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I am pleased to announce the public release of EasiFiler 1.2, an easy appplication launcher for RISC OS.
The changes since EasiFiler 1.2 are as follows:
EasiFiler 1.2, binary and source, is available from my servers at:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc>.
Online documentation can be found at:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/computers/software/easifiler>
As with all my software, I welcome comments, suggestions or bug reports. Too submit a comment, please do so through the EasiFiler mailing list (<http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/easifiler>)
It is likely that this may be the last version for a while though I do plan on releasing a panel-powered EasiFiler before the end of the year if at all possible.
MP3Encode 1.09 can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#mp3encode
MP3Encode is a tool for encoding MP3s using various encoders that have been ported to RISC OS.
Features:
MP3Encode isn't being actively used by myself because the PC encodes MP3 files so much faster, but others might wish to use it.
PRMinXML release 10 - the first public release - can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#prminxml
PRMinXML is a collection of components which can be used to write PRM-like documentation in a structured manner. PRM documentation written in XML according to a DTD and structure document can be converted to any number of formats. At present, only HTML is supported, but future formats include StrongHelp and text (plus anything else you can generate with XSLT, or that you can write a parser for).
Features:
Components :
PRMinXML is a part of the more general RISC OS documentation project which I have mentioned in previous announcements. I should like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in this project for their help, suggestions and support.
RExec 1.08, RLogin 1.02 and RSH 1.02 can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#rexec
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#rlogin
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#rsh
All three use unencrypted protocols to provide remote execution of commands or logins on a unix-based machine.
RExec features and fixes over 1.06:
If you have a linux box and just want to run things quickly without opening telnet clients or messing about switching keyboards/monitors, then these tools could be useful. I originally ported them so that I could do automated checkouts under linux, but I also use them to trigger dialup and start X applications.
You will need a suitable rexec/rsh/rlogin daemon to be running on your unix box for this to function. Please ensure that you have a suitable firewall between the outside world and your machine; if you've disabled telnet, you hardly want to give everyone free access to the machine with rexec!
CMunge 0.33 can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#cmunge
Since the last release there have been quite a few changes for people who have reported problems and a major rewrite of the C header generator. Everyone who reported problems was supplied with a fixed version, so this update is really just to make sure that everyone else has the fixes who didn't report them (I'm unfortunately not psychic).
Bug fixes in this version:
New features:
CMunge is a free CMHG replacement. Like CMHG, it generates module headers for C programs, allowing them to be used like normal modules. It supports the vast majority of CMHG features, plus a selection of its own. Both source and binary version are available.
CMunge was originally written by Robin Watts, and is now maintained by Justin Fletcher.
The LibXML and LibXSLT tools xmlcatalog, xmllint, and xsltproc, as well as the RISC OS source for libxml 2.4.22 and libxslt 1.0.18 have been updated at:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/justin.fletcher/XML/
This update follows the release of the libxml 2.4.22 and libxslt 1.0.18 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 or so:
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.
As in the past, I intend to keep RISC OS libxml2/libxslt releases within 24 hours of the base unix source release.
Bugz 1.15 can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#bugz
Bugz is a tool for reporting faults in applications. It is intended for developers to distribute 'Bugz' description files and when used with 'Bugz' will allow users to feed back more useful information to the developers.
Features:
The point of Bugz is to make reporting faults simpler for the user and to provide more and more specific information for the developer as to the area of the problem.
ID3CSV 1.06 can now be downloaded from:
http://www.movspclr.co.uk/software.html#id3csv
ID3CSV is an tool for generating CSV (comma separated values) files detailing a directory of MP3s.
Features:
Generating a list of the albums that you have is tiresome, so this tool takes the hassle out of it. Run it over your collection, copy the file to your Psion 5mx and import into the database. Well, that's what I do. You might want to use it with any of the other databases around.
Major change over 1.05 is that we no longer use AMPlayer for information. This, and a rework of the internal directory enumeration code means that it is possible to compile the tool for a unix system. Anyone interested in the full source to do this should contact me.
Well what seems like ages, I've finally got around to uploading a new version of AntUtils to my site. It's available from
http://www.vigay.com/shareware/
There are several new features, bug fixes and even more functionality. I've added the facility to drag a copy of Voyager to the paths window, to set the path to Fresco, if you use Voyager (although I'd recommend you use the cut-down FresUtils if using Voyager Fresco).
I've also changed the tag file format to be the same as Pluto's, and added the option to either use AntUtils own tags file, or to use Pluto's tag file - for random tags.
One of the biggest changes is to remove the exclusivity from the Fresco faking options. You should now be able to use any combination with any other combination, to allow more experimentation. I've also upgraded the default Fresco faking options to include things like WindowsXP and MSIE 6 etc, to come in line with FresUtils which I released a few weeks back.
I've added the current IP address to the 'Info' window, so that you can see what remote IP address you've been assigned when online (should auto detect whether you're accessing across a LAN or via a modem).
I've also updated the 'Purge History' option to 'Trim History' to provide either a complete purge (as before) or to allow trimming down to the last 7, 14, 30 or 60 days. I can add more choices if people really want them! :-)
I've also added a new 'InetSuite->Hotlist' menu to provide a quick and simple way of backing up or restoring the Hotlist file stored in the Ant Suite.
Lastly, in the case of AntUtils suffering an internal error, it will automatically create a simple 'errorlog' file (in the same directory you install AntUtils into) which will give details of the last error.
AntUtils can also convert standard PC .INS provider files into standard AntSuite provider files, so that if you're having difficulty setting the Ant Suite up for a specific ISP, you can simply drag the file supplied for a Windows PC into AntUtils ISPMaker plugin and AntUtils will do all the hard work in converting it for you.
AntUtils can also automatically repair corrupted Marcel Mailboxes.
An additional plugin (ChangeISP) will allow you to configure and switch between up to 25 different ISPs using a single copy of the Ant Suite - this is ideal if you regularly connect to different ISPs and want a quick and simple way of switching between them without having multiple Ant Suite installations.
There are numerous other features, so whiz over to
http://www.vigay.com/cgi-bin/r?a=antutils for more information.
Also, if downloading AntUtils v1.52 (indeed, ANY new version of AntUtils) you should ALWAYS download the accompanying Advanced plugin, which matches the same version of AntUtils. This allows registered users to customise all the internal functions of AntUtils, and is always required, as differing versions of AntUtils vs Advanced can cause incompatibilities in the internal file format, especially if I've added new configuration options between versions.
I think that's about it. If you encounter any problems, please contact me. I hope you enjoy this new version, and think it was worth the wait. :-)
Just to say that we're starting up a mailing list for Archive Publications' new magazine Living with Technology.
To join up, send a message to
with the body text
subscribe chat.
That's in the body of the message, not the subject because majordomo doesn't accept commands in the subject header.
It then sends you a message saying that you've subscribed, and another message telling you how to unsubscribe.
To send a message, email it to chat@livtech.co.uk.
I won't be there for the initial chatting because I'm off the S France in a minute until 12th June.
Have fun!
eQ R&D's web site has now been revamped in order to present our involvements a more 'corporate' way.
Our Lab has now been working for months on both hardware and software projects and we are about to put some of our developments into production.
These include either Instrumentation tools, computer design, electronic components and software edition.
Though, I can't give you much details yet, let me assure you how groundbreaking this will be.
If you need some specific information about our activities, please contact info@eqrd.net.
All the best to you all,
eQ R&D, Corp.
Mirko Vidovic, CEO
PS: We recently removed the software archives from our website in order to save bandwidth, these will soon be available on affordable CD-ROMs, including our RiscOS GCC/SDK.
This is to announce a new web site dedicated to USB on RISC OS.
The site is called (unsuprsingly) riscos usb and can be found at http://www.riscos-usb.com/ it aims to be a central resource for USB on RISC OS.
There are two versions. One is an ISA card (USB11-isa) suitable for the RiscStation R7500. The other is a podule version (USB11-pod) suitable for Acorn computers, such as the RISC PC, A7000, A5000 and even an A310!
This is the culmination of a two year development. One of the main objectives has been to simplify the writing of device drivers to ensure that the widest range of USB peripherals can be supported. With this in mind, we have been co-operating with a number of developers for almost twelve months to improve the developer API and to ensure that peripheral drivers are available as soon as the interfaces are released.
The cards, including basic drivers, will be shipping in July 2002 and should cost ukp79.00 (+vat and carriage). Additional drivers will be available at extra cost from our development partners.
Further information can be found at:
www.simtec.co.uk/products/riscos/usb11pod
We are pleased to announce that an upgrade has been released for the new TEK Realtime Strategy game from Artex Software. This upgrade is freely downloadable from:
The update adds a Pause function to the game, as well as sorting out several problems reported in the original release.
ARMalayser version 0.28 is now available from http://www.armclub.org.uk/free/ The following enhancements have been made for this release:
ARMalyser is an ARM code analyser that understands RISC OS executable, module, object and library formats. It can output disassembly or ObjAsm assembly styles, in plain text, fully hyperlinked and syntax coloured HTML, XML or custom formats for import into Impression, EasiWriter and Ovation Pro. It is available for RISC OS with a desktop front end, and command line versions for Win32 and Linux x86.
MailScout (the anti-spam and online email interrogation package) has now been upgraded to support multiple mailboxes. Existing users will receive their free upgrades over the course of today. If you do not receive your upgrade then please email customer.services@imagesoft.co.uk
For those who don't yet know - MailScout allows you to view a summary of your emails and remove junk / unwanted email from your mailbox **on the mailserver** without downloading it first (existing email packages only allow you to filter email after it has been downloaded). This saves you time/money spent on downloading rubbish.
User configurable filters allow you to setup MailScout to automatically spot suspect emails and flag them for deletion (thus saving you more time). Emails can be filtered by subject, sender (including country, ISP, etc) or recipient.
With the help of our users we are currently compiling pre-defined filters which will make MailScout even easier to setup. Once sufficiently effective these will be made freely available to download from our website.
MailScout is available now for 25UKP (fully inclusive). Credit/debit card orders welcome. More information can be found at http://www.imagesoft.co.uk/
Translator 8.20 and Creator 3.40:
Both are available now, via:
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/J.Kortink/software.htm
Note that Translator and Creator are shareware. They cost 15 Euro (registering one automatically registers both).
Translator is a powerful image viewer, processor and convertor:
Creator is an image format convertor. It performs straight image format conversions only. Supported formats are as for Translator.
The Wakefield show saw the launch of Vantage's on-CD electronic manual format. The CD now contains three PDF full manuals, each optimised for on-screen viewing and printing through commercial and freeware applications such as Cerilica's RiScript, !PDF and Adobe's Acrobat. This change in product format has allowed the base price of Vantage to drop significantly from the previous 241.50ukp to 177.50ukp (UK, including package, postage and VAT).
For those who prefer to read a physical manual, the option to purchase the comprehensive 230+ page item is still available at 25.00ukp (UK, fully inclusive). This option is especially attractive to German-language customers who are now able to purchase a fully translated and printed manual exclusively from our German distributors, a4com (see next item).
All customers of Cerilica Vantage will gain full access to the forthcoming major release, Vantage 1.10 which was previewed at Wakefield. More information on the upgrade along with some new sample images may be found at http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/v1-10prev/
Cerilica's ordering and product pages now reflect the product's change in format and price change with a new downloadable order form in PDF, Drawfile and plain text formats (see later item). Orders may be placed directly by phone, e.mail and post with comprehensive credit and debit card facilities available.
Finally, Cerilica Vantage was recently described in Acorn Publisher's recent comprehensive Vantage review issue as "In real terms, at less than two thirds the price of its closest peer, Vantage is underpriced." With this price drop, Vantage can only be described as an absolute bargain!
Some useful links:
Cerilica Vantage web page: http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/
Ordering page: http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/
The event proved to be our most successful show to date - even selling out of the newly re-aligned Cerilica Vantage by lunchtime on the first day. It was good to see not only familiar but also new faces.
We are currently getting the new stock of Vantage in place to send out to show customers as soon as possible. All those awaiting their sold-out product purchased at the show will hopefully receive them by the 29th May at the latest (although printed Vantage manuals may be sent on slightly later due to print lead-times). Thank you for your patience.
And for those who visited the Cerilica stand to see the Nucleus case on the corner of the sales desk, it can be confirmed that it was a fully working Castle-supplied Kinetic machine working within. This machine is now used by Cerilica to demonstrate its products and technology to non-RISC OS companies. And sorry - this one-off prototype is not for sale!
Direct links to the files are:
PDF order form: http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/order.pdf
Drawfile order form: http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/order.zip
Text order form: http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/order.txt
You can phone through orders on 0870 2411731 or e.mail cerilica@cerilica.com or post the order form to:
Cerilica Limited - PO Box 40 - Ross-on-Wye - HR9 7WH
Cerilica accepts all major credit and debit cards.
If you have a really urgent matter that you want answered quickly, please do not hesitate to phone Cerilica on 0870 2411731.
http://www.mikejs.com/riscos/amplay.html
The main download includes the app itself and text documentation. HTML documentation and the (WIMPBasic) source are also available for download.
Documentation can also be viewed online at;
http://www.mikejs.com/riscos/amplay/docs/html/index.html
Being a frontend for the AMPlayer module, you need to have a version of AMPlayer installed on your system. AMPlayer can be downloaded from
http://www.amplayer.org/.
AMPlayer is not included in the AMPlay download.
Note that AMPlay will not play anything other than the mp3 formats that the AMPlayer module supports.
You will also need !WBModules v2.09 or greater on your system. This can be downloaded from http://www.mikejs.com/riscos/wbmodule209.zip.
Two further updates to my MP3 utilities have been uploaded to my website, URL below.
!Twicers and !ID3toCSV have been amended.
!Twicers finds and catalogues any twicer MP3 files. What's a twicer? Ask a stamp collector! It uses fuzzy-bear-logic (Atomic software's version of fuzzy logic) to catalogue any near twicers, such as derived from spelling mistakes or finger trouble when typing. The amount of fuzzy logic it uses is variable from none (exact matches only) to crazy (Elvis=Sellthis).
!ID3toCSV is a program to catalogue all your mp3's in a multitude of directories. You'll need this or a similar program to use !Twicers.
ID3toCSV now also catalogues the Genre, an oversight on my part. I am grateful to Justin Fletcher for pointing this out, otherwise it could have remained forever missing!
If you find any bugs, or have any suggestions for improvement, please do get in touch. You know it makes sense.
These programs are 'someware', 'everyware', 'anyware' or maybe 'noware'.
See URL below, download section.
http://rogerdarlington.members.beeb.net/
Archive magazine has a baby sister...
Contact Paul Beverley paul@livtech.co.uk for more details.
(Subs - 29.00 UK, 35.00 Europe, 42.00 Rest of World)
Digital radio - Part 1
- How good is DAB? Is it all hype? Can anyone receive it? (first in a series)
Making the most of your Sky Digibox
- There are more facilities available than most people realise
GPS, where are you going? (first in a series)
- What is GPS? How can it help you?
Cleaning Windows
- With regular care, your Windows computer can stay healthier and live longer
Web pages the open standards way
- The first in a series which tries to help you get the message across to more people, more effectively, through your website
iBook - From the box to your Lap
- A users-eye-view of this Mac portable
Abacus to zigabytes
- Where has technology come from, and where is it (or might it be) going?
Tech tips
- Hints and tips of a technological nature - your chance to contribute (regular)
Puzzle Corner
- Get those 'little grey cells' tuned up - there are prizes to be won (regular)
Video Recorders - Through A Glass Darkly
- Speculating about the future of the video recorde
Origin of the Specious (?)
- A sideways look at the world of home technology
Home automation
- Is it realistic to think about having a robot in your house? (first in a series)
Technology in the kitchen
- In small ways, as well as large, the kitchen is changing
Building your own PC
- If you don't fancy an off-the-shelf PC, why not set one up for yourself? (first in a series)
DVD - Choosing and using
- What's DVD all about and what should you look for?
The Digital Hub: The hardware
- A sales gimmick or an indication of things to come? (first in a series)
Home Networking - Part 1
- Link your computers together and share data and resources (first of two parts)
The Engineer on... LIVING with Technology
- The Engineer looks at the way technology is affecting our health - and offers suggestions for staying healthy
Technology for the deaf
- Whatever level of hearing impairment you have, there is technology that can help you to a better standard of life
Techno-snips
- News and ideas from around the world (regular)
Glossary
- To help you keep up with the changing world of technology, we try to give definitions of words that appear in each issue (regular)
Linux, an alternative reality
- There is a realistic alternative to Microsoft, and it's getting better by the minute
PC Bits
- Regular columnist, Bimal Jangra, will help you with your Windows PC problems
Recording CDs
- Gerald Fitton explains about CDs so that you can, more effectively, record your own
Hands-free phones
- Audrey Laski shares her experiences - "How did I manage without one?!"
Hi folks,
Okay, maybe this is a tool you may like to use: _ccdoc_ for RISC OS
The RISC OS version of _ccdoc_ can be downloaded for free from
http://www.arcsite.de/hp/ccdoc/
Joe's official ccdoc homepage: http://www.joelinoff.com/ccdoc/
An MPEG movie player.
I am pleased to announce a release of KinoAMP with some rather nice features. 0.17 is only a single point up from the last release of 0.16 but don't let that deceive you. This release is the result of a real team effort and incorporates the many improvements made by Andre Timmermans and Henrik Bjerregaard Pedersen.
I could go on but download your free copy to see for yourself from,
http://www.everett9981.freeserve.co.uk/pete.htm
KinoAMP is a version of Kino using AMPlayer to play the soundtrack. It is based on Kino v0.3 from eQ R&D, and was produced to provide improved operation on StrongArm machines. It does not however contain any StrongArm specific code.
Requirements are the AMPlayer module v1.36 or later.
Thanks to Andre and Henrik.
Stuart Tyrrell Developments would like to express their sincerest thanks to the organisers and helpers of, and visitors to the Wakefield show this year.
As customers who were at the back of the multiple rows of people around the stand will appreciate, we were *extremely* busy at times. Thankyou for your patience and good nature, especially during the more hectic parts of Saturday. It will be of little suprise that, with the advent of the NET100 networking card, increased demand for PS2MouseMini, the increased specification of PC-card replacement machines, and the price reductions we could offer on keyboard controlled switches, networking and other goods, this was by far our most successful show ever.
All Advanced orders placed at the show will be dispatched before Friday, with the exception of PC orders which will be dispatched on Monday (I don't like them staying with the courier over the weekend). PC customers will be contacted individually as a matter of course.
If there are customers who were put off by the crush, please telephone this week, and we'll try to offer 'appropriate pricing' for items ordered after the show. Bear in mind that view from our stand was recorded (if there are no strong objections we may be able to offer sections of this for download), so you may have to identify yourself ;-)
As promised before the show, we intend to implement a series of changes at STD, in order to improve our service and increase efficiency. These are:
The website will also for the first time detail the higher profile sections of our core business (SEN, consultancy, microcontroller design, EU projects) along with overviews of our larger customers. If I can get permission, I'll post links to the ARM-based wristwatch project (EU-IST). Those who remember my April Fools 'RISCWatch' posting of 1st April 1995 will spot the irony.
To celebrate the relaunch of the website, the release RISC OS wheel mouse drivers will finally be available!
Parallel and serial switches are unaffected by this change.
With immediate effect, the price of our Keyboard Controlled switch (an active switch which allows a keyboard, monitor and mouse to be shared between two machines) will be:
Keyboard Controlled Switch (inc cables): UKP89.95 inc VAT and next-day special delivery (was UKP99.95)
Keyboard Controlled Switch inc PS2MouseMini (required for non-A7000 / RiscStation machines): UKP99.95 inc VAT and next-day special delivery (was UKP113.90)
The price of the Keyboard Controlled Switch pack when purchased with a PC will be reduced to UKP90 (was UKP100).
Our MultiMedia Keyboard has been subject to a re-design (now non-click), and is now available at UKP24.95 inc VAT and delivery (was UKP34.95). A small stock of the original 'click' keyboards is still available, please state preference when ordering!
Following the success of NET100 at the show, the confidence gained through performance tests and following feedback from customers, we have committed to further batches from Simtec - thus we should continue to have them available for immediate shipping. As always we can offer a small discount for multiple purchases (5+)
Once again we would like to thank our customers for their continued support. Whoever said that the RISC OS market was dead?
After much feedback and some suggestions Colin Granville and Keith Wright would like to present !Gems 1.06.
This version eliminates some bugs, and also optimises speed on pre Strong Arm machines. It also introduces the ability to quit a game midway and still have the score entered into the high score table. A more detailed html manual is also included.
!Gems is a game involving aligning Gems horizontally or vertically, in runs of three or more to gain points. Gems are switched in position by clicking on 1 and then another adjacent gem. If this creates a line, the gems disappear and you get points plus more gems falling from above.
!Gems can be obtained from
http://www.denmarkwa.net.au/~kwright/
!GCCide v1.20 is now available from
http://www.davea.web.btinternet.co.uk/gccide/
Support for GCC v2_95_4 at last, and much more...
See !GCCide.!!ReadMe for help with upgrading from earlier versions.
BeebItFS and BBCFiles have been released by James Lampard to accompany the BBC Micro emulator BeebIt.
BeebItFS is an 8-bit BBC Micro filing system, written so BeebIt can access files on RISC OS filing systems. It also allows the use of some 6502Em style 'BBC Applications'.
BBCFiles is a BBC file converter that converts between some of the various types of files used by BBC emulators on Acorn & PC formats. It supports 6502Em style applications & scripts, /ssd dfs disc images (including watford double catalogue), vanilla directories, bbc files with /inf files and /uef files.
As always, you can get the latest version from
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mjfoot/ under the BBC link.
Version 0.40 (18 May 2002) of BeebIt has now been released.
BeebIt is a freeware BBC Micro computer emulator for RISC OS versions 3.00 and above. It emulates the Acorn BBC Model B, BBC Model B+ and BBC Master 128 computers.
The following improvements have been done since 0.32.
As always, you can get the latest version from
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mjfoot/ under the BBC link.
Following the recent announcement of a second IM offering, I have reluctantly decided to release some information on my own offering into the fray. Anyone interested should point their browsers to:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat1159/natter/
The address will change to something more permanent just as soon as the world's DNS servers catch up with themselves... but keep your eye on this page for updates and news. Of course, I'll be announcing major developments in this newsgroup as well.
There are thousands of high (and not-so high!) quality Photoshop brushes freely available on the net - try a search on Google - and this application gives Photodesk users easy access to them.
It is available for free download from Chris & Lee's Photodesk resources site, recently moved to its new home at the Iconbar:
http://www.photodesk.iconbar.com/
... where you will also find tutorials, hints and tips, advice and more Photodesk resources to download.
Simtec would like to announce the availability of re-programmable extension ROMs for the RiscStation R7500 computer.
These Flash ROMs fit into the empty third column ROM socket on the motherboard and are pre-programmed with our new !Snafu flash programming utility. This utility allows the user to programme the 2Mbyte ROM with any of their own modules using a simple drag and drop interface.
Using this extra chip, frequently used, new, or replacement modules can be placed into ROM. Alternatively, using a utility such as !resources, a complete boot sequence can be inserted into resourceFS which can be run at power on - ideal for a discless network system.
The upgrade costs ukp20.00 (including VAT and postage) and will be available from CTA Direct and Stuart Tyrrell Developments at the Wakefield Show this weekend.
About !Snafu
!Snafu is Simtec's new flash programming utility which can be used on the following products:
Extension ROM for RiscStation R7500.
Net100 10/100Mb network interface (NIC).
8 bit and 16 bit IDE interfaces.
Forthcoming USB podule.
The utility identifies all compatible expansion cards and can provide the appropriate set of default modules for each card. This list of default modules can be amended using the simple drag and drop interface before programming the ROM.
For the R7500 extension ROM, modules are normally copied to RAM on power up but can be marked as 'execute-in-place' in order to use less RAM.
About Simtec
Simtec Electronics are specialists in ARM processor designs and have been producing upgrades for the RISC OS market for over ten years. The NET100 is the latest in a series of collaborations with other RISC OS companies, such as the RiscStation computers and Stuart Tyrrell's PS2MouseMini adaptor.
This version has a user interface to the device calibration settings, introduced in 0.67.3. You'll find this in the devices dialogue.
[RISC OS - remembered to set a sensible Wimpslot this time, instead of the large debug value!]
Web site:
http://melhuish.info/simon/projects/oww/
Oww is an application to permit the use of Dallas / AAG (www.aag.com.mx) weather stations and associated weather sensors.
VirtualAcorn V 1.20
starts shipping at Wakefield
VirtualAcorn will be exhibiting at the Wakefield Show on the 18th and 19th of May. At the show we will be launching version 1.20 of VirtualA5000. This is noticeably faster than previous versions and includes a number of improvements, including better keyboard handling, a new version of HostFS, improved disc build, higher screen resolutions, extended manuals and third party plug in support. In keeping with our current free upgrades policy existing customers will be able to get a FREE upgrade to version 1.20 from the VirtualAcorn website shortly. Customers with VirtualA5000 V 1.0 will need to upgrade to version 1.10 (also available on our website), before downloading the V 1.2 upgrades.
VirtualAcorn Universal Printer Driver
The VirtualAcorn Universal Printer Driver will be unveiled at the Wakefield show. This allows RISC OS to print to any Windows printer on any interface. At the show VirtualAcorn will be showing RISC OS printing to a Windows only inkjet connected to the computer via a USB interface. The Universal Printer Driver is still in beta test stage and is currently only suitable for Windows 98 and ME. VirtualAcorn are continuing with its development and a version that works on all versions of Windows will be released when completed. In the mean time users of VirtualA5000 V 1.20, with Windows 98 or ME will be able to download a FREE beta version from the downloads section of the VirtualAcorn website.
VirtualAcorn Windows Controller
As well as the Universal Printer Driver VirtualAcorn will also be showing a small part of the new Windows Controller. This allows RISC OS to control some Windows functions. For example, if you double click on a directory in RISC OS while holding down the Alt Gr key instead of the directory opening in RISCOS it opens in Windows. You can do the same thing with files. Holding down Alt Gr while double clicking on a file will load the file into a Windows program, rather than a RISC OS one. For example you can open a text file using either !Edit or Notepad using RISC OS, or an HTML file with either Webster or Internet Explorer. The Windows Controller is still in a beta test stage, users of VirtualAcorn V 1.20 will be able to download a FREE beta version from the VirtualAcorn downloads page.
Cerilica is pleased to learn that its premier package, and one of RISC OS' most advanced and modern packages, has been confirmed to run on a Microdigital Omega system!
Cerilica recently submitted its application upon request to Microdigital, developers of the new RISC OS hardware, for initial testing. Cerilica was proudly told of the success of the test and shown proof shortly after the event where the technically complex software package ran 'out of the box'.
Details of the Omega have been released by Microdigital but to confirm, Vantage was running on a new-design 300MHz StrongARM hardware system with high resolution and deep colour depth screen mode as well as contemporary levels of memory bandwidth. Even though we understand Microdigital are currently in the process of writing all final device drivers and are fine-tuning the system, Vantage was capable of operating fully rendering some of the most complex new demonstration files that can be found at:
http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/v1-10prev/
For full details of the forthcoming Omega RISC OS computer, please visit:
http://www.microdigital.co.uk/
RiScript's development continues to progress well with the recent major release of version 4.15. Available now as an on-line upgrade to all existing customers, the version brings even more powerful PDF reading capabilities such as handling of CIE colour models and Euro symbol support. RiScript now also automatically embeds any Type1 font data that may already be present for more accurate document text (features such as hinting will be preserved).
RiScript customers may download the upgrade at their own convenience via the Cerilica on-line upgrade located at:
http://www.cerilica.com/upgrade/
RiScript is RISC OS' premier PDF, PostScript and EPS interpreter as well as PDF generator. It allows users to view PDF and PostScript files from any source, such as the standard RISC OS printer driver, and base PDF documents on these. Its simplicity in use has been very well received by the numerous customers to date and with features such as comprehensive Drawfile and text export and printing options, brings many document transfer and interchange possibilities. If you wish to transfer documents to and from alternative systems such as PCs and Macs, with all components intact such as text, graphics and fonts, this is the product to do it with.
RiScript is supplied with a comprehensive printed manual, application and support disc in case and is available for only 59.00ukp. Full details of RiScript including overseas pricing and availability can be found by following this link:
http://www.cerilica.com/riscript/
I have just uploaded !ShowNeT 1.01 to my website at
http://www.denmarkwa.net.au/~kwright/
This version fixes a bug in the first version where ShowNeT remained as a task when the window was closed instead of quitting.
ShowNeT allows users of NetTime to view their time usage without actually being online.
R-Comp are pleased to announce Grapevine, a brand new application for RISC OS users which has been under development for some time. It will be available at the Wakefield show this weekend!
It's amazing just how useful this is - you go online to check email, or browse the web, and can see any of your friends or contacts who are also online. You can then have a conversation, whilst also doing the browsing or emailing you started out to do. These people can be anywhere in the world, not just local people, allowing you to keep up with old acquaintances many miles away.
In the PC world, instant communication tends to be split into lots of different programs, making it laborious to use if you have friends on different services. Grapevine's aim is to provide a single application, initially supporting Microsoft's "MSN" service and the more chat-room orientated "IRC".
By bringing everything under one actively developed roof, RISC OS users can communicate with people without needing lots of disparate applications, and enjoy a consistant user interface. And of course, although you are using RISC OS, your friends can be on Windows, or Mac, or Linux etc...
From a personal perspective, I now have the choice of Grapevine under RISC OS, or Microsoft's versions under Windows. And I can tell you, for the last few weeks (or more!) it has been Grapevine that has been my weapon-of-choice (it's running a conversation as I'm typing this!)
The existing components have been designed to be as friendly as possible, to make getting going easy, yet each has many "best of breed" features to make the application stand out. For example, it features full support for emoticons (pictures representing actions or emotions), varying display fonts, mapping of Windows fonts to RISC OS equivalents, multi-way conversations, attractive graphical user interface and so on.
Whilst Grapevine has been designed with first-time users in mind, it also has much for more technical users, such as configurable macros, and control over many of the minutiae should you want it.
The IRC side of the application has all the features you would expect, and the "friends" system allows you to use IRC as an Instant Messaging system just like MSN. Full support for separate Whisper session windows, DDC chat and file transfer, operator controls, lists of channel members and so on.
If you want buzz-words, Grapevine can compete with the best, but it is designed first and foremost to provide a professional, easy to use, yet fully-featured system for keeping in touch with people.
As such, Grapevine costs 25ukp inc VAT and UK delivery.
If you have any queries, or wish to order, call us on 01925 755043.
We are pleased to announce that another new version of WebsterXL has been sent out to Priority Support customers. Regular customers should hopefully receive a version in time for the show this weekend.
The latest version primarily includes improvements and enhancements to the new features present in 1.99f (released a few weeks back) such as Cascading Style Sheet support, the new "mini word processor" text areas, and so on.
We have updated Webster's font mapping in line with some of the fonts now present at Harry Decker's font site (http://fonts.iconbar.com/) which will allow users to see pages with the fonts originally intended for PCs.
WXL 1.99j represents our commitment to WXL development, ensuring that RISC OS has at least one actively developed web browser! Here's to the next update, and the one after that!!
We are pleased to announce that Artex's new Realtime Strategy game TEK 1608 has now started shipping. The game will be publically available for the first time at the Wakefield Show this weekend.
TEK has been several years in the making, and features high resolution graphics, sophisticated and innovative gameplay features, and many varied locations.
The game tells the story of factions waring over the production of a futuristic medicine called SHOQ. Your mission objectives are varied and may consist of simple recon, or search and destroy missions, to production of special units, capture of enemy factories, transportation, and more.
The game needs a RiscPC/A7000 or higher, and obviously benefits from the presence of a StrongArm. You will need 16Mb of RAM to run the game.
Also included in the box, are Artex's previous games - Ankh, Exodus, Botkiller and Botkiller2, making this a superb Collectors Edition.
TEK is priced at 30ukp including VAT and UK delivery.
After more than four years of development, Artex Software are proud to present the realtime strategy game TEK 1608!
Some features:
People will be able to purchase TEK at the Wakefield Show 2002. The TEK package is available for about 30 ukp and includes the Artex best-sellers 'Exodus - The Colonisation of Space' and 'Ankh - TheTales of Mystery' as well as 'BotKiller 1' and 'BotKiller 2'.
The game is available from R-Comp Interactive:
R-Comp Interactive
22 Robert Moffat
High Legh
KNUTSFORD
Cheshire WA16 6PS
Tel: (+44) 01925 755043
Fax: (+44) 01925 757377
Email: rci@rcomp.co.uk
Minimum system requirements are:
RiscStation R7500 or similar
16 MB RAM
60 MB harddisc space
CD drive
Recommended system is:
StrongARM RiscPC
16 MB RAM
2 MB VRAM
60 MB harddisc space
CD drive
The game has successfully been tested on the Kinetic. It needs a 'v-boot' with Viewfinder.
For more infos please visit www.artexsoft.com
Chris & Lee's Photodesk resources web pages have a new home, generously provided by the Iconbar (to whom we extend our warmest thanks). To mark the move the site has also been redesigned.
Visit http://www.photodesk.iconbar.com/ for Photodesk tutorials, tips, news, walk-throughs, downloads and more ... anything connected with this leading RISC OS graphics package.
Feedback is welcome. If there's anything you'd like to see included on the site (requests for tutorials are particularly welcome), or have any questions, comments or complaints, please email photodesk@iconbar.com.
The full version [1.38] of Vingt et Un is now available; the following site has the details:
This is a WIMP version of the well known card game (also known as Pontoon and Twenty One), and is playable on RISC OS versions above 3.5. A sample version which was made available before Christmas is still available from this site.
The game will be available from the Brain Games stand at Wakefield 2002. The stand (number 38) is a late entry and so you may not have prior info on this.
The full version of the game is available on CD and has the following additional features:
Game size is currently 69Mb.
The CD also contains sets of photos which relate to the themes of several of the veneers, together with a copy of Thump, by kind permission of Rick Hudson. Thump enables the sets of photos to be viewed as a slide show and the topics include 47 photos taken on the London Eye, several of the Eden Project, and pictorial shots of Skye and Mull.
We are pleased to announce the release of WebThumbs 1.11 as a free update to existing users. WebThumbs is supplied as part of our EasyClip2+ software. It allows the user to produce a variety of different types of web-gallery for photos and other images. It can also be used to create cross-platform CDs of images.
The program has received a number of enhancements and updates. Firstly, it should now work on all machines RO 3.1 and higher, provided they have all the relevant toolbox modules installed.
Secondly, it can now handle far more input filetypes, allowing for generation of indexes of all kinds of clipart and photograph types.
The software can also output its results in a broader range of filetypes, so that you can tune this to the type of images being catalogued. This makes it ideal for producing CDs of images for cross-platform consumption.
Various other tweaks to WebThumbs features and the HTML it produces have also taken place, expanding its functionality quite considerably.
If you think you should have received the latest version, but have not, please contact us (preferably by email *after* the show this weekend, as it will be quite hectic here between now and then!)
R-Comp Interactive is pleased to announce that we shall have our full range of high speed broadband internet connectivity products for sale at Wakefield.
Depending upon what type of broadband access is available in your vicinity - cable or ADSL, we will have appropriate products for you to choose. All the units are compatible with our 100Mbit network cards for optimal performance.
Almost all of the units we sell include 4 network ports for you to hook machines into, allowing you to take advantage of broadband not just on one RISC OS machine, but other machines too.
Additionally, all the units provide hardware firewall security, so that you are protected from outside intrusion.
Our recommended Cable-broadband box also offers a serial port for your existing Modem or ISDN. This provides a fallback if your Cable is down for any reason. Additionally, there is a printer port for shared printing too!
Our suggested ADSL unit has slightly fewer features (no serial or printer ports) but still allows for multiple machines to be hooked up. On the plus side, we've been able to keep the prices low on these units, because there's no need for extra printing software etc.
Although this posting is concentrating on Broadband, we also offer sharing solutions for those still using modems. Being in a rural area ourselves, we know the problems people face! We have several units which allow modem connections to be shared between your computers, whatever operating system you run.
We include specially written documentation (with the non-technical user in mind) with ALL of these units, detailing how to get yourself up and running. As to phone and email tech support, we're confident you'll find it second to none, so you don't need to worry about getting yourself going.
If you can't visit the show then check out:
and click on NETWORKS down the side. This includes an overview of a number of networking products that we offer.
Alternatively, call us on 01925 755043. We know that each person's requirements are going to differ slightly, which is why we feel that it is important to discuss your options and what is best for you.
It's going to sound very strange, but it is now cheaper to buy new high speed 100Mbit gear from RCI than it is to buy (new) slower 10Mbit components! That's why at this year's Wakefield show, RCI will be offering a full range of high-speed compatible networking products,yet still be able to offer some of the lowest prices around!
How can this be?
So, what's the result?
Well, we will have a wide range of network cards, switches, Cable and ADSL networking gear, and so on, all at great prices. Older RISC OS machines can be hooked in at slower speeds if needed, too, but for modern machines, there really isn't any justification for running at 10Mbit any more.
For those needing to link in legacy systems and networks (eg. coax/BNC style cabling), we will have a few 10Mbit items to hold you over too.
Because of the variety of different devices we will have on the stand, it isn't practical to list all the prices here, but it is safe to say that you can expect to see 100Mbit networking for the price or, in most cases, less than, others charge for 10!!!
Please note that,if you are concerned about compatibility with older products, all the 100Mbit products can cope with 10Mbit speeds just as well.
If all this sounds "too good to be true", you can understand why we're so excited! At last, we are able to offer high speed, quality products without the need to charge premium prices!
Announcing the release of !Gems, a new PD game taking the world by slight breeze!!
Brought to you by Colin Granville (of NetChess and FTPc fame) and Keith Wright (of no fixed abode), this !PlayIt (by Rick Hudson) supporting game can be found at
http://www.denmarkwa.net.au/~kwright/
and is available for download immediately.
!Gems involves the gathering of groups of gems from the play area. This is done by clicking on adjacent gems so that they swap positions to create a group of 3 or more gems, which disappear, give you points, and are replaced by more gems falling from above.
I have finally got around to finishing and uploading version 0.65 of the file-find utility Locate to my website. It can be downloaded from
http://www.stevefryatt.org.uk/software/locate/
Locate is a file-find utility for RISC OS, based on the tools available on other platforms. It can search for files based on any file attribute and file contents. Locate will work on any version of RISC OS from 3.11 to 4.29 and has now been tested on Virtual Acorn.
The main new features in 0.65 are:
There have been a few other tweaks and bug fixes; see the website for details.
I have decided to make 0.65 available so that people can finally get to use the new features (some were requested and implemented about six months ago -- sorry to those who have been waiting). However, I'll be away from my email for a few weeks from next weekend, so feedback isn't going to get an immediate reply. I'd still like comments and bug reports, but don't be surprised if you don't hear anything back for a while.
0.62 will also be available for download during this period, just in case any major problems come to light with 0.65 that require a downgrade...
A new version of BDRand is now available, which fixes a long-standing bug with hot keys (under certain circumstances, unused keys such as F12 would not be correctly passed on).
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+.
The latest version of !web_gen, v1.34 is now available.
However, I'm having a lot of difficulty getting it up onto my web site. (Agronet's web load software is a pile of cack and doesn't seem to have worked for weeks.)
So, anyone who wants a copy, should, for the time being, email
and I'll send out copies as and when.
Three forms of website can be generated:
With option 2, it is possible to specify a file containing a single line caption for each image.
An omission from the news posting of yesterday with regards MailScout (our anti-spam and on-line email interrogation application) has resulted in a few queries with regards support for the POP3 protocol:
Most ISPs only permit mailbox access via POP3. The news posting of yesterday stated that MailScout used the IMAP protocol. Argonet/Freedom2 along with a few of the free ISPs *do* support the IMAP protocol, but many currently do not.
Those users with ISPs that do *not* provide mail box access via the interactive IMAP protocol can configure MailScout to use the POP3 protocol.
Operation of the application is identical in both configurations.
Apologies for the confusion this has caused.
We received our first retail batch of NET100 cards from Simtec on Friday. All outstanding orders for cards have been shipped by Royal Mail Special Delivery, and all customers who have ordered interfaces will receive them before 12 on Monday morning.
We do have a small number of cards available ex-stock for anyone who would like to obtain one immediately. Further supplies are to be shipped to all NET100 partners next week, and ample stock will be available at the Wakefield show.
About NET100:
NET100 is a 10/100BaseT full/half duplex network card available for RiscPC and A7000 series machines, commissioned by a partnership of Stuart Tyrrell Developments, RComp and CTA/Riscstation.
The NIC interface, designed and manufactured by Simtec on behalf of the partners offers a highly integrated solution, drawing on Simtec's expertise of high-speed multi-layer PCB design, preferred status with device suppliers and continued commitment to the RISC OS market.
The interface is fully FLASH upgradeable and allows users to add almost 500KBytes of their own modules to the FLASH memory if they wish. An asymmetrical 16K packet buffer reduces receive overruns and can cut interrupt overheads by a factor of 3 times when compared to cards with smaller buffers, leading to favourable results in independent speed tests. The 4-layer board, automated SMT assembly and custom laser-cut metalwork are indications of the high build quality demanded by Stuart Tyrrell Developments and partners, and is typical of Simtec's products for the RISC OS and embedded markets.
NET100 is supplied complete with drivers and includes a BOOTP client. It costs UKP89 inc delivery and VAT (UKP69 exc) and is available, along with a range of network cabling, hubs, switches and software from ourselves and other partners.
Contact:
Stuart Tyrrell Developments
PO Box 183
OLDHAM
OL2 8FB
Tel: 0845 458 8803 / 01706 848 600
ArcEm is an Archimedes emulator for Acorn A400 series machines. It works on Windows, Unix (including Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD) and RISC OS.
ArcEm is available in binary versions for RISC OS, Win32 and x86 Linux. Source is available for porting to other platforms and improvement.
Please see the documentation for ChangeLog information. ArcEm is released under the GPL.
ArcEm's home page is http://arcem.sourceforge.net/
Image Software is proud to announce the release of MailScout - the antispam and on-line mail interrogation software for RISC OS.
Junk email is becoming more and more of a problem. Typically, here at Image, we download between thirty and forty junk emails each day. These are often large files with HTML attachments (and often we receive multiple copies of each). We waste huge amounts of time and money downloading this unsolicited, and unwanted email. Anyone whose email address is on a webpage or newsgroup posting will be able to sympathise with this ever growing problem.
Well, now and at long last, we have dedicated software for the platform to deal with this; in the form of MailScout.
** MailScout provides RISC OS users with the ability to scan their email boxes and remove UNWANTED mail before downloading WANTED email **
User defined filters allow you to automatically flag 'suspect' emails for deletion based on values in the mail's 'FROM', 'TO' and 'SUBJECT' headers.
Using MailScout is simple - the application probes your mail server using the IMAP protocol and produces a summary of emails currently in your mailbox. Emails with attributes matching those in any of the filters are automatically marked as pending deletion. Simply review these - unflag any which you would still like to download, flag any missed out by the filters and tell MailScout to purge the unwanted mails from your mailbox. You can then run your email software to download your wanted mail. Adding senders' email addresses to the filtering system is as easy as clicking on their address in the summary window. Adding other values to the filters is as easy as editing the filter text files (in your favourite text editor).
MailScout will be available from Tuesday 14th May (although we are currently accepting presale orders) at 25UKP (fully inclusive of VAT and UK P&P).
To place an order, or for more information, contact us either by phone, on 01202 269720, or email at sales@imagesoft.co.uk.
Image Software is proud to announce that the next version of Money Manager 2001 (Personal Edition) is now available, in the form of Money Manager 2002.
This version of the premier personal accounts package for RISC OS now boasts QIF import capabilities, providing quick and easy account setup and reconciliation of account transactions downloaded from your banks website.
The Money Manager accounts package is renowned for its ease of use. This comes from a tried and tested design with 'simplicity without compromise of features' as a core requirement.
Some of the features of Money Manager include:
And all this for only 29.99UKP, fully inclusive of VAT and UK P&P.
Existing users will receive free updates via email over the coming week. If you do not receive your update drop us a line to make sure we have your email address. Those customers who we don't have an email address for, and who don't request a free update will be contacted by post or telephone in due course.
To place an order for Money Manager 2002 contact us on 01202 269720 or drop us a line at sales@imagesoft.co.uk. We accept all major credit and debit cards.
Powerbase v.8.29 is now available on our website at
http://www.pendle.ukgateway.net/
This differs from v.8.28b in a few minor details and has several small bugs fixed.
Also on the website is the second release of PbaseDA, the version of Powerbase for RISC OS 3.5 and beyond. This will be the focus for future developments and incorporates a number of new features added since its first appearance in March this year.
Early in 2001 Nik Gare created alternative Templates and Sprite files for Pluto, and some people liked them - me included.
As I cannot contact Nik, I have taken the liberty of updating them to match Pluto v2.04b (I think) and have put them on my website in case anyone else in interested in using them.
Please see http://www.avisoft.force9.co.uk/ for further details and download.
It's Wakefield time again (hurray!) and this year there are certainly going to be new products. I'll leave others to mention the hardware and the software and concentrate on the games; as usual from Fleur Designs these are not games to play on your Acorn, RiscStation or Micro but board games designed using RISC OS computers.
We have again taken a game that was a wow in the past and dragged it kicking and screaming into the 3rd Millennium. This is no mere one-board game. For only the second time in our history we have produced a whopping 4-board game. We have never made extravagant claims for our games but Rithmomachia seriously challenges chess as the Queen of Games and its original version was rightly described as the game for philosophers.
Want to know more?
We haven't yet put Rithmomachia on our web-site:
http://www.cartmell.demon.co.uk/
so if you want a preview you'll have to go to Wakefield.
No if. No buts. See you on the 18th or 19th May.
Fleur Designs - board games designed using the best computers in the world; See us on stand 24 at the Acorn/RISC OS Wakefield Show.
The latest version of Account2 (1.19) is available from
http://www.ksedwards.ukgateway.net/account2/
Account2 is a freeware Home Accounts application.
v.1.19 08/05/02
Password protection is now available for individual account files.
Frequency of fixed term transfers can now be set to any number of months between 1 and 12, so (for example) quarterly and 6 monthly payments can easily be set up.
Search and replace facility is much improved.
It's now possible to save to the currently loaded account just by selecting SAVE from the main menu.
Cured problem of calculator intermittently not opening, and of StrongHelp loading when the cursor is in row 4 as calculator icon is clicked.
CSV settings show correctly after NEW
The latest version of !Jclean is now on my website
http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/free/
As well as improved error management and a slight rewrite to ensure it doesn't (shouldn't!) fail any more on long filepaths up to 255 characters, version 3.10 (Sat 04th May 2002) displays the filename of the JPEG currently being processed and writes a comprehensive log of operations.
There is also an important note included in the file jclean310/zip about the problems of rotating very large JPEGs, and a temporary solution.
NEW APDL/PROACTION ACQUISITIONS
It is with delight we can now inform the RISC OS market in general APDL/ProAction Software have acquired the following titles from Clares Micro Supplies.
For this years Wakefield show we're relaunching some of the products, with others to follow shortly after the show. We're looking towards the future, and hope that further development will be possible in this direction.
If you have any queries, please contact either David Bradforth (dbproaction@aol.com) or David Holden (dave@apdl.co.uk) and we'll see what we can do to help.
CELEBRATION 2
We are delighted to announce that at this years Wakefield Show 'Celebration 2', an updated version of Clares Micro Supplies 'Celebration' suite is to be launched on CD-ROM. Celebration 2 contains everything you need to produce bits and pieces for that special event, from calendars to certificates, gift wrap to greetings cards and more between.
Six applications make up the Celebration 2 suite.
The applications are backed up by the inclusion of almost a hundred outline fonts, suitable for use with RISC OS 3.10 or later; and full documentation.
The new Celebration suite is launching at 19.90ukp exclusively at the Wakefield Show on the APDL stand. You can order after the show by contacting APDL on 020 8778 2659, emailing info@apdl.co.uk or writing to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN.
THE FUN LEARNING COLLECTION
We are delighted to announce that at this years Wakefield Show 'The Fun Learning Collection' will be released on CD-ROM comprising 'DataWord', 'Picture Book', 'Money Matters' and 'Target Maths' all previously published by The Really Good Software Company.
DataWord is best described as an introduction to data handling. Using the standard RISC OS interface, users have the opportunity to gain an understanding of how databases are constructed and linked together; or take advantage of some of the friendly multiple-choice quiz games available.
Picture Book is a childs first ABC book. Using bright graphics and meaningful sounds, users have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of both the alphabet and spelling words of the alphabet. The version supplied has been updated considerably to interact better with the RISC OS 4 environment, but is still fully RISC OS 3 compatible.
Target Maths aims to develop a childs understanding of numbers (through multiplication, subtraction, addition and division) further through playing of entertaining yet educational games.
Finally, Money Matters uses a circus as the basis for a series of fun number problems for children of all ages.
Supplied on RISC OS CD-ROM, the Fun Learning Collection is priced at 14.90ukp and is supplied with full documentation, in a conveninent DVD-style packaging. If you'd like further information, please visit the APDL stand at the Wakefield show or after the show contact APDL on 020 8778 2659, email info@apdl.co.uk or write to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN.
(Purely as an end item, we are finishing off the development of a multimedia version of several applications within this suite for use on PCs and Macs; details will be made available nearer the time for those who require them.)
I just released some tools I use for portable LaTeX diagrams (plain TeX (PS), armTeX (DrawFiles/Sprites) and pdfTeX (PDF/PNG/JPG)). The LaTeX2e style can be downloaded from my software page at
http://www.forwiss.tu-muenchen.de/~dehmel/Software.html#diagrams
and a utility that allows easy calculation of scaling factors for DrawFiles and Sprites can be downloaded from
http://www.forwiss.tu-muenchen.de/~dehmel/Software.html#drawinfo
Both archives are released under LGPL. Hopefully they'll prove useful to other people as well.
Oh you lucky people!
I found the original archive tucked away on aarnet's FTP server.
You can now download it in all its glory (with Rockhogs to make life more interesting).
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~iain/acorn.php
If you have trouble with SA machines, try using an updated QTMModule (available from http://listen.to/qtm).
The module that is in the archive works under RedSquirrel, but the latest QTMModule doesn't - I haven't had the time to figure out why yet.
Could someone with an SA let me know how the newer module goes?
I'll be re-constructing the source code and fixing the screen update rate as suggested in the previous thread. I may even add back in some of the features that were culled from the original release because I ran out of time (play as a robot, player has a gun, etc.).
Can you design a T-shirt or a mousemat?
This is chance for all you budding artists to get creative and do your bit to help publicise the platform. Winners will receive the finished product plus any other prizes donated by companies. The competition closes on August 1st then the winners will be voted by you on the RISCOS.org website.
See http://www.riscos.org/cgi-bin/artcl?a=tshirt for further details.
Would your company like to donate a prize in return for advertising on RISCOS.org? If so please send details of what you would like to donate to ian@riscos.org.
Anyone downloading Pic_Index 1.11k, available from the 22nd April 2002, and who is a new user rather than an existing registered user, will have experienced difficulties in getting it to load - insurmountable difficulties!
This was due to an error which had crept in after version 1.11g, but which only caused problems for a new installation by an unregistered user.
As the current version was the next publically available version after 1.11g, I can be sure that the problem has only affected people downloading between the 22nd April and now.
If you have had a problem please try a fresh download of the archive from:
http://www.picindex.ukgateway.net/
where there is now a replacement version.
If you have had difficulties and also have difficulties with large downloads, please e-mail me and I will send you the small replacement file to add to your existing download.
If you wish to e-mail me, please use 'PicIndex' as the username (note the underscore is not permitted!) and 'ukgateway.net' as the domain, your 'Reply to:' facility, or find the e-mail address on the site above as a graphic.
For those of you who do not know, Pic_Index is a program which makes HTML thumbnail indexes of collections of JPEG images, and also provides database and search facilities to help manage large collections of such images, permitting keyword searching of associated text.
It also has additional facilities for putting searchable collections of albums on CD such as automated hierarchical indexing.
It is ideal for managing your camera output, but could also be useful for genealogical applications, cataloguing your valuables, and numerous other things!
It is under constant development, and registration is very inexpensive to enable use of all of its advanced features.
The unregistered download has some features disabled, and also has others time-limited to encourage registration.
We are pleased to announce that our 100Mbit network cards began shipping today (Saturday). These new cards are the result of a partnership in the RISC OS market ensuring the production of high performance, yet cost effective hardware.
The new cards set standards in price, performance and features. Fitting into the network slot present in all RiscPC/A7000 systems (no backplanes etc. required), the performance of the card is only limited (on current machines) by the speed at which the processesor can handle network packets, when used on a 100Mbit network.
In practice, this results in 10Mbit performance of up to 1Mbyte per second, and 100Mbit performance of circa 2Mbytes a second, although this will depend on the machine used, and also the network software - for example, Acorn Access doesn't scale well to 100Mbit network cards, whereas LanMan98 scales better. The cards have 16kbytes of packet buffer (twice that of some alternative 100Mbit cards) to ensure reliability at high speeds.
So, the performance is good, the price, at 89ukp including VAT and UK delivery, is one of the lowest retail prices for a new RISC OS network card.
And features? Well, of course the card handles 10 and 100Mbit networks, but it also has 512kbytes of flash memory on-board, which can be used for user-modules, software updates and so-forth. A flash utility is also provided. And that's not all. During the field test period of the last few weeks whilst we waited for final backplates and the like, we have chosen also to include support for automatic Boot-P address configuration with the card. This is used by many university and business networks to assign each machine a network address, which could otherwise have proven difficult and/or costly for RISC OS users. For 89ukp you get support for this thrown in.
To summarise, for 89ukp you get a high performance network card, with lots of extra features, produced by a partnership of RISC OS companies looking towards the future of the RISC OS marketplace.
If we were American, we'd probably call it a "no brainer". But we're not, so we won't.
After having disappeared from the web for a few years, I have reposted Firebolt - a 1 to 4 player Bomberman clone.
Get it at:
http://www.zip.com.au/~iain/acorn.php
This release is not as new as the one that appeared originally - technical hitches have left me with old source code. I'll eventually repair it and put a new version up, but don't hold your breath.
If anyone downloaded the original a few years ago and still has it sitting around, please send it to me - it'll help me to get the source code back up to speed.
FREE BIBLE SOFTWARE
LogosLite, a Bible text viewer, has been released for FREE download at www.logosword.co.uk.
I hope you will take the opportunity to download a copy of LogosLite, which, as far as I know, is the only free Bible reading program available for RISC OS. LogosLite is a simple, straight-forward Bible viewer, and can easily be upgraded to LogosWord.
Take a look at LogosLite's webpage at www.logosword.co.uk/logoslite.shtml and check out the list of translations at www.logosword.co.uk/logos.shtml which you can download for FREE and use with LogosLite.
I am pleased to announce yet another MP3 utility.
This one is called !Twicers, and performs the following:
Finds and catalogues possible MP3 twicers. Uses fuzzy-bear-logic to find even those with typos and mis-pellings. Reads a csv catalogue of MP3 files, finds possible duplicates, and lists them in another csv file.
This program is downloadable from the download section of Atomic Software, URL below. It is very useful at finding possible duplicates of MP3 files even when they are scattered through hundreds of directories. This saves an enormous amount of time, especially when you have 7000 of the b*r's!
You will also need to download !ID3toCSV or !ID32CSV if you haven't already got it.
http://rogerdarlington.members.beeb.net/
RISC OS featured in the North Anerican Press
I subscribe to a Satellite TV Listing Magazine which includes a syndicated column from King Features Syndicate of New York (a part of the Hearst Publishing empire).
A weekly column called Infolink by Bob Vogel discusses computers and after reading an article of his on the continuous marketing of expensive but unecessary upgrades to the Window Platform, I wrote him an e-mail about my Strong ARM Risc PC and the virtues of RISC OS.
Three weeks later and my letter is fully quoted and he completes his column with an overview of RISC OS, its history and future for those wanting an alternative OS.
I have posted a copy of the article at www.visualimpressions.ca/riscos if you want to see it.
I cannot find out how far and wide his column is distributed but I would guess it appears in many national weekly magazines that use King Features for support articles.
It clearly shows that there is an interest in alternative OS's and with some marketing RISC OS could go far even in Gatesland.
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