log in | register | forums
Show:
Go:
Forums
Username:

Password:

User accounts
Register new account
Forgot password
Forum stats
List of members
Search the forums

Advanced search
Recent discussions
- R-Comp updates RISC OS Hexen port to v1.08 (News:)
- APDL make their PD catalogue available for free download (News:74)
- WROCC October 2024 meeting - Andy Marks and RISCOSbits (News:)
- WROCC October 2024 talk on wednesday - RISCOSbits (News:)
- September 2024 News Summary (News:2)
- London Show is 4 weeks away (News:)
- ROOL updates DDE to issue 31e (News:4)
- WROCC Newsletter Volume 41:12 reviewed (News:)
- WROCC September 2024 talk on wednesday - Amcog (News:2)
- Rougol September 2024 meeting on monday (News:)
Related articles
- Elesar bring Wifi networking to your RISC OS Pi
- First Impressions of RComp's TiMachine
- Review: Nokia N770 Internet Tablet
- Review - A9home
- Iyonix: first birthday review
- Iyonix USB 2 - review
- PCITV screenshots
- Wakefield 2003 - the preview
- 100bT Network Cards Tested
- New RISC OS, new markets.
Latest postings RSS Feeds
RSS 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.9
Atom 0.3
Misc RDF | CDF
 
View on Mastodon
@www.iconbar.com@rss-parrot.net
Site Search
 
Article archives
Acorn Arcade forums: News and features: R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show
 

R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show

Posted by Mark Stephens on 08:12, 22/3/2019 | ,
 
One of the big draws at the South-West Show was the chance to actually try (and see and touch!) 2 new RISC OS machines on the R-Comp stand.

If you would like a Titanium powered machine (but in a more traditional Computer case, and at a cheaper price, then the Titan (another play on the Ti name) is for you. R-Comp prices start at 775 pounds and you get a fully finished Titanium machine, complete with SSD drive and the R-Comp software bundle.
 
This now means that there is a nice wide selection of machines based on the Titanium motherboard. You can build your own by purchasing the board directly from Elesar, and R-Comp and CJEmicros offer a range of finished machines in different configurations to suit different budgets and needs. I have a Titanium machine as my main RISC OS machine and am very pleased with it....
 
R-Comp also showed an ARMbook - a Pinebook running an almost finished version of RISC OS. There were both 12 and 14 inch models. The Pinebook runs a 1.2 Gig ARM chip and the version of RISC OS still needed finishing but was running well on the hardware. The box can also dual-boot Linux as a second operating system. You cannot yet buy one, but you can put down a deposit. So if you are looking for a dual purpose, portable RISC OS solution, the ARMbook is well worth a look...
 
It was really great to see R-Comp showing these new machines and they nicely extend the range of hardware options for people seeking a fast RISC OS machine in 2019.
 
  R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show
  richw (23:04 22/3/2019)
  micken (23:56 25/3/2019)
    nunfetishist (18:04 26/3/2019)
      arawnsley (20:02 26/3/2019)
        nunfetishist (21:10 27/3/2019)
          nunfetishist (11:41 28/3/2019)
          arawnsley (18:00 11/4/2019)
            nunfetishist (10:21 15/4/2019)
    richw (08:52 10/4/2019)
 
Richard Walker Message #124473, posted by richw at 23:04, 22/3/2019
Member
Posts: 73
A native laptop is exciting stuff.

Are these Pinebooks basically the same ones which are periodically available from pine64? Or are they in any way connected to their new Pinebook Pro?
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Michael Grunditz Message #124474, posted by micken at 23:56, 25/3/2019, in reply to message #124473
Member
Posts: 27
A native laptop is exciting stuff.

Are these Pinebooks basically the same ones which are periodically available from pine64? Or are they in any way connected to their new Pinebook Pro?
It is a Pinebook , not the pro version. The pro has a different SoC
It is possible that we can support the Pro in the future, but for now
it is the regular model, thatr is don't wait for the pro!
Posting from OWB with RISC OS fonts renderer! smile
I
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rob Kendrick Message #124478, posted by nunfetishist at 18:04, 26/3/2019, in reply to message #124474
nunfetishist
Today's phish is trout a la creme.

Posts: 524
OOI, why would you want to use the RISC OS font renderer when FreeType is superior in every way it is possible to be superior in? Last time I checked, its anti-aliased output was even faster, and you can use web fonts directly with it.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Andrew Rawnsley Message #124479, posted by arawnsley at 20:02, 26/3/2019, in reply to message #124478
R-Comp chap
Posts: 598
Rob - it's about 8x slower when used like-for-like at present, using scrolling as a test. Maybe it's not optimised, but like it or not, current freetype coupled with the owb/webkit engine = slooow. We even demo'd as much at the show in Feb.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rob Kendrick Message #124481, posted by nunfetishist at 21:10, 27/3/2019, in reply to message #124479
nunfetishist
Today's phish is trout a la creme.

Posts: 524
Rob - it's about 8x slower when used like-for-like at present, using scrolling as a test. Maybe it's not optimised, but like it or not, current freetype coupled with the owb/webkit engine = slooow. We even demo'd as much at the show in Feb.
The trick is to not use it directly but via a text processing and layout system like HarfBuzz or Pango, these provide the cacheing layer that RISC OS's font rasteriser has built-in. Re-rendering these on-demand makes no sense when we have as much memory as we do these days.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rob Kendrick Message #124482, posted by nunfetishist at 11:41, 28/3/2019, in reply to message #124481
nunfetishist
Today's phish is trout a la creme.

Posts: 524
(Oh, and for fair performance comparison, also make sure to turn off FreeType's TrueType/OpenType scaffold hinting, bytecode hinting, and subpixel antialiasing, all of which are quite expensive and turned on by default but do yield superior results.)
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Richard Walker Message #124485, posted by richw at 08:52, 10/4/2019, in reply to message #124474
Member
Posts: 73
It is a Pinebook , not the pro version. The pro has a different SoC
It is possible that we can support the Pro in the future, but for now
it is the regular model, thatr is don't wait for the pro!
Ah, so the Pinebook is an Allwinner A64, and the Pinebook Pro is a Rockchip RK3399?

I recall you writing about your progress on creating a new port of RISC OS to the RK3288. Was interesting stuff to read. https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/9/topics/10932 I take it that the Allwinner A64 is follow-on port?
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Andrew Rawnsley Message #124486, posted by arawnsley at 18:00, 11/4/2019, in reply to message #124481
R-Comp chap
Posts: 598
Following up Rob's suggestion, we're currently experimenting with HarfBuzz and early results seem promising. Thanks for the suggestion.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rob Kendrick Message #124487, posted by nunfetishist at 10:21, 15/4/2019, in reply to message #124486
nunfetishist
Today's phish is trout a la creme.

Posts: 524
Following up Rob's suggestion, we're currently experimenting with HarfBuzz and early results seem promising. Thanks for the suggestion.
Great, will be interesting to hear your results, we've toyed with using HarfBuzz and FreeType in NetSurf too.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 

Acorn Arcade forums: News and features: R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show