RISCOSmark results for MD Alpha 2.0GHz Celeron

[Mr J McCulloch]

Hi there,
The title really says it all, I got mine yesterday, it is very impressive, in
all sorts of ways. I specified Windows XP Pro and a combined DVD/CD R/W, over
the minimum spec.
It is very well made, and functioned as expected right out of the box.
Virtual RiscPC is excellent, a very useable product.
So here goes:

RISCOSmark 1.01 (14 May 2003)
Comparison with RiscPC SA 202MHz running RISC OS 4.02 800x600,256
(HD benchmarks are in kilobytes/sec)

OS/Machine/Processor: RISC OS 4.02/MD Alpha/2.0GHz Celeron(VRPC)
Graphics Resolution: 1024x768, 32K colours

Test Benchmark
Processor - Looped instructions (cache) 74629 41%
Memory - Multiple register transfer 397 245%
Rectangle Copy - Graphics acceleration test 410 169%
Icon Plotting - 16 colour sprite with mask 1029 51%
Draw Path - Stroke narrow line 570 36%
Draw Fill - Plot filled shape 740 50%
HD Read - Block load 1MB file 101386 3399%
HD Write - Block save 1MB file 67928 2233%
FS Read - Byte stream file in 649 313%
FS Write - Byte stream file out 328 170%

As a comparison my RiscPC gave these figures
RISCOSmark 1.01 (14 May 2003)
Comparison with RiscPC SA 202MHz running RISC OS 4.02 800x600,256
(HD benchmarks are in kilobytes/sec)

OS/Machine/Processor: RISC OS Select/Acorn RiscPC/202MHz SA
Graphics Resolution: 1024x768, 32K colours

Test Benchmark
Processor - Looped instructions (cache) 177404 99%
Memory - Multiple register transfer 160 98%
Rectangle Copy - Graphics acceleration test 2781 1149%
Icon Plotting - 16 colour sprite with mask 209 10%
Draw Path - Stroke narrow line 634 40%
Draw Fill - Plot filled shape 111 7%
HD Read - Block load 1MB file 1878 62%
HD Write - Block save 1MB file 767 25%
FS Read - Byte stream file in 820 396%
FS Write - Byte stream file out 281 146%

I collected my machine from the Dealer, and was able to play with a
production MD Omega, I would guess it is about twice as fast as RiscPC
overall till you use the disc drive, then wow it zooms.
73 de john
--
Email : john@jcmcc1srp.freeserve.co.uk
Callsign : GM1SRP (Class B)
Computer : Acorn RiscPC SA 202MHz RISC OS Select 3i1
Modem : Elsa MicroLink 56k Fun

[Ams]

Mr J McCulloch <john@jcmcc1srp.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message news:<a466fc104c.john@jcmcc1srp.freeserve.co.uk>...

<snip>

Iconbar (www.iconbar.com) have a comparison between the Alpha and
various flavours of RISC PC and (of course) the Iyonix.

Regards


Annraoi

[David G Jones]

There seems to have been very little on this newsgroup (or any other I
subscribe to) on the MicroDigital Alpha. Anyone out there like to
tell the rest of us how it performs in use?

I'm looking for something my Son can use at Uni next term (2nd year
MEng). It needs to:
- be able to access internet from the RiscOS side to help keep it
virus-free
- be able to run Techwriter and Fireworkz under RiscoOS
- be able to run M$Word, M$Equation, Excel and M$IE and possibly
Autocad 2000 on the Windoze side
- be available by early September
- and be reliable!

Anyone willing and able to comment?

[Chris Williams]

Hi,

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, David G Jones wrote:

Plug alert, sorry.
There seems to have been very little on this newsgroup (or any other I subscribe to) on the MicroDigital Alpha. Anyone out there like to tell the rest of us how it performs in use?

[snip]
Anyone willing and able to comment?

drobe.co.uk published some first impressions of the Alpha from end users
here:

http://www.drobe.co.uk/riscos/artifact753.html

We're currently finalising a more in-depth review of the Alpha.

HTH,

--
Chris Williams | http://arabella.diodesign.co.uk/

[Kell Gatherer]

In article <04b4bf214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>,
Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote:
The Alpha will currently do all of the above, except the first item. There is no direct connection from the RO side to the network interface, although I am assured that this is being worked on.

....and until the network side is working, they'll get no sale from me,
despite the fact that I have been gagging for RISC OS on the move for many
a year.

I need the laptop to be able to sit in my network, and I need to be able
to FTP from RISC OS to my server.

Who assured you it is being worked on?

--
Kell Gatherer
kell@locsource.com
The Location Source

[Jess]

In message <4c218ea7bejonesdg@argonet.co.uk>
David G Jones <jonesdg@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
There seems to have been very little on this newsgroup (or any other I subscribe to) on the MicroDigital Alpha. Anyone out there like to tell the rest of us how it performs in use? I'm looking for something my Son can use at Uni next term (2nd year MEng). It needs to: - be able to access internet from the RiscOS side to help keep it virus-free

When it is available risc os networking won't help against things like
the blastworm because XP will be providing the services, it will help
against nasties from email and web pages though.
- be able to run Techwriter and Fireworkz under RiscoOS - be able to run M$Word, M$Equation, Excel and M$IE and possibly Autocad 2000 on the Windoze side - be available by early September - and be reliable! Anyone willing and able to comment?

Are there any alternatives to consider?

(An RPC with a PC card would do it, but the windows stuff would be
slow).


--
Jess icq: 91353267 msn: phantasm_39@hotmail.com http://www.kentwebnet.com
Hotmail is my spam trap - don't use for email
mailto:nospam@itworkshop.uklinux.net
RISC OS 4.36 kinetic 64+128+2M Castle Storm DMA + 17GB 586-133 I-3 ADSL


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[druck]

On 14 Aug 2003 Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote: In message <4c21df9c2dcharles@charleshope.demon.co.uk> charles <charles@charleshope.demon.co.uk> wrote: In article <4c21d9f758nospam@locsource.com>, Kell Gatherer <nospam@locsource.com> wrote: In article <04b4bf214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>, Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote:> The Alpha will currently do all of the above, except the first item.> There is no direct connection from the RO side to the network interface,> although I am assured that this is being worked on. ...and until the network side is working, they'll get no sale from me, despite the fact that I have been gagging for RISC OS on the move for many a year. I need the laptop to be able to sit in my network, and I need to be able to FTP from RISC OS to my server. Who assured you it is being worked on? I was told by both David Atkins & Aaron, so I suspect it is true.

It isn't being worked on, because I dont have any free time at the moment and
cant see any coming for months.
I was also told this by another guy (not sure whether it was Graeme Barnes???) sitting in front of VA on the VA stand at Wakefield, who assured me that access at the TCP socket level would be feasible.

It is feasible, the prototype works with a limited set of applications, but I
don't have the time to write a comprehensive test suite to be able to fully
debug it. I can only work on it when I have access to a PC and thats during
office hours, which are being used for their primary purpose at the moment.

---druck

--
The ARM Club Free Software - http://www.armclub.org.uk/free/
The 32bit Conversions Page - http://www.quantumsoft.co.uk/druck/

[Adam Richardson]

In a message on 14 Aug, Peter Bell wrote: Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick (yes, he got the grades!), unless we decide to get him an
Gongrats to him :-)
Iyonix. I hope that he doesn't find that he needs a Windows box to be able to meet his coursework requirements - the Alpha would have been an ideal

I thought I'd add my 2c as I graduated not too long ago...

Your son will not "need" any computer in the sense that the University will
have good computing facilites (especially if it's engineering or similar)
with everything he will need.

Of course, if he want's to work at home that's another matter :-(
By the end of my degree I had my Risc PC for writing essays/projects on (BSc
Economics) and a cheapo PC I'd bought second hand from a dodgy little shop to
hook up to our broadband for internet research and stuff.

Of course, the problem with the PC is software - unless you are prepared to
pirate it then that's going to be a bit of a problem - especially things like
AutoCAD!


Hmmm, I don't think I've actually ended up saying much helpful - ah well,
I've writen it now...

Adam

--
Adam Richardson
Carpe Diem

A person who smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat.

[Adam Richardson]

In a message on 14 Aug, David G Jones wrote:
- be able to run M$Word, M$Equation, Excel and M$IE and possibly Autocad 2000 on the Windoze side

I'd include Powerpoint in this list for an Engineering degree - paticularly
in 3rd/4th year.

Adam

--
Adam Richardson
Carpe Diem

Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow.

[Stuart Winsor]

In article <d727fc214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>,
Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote: Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick

Ahh, another possible for the "Midlands user group" - (see csa.misc)

Stuart

--
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _____________________________________________
|__||__)/ __/ \|\ ||_ | /
| || \\__/\__/| \||__ | /...Internet access for all Acorn RISC machines
___________________________/ stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk

101 uses for a Pentium: No1 - A slow cooker.

[Peter Bell]

In message <039f09224c.adamr@richardsons.argonet.co.uk>
Adam Richardson <cooladamrichardson@yahoo.com> wrote:
In a message on 14 Aug, Peter Bell wrote: Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick (yes, he got the grades!), unless we decide to get him an Gongrats to him :-)

Thanks - I'll pass that on.
Iyonix. I hope that he doesn't find that he needs a Windows box to be able to meet his coursework requirements - the Alpha would have been an ideal I thought I'd add my 2c as I graduated not too long ago... Your son will not "need" any computer in the sense that the University will have good computing facilites (especially if it's engineering or similar) with everything he will need. Of course, if he want's to work at home that's another matter :-(

Well, I gather that he'll get a place in hall for his first year, and
that nearly all the halls have network connections in the rooms. I'm
assuming that he'll want to be able to work there, as well as emailing
etc. Oh, he'll be reading Maths, BTW.
By the end of my degree I had my Risc PC for writing essays/projects on (BSc Economics) and a cheapo PC I'd bought second hand from a dodgy little shop to hook up to our broadband for internet research and stuff.

He does have my old 586/133 card in his machine, but the performance is
a little dire, to say the least.
Of course, the problem with the PC is software - unless you are prepared to pirate it then that's going to be a bit of a problem - especially things like AutoCAD!

Indeed!
Hmmm, I don't think I've actually ended up saying much helpful - ah well, I've writen it now...

Well, it does give me some clue. The concept of having a computer
in your own room was unthinkable in my days at Uni!

--
Peter Bell - peter@bellfamily.org.uk

[Samuel Kock]

In nuus:661a0f224c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com,
tik Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk>: In message <4c220a9904stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk> Stuart Winsor <stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk> wrote: In article <d727fc214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>, Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote: Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick Ahh, another possible for the "Midlands user group" - (see csa.misc) Yes, already spotted. I will attempt to encourage him, but since he's not planning on taking the car to Uni, he wouldn't easily be able to attend meetings.

He can always go with Chris Williams??? :)

Samuel
--
Samuel Kock
Pretoria, South Africa
Bio: http://go.to/skock/bio.htm
Warning: this tagline is dangerous. Do not read it.

[Peter Bell]

In message <4c220a9904stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk>
Stuart Winsor <stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
In article <d727fc214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>, Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote: Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick Ahh, another possible for the "Midlands user group" - (see csa.misc)

Yes, already spotted. I will attempt to encourage him, but since he's
not planning on taking the car to Uni, he wouldn't easily be able to
attend meetings.

--
Peter Bell - peter@bellfamily.org.uk

[Steve Fryatt]

On 14 Aug, Peter Bell wrote in message
<d727fc214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>:
Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick (yes, he got the grades!), unless we decide to get him an Iyonix. I hope that he doesn't find that he needs a Windows box to be able to meet his coursework requirements - the Alpha would have been an ideal compromise.

It depends on how 'dedicated' to RISC OS he is. Students generally don't
*need* a computer of their own to complete coursework: the university will
supply what is required in public labs. Having a computer is only useful
in that it allows work to be done at home as well (you could argue that
this is actually a bad thing!). I often used to prefer working in the
libraries anyway, particularly in the evenings, as I got more done and
could forget about it when I got home... :-)

I found that a RiscPC was fine when I did an Electronics degree at
Edinburgh a couple of years ago. However, there were some caveats to
that. I had access to the uni computers (both Unix workstations in the
department and Windows NT machines in public labs), so any compatibility
issues could be resolved by using the public machines. As an aside, I did
all my printing this way, via PostScript files on floppy discs...

Depending on the kind of work required, using RISC OS has some serious
disadvantages. If the course requires any form of group work (even
students legitimately helping each other with problems), not being able to
read and write common file formats sensibly is a pain. I often used to
start reports in Impression, only to convert them into Word format as soon
as I needed to work on them during the day or with other people.
Experience with TechWriter since makes me suspect that it wouldn't have
helped much. I never bothered trying to do spreadsheets on RISC OS.

I used to be able to access email via the RiscPC, but this was generally
done via Telnet onto Unix systems. I did use Messenger, but as read only
so that all sent email was logged in my 'real' accounts and available for
future reference. Web browsing was OK; universities are generally pretty
good at simple, standards compliant websites (Edinburgh's EE department
was very good :-).

There's little doubt that using RISC OS made things more difficult. That
didn't bother me too much and there were usually odd tricks to get around
the obstacles. The point was that these tricks were required, and
sometimes they required a fair bit of lateral thought to devise. You can
probably wave goodbye to any useful IT support, too, so knowing how to fix
problems (or knowing someone who can) is a must. Three years ago, RISC OS
only connected to the uni network by relying on legacy systems whose days
were allegedly numbered (many of the facilities I required to connect to
the EE machines were withdrawn the summer I graduated, IIRC...). Things
have improved at our end since then, of course.

Above all, you need to be happy that any hardware failure or obscure
problem which is beyond your abilities to fix immediately will not result
in missed deadlines. Unless you're lucky, it's unlikely to be possible to
find another RISC OS machine to rescue that Impression document after your
PSU has died. People with PCs won't have that problem (plenty of backup
machines in the labs), so it wasn't considered a reasonable excuse for
delay on the course I did. It may have been paranoid, but I always had an
ASCII backup of anything important that I did in Impression stored on a
fileserver somewhere.

But, having said all that, Draw was great for doing flowcharts, schematics
and general diagrams for reports. Many people said how good they were and
asked what software I'd used to create them... :-)

--
Steve Fryatt - Leeds, England http://www.stevefryatt.org.uk/

* "There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror." - Orson Wells

[Chris Williams]

Hi,

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Peter Bell wrote:

[snip snip]
So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick (yes, he got the grades!), unless we decide to get him an Iyonix. I hope that he doesn't find that he needs a Windows box to be able to meet his coursework requirements - the Alpha would have been an ideal compromise.

What a coincidence, Warwick's got this thing about attracting RISC OS
users. I hope I can help you here, I'm an MEng undergrad at Warwick living
off campus. I spent my first year in Halls, Warwick's campus is great imo.

- I took my RiscPC to uni and didn't regret it. I had a few people tell
me I was running Redhat and it was particularly satisfying when my
RiscPC was immune to viruses that escaped onto the capmus network.
My RiscPC is a StrongARM RPC with a 586 PC card. The RPC worked happily
on the campus network and it was amazing to see Oregano fetch and render
pages at 200KB/sec.
You will need a DHCP client to connect the RiscPC to the network. This
means he'll need RISC OS 4 and Select. Select provides a DHCP client
and it takes 2 minutes to set it up and go.
If you take the Iyonix route, RISC OS 5 also features a DHCP client so
Iyonixes can connect to the campus network fine.

- For uni work, I used and still use OvationPro, Artworks, Eureka and
various freeware apps to produce graphs. With the RPC, I'd print in
Postscript format, ftp the ps file to the UNIX servers and print to the
postscript printers on campus. Takes less than 5 minutes.
Finishing coursework at 7am on the day it has to be handed in, printing
it out to the printers, strolling across campus to pick up the
print out and then after handing it, you walk back to Halls and
pick up a coffee on the way - it's a feeling I won't forget :) But
then, I'm not very good with deadlines.

- The uni email system has a number of interfaces. You can use the evil
web email system to read uni mail or you can pick up mail
via pop3 (cue Popstar, Messenger etc.) or use NettleSSH to connect to
the Unix servers and use Pine to read newsgroups and send/pickup email.

- My housemate is a Maths student and in the first year, he did a touch
of Java. The Java is mathematics based (dealing with sparse arrays and
similar things), which means the Java code can be compiled on the Unix
servers. The vast majority of the Maths work was in paper work.
In his 2nd year, my housemate did some Fortran programming, again,
on the Unix servers.

- Um, that's all I can think of at the moment. If you have any questions,
feel free to drop me an email and I'll only be too happy to help.

All the best,

--
Chris Williams | http://arabella.diodesign.co.uk/

[John Cartmell]

In article <6ab80e224c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>,
Peter Bell <peter@bellfamily.org.uk> wrote: Well, it does give me some clue. The concept of having a computer in your own room was unthinkable in my days at Uni!

I wa one of the lucky few with modern technology - a manual typewriter! ;-)

--
John Cartmell john@cartmell.demon.co.uk FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527
Acorn Publisher magazine & FD Games www.acornpublisher.com

[Stuart Winsor]

In article <7f900f224c.steve@helvellyn.stevefryatt.org.uk>,
Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> wrote: On 14 Aug, Peter Bell wrote in message <d727fc214c.peter@iyonix.earley.fourcom.com>:
Ah - that is disappointing. So my son will probably end up taking his RPC to Warwick (yes, he got the grades!), unless we decide to get him an Iyonix. I hope that he doesn't find that he needs a Windows box to be able to meet his coursework requirements - the Alpha would have been an ideal compromise.
It depends on how 'dedicated' to RISC OS he is. Students generally don't *need* a computer of their own to complete coursework: the university will supply what is required in public labs.

Only a two or three years ago Warwick were saying that in future /all/
students /must/ provide themselves with a laptop. There was such an outcry
they backed off and things went "quiet".

Stuart.

--
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _____________________________________________
|__||__)/ __/ \|\ ||_ | /
| || \\__/\__/| \||__ | /...Internet access for all Acorn RISC machines
___________________________/ stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk

101 uses for a Pentium: No1 - A slow cooker.

[Stuart Winsor]

In article <7f900f224c.steve@helvellyn.stevefryatt.org.uk>,
Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> wrote: Unless you're lucky, it's unlikely to be possible to find another RISC OS machine to rescue that Impression document after your PSU has died.

If the user group gets going it shouldn't be a problem but even if it
doesn't I'm not planning on going anywhere.

If he has any problems give us "a shout" and I'll see what I can do.

I'll pass on my 'phone number privately if you like. I don't mung my Email
address and my wife works in HR in "Senate" building. Oh, and Anthony
Manning, a reader who's speciality is "Dynamical systems, is a friend of
ours.

Same goes for you Chris, though from the sound of it you know a great deal
more than I do.

Stuart.

--
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _____________________________________________
|__||__)/ __/ \|\ ||_ | /
| || \\__/\__/| \||__ | /...Internet access for all Acorn RISC machines
___________________________/ stuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk

101 uses for a Pentium: No1 - A slow cooker.

[Steven Pampling]

In article
<Pine.SOL.4.44.0308150024460.16272-100000@primrose.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
Chris Williams <esvmd@warwick.ac.uk> wrote: The RPC worked happily on the campus network and it was amazing to see Oregano fetch and render pages at 200KB/sec.

Have you ever checked the bandwidth on the pipe into Warwick Uni?

Rumour has it that a large chunk of NTL connection stuff is there and that
"tunnel" would be a better description.

[Dave Symes]

In article <039f09224c.adamr@richardsons.argonet.co.uk>,
Adam Richardson <cooladamrichardson@yahoo.com> wrote:
Of course, the problem with the PC is software - unless you are prepared to pirate it then that's going to be a bit of a problem - especially things like AutoCAD!

My suggestion would be forget AutoCad @ somewhere 550 Ukpounds new,and
look at TurboCad. Either TC standard or TC Pro.

TurboCad is to AutoCad what PaintShopPro-8 is to Photoshop.

TC is distributed in the UK by Mediagold sales@mediagold.com

Cheers
Dave S

--

[Steve Fryatt]

On 15 Aug, Stuart Winsor wrote in message
<4c22718b4bstuartwinsor@argonet.co.uk>:
In article <7f900f224c.steve@helvellyn.stevefryatt.org.uk>, Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> wrote: Unless you're lucky, it's unlikely to be possible to find another RISC OS machine to rescue that Impression document after your PSU has died. If the user group gets going it shouldn't be a problem but even if it doesn't I'm not planning on going anywhere.

True -- I'd forgotten that. Despite allegedly having a lot of users in
the Central Belt, nothing ever came of the often mooted Scottish RISC OS
User Group when I was up there.

I knew a few ex-RISC OS users, who were always inyterested to see where
the platform was going (or wasn't going, as the case may have been
around 1999). Real active users, with machines, were more of a rarity --
though I'm told one of my lecturers had a RiscPC on his desk and an office
I often visited had an A5000 under a dust cover in the corner...

--
Steve Fryatt - Leeds, England http://www.stevefryatt.org.uk/

* "There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror." - Orson Wells

[Jess]

In message <7f900f224c.steve@helvellyn.stevefryatt.org.uk>
Steve Fryatt <news@stevefryatt.org.uk> wrote:

[snip]
Above all, you need to be happy that any hardware failure or obscure problem which is beyond your abilities to fix immediately will not result in missed deadlines. Unless you're lucky, it's unlikely to be possible to find another RISC OS machine to rescue that Impression document after your PSU has died. People with PCs won't have that problem (plenty of backup machines in the labs), so it wasn't considered a reasonable excuse for delay on the course I did. It may have been paranoid, but I always had an ASCII backup of anything important that I did in Impression stored on a fileserver somewhere.

That would be a good excercise whatever system you use. A copy of
VA5000 might be woth taking for emercencies too.

Do universities offer connection to terminal server or citrix
now, typically? I was pleasntly surprised at how well both these work
on my SA RPC.

--
Jess icq: 91353267 msn: phantasm_39@hotmail.com http://www.kentwebnet.com
Hotmail is my spam trap - don't use for email
mailto:nospam@itworkshop.uklinux.net
RISC OS 4.36 kinetic 64+128+2M Castle Storm DMA + 17GB 586-133 I-3 ADSL


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[Philip Ludlam]

On 15 Aug, in message <Pine.SOL.4.44.0308150024460.16272-100000@primrose.csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Chris Williams <esvmd@warwick.ac.uk> wrote:

[snip]
Finishing coursework at 7am on the day it has to be handed in,

Where's the 2:30pm print out and the rush to the office which closes at
3pm?!?! :-) .

Yours,

Phil L.
--
http://www.philipnet.com http://director.sourceforge.net
i ou a uea i e a o ie e a o a a oue oae

[Peter Bell]

In message <4c25e977ednospam@locsource.com>
Kell Gatherer <nospam@locsource.com> wrote:
Seriously, though, how about all of us who still have deposits with RiscStation on their laptop :-D "encouraged" you to make this essential feature available?

As an existing owner of an Alpha (and potential purchaser of a second),
I would also be prepared to add some inducement for the early
completion of a sockets-level interface for VRPC. I suspect that I
might not be alone here.

--
Peter Bell - peter@bellfamily.org.uk

[Kell Gatherer]

In article <bi55a6$bh5$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>,
Graeme Barnes <graeme@redsquirrel.no.spam.fsnet.co.uk> wrote: As an existing owner of an Alpha (and potential purchaser of a second), I would also be prepared to add some inducement for the early completion of a sockets-level interface for VRPC. I suspect that I might not be alone here.
It is actively being developed and many things work well (browse, fresco, ftp etc). There is still some work to be done and it will be released when we're happy with it.

Excellent news! Er, except on one front: I'll have to scrape the money
together now to buy an Alpha ;-)

Any Alpha owners care to comment on the two models available? That's a lot
of money difference between them.

--
Kell Gatherer
kell@locsource.com
The Location Source

[Jess]

In message <bi55a6$bh5$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>

[snip]
It is actively being developed and many things work well (browse, fresco, ftp etc). There is still some work to be done and it will be released when we're happy with it.

Will it work on VA5000 too?

--
Jess icq: 91353267 msn: phantasm_39@hotmail.com http://www.kentwebnet.com
Hotmail is my spam trap - don't use for email
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RISC OS 4.36 kinetic 64+128+2M Castle Storm DMA + 17GB 586-133 I-3 ADSL


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[Peter Bell]

In message <4c2600bb66nospam@locsource.com>
Kell Gatherer <nospam@locsource.com> wrote:
Any Alpha owners care to comment on the two models available? That's a lot of money difference between them.

I deliberated on this, and then discussed at some length with David A,
before deciding that the lesser model would be perfectly okay for me.
David was also of the opinion that the original model would be
perfectly good - it's what he uses, and he didn't attempt to 'sell' the
more expensive model to me.

The only differences between the two models are:
1) 2.4GHz P4 instead of 2GHz Celeron
The performance won't scale linearly so, even given that it's a P4
against Celeron, I wouldn't expect it to be 20% faster
2) 512MB instead of 256MB
I'm not going to use it as a 'power' PC, and the 256MB will allow a
128MB RO environment - more than enough.
3) 30GB instead of 15GB drive
Again, it's not meant as a 'power' machine. Even with WinXP loaded,
plus a few PC progs, and some apps in the RO area I still have
10.5GB free.
4) DVD/CDRW instead of CD
I wouldn't be writing CDs on this machine - I'd do that on a desktop
box - DVD might be useful, but certainly not essential.
5) XP Pro instead of XP home
I'm not aware what benfits would be offered by this.

Other than those five items, the machines are identical.

In any case, all but item 1 can be added as options at a price of
GBP276, so that would still be GBP58 cheaper than the Alpha Pro. Also,
the RAM and, probably, the hard drive and DVD/CDRW could be upgraded
later. The processor and O/S could not be upgraded, because VRPC is
keyed against certain aspects of the machine configuration, and I'm
sure that those would affect the generated key.

--
Peter Bell - peter@bellfamily.org.uk

[Graeme Barnes]

Jess wrote: In message <bi55a6$bh5$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk> [snip] It is actively being developed and many things work well (browse, fresco, ftp etc). There is still some work to be done and it will be released when we're happy with it. Will it work on VA5000 too?

I don't know enough about the workings of RISC OS to give you a definite
answer but the VA internet support doesn't rely on any other modules being
present so, providing the app you want to use works in RISC OS 3.1, yes it
should work.

Graeme