This month we are delighted that Andrew Rawnsley will be joining us from R-Comp towers to talk about their latest hardware and software releases.

We will be starting with a look at the latest developments with NVMe and the block device drivers. Then Andrew will go through the many features of the multi headed Hydra machine, which has recently gained new head options. That leads nicely onto ...

The newest members in their range of machines are the 5idekick and pi5erve. Neither of these are native RISC OS machines, as they both use the Raspberry Pi 5 compute module which is a 64bit system, but are instead designed to supplement an existing RO setup. However, by using Timothy Baldwin's RISC OS on Linux developments, it is also possible to use both 5ystems to run RISC OS applications faster than ever before.

The 5idekick is a small form factor machine running Linux that can be controlled from your RISC OS desktop to run things not available for RO, such as Firefox or LibreOffice, and access Pi hardware devices. Files can be shared between the two environments, or cut n paste used for transfer between applications. The pi5erve has all the features of 5idekick and adds multiple SSD drives to form a RISC OS friendly NAS with RAID security.

On the software front there were many releases at the RO North show earlier this year, including the latest versions of PhotoDesk and MessengerPro, and updates to games such as Heretic and Hexen for modern hires platforms.

All in all, lots of 5tuff to cover!

The usual arrangements

Meetings are free and everyone is welcome, no booking required, just turn up at the pub. Zoom attendees contact us for the link. (If you have attended any of our previous Zoom meetings, it is the same link)

The Duke of Sussex is easily accessible by public transport from in and around London and the south east, and serves a wide range of food and drinks. All meetings benefit from a large screen display, so everyone should have a great view.

To be informed about future meetings, please join the mailing list. Everyone on the mailing list will be kept informed of these and other ROUGOL initiatives.