Got an old Raspberry Pi spare? Try RISC OS. It is, something else

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nostalgia & history

  • Many commenters recall school and home use of Acorn Archimedes and RISC OS, especially BBC BASIC, fast graphics demos, and tools like TechWriter and Sibelius.
  • RISC OS is seen as a “plucky” British OS that survived via volunteers, commercial add‑ons, and later open‑sourcing.
  • Some argue it didn’t “bomb” so much as get eclipsed by the PC while its ARM lineage went on to dominate CPUs.

UX and desktop model

  • Strong praise for its UX innovations: drag‑based RAM disks, visual memory allocation sliders, drag‑and‑drop for saving/loading (including between apps), three‑button “select/menu/adjust” mouse, and app-as-directory packaging.
  • Others find the UI inconsistent and hostile: heavy reliance on all three mouse buttons, context‑menu‑only design, tiny save boxes, and poor adherence to Fitts’ Law.
  • Some appreciate overlapping-window workflows; others prefer full‑screen, Alt‑Tab‑style usage and see RISC OS’s model as dated.

Architecture, performance, and limits

  • Kernel and large parts of the system are hand‑written 32‑bit ARM assembly, making it extremely small and fast but hard to port.
  • Cooperative multitasking, lack of memory protection, and broad access to the memory map mean a buggy app can freeze the whole system.
  • Single‑user, no real security, no shared libraries in the usual sense; shared code often lives in kernel modules.
  • Built‑in BBC BASIC with inline assembler and direct SWI access is widely praised as uniquely powerful.

Raspberry Pi and 32‑bit future

  • RISC OS boots quickly and fits in ~155 MB vs multi‑GB Linux images; some say it feels “raw” and close to the metal.
  • Pi 5’s lack of 32‑bit kernel support is seen as a major roadblock; porting large assembly sections is non‑trivial.
  • Some users report rough edges on modern Pi hardware (input devices, Wi‑Fi), limiting “plug and play” appeal.

Use cases, value, and alternatives

  • For most, RISC OS on Pi is framed as nostalgia, experimentation, or a teaching/“first principles” environment rather than a daily driver.
  • Others argue “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”: small but active commercial and hobby ecosystems persist.
  • Comparisons with Linux, Haiku, AmigaOS, BeOS, and various UI toolkits (including Electron/web stacks) highlight trade‑offs between simplicity, portability, and modern app availability.