''Drobe'' (also referred to as ''Drobe Launchpad'') was a

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

news

web site A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

with a focus on the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

. Its archived material was retained online, curated by editor Chris Williams until late 2020.

History

''Drobe'' was founded in 1999 by Peter Price. In 2001, Peter handed the site over to Chris Williams as editor. After , it closed as a news site in 2009. It was retained as an historical archive until 2020 when the site went offline. A few weeks after the site's closure Williams posted articles on '' Micro Men'', the television drama about the rivalry between

Acorn The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera '' Quercus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and bo ...

and Sinclair in the 1980s. He subsequently stated that such articles may continue to appear periodically.

Main features

At launch, the site featured a news feed,

POP Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

email checker and a search facility "incorporating AcornSearch.com". , the site features archived articles, news and other

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

. It also hosts an online

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peri ...

for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an empha ...

, using the

Java Runtime Environment Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a c ...

. Registered users were able to apply for user webspace in order to host their own projects. These subsites continue to be hosted by ''Drobe''.

References

Subsites

''Drobe''

BBC Micro emulator

File archives
(

mirrors A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the ima ...

of popular FTP sites, etc.)
Reference material
(various /

hardware)

Selected user sites

* * * * ( ROLF (software), the look and feel on Linux)

External links

Diodesign
(Editor/curator Chris Williams's website)
Drobe article statistics
* (subdomain hosting, adopted by ''Drobe'') * {{Twitter, name=@drobecouk Computing websites History of computing Free-content websites British news websites RISC OS