First RISC OS sources available
Steve
Castle and RISC OS Open Announce release of RISC OS Sources to the Community
Wakefield, 19th May 2007: Castle Technology Ltd (Castle) and RISC OS Open Ltd
(ROOL) are pleased to announce that they are now in a position to begin the
release of RISC OS source code. This follows a previous announcement between
the parties declaring their intention to make RISC OS sources available to as
wider audience as possible. Since that announcement Castle and ROOL have been
working to put into place the necessary source management infrastructure and
accompanying licence agreement to enable the controlled release of the
sources.
As of today ROOL are providing web access to 'the official' RISC OS source
repository at Castle via the ROOL website at www.riscosopen.org. Official
releases are available and maintained from this site. There are a variety of
components which will be released in the first batch details of which can be
found on the ROOL website. These are the first parts of RISC OS sources to be
released to public, with more sources being released on ROOL site as they are
processed.
Licensing of the released RISC OS software is being made available to third
parties via a free of charge (FOC) Licence which gives an individual/company
the right to download, modify and publish RISC OS source code provided it is
not sold as part of a hardware product. Full details of the FOC licence are
available from the Castle website at:
www.castletechnology.co.uk/riscosbaselicence.htm
Details will also be available in the source archive.
Download Process: Users can go to ROOL website to download and install the
build environment and run some scripts which integrate the build with the
AcornC/C++ tools. If you do not have the tools, then these can be obtained by
contacting ROOL at in...@riscosopen.org. Then download the sources of interest
and build them. Users should be aware that this activity is at the early
stage of and that further documentation and sources will be made available
over time. Developers are encouraged to feed back modified code to the
'official' source repository where it can be merged back into the source tree
and released to all. For further information please refer to the
documentation on the ROOL website.
Representatives from ROOL and Castle will be available at the Wakefield 2007
show to answer questions.
Administration by ROOL of RISC OS is being performed on a not-for-profit
(NFP) basis and is therefore be dependent upon contributions from the
community to help support the operating costs. Users can contribute via a
donation mechanism on the ROOL website. Given the NFP status of this activity
ROOL will additionally be selling a selection of branded merchandise in order
to raise funding at the Wakefield show.
Steve Revill, Director of ROOL commented "This is a big day in the history of
RISC OS. For the first time, ordinary developers and users will not only be
able to look at the source code to their favorite OS, but they will be able
to add to it in ways that have until now been impossible." Steve added "At
ROOL, we are very pleased to be a part of the process of opening-up access to
the sources for many key RISC OS components. With the help and support of the
RISC OS community, I am sure that there will be even more to follow. It is
our sincere hope that this will stimulate the growth of our community and
introduce a new era of development."
Speaking today Jack Lillingston (Managing Director of Castle) said; "This
step is a further major landmark in the development of the highly respected
software platform. A primary objective of Castle and ROOL is to bring RISC OS
software to a wider community and to encourage growth in both the RISC OS
user base and the developer community." Jack added, "This will be augmented
by more rapid development of the software base and removal of critical
barriers to use, normally associated with proprietary platforms."
About RISC OS Open (ROOL)
In addition to managing the distribution activity, ROOL will provide services
for commercial customers wishing to deploy RISC OS commercially. ROOL will
deliver value to its clients by being an expert in the design, development
and integration of products built around ARM compatible processors. The core
team of ROOL's engineers originally formed the nucleus of Pace's Cambridge
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) development team and previously worked
for Acorn Computers. The experienced team is able to help partners and
customers to quickly integrate, optimise and deploy efficient RISC OS based
solutions in order to take advantage of the market leading MIPS per watt
performance from the ARM architecture. ROOL are able to author software for
an existing hardware design or develop a complete hardware and software
solution. The engineering team has already developed and deployed RISC OS
based products in the 'TV over DSL' market and in IP set-top boxes.
About RISC OS
RISC OS was designed in Cambridge, England by Acorn for their 32-bit ARM
based Archimedes, computer and was first released in 1987. RISC OS was
specifically developed for the ARM core and its origins can be traced back to
the original team that developed ARM. (a major advantage for RISC OS). In
1999 the rights to RISC OS were acquired by Pace and then in 2003, by the
present owner, Castle.
The RISC OS platform has been deployed in over a million Consumer Electronics
(CE) products. Product solutions based on RISC OS are sophisticated, proven,
reliable and mature, having had over 600 man years of development to date.
RISC OS products are universally recognised as faster, more reliable and more
efficient than many comparable competitive products. However one consistent
objection to the use of RISC OS has been the fact that it is proprietary.
With today's announcement, the parties believe that such an issue will no
longer be a hindrance to its use.
--
Stephen Revill, Director Tel: +44 (0) 1353 740 267
RISC OS Open Ltd www.riscosopen.org
4 Townsend Mews, Wilburton,
Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3SQ
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