Next door to the show, a big room was devoted to theatre talks. Here is what I learnt....

ROOL
Sprow was on duty this weekend, and updating us.
 
In the short-term, the current status of RISC OS 5.30 is getting there/still things to do. 89% user guide now done (6 chapters left to do if you are able to volunteer). 55 bug tickets closed including the long-standing paint bug. 3 'CVE' security vulnerabilities fixed and 4 bounties add features. RC3 release now available.
 
Paint can now export as PNG or JPEG and no longer crashes on use of sprite as brush. Resolution can be changed on the fly. Slide rule for Opacity.
 
Reorg for splitting boot into packages which will make future updates much easier via a package manager. You will be able to hide system application folders (Boot/Choices/Scrap/Territory). !Scrap can be outside Boot directory.
 
Now includes full SparkFS and version 1.52 on PackMan. Lots of ideas for new features.
 
Mid-term, 6 bounties underway (USB, Git, FS partitions, Toolbox, TCP/IP, Paint) and 5 collecting (Unicode support, Filer improvements, LanManFS replacement, PRM updates and Wifi support).
 
Often the bounties are nom-visual but key for other improvements. Good way to do 'small' changes.
 
Bigger ideas for RISC OS development include VFP legacy emulator, bluetooth stack, rewrite Window Manager in C so easier to maintain, HAL hypervisor so simpler to port to new hardware, fresh new visual theme (400 sprites with RISC OS), Full update for PRM, better C++ support, multicore support. May need a new approach beyond bounties.
 
Orpheus/RISC OS Developments
Richard kicked off with Orpheus news. Unfortunately BT has put up prices, but sometimes switching tariffs has led to some customers getting lower bills. BT will be switching off analogue in 2025 and the world is moving to VOIP.
 
On the RISC OS Developments front, 3 main news items. Richard was able to demo things on his Pinebook Pro.
 
TCP/IP stack has seen several small updates. Has shown some impressive speed boosts.
 
New Iris release with better bookmark manager and printing. Richard asked for any ideas - drop him and email... Not yet ready for general release.
 
Pinboard 2.0 has been released and Richard did a quick recap on features. You can finally drag and drop files to the pinboard which are automatically saved. It is available for free on the RISC OS Dev website.
 
As his grand finale (and a big surprise) Richard was able to demo plans for a new network manager which includes profiles. This is still VERY alpha but it will make it much easier to switch configurations on your systems.
 
R-Comp
Andrew started with the technical explanation of some new tech R-Comp has been working with for the new machines.
 
eMMc is like flash chips on solid date discs. nvme is another solid state storage system.
 
Rockchip RK3399 powers Pinebook Pro and also now new desktop machines. R-Comp now has a machine with RAID drive so Andrew could happily pull out a disk and the machine carried on working.
 
CLFiler was demoed, including its new support for images and search. There is a nice feature to show much space each folder takes. It was developed by programmers in Ukraine and costs 15 pounds.
 
Pinebook Pro was next item for Andrew to demo. Sound still being finished.
 
PhotoDesk new release includes a fully updated manual with tutorials and worked examples.
 
4tissimo is the latest Pi4 based machine. It also has an OLED screen.
 
Hydra is a new top end machine which can run multiple OS concurrently on different cards so you can have RISC OS, Windows and Linux all running together and appearing on the same screen via VNC with shared drives.
 
Sine Nomine
Matthew gave us a masterclass in RiscOSM and the new features. You can plot an amazing range of data on maps including weather, police data, accidents, etc. There is now a nice weather shortcut on Icon Menu bar for weather.
 
RiscOSM now makes it easier for other apps to access its data such as the weather application. AtoB application can do route planning for you. Can even show you the elevation on the route.
 
Impact has also had some tic with updates to IMPemail. Data can be merged into Ovation Pro or Impression templates which can also now be merged into emails as a PDF attachment to mails. Uses new version of PrintPDF.