The Icon Bar: News and features: R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show
Posted by Mark Stephens on 08:12, 22/3/2019
| Hardware, Reviews
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.
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R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show |
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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 (17:00 11/4/2019)
nunfetishist (09:21 15/4/2019)
richw (07:52 10/4/2019)
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Richard Walker |
Message #124473, posted by richw at 23:04, 22/3/2019 |
Member
Posts: 73
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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? |
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Michael Grunditz |
Message #124474, posted by micken at 23:56, 25/3/2019, in reply to message #124473 |
Member
Posts: 28
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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! 
I |
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Rob Kendrick |
Message #124478, posted by nunfetishist at 18:04, 26/3/2019, in reply to message #124474 |
 Today's phish is trout a la creme.
Posts: 524
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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. |
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Andrew Rawnsley |
Message #124479, posted by arawnsley at 20:02, 26/3/2019, in reply to message #124478 |
R-Comp chap
Posts: 600
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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. |
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Rob Kendrick |
Message #124481, posted by nunfetishist at 21:10, 27/3/2019, in reply to message #124479 |
Today's phish is trout a la creme.
Posts: 524
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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. |
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Rob Kendrick |
Message #124482, posted by nunfetishist at 11:41, 28/3/2019, in reply to message #124481 |
Today's phish is trout a la creme.
Posts: 524
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(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.) |
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Richard Walker |
Message #124485, posted by richw at 07:52, 10/4/2019, in reply to message #124474 |
Member
Posts: 73
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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? |
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Andrew Rawnsley |
Message #124486, posted by arawnsley at 17:00, 11/4/2019, in reply to message #124481 |
R-Comp chap
Posts: 600
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Following up Rob's suggestion, we're currently experimenting with HarfBuzz and early results seem promising. Thanks for the suggestion. |
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Rob Kendrick |
Message #124487, posted by nunfetishist at 09:21, 15/4/2019, in reply to message #124486 |
Today's phish is trout a la creme.
Posts: 524
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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. |
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The Icon Bar: News and features: R-Comp releases 2 new machines at SW show |
