I've had a bit of 'fun', what with upgrading the server, loosing my URL, gaining a proper Domain name, bla, bla...
So time to reintroduce what it's about, and maybe push the new Domain back up the rankings.
Links to the Server and Website can be found in my Sig.
So what's it about?
32bit Acorn-ish machines make great retro boxes for all sorts of reasons. The later machines even remain relatively useful and the OS is still being actively developed. Sadly these machines, while very popular indeed in their day, never had much of a 'scene'. One result of this is knowledge and resources to support your Acorn-ish machine can be hard to track down, especailly if you're new to such things. The Qube RiscOS Server is (largely) my attempt to plug that gap.
Why Qube?
The site is housed in a heavily upgraded Cobalt Qube, itself an ultra-cool retro server. Ok, 'ultra-cool' may not be such a good description for a server, I had to call the site something vaguely relevant and somewhat distinctive.
Why RiscOS?
Because I think it looks nice like that and I don't care if it's 'wrong'. Besides after many hundreds of hours of work I'm not about to tear the site apart just to satisfy a few moaners...
...Oh, you mean why R.I.S.C. O.S..? Sorry, wrong end of stick and all that. Because it's a fantastic retro OS with a lot going for it. Current versions of the OS can be installed to new hardware so you could buy/build a brand new machine if you want. There's plenty of (free and commercial) software, and lots you can do with the hardware if that floats your boat. Acorn built hardware also happens to be near bullet-proof so you'll have much less in the way of tears with things going wrong and for the moment prices aren't crazy. There are also some excellent emulators if you'd rather.
Ok, what have you got?
There's an FTP server with a vast array of stuff, a systems page with a growing list of retro p0rn to look at, a projects page for those who like to get their hands dirty...
...and Classic RiscOS is at version 4.0 of a RiscOS 'distro' that contains a wealth of patches, updates, additions to the original ROM-based OS, and a load of goodies to get you going. This has been rolled up with a couple of emulators to get new users up and running in a flash, or it will install to real hardware. There's also a Bulletin Board but I'm afraid I tend to leave that to it's own devices for much of the time, what with having a job, a family, etc...
The Qube RiscOS Server does cater for more modern machines but is mainly aimed at 'Classic' systems (those released before the RiscPC) as they are 'more retro'. As 'modern' systems are still being actively used and supported they can look after themselves, also I don't intend to tread on the toes of active commercial developers.
I hope my shameless plug sparks some interest in a few people here. Please note the server itself sits on the end of a home broardband connection so be patient if traffic makes it slow at times - the web pages have been heavily optimised. Also give my bandwidth a little consideration if you go and download some of the bigger files - by all means grab them because you want them, not just because you can.
So time to reintroduce what it's about, and maybe push the new Domain back up the rankings.
Links to the Server and Website can be found in my Sig.
So what's it about?
32bit Acorn-ish machines make great retro boxes for all sorts of reasons. The later machines even remain relatively useful and the OS is still being actively developed. Sadly these machines, while very popular indeed in their day, never had much of a 'scene'. One result of this is knowledge and resources to support your Acorn-ish machine can be hard to track down, especailly if you're new to such things. The Qube RiscOS Server is (largely) my attempt to plug that gap.
Why Qube?
The site is housed in a heavily upgraded Cobalt Qube, itself an ultra-cool retro server. Ok, 'ultra-cool' may not be such a good description for a server, I had to call the site something vaguely relevant and somewhat distinctive.
Why RiscOS?
Because I think it looks nice like that and I don't care if it's 'wrong'. Besides after many hundreds of hours of work I'm not about to tear the site apart just to satisfy a few moaners...
...Oh, you mean why R.I.S.C. O.S..? Sorry, wrong end of stick and all that. Because it's a fantastic retro OS with a lot going for it. Current versions of the OS can be installed to new hardware so you could buy/build a brand new machine if you want. There's plenty of (free and commercial) software, and lots you can do with the hardware if that floats your boat. Acorn built hardware also happens to be near bullet-proof so you'll have much less in the way of tears with things going wrong and for the moment prices aren't crazy. There are also some excellent emulators if you'd rather.
Ok, what have you got?
There's an FTP server with a vast array of stuff, a systems page with a growing list of retro p0rn to look at, a projects page for those who like to get their hands dirty...
...and Classic RiscOS is at version 4.0 of a RiscOS 'distro' that contains a wealth of patches, updates, additions to the original ROM-based OS, and a load of goodies to get you going. This has been rolled up with a couple of emulators to get new users up and running in a flash, or it will install to real hardware. There's also a Bulletin Board but I'm afraid I tend to leave that to it's own devices for much of the time, what with having a job, a family, etc...
The Qube RiscOS Server does cater for more modern machines but is mainly aimed at 'Classic' systems (those released before the RiscPC) as they are 'more retro'. As 'modern' systems are still being actively used and supported they can look after themselves, also I don't intend to tread on the toes of active commercial developers.
The Classic RiscOS Desktop
-Based in RiscOS 3.1, released in 1992-
-Based in RiscOS 3.1, released in 1992-
By way of comparison Here's RiscOS 4.39 running on my Omega
(Big image, 1680x1050)
(Big image, 1680x1050)
I hope my shameless plug sparks some interest in a few people here. Please note the server itself sits on the end of a home broardband connection so be patient if traffic makes it slow at times - the web pages have been heavily optimised. Also give my bandwidth a little consideration if you go and download some of the bigger files - by all means grab them because you want them, not just because you can.
Attachments
Last edited:
