The second Wakefield Show took place today in its current Bradford home. Despite the wet, cold weather there was a definite buzz, lots of surprises and plenty to see for both RISC OS and 8bit fans.
In separate articles, we cover the talks and show some pictures. Let's look at the stands...
There was a really interesting display of the History of RISC OS on a big screen as you entered the show room. This was naturally being delivered by 2 Zero Pis literally hanging off the back of the monitor.
WROCC also had their stand by the door, where you could renew your subscription and buy raffle tickets. Some great prizes this year! I was lucky enough to win the 50 pound software voucher in the raffle to loaded-up on RiscOSM and its sister applications (follow-up articles to follow).
As it is the 40th Anniversary of WROCC, there was also a birthday cake which we all ate later in the day.
Amcog games had its full selection of games along with a new Maze game for you to try (and some hints on how to play).
Archive magazine had the latest edition of the magazine and back issues to browse and buy. Quasar was standing in for the editor and also had some SAM Coupe/Spectrum material if you were interested.
The charity stall was piled high with stuff to rummage through and hidden bargains.
Educraft had a new Repton style BBC game and lots of machines to play on. You could even design your own game sprites.
Elesar had its full range of software and hardware, including the new CloudFS update (personally recommended).
Steve Fryatt had his full range of software and a new version of PrintPDF which can be used from other software.
Chris Hall had his range of machine/projects to explore and copies of Impression manuals to buy.
ARUG had a selection of BBC machines and software they are trying trying to preserve.
Retro hardware had new versions of the Blitz interfaces for A7000/RISC PC.
Organizer had a surprise 2.30 release which adds some very nice coloured events. This is a chargeable update with discounts for existing users.
Orpheus Internet were talking about all their network solutions, with Richard also manning the RISC OS Developments stand, guarded by a knitted dalek. The new Iris release looks really exciting.
R-Comp had a their usual software catalogue and some new hardware systems (4tissimo!, RockRAID and Hydra) based on Pi4 or RK3399 and including RAID disks. The hydra provides the option to run RISC OS and Linux concurrently so you can have RISC OS and Linux together.
On the Rock Software stand, Vince was sharing his ideas for a new game and had his existing games for you to play.
RISC OS Open were talking about their plans for RISC OS. They had their range of CDs, USBs and swag to buy. You can finally buy your ROOL ruler (Rooler).
RISCOSbits had their wide range of cases and machines. They were also showing off their new FAST machines.
Chris Sawyer had some open source projects for BBC machines and had connected a BBC to a linux machine. He is writing some comms software for it.
Sine Nomine were showing off Impact and RiscOSM.
Stader were a new exhibitor from Germany with a wide range of free and commercial software for RISC OS being demoed on some custom RISC OS hardware.
Overall it was a really upbeat show with lots of things to see and buy.