About Foundation RISCWorld

RISCWorld was a CD based bi-monthly magazine for all users of Acorn and other RISC OS computers. It was published by APDL between 2000 and 2009. In May 2008 it merged with Foundation RISCUser (originally published by RISCOS Ltd) and was renamed as Foundation RISCWorld.

A bit of History

As previously noted RISCWorld magazine was launched in early 2000. Published by APDL the editor for the first couple of issues was David Matthewman. Due to other commitments he stepped down and from Volume 1 Issue 4 onwards the magazine was edited by Aaron Timbrell. The magazine underwent a couple of major re-designs over the years. All articles on this website are presented in the final design.

Each volume consisted of 6 issues, with the final issue being a compilation CD that contained all the articles and software from the entire volume. In addition a RISCOS Format DVD (which can also be read on PC and Mac) was available that included the entire set of 9 complete volumes. This collection also included well over 1000 articles and 1000's of items of software.

About Foundation RISC User

Foundation RISC User was also founded in the year 2000. It was a development of RISC User magazine, which was originally published by Beebug. Foundation RISC User was edited by Richard Hallas for all except the last couple of issues and, like RISCWorld, was supplied on CD. Unlike RISCWorld it was published on a quarterly basis with typically four issues a year. As the magazine was published by RISCOS Ltd, the company tasked with developing RISC OS for the future, readers were often treated to sneak previews of the latest developments.

About Foundation RISCWorld

The new magazine was designed to take the best from both of the magazines. It inherited the simple clutter free interface from RISCWorld, as well as the RISCWorld ethos of providing new and interesting software on every issue. All of the writers who had made RISCWorld so successful over the previous 8 years were still on-board.

From Foundation RISC User the new magazine inherited a pedigree stretching back over 20 years as well as close inside contacts with RISCOS Ltd. Foundation RISC User readers were always kept up to date with the latest developments from RISCOS Ltd and this continued in the new magazine.

Every Foundation RISCWorld CD is mastered in RISC OS format, but all the articles can be read any machine with a suitable web browser and a CD drive. All software is provided in archives, so it can be used on both native RISC OS machines and on emulators.

About Each Issue of Foundation RISCWorld

Each bi-monthly individual issue of Foundation RISCWorld contained between 20 and 30 articles. A typical issue had several main features that covered a particular area of interest to RISC OS users. In addition most issues also included a full commercial software title that's often worth several times the cover price, along with a complete HTML version of the manual for the particular application concerned. The complete Foundation RISCworld DVD, with all the issues included, contained well over £1000 worth of exclusive commercial software.

Every issue also had the latest roundup of new Freeware and Public Domain for RISC OS, with all the software included on the CD. There were also regular news columns that cover the entire RISC OS experience. Foundation RISCWorld was the only RISC OS magazine to feature a regular column devoted to the Iyonix. In addition there were the VirtualAcorn tech support notebook, DISCWorld that covers the software on the CD and the Hugh Jampton column as well as many other regulars.

The magazine also ran complete serialisations of books related to RISC OS. Volume 9 contained two complete books that are ideal for those who want to learn how to write software for RISC OS. Over it's 9 years the magazine published a complete library of RISC OS books that would have cost £100's to assemble.

For more information on Foundation RISCWorld just follow the links on the left of every page. If you want to see the contents of every single back issue you can do so from the Issues link.