''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, e ...

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 Wikipe ...

with a focus on the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

. Its

archived An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

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 ''Micro Men'' is a 2009 one-off BBC drama television programme set in the late 1970s and the early-mid 1980s, about the rise of the British home computer market. It focuses on the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair (played by Alexander Armstr ...

'', 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 borne ...

and

Sinclair Sinclair may refer to: Places * Lake Sinclair, near Milledgeville, Georgia * Sinclair, Iowa * Sinclair, West Virginia * Sinclair, Wyoming * Sinclair Mills, British Columbia * Sinclair Township, Minnesota * Sinclair, Manitoba People * ...

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 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 Computer hardware, 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 so ...

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 emphas ...

, 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 cros ...

. 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 Reflection (physics), 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 ...

of popular

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

sites, etc.)
Reference material
(various /

hardware)

Selected user sites

* * * * (

ROLF (software) LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to ...

, 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