The news is organised in chronological order, with the most recent stories at the top. Choose the month you require, then click on a topic heading to jump to the associated announcement.
| 2003 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2003 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2002 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2002 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2001 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2001 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2000 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2000 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan |
The LibXML, LibXSLT and XSLDebug tools xmlcatalog, xmllint, and xsltproc, as well as the RISC OS source for libxml 2.4.20 and libxslt 1.0.16 have been updated at:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/justin.fletcher/XML/
This update follows the release of the libxml 2.4.21 and libxslt 1.0.17 sources yesterday.
XML is a structured description format used in many modern applications. XSLT is a mechanism for transforming data in XML-based formats to other formats (most usually HTML or some similar markup). XML Catalogs are structured, extensible way of providing cached copies of externally accessible documents.
XMLCatalog manipulates catalogs.
XMLLint checks validity and well-formedness of XML documents.
XSLTProc applies stylesheets transforms (XSLT) to XML documents.
The tools contained in these releases are used by in the 'RISC OS documentation project', which I am working on. They have been tested by myself and those working on the project.
This release incorporates a number of bug fixes and corrections which have been applied over the past month:
libxml2:
More information about libxml2, libxslt and its related tools can be obtained from http://xmlsoft.org/. More information on xsldebug (not updated in this release) can be obtained from http://xsldbg.sourceforge.net/. libxml2 and libxslt is developed by Daniel Veillard, as an open source project in collaboration with many others.
LibXML and LibXSLT are currently in API freeze for Gnome. XSLDebug is currently undergoing major work to integrate with other unix debuggers and will appear 'soon'.
As in the past, I intend to keep RISC OS libxml2/libxslt releases within 24 hours of the base unix source release.
I've just released GnuPG 1.0.7 for RISC OS. It's a release with many, many new features. If you are keen to know the exact changes, please refer to the NEWS file inside the distribution or linked to from my web page.
GnuPG itself is a commandline tool without any graphical stuff. It is the real crypto engine which can be used directly from a command prompt, from obey scripts or by other programs. Therefore it can be considered as a backend for other applications.
Messenger Pro 2.50 already supports GnuPG in a beta stage, later versions have GnuPG support in release quality. Pluto supports GnuPG since version 2.04 as well. Currently those are the only two mail/news reader for RISC OS that have built-in support for GnuPG. I hope that other mail/news reader authors will support GnuPG in the future in a similar way like PGP 2.6.3ia is supported today.
Have fun and a Pretty Good Privacy,
Announcing Oww 0.67.3 - Barometer support
http://melhuish.info/simon/projects/oww/
Oww is a Linux / RISC OS / Cygwin project for driving the Dallas / AAG 1-wire weather station and associated weather sensors.
This version adds initial support for DS2438-based barometers. Any feed-back would be appreciated, as I don't have a barometer to test with! Thanks to George for providing code for this.
Barometric pressure now displayed on the main window (had to move some things around). Added setup option for mBar or inches of mercury.
Devices file now holds slope and offset values for some sensors - thermometers, RH, rain gauge and barometers. Units for barometers are mBar per Volt (slope) and mBar (offset).
New parser commands are:
bar, barinhg, and barmbar
e.g. $barmbar1$
There is a new version of AutoFocus (1.21) available on my web page:
http://www.vinc17.org/acorn/riscpc_eng.html
First, an important bug, that can lead to data corruption at the low addresses of your machine, has been fixed. The code concerning the heuristic to set/lose the caret has also been improved and mode 8 should no longer be necessary (and shouldn't be used any longer).
AutoFocus is a system utility that automatically gives the focus to windows when the mouse pointer is moved over them. It has a special support for panes, dialogue boxes (with writable icons) and block selection.
When we announced our support for ADSL last week, we commented on the fast changing nature of the UK ADSL market, and things have moved even faster than expected!
The cheaper hardware that we were expecting in during May has arrived early, so we can now offer a kit suitable for most users at just 155ukp including VAT and UK delivery!
This unit provides ADSL modem capability and also allows 4 computers to be hooked into it at 10 or 100Mbit speeds, allowing the box to form the centre of your home network.
By including the ADSL modem functionality in the box, it saves you the cost of needing to purchase this from your ADSL supplier, allowing you to take advantage of the cheaper self-install options available.
If you are interested, it is best to phone us so that we can make sure you have exactly the right products supplied to you. Call us on 01925 755043, and we will be glad to advise you.
Please note that this ADSL product differs from many of our other internet/networking devices in that it does NOT include printer sharing facilities.
CJE Micro's are now able to supply their 'ADSL in a box' solution for fast Internet connection.
ADSL is the future of home and business internet connection with many benefits over a dial-up connection including:
CJE will supply everything you need to connect to the Internet by ADSL, with full instructions and up to an hour of technical support. The ADSL pack is compatible with either a stand alone RISC OS computer or a network. The network can consist of solely RISC OS computers or may include PCs.
ISP costs from:
ukp22.50 per Month with Initial ISP cost of ukp70.49
or
ukp23.44 per Month with NO Initial ISP cost.
CJE 'ADSL in box' Hardware/Software & Support Pack from ukp180.00 Inc VAT & Postage
For more information please see:
http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/adsl/
For the past couple of years, the ANT Suite has not been automatically trimming the size of the news history file. This file records the id of the news articles downloaded. As the file grows, the most obvious effect is that it takes longer and longer to connect and start to fetch news, as the fetcher reads the large file.
One solution is to do the trimming by hand, by loading the news history file into a text editor, and deleting the oldest part before resaving. This becomes a chore, and is often forgotten. The alternative is to write a little utility to do this automatically.
Recently, this problem was raised yet again on the Inet maillist, so I decided to offer to members of that maillist a little program I wrote for myself. Having had no adverse comments, the time is ripe to offer the program to any other users of the ANT Suite, and here it is.
Find it at
http://www.chris-johnson.org.uk/software/
Version 1.9 of Vice, the Versatile Commodore Emulator has been released. For a list of the general news in this version see the Vice homepage at
http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/
Vice includes emulators for some popular CBM computers like the C64, C128, PET, VIC20 and CBM2. It also includes a SID player based on the C64 binary with the reSID engine.
RISC OS specific news include
The second point incurred some low-level interface changes which forced me to almost completely rewrite the video layer. As a side-effect, it should also work better for ViewFinder users now if they disable the ``UseBPlot'' option in the video configuration window.
The RISC OS binary can be downloaded from
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/cbm/crossplatform/emulators/VICE/vice-riscos1_9.zip
or my software pages at
http://www.forwiss.tu-muenchen.de/~dehmel/Software.html
Please note that my email account will expire soon and I'll only be reachable sporadically that way ATM.
Version 2.00 of !EnBank, The multi-currency accounts package for RISC OS, is now available from the RISC OS pages of the EnVision Software web site:
http://riscos.envision-software.co.uk/
Please note that !EnBank requires RISC OS V3.5 or later.
Basic home use of the base unit, that's a maximum of 5 Accounts, 10 Standing Orders and 500 Transactions, is free.
Licence details and prices for an unrestricted base unit, multi-currency and Budget Analysis extensions are on the web site. You can also check out !EnBank's full capabilities by requesting a free, no obligation, 60 day trial licence.
The ever popular collection of free scripts to make your Pinboard much more interesting has been updated to v1.13. :-)
http://www.quantumsoft.co.uk/files/internet/
Look for campins113.zip
CAMPINS allows you to choose from many hundreds of images off the Intenet and place them on your Pinboard or save them to disc.
this time around I've added a few extra scripts of famous cartoon strips and a couple of webcams and theres has been a major updated of the 'List' file used by the PickFromList script which picks randomly from over 420 images on the Internet.
Go on download it, it is what your 'always on' Internet connection was made for! ;-)
Comments and suggestions as always welcome.
The LibXML, LibXSLT and XSLDebug tools xmlcatalog, xmllint, and xsltproc, as well as the RISC OS source for libxml 2.4.20 and libxslt 1.0.16 have been updated at:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/justin.fletcher/XML/
This update follows the release of the libxml 2.4.20 and libxslt 1.0.16 sources this week.
XML is a structured description format used in many modern applications. XSLT is a mechanism for transforming data in XML-based formats to other formats (most usually HTML or some similar markup). XML Catalogs are structured, extensible way of providing cached copies of externally accessible documents.
XMLCatalog manipulates catalogs.
XMLLint checks validity and well-formedness of XML documents.
XSLTProc applies stylesheets transforms (XSLT) to XML documents.
The tools contained in these releases are used by in the 'RISC OS documentation project', which I am working on. They have been tested by myself and those working on the project.
This release incorporates a number of bug fixes and corrections which have been applied over the past month:
libxml2:
More information about libxml2, libxslt and its related tools can be obtained from http://xmlsoft.org/. More information on xsldebug (not updated in this release) can be obtained from http://xsldbg.sourceforge.net/. libxml2 and libxslt is developed by Daniel Veillard, as an open source project in collaboration with many others.
LibXML and LibXSLT are currently in API freeze for Gnome. XSLDebug is currently undergoing major work to integrate with other unix debuggers and will appear 'soon'.
As in the past, I intend to keep RISC OS libxml2/libxslt releases within 24 hours of the base unix source release. After the last versions impressive port times, I'm about 5 days late now due to being away during the release. Not that I expect anyone noticed, but there you go...
The latest version of Account2 (1.18) is available from http://www.ksedwards.ukgateway.net/account2/
Account2 is a freeware Home Accounts application.
v.1.18 16/04/02
CSV import is now possible by dragging a CSV file to the main window. Import date options added to 'choices' on iconbar.
Internal transfers between sub-accounts can now be coded to up to five different categories. For example, you may make a cash withdrawal and then want to code what you spent the cash on.
A monthly 'fixed-term' direct debit can be set to run for up to 48 months. This is useful for Council Tax mandates and other transfers that run over a fixed number of months.
New icon for opening direct debit info window (ADJUST-click opens a new set up window).
A 'reconciled only' editor has been added to the main menu, to create an account leaving only transactions which have been added to the statement balance.
ADJUST-clicking over the category column in the main window opens the sub-account window directly. Shift-Click SELECT to delete a category. (used to be ADJUST-click)
Sub-account window is now closed when any editing in main window is done to avoid the possibility of overwriting data.
Acronyms 5.52, a program that can translate internet and computer acronyms and abbreviations. It can also show the meaning of emoticons (e.g. ':-(')
Version 5.52 contains more corrections that were discovered after the release of version 5.51
The new version can be downloaded from:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/downloads>
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~tours>
....and documentation can be found at:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/computers/software/acronyms>
With BT's ADSL roll-out slowly gathering momentum, it seems like a good time to let people know how these services can be used on RISC OS machines.
As many will know, R-Comp Interactive have been offering a variety of internet and print sharing devices, suitable for broadband access for some time. However, due to the way the ADSL roll-out has been handled in the UK (as opposed to most other countries) ADSL has to be handled separately. This has made ADSL more expensive than going the cable route for Broadband, but it is still perfectly feasible. Cable is still the recommended choice if you are in an area that can get it, in terms of reliability, performance and pricing.
It is worth noting that the ADSL market is still young, and changing rapidly. Most of the problems have stemmed from ADSL modems being USB-attached rather than ethernet attached (their cable-modem counterparts are all ethernet attached, as DSL is in other countries). Things are moving in the right direction however.
If you wish to take advantage of ADSL right now, that's pefectly possible - we have a range of units depending upon just how much networking gear you already have, prices will vary from around 150ukp to 250ukp. Additionally, there are more cost-effective products coming onto the market shortly, so things are certainly moving in the right direction for ADSL.
The downside is that none of the current range of ADSL devices include printer sharing (compared with the cable/ISDN/modem units that we sell). Again this has the side effect of making ADSL a more expensive option if you want networked-printing at the same time.
The bottom line is that ADSL and RISC OS is perfectly do-able, and all units bought from R-Comp Interactive come with our software for RISC OS, as well as Windows software. Instructions are provided for setting up from RISC OS or Windows, and this is backed up by technical support (from us - not some PC company!)
Please call us on 01925 755043 (you can email if you like, but phone is probably better) to discuss your requirements - when dealing with matters like this, it is important to tailor what people receive so that it is the right product for their setup.
BibleMaker 3.0
has just been released at www.logosword.co.uk.
BibleMaker is a FREE tool for converting Bible texts (found on other websites) into LogosWord-compatible plugins.
Among other improvements, BibleMaker's power of conversion has been extended to 'Unix' format Bibles.
BibleMaker's manual (separate download) has also been updated.
This tool is still being developed, and any feedback is welcome.
ou are not obliged to register for your copy of BibleMaker.
BibleMaker is available for download at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/biblemaker.shtml
BibleMaker is a LogosWord tool.
To download a trial version of LogosWord, visit
http://www.logosword.co.uk/register.shtml
LogosWord is a Bible Software project for RISC OS, enabling users to build their own, personalised library of Bible translations, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and more besides, in an environment conducive to some serious Bible study, or just casual browsing.
LogosWord's latest release is version 3.03, which was uploaded to the LogosWord website this month.
If you are familiar with LogosWord, the author would be very much obliged if you would fill in the LogosWord survey at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/survey/survey.html
LogosWord 3.2
has just been released at www.logosword.co.uk
LogosWord has been upgraded to support the demands of the latest text to be added to the collection at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/logos.shtml
The Textus Receptus Greek text is a valuable addition to your library, enriched with Strong's numbers (lexicons keys to Strongs are available for downloading from the LogosWord website) and linguistic information codes which LogosWord can expound.
See http://www.logosword.co.uk/snapshots/TextusReceptus.shtml for some snapshots of the new text.
To download a trial version of LogosWord, visit
http://www.logosword.co.uk/register.shtml
LogosWord is a Bible Software project for RISC OS, enabling users to build their own, personalised library of Bible translations, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and more besides, in an environment conducive to some serious Bible study, or just casual browsing.
LogosWord's latest release is version 3.03, which was uploaded to the LogosWord website this month.
If you are familiar with LogosWord, the author would be very much obliged if you would fill in the LogosWord survey at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/survey/survey.html
A Wakefield Show 2002 flyer is now available direct from the Cerilica website. The flyer contains full details of the major event in the RISC OS calendar and is deliberately compact (typically less than 100K) and is available in a variety of formats suitable for RISC OS machines, PCs and Macs.
To download the flyer (designed using Cerilica Vantage and published using RiScript as with the magazine adverts), please click on the following link:
http://www.cerilica.com/shows/
For full details of the show, please visit the official web site at:
http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/2002/
See you there!
Acronyms 5.51, a program that can translate internet and computer acronyms and abbreviations. It can also show the meaning of emoticons (e.g. ':-(')
All the data in the program has been spell checked and corrected by Stan Jelley and I'm very grateful of his help.
The new version can be downloaded from:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/downloads>
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~tours>
....and documentation can be found at:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/computers/software/acronyms>
A large collection of
'Scientific Software for RISC OS'
can now be found on my homepage at
Arranged in 9 different categories, you can download more than 150 Public Domain, Freeware, Shareware and commercial Demos of scientific software for RISC OS.
Packet CD Writing using VirtualA5000.
VirtualAcorn can now confirm that VirtualA5000 V 1.10 can read and write Packet CDs. Packet CD (also called UDF) allows CD writers to copy files using drag and drop file transfers, files can be renamed, deleted, or have their filetypes changed on a writable CD. This means that users can backup their VirtualA5000 hard disc directory to a CD whenever they need. Once a CD has been finalised using Windows it can also be read on a 'real' RISC OS machine, and provided applications and files have been archived then all the filetypes will be preserved. Depending on the particular CD software provided on the PC it is also possible to write data to a CD on VirtualAcorn, then read the CD on a 'real' RISC OS machine and then add further data to the CD using VirtualA5000. So far CD writing has only been tested using CeQuadrat PacketCD(tm) and Roxio DirectCD(tm). Full information on setting up a CD Writer is now on the VirtualAcorn Technical Support pages.
DOS Floppy, CD ROM and LanMan98 Networking support.
The VirtualAcorn technical support pages have now been updated to include information on how to get VirtualA5000 to read and write directly to DOS floppies and also read some CD-ROMs. VirtualAcorn are indebted to Dave Daniels who came up with the method used to access DOS floppies. Also included on the updated technical support section of the VirtualAcorn website is information on how to set up VirtualAcorn to read and write RISC OS files stored on a PC fileserver using LanMan98. This allows establishments that have networks of 'real' RISC OS machines to also use PCs with VirtualA5000 installed.
About VirtualAcorn
VirtualAcorn allows Windows PCs to run RISC OS and RISC OS applications. VirtualAcorn can run in a window, like other programs, or full screen, so that the PC looks and feels just like a 'real' RISC OS machine. VirtualAcorn comes complete with a full copy of RISC OS 3.11 and the latest universal !Boot sequence.
You can get more details from
http://www.virtualacorn.co.uk/
Tau Press is delighted to welcome Rob Donaldson as the new Editor of Acorn User. We are sad to lose Michael Stubbs whose hard work over the past few months has helped to improve Acorn User. He has moved onto bigger and better things, we wish him well.
Rob is very happy to take over as editor after a long association with the RISC OS market, he will continue to improve Acorn User and support the increasing readership of Acorn User.
Enquiry Manager, Tau Press Ltd
Bible Bookmarks 1.0
has just been released at www.logosword.co.uk.
Bookmarks is a brand new applet, FREE for LogosWord users.
You can use Bookmarks to categorise scriptures, annotate books of the Bible, or just note scriptures of particular interest.
Bookmarks is available for download at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/bookmarks.shtml
Bookmarks is a LogosWord applet and requires either the full or the trial version of LogosWord in order to run.
To download a trial version of LogosWord, visit
http://www.logosword.co.uk/register.shtml
LogosWord is a Bible Software project for RISC OS, enabling users to build their own, personalised library of Bible translations, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and more besides, in an environment conducive to some serious Bible study, or just casual browsing.
LogosWord's latest release is version 3.03, which was uploaded to the LogosWord website this month.
If you are familiar with LogosWord, the author would be very much obliged if you would fill in the LogosWord survey at
http://www.logosword.co.uk/survey/survey.html
I announced these MP3 utilities to Archive magazine about a year ago, but don't know whether this newsgroup was informed or not.
Anyway, the MP3 utilities have been mostly updated since.
!ID3toCSV
Catalogues MP3 files from their ID3 tags into CSV files.
!MP3test
Silently plays MP3 files at up to 60x speed. This saves you the trouble of having to listen to them yourself! Oh - and it also creates a CSV log file of any playback errors it encounters, useful for finding and eliminating those that 'hiccough'. Because of the use of the AMPlayer module, this program does not work on a CTA RiscStation. It does work on a StrongARM RPC.
!CDrip
Using the recently released Shine module, this will convert a directory full of WAV files into MP3 files, at any bit-rate from 32kB/s to 320kB/s. Speed is 0.55x real-time on a 233MHz StrongARM RiscPC for 128kB/s bit-rates.
!ID3toName
Re-names MP3 files from their ID3 tags.
Most are available in two versions, the original un-wimped version by myself, and the wimp version as modified by Jonathan Cooper.
Download them from the URL below.
http://rogerdarlington.members.beeb.net/
The new developer release of ROX-Filer is out now!
ROX-Filer is a small, fast, powerful filer for Unix, Linux and compatible systems. Its user interface is based on the RISC OS filer, and it supports similar concepts, such as application directories, drag-and-drop saving and popup menus. It also implements a RISC OS like pinboard, and a panel which can be used in a similar way to the RISC OS iconbar. It also supports many features not found in RISC OS, including thumbnails of images, keyboard short-cuts, many more options, powerful search facilities, etc.
ROX-Filer can be used on its own, with another desktop (such as GNOME, KDE or XFCE), or as the core component of the ROX desktop. The ROX desktop aims to bring all the good features of RISC OS to modern systems. Get ROX-Filer here: (source and Linux-x86 binary archives at present):
http://rox.sf.net/rox_download.php3
The filer now requires Gtk+-2.0 (which installs easily alongside Gtk+-1.2):
Screenshots:
http://rox.sourceforge.net/index.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php3
Bug fixes:
Changes:
Translations:
SOAP:
The filer is distributed under the GNU General Public License, which means that anyone can modify it, use bits of it in their own (GPL) programs, etc. Indeed, many of the improvements made to the filer were added by other ROX users and posted as patches to the mailing list.
http://rox.sourceforge.net/install.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/guide.php3
You can read more, download ROX-Filer, read the comments people have made, and look at some screenshots here:
http://rox.sourceforge.net/
http://rox.sourceforge.net/comments.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php3
There are two mailing lists; rox-users and rox-devel. You can subscribe here, or look at the archives:
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=7023
A selection of tutorials on writing ROX applications is available on-line:
http://rox.sourceforge.net/tutor.php3
ROX-Session has been upgraded to Gtk+-2.0. It can be used to change the default font, mouse settings and window manager.
The filer also featured on slashdot, attracting many positive comments!
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/18/180240&mode=nested
Version 1.73 of BookMaker is available for download from
http://www.bookmaker.riscos.org.uk/
For some people versions 1.71 & 1.72 would crash if the mouse pointer was moved over an "<Empty Book>" token. 1.73 fixes this bug.
BookMaker is a hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISC OS browsers, most email clients and other internet tools.
Latest update to !Jclean is now on my website
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/free/
Version 3.02 incorporates a suggestion by Nick Roberts on how to redirect error messages from jpegtran through Wimp_ReportError. While I was at it, I made a few other slight improvements, corrected the odd error, etc.
!Jclean is a desktop front end (or interface) for the Independant JPEG Group utilities 'jpegtran' and 'wrjpgcom'. It allows all operations available from these utilities to be performed by clicking and drag-and-drop rather than having to resort to the command line.
New on my website
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/free/
!Jigwas will combine up to 1000 JPEGs into a single JPEG in one go.
Oregano is far ahead of any other browser on the RISC OS platform with regards to being able to display international characters, such as Japanese or Cyrillic. However, the number of character encodings (basically, a table that matches each byte (or series of bytes) with a character) it knows is limited and it has no way to expand them. This means if you visit a web page using an unsupported character encoding, even though Oregano could support the characters used if written in a different encoding such as Unicode, it appears as gibberish.
So, as a beginning, I have written a PHP script, which runs in Oregano, to convert KOI8-R or Windows-1251 web pages (common Russian character encodings) on the fly to Unicode, so that Oregano can display them (perfectly, I might add :) ).
If there are any problems or queries, please get in touch.
BibleMaker 2.12
has just been released at www.logosword.co.uk.
BibleMaker is a FREE tool for converting Bible texts (found on other websites) into LogosWord-compatible plugins.
This tool is still being developed, and any feedback is welcome. (You are not obliged to register for your copy of BibleMaker.)
Whilst BibleMaker runs as an independent application, it is also a LogosWord tool for use with LogosWord or LogosLite to create Bible texts.
LogosWord is a Bible Software project for RISC OS, enabling users to build their own, personalised library of Bible translations, Commentaries, Dictionaries, and more besides, in an environment conducive to some serious Bible study, or just casual browsing.
LogosWord's latest release is version 3.03, uploaded to the LogosWord website this month.
If you haven't tried out LogosWord yet, visit www.logosword.co.uk, the home of LogosWord and other items of Bible software.
SmartOpenDir is an 'intelligent directory opener' for RISC OS 3 and 4. It intercepts calls to open directories in filer windows and sets the display/sort options based on patterns in the directory name and/or number of files it contains etc.
After reviewing the pattern matching code in SmartOpenDir I realised there were two problems with it:
# (single character wild) at the start of a pattern would be dismissed as a comment.
* (multiple character wild) followed by a special character would fail to match correctly.
Although it's not very likely that anyone would use patterns which would fall foul of these problems, I thought I'd better correct it.
Note that the new comment character is a double quote (") instead of #. You must edit any patterns files to accommodate this change.
The new version, 1.20 is available from
<http://www.realh.co.uk/downloads/smart120.zip>.
SmartOpenDir is freeware, with source code included. It may be used and distributed on a personal basis. Permission is required to distribute it as part of a commercial product. By distributing it commercially without permission, you agree to risk being subject to capricious interpretation of the vague distribution terms, and the possibly resulting public, accusatory tirade against your company and/or product.
A new beta patch for users of the commercial image manipulation and montage application Composition is now available at:
http://www.compo.iconbar.com/compo.htm
Please note that you must have a recent, full version of Compo to make use of this update.
I've also taken the opportunity to update the website and upload a new version of the excellent Composcript reference manual which has been written and kept up to date with recent changes by 'Lenny'.
Import one Composition into another, requested by Michael Drake
Scale masks independently of their image
Composcript updates
Bugfixes, including a nasty potential bug in squashed Composition saving and loading. (Thanks to Bill Kotsias for bringing this to my attention).
As always, a complete list of the changes made is on the website.
As some of you may be aware, work on the Desk library was resumed from where Julian Smith left off in 1997 by Paul Johnson and myself. Desk, the successor to DeskLib, has been updated and is now at the notional version number 3.12.
Desk is a library for use from C/C++ programs which is designed to aid the development of fully-fledged Wimp applications. It handles windows, menus, icons, error handling and a sophisticated event system. It provides functions to provide many of the standard Wimp 'constructs', such as sliders, increase/decrease 'nudge' buttons and popup menus.
Desk is available from <http://www.desk.iconbar.com/>. You can direct enquires to general@desk.iconbar.com
Version 1.72 of BookMaker is available for download from
http://www.bookmaker.riscos.org.uk/
This version fixes a dumb sorting bug in the recently-released 1.71.
BookMaker is a hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISC OS browsers, most email clients and other internet tools.
The RISC OS Banner Network has finally been moved to a faster server at http://banners.iconbar.com/
RISC OS Banner Network is a free to join network for any RISC OS web site, however large or small, commercial or non-commercial.
To join, you must design and submit a banner of the usual size, then you get a user name and password to access your statistics, and some code to insert into your site. You also get an email forwarding address which will be of the form <user>@banners.iconbar.com
For those who do not have an appropriate banner already, there is a link to a site which can be used to create standard banners for use with the network.
Note to current users; the code on your site should be modified to point directly to iconbar in order to realise the full speed increases.
After letting it spend an awful long time in quarantine I decided to finally let the CVS 1.11 RISC OS port go. Unfortunately it is only the command line based tool at the moment and not the accompagning GUI which I hope to finish 'soon'.
More information can be found at <URL:http://www.cvs.riscos.org.uk/>.
Note for the editors: CVS is a well known tool in the open source community to manage different versions of files, either e.g. source code but can also be used to store and retrieve different version of e.g. a website. Not only this can help RISC OS programmers to track their own source code but e.g. it is also an easy way to get the latest code from the many open CVS servers on the internet.
Version 1.71 of BookMaker is available for download from
http://www.bookmaker.riscos.org.uk/
This version includes support for Nettle; in addition, support for WebsterXL has finally been completed.
BookMaker is a hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISC OS browsers, most email clients and other internet tools.
A quick note to say that version 0.12 of my new image processing application (called Variations) is now available at:
http://compo.iconbar.com/variation.htm
This version fixes a number of mostly fairly minor issues with version 0.11 and adds the ability to deal with interlaced JPEGs as well as load and edit a variety of other image formats by calling ChangeFSI for you in the background.
Variations is intended to make the job of adjusting the hue, saturation, brightness, gamma, contrast and sharpness of digital images fast, easy and above all, fun! :-)
It also provides several facilities for more creative image processing including shape, fade and sepia/tint effects. More features and effects will be added as the program continues to develop.
Variations is free. Please respect the requests made in the accompanying ReadMe file with regard to distribution and use.
Please note that I will shortly be off on a bit of a walkabout.
If you email me and do not receive a reply within 24 hours then please allow up to six weeks for it to arrive.
Thank ewe, ;-)
There is now a mailing list for discussion of WebJames (an HTTP server), PHP (a scripting language) and any related subjects.
To subscribe, visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/webjames-php or send a blank email to webjames-php-subscribe@smartgroups.com
We are pleased to announce that alongside many other topics, our new 100 Mbit network cards (designed and produced in conjunction with Simtec, RiscStation and STD) will be making their first working appearance at the Wakefield Acorn Users Group meeting on Wednesday evening.
Although this will only be a small part of the meeting (given that, well, there's not a whole lot that can be said other than "Look, it works") this will be a real live card. You can come and look at it! Crikey, this email is even being sent via one.
Come along for more information (and whatever else we end up talking about).
Today's topics:
ArtWorks, the best-selling advanced vector graphics package for RISC OS, has received a large number of new features and enhancements over the past years, e.g., the TextArea module adding rotatable multi-column text areas or the BMExport module adding high-quality Sprite and GIF export options.
The new Crystal module is without doubt the most significant update ever produced: Finally, ArtWorks has full transparency support! Crystal offers three types of transparency (Mix, Stained glass, Bleach) and allows you to apply a transparency type and percentage to any ArtWorks object, no matter whether it is a shape, a line of text, a sprite, a text area, etc.
Further information and example screenshots can be found on the Crystal home page at:
http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/crystal.html
Crystal costs 35 Pounds (EUR 55) (inc. VAT, price for e-mail delivery, add 2.50 Pounds (EUR 4) for snail-mail delivery). You can order by sending me a cheque or online with credit card payment (follow the link in the 'Pricing and Ordering' section on the Crystal home page).
Crystal requires RISC OS 3.5 or higher and ArtWorks 1.5 or higher. A StrongARM is highly recommended for serious work.
The Update Collection (modules released since 2000) and the Full Set Collection (all modules) now include Crystal. They are priced at:
Update Collection: 70 Pounds (EUR 110)
Full Set Collection: 90 Pounds (EUR 145)
Customers who have bought one of these collections in March 2002 can upgrade to the new versions of the collections for the difference in price.
The first release of AWFixMod fixes two long-standing ArtWorks bugs: Firstly, a proper anti-aliased tick is displayed in the colour and separation menus instead of a System font tick (RISC OS 3) or a Euro symbol (RISC OS 4). Secondly, the Choices window extends correctly to accommodate the icons for additional choices sections (for example, the icon added by Crystal). It is very likely that additional fixes will be added to this module in the future.
You can download AWFixMod from the ArtWorks bugs & fixes page at:
http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/awbugs.html#awfixmod
| BMExport 1.14 | ColourBar 1.10 | JPEGObject 1.10 |
| Polygon 1.23 | Replicate 1.08 | TextArea 1.10 |
| ZoomPlus 0.07 |
If you have not received any of these updates and you think you should have received them, please contact me.
A new bug-fix version of BDRand is now available.
It can be downloaded by going to
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/tigger/
and following the 'Programs' and 'Desktop Utilities' links.
BDRand is a highly configurable backdrop randomiser for RO3.1+.
I have added some new software to my site, which may be of interest to people.
Firstly, stream, my Shoutcast and m3u player, has been altered to have an icon bar icon and back icons.
SharedSoundBuffer, a module which provides SWIs to accept data blocks which is plays using SharedSound has been released. This will be useful for programs which need to output sound within the desktop without needing a support module and with simple code.
SoundFS, a module which uses SharedSoundBuffer to output any data written to it has also been released. It allows programs which write sound to files to be used directly (axcept ampapp). It also provides a template for writing Filing Systems in C.
SMouse has been updated to be easily changable for different swaps, so any button can generate any key.
SockApps, a program which can be a client, server (both work from the tty) and a back to back server and a port mapper, both of which can log to files and/or the window, has been released. It is likely to be of most use to rpogrammers/hackers.
Finally, PBFront has been updated to work using defined calls on RISC OS Select.
All of the above are supplied with their source where written by me.
Stream is a player for shoutcast (http://www.shoutcast.com/) and m3u (http://www.mp3.com/) streaming mp3s. It requires RISC OS 3.5 and an ARM 6, and some kind of internet connection. A fast internet connection is required for high quality streams, and a StrongARM is recommended.
SMouse is a very small module for assigning mouse buttons to other buttons' effects, useful for swapping Left and Right buttons for left handed users, and other combinations for two button mice etc.
PBFront is a module which moves the pinboard to the front of the window stack when alt-uparrow is held.
Any questions should be directed to myself.
http://duffell.cjb.net/ http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~jwd104/
I've great pleasure in announcing a new version of FresUtils, my popular addon utility for Fresco users.
FresUtils is a cut down version of AntUtils, containing just the Fresco related utilities, which means it will be of use to all Fresco users, such as Voyager users and not just Ant Suite users.
Amongst the features of FresUtils is the ability to fake other browsers such as Micro$oft Internet Explorer 5, MSIE 6 or Netscape etc.
It will also monitor the RMA size, topping it up automatically if it drops too low. This can prevent some Type 5 errors from occurring.
FresUtils will also allow you to search via up to 20 different search engines built into FresUtils. This works in a similar fashion to Sherlock (on the Apple Mac) and saves you having to visit search engine pages in order to initiate a search. Simply select the search engine you require, enter your search string, and FresUtils will automatically launch a browser window to the engine.
Other features include being able to open the cache, selectively deleting the cache, cookies, history or users files, being able to toggle cookies on or off, turn on/off Java (RiscCafe) or Javascript or control the background font blending feature of Fresco (which can cause problems with RISC OS 3.5 machines).
If you find FresUtils useful, you can register for only 5.00 ukp, which will remove the 'nag screen' and also entitle you to future updates.
If you already have FresUtils, this version will also update the faking options to more up to date browsers, such as MSIE 6 and Windows XP, and also remove the exclusivity which prevented you mix/matching RISC OS and Windows settings.
You can download FresUtils from http://www.vigay.com/shareware/
My prohosting site inexplicably disappeared. My new site, which may hold out longer is at http://alantrewartha.tripod.com/
There's precious little there except links to download pages for my two desktop games...
You can still get directly to X-Word at http://www.xword.riscos.org.uk/
Should you wish to contact me, I do check e-mail at this address from time to time. I am not planning on developing X-Word anymore, but I may well be updating both downloads so that the latest version of the code is available for anyone else to improve/adapt.
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