London Show / Saturday 27th October 2018

[helpful]

This year's RISC OS London Show, with added ABUG meetup, is taking place on Saturday 27th October 2018, at its usual venue of the St Giles Hotel, Feltham, TW14 9AD. Entrance is £5 with under 16s free, open 11am-5pm.

http://www.riscoslondonshow.co.uk/

Cost for an ABUG stand is just your entrance fee, i.e. £5. If you would like a stand reply here, or DM, or email show2018@riscoslondonshow.co.uk

I haven't updated the website with this year's exhibitors details yet, will do it next week, as I'll be badgering people at Acorn World this weekend to round up ABUG attendees

Everyone else just come along on the day and join in the fun!

Bryan.

[tricky]

I'd like a stall please.

[cmorley]

That's not far from Oxford so I will come along definitely as a visitor. I can bring some 8-bit kit to demo if you'd like to bolster the 8-bit corner a little - or I'll just come as a punter?

[RobC]

I'd like a stall please - happy to share again like last year or have one to myself...

[helpful]

I'd like a stall please - happy to share again like last year or have one to myself...

Excellent. I've put you on the show exhibitors list under VideoNuLA, let me know if there's anything you want changed in the description.

That's not far from Oxford so I will come along definitely as a visitor. I can bring some 8-bit kit to demo if you'd like to bolster the 8-bit corner a little - or I'll just come as a punter?

Happy to give you stand space (it's the same price as being a punter!), particularly if you have something to demo that no one else is showing. We like to see new old stuff

Bryan.

[helpful]

A bit of a long shot, but is anyone able to bring along a Domesday system, as I don't think we've ever had one at the London Show? Or maybe one of the "emulated" versions that use a PC pretending to be the laser disc player? Impressive bit of digital preservation!

Thanks,
Bryan.

[RobC]

A bit of a long shot, but is anyone able to bring along a Domesday system

I could at a push although I think one of my laserdiscs is suffering from bit rot

[helpful]

Right, just over two weeks to go (eek!), anyone else want to a stand? We will be finalising the stand layout at the next ROUGOL meeting (Acorns in Aerospace, Monday 15th October - come along!) so you have a few days left to grab one.

I think we currently have:
tricky - loadsa games
RobC - VideoNuLA and Domesday
cmorley - have you decided what you're bringing? Let me know and I will add it to the show website
jbnbeeb - Jason, I think you said at CCH that you were coming? I appear to have you down as ABUG and Retro Software!

Bryan.

[RobC]

I've fired up my Domesday system tonight and it seems to be working albeit slightly temperamentally. If it's still okay in a couple of weeks, I'll bring it along...

If it's okay, my daughter is keen to come along to demonstrate the AB Music Master recorder tutor I picked up recently. It plugs into the user port and records the notes played on the recorder (either telling you whether you've played them correctly or transcribing them to the screen).

[helpful]

Reminder, the show is this coming weekend. Come along and support your fellow StarDotters!

I've fired up my Domesday system tonight and it seems to be working albeit slightly temperamentally. If it's still okay in a couple of weeks, I'll bring it along...

Fingers crossed.

If it's okay, my daughter is keen to come along to demonstrate the AB Music Master recorder tutor

Sounds good to me (no pun intended!).

Bryan.

[Balmoral James]

Having got my BBC a couple of months back and having bought a Turbo Mmc and having had issues getting it up and running it is my intention to go to the show (haven't been to a computer show for years!). I have a few questions if I may.

1) How Busy is the show?
2) How much of the show is BBC/Electron as they are the two systems I have?
3) A very kind chap here has offered to sort out my Turbo MMC (He knows who he is) if I bring my system with me. Hopefully he will have time! My question here is- Do people (apart from exhibitors) often bring their machines with them for other Star Dotters to help with if they are newbies or having issues like me?
4) What time does it start and finish? (Scratch that I've just seen that 11-5!!)
5) Will there be tons of BBC Micro and Electron games and things to buy?

[JudgeBeeb]

@Balmoral James, In answer to your questions:

1. On the years that I have been, towards the middle of the day it gets fairly busy - but not unpleasantly so.
2. The show, as its name suggests, is very much RISC focussed. There will be a few people from the 8-bit side of the forum there. But they are considerably in the minority.
3. This is very much a 'show' where people are demonstrating things. The opportunity to do repairs/mods/upgrades etc. is very limited to non-existent. For that kind of activity you need to go to ABUG (more below)
4. Indeed
5. There will be lots of stuff to buy, but mostly focussed on RISC/ARM. There is a charity stand for second hand stuff and I have picked up a few good 8-bit books there. But this show isn’t really the best place to go for Beeb/Elk related shopping.

I would still strongly suggest you go to the London Show. If you haven't been to a computer show for some time you will have a blast (and the ARM/RISC world is a very interesting one even if you are more 8-bit focussed).

However, if you really want to get your fix of Beeb/Elk related stuff you need to come to ABUG. The next ABUG is 9 to 11 November. Details here. It is officially fully booked; but someone seems to have dropped out so there might be a spare place going.

After that, there is another ABUG in Camberley, Hampshire. The dates are 18 to 20 January. Full details and booking arrangements will be posted on the forum immediately after the Leicester event.

[RobC]

5. There will be lots of stuff to buy, but mostly focussed on RISC/ARM. There is a charity stand for second hand stuff and I have picked up a few good 8-bit books there. But this show isn’t really the best place to go for Beeb/Elk related shopping.

The show is definitely more focused on the RISC OS scene but the 8-bit content has increased over the last few years. Chris (cmorley) will be there on the BooBip stand and I'll have some VideoNuLAs for sale for anyone who wants to add more colours to their Beebs.

Although the show is fairly busy, there's often time to chat and even sort out the odd problem or two.

[helpful]

I think the others have saved me a job and answered most of your questions - thanks all!

The show will hopefully be extra busy this year due to the recent RISC OS Developments and open sourcing news. However that also means it will probably get very quiet when their theatre talk is going on, so grab your chance for a bit of peace then!

Although the show is mostly RISC OS related, we are trying to increase the 8bit content. The more visitors that come to see and chat about 8bit stuff, the more 8bit exhibitors will be encouraged along, and the more 8bit visitors, etc

One thing though, is that we do have some spare space in one of the side rooms so if anyone did want to do a bit of repair work on machines that could probably be arranged.

By the way, anyone bringing something to the show that could read this chaps A3010 discs - https://www.iconbar.com/forums/viewthre ... e=1#124348

See you all on Saturday!

Bryan.

[RobC]

By the way, anyone bringing something to the show that could read this chaps A3010 discs - https://www.iconbar.com/forums/viewthre ... e=1#124348

I'll see if I can dig out my Kryoflux - can't promise anything as our house is currently in a state of upheaval!

[helpful]

I'll see if I can dig out my Kryoflux - can't promise anything as our house is currently in a state of upheaval!

Thanks. Don't spend too much time searching for it, I can always take the discs home and copy them there if required. Would just be nice to do it on the spot!

[helpful]

Reminder that the show is tomorrow!

Looks like there will be an ARM based RISC OS laptop, in addition to the PiTopv2. You wait years for one to come along....

[jbnbeeb]

Hi,
just a little note to say thanks to Bryan (helpful) for organising the event. I had a good time yesterday showing off my still-not-finished game whilst getting to meet some fellow Stardotters. I also accidentally purchased a 3.5" drive + PRES interface for my Elk..and as I was sat next to RobC , I had to order a VideoNULA (thanks Rob as he is kindly going to fit it for me )

Tricky's array of Beebs and awesome games attracted lots of people as ever, whilst CMorley's incredibly smooth 640x512 video demo (on a Beeb!!) garnered amazed onlookers and intricate explanations on how it all worked. RobC's VideoNULA was on show again.. the Shadow of the Beast demo still blows me away. Rob also showed us work in progress of another machine emulator via pi zero co-pro. It's very strange (and cool!) seeing another machine's boot up screen running on a Beeb! Flibble and MattH had several machines on show running RPCEmu which piqued (sp.?) my curiosity. I'm a fish out of water re RISC OS but I'm increasingly tempted to take a look.
Finally, the other display that stood out for me was a chap with a demonstration of multiple gadgets , motors , lights etc all hooked up to PIs running RISCOS. Accessing the GPIO pins is very straightforward with RISCOS..all his programs were written in BBC BASIC. i really liked one demo he had that could switch mains sockets on and off via 12/240V relays. Seeing it makes me want to have a go at making my own (overkill) Ras Pi mains timer for a lamp.. like the ones people use to put-off would be burglars.

[edit] A lovely chap who didn't give me his name (and I forgot to ask) - kindly gave me a large collection of BeeBUG booklets (they seem too small to be called magazines). I'll enjoy having a read through these. They'll sit on my shelf next to a collection of ElBUGs that Arcadian gave me a little while back!
Cheers all,
jbnbeeb

[RobC]

Thanks to everyone who helped to organise the show - it was a really good day. It was great to see lots of familiar faces again and to see the show being so busy. Thankfully, my Domesday setup behaved itself for the whole day and it was great to meet people who were using one for the first time.

I managed to pick up a Z88 from the charity stall having never seen one in the flesh before. I also gave some people a demo of my WiP Amstrad CPC emulator although it's still quite slow and flaky - I'm hoping to get some time to do make some more progress on it soon.

Thanks too to all those who made a fuss of my daugther Anna - particularly Neil on the Riscy Robots stand. She really enjoyed the day and is now talking about coming to the SW show.

[tricky]

Thanks to the organisers, helpers and the flibble brothers who helped me set up and tear down as I was a little under the weather.
The room did seem to empty when the talks were on and there seemed to be less ex-teachers to chat to about their school days and the software they wrote. There also seemed to be less children.
Most people seemed to like the eight bit stuff, but I did get told off by one guy who told me to stop messing about with that old stuff and move on to RISCOS. He then went on to explain how fast RISCOS boots and how it can't be broken by power loss and that it is immune to viruses.
It was great to meet everyone again and I'm sorry to hear that the after party meal didn't go smoothly for everyone.
Looking forward to seeing some of you again at ABUG Leicester 9th-11th November.

[danielj]

Most people seemed to like the eight bit stuff, but I did get told off by one guy who told me to stop messing about with that old stuff and move on to RISCOS. He then went on to explain how fast RISCOS boots and how it can't be broken by power loss and that it is immune to viruses.

That made my Monday.

[Elminster]

On Mondays it takes me several minutes to boot (myself out of bed). And I always have a cold. Perhaps I need to upgrade to RISC OS

[JudgeBeeb]

I did get told off by one guy who told me to stop messing about with that old stuff and move on to RISCOS. He then went on to explain how fast RISCOS boots and how it can't be broken by power loss and that it is immune to viruses.

It is likely that a significant proportion of attendees of the event could, justifiably, one way or another, be described as 'hackers'. In the circumstances, those were dangerous comments for him to make. Some people may view that comment as a challenge...

[JudgeBeeb]

BTW, I'm really sorry I missed that one. Sounds like a good event. Unfortunately, I was still in Manchester on Saturday.