Saturday 24 August 2019

Naval Gazing

One thing about having someone like Andy as a friend is that he is very willing to loan me books, and usually these are war gaming related. Now sometimes my good lady despairs of this as she thinks I have too many of the damn things (note, I don’t, as this post will show later on), but at least with Andy’s loans, these are short term only and are returned quite quickly.


So, the pair of books he loaned me recently were concerned with naval war gaming and date from what you could call the First Golden Years of war gaming, the late 1970’s. First up is Naval War Games by Barry J Carter. This focuses on the World Wars One and Two and comes across as very much an introduction to the period as well as the hobby in general. The tone is straight forward and ever so slightly po-faced without over doing it. Grandfatherly might be a suitable description. There is, however, a lightness at times that not only dates the book but also the author as well.
The book has some good comparisons between scratch built ships and shop bought kit and there is, like many other similar titles of the period, an emphasis on making do with what you can get your hands on or what you can make yourself, especially considering the state of the commercial market at the time. The photographs are few and far between, but that is also in line with the period, as is their quality. The writing, however, is well worth the cost of this book and as an introduction to gaming the naval conflicts of the two periods, there is a lot to take in. Of course, some of this is now quite dated and the shop bought kit noted here would today reach a tidy sum on e-bay!
The author provides some sample rules to try out and although they are quite interesting, they use a grid based system for distances which, given today’s simpler direct measuring, feel very… gamey. Still, they would be worth trying, even if just for curiosity’s sake. Of note is the author’s recommendation of play testing the rules and making changes where ever you see fit. What a refreshing idea!
Written at the time when war gaming was arguably more niche than today but still not as niche as it had been in the 1960’s (and it is still a pretty niche hobby despite the protestations of those who would lump it into table top gaming which, for me, is far too broad a church), this tome is a useful insight as to where the hobby has been and how far it has developed.

Next up is Sea Battles in Miniature – A Guide to Naval Wargaming by Paul Hague. Published just five years later, this is a far more broad introduction to naval warfare in general. The hobby seems to have become more established by then as there are a few more manufacturers and the author is very much on a mission to educate people on the topic of naval war gaming, which he notes seems to be treat as the poor cousin of land based war gaming. The tone here is very light and the sense of enjoyment the author takes in his hobby is tangible, taking it for what it is, rather than what it might be. I do, however, think he takes the challenge for realistic representation a little too far with the insistence on scale meaning that floor level is preferred to the table top in order for it to “look right”, and I am not entirely sure he is joking when he suggests taking over the local Mecca for a proper looking playing area! There is also a detailed section on how to scratch build balsa ships and the attraction of using flats, something I have honestly never seen in the naval arena before.
There are some general war gaming comments here as well, such as those who practice gamesmanship are not welcome to the hobby (amen, Brother!) and that rules are there to be played with, home-written amendments and all. Such a far cry from the modern commercial industry (or at least some of the game designers). The last section of the book covers various periods of naval warfare and the presentation takes the form of game reports featuring Mr Hague and friend. Tongues are placed firmly in cheek (the names of the admirals alone should raise a few chuckles) and they demonstrate the included rules very well. They also provide food for thought for future rule amendments.

In a way, it is funny to compare these titles, for the first follows the Featherstonian introduction type whilst the second is more a “Here! Play this! You’ll like it!” kind of book. It aims to be a torch bearer for naval war gaming in general and opines that whilst naval war gaming might be seen as more technical compared to its land-based cousin, that only means you need to learn more and that gaining of knowledge is part of the fun of the hobby. It has always been my opinion that a greater knowledge of the period always, and I mean always, makes playing that particular period more enjoyable. If only that approach were more common today… Incidentally, Mr Hague adds a decent bibliography (that include Mr Carter’s tome) and adds to what is a lovely little package.

Overall, these are two very useful book and highly recommended to anyone who plays, or has an interest in playing, with ships on a table (or dance hall floor, if you have one close to hand!). True, the included rules are a tad basic but you are literally ordered to improve and add as you see fit. I, for one, am very grateful for the loan of these from Andy and I think anyone who reads these will take something positive away for their gaming.

Now, onto two other books. And I bought these so they’re staying in the collection and for good reason too…
The Deadly Trade by Iain Ballantyne is an all encompassing history of submarine warfare. From the earliest attempts to travel under the surface to the nuclear powered behemoths that cruise the depths today, Ballantyne has written a very readable and detailed account. The author knows his stuff and engages the reader, with knowing little asides and comments that raise a smile here and there. True, the majority of the book deals with the First and Second World Wars and by its very nature, there is not too much specific detail in places, but that is where the bibliography comes in and, my word, is it a good one! I always like it when I read through a bibliography and can state honestly that I have quite a few of the books listed in it.
As a history of the submarine, this is a worthy read and the perfect book to either break into the subject or as a starting point to find other sources of more detail. One of which, had it been published when Ballantyne’s book was written, is In Deepest Secrecy by Jaime Karremann – the story of the Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service during the mid to late Cold War period.
Yep, this is niche, a small force of six diesel powered subs and the limited, though vital, role they played. Part history, part explanation of how they operated, this was a book I saw upon publication but missed on its first run. Fortunately, I was able to pick up a copy and to be honest, it was worth the wait. You’re not going to get Tom Clancy levels of excitement, but neither are you going to get bored to death by nothing happening. No, this book is an excellent account of how one of the smaller Western navies performed its role in the most dangerous and difficult of circumstances. If you’re in any way intrigued by the subject, grab yourself a copy as soon as you can!
Now, with all this talk of Submarines, where did I put my DOS copy of 688 Attack Sub?

Thursday 1 August 2019

Low RISC Computing

Many, many moons ago (2017, which feels like a long, long time ago), I posted a couple of pieces about alternative operating systems, one of which was RISC OS. I noted then that I would keep an eye on the format and as time has passed, there have been several positive developments in the RISC OS world (unlike the Amiga OS world which, well, who knows what's happening there).

The major one was the announcement last year that RISC OS Developments would take on the intellectual property concerning RISC OS and that RISCOS Open Ltd would continue the development of the operating system which is also now open source. This meant that there would be stability on the OS side of things.

Other developments included new, more powerful Raspberry Pi Single Board Computers (though that does not include the recently released Pi 4 as RISC OS needs porting to it due to a change in the ARM cores from the Pi 3) as well as other SBC's that RISC OS can run on, plus the continued sale of complete systems by the likes of R-Comp, CJE Micros and RISCOSbits. Indeed, R-Comp are in the process of developing an ARMBook laptop that, when out of beta testing, might prove a good replacement for the seven year old Chromebook that languishes in the corner of a drawer somewhere.

With that in mind, and thinking that it was a good time to re-visit RISC OS, I began searching for a suitable machine. Now I have said before that it's simple enough to cobble one of these together yourself for not much money but I really wanted to see what a pre-built system would be like. As a starter machine, I didn't want to spend too much but also didn't want to skimp on the spec, so finally settled on the RISCOSbits piHARD. You may have noticed the naming convention for RISCOSbits products is a bit tongue in cheek but hey, look at the name of this blog!

Disclaimer here: This computer was bought with my own funds and RISCOSbits have had no input or overview of this post. The opinions given are my own and I have not received any compensation whatsoever.

Once settled on the machine, I spec'd it out with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ (1GB RAM, 1.4GHz CPU, usual selection of ports), a 120GB SSD for mass storage and a battery backed real time clock. For the case, I chose the Deuce case which, as you can see, is rather tidy (and definitely tells you where it came from!). Once I had submitted the request for a quote, Andy at RISCOSbits was very quick with a reply and, with my agreement to the quoted price, the order was submitted. A couple of days later came the invoice, and, after settling that via Paypal on a Thursday evening, I waited for my new computer. I didn't have to wait long as a small box containing the well packaged PiHARD arrived on the following Monday.

During the intervening period, Andy was kind enough to suggest a power supply for the PiHARD, seeing as it uses a 5v 3000mA micro USB supply. That was ordered on the Friday and delivered the following day (from a well known river-based online supplier) so I was all set when the machine itself arrived.

Shiny, shiny... and some subtle branding :-)
The case is nice, roughly 6 x 6 x 2.5 inches and shiny. It's very light and you might mistake that lightness for fragility but once it's set up, you're not likely to move it again and the case certainly feels good enough to handle day to day knocks. Be honest here. How often do you move your desktop PC? The worst thing I can say about it is that it attracts dust like nobody's business. Incidentally, one of the options (which I didn't take) was for a front mounted USB port, hence the cut out visible above to the right.

Plenty of ports: Micro USB, HMDI, audio out, 3 x USB 2 and Ethernet.
There were no instructions in the box but, to be honest, they aren't really needed. Plug in the micro USB power supply, a keyboard, a mouse (you'll need a three button model or a mouse with a clickable scroll wheel - RISC OS relies upon three buttons) and an Ethernet cable for internet access and you're all done. WiFi is possible with RISC OS but that does require additional hardware at present so cabled networking is the easiest way forward at the moment. Now, the moment of truth. After a start up screen, RISC OS 5.24 boots up in seconds and gives you this rather green desktop.

It's a bit cropped (my fault with the screenshot), but you get the idea.
As you can see, the PiHARD sits rather nicely under the monitor and outputs a rock steady 1920x1080 resolution with 16.7 million colours at 60Hz. For those wanting some help starting out, there are plenty of documents and stored web pages in the OS to get you going. These can also be found online.

As for downsides, well, it's pretty much the lack of expansion. The issue here is the use of Single Board Computers as a basis of RISC OS machines. By their very nature, they are not expandable in the traditional PC sense, so what you get is, well, what you get. However, this is not the handicap you may think it is, as RISC OS runs extremely well on a Pi 3B+ and if extra storage is required, then you have plenty of USB ports to hang stuff off. Certainly, this issue cannot be laid at the feet of any of the hardware vendors. If there were to be new, dedicated motherboards for RISC OS, then maybe the situation would be similar to the Amiga OS market where the only new dedicated hardware readily available is £1,800.00! One niggle about the USB ports. They are all in a row and quite close together, so if you attach a USB stick directly to the computer, chances are that unless it is a slim design, you'll interfere with access to the remaining ports. The solution here is to use a USB hub and they are cheap enough. This isn't an issue that RISCOSbits are in control of and in no way is it a deal breaker.

Cable management to be sorted out later...
I'm not going to delve into using RISC OS in this post. Nor, in future, will I be delving into how-to guides either as there are plenty of those about. No, what I will be doing is an occasional series on how I find using RISC OS on a regular basis, how it can fulfill most general computing needs and basically how much fun computing can be outside of the usual Windows/Mac/Linux arenas. This first post though, is purely about the hardware and I must say I am very impressed, not only with the price paid but also the build quality, the speed  of delivery and the communication from RISCOSbits. If you ever do feel like dipping into the world of RISC OS, I wholeheartedly recommend them. I am happy with my PiHARD and the initial steps into RISC OS after 25 years (and RISC OS 3). I'll keep you updated as to how things go but from initial impressions, that ARMBook is looking more and more tempting by the day...