Rick's b.log - entry 2020/02/22

RISC OS South West Show - Bristol - Live!

This is a screenshot of the exposition hall prior to the introduction. What's worth noting is the age of the people that we see. However, in watching, I did spot this...

There. See her? Right in centre screen. Somebody who doesn't have grey hair!

Seriously though, one of the problems that I see with the future of RISC OS is that the majority of us grew up with Acorn, the BBC Micro, then moving on to the Archimedes, and so on. There was a time when we were cutting edge stuff (home RISC machine, mouse-oriented GUI, networking) long before anybody else had made serious attempts at such things in the domestic sphere. But in this world where iOS and Android are duking it out on little devices, and Windows and Linux on bigger devices, it is difficult for RISC OS to demonstrate it still has relevance. Maybe the future of RISC OS lies not in desktop machines, but embedded systems where one can play to the strengths of the system rather than being concerned over its weaknesses?

Of course, being a live broadcast, stuff always goes wrong. I've <cough> made live broadcasts in my life </cough> and one gets the mindset that pulling off a broadcast where everything "just works" is reason for celebration. Why do you think the professionals (Eurovision, for example) do loads of rehearsals? But when you're winging it on a one-off... well... The welcome announcement didn't appear to switch feeds when it looked like it was supposed to, and then the talking of the stuff to come was already too quiet, but when the perky music kicked in, it was inaudible. My sympathies, but better to get the niggles sorted at the start and not turn up during something important, right?
Still, a live feed from a show. It's great. The only thing missing (unless it'll happen later?) is to take the camera and walk around the show. Though technical reasons might prevent that (if it's a broadcast from a desktop machine).

If you're reading this early on Saturday afternoon, join in. Otherwise, replay...

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David Pilling, 23rd February 2020, 19:42

Good for them streaming it. Now is the era though. As I tell people, there are truck drivers in the USA live streaming their every move - not just on the road, but in hotels, warehouses and truck stops and for the most part it works. Technological miracle.  ISTR RISC PC was Harrogate 1995 - Hey Rick where you there (I've been reading the chat on the SW show stream).  Should change the dynamic of shows - as a stand holder you get more eyes - of course as with football as a show promoter you might see it as less visitors.  Way back it was a secret which game the BBC would show each week - one would have to go past the ground and spot the scaffolding. Football seems to have got the broadcasters sorted out by now.  Is embedded a strength of RISC OS? A lot of time has gone by now - Android has shown that Windows was beatable.

Rick, 25th February 2020, 22:09

Streaming truck driving? Not sure if that's really cool or really sad. I guess it depends where - Maryland or Virginia, probably cool. Arizona or Ohio, probably not. Too much empty.    Wasn't Harrogate, one of the big London shows. Got a Clan RiscPC sweatshirt.  Yes, I watched the live stream except for an hour in the middle (popped out to get eggs as you kinda need 'em if you want to eat scrambled egg!).    While it could be less visitors, it is also potentially greater exposure, and useful to "share" an event in realtime with those who would have liked to have been there in person.    Embedded - the system is woefully lacking in modern security aspects meaning it isn't a system that can be considered "safe" or "locked down" by any metric. One really wouldn't want to use it for online banking, a single tiny BASIC program could pwn the entire machine with the OS happily *assisting*, there's no video support for stuff like YouTube and webcams, and I'm not sure we have a fully Facebook compatible browser.  But, the world of embedded might be looking for a lightweight system that doesn't need to be connected to the outside world, has enough services to be more useful than a mini-OS without being overkill like a stripped Linux, and unlike all of that, is fairly easy to get at the bare metal when necessary.  I think that's a niche RISC OS could squeeze itself into.

David Pilling, 28th February 2020, 03:38

It's more that live streaming works than the specifics. I guess there must be lots of people at it on Facebook.    Kidding you because the RISC PC launched at Harrogate in Spring.    Computers are a big world by now, somewhere there must be a niche for RISC OS.

Rick, 2nd March 2020, 19:09

"somewhere there must be a niche for RISC OS" - perhaps those who want more power than an Arduino without the bother of having to figure out Linux?    That said Linux offers GPU, camera, loads of "the usual services", blah blah and runs on the same sorts of hardware so... it's non-obvious.

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