RISC OS on the BeagleBoard XM (and ARMini)

Official support for RISC OS on the BeagleBoard XM is provided through R-Comp. The latest ROM update 'OS6' was issued on 10th June 2013 and contains the ROM image for RISC OS 5.20 dated 10th Jun 2013. Super pack 6 (24-Jun-2013) provides some necessary updates required to the disc image for RISC OS 5.20 and Super pack 7b (6-Oct-2014) provided a further update to the disc image. CMOS settings are best provided using a simple and inexpensive hardware widget. However a settings file 'cmos' will be used if present on the SD card with the RISC OS ROM image. This file can be deleted if you have the widget. It is a good idea to fit the necessary battery to the PCB to supprt the installed real-time clock although you need to make sure you are using the machine enough to keep the battery charged. Additional software such as 'AcornMode' (to run older games), 'AemulorPro' (to allow Impression Publisher etc. to run) and 'PlingStore' (to download selected software) is also available.

The standard set-up for BeagleBoard XM is for the boot disc to be a RISC-OS-formatted pen drive. The standard 'boot disc' image is available from RISC OS Open Ltd. Firmware for the SD card is available from the beagleboard.org web site, only the 'uenv.txt' file needs to be edited to load RISC OS and a RISC OS ROM image added.

Further development of RISC OS continues but the 10th Jun 2013 ROM image, version 5.20, is the latest and stable ROM image to be checked and validated for the Beagleboard XM. Alpha development ROMs are built daily with improvements, fixes and the inevitable occasional bugs and broken features as development proceeds. These alpha images are available for those who know what to do without help.

Known issues with the 10th Jun 2013 ROM build: