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03 September 2009, 15:52
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#1 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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The Omega of hardware p0rn..?
A very kind chap recently sold me one of these incredibly rare RiscOS boxes - maybe 500 of them made, if that?
I thought some here may like to see a few piccies, more on request. .......Front................Drives.......   ............................................. ........Front................Rear........   ............................................. ......Inside.......  ...................... ......Motherboard......  ............................. So what is it? Well, near the end of Acorn you had the StrongARM-based RiscPC. A wonderful computer but showing it's age, especially as the slow bus speed was holding up the 200mhz+ CPU plugged into a mobo designed for 30mhz+ Acorn themselves nearly released the RiscPC II (Pheobe) but had a last minute change of heart, cancelled it, then folded having first sold off the family jewels... ...at the time there were a few manufacturers selling clones, Microdigital among them. Their 'masterpiece' was to be the Omega, the released computer being the middle of the proposed range. It's a RiscPC clone on steroids with all the limitations of the original fixed or removed. So what went wrong? The Omega had a rather more troubled gestation than M.D. expected. This stretched the company to breaking point and when Castle's superficially more powerful Iyonix appeared that was the final nail in the coffin and they folded. Sadly they hadn't finished the USB support before doing so. The Omega is probably the first commercial 'soft' computer. The chipset is based around XILINX FPGA's. Programmed to be a 'Super RiscPC' compatibility is very high while bringing a great deal more to the party - several updates & improvements were released before the end... ...There's fundamentally nothing to stop this mobo from being whatever you want it to be - programming skill allowing. M.D. had intended to licence out this mobo and it's dev-kit to others for their own use. We could have had new Amiga's with PCI years ago! Sadly it was not to be. Despite many offers the mobo design & dev-kit have not been released - surely it could still be a very useful basis for many projects not withstanding as an 'Acorn' it could do with finishing. Going to go play now...
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03 September 2009, 16:10
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#2 |
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Ya' like it Retr0?
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 49
Posts: 9,768
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Looks delicious my friend,
dare I ask how much? |
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03 September 2009, 16:31
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#3 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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Hi Zetr0,
Thanks - I should have guessed you couldn't resist a bit of p0rn  I bought it for £100.00 IMO: something of a bargain, I actually asked the seller a few times if that was all he wanted for it - I'd never make a businessman! At the mo' Omega's are hard to find because there's so few of them but they don't seem that sort-after in RiscOS circles... WHY?!? How's things? |
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03 September 2009, 17:44
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#4 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Age: 44
Posts: 637
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VERY Nice
 gonna put RO 6 on it ? if you can lol. 100 quid FFS lol these things cos an arm and a leg..... have fun! - I'm sure you will. Andrew |
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03 September 2009, 18:01
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#5 |
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Eksjö / Sweden
Posts: 5,625
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I'll give you £101 for it! Hehe.
Looks cool, now we want to see it running some cool software ! If you want a RiscOS CD I know a seller on eBay (name escapes at the moment). |
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03 September 2009, 18:35
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#6 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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Thanks chaps,
Yes, I'll try RO6 on it - to my knowledge there's no official support but I've read at least one person managed it... ...RO6 won't work on my ViewFinder RiscPC, so you never know they may actually get my custom after all! 
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03 September 2009, 20:12
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#7 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Amigaville
Age: 46
Posts: 3,337
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But.... but.....but..... it isn't blue
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03 September 2009, 20:28
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#8 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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I could paint it.
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11 September 2009, 22:48
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#9 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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Having had a chance to play:
RO 4.39 on my Omega  (BIG Image) |
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11 September 2009, 22:52
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#10 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 77
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That screenshot has a very "modern Epoc" feel to it. (Psion Series 5/7)
Very nice! |
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12 September 2009, 02:17
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#11 | |
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Age: 44
Posts: 637
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Quote:
Much nicer than my Emulated 4.39 on VRPC..... very nice indeed 
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12 September 2009, 02:42
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#12 |
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. . Mouse . .
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nowhere
Age: 55
Posts: 1,792
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Thanks chaps, most kind.
There's a fair few tweaks gone into my 4.39 set ups... ...The tool-sprites are my own 'cleaned-up' take on Acorn's originals. ...The various icons are either mine or adaptations of one's I preferred to ROL's. (yet to sort the bin icon) ...Similarly with the window / icon-bar bitmaps. ...Then there's the patches to allow for individualised directories etc... If any are interested I'll happily post the files. When I have a mo' it will end up as a feature on the Qube Server... Last edited by Charlie; 12 September 2009 at 02:50. |
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