English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Acorn Archimedes, and how its almost impossible to emulate

Charlie · 23 September 2006, 22:50

The reason RiscOS rom files are so hard to find is that the OS still has commercial development & support ( unlike AmigaOS - regardless of what Amiga.inc may claim )
New RiscOS hardware is also still for sale + developed! Consequently RiscOS make more effort to protect their i.p.

Most people who emulate RiscOS still have native hardware so thay have access to their own Roms. Also piracy has never been as much of an issue on that platform. Both factors have made such files less widespread.

I would say as a rough rule of thumb there are two kinds of RIscOS machine - - and therefore emulation:

OS 3.1 & below: Ok for games & older apps. Though not free as such few care about 'sharing' of these roms, but they can be hard to find. One of the free emulators will do fine.
OS 3.5 & above: 'Modern' & officially supported hardware, so you will most likley have to pay the going rate for the roms... Virtual Acorn costs as much as it does becuause the author bundles RiscOS 4 ( or Select ) which costs him a significant licence fee.

The fact is that with RiscOS you are still in the same ball-park as Windows or OS-X. You can get hold of hooky copies but as there is a company actively developing + supporting the OS: if they catch you they may prosecute!

I hope this helps explain the reasons for some of the frustrations mentioned above. RiscOS is not ( yet ) a dead platform, so the i.p. is harder to find.

23 September 2006, 22:50	#5
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	The reason RiscOS rom files are so hard to find is that the OS still has commercial development & support ( unlike AmigaOS - regardless of what Amiga.inc may claim ) New RiscOS hardware is also still for sale + developed! Consequently RiscOS make more effort to protect their i.p. Most people who emulate RiscOS still have native hardware so thay have access to their own Roms. Also piracy has never been as much of an issue on that platform. Both factors have made such files less widespread. I would say as a rough rule of thumb there are two kinds of RIscOS machine - - and therefore emulation: OS 3.1 & below: Ok for games & older apps. Though not free as such few care about 'sharing' of these roms, but they can be hard to find. One of the free emulators will do fine. OS 3.5 & above: 'Modern' & officially supported hardware, so you will most likley have to pay the going rate for the roms... Virtual Acorn costs as much as it does becuause the author bundles RiscOS 4 ( or Select ) which costs him a significant licence fee. The fact is that with RiscOS you are still in the same ball-park as Windows or OS-X. You can get hold of hooky copies but as there is a company actively developing + supporting the OS: if they catch you they may prosecute! I hope this helps explain the reasons for some of the frustrations mentioned above. RiscOS is not ( yet ) a dead platform, so the i.p. is harder to find. Last edited by Charlie; 24 September 2006 at 00:28.