RISCOSbits are please to be attending the first in-person RISC OS Show
in nearly two years, and has several treats in store for those who make
it to the show (which will also be available after the show to those who
can't attend!)

FOURtress Computers:
There will be a range of Limited Edition FOURtress machines available to
take away on the day:

Possibly the cheapest, super-value RISC OS Pi 4 machine, the FOURtress
Lite will be on sale for less than a hundred quid! For a fully working
RISC OS system! For £99, the FOURtress Lite has the following specs:

- 2GB RAM
- CPU running at 2.1GHz
- Four external USB ports
- Gigabit ethernet
- Super cooling aluminium case
- 32GB SD card with 2GB of curated software included
- EXCLUSIVE Power and Fan control software, including full power-off,
and push button power-on

The machine can be used as a superb standalone machine, or can be used
as the foundation to a system with a fully integrated SSD, by means of a
simple upgrade at a later stage. In fact, the FOURtress Lite is prepared
as EDOS-ready, so you can easily add a full Linux installation at a
later date. You could even consider it a "buy half now, buy the rest
later" machine, in the same vein as the RiscPC.

If you fancy something with a bit more oomph, at £139, the FOURtress
Lite Plus is built on the same foundation as the FOURtress Lite, exept
that it comes with an almost inexhaustible 4GB RAM and a whopping 128GB
SD card with 2Gb of curated software. Just to make it even better, those
buying at the show will also get a FREE PSU with the Lite Plus. All for
£139! £139!

The final FOURtress offer is the FOURtress EDOS 4240. This special
machine runs RISC OS by default, but with the click of an exclusive
custom application, will reboot into Raspberry Pi OS Linux. After
shutdown from Linux, it will return to RISC OS at next boot. No extra
hardware is required, it's an integrated two-in-one system straight out
of the box. The specs for the FOURtress EDOS 4240 include:

- 4GB RAM
- CPU running at 2.1GHz
- 32GB RISC OS SD
- integrated, specially partitioned, 240GB M.2 Raspberry Pi OS SSD.

The M.2 drive also includes a special shared partition, visible to both
RISC OS and Raspberry Pi OS, to make it easy to pass files between the
two OSes or just store your RISC OS applications and files. It even
accelerates the speed of disc intensive applications, such as the beta
Iris browser. At £199, this represents a saving of around 15% on the
usual price, and again, for show attendees, includes a FREE PSU.

EDOS:
EDOS is also available separately, as a custom SD and USB drive package
for people who already own a Pi. At only £40, the kit comes complete
with a 32GB RISC OS SD card, and a specially formatted 128GB Raspberry
Pi OS USB 3.1 drive for superfast access to Linux. It also contains a
shared partition that can be seen by both RISC OS and Linux to share
files between the two operating systems with ease, as well as providing acceleration to disc intensive RISC OS apps. There is no additional
clunky hardware or electronics required to use EDOS USB, and it leaves
the GPIO ports fully accessible for other projects. EDOS USB works
equally well on both the Raspberry Pi 4 and the Raspberry Pi 400
keyboard computer.

Self-Build Kits and Cases:
RISCOSbits are also returning to their roots by offering several
exclusive cases and "self-build kits" at the show, normally reserved for pre-built systems.

If stylish metal is not your forte, there will be a number of matte
black and translucent white PiAno self-build kits for sale, including an optional but recommended HDMI adaptor kit, with a custom PCB to bring
all the ports out to the front, and adding an internal USB port (for all
USB drives, including those connected by a USB-SATA adaptor!). The
optional kit also includes a powerful illuminated cooling fan, and
heatsink set. This serves to give the PiAno a soft purple glow on the
desktop. The PiAno has ample space inside for a regular HAT or RTC, but
to get the self-build kit working, just add a Pi 4 and SD card of your
choice! The PiAno is held together with decorative fixings, so there are
no panels that can fall away unexpectedly.

There will be a special, very limited, run of Delta XL oak and
glass-effect self-build, including a Pi 4 compatible HDMI/power/USB
adaptor PCB, with enough room for a Pi 4 and an internally mounted hard
drive. These stylish looking cases are normally only available with a
PiHard system, but we're making a small number available for those who
already have a Pi 4 and a hard drive. By just adding a Pi 4, you can
have the most pleasant looking RISC OS system in your living room
without it looking out of place (depening on your living room,
obviously!). A bit of wax, stain or varnish on the wooden end panels for
extra style! The Delta XL has room inside for HATs, RTCs and a number of
other peripherals.

Finally, the Delta Compact case will be available in limited numbers.
This is a newly revised, smaller version of the Delta XL, made with
black acrylic end panels and glass effect layers. This case can host any
Pi, from the B+ and above, and comes with an optional custom HDMI
adaptor to bring all the ports to the front. This stylish case makes
your Pi look more like a work of art than a computer, whilst retaining a
small footprint. Just add your own Pi!

There will also be a number of pocket-money Thorin cases available,
consisting of two oak, acrylic or glass-effect slices to sandwich the
Pi. Available with three sets of cooling cut-outs (Cog, Nut or Berry),
and in two versions for Pi 4 or for B+/2B/3B/3B+ and, at only £5, these
are easy to fit and attractive beyond their price-tag!

New Developments:
Finally, RISCOSbits will be demonstrating and showing off a couple on
major developments that we've been working on for a few months, that
have been briefly mentioned at the Wakefield Virtual Show.

The first is an exploratory LapDock device capable of doing justice to
the Raspberry Pi 4. This laptop dock features a 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080
pixel IPS display (with several other modes available over EDID,
without changing eigen values), and a 360-degree hinge that lets you
fold the screen back for use in tablet mode. It has an integrated
touchscreen, although this isn't functional under RISC OS. However, the touchscreen serves to access the firmware settings, such as colour
adjustment, battery control and specific user settings.

Measuring 12.1in x 8.2in x 0.5in and weighing significantly less than
three pounds, the LapDock is about the size of a thin and light
notebook, and, with an aluminium alloy body, has a premium look and feel
- think PineBook Pro meets MacBook. It includes a backlit keyboard with
84 keys, a touchpad, stereo speakers, mini HDMI in, 3.5mm audio, and two
USB-C ports, plus a microSD card reader and a battery capable of
powering the LapDock and a Pi 4 for about five hours.

With it's 5v USB-C output, the LapDock can also power various other RISC
OS boards, such as a Pandaboard or Beagleboard, and can also make use of Windows boards and Compute Sticks, such as the LattePanda. Not only
that, when not being used to run RISC OS or other computer boards, it
can be used to charge your mobile phone!

And lastly, but definitely not the least, is our collaboration project
which has been ongoing for several months and is finally coming to
fruition. Although currently without a name, our Mini ITX board should
be of interest to RISC OS and Linux users. We're hoping that complex
logistics allow for the FINAL prototype to make it back from the
manufacturers in time for the show, but failing that, we may have an
earlier iteration available to look at.

Based on the Compute Module 4 Lite, from the Raspberry Pi Foundation,
the board fits into a standard Mini ITX case or bigger, and has the
following features:

- CPU Speeds from 1500MHz to 2147 MHz
- a number of internal SATA ports
- internal standard ATX power connector
- standard ATX-spec compliant IO arrangement, with IO shield, containing
- external USB ports
- gigabit ethernet port
- full sized HDMI ports
- audio-out (with audio-in software in development)
- Built in RTC
- Internal GPIO compatible with HATs

The board will run a standard off-the-shelf Pi ROM, downloadable from
the RISC OS open website, and should be capable of running both stable
versions and nightly builds. Some work is ongoing in order to control
some of the more enhanced features of the board, such as temperature
controlled fans, but the board itself should work and run RISC OS
immediately.

It will also run Raspberry Pi OS without issue, and this may be made
available via RISCOSbits EDOS software, or by simply swapping the SD
card.

We expect to be able to make the board available for sale in the very
near future, and are anticipating a price tag somewhere in the region of
a cheap laptop. Full computer systems based on the Mini ITX board may
follow.

We look forward to chatting to visitors about many of our projects at
the show, so please come and have a look at what we offer.


_______________________________________________________________ a.m.conroy@argonet.co.uk, Moderator of comp.sys.acorn.announce.
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