a computing device. The best software for the Raspberry Pis is yet to be written, he added. The Pi will boot to a simple > prompt, just like the old BBCmicro. Users can then enter something along the lines of run linux or run riscos. "This will force users to interface with the machine in a programming manner and think of it as something to be commanded at a fundamental level rather than just used."

You have no idea just how excited I am about the Raspberry Pi. The price point, educational focus, and software support are exceptional. The Raspberry Pi is currently being manufactured (in batches, so they can spot possible errors and make revisions), and is on track for a Christmas launch.

Jot me down for at least two.

News from:  http://www.osnews.com/story/25276/Raspberry_Pi_To_Embrace_RISC_OS

[commodorejohn]

Well damn, I may have to get one. It is encouraging as all hell to hear someone talking about really getting kids into a programming mindset again, especially when so much of the rest of the industry seems to be moving towards computers as vendor-controlled vehicles for content consumption...

[amigadave]

First person/group that ports an Amiga "Like" OS to the Raspberry Pi wins the hearts and minds of a grateful Amiga community!

$25 to $35 Raspberry Pi is much more attractive than a $300 to $500 netbook any day.

AROS guys, are you paying attention?  This device could be a game changer for AROS, if a port could be done well quickly (or even not so quickly).  Since I think there is already a port of AROS on ARM devices, I am guessing that it should not be too difficult to get AROS running on the Raspberry Pi, right?

[spihunter]

Yea, read this story earlier today. RiscOS is perfect for this thing. I plan on getting a couple of them. It's a nice bonus that an old school small OS will run it.

[nicholas]

I want to see Haiku and AROS ported to this thing

[B00tDisk]

I always thought RiscOS was kinda ... not very good looking.  Very cluttered desktop.

That gripe aside, hey, they've got a bunch of SDL ports including Firefox up and running!

[commodorejohn]

I always thought RiscOS was kinda ... not very good looking.  Very cluttered desktop.

Never used it myself, but simply from the article talking about it being one of the last OSes "that one person can understand," it's encouraging to know their heart's in the right place. These are the people we need teaching the programmers of tomorrow, not washed-up business majors who cross-trained in VB and tried to parlay it into a teaching career.

[cicero790]

What a useless piece of crap. The cpu is a steaming pile of manure. Come on, what can u use it for. It will stand like a retarded lame duck on the desk. A monument to failure. Cheap sticker on the side. Weak, useless, powerless, utter crap, and it have a bum OS on top of that . I p#ss on Braben. I p#ss on his grandmother, and it seems I’ve p#ssed on my self too. Well I’m off to the nudie-bar like my rawmodel Al Bundy. The nerve.. the garbage.. bum cpu... bum...crap........ bottom....pants.....

Sorry couldn’t resist. Looks interesting but I don’t have any connection to it like aros, morphos and aos4.

[bloodline]

RISCOS is a pretty horrific operating system, I had to use it for 5 years at school... Yeah, let's get AROS on the board so we can really show off

@nicholas, I ran Haiku on my old 3ghz p4 yesterday and it's a bit more CPU heavy than AROS, so might be a little heavy for the Raspberry PI... Just a thought

[koaftder]

RISC OS is crap and trying to use it for educational purposes is a waste of time. If one needs a system for teaching students with the goal of being able to understand every facet of the device, a micro controller is a more suitable platform. If the goal is to teach students how to write programs that run under an OS, linux or windows is far more suitable as those skills can apply directly in the real world.

[nicholas]

RISCOS is a pretty horrific operating system, I had to use it for 5 years at school... Yeah, let's get AROS on the board so we can really show off

@nicholas, I ran Haiku on my old 3ghz p4 yesterday and it's a bit more CPU heavy than AROS, so might be a little heavy for the Raspberry PI... Just a thought

I've noticed Haiku is quite a bit beefier than BeOS running on the same hardware too.

AROS ftw!

[Methuselas]

Someone please explain to me why *THIS* wasn't picked to port OS4 to???

[bloodline]

Someone please explain to me why *THIS* wasn't picked to port OS4 to???

It's not PPC, AROS is the only OS that supports ARM

[jj]

Apart from windows, android, meego, Maemo etc etc
 
Did you mean only AmigaLike OS

[commodorejohn]

What a useless piece of crap. The cpu is a steaming pile of manure. Come on, what can u use it for. It will stand like a retarded lame duck on the desk. A monument to failure. Cheap sticker on the side. Weak, useless, powerless, utter crap, and it have a bum OS on top of that .

It's underpowered for daily-use computing, sure - but as it says in the article, that's exactly what they're trying to avoid it being used for. It's not a replacement for a modern system, it's a machine on which students can learn how to make the computer work themselves. It's like an updated version of a home computer running Basic. And that, I think, is exactly what schools these days are missing.

RISC OS is crap and trying to use it for educational purposes is a waste of time. If one needs a system for teaching students with the goal of being able to understand every facet of the device, a micro controller is a more suitable platform. If the goal is to teach students how to write programs that run under an OS, linux or windows is far more suitable as those skills can apply directly in the real world.

There's a pretty big difference between learning how to write programs in an operating-system environment with interactive debugging and trying to write low-level hardware-banging code, and I don't think too many kids will be open to learning the latter before they've figured out the former. And while Windows or Linux are certainly more commonly used, neither one is something that a grade-school student just getting their feet wet would ever have any hope of understanding. Something simpler and more easily comprehended is definitely called for, and while I don't know if RISC OS is it, it's certainly a hell of a lot closer.

Also, the moment you start talking about putting the kibosh on learning things that don't "apply directly in the real world," you've abandoned real education for the churning out of factory and office drones (the thing that currently characterizes the American school system, which as you may have heard, sucks.) The hell with that.