The news is organised in chronological order, with the most recent stories at the top. Choose the month you require, then click on a topic heading to jump to the associated announcement.
| 2003 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2003 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2002 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2002 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2001 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2001 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2000 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2000 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan |
Since Argonet discontinued official Ant Support on 30th November 2000, I have decided to take over support in a personal capacity.
I cannot guarantee future development of the Ant Suite, but can offer help or advice for people still using it. This will be provided in my free time and discounts will be offered to people who have registered my AntUtils application - which enhances the AntSuite with a number of useful utilities and additional facilities.
There are three levels of support available:-
PLEASE NOTE that unregistered AntUtils users joining the scheme will automatically receive a registered copy of AntUtils together with a manual (hence the higher price) and therefore be eligible for the discount membership on subsequent renewals.
If you would like to join an annual subscription form, please visit my new Ant Support page at http://www.vigay.com/ant/
A new channel on IRC (a chat room system) called #riscos has been set up. The information about this new channel can be found at the following URL:
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~jwd104/irc/
The channel has mainly been set up to allow users to ask questions about RISC OS and its related computers' hardware without the distraction of arguments on off topic subjects such as Linux, and fooling about.
Questions about the channel which are not answered by the above documents should best be asked on the channel, or failing that, to jwd104@york.ac.uk
Beginners are particularly welcome, so if you are tempted but are not sure how to go about getting access then go to the following URL: http://www.riscos.mine.nu/files/ and download LIRC. To join #riscos you need to connect to the server, then type: /join #riscos (including the forward slash) into the writeable icon which appears. Once you have done that you will be able to get help from the channel members.
I hope to see you soon,
John
(Site Maintainer)
johnd on IRC
Cerilica are proud to announce the largest development of RiScript yet since obtaining exclusive rights to publish RISC OS' leading PDF and PostScript product.
RiScript version 4.10 now has the impressive added benefit of being able to automatically convert RISC OS font data into Type 1 fonts which are then embedded within exported PDF documents. This provides even greater amounts of cross-platform document transfer capability which will be of use to all RISC OS users from professional publishers to occasional webmasters.
Best of all, this feature is completely transparent to the user and has been tested to successfully produce documents which may be viewed using Adobe=91s Acrobat(R) and GhostScript. Because it embeds commonly-found Type 1 fonts as opposed to relatively obscure Type 3 fonts as can be generated by the standard PS printer driver, the data may be used by a wide variety of packages on alternative systems.
An option to automatically convert all font paths to profiles within RiScript is provided enabling users to avoid potential breach of the font owner's copyright.
This free upgrade will be sent automatically to all Cerilica RiScript customers who have opted to receive upgrades by e.mail. If you have purchased Cerilica-published RiScript either from Cerilica direct or via the overseas Cerilica dealers and wish to receive free upgrades, please e.mail cerilica@cerilica.com with your details, licence number and intention.
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 export and printing options, brings many document transfer and interchange possibilities.
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 at:
http://www.cerilica.com/riscript/index.htm
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
We're considering a new project, to bring some of the more useful additions to Typestudio. If you wish to have input into the project, we'd supply a copy of a current edition of Typestudio (the full version) and provide direct access to the development team behind the project.
The beta/scheme registration fee would be 10ukp; entitling you to a final copy of Typestudio.
Should you be interested, please contact us by email.
Due the second week of December, we have a new release of Easy C++. Upgrades/fixes above and beyond our initial release include:
Additionally, we are now planning the second print run of the manual. Additions/modifications include:
To upgrade the CD-ROM, simply return it - together with 3ukp to cover costs - to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN. The manuals, unfortunately, do cost a fair bit to print. Whilst we are prepared to upgrade earlier editions of the manual, it will therefore incur a 10ukp charge to cover postage and printing.
The complete Easy C/++ range is now as follows:
Easy C++ (CD-ROM edition, manual on disc): 29ukp
Easy C++ (Manual - new print run): 20ukp
Easy C++ (Disc upgrade to CD-ROM edition*): 25ukp
Easy C++ (Manual upgrade to new edition): 10ukp
* the disc upgrade charge includes all new additions to the product since ProAction/APDL have taken it over and TECHNICAL SUPPORT!
In addition to the above, APDL have a number of C resources available within the PD library, and as printed books. For full details, please call 0208 778 2659 or email info@apdl.co.uk.
Printed Reference Guides for PipeDream are now available from us.
The Reference Guide is an A5 ring bound booklet of about 300 pages.
It is designed for users of PipeDream who know what they want to do but need to look up the details. It is complete with Contents and Index. The subjects are divided into three levels. Level 1 is suitable for beginners. Level 3 topics include such topics as details of the PipeDream File Format, Command files and Custom Functions.
A Tutorial Guide for beginners to PipeDream is available separately.
The UK price, inclusive of postage,
is 15 GBPounds to non members of GoldLine
or 10 GBPounds to members of GoldLine.
If you live outside the UK then please email us for a quote.
Abacus Training+44 (0)1793 723347
http://www.abacusline.demon.co.uk/
GoldLine@abacusline.demon.co.uk
A new version of the freeware assembler ASM is now available.
Version 4.10 provides facilities for generating 32-bit clean code, suitable for linking with programs intended to run with the new APCS-32 SharedCLibrary.
ASM can be found by pointing your browser at
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/tigger/programs/progs.html
and following the 'Misc' link.
Cerilica has just updated its new Publishing Pack product to introduce two new features to the !TrueSep component:
The Publishing Pack brings essential components to every RISC OS publisher, professional or occasional. More information on this on-line professional product available for only 19.50ukp may be found by clicking here:
http://www.cerilica.com/ppack/index.htm
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
After a bit of hacking and quite a lot of cross compiling I have got my A5000 and A4 running a full ELF distribution of ARM Linux, including a 2.2.12 kernel.
If you are interested you will have to have a good knowledge of Linux to get the thing installed - no nice installer programs yet and my instructions need touching up in places...
For more information see my homepage: http://www.bits.bris.ac.uk/dooby/.
Thanks are due to Russell King and Phil Blundell in particular, as well as countless others who've made this possible.
Years of research, and back-breaking writing. It's all come down to this:
http://free.prohosting.com/~chocky/ROSlang.html
The RISC OS Dictionary of slang, available at a website near you.
Hello
We would just like to say that the RISC Nation website has been re-designed and has a brand message board. Please feel free to e-mail editor@riscnation.com to let us know what you think of it.
You can get to the website though http://www.riscnation.com/
Thank You
RISC Nation magazine
Ovation Pro Desktop Publisher Upgrade CD
This is now available, the following attempts to explain the intricacies.
Revised and reformatted Reference and Script Manuals supplied on the CD as Ovation Pro documents
20 iSV font families
(Note that Ovation Pro used to be supplied with EFF Fonts, so you are gaining some new fonts from the upgrade.)
Comprehensive collection of Ovation Pro material - applets, dictionaries etc.
Ovation Pro is not copy protected but is registered (it displays your name and serial number on start up). This makes such things as upgrades a lot easier.
Your copy will be registered if either you sent in the registration card or if there was no registration card supplied with it. Otherwise you won't get the CD until the card is returned.
A second class who get a free CD are those who have written applets and made other contributions to the program.
If you don't qualify for the free CD then the cost is ukp 35.
To buy a copy please supply
Only orders with a correct serial number will be fulfilled. The serial number and original address are your proof of purchase. This saves messing about returning floppies, but they have to tally with the Beebug records.
Inside the EU 40 ukp
Rest of the world 34 ukp
The order should contain your serial number, original registered address and current address, and be placed with:
Liquid Silicon
Tel: +44 1592 592265
Fax: +44 1592 596102
sales@liquid-silicon.com
http://www.liquid-silicon.com/
I've recently uploaded !Midiphile 0.20 to my site:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/lenny/soft/index.html
Midiphile is a utility for use with MIDI files. It can produce a textual description of a MIDI file's contents, or it can be used to remove unwanted MIDI events or just repair some of the more common faults.
The main change in this version is that it now handles 'hanging notes' better than before. Consequently, it can now fix MIDI files saved from Sibelius.
QuickVoy 0.34 (22/11/2000) is now available.
http://www.heyrick.co.uk/voyager/quickvoy/
It can cope easily with non-standard installations (for example, I use !POP for my mail), each icon can have two functions assigned (ie, to load Fresco (original) and Fresco JavaScript (or Browse, Oregano...)).
For really really tight situations, there is a version of QuickVoy which supports the basic facilities, and requires only 32K. Or, if you find memory short, QuickVoy supports Quit&Resume. You can quit QuickVoy (holding ALT) and you'll stay online. Load it later, and if you are still connected, it will pick up where it left off, including call timing. You'll lose all functionality (duh!) because QuickVoy won't be loaded, but it is a VERY flexible way to work.
You have scripted events, a time watcher (where a window will pop up every X minutes asking you to click an icon; if you do not within 60 seconds you'll be disconnected), you have a very basic email sender so you don't need to load Posty/Pluto/Messanger to reply to a mailto: link (which QuickVoy can be set to intercept). QuickVoy is also supplied with a mailbox 'watcher' that will log into the defined POP3 server and tell you how much email you have (number of messages and total size), so you can defer downloading large emails until cheap rate, or whatever.
Visit the above URL for more on QuickVoy...
..wait for it...
..a pointy clicky draggy configuration thing. Yeah, good huh? So all those who may have considered QuickVoy but were put off by the need to configure it can now breathe a collective sigh of relief!
Additionally, a rather nasty bug with MbxWatcher's "makedomain" utility has been fixed.
See the latest RISC OS developments and learn about opportunities to work on next generation technologies.
We are developing an exciting range of digital entertainment and information products aimed at the high volume consumer electronics market. Many of these will use advanced ARM based devices and will be based on the next generation of RISC OS. Current products include the Bush Internet TV (starting at ukp79 and available now from Dixons, Currys, Argos etc.) and the Pace DSL Digital STB range.
We are looking for talented and enthusiastic software and hardware engineers to join our team here in Cambridge. You must enjoy working on leading edge technology in a challenging environment. There are opportunities at all levels for the right people. Desirable skills include experience of Internet technologies, digital streaming media, user interface design, networking, developing high quality software for the ARM using both using assembler and C. An attractive salary and benefits package is available.
This Friday 24th November 2000 between 12.00pm and 7.00pm we are holding a recruitment event at our Cambridge office. There will be demonstrations all our current ARM based products and some of the projects we are working on for the future. This will be a good opportunity to see some new RISC OS products in development and speak to the engineers involved. Light refreshments will be provided and it would be appreciated if you bring your CV with you.
Although we are mainly looking for people for full-time positions, we are also interested to hear from people who may have relevant experience who could work with us on a contract basis. There are also positions for people who wish to work in other areas such as Digital Satellite and Cable products.
If you think you can help contribute to the future of RISC OS and enjoy a stimulating challenge then please come along this Friday or alternatively email your details to camjobs@pace.co.uk
Pace Micro Technology plcTel: 01223 508555
Fax: 01223 518526
Web: www.pace.co.uk
Gary Stephenson
Information Appliances Manager
MW Software is proud to announce the release of the most sophisticated ArtWorks module ever written: The TextArea module gives you rotatable, multi-column text areas in ArtWorks!
For many years, ArtWorks has been hampered by its very basic text handling facilities. Now, the TextArea module finally adds advanced word processing features to ArtWorks.
TextArea allows you to enter and edit text as easily as in a word-processor and it offers some advanced word processing features like multi-column layout, paragraph spacing and paragraph flow control. Of course, like all ArtWorks modules, it also supports the ArtWorks Undo system.
You can find further details and screenshots at:
http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/textarea.html
These prices are for e-mail delivery only. Add 2.50 Pounds for snail-mail delivery. Do not add VAT as I am not registered. Further payment details can be found at
http://www.mw-software.com/paying.html
As usual, when posting your order and you want e-mail delivery, please send me an empty e-mail message (mailto:martin@mw-software.antispammeasure.com) with a subject line reading "TextArea order" to speed up delivery.
I've just put FTPc 1.30 on http://www.ftpc.iconbar.com/. It has the following changes:
!FTPc is a freeware internet File Transfer Protocol Client. It enables you to transfer files/directories to and from your web space from the desktop using drag and drop.
This is a special announcement to reveal the launch of the new Cerilica WebSite. The whole site has been redesigned to cater for the growing list of products and coincides with the announcement of the Cerilica Publishing Pack which goes on sale today as well as the forthcoming major RiScript 4.10 upgrade.
New sections include a common ordering page for UK customers and a comprehensive overseas dealer page. We are also in the process of completely recreating the Vantage and TRUISM 2 information pages to better suit the advanced level of development. Currently there are recent screenshots available from Vantage as well as downloadable examples of exported sprites and TIFFs with alpha and CMYK channels. RiScript's product pages have also been overhauled to better reflect the main usage for the package; PDF viewing and creation.
Please note that all previous direct links for sub-pages to the Demon-hosted site will soon become obsolete. Direct links to the new site maintain the www.cerilica.com start of the address thereby allowing us to provide the convenient direct links as follows:
| Vantage | http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/index.htm | |
| RiScript | http://www.cerilica.com/riscript/index.htm | |
| Publishing Pack | http://www.cerilica.com/ppack/index.htm | |
| TopModel | http://www.cerilica.com/topmodel/index.htm | |
| MMK | http://www.cerilica.com/mmk/index.htm | |
| Nucleus | http://www.cerilica.com/nucleus/index.htm | |
| Ordering | http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/index.htm | |
| Overseas sales | http://www.cerilica.com/dealers/index.htm | |
| News | http://www.cerilica.com/news/index.htm |
In the pipeline is the plan to introduce secure on-line ordering as well as immediate downloading of the latest version of all software products to existing customers. These features are only likely to appear well into 2001 due to the necessity to ensure appropriately high amounts of security and reliability.
The site has been designed to be best viewed using Oregano but should function well with JavaScript-enabled Fresco and degrade gracefully to non-script browsers.
We hope you enjoy browsing the new site and we welcome any comments to make it even better.
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
If anyone has experienced a 'Buffer overflow' error message having upgraded to HTMLPro 1.42, please download the upgrade again. It appears that a small bug had crept into one version of the upgrader and caused this problem.
The website version (upgrade 1.x to 1.42) has now been fixed and uploaded.
If you experience any more problems, please email at support@levens.co.uk
PS If you are still having problems, you can contact us on our Technical Support number, 08700 119 120, calls are charged at the National Rate
Benji Levens
Senior Software Engineer
On my software page are a few new ports of well known programs to our RISC OS platform:
junkbuster is a proxy which filters out unwanted advertising banners when browing the web. It has very complex configuration options, so you can tailor it exactly to meet your needs.
rinetd is a TCP redirection server. You can redirect any incoming TCP connections to wherever you want. Here as well you have very detailed configuration options to set it up.
greed is a simple wget-like downloading tool which lets you resume an interrupted download. If MimeMap is present it sets the RISC OS file type accordingly after download.
Crafty is a *very* strong chess program. Additionally to the engine you can add to Crafty's strengh by supplying opening databases and endgame tablebases. This port is just a command line port, so you should ply it in a TaskWindow.
You can find them (and all my other programs as well) by going to http://www.sbellon.de/ and following the link to the softwar page.
I hope some of the ports are of interested to some of you.
As a follow-up to my request for information about the MJP Automatic Weather Station, I wish to thank everyone who took the time to respond. After following a lot of dead ends I did manage to find the company that had purchased MJP. That's the good news. Unfortunately this company no longer has any information about or software for this antique device. If anyone has any instructions, technical information or the BBC Micro controlling software I would be very pleased to receive any or all.
I've just uploaded a slightly updated scanning engine for Slayer. This is mainly to prevent warnings about the age of the currently installed one, although it has had some speed tweaks, but nothing noticable.
It is available from http://www.digital-scurf.org/slayer/vde17nov2000.exe. This is a Self Extracting Archive. Simply settype it to Absolute/&FF8, double click on it, and drag the resulting icon over your current copy of Slayer to install it.
Slayer is a anti-virus tool for RISC OS, with many features and the fastest scanning of up-to-date systems.
Sorry about the .exe extension; misconfigured webserver. Must fix that...
An updated version of ChartDraw (currently at version 3.11) is available from
http://www1.che.hw.ac.uk/~soft/
ChartDraw allows the production of a range of charts from data that can be entered and edited from the keyboard. The program plots simple line graphs, stacked and grouped barcharts and piecharts. The resulting graph may be printed via any standard RISC OS printer driver, or saved as a draw file.
ChartDraw runs on RISC OS versions 3.1 upwards.
Manuals in Ovation Pro or Impression format may also be downloaded.
For those eagerly awaiting the full release of Cerilica Vantage, you may be interested to learn that the example files page is now open to the public. Higher resolution example bitmaps are now available for direct viewing or downloading including examples of images exported with alpha channels and separated into CMYK. Just point your browser at:
http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/examples/readme.htm
Here you may find a copy of the forthcoming Wakefield Show 2001 colour double spread A4 advert that will shortly appear in Acorn Publisher and Acorn User and was created using Vantage.
The availability of Vantage will still follow the need to fully satisfy original customers and deposit holders. Announcements about its general availability will be made wide-spread nearer the time.
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
Cerilica is very proud to announce that it has reached an agreement with Sincronia of Italy to obtain exclusive publishing rights to RISC OS' premier 3D design and publishing package, TopModel.
TopModel has been in existence for a number of years and has seen many advancements in order to allow the generation of truly fantastic 3D images. Up until recently Spacetech Limited published this great package but since the unfortunate demise of this company, Sincronia announced its wish to no longer continue with the replacement company PhotoDesk Limited.
With the advent of Cerilica's agreement to publish the package, many new advancements can now be expected in the future once more. The first visible result will be a completely revamped product in terms of manual, support material, resources and the like. Beyond that Sincronia have given firm assurances that the long-awaited TopBones will be finally released as a plugin. Greater long-term plans are also in place but we have to keep some things secret!
Beyond refreshing the existing product, which will also experience slight software enhancements, Cerilica will ensure that the standard package is of even greater value by bundling more options and resources as standard and reducing the price to under 100ukp (excluding VAT and package and postage). Remembering that TopModel remains one of the most advanced and critical RISC OS software products, this represents amazing value!
Full details will be announced in the coming month for preparation of the product sales launch in the New Year. This promises to be as refreshing and successful as Cerilica's adoption of RiScript Pro.
Please do not contact Cerilica or Sincronia about queries for this particular announcement until full details are made generally available. Cerilica will be supporting existing Spacetech TopModel customers as well as offering upgrade paths.
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
Whereas Vantage is at the cutting edge of print control with its highly advanced and unique TRUISM 2 engine, it can be said that the rest of the RISC OS platform is not so well catered for. The compact Cerilica Publishing Pack is set to help in a number of key areas that professional and occasional publishers will find essential:
Each of these components allow the designer and publisher to better ensure that what is seen on the screen is what will be produced when operating all major RISC OS design and publishing programs such as Ovation Pro, Impression and Photodesk 2/3.
Monitor calibration and PS dotgain have been comprehensively catered for with initial Vantage customers through the package's !Monitor and !DotGain stand-alone programs. This pair have now been updated and included in the Publishing Pack.
In addition to these components, probably the most crucial, powerful and yet extremely simple to use part of this product is the RGB deep sprite CMYK separator. Converting from RGB to CMYK is not a simple process if you wish to gain excellent results. Currently the best method under RISC OS is to use Photodesk 2/3's facility but as many users have found, the setup process can be very involving and the results do not equal those on alternative systems. Now for the first time, a component of the thoroughly developed TRUISM 2 engine is available to all RISC OS users producing sophisticated results that should print magnificently.
What follows is an overview of the product's components. (A much more comprehensive specification will be available on the new Cerilica WebSite when launched in the next month.)
Best of all, these essential publishing applications will be available from Monday 20th November for only 19.50ukp! (inclusive of VAT, no package and postage)
The Publishing Pack is only available on-line. At present Cerilica does not operate on a secure server so if you do not wish to take the risk of sending your card details over the 'net, a postal ordering form may be downloaded in zipped-up Drawfile form or as a PDF from:
http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/order.zip (Drawfile)
http://www.cerilica.com/ordering/order.pdf (PDF)
Alternatively, you may phone through the order on 0870 2411731. All existing problems that people have experienced with this line are promised by BT to be sorted by the 20th November.
The new Cerilica website which is currently under construction will enable you to place your order on-line more easily. Until then you may wish to send your details by e.mail (again noting the lack of a secure server, therefore at your risk) which should include:
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
This is a reminder that everyone who has bought and registered a copy of DiscKnight is entitled to join the support mailing list. News of enhancements and free upgrades will be posted on the list.
However some some people have not provided valid or legible email address on their registration cards. If you have not already received an invite to the mailing list, please send your details and serial number to DiscKnight@armclub.org.uk.
Samsung L17A LCD
ExpLAN announce the availability of a new LCD monitor including instructions and MDF for RISC OS computers.
Specification:
Price ukp999 +VAT
For further info and photo, see www.explan.co.uk/hardware/scrn.html
Ideal for your new Omega!
Those in the SouthWest can see this monitor demonstrated at the BARUG (Bristol) User Group meeting on 29th November. For location map see www.snave.demon.co.uk/BARUG/
Doggysoft have now made available several more sets of source code:
vend.spk is a sparkive containing the source code to VEnd, a virus scanner and behaviour blocker. This code pre-dates RISC PC machines and does not work on any RISC OS later than 3.1 in its current state.
wxii.zip is a zip file containing the source code to WimpExtension II, the successor to WimpExtension. It was never released, but is essentially complete, and was used in Termite.
syslog.zip is a zip file containing the source code to the SysLog module.
All available from:
<ftp://ftp.doggysoft.co.uk/pub/source/>
They are not guaranteed to be compilable, they are not guaranteed to be usable, they are not guaranteed to do anything. They are all (c) DoggySoft Ltd. These files may not be distributed via any means other than download from the FTP site. If you wish to use this code for something, please email jon@doggysoft.co.uk.
I would like to announce the release of the first version of my portable BBC Basic interpreter, Brandy. It runs under RISC OS, NetBSD, Linux, DOS and Windows. The program can be downloaded from my web site at:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/dave_daniels/
As this is the first version, any comments or bug reports would be appreciated.
The assembler programming part of my website has been updated with...
For those who don't wish to spend loads of time on-line, you can now download all of the pages from the site in an archive, and (seperately) all of the example source.
For those to whom money is no object, or those lucky enough to have an Internet connection laid on, you can still do it all on-line provided your MimeMap file is modified to include BASIC programs (instructions on how to do this are provided).
http://www.heyrick.co.uk/assembler/
I finally got time to finish work on the conversion to DigitalCD format of the winamp skin DarkKnite which I started many months ago. It is now available, along with many other great DigitalCD skins by various artists, from the DigitalCD section of skinz.org -
<http://www.skinz.org/skins.php3?area=digitalcd>
Enjoy!
The BBC and Acorn Open Day planned for next Saturday, 18th November, has been postponed.
The event will instead be run on an as yet undecided date in 2001.
Further information will be posted here when it becomes available.
Any queries should be directed to Rene Barreto, rene@armclub.org.uk
This is a brief announcement to say that due to rising water on the River Lavant through Chichester, the Argonet offices have suffered a major power failure, resulting in the loss of the office servers.
Normal dialup access is not affected, and users web sites should be ok. However, my own domains (vigay.com and riscos.org) are temporarily offline, as are any domains hosted by servers based in the Chichester Offices.
As soon as power is restored, the servers should automatically come back online. However, at the present time I'm not sure how long that will be, as it was starting to rain again as I left work.... :-(
I'm pleased to announce the first publically-available release of PhotoSteg, currently version 1.05 (06-Nov-2000).
PhotoSteg is a desktop utility which implements a form of steganography, a process by which data can be hidden inside a container sprite file. It is intended to be used as a security tool, to hide data which you wish to remain secret or to disguise your use of cryptography, which may be illegal where you live.
It differs from other RISC OS steganography applications in that the container sprite appears not to contain any hidden data at all. The container sprite and the original sprite used to hide the data, to all intents and purposes, remain indistinguishable. This is particularly marked if photographic images are used.
PhotoSteg can also pre-encrypt your data using the Blowfish algorithm.
An 85K ZIP archive, containing full documentation, can be downloaded from:
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/david.thomson/riscos/
I have just updated my homepage at
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/
with version 2.49 of DigitalCD and with a new plug-in called Sonogram which allows you to monitor frequency spectrum versus time.
New in DigitalCD 2.49 is:
New in TimPlayer 0.99:
New in AudioMPEG 0.16:
New in DiskSample 0.21:
For those who still don't know:
DigitalCD is a desktop music player compatible with RISC OS 3.1 or later (including StrongARM). It provides independent control panels for any connected CD drive and music files playlists. It's main features are:
Ever wanted to debug Basic or Assembler programs easily??
Reporter provides commands which enable information to be easily displayed from a Basic program in a separate multi-tasking debugging window.
Reporter v2.31 is now available, and the main changes from v2.20 are ...
Reporter v2.20 already provided ...
Full details are available from http://www.avisoft.force9.co.uk/ and it can be downloaded from there as a zip archive file.
Reporter v2.31 will also be available from Chris Morison's web site at http://www.organizer.ukgateway.net/
Any comments on the web sites, or the application, always welcome.
Proverbs version 1.02 is now available from www.idrdesign.n3.net
A simple program which randomly displays a Proverb from the book of Proverbs every time it's loaded.
Ideal for you boot sequence.
Announcing a new release of !X-Word (and a tiny plea for bug-catching)
!X-Word is a 'Crossword-style' game in the spirit of the expensively copyrighted game 'Scrabble' (owned by Spear's Games/Mattel) but different in many important ways (tile frequency and scores, board arrangement and size, scoring details, etc.). It is available from my website at:
or from
http://www.xword.riscos.org.uk/
X-Word features:
New in this release
Changes behind the scenes
Now that the !RunImage is plain to read, and I've done my best to make it as readable as I can, I'd love to hear some constructive suggestions about how to improve things. Foremost on my mind is a bug that seems to (non-fatally) hang the machine if you choose to shutdown while a game is in progress, but only if you've changed the options recently (???). Note that I don't do this for a living, so no comments about how ugly my code may or may not be :-) Personally I'm damn impressed at getting all this done in BASIC -- especially as it beats me quite regularly!
Wish list for future releases
I'm also toying with the idea of incorporating Hans van Gink's code into the main application to convert from plain text listings to compiled lexicons as needed (though this still takes many minutes when the lexicon is very large).
Thank you for your kind attention.
Please note that ChangeISP is now available for all registered AntUtils users. As such it's supplied as a *FREE* plugin from my web site at http://www.vigay.com/riscos/apps/antutils.html
ChangeISP allows you to easily manage multiple ISPs from a single copy of the Ant Internet Suite.
You can easily switch between up to 25 different ISPs, even without quitting the rest of the Ant Suite. This will be ideal for people who have more than one ISP or who want to use Surftime options such as Demon's daytime and off-peak access periods. You no longer need to store multiple copies of the Ant Suite, or worry about re-configuring it each time you want to try a different ISP.
You can easily add, delete and even edit the providers stored within ChangeISP using only a few mouse clicks.
AntUtils is a suite of utilities and additional tools for the Ant Internet Suite. More details are available from the page above.
We are now 8. I think this is a good number to start us off. For our inaugural meeting I'm offering my home, on Tuesday 5 Dec. 7.00pm, as I feel the decision on meeting place and time should be decided by the majority.
I'm trying to get the best and cheapest premises, that has Acorn machines, for our use. I should have all the options by the 5th. If you are unable to make this date, please let me know and I will mail you the details.
My address is: 12 Little Aston Road, Harold Wood, Romford, RM3 0SP. (www.multimap.com) Phone - home - 01708 703783 - mobile 07940 542497.
Look forward to seeing you.
A lot is happening at Cerilica with the release of Vantage v0.97c (the number indicates how close we are to v1.00) to existing customers, the preparation of RiScript v4.10 and the release of a new product. On top of that, Cerilica has just committed to a more sophisticated web hosting servce to allow us to better our on-line presence.
Over the coming weeks the new Cerilica Web Site will be introduced giving the latest information on developments.
All those who joined the Cerilica Mailing list via the old web site will be updated shortly and the ability to join the mailing list will become available with the introduction of the new site.
Please note that all direct links to old Cerilica web pages will become obsolete soon.
Full news will also be posted to this forum on each item when available.
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
Cerilica Vantage pre-release v0.97c has just been released to all existing customers who have opted to receive upgrades via e.mail. If you were one of the original limited number of customers of the product and have not informed us of your decision to receive e.mail upgrades, please give a message to cerilica@cerilica.com with your full details. There is even a bonus forthcoming compact product awaiting you...
Nicholas van der Walle
(Marketing Director)
Hello everyone!
I'm pleased to announce version 0.35 of !RiscSearch, available now from my homepage (www.patrick-mortara.de).
Changes in V0.35ß:
For all of you who don't know about !RiscSearch: !RiscSearch is meant to be a meta-search engine, and AFAIK it is the only one available for RISC OS anywhere. It helps you to find web-pages about a certain topic by asking different search engines about the keywords you supply. It collects results from (at the moment) 10 different engines, filters out duplicate matches and then presents all links in a window of your web-browser.
The Association of Acorn Usergroups (AAUG) is today launching its new "shopping portal" the AAUG Shop!
We have teamed up with amazon.co.uk to provide some useful and common products for all Acorn and RISC OS users. Whether you are a user group member or not, the AAUG Shop can help you quicky and easily find any of the following products:
In addition to computer-related goods, visitors can also search, browse and purchase from the millions of other products that Amazon offer :
Q. Why visit the AAUG shop and not Amazon.co.uk directly?
A1. We have spend the time organising frequently required products into short, fast links.
A2. We get paid! Amazon.co.uk kindly donates a small percentage of every sale made via the AAUG shop to the AAUG funds, and as the AAUG is an entirely voluntary, subscription-free organisation, these extra funds come in very handy to keep the AAUG up and running!!
Q. Wont Amazon just add the AAUG commission onto the cost of my goods?
A. No. The price amazon charges is the same regardless if they are paying anyone any commission or not. If you go to their site directly they just make more profit! Note that Amazon do change their prices slightly on a day-to-day basis, but this is not related to commission.
So, whether you are looking for a replacement ink cartridge, that book on ARM assembler, a gift for XMAS or the latest DVD release, think of the AAUG Shop when making your purchase!
We will expand the shop over the coming months to include more easy to use product links, and other online retailers to give you more choice when shopping online. If any companies would like to list their products in the AAUG Shop them please email me directly.
To find out more information on any user group, whether local or global, visit our website at http://www.aaug.net/
Following the sad news of Argo's decision to axe support for the ANT Internet Suite over the weekend, we feel that now is an appropriate time to remind and announce some much more positive news.
Following the release of the R-Comp Internet Suite (60ukp) containing DialUp, WebsterXL and Messenger Pro, we are actively expanding and developing our RISC OS internet software.
Already, and over the next few months we are/will be investing heavily in development to enhance our software/range, and this is being targeted specifically at desktop computer users. Significant updates are currently receiving final testing before release.
With new hardware (RiscStation portable/Omega etc.) we feel a renewed vigour in the RISC OS marketplace, hence our decision to expand and extend development.
Prices of individual components:
| WebsterXL | 25ukp |
| Messenger Pro | 30ukp |
| DialUp | 20ukp (on its own) 15ukp (Mpro owners) 10ukp (WebsterXL customers) |
(prices include UK carriage)
All products are backed up by comprehensive tech support.
Whenever possible, upgrades are sent out free of charge, as we don't believe in penalising early adopters. For example, WebsterXL has received many upgrades (including JavaScript, SSL etc.) since its original release, always free of charge.
We are actively supporting new (often free) ISPs such as NTLworld, and new Surftime-supporting providers. We also offer the option of a FreeUK account (you pay local phone calls) free of charge when ordering the suite. Naturally old favourites including Demon, FreeServe, UKonline, Zetnet and even Argo are also supported.
The HBP10GM MIDI synthesizer is a module for playing MIDI data from a sequencer (eg. MidiWorks) or MIDI-file player (eg. Monolith). To use the synthesizer with either of these (or with MelIDI), you'll need MIDI L4 and MIDISupport, but the synthesizer can also be used on its own - a program is included which will play MIDI-files without requiring MIDI L4 or MIDISupport.
Notice that the synthesizer is still pretty much a beta-version, so not much documentation is included. Also, only a few samples are included - you'll need to find samples elsewhere.
The module and the MIDI file player plus a few programs demonstrating the API can be downloaded from my homepage:
http://login.dknet.dk/~henrik/
Please note that the www.appname.riscos.org.uk forwarding service will only point to a directory and not a specific file.
Before applying for a URL, please ensure you have your Web site setup correctly.
eg www.isp.com/yourname/appname.html will not work but
www.isp.com/yourname/appname/index.html will.
Sorry about any inconvenience.
The filer is distributed under the GNU General Public License, which means that anyone can modify it, use bits of it in their own (GPL) programs, etc. Indeed, many of the improvements made to the filer were added by other ROX users and posted as patches to the mailing list.
The only changes will be bug-fixes, new icons, documentation and language translations. Please report *any* bugs at all so we can get rid of them for the stable release!
Binary RPM packages are now available for 'Linux-i386' type systems. If anyone wants to provide binaries for other platforms, please get in touch.
There are now two mailing lists, rox-users and rox-devel. You can subscribe here, or look at the archives:
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=7023
Changes since 0.1.28 follow:
You now need TWO archives - rox and rox-base. This should make the packaging neater as well as allow us to update things separately.
Added an Italian translation (Denis Manente).
Updated the French translation (Vincent Lefevre).
When guessing file types from extensions, the filer now tries to find the longest extension that matches (eg .ps.gz, then .gz).
Running as root now simply turns on the -u flag, rather than displaying a warning box.
If AppRun was a symlink, then the owner of the file was checked, not the owner of the symlink. Slight security risk, and also prevented users symlinking AppRun to their binaries...
Deleting a pinboard icon while it was highlighted caused a crash. This means it is now possible to click on a pinboard icon to change between pinboards...
Gtk+ doesn't always scroll entry widgets to show the selection - apply a workaround (Denis Manente) - this improves the Copy/Rename/etc boxes.
The -d option didn't use realpath before sending to an already-running filer - thus, relative paths could fail to work.
The lasso box is now drawn so that the box will be in the foreground colour over the background, rather than by just inverting the pixel value and hoping it's visible (spotted by Philip Hazel).
The toolbar height is now correctly taken into account when sizing a new filer window (Denis Manente).
Textured window backgrounds didn't redraw correctly when scrolled or resized.
Changed `install.sh' from bash to sh (Bernard Jungen).
Added a man-page (Andy Piper).
Made the install script easier to use.
Amended the makedist script to remove the .cvsignore files (spotted by Andy Piper).
In view of the recent announcement from Argo about Ant Support, I would like to offer a new support scheme for Ant Internet Suite users. At present I haven't finalised the exact details, but it's likely to be some form of annual subscription scheme.
If you are interested, please email me stating whether or not you would be interested in joining such a scheme and, if so, how much you would expect to pay. Obviously any final plans will depend upon interest levels and user feedback, but I would like to be able to offer some form of support albeit in a personal capacity.
Also, recent announcements do not affect continued development and support of AntUtils, FresUtils or any other related software that I have written, or am currently developing. AntUtils will be continued to be developed and supported for all registered users. I remain 100% committed to RISC OS and future software developments.
In the light of Argo's announcement of their withdrawal of support for the ANT Internet Suite, TME would like to reassure customers that this in no way affects our support of their installations.
We have many schools running successful ANT Server Suite systems, but have been expressing concern at the lack of development of this product for some time. In consequence, we have negotiated a discount to our school customers for upgrades from ANT Fresco to Oregano site licences, for which thanks to Jack and all at Castle.
We are currently investigating various Server replacements, but it would seem that there is little chance of our final recommendation being RISC OS-based, which is sad.
If anyone has written or develops a piece of software for RISC OS and wants a shorter Web address in the form of www.appname.riscos.org.uk then please let me know.
Addresses are free and point to your existing site.
Addresses currently in operation:
www.icq.riscos.org.uk - AcornICQ
www.digitalcd.riscos.org.uk - DigitalCD
www.zap.riscos.org.uk - Zap
As ANT are no longer developing the ANT Internet Suite, coupled with the growing support demands of the software, Argo will sadly no longer be able to support any ANT software products as of 30th November 2000.
Any customer with technical support queries, that Argo are able to help with, should contact us before that date, thereafter, all support will only be available from our web site at: www.argonet.co.uk/ant/
ANT's web site is: http://www.antlimited.com/
Just to tell everyone that there is a new version of HTMLhlpr. There a couple of new bits. These are all listed in the !Help file within the applications. There are some more tags added and a feature to let you make your own.
HTMLhlpr helps you write HTML code. It lists the different attributes of the tags and enables you do edit them easily. This reduces the chance of your page being viewed wrongly in other, alternative, browsers.
If it is possible I would be very thankful for any comments on the program. This time it is more accessable. It is abailable to download at:
http://get-me.to/snigger/
Of course you can still get it emailed to you:
htmlhlpr105@tilehurstonline.co.uk
If you need to contact the Christian Acorn User Group then please note that I have a new email address:
My postal address is:
Also although the group may seem to have gone very quiet, things are happening in the background which we hope will see the light of day soon (probably a couple of months).
Andy McMullon is working on the new Common Worship liturgical material, this will form an upgrade to the existing Acorn Liturgy Suite.
I am working on a major hymn resource called 'Acorn Hymn Book', this has been several years in gestation (I do have parishes to look after!). It is a HolyBible Resource which has hymns tagged to Bible passages, it includes the full texts of nearly 1500 hymns and worship songs, others have first line, author, and source information, many have the metre and tune.
Of the full hymn texts many are public domain, but we have also secured licences from: Oxford University Press, Make Way Music, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Stainer & Bell Ltd, Jubilate Hymns and CopyCare Ltd. Sadly, despite pressure we have not secured a licence with Thankyou Music.
Hymn books cross-referenced include Mission Praise, Common Praise, Songs of Fellowship, Hymns for Todays Church, Ancient & Modern New Standard Edition, Hymns & Psalms, Rejoice and Sing and many more. The total number of hymns listed is over 4000.
This should be a major resource of value to many people and will retail for about 25ukp-30ukp.
When it is ready, there will be a further posting here.
Photos of the event are to be found at:
http://www.maceng.demon.co.uk/RISCOS2000.html
You may have seen ExpLAN's posting here about Surge Suppression for computers and networks where they talked about installing a single protection system onto the mains power distribution board of your premises.
Well, the other things that need protection are telecoms devices:
Compared with computers and networks, it's not so expensive if you get a modem blow-out (though losing a Sky settop box can be a bit expensive) but it is worth thinking about the effect of down-time while you go off and buy another modem.
To provide you with protection, Archive has been advertising (for a friend) the Grey Electronics Telecoms Protection Unit (TPU). Now they have introduced a second, more sophisticated TPU.
The Office TPU has all the features of the basic model but, in addition, has extra sockets - two UK style phone sockets and one US type. Also, it has a signal conditioning filter which reduces line noise and electrical interference. This makes communications by fax and modem faster and cleaner - so downloads won't cost as much.
Sky TV users should note that, as your box is permanently connected to the phone line, the box itself is susceptible to surges and lightning strike. What's more, if it's damaged, it's not just a new modem you have to buy but, as we understand it, the complete unit has to be replaced.
The Grey Electronics' Office TPU costs 33.49 UKP inclusive of p&p. It's available through Archive, but please make cheques payable to "Grey Electronics". You can also pay by credit/debit card through Archive.
The original Grey Electronics' TPU is still available at 23.99 UKP inclusive, but it has just the one=A0phone socket (you can always use phone socket=A0adaptors), and it doesn't have the signal conditioning filter.
Archive Publications01603-441777 Fax: 460736
Email: sales@archivemag.co.uk
I finally managed to release another version of !DiskBase, the disk (and CD-Rom) cataloguing program, which is now at version 0.81.
It has some new functionality, that when doing a Search, the Results can be displayed in 'Sort by date/time' so the newest copy of a certain entry can easily be located.
Also several bug fixes are implemented, where the main one is that in previous versions disknames were truncated to 12 characters, which is OK for hard- and floppy-disks, but as CD-Roms can have names up to 32 characters, this resulted in truncated names.
For a full list of other changes or download of the program go to
http://home.wanadoo.nl/jan.ganzevles/
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