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Email: mripley@ukonline.co.uk ICQ: AOL: Yahoo:	Username: mripley Realname: Malcolm Ripley About me: Homepage: web.ukonline.co.uk/mripley Face/Logo: Comments posted: 142 (show all)

Recent comments

On Is there a way out of RISC OS version number hell?:

I have a come here, now and then, for old times sake and this article caught my eye. My immediate reaction to some of the comments was "are you mind numbingly mad". RiscOS has been dying since the OS fork. "Supporting" the continuation of the fork instead of merging it will bring about its death even quicker. The volume of sales for an application developer is pretty poor as it is. Now you want them to code two different copies?!?! Oh , unless you want them to code for a common module call API in which case nobody needs to develop anything since this was the case prior to the OS fork!!!!!!!!!!! Get a grip, you are on a suicide trip with a forked OS....... mripley on 7/5/09 11:31PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On VirtualRiscPC spotted on Linux:

Whatever you decide please don't give Microsoft money for a windows licence if you can avoid it! As was mentioned do they really care what you run as long as they get their money. So although I originally questioned the need to run Riscos under Wine under Linux since you might as well be Linux native for all you THINK you gain, if you really must run RiscOS under emulation then do indeed choose Linux+Wine. The x86 CPU is not the only one that can satisfy higher demands. It just happens to be the one with the most investment (due to volume) and thus is proceeding apace. The ARM CPU on the other hand only has to satisfy the demands of the mobile market and thus the demands for power there are much lower. However, the mobile and low energy demands are changing and you should expect to see a change there. Linux is playing catch-up? It sure is but it is succeeding whereas RiscOS failed. Mac was also playing catch-up and has already succeeded. The latest evidence from sales is that Mac's are increasingly the machine of choice at the expensive end of the PC market. Linux is at the cheap end but going upwards. In the middle you have Microsoft who are losing market share quite quickly. Hardware manufacturers can see this and are now providing drivers for all three platforms. Microsoft DEFINITELY IS losing at long last and you will see Apple and Linux side by side in PCWorld any day now. Ubuntu Linux that is.....but hey that's another story. Should Wine improve to the point where the vast majority of PC games run (very roughly 50% at present) then you will see more pure Linux take-up. Wine also runs on Macs. Microsoft is petrified look at its behaviour! Please note folks, take some time to trawl the Mac+Linux forums and get a feel for what is happening. AMS opinion is a little outdated. mripley on 27/3/08 8:31AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On VirtualRiscPC spotted on Linux:

Colin, At what point i.e. how many years, have to pass before you say "enough is enough this is going nowhere?". You could argue that I have not waited long enough but I would say that 6 years since the OS split plus 2 or 3 before that have seen no major advancement whatsoever. The Iyonix was a faster box with a RO5 distraction. It did not change anything fundamental about the OS nor its lack of multimedia support. It is those fundamentals that have needed to be addressed for nearly a decade. Now as far as my involvement is concerned I feel I have done my bit to help by writing various software over the years and providing constructive criticism. But when that criticism falls on deaf ears for years its time to move on. NB my Riscos software plus OS improvements are still available on my website. The game I wrote for the Beeb, published by Virgin Games, is not available and I will keep my last two copies safely in the sellophane wrapper. So Colin before you criticise my past involvment you should check what it was first! mripley on 22/3/08 12:03PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On VirtualRiscPC spotted on Linux:

A huge smile came across my face as I read the assumptions by some as to my mental state concerning RiscOS. All completely wrong of course but if it makes you happy carry on. I am merely stating that IN MY OPINION (am I not allowed to have one after purchasing a Beeb on the day it was released, pre ordered an Archimedes, and soldiered on with RiscOS longer than some people here have had birthdays!) it is better to adopt Linux directly than to run RiscOS inside Windows inside Linux. It seems to me that the only reason for doing this is to continue to use some applications that are not or are poorly implemented on the native system. Otherwise you are simply adding performance issues for no gain. I also suspect (I may be wrong but again I am entitled to believe in the absence of hard evidence to the contrary) that some people my be reticent to leave RiscOS, as I was, and are clinging to the past via an emulator. Be brave, you do feel a little sad (NOT BITTER!!!!) and it is worth the effort in the end. The effort being in learning how things are done differently. I am not spreading doom and gloom. If anyone thinks this, then subconciously they have not yet faced up to what I had 6 months ago, namely, RiscOS does not have a future. There is a subtle difference between doom and gloom and facing up to reality. I had persevered for several years with the shortcomings of RiscOS. In retrospect about 3 years longer than I should. Here's a classic : the issue of a split OS is now 6 years old......hells bells.....wake up folks. I gave RiscOS 1 more year to get it's act together, it has 2 months to go. In the last 10 months all the reasons why RiscOS is lagging so severely as a viable OS have not improved at all. The basic issues are still there. Reminder: I personally believe that RiscOS, with the issues fixed, would be more than a match for the 3 main OS's today. This is especially the case with the need for lower power consumption PC's. Such a huge opportunity for RiscOS to dominate and it is being wasted due to infighting, lack of vision and plain stubborn refusal to face reality. So I am not bitter as I have had a very good 27 year run with Beeb to RiscPC but I do feel sad that I need(ed) to switch. mripley on 21/3/08 8:46AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On VirtualRiscPC spotted on Linux:

Why? An emulator inside an interface interpreter(wine) to use an OS that is preferable to Windows because of all Windows shortcomings. And yet the top layer (Linux) has all you want without the shortcomings of Windows and it's all free with tons more software than RiscOS has ever had. If this is simply to show it works then fine as an academic excercise. But it is impractical and unnecessary for day to day use. So far there is nothing on RiscOS that I have needed to transfer to Linux (PCLOS). I did copy over a few sprites to emulate a RiscOS desktop on PCLOS just to see if I could. Otherwise nothing. Quite a sad surprise really, which is why it has remained switched off since November. mripley on 20/3/08 8:18AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

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