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.
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R-Comp Interactive, in association with Artex Software, are pleased to announce that a new version of the adventure game "Ankh" is now available, and existing users can download an update from http://www.rcomp.co.uk/ - look in the leisure section.
This new version tones down some of the language content, making the game absolutely ideal for all the family!
As a special promotion (limited period), we're offering the game for just 12 pounds inc VAT and UK carriage. Naturally this includes the update. Please note that it is possible to restore the original version if desired.
Finally, if for any reason you cannot download the patch from the 'net, you we will send you the update disc for 1 pound, inc UK postage. 2ukp overseas.
PlayBack was originally released by Beebug Limited (formerly RISC Developments Limited) in 1991. This program, a high-tech macro recorder, allowing for replaying of all mouse and keyboard operations, received positive reviews, but suffered from a number of constraints; the most notable of which was any development of the product.
As a result, it remained virtually untouched for about seven years, until I bought it from Beebug Limited. The plan was to, rapidly, release a new version which addressed what I believed were the major concerns. Time constraints stopped me from doing this as quick as I had hoped, but we are now pleased to be able to announce the release of PlayBack 1.5.
PlayBack 1.5 offers the following, above the features of the original program.
In the interests of the Acorn market in general, we're trialing another service. The program is now supplied with full source code. For obvious reasons, you are not permitted to pass on anything you may create using the source code, nor a derivative of it; and the program itself remains the copyright property of ourselves. It's written in BBC Basic, with extensive use of ARM code, but is very well commented throughout, and a good project for someone aiming to learn WIMP programming, using BASIC and ARM code.
We also have available - either separately or with the program - an A4 edition of the manual. Given that not everybody has perfect sight (myself included) we thought it's worth a go.
The program [with an A4 or A5 manual] is priced at ukp10.00, and available for despatch now. There are no upgrade prices, unfortunately, as this is the first major development of the program on my part. Additional manuals are 2.00.ukp The A4 manual is available for 2.00ukp, but we would require a program disc before despatching a copy of the instructions (for obvious reasons).
Please make payment out to 'David Bradforth', at the following address. All prices include UK p&p, please add ukp1.50 for overseas p&p.
Nostalgia Towers, 40 Honiton Road, Romford, Essex RM7 9AJ
For those of you who find it too expensive or too much hassle to send a cheque to register/upgrade Organizer, I have now set up an account with the on-line shareware registration service http://www.uksharereg.com/.
You can now purchase the latest version for 11ukp or upgrade a registered version for 6ukp. Transactions can by made using a MasterCard, Visa, Switch or Delta cards. The ordering page is SSL encrypted and Verisign Certified. The extra pound is to cover the commission, but hopefully it should be cheaper than arranging a sterling cheque outside the UK.
More details are at: http://www.organizer.ukgateway.net/order.htm.
The site http://bgilon.free.fr/RISCOS/riscosE.htm has been updated.
Updated items (since December, 31st 1999) are:
New release of TAG (v0.4): TAG stands for "The hAndwriting enGine" and is actually a freeware dynamic handwriting recognition engine which implements the Grafiti model for character recognition. Currently, only a tiny subset is available ;-)
French resources for StrongED (v4.60): this is a work in progress too.
NIH (New Interactive Help system) should interest users speaking other language than English or developers wishing to deliver their software outside English speaking tradition countries. Broadly spoken, the tools described avoid having awful mixed language text like "Cliquez SELECT pour merge the paths" in Interactive Help window on user's desktop.
CWDSupport (v0.01) is a small relocatable module allowing every registered Wimp task to handle its own CSD ("currently selected directory").
Unofficial ESP !Player (v1.34) and !Realtime (v0.01) applications updates.
Happy browsing and/or downloading
_ __ ____(_)__ _______ / /____ ____ / __/ (_-</ __(_-</ __/ -_) __/ /_/ /_/___/\__/___/\__/\__/_/
Riscster is a RISC OS compatible client for the Napster online music community. The Napster protocol allows users to share mp3 files directly; with a central server used to allow searching for particular tracks.
Riscster has been in development and testing for some time, and now has sufficiant functionality to allow the searching for and downloading of mp3 files. Hence, I have decided to release it under the GPL in the hope it may be of interest.
It is available in source and ready compiled form from the web site at http://www.riscster.cwc.net/.
The freeware package ANTutils has been updated.
This pack of programs is for use with the ANT Internet Suite only.
It contains:
You can get it from ftp://ftp.cybervillage.co.uk/pub/acorn/ANT/ANTutils.zip. This is a 39K file so it's not huge.
If you do use them drop me a note?
ViewFinder, the high resolution graphics card for the RISC PC is now available to order. For details, please refer to the 'Availability' section on:
http://web.inter.NL.net/users/J.Kortink/viewfinder.htm
Launching in just a few days RISCOS.NET is aiming to become the central portal for all things RISCOS.
We'll offer;
Regular magazine features
News articles
Daily News Links + Technology Links
Chat board ( discussion forums may follow )
Comment boards + Instant polls for our news stories and articles
Free classified adverts
An extremely comprehensive links database for all RISCOS sites
Special offers, and a CD giveaway!
Plus soon after launch;
FREE 'you' @ riscos.net email addresses
Online office applications
and Web based Acorn usenet access
We'd appreciate early visitors to try out some of our pages, and current facilities. Any feed back would be very welcome.
We're also keen to hear from anybody who'd like to contribute to the site, mainly we're after articles to publish in our features section.
Just in case you haven't guessed the URL is;
riscos.net is published by zenta.com with portal services by oregan.net
Sherston Software and Oxford University Press Release
Oxford Reading Tree Talking Stories, Stage 5
Building on the long-lasting success of the Stage 2 and 3 Talking Stories, and the very positive reception of the recently released Stage 4 Talking Stories, Sherston Software and Oxford University Press are delighted to announce the release of Oxford Reading Tree Stage 5 Talking Stories.
Specifically designed for classroom use, Stage 5 Talking Stories is a brand new CD-ROM that has all the usual high-quality features: simple interfaces, clear speech, highlighting text, amusing animations and comprehensive teacher controls.
In addition, each of the six trunk books included on the Stage 5 Talking Stories CD-ROM is accompanied by interactive Word, Sentence and Text level activities. The activities, which have been carefully designed with the National Literacy Strategy in mind, directly relate to each book's storyline and content.
The Oxford Reading Tree Stage 5 Talking Stories is available now on triple format CD-ROM (Windows, Apple Mac and Acorn) and is suitable for Key Stage 1. It costs £40 (ex VAT) for a 1 CD pack. Multi packs are available.
For further details, please contact:
Sherston Software Limited,
Angel House, Sherston, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 OLH
Tel: 01666 843200
Fax: 01666 843216
Oxford University Press,
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP
Tel: 01536 741171
Fax: 01536 454519
Oxford Literacy Care-line: 01865 267881
Screen grabs are available at http://www.sherston.com/download.html
The Nucleus prototype was unveiled at last week's Wakefield 2000 Show, after a year of utmost development secrecy, to much acclaim.
A single photo of the first Nucleus prototype, taken at Wakefield, is present on the Nucleus status page. Official images are set to follow shortly.
All graphics on the new Nucleus pages was solely designed using Cerilica Vantage v0.94b which was distributed at the show and will be released very shortly to all customers upon completion of the upgrade help files.
Cerilica looks very much forward to complimenting the current RISC OS hardware range currently available and attempting to push the hardware into markets as yet now aware of RISC OS.
and follow on by clicking on 'News' to be found in the lower part of the left-hand column on the index page.
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
Ever wanted to debug Basic programs?
Reporter provides commands which enable information to be easily displayed from a Basic program in a separate multi-tasking debugging window.
Reporter v2.11 is now available, and the main changes from v2.00 are ...
Reporter v2.00 already provided ...
Full details are available from http://www.avisoft.force9.co.uk/ and it can be downloaded from there as a 21k zip archive file which contains full Help.
Reporter v2.11 will also be available from Chris Morison's web site at
Any comments on the web sites, or the application, always welcome.
Users of Composition can find an update to version 1.18k on my web pages at the new address:
This space has been provided by the iconbar (http://www.iconbar.com). My thanks to Richard Goodwin for his kind offer of space and the help in setting things up.
Hopefully this will be a long term home for Compo resources and updates and I will redirect my other sites to this one (they will be deleted in time). Please update any bookmarks and links to use this URL.
Work to improve the layout (to better match the rest of the iconbar) and the content of this site will continue as and when I can find the time. I solicit links, hints, tips and ideas related to Compo and especially CompoScript for inclusion on this site. Program bug reports are, as usual, /tolerated/. ;-)
Oh, 1.18k is a fairly minor update to the last version providing CompoScript commands for font menus, colour pickers and opacity sliders which makes the creation of interactive scripts rather easier. :-)
Also as usual, you'll need at least version 1.15 to update successfully.
I'd say "Share and Enjoy" but that slogan has already been taken. ;-)
A new version of the following modules are available from my homepage at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/:
Changes in AudioMPEG:
Changes in DiskSample:
Known problems in MP3 playing:
THSound 2 is now available from
<http://www.caspian.uklinux.net/free.html#thsound/>.
The original version was a simple module allowing samples in VIDC format to be played from memory as raw data. It's now more sophisticated: as well as an extra SWI to allow linear sample data to be played in the same way, it's got a brand new set of calls to provide a convenient API for playing ARMovie (Replay) sound samples, either from memory or disc, using the decompressor code provided with ARMovie. ARMovie could have become a standard for playing sound samples, but the amount of work it required to parse a file's headers to find the right piece of decompressor code and call it with appropriate values was probably a deterrent. Hopefully THSound can change that situation.
The companion program, THPlay, has been upgraded to support DTTSamp, Armadeus, ARMovie and WAV (MovieFS or its demo required) files, and also provides an example of how to use THSound.
As the subject says, I've updated my emulator application; differences between v0.01 and v0.02 are as follows:
Available via the cbsa website, or e-mail.
"!68Host" emulates a (currently non-existent) computer based on the 8-bit Motorola MC6800 CPU. It has 32Kb of RAM, an 80-by-32 text display, and keyboard input; the supplied "ROM images" provide little more than a demo of the program, but may be replaced if required.
Requirements:
The answer is that the CDs came back from the duplicator just before the preparations for the show, so whilst it was possible to take the spare copies along to be sold on the R-Comp stand, there was insufficient time to post out all the CDs to the people who had ordered them before the show.
I would therefore like to apologise to anyone who felt disgruntled by the appearance of the CD in this way, but this was a simple case of unfortunate timing. Everyone who ordered a copy of the Nutshell should receive it from Beebug this week.
I regret that the CD has appeared significantly later than intended, but its creation was a major piece of work that took longer than anticipated, and unfortunately it was delayed somewhat by last-minute technical difficulties. However, I hope that it will have been worth the wait: it's a very full CD (623Mb of entirely archived material which would expand to a few gigabytes if fully decompressed) with lots of unique material on it, and it's all nicely presented, with full colour inlays in the box and a comprehensive HTML front-end on the CD.
Finally, one very minor error on the CD has come to light. On the credits page, Beebug's Web site is given as "http://www.beebug.com/". Unfortunately I was unaware that it had been changed to a ".co.uk" suffix. So please note that Beebug's Web site address should now be:
Richard G. Hallas <Richard@hallas.demon.co.uk>
Editor of RISC User (volumes 9 to 11) and compiler of the Nutshell CD
OK, this is a new version of WebProxy (0.064), which acts as a web proxy using Acorn's fetcher modules. Hopefully all the bugs are fixed now, I spent a while yesterday trying it and it seemed to work.
Hopefully over the summer I'll have time to improve it further.
http://www.toth.org.uk/~aardvark/
The Icon Bar is a brand new resource for all users of RISC OS computers. Brought to you by the same team as the award-winning Acorn Arcade games site, the new site has been under development for several months now.
The Icon Bar features all the latest news as well as everything from program tutorials to articles on online shopping. There's even a discussion board for visitors to post their opinions on all things RISC OS.
Intelligent Interfaces have created a 'Latest News May 2000' area of their Web Site:
http://www.intint.demon.co.uk/news/index.html
This gives details of a number of new products, available from Intelligent Interfaces, including the Kinetic Risc PC and the Kinetic Upgrade Processor Card for existing Risc PCs.
The Intelligent Interfaces Web Site also gives details of their range of expansion cards for RISC OS - based computers and their Desktop Fortran compiler:
http://www.intint.demon.co.uk/index.html
Two of Intelligent Interfaces' Fortran Libraries enable the large fast 66 MHz SDRAM to be accessed from Fortran.
The IFMem Fortran Library (including IIMem Module) enables Dynamic Areas to be allocated and freed from Fortran.
The IFSub Fortran Library enables Dynamic Areas to be used from Fortran by mapping them on to arrays of data which, if required, can be larger than 32 Mbytes.
Intelligent Interfaces have gained considerable knowledge through the design and development of their own range of hardware and software products. This has placed them in an ideal position to advise, supply and support customers whether they are purchasing a single interface or a complete RISC OS - based computer system. Intelligent Interfaces also undertake consultancy work.
Andy Ray
Managing and Technical Director
R-Comp is pleased to announce that a new version of its WebsterXL web browser is now ready, and should be sent to users Thursday evening or Friday morning (we're awaiting one final graphic!) Of course, it will be available at the Wakefield show this weekend, too.
This is WebsterXL 1.95, which is a major new version with support for 40 and 128 bit SSL; improved JavaScript handling; new interface; better frame, table and form rendering; support for file upload boxes in forms (for webmail etc.); speed increases; extended plugin support for !Flash (allows playback of Macromedia Flash movies); plugin server capability for HTML; and lots more.
Naturally this update is free for all our existing customers (as usual) and the price remains at just 25ukp.
Of course, like everyone else, we have lots of exciting plans for the future, but WebsterXL 1.95 is here now, and growing. Enjoy it!
Note on SSL:
The SecureSockets RISC OS module is (c) R-Comp 2000.
The product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit. (http://www.openssl.org/)
The product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young. (eay@cryptsoft.com)
WebsterXL 1.95 with SSL is distributed under Open General Export Licence for Consumer Cryptographic Goods. R-Comp reserve the right to supply a version without SSL to those countries on the DTi exclusion list.
CJE Micro's are expecting (courier delivery from Holland permitting) to be demonstrating the new Hi-Res. 'ViewFinder' graphics card for the RiscPC. We have a 19" Monitor we can display it on, but if anyone going to the show has a 21" or 22" they could loan for the duration of the show it would be greatly appreciated.
If you are able to help please phone Chris Evans on 01903 523222 before midday Friday, as we will be leaving for the show then. Sorry for the short notice!
ViewFinder provides a High Resolution graphics output, and hardware acceleration of screen drawing.
Some of the extra Modes available:
True colour (24/32-bit)
1600 x 1200, 82 Hz
1280 x 1024, 107 Hz
High colour (16-bit) and 256 colour (8-bit)
1920 x 1440, 65 Hz
1800 x 1440, 68 Hz
1600 x 1200, 88 Hz
1280 x 1024, 107 Hz
R-Comp Interactive is pleased to announce the release of the "TBA Classics" games collection on CD. The pack contains most of TBA Software's hit games for RISC OS, all on one value-packed CD!
But not only do you get games like BHP, Formula Two Thousand (FTT), Cobalt Seed, DragonBall, and more, you'll also find the source code to some games too (including BHP, with support for extra tracks). Also included is the TAG/Holograph games development system used to build many of the titles.
The CD is available NOW from RCI at a price of 22ukp including VAT and delivery. It will be available at the Wakefield Show this weekend for 20ukp.
As requested by some, the magnifier can now have its window aspect set to show a full line of text (actually any x:y of 1:2, 1:1, 2:1 and 4:1).
Also, the maximum extra memory used when the magnifier window is open can now be user set at 32K, 64K, 128K or 256K (StrongARM recommended for larger values).
Version 1.20 is now on
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/free/
!MagPi-Mo' is a combination Magnifier, Pointer-Info and Mouse-Setter running in just 24K (+ more when magnifier window open).
I'm pleased to announce that a greatly improved version of Organizer will be available at Wakefiled.
This is the first chargeable upgrade. This version will cost 5ukp to registered Organizer users and 10ukp to non-registered users (plus and extra pound for upgrades on disc).
The list below only contains the main new features, there are many other smaller improvements.
Full details and snapshots of the main new features are at
http://www.organizer.ukgateway.net/latest.htm or
http://www.arcsite.de/hp/chrismorison/latest.htm.
If you wont be able to make Wakefield then details of how to buy the new version are on the above sites.
PLUS the following features will be in a free upgrade when they are ready:
See you at Wakefield (stall 57)
I've finally gone and released a new version of !Amp. For those of you who don't know, !Amp is a general purpose music player in the vein of the PC program WinAmp (it uses the same skin files and has some of the same features). This version has quite a number of new features - they're all listed on the website so I won't list them again here. One point to note is that the visualisation bits are broken in this release - this should be fixed in the next one.
Other updates...
Check 'em out!
A new version of the AudioMPEG module is available from my homepage at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/:
The AudioMPEG module is an audio MPEG decoder which was originally developed by Peter Teichmann (who is far too busy right now). DigitalCD uses it in combination with DiskSample to play MP3 files.
Changes in AudioMPEG:
Known problems in MP3 playing:
Oregan Networks Ltd announced today that it has licensed a port of its Oregano web browser for the ARM based RISC OS platform to Castle Technology Ltd.
Oregan develops web browser technology for the Set Top Box marketplace, deploying software on Internet STBs, Digital TV decoders and other Internet Devices.
Castle is the manufacturer of high specification StrongARM based PCs. These machines are popular within the UK education and home markets, but are also commonly found running bespoke applications within industry and video broadcasting markets.
Castle chose the Oregano web browser due to its highly efficient code, which offers optimal performance in terms of features, code size and sheer operational speed. These are attributes that users of Castle's RISC based technology expect and demand.
Castle also plans to benefit from Oregan's ongoing development roadmap for the browser, which will deliver technologies such as HTML 4.0 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the short term, along with XHTML in the future.
Oregan will operate an online purchase, registration, and upgrade system on behalf of Castle. This will allow users instant and 24-hour access to the latest version of the browser over the Internet. The system is due to go live on the 20th of May.
Oregan CEO, Mark Perry commented 'Oregan is delighted that Castle chose Oregano over other alternatives that exist on the RISC / ARM platform. The fact that Oregano has been so quickly adapted for this market, which has very different requirements to our mainstream STB market, is testament to the browser's flexibility and portability.'
Jack Lillingston, Managing Director of Castle added 'Castle realise that all computers should have good reliable access to web based services. Oregan's excellent web browser compliments our easy to use, powerful, UK designed-and-built RISC OS computers.' Jack further commented, 'This gives Castle a reliable, alternative product with which to compete in the PC marketplace.'
Oregan delivers interactive services and content to TV centric and portable Internet devices via its powerful Xeus Portal Server.
Web browser technology is also available for these Internet appliances, providing closer integration with server content as well as enhancing the user's interactive experience.
Oregan is in partnership with leading manufacturers and Internet Service Providers, leveraging the company's turnkey solution to deliver these exciting new services to the home.
Castle also supplies a selection of SCSI and IDE interfaces, providing access to a wide range of expansion peripherals for all Acorn computers.
For further information, contact:
| Oregan Press Office | Castle Sales Office | |||
| Email: | press@oregan.net | Email: | sales@castle.org.uk | |
| Tel: | +44 (0)1530 56 33 11 | Tel: | +44 (0)1728 727 402 | |
| Fax: | +44 (0)1530 56 33 22 | Fax: | +44 (0)1728 621 179 | |
| Web: | http://www.oregan.net/ | Web: | http://www.castle.org.uk/ | |
Just to let everybody know that an upgrade to version 0.44 of RiscPCB can now be obtained from the address below.
This upgrade fixes a few bugs( as always :-)
Adds support for more than 16 colours.
added small palette icons to control layers.
For those of you that have never heard of RiscPCB here is a short description of what it does.
RiscPCB is a FreeWare printed circuit board designer for Acorn RISC OS computers.
RISCPCB MAIN FEATURES ARE:
Wardlaw Surveys are pleased to announce that their Digital Area Analysis software is being released to RISC OS Foundation members on the next CD.
This is a full release of the software package but coded to run on RO4 only.
Digital Area Analysis (D.A.A.) is an application for surveyors or other professionals who require to find areas from plans, maps or other technical drawings.
The concept of using D.A.A. is very simple. A picture file is loaded into the application and the areas are calculated by just clicking the mouse within them.
The pictures can be obtained by a wide variety of means - scanned or otherwise digitised drawings, converted CAD files or traced from photographs. The areas to be calculated can be regular or irregular.
Traditional methods of area analysis involve plotting the shape onto squared paper and counting the squares contained within it, or by using geometry. Both of these methods are slow and prone to error. D.A.A. produces accurate results at lightening speed. These results can be printed, saved or exported to a spreadsheet for further calculation or presentation.
D.A.A. has been proven to improve both speed and accuracy. A surveyor using D.A.A. will have a great advantage over the competition.
Despite its functionality, D.A.A. can run from floppy disc on a 1Mb machine.
As Authorised Acorn Dealers and RISCOS Authorised Installers, Wardlaw Surveys can offer all surveying solutions from software alone to a complete system comprising a RiscPC, scanner, software, printer and other items to the users exact requirement.
D.A.A comes complete with a registered version of !Draw2Spr, a draw to sprite convertor. With this, Draw files (and DXF files after conversion with !Draw) can be converted to sprites to be loaded into D.A.A. for area calculations to be made. !Draw2Spr is available separately for a 5ukp registration fee.
Title: Digital Area Analysis
Supplier: Wardlaw Surveys
Contact: 01463 813214
Web: http://www.wardlaw.demon.co.uk/daa/
Price: 99ukp+VAT, but f.o.c. to RISC OS Foundation Members
Minimum Requirements: Acorn 32bit computer with RISC OS 3.1 or above, 1Mb RAM.
StrongARM / RiscPC / RO4 compatible.
An online demonstration or demo download is available from our web site.
NetLM 0.34b has been released and is available for download at http://www.teletec.f9.co.uk/networking/riscos/
Version 0.34b is essentially contains a bug fix which now allows the use of a dot in usernames.
NetLM is an easy to use front-end for either the LanManFS or LanMan98 modules to allow RISC OS users to logon to LanManager shares and access their personal work area. It also has a several more features than just accessing personal work areas, like a lock workstation function and an RM Connect style user interface.
NetLM is completely free to use, user friendly and can be fully customised. It also comes with help files, configuration utility and discless client versions.
Also available from the same site (http://www.teletec.f9.co.uk/networking/riscos/) is ShareLM which is also a front-end for the LanManFS and LanMan98 modules but instead of being able to logon to personal work space it logs onto a 'static' shared resource.Hi to all, just thought i'd post this update for reference.
My website has been udated with a new look and i've dropped a few of the old links, It mainly provides ArmTCP script files, not exactly new but the info is there none the less. (not really my thing)
http://www.hsteve.freeserve.co.uk/
There is a new website i've created related to Painting techniques, Tekaloid paint, Vehicle preparations, Brushes, Coachpainting, Colour codes, Polishers Etc. (this really is my thing)
http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk/
Not Acorn/RISC OS related i know, but they might be useful to some.
From now on StarLight Corp., Belgium's premier RISC OS dealer, is reachable at its new URL:
I've just uploaded an ammendment to my serial cable networking website. It describes how to initialise the PPP module, if you have not already set it up, (eg. for internet access). This ammendment only concerns the Internet v5 instructions, since the Internet v4 instructions already initialises the PPP module.
Surf to: http://www.clementlee.freeserve.co.uk/index.html
I am pleased to announce the release of my freeware game 'Overcast'. It is a large graphical adventure with an overhead view. Overcast is compatible with and suitable for RISC OS 4 machines equipped with a StrongARM although I suspect it should work on most RiscPCs.
Please report any bugs, suggestions, requests or other comments to me by email:
aweston@argonet.co.uk
I hope you can enjoy the game. Overcast along with further details are available on my website:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/awestern/
Follow the link to Overcast from the 'main' section.
Have you the skill and determination to complete 'Overcast'?
The 'Compo Clues' website has now been updated and some new pages added. These new pages are to coincide with the release of Compo 1.18j which has a number of useful new features.
The new pages include three 'reference' pages of info explaining some CompoScript commands in detail. However perhaps the most significant new page is devoted to explaining how 'scriptlets' can be installed and used.
This page also provides two examples of scriptlets for people to download and use. One makes various styles of textured text with soft shadows easy to create. The other allows images to be 'framed' with various shapes.
'Scriptlets' make it easy to integrate CompoScript processes into Compo so that they can be launched simply by clicking on an icon. By employing these, users can effectively extend the functions Compo can perform and automate complex processes to be performed 'at the click of a button'.
The main page of the 'Compo Clues' site is at
http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Compo/clues.html
More pages will be added when time permits.
HARD DISC COMPANION
from BEEBUG
New RISC OS 4 version
List of features/changes:
Outright purchase £25
Upgrade £7 (return original disc)
Postage: £2.20 UK, £4.30 elsewhere
Prices inc VAT.
BEEBUG Limited
7U The Enterprise Centre
Long Spring
Porters Wood
St Albans
AL3 6EN
Tel: 01727 840303
Fax: 01727 840300
Email: sales@beebug.co.uk
Dear RISC OS lutenists,
this is the new address of RISC OS TAB Page:
In new site there are new programs and new versions of the old software.
TAB is a program to typset lute tablature. It works like TeX in that a plain text file (that bears little resemblance to the desired output) is created and processed into a device independent printer format file.
iSV Products is delighted to announce that the latest version of our award winning DrawWorks graphic design software will be released at the Wakefield show. DrawWorks New Millennium (DWNM) runs alongside the normal RISCOS !Draw package to produce a professional level vector & bitmap design environment, whilst maintaining full drawfile compatibility.
DWNM includes all the features of previous versions of DrawWorks along with many new features and improvements requested by our customers, some of these include:
Also included on the DWNM CD are Mr Clippy V2.00, a full new version of FontFiend, almost 2000 example clips, Typography 2500 and a host of other related applications and support materials.
DWNM costs 41.50ukp or 21.50ukp as an upgrade from DrawWorks Millennium (provided you return the complete original DrawWorks Millennium CD) (all prices plus 2ukp for orders outside the UK). DWNM requires 8MB of RAM, RISC OS 3.6 or later and a CD-ROM drive.
More details are now available from our website at:
http://www.isvproducts.co.uk/
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ghostscript-unsubscribe@acornusers.org
Ghostscript allows conversion of Postcript and PDF documents to a variety of formats, including PDF and many printer and image types.
-- Changes since 5.50 --
-- Downloading --
Details are available from http://www.acornusers.org/ghostscript/. The files are stored at ftp://ftp.acornusers.org/pub/utils/postscript/ghostscript/.
Both the previous (5.50) and the new (6.01) versions are stored at this site. For version 6.01 you need all of the following 4 files:
GSapp6.zip
GSsup6.zip
GSfnt6.zip
GSoth6.zip
To avoid overloading the acornusers server please use a cache if you have access to one. Demon users should consider using BatchFTP: http://www.demon.net/services/ftp/batchftp.html.
-- Installation --
This release still needs raFS or XFiles, but it will probably work directly with RISC OS 4 and the new F+ disc format. Simply, extract all the archives into one raFS disc, XFile or directory on a new style RISC OS 4 disc.
!Ghostscr performs a simple check on the installation when first seen by the filer and will warn if there appears to be a problem.
-- Documentation --
Further documentation is available in the !Ghostscr help file and the official Ghostscript documentation (double click on !Ghostscr to open the doc directory).
We would appreciate if all dealers who have in the past have dealt with Alsystems for Power-tec products or dealers who wish to distribute Power-tec products; to write to us at sales@partis.org.uk.
Many thanks.
Due to problems with the crosswinds ftp server I have been unable to upload a more recent update to Compo in the usual place.
Until such time as the problem is fixed or I find a more permanent site (I'm mindful of the adage that you get what you pays for) users of Compo with version 1.18d can obtain the latest public test version, 1.18j at: http://jove.prohosting.com/~compo/
Many changes have been made since 1.18d. Most notable is an automatically generated 'buttonbar' which lets you run built in and user generated scripts with a single mouse click. Example script files supplied allow you to add soft shadows to any selected objects, create shadowed text and scan a directory for images.
Other new features include (alpha) support for animations, multi-tasking script execution, throwback on script errors and several new script commands such as object 'mouseovers' for creating simple presentations...and many other tweaks both large and small.
As usual, slightly less terse details are on the web page. ;-)
Also as usual this version is not yet officially supported by Clares. So squeal at me instead! :-)
There seems to have been some misleading information posted to the Acorn Cybervillage. This has result in a thread starting about the cancellation of the RON project.
Here are the facts.
The RON project has not been cancelled by the new board. The project will be reviewed in the same way as all other projects undertaken by RISCOS Ltd. There are a couple of technical problems that need solving to do with the filing system, but the project has not been cancelled.
However the future of the project may well be damaged by this sort of rumour. The situation with RISCOS Ltd is quite simple. If customers buy RISC OS 4 then projects such as RON can continue. If customers do not buy RISC OS 4 then it will not be possible to fund future products. So if you want to see the continual development of RISCOS, RON and other projects buy a copy of RISC OS 4.
A new version of the following modules are available from my homepage at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/:
2 Audio MPEG related modules: the DiskSample module which does the file data fetching and audio playing while the AudioMPEG module does the actual MPEG decoding (I have taken over the development of the AudioMPEG module from Peter Teichmann who is far too busy right now).
Changes in AudioMPEG:
Changes in DiskSample:
Known problems in MP3 playing:
Tidy is a program which tidies HTML pages written by Dave Raggett, and ported by me.
This is a port of Tidy version 30-Apr-2000 which is now available from my website:
http://www.toth.org.uk/~aardvark/
The source is also available for those of you who are interested.
I've just uploaded new versions of !Jcut (v2.03) and !MagPi-Mo' (v1.14) to my Free Stuff page which cope with Eig0 modes (1 screen pixel per 1 os unit) and other obscure displays (fingers crossed).
For those who don't know these apps,
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!Jcut provides Cut & Paste for JPEGs without the image degradation that results if you decompress the original and then re-compress the processed bit-image file. Major features are:
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!MagPi-Mo' is a combination Magnifier, Pointer-Info and Mouse-Setter running in just 24K (+ more when magnifier window open).
Major features of the Magnifier are:
Major features of the Pointer-Info are:
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These and other goodies are on
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/free/
LCLint is a command line tool for checking C source code before compilation. It can be used to detect problems such as memory management errors, the use of undefined storage, null pointer dereferencing, etc.
The RISC OS port can be downloaded from:
<http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/leenoar/lclint/>
and LCLint's home page can be found at:
<http://lclint.cs.virginia.edu/>
A new version of !Nuke (v0.91a) has been released at
http://web.bham.ac.uk/N.M.Queen/pgp/acorn.html
!Nuke, by Tony Hopstaken, is a convenient front end for Sergio Monesi's powerful utility 'nuke'. This program enables you to overwrite the sectors occupied by files or free space on disc, with various levels of security, making it impossible to recover the data by means of disc editors or 'undelete' utilities.
This version is functionally identical to v0.91, apart from a minor modification to ensure compatibility with the latest versions of RISC OS. In particular, if you have experienced problems with !Nuke 0.91 when using RISC OS 4.03, you are advised to upgrade to !Nuke 0.91a.
A collection of other security programs, as well as a new beginner's guide to PGP, can be found at the same URL.
Enjoy!
A new version of the following modules are available from my homepage at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/:
Changes in TimPlayer:
Changes in AudioMPEG:
Changes in DiskSample:
Known problems in MP3 playing:
WAKEFIELD SHOW 2000 - Stand 37
Visit Stand 37 to see amazing demos of the games TEK and Iron Dignity, as well as our best-sellers Ankh and Exodus (for a special Show Price). The arcade/puzzle game BotKiller 2 will also be available for sale, for the first time together with it's excellent level editor!
There's much to see, so don't miss this event!
NEW WEBSITE: WWW.ARTEXSOFT.COM
Our website has moved to www.artexsoft.com, so please update your browser hotlist. Further, there are many new infos on the Site; for example the TEK diary has been updated to reflect the latest development.
I have now completed v0.01 of my application, "!68Host". It emulates a (currently non-existent) computer based on the 8-bit Motorola 6800 CPU.
I have submitted it to comp.binaries.acorn, so most people should be able to pick it up from there.
The application contains a help file, other documentation, and supports interactive help messages.
The minimum requirements are an ARM2 or better, at least 1Mb of RAM, and RISC OS 3.10 or later.
This current version should be considered a beta-quality evaluation; anyone with a comment, query or bug-report can e-mail me.
Just to let you know that the VOTI web-site is regularly updated. More information is present about our two new projects.
EMD is an overhead driving game similar to Micro Machines where you can play against the computer or a friend. Various things are present including burning cars, haystacks, oil spills, bombers etc. Take a look at the pictures.
Sumisu San is a simple but addictive fighting game. One of the unfinished GEK Programs games, we have taken this on to complete. Most of it is complete but more graphics and levels are needed. Check out the screenshots on the site also.
Information about Chaos Engine (RCI product) is also available, a Bitmap Brothers classic along with the usual VOTI specimens such as the world acclaimed Super Foul Egg.
Point your browser into 6th gear to:
or
http://hammer.prohosting.com/~voti/
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