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Acorn Arcade forums: General: RISC OS Laptops
 
  RISC OS Laptops
  castlevarich (23:06 8/1/2017)
  riscosbits (11:48 9/1/2017)
  CJE (11:17 11/1/2017)
    castlevarich (15:51 11/1/2017)
      CJE (11:41 12/1/2017)
 
Jon Robinson Message #123983, posted by castlevarich at 23:06, 8/1/2017
Member
Posts: 55
Best wishes for the New Year, to you all.

I would like to buy a cheapish RISC OS-running
laptop soon, and it seems to be a choice between
RComp;s NetBook, running VRPC (RISC OS 4), and
CJE's PiTop.

I would really like to plump for a pure ARM/
RISC OS solution, and RISC OS 5, rather than
running RISC OS under emulation, on a PC, but
I'm put off by reports of the PiTop having a
poor keyboard, and of the case cracking.

I don't want to spend £500 on something, and
then have to be worrying about it breaking
as soon as I've got it.

Has anybody got a PiTop, and if so, how
bad are the problems with the case and
the keyboard ?

Jon Robinson, Leeds
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RISCOS Bits Message #123984, posted by riscosbits at 11:48, 9/1/2017, in reply to message #123983
Member
Posts: 28
I've got a Pi-Top and I haven't had any problems with the case cracking, but it had a keyboard with a shonky Shift key which made things difficult. It needed a FIRM press to get it to register.

In my experience, though, Pi-Top are quite good with replacing things that don't work - I've had that and a faulty battery replaced without quibble.

I guess it depends on whether you prefer RISC OS 4/6 or 5 to any great degree.

If you're happy to go down the x86 route, and your RISC OS demands aren't heavy, there's always the DIY option to run VirtualRPC-DL - http://www.riscos.com/shop/products/107/index.htm on a laptop? Quite restricted (only 64MB and RISC OS 4.02 - but you can upgrade using Select) and with possibly less support than either the Pi-Top (from CJE) or the RComp one.
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Chris Evans Message #123985, posted by CJE at 11:17, 11/1/2017, in reply to message #123983
CJE Micros chap
Posts: 228
pi-topRO keyboards are certainly not the best, but keyboards are always a very personal thing.
Re case cracking We've never seen this so it can't be that common. We did have one case arrive with a moulding fault. pi-top will replace with little hassle. Though 'It should be with you in six weeks' needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. (The last item we ordered was actually less than six weeks so they do seem to be improving!).
They ship from the far east.
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Jon Robinson Message #123986, posted by castlevarich at 15:51, 11/1/2017, in reply to message #123985
Member
Posts: 55
Dear Chris

Are there any other colours available for the case, apart from grey. I think they do quite a snazzy sky blue.

Am I right in thinking that there is no speaker on it, and that if you want sound, you have to buy a separate speaker, which needs to be fitted in the case ?

Also, what other software would it need to access the internet, using an ethernet connection to a BT broadband router ?

Regards Jon
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Chris Evans Message #123987, posted by CJE at 11:41, 12/1/2017, in reply to message #123986
CJE Micros chap
Posts: 228
Re colours. They were going to offer half a dozen different colours but in the end they only offer the Grey or garish Green.

They offer a special internal speaker as an option that we fit as standard in the pi-topRO. It connects to the HDMI sound (via internal 34 expansion connector), we include software that enables it.

Re internet software. You can use the same software that any standard Pi can use.
If you want to use the WiFi nano router we fit (rather than a Cat5 lead) then !Otter allows you to set the nano router up, see available networks and select one. It is rather clunky but does the job.
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Acorn Arcade forums: General: RISC OS Laptops