A revolutionary idea being investigated & developed by Jason Tribbeck, ChiOS & ChiBER could hold the key to the future development of the Acorn market.
The idea is to create a PCI card, to plug into a standard PC, which would be fitted with a StrongARM processor and a new platform-independent, RISC OS compatible operating system, which has been provisional titled ChiOS.
ChiOS will of course not be the same as RISC OS, but we can expect a very similar system. "The idea is to rewrite the core elements of RISC OS so that it will function on such a platform. The ROM would be very small, as the host processor can send the RISC OS ROM-based elements over the PCI bus. This also allows the whole operating system to be upgraded without fear of corruption."
The great benefit of the idea is that it would support all the technologies supported by the PC host machine - USB, PCI, AGP, sound card, graphics accelerators - all would become available to a system that would essentially be the best parts of RISC OS. The speed of the system is also likely to be better than current Acorn system, as the PC's standard processor could be used in parallel with the ChiBER to perform extra tasks, such as floating-point arithmetic.
Those interested in possible purchase of a ChiBER should contact [email protected], those interested in helping development of the system should email [email protected].
The idea is both hugely complicated and stunning in its simplicity, and could well ensure the future of the operating system we all know and love.
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