RISC OS Promotional Brochure A4 version - RISCOS Ltd

Fact Sheet

Why choose RISC OS for your products?

RISC OS is a compact ROM based

Operating System solely for use

with ARM® 32 bit processors.

Ease of UseLike all Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), theRISC OS Desktop has a learning curve, but oncelearnt, it is by far the most user friendly andproductive GUI in the world today.As so much can be done directly from theRISC OS Desktop, you will hardly ever need toleave it for the command line. Much use is madeof the three button mouse to speed productivty.RISC OS can be used by primary school childrenupwards.

Built-in Command line The command line and the Desktop are part ofthe same operating system in RISC OS. Thecommand line can be reached from the Desktopwith a single key press. Function keys are usedquite extensively in the Desktop, F12 always takesyou instantly to the command line. You canreturn to the Desktop just as easily.

Industry StandardRISC OS supports many file types and furthersoftware is available to read and create many'industry standard' file formats (i.e. MicrosoftWord (.DOC), GIF, JPEG, PDF, etc) RISC OSadheres to published standards and does notattempt to enforce its own changes to universallyaccepted standards.

User customisableThe RISC OS desktop is easily customised forindiviudal taste and for different applications.

Proprietary codeRISC OS is based almost entirely on proprietarycode with no chance of hidden backdoors thatcan arise from using Open Source software.

International SupportRISC OS and its applications can easily be adaptedto foreign markets by the use of territorymodules. These provide the services andinformation necessary for both RISC OS and itsapplications to be viewed in different languagesfor specific territories. RISC OS supports theloading of system information messages in aforeign language, different time zones, differentalphabets and different keyboard layouts.Application software can easily be adapted simplyby the inclusion of appropriate message files andtemplates for a foreign market.

ROM basedRISC OS is supplied in ROM thus avoiding anypossibility of corruption by viruses.

Anti-aliased FontsAnti-aliased fonts, including font blending, are astandard part of RISC OS and are usedthroughout the Desktop. The RISC OS printingsystem uses the same fonts as the desktop, thusensuring perfect matching between screen displayand printout. Even 6pt text is legible on a 15"monitor using the RISC OS Font Manager.

Window supportRISC OS has very flexible Window support. Thewindow stacking order can be maintained evenwhen giving a window input focus; windows arenot automatically brought to the top when giveninput focus. You can type into a window whilstanother window is obscuring part of it. Windowsdo not become unmoveable when maximised.

British developmentRISC OS has been developed by British companies.Initially by Acorn Computers and laterly byRISCOS Ltd and Pace Micro Technology plc.

Fast Power onSince the core of RISC OS is in ROM and thekernel is tailored to specific hardware the initialpower up is very fast with memory check andhardware initialisation taking less than a secondon current hardware. Full booting of the hard discbased components of a desktop machine takesless than 6 seconds.

Unicode Font supportRISC OS can support both 8 bit Latin fonts and 16bit Unicode fonts. Input Method Engines (IMEs)are available to support character input fromstandard ASCII keyboards for the multi-characterfonts used by languages such as Korean,Japanese and Chinese.

Discless operationRISC OS does not rely on a hard disc for itsoperation and can easily be configured to bootextra facilities and applications from extensionROM, a network connection, CDROM or almostany storage medium.

True Drag and DropRISC OS supports true Drag and Drop operationsthroughout the Desktop.There are two types ofdrop with regard to applications - dropping onthe icon bar opens a new window whilstdropping on an open window appends the data.

Compact Kernel The current RISC OS kernel is only 180 KB in size.It provides efficient task management with co-operative multi-tasking and up to 128 concurrenttasks. Applications are single threaded.Further features include - Fast interrupt handling. Dynamic memory management.System clock and timing facilities.

Module based operationRISC OS is a module based operating system.Modules can be soft-loaded to replace those inROM or new ones added to extend the operatingsystem's capabilities. Applications comunicatewith these modules through the calling ofSoftware Interrupts (SWI's) that are similar toWindows API calls.

Flexible filing systemsRISC OS supports many local and remote filingsystems-SCSIFSFloppy drive - MS-DOS, Acorn, Mac, AtariISO 9660 CD-ROM with RockRidge and Joliet.PCMCIA - (PCCardFS)RAMFSPIPEFSIDEFSShareFSNetFSNFSAs well as booting from ROM, RISC OS can beloaded and booted from Hard-Drive, CompactFlash or Network.

Long file namesRISC OS supports real long filenames as opposedto a pseudo long filename mapping onto a filewith a short name. Unlike under MicrosoftWindows, the space (ASCII 32) and full stop arenot valid characters in filenames.

16 bit SoundRISC OS computers have 16-bit sound support andcan play back multiple concurrent sound streams.

TCP/IP Network StackRISC OS supports industry standard networkingfacilities including:-BSD 4.4 TCP/IP networking, IP, TCP, UDP, ARPSLIP, PPP, BOOTP, DNS, DHCP, NFS, FTP, telnet

PrintingThe printer manager supplied with RISC OS issuperior to that found on other operating systemsin that it is bitmap- rather than font-based. Thismakes it slightly slower but the printed output isincredibly accurate.

Variable screenresolutionsThe graphics chips supported by RISC OS allow awide range of graphics modes to be generated.Almost every screen mode on a RISC OS computerpossesses both a text cursor and a graphics cursor.Text can be plotted at the graphics cursor and thetext and graphics cursors can be combined. PAL TVand NTSC compatible screen modes are available.

MouseRISC OS has had a three-button mouse from thevery beginning when each button was assigned aspecific purpose. The use of each button is totallyconsistent throughout the entire Desktop. Youcan, for example, select a menu item withoutclosing the menu or scroll both scroll bars of thesame window at the same time. The third buttoncan also be used to do the reverse of the firstbutton; if the first scrolls up a window whenclicked over a particular icon, the third button willscroll it down. The third mouse button can becompared to holding down Shift whilst clickingthe left mouse button under Windows, but ismuch more convenient to the user.

Virus protectionRISC OS email systems are immune to PCattachment virus attacks.

No Hidden files RISC OS does not have hidden files; withoperating system files, application files and auser's data files so neatly departmentalised, thereis very little, if any, need for hidden files. You canhave an unlimited number of files per directory.

RISC OS was originally developed in 1989 by Acorn Computers. When the 6502 processor originally used in the BBC Micro no longer proved powerfulenough they designed the ARM 2 processor and a new Operating System to go with it. The Acorn processor design business was spun off as ARM Ltd in1990. RISC OS was constantly developed by Acorn as successive processors such as the ARM 3, ARM 250, ARM 610, ARM 710 and StrongARM SA110appeared. RISC OS has appeared in Acorn desktop computers for over 13 years and also as NCOS in Network computers. RISC OS was deisgned at a timewhen 4MB memory was excessive for a desktop computer and 32 MB RAM would cost over £1,000 and consequently used a 26 bit mode of operation onthe 32 bit ARM processors which allowed for a number of savings in code and hardware design.In 1995 Acorn was chosen by Oracle to build the first Reference Design for the Network Computer which they managed in under 16 weeks.RISC OS is currently in use in the DSL 4000 Set Top Box and Bush Internet TV products. Castle Technology use it in their Risc PC, A7000+ and Neuronproducts. RiscStation in their R7500 and portable products and MicroDigital in their Mico computer. New products that are planned to incorporate RISC OSinclude the Millipede Imago, SVD Visiobus, ExpLAN Solo and MicroDigital Omega.

Reliability

RISC OS provides continous reliable operation in demanding environments.

RISC OS provides a stable and

reliable base for the following

company's products and services.

OmniBus Systems is a UK based company at theforefront of broadcast automation encompassingevery aspect of operation from lines-in to transmission.In 2000 they won the Queens Award forEnterprise (Innovation).

RISC OS computers are used to provide two ofthe basic products of the OmniBus system.

Omni Bus Wor kst at i onThe OmniBus Workstation is a standard Risc PCwhich uses a high resolution colour display andkeyboard / mouse or touchscreen to provide aconsistent control interface for all the connectedequipment. The interface is broadcast format andtechnology independent. The soft control menusdisplayed on an OmniBus workstation have beendesigned to represent the actual look of thebroadcast equipment.

Denbridge Digital designs and manufactures arange of traffic management products around theworld for the marine, air and highwaytransportation industries.

One product offered by the Vessel Traffic SystemsDivision is the RDS-4200 which is a high-performance, low-cost multipurpose radar displayprocessors.

Based on the StrongARM RISC processor, theRDS-4200 offers performance features not foundon any other commercial radar displays. The RDS-4200 has a unique zooming capability whichprovides target resolution and detail limited onlyby the resolution of the radar antenna andtransceiver, anywhere on the screen. The RDS-4200 provides an impressive presentation of radardata and can be used with most commerciallyavailable marine radar transceivers. The RDS-4200features standard ARPA functions along with anadvanced sixteen target tracker and can becombined with other Denbridge Digital radarsystem modules for additional systemfunctionality.

Their 4th generation of advanced radar videocompression technology, the RCS-4000C providesreal-time radar video compression down to 9600 bps

Si-Plan Electronic Research produce a widerange of equipment for long term product testing.At the heart of many of them are RISC OScomputers which are essential to ensure that thetesting procedures are not interrupted bycomputer failure.

St eer i ng col umn t est r i gExercises the steering column in all its axes: upand down, in and out, as well as testing theclamp lever. The two actuators have to followeach other as the column is moved to maximumextension, maximum height, minimum height,minimum extension etc. Tests can run for days.Complex test regimes can be programmed inblocks and repeated. Full data logging anddisplays are included. Rigs like this have beensupplied to the UK and the USA.

Rack mount ed Omni Bus I nt er f ace Uni t sThe second piece of equipment is the OmniBusinterface unit which provides the link betweenthe Omnibus workstations and the actual piece ofbroadcast equipment. This is an A7000+computer which is built into a 19" Rack mountunit and provides Ethernet, RS 422 and otherappropriate control interfaces.

OmniBus is the real-time network operatingsystem that gives distributed control of a vastrange of broadcast television equipment fromsimple intuitive user interfaces. The system allowsequipment resources to be shared between manyusers, ensuring that the customer gets the mostuse out of valuable hardware assets.

OmniBus systems are in constant use worldwideat nearly 100 broadcasters such as ITN, BBC News24, Botswana TV (Africa), Doordarshan TV (India),and TVNZ (New Zealand) to name a few.

www. omni bus. t v

Li mb pr ost heses t est machi ne.Fatigue test involves 3 million cycles at 1 persecond - therefore one test takes 35 days. Thestability and multi-tasking of RISC OS makes it idealfor machine control (applying loading alternately totoe and heel of foot) and data logging. Themachine is double sided, so one RISC PC iscontrolling load on each of 4 servo-pneumaticactuators while logging load and displacement,peak loads, peak displacements etc, displaying 2loggers and DPMs on screen in real time.

Other RISC OS based applications developed bySi-Plan in the last couple of years have included:

Wind tunnel test control for a university research lab.Electric sunblind test rigs for production testing Deflection and torsional strength rig to testcomponents made of rubber.

www. si - pl an. com

SVD has been an editor of daily electronicnewspapers since 1985. From its productioncentre in Valence in Southern France more than200 different newspapers are daily updated anduploaded to more than 2500 screens installed incustomers' offices for external or internalcommunication. In 1998, SVD needed to renew the displayhardware used for its Visionews product andchoose the Acorn A7000 as its' new platform.

The main reasons for this choice was:- Low power technology- Compact ROM based OS suitable for embedded

applications.- OS simplicity and stability- High quality of displaying and drawing OS

functions such as anti-aliasing of text andvectors, JPEG decompressor, interlaced videosupport, ...

In 2001, SVD decided to renew the hardwareused for its' Visiobus product, which is used todisplay electronic newspapers on public transportbuses.

The environmental conditions encountered inbuses places quite a physical stress on thehardware used so SVD commissioned thedevelopment of its own hardware and againchoose an ARM based board running RISC OS.

The display software is provided by X-Amplesystems in the Netherlands.

www. svd- i nf o. f r

for most commercially available marine radars. Withapplications ranging from remote radar videotransmission by radio and telephone, radar video"broadcasting", to radar video recording andplayback, the RCS-4000C has proven to be a uniqueand versatile product.

The systems are currently installed in Dundee,Plymouth, Milford Haven, Sweden, Kuwait andGloucester.

The radar display on the RCS-4000C

www. denbr i dgedi gi t al . com

Easy Development

RISC OS supports many different programming languages.

RISC OS and it's applications have a

small memory footprint and are

easy to develop and maintain.

Whilst programs for RISC OS can be developed inARM Assembler, C and many other ScientificLanguages, the built in BBC Basic Intrepeterprovides an excellent basis for much software.

BASICThere are two versions of BASIC available withRISC OS.

BASIC VI is the latest version supplied alongsideBASIC V. Its main advantage over BASIC V is that itcan handle real numbers with greater accuracy.The improved floating point handling means itperforms floating point arithmetic to IEEE standard754, using 8-byte real representation. instead of 5bytes used by BASIC V.

Both BASICs includes comprehensive built-in helptext, and are probably the most powerful andfastest interpreted BASICs found on anycomputer in the world.

BASIC consists of special keywords with whichyou create sequences of instructions, calledprograms, to be carried out by the computer. Youcan use programs to perform complicated tasksinvolving the computer and the devicesconnected to it, such as: * performing calculations * creating graphics on the screen * manipulating data.

The BASIC language operates within anenvironment provided by RISC OS. RISC OS isresponsible for controlling devices available to thecomputer, such as: * the keyboard * the screen * the filing system.

You can enter operating system commandsdirectly from within BASIC, by prefixing themwith an asterisk (*).

Both BASICs are less than 64Kbytes in size.

The BASIC programming language uses proceduresand functions, making GOTOs, GOSUBs and linenumbers redundant. BASIC can be used to writesimple programs through to very complex Desktopapplications. Acorn's first release of the Desktop in1987 was in fact written in BASIC. BASIC includesits own ARM assembler.

C / C++ /AssemblerFor major program development the Acorn C/C++development environment is available forproducing RISC OS desktop applications andrelocatable modules written in ANSI C and/or inC++. It consists of a number of programmingtools which are RISC OS desktop applications.These tools interact in ways designed to help yourproductivity, forming an extendable environmentintegrated by the RISC OS desktop.

Acorn C/C++ may be used with Acorn Assemblerto provide an environment for mixed C, C++ and assembler development.

Acorn C/C++ includes tools to: * edit program source and other text files * search and examine text files * convert C source and header text between

ANSI and UNIX dialects * examine some binary files * compile and link C programs * compile and link C++ programs * construct relocatable modules entirely from C

or C++ * compile and construct programs under th e

control of makefiles, these being set up froma simple desktop interface

* squeeze finished program images to occupyless disk space

* construct linkable libraries * debug RISC OS desktop applications

interactively * design RISC OS desktop interfaces and test

their functionality * use the Toolbox to interact with those

interfaces. Most of the tools in this product are also ofgeneral use for constructing applications in otherprogramming languages, such as ARMAssembler. The C compiler

The Acorn C compiler for RISC OS is a fullimplementation of C as defined by the 1989ANSI language standard.

The C++ translator

The C++ translator for RISC OS (the tool C++supplied as a part of this product) is a port ofRelease 3.0 of AT&T's CFront product.

GCCThe GCC Software Development Kit for RISC OS

GCC is a free collection of compilers that providethe user with a powerful tool for translating C,C++ and Fortran source into fast ARM assemblerthat is suitable for execution on RISC OS. GCC is the common shorthand term for the GNUCompiler Collection. This is both the most generalname for the compiler and the name used whenthe emphasis is on compiling C programs.

There also exist front ends for other languages,such as Objective C, Ada 9X, Modula-3, Pascal,Cobol and Java, however these have not beenported to run on RISC OS.

GCCSDK is a portable build environment forcreating ARM executables to be run natively onRISC OS. The build environment is designed to behosted on a Unix-like system, such as GNU/Linux,FreeBSD or Solaris. GCCSDK releases are tied-inwith the corresponding RISC OS GCC releases.

It contains a C, C++ and Fortran 77 compileralong with an assembler, a linker and thestandard run-time libraries, Libio, Libstdc++,UnixLib and headers/stubs for the SharedCLibrary.

Thanks to the low power requirement of the ARMprocessor RISC OS is ideal for a wide range ofproducts:-

Desktop Computers

Portable Computers

Embedded controllers

Information Kiosks

PAL and NTSC TV resolutionscreen displays

EPOS (Point of Sale) Terminals

PC Compatible Network Terminals(Thin Clients)

VPN

Portable control units

Practical Applications of RISC OS

Extensive back catalogue of software

Since the launch of RISC OS many thousands ofapplications have been produced for use with it.

These cover subjects as diverse as Model Railwaysimulation, Music scoring and publishing, VideoGraphics, Databases, MP3 playback, Chemicalmodelling, Language learning, Photo retouching,Personal contact management, Farmadministration, MIDI sequencing, Games,Multimedia authoring, 3D animation, DeskToppublishing, Genealogy, Presentation ........and many more.

The major advantage of all these packages arethat because of the compact code produced byRISC OS it is very rare that any individual RISC OSapplication ever exceeds 1MB in size. Thusmachines with very little RAM and very smallpermanent storage can store and run a largenumber of applications.

The world renowned Sibelius music scoringprogram was first produced on the RISC OSplatform.

Powerful Text EditingAll programming languages require a powerfultext editor to provide fast editing features.

RISC OS users have a choice of three Text Editors. Zap and StrongED are very powerful sharewareprograms which supplement the basic facilitiesoffered by !Edit.

Consistent look and feelAll applications have a consistent look and feeldue to the excellent Toolbox facilities.

RISC OS ToolboxThe RISC OS Toolbox was designed with thefollowing goals:

• to facilitate writing consistent, high-qualitydesktop applications

• to encourage the writing of applicationswhose user interface complies with theRISC OS Style Guide

• to be easy to learn • to be language-independent • to make it no harder to do operations

which can be done using the Wimp.

The Toolbox has the following characteristics:

• it is structured as a set of RISC OSrelocatable modules

• it does not directly call back to code in theclient application

• it is SWI-driven • it can be used from C, C++, BASIC or

Assembler with equal ease • communication back to the client

application is via events • the client application does not have direct

access to data structures maintained by theToolbox

• it uses a new resource file format to holdtemplates for the user interface objectswhich the application will use at run-time.

Features List

RISC OS is a comprehensive package.

RISCOS Ltd3 Cl ar endon Road, Car di f f , CF23 9JD Uni t ed Ki ngdomTel : +44 ( 0) 2920 464020Fax: +44 ( 0) 2920 492326E-mai l : sal es@r i scos. comWeb Si t e: www. r i scos. com

ARM is a Registered Trademark of ARM LtdRISC OS is a Trademark of Pace Micro Technology plcVersion 0.03 14/08/2002RISC OS is in constant development. Nothing in this brochure shall be taken to imply an offer to supplythe product described herein. Some of the features described are under development or require thirdparty addons or licenses.

RISC OS is developed by RISCOS Ltd under license from Pace Micro Technology plc

RISC OS is customisable with

a complete suite of built in

applications.

PaintA bitmapped editor which can handle the nativeRISC OS sprite format. Many other formats such asJPEG, GIF, PNG and TIFF files can be loaded with thehelp of additional convertors.It is mainly used for designing icons and capturingscreen shots; it can load JPEGs.

DrawA Scaleable vector graphic package. Which aswell as the native Drawfile format, can alsogenerate SVG format files.

EditA text editor, which also provides command linecontrol and editing facilities. Edit is a multi-file multi-window text editor - you can have differentviews on the same file - you can have as manyopen documents as you want.The pathname of a file can be easily written atthe current cursor position, simply by holdingdown shift and dropping the file over thewindow. Any type of file file can be loaded intothe text editor simply by holding down the shiftkey whilst double-clicking on the file's icon.

CalculatorA scientific calculator is standard part of RISC OS.

PrintingA full printing support package is available forRISC OS supporting HP PCL 5 printing, PostScript,Canon CX printing, Epson ESC P/2 and Lexmarkprinter formats.

Email clientThe Marcel email client developed by ANT Limitedis shipped with RISC OS.

Web BrowserThe Fresco web browser developed by ANTLimited with 128 bit SSL support is shipped withRISC OS.

PDF file supportThe RISC OS Printer Drivers can generate AdobeAcrobat compatible PDF files. There are also PDFfiles readers available.

Speech supportPhoneme based text to speech translation isavailable to support many RISC OS applications.

Connectivity to PC,Unix, MacThe OmniClient program is a universal desktopfiler for network-based filing systems running on Acorn RISC OS computers. It allowsAcorn platform users to store and retrieve files inconjunction with `alternative' file servers, andmakes the most of hardware and softwarelocated on local area networks (LANs) that use Acorn machines.

It embraces the following network filing systems:

* Acorn Access and Acorn Access+ * NFS (TCP/IP Protocol Suite) * Lan Manager (NT workstation 3.1 and 3.5, NT Server 3.5, NT Advanced Server 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups).

OmniClient provides a simple, consistent view ofnetwork file services to RISC OS users, irrespectiveof the server type or protocol used.

Easy applicationinstallationApplications are easily installed - usually you justcopy from the original master disc to the harddisc. Many applications can be run from floppydisc. Applications can be just as easily removedwith no left-behind 'hidden' files.Most applications can be run from any storagelocation you choose; the location is not normallyfixed when the software is 'installed'.Each application resides in an 'applicationdirectory'. Just double-click on such anapplication directory and the application will berun. All the files making up the application are'hidden' from view of the average user inside theapplication directory. An application directory canhowever be opened just like a normal directory bydouble-clicking with shift held down.

No file extensionsRISC OS does not use file extensions; it uses filetypes instead. This allows linking of filetypes withapplications enabling double-clicking on adocument to load or run the appropriateapplications. Under most other operating systems,you could have two files, foo.txt and foo.pl, in thesame directory. With RISC OS, you could not havetwo files named foo in the same directory even ifthey're of different types. There is nothing to stopyou naming them foo/txt and foo/pl where the /...part has no meaning under RISC OS except as away of handling MS-DOS/Windows files. It isimpossible to give a file two filetypes unlike underWindows where 'foo.txt.pl' would be allowed.

Reference DesignsRISC OS based hardware is available from anumber of manufacturers.Castle Technology provide the original Acorndesigned StrongARM SA110 based Risc PC andARM 7500FE based A7000+ which aremanufactured under licence. They are also nowoffering a series of small form factor boards forembedded applications under the Neuron brand.www. cast l e. uk. co

RiscStation currently offer two ARM7500 basedproducts. The desktop R7500 and the portable.www. r i scst at i on. co. uk

Embedded RISC OSAs well as complete desktop environments,RISC OS is easily customisable for dedicatedpurposes where a limited feature set is required.

Supported Processors

Intel SA110Intel SA1110 (under development)Cirrus Logic 7500FEARM 720 core (under development)ARM 9 core (under development)XScale (under development)

RISCOS Ltd welcomes enquiries from anymanufacturers wishing to licence RISC OS forembedded applications such as Point of SaleKiosks, Information Displays, Portable devices etc.

Web SitesThere are a large number of web sites andnews groups dedicated to RISC OS. RISCOS Ltditself has a group of sites centred around itshome site at ht t p: / / www. r i scos. com/

ht t p: / / sel ect . r i scos. com/ht t p: / / sal es. r i scos. com/ht t p: / / embedded. r i scos. com/ht t p: / / acorn. r i scos. com/ht t p: / / devel oper . r i scos. com/ht t p: / / suppor t . r i scos. com/ht t p: / / f oundat i on. r i scos. com/

OngoingdevelopmentRISC OS is under constant development.

A project to port RISC OS to run on the SA1100based Psion netBook is underway and we are indiscussions with ARM over possible solutions tothe provision of new compilers and tools basedon the developments that ARM have done toimprove. It is possible that we could migrate to the ARMcompiler, but this would require some changes toRISC OS itself. The ARM compiler has moved onsignificantly and therefore no longer supportscertain RISC OS features such as module building.ARM are working on an Embedded ApplicationBinary Interface (EABI) that may prove suitable forRISC OS.ht t p: / / www. ar mdevzone. com/ EABI /

Ri sc PC