News from Third Party Developers

All the latest news about software and hardware products from third party developers

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

October 2001


!EnBank V1.05 Released

31st October 2001

EnVision Software

Version 1.05 of !EnBank, The multi-currency accounts package for RISC OS, is now available from the RISC OS pages of the EnVision Software web site: http://riscos.envision-software.co.uk/

New features since version 1.04

Please note that !EnBank requires RISC OS V3.5 or later.

Basic home use of the base unit, that's a maximum of 5 Accounts, 10 Standing Orders and 500 Transactions, is free.

Licence details and prices to remove the base unit restrictions and/or add multi-currency capabilities are on the web site. You can also check out !EnBank's full capabilities by requesting a free 60 day trial licence.

EnVision Software

ROX-Filer 1.1.8 and other news

31st October 2001

Thomas Leonard

NEW RELEASE

ROX-Filer 1.1.8, a new developer release of the filer, is now on the web (source and Linux-x86 binaries only at the moment):

It's a developer release, so you may wish to stay with the current stable version, although the new one should be OK.

Please report any bugs found.

Changes since 1.1.7:

New features:

Options:

Translations:

Compiling:

Bugfixes:

Other changes:

BACKGROUND

ROX-Filer is a graphical file manager for Unix/Linux which provides a RISC OS-like interface. It is also the core component of the ROX desktop; a RISC OS-like desktop for Unix/Linux.

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 filer comes with translations for Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian.

ADDRESSES

There are installation and getting started guides available. The getting started guide has lots of screenshots and may be interesting to people thinking of trying ROX, or wondering what it looks like.

You can read more, download ROX-Filer, read the comments people have made, and look at some screenshots here:

There are two mailing lists; rox-users and rox-devel. You can subscribe here, or look at the archives:

A selection of tutorials on writing ROX applications is available on-line:

OTHER NEWS

Plotter, a program for graphing functions (not part of ROX), has been changed to use ROX-Lib and now supports drag-and-drop saving, etc:

Memo, the RoughTime inspired alarm clock, has had its 1.0.0 release:

A new release of ROX-Lib (a library of python code to help get a ROX look-and-feel) is now available:

And, apparently, Xtheater (not part of ROX) is being rewritten by its author to use ROX-Lib...

More developers and users are always welcome, though!

Thomas Leonard

Oww 0.66.0 - with hub support

31st October 2001

Simon J. Melhuish

=== Announcing Oww version 0.66.0 ===

[Oww is a weather station program for Linux and RISC OS, supporting the Dallas / AAG weather station, rain gauge and humidity sensor.]

This version brings support for the DS2409-based "hub". This device uses the micro-lan couplers to add branches to a 1-wire trunk network, improving reliability, and providing for external powering. A hub design has been described by Simon Atkin at www.simat.enta.net

Since this has required several updates to core functions please treat this release as alpha quality. The previous version is still available from the download page. Please report success or failure to me.

There are also a couple of bug fixes. Many thanks to those users providing feedback.

http://www.simon.melhuish.net/projects/oww/

http://www.simon.melhuish.net/projects/download.html#oww

http://freshmeat.net/projects/oww/

Simon J. Melhuish

Lot of new stuff at eQ R&D

31st October 2001

David Feugey

Hello, this is David from eQ R&D.

There are now new versions of our RISC OS SDK. RISC OS SDK is basically only a distribution of a precompiled version of GCCSDK from Nick Burrett (as Linux RedHat is only a distribution of existing bits). We did add VIDE (integrated IDE), some libraries and some source code to work with. It's easy to use these packages ! For example you just have to decompress the archive WHERE YOU WANT under Linux to use the package. For Windows there is an integrated installer.

MPxPlayer comes also in a new 0.2 version : Bug with MS RIFF MPEG2 files is removed. It should now read every Mpeg audio stream (Mpeg 1 layer 1, 2 and 3). We also add a Playlist support.

And finally Welcome to french readers! The Website is now revamp and available in French.

Bienvenue a nos amis francais :)

As usual all is on http://www.eqrd.net

David Feugey

SharedSound

31st October 2001

Andy Pierson

A new version of the SharedSound module (version 1.03) is now available for download from the ESP website at

SharedSound was originally designed to provide shared access to the 16 bit sound system of a RiscPC so that multiple uses such as the sound support for the PC Card and the ESP MIDI Synth could play at the same time.

It is also used by ARMMovie and many other applications and enables users of the sound system to share output rather than throw off previous users in order to have exclusive use.

This new release includes a number of improvements including the availability of fill, mixing and volume control routines from the module to make it easier to write sound routines that use SharedSound.

The previous public release of SharedSound was version 0.58 which was released with RiscOS 4. This release is part of ESP's continued support for RiscOS Sound and MIDI.

Andy Pierson

New ANS Filebase now online

30th October 2001

James Sears

The ANS Filebase <http://filebase.acornusers.org/>, a directory of RISC OS software, has been significantly enhanced with the addition of a new interface and personalisation system.

To search for RISC OS software go to the ANS Filebase web site <http://filebase.acornusers.org/>. You can specify multiple keywords (eg search +require -exclude), or use the advanced search page at <http://filebase.acornusers.org/search>, which includes many new features such as searching by author.

To take advantage of the new personalisation features simply register at <http://filebase.acornusers.org/register>. Registration is free, and the e-mail address you provide will only be used to send you information you request from the site.

When you have logged in you can select software you are interested in, and next time you visit the site you will be able to see a list of programs which have been updated.

Alternatively you can choose to receive e-mail notification when software in your list is updated. You can choose daily, weekly, or monthly e-mails, which will contain details of all updates since the last e-mail.

The ANS Filebase currently contains more than 500 entries, and users can help by adding details of new software. All links are checked regularly to ensure they are active. Software authors who register can claim the database entry about their programs, to ensure information is accurate and up to date.

ANS also provide the ANS Newsletter, a fortnightly e-mail summary of Acorn related news. You can view past issues or subscribe on the ANS web site <http://www.acornusers.org/ans/>, or by sending a blank e-mail to <mailto:ans-subscribe@ans.acornusers.org>.

ANS Filebase
http://filebase.acornusers.org/

James Sears

GraphDraw new release

30th October 2001

Chris Johnson

An updated version of GraphDraw (now at version 2.60) is available from the following urls.

or or

For those that still do not know about GraphDraw:

GraphDraw allows the entry, and editing, of x,y values, and the data may then be fit to

The resulting graph may be printed via any standard RISC OS printer driver, saved as a draw file, or exported as a MultiPlot file to allow several graphs to be combined.

Manuals in Ovation Pro or Impression format may also be downloaded.

Chris Johnson

Acorn User - Editor

30th October 2001

John Cartmell

John Cartmell has today joined Acorn User as editor of the best-selling magazine for RISC OS users. He is at present assisting in the production of the Christmas issue of the magazine and will take over control of Acorn User in time for the first issue of 2002. John has contributed to the News and Graphics columns of the magazine for over 12 months. Readers of the Acorn newsgroups may have noticed that John has already asked here for ideas that could be used to improve Acorn User and we would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who took the trouble to respond to that request. Some of those ideas will find their way into the magazine from January onwards.

Continuity on the magazine will be assured by the presence of Steve Turnbull as Consultant Editor and as contributor. The new editor intends to introduce new contributors to the magazine but these will add to those already writing for Acorn User and not replace them. More details of the changes will be released in the Christmas issue of Acorn User. John has already planned exciting new additions to Acorn User to complement the best of the present magazine. These will be phased in over a few months. Your ideas are still welcome.

"The presence of Acorn User in newsagents is an essential tool for the RISC OS community", says John. "It's essential that that tool is used to promote RISC OS and we will work to ensure that it does it well. Our intention is to provide an excellent read, and a source of information, for all current or potential RISC OS users."

The next issue of Acorn User is due to appear on newsagents' shelves, or your doormat, later this week. The Christmas issue will be out at the beginning of December.

Comments on this announcement should be e-mailed to editor@acornuser.com and there is still time to start your subscription with the December issue of Acorn User by sending an e-mail to subscrip@acornuser.com or contact us as below:
Acorn User magazine
26 Stockport Village
Hooper Street
Stockport
Cheshire
SK1 1DQ

(+44/0) 161-429-8902
(+44/0) 161-429-0685 [FAX]
www.acornuser.com/
editor@acornuser.com

John Cartmell

SHAREWARE: txt2pdf 5.3

30th October 2001

SANFACE Software

We would like to announce txt2pdf 5.3 version.
http://www.sanface.com/txt2pdf.html
txt2pdf is shareware; it is a very flexible and powerful PERL5 script that converts text files to PDF format files, so you can use it in every operating systems supported by PERL5, including RISC OS. Joern-Erik LEO Burkert developed !txt2pdf: a txt2pdf RiscOS GUI (http://www.burkert.org/leo/acorn/). If you prefer we also distribute executables for Windows, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and FreeBSD. Inside the Windows version is Visual txt2pdf, a VB GUI.

What's new in this version

Now the text can contain Mac EOL (end of line) (\r), Windows EOL (\r\n), Unix EOL (\n).

Test txt2pdf 5.3!
You can find it at http://www.sanface.com/txt2pdf.html

SANFACE Software

LibXML/LibXSLT tools update

30th October 2001

Justin Fletcher

The LibXML & LibXSLT tools xmllint and xsltproc, as well as the RISC OS source for libxml 2.4.7 have been updated at:

The tools updated are:

This update follows todays release of the libxml 2.4.7 and libxslt 1.0.6 sources.

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).

Changes over the previous versions (from the release note by Daniel Veillard, edited for relevance):

More information about libxml2, libxslt and the related tools can be obtained from http://xmlsoft.org/.

As in the past, I intend to keep RISC OS libxml2/libxslt releases within 24 hours of the base unix source release.

Justin Fletcher

NetWatch 1.52 available

30th October 2001

Maarten Bezemer

NetWatch version 1.52 (30 October 2001) is now available:

The nasty bug, which causes the computer to temporary freeze, is finally removed.

NetWatch is a program which (automaticly) checks for updates on the web. The program allows URLs to be added, by typing them or dragging a URL-file. For every URL some choices have to be made. eg. the frequency the URL has to be checked. Now NetWatch will check these URLs and warn the user when the page (or image) the URL point to has changed. So you won't miss any news or updates anymore!

It can be downloaded at:
http://home.student.utwente.nl/m.m.bezemer/netwatchuk.html

Maarten Bezemer

!NurseW update

30th October 2001

Graeme Wall

!NurseW, the macro inserter for the Dr Wimp programme is now at version 1.59.

This version corrects a couple of minor bugs in the output and has improvements to the parameter handling routines. It is compatible with Dr Wimp version 3.60.

It can be downloaded from my website: http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/riscos/soft.html

Graeme Wall

GameSuite Smartgroup set up

29th October 2001

Andrew Hill

I have set up a GameSuite smartgroup. It is concerned primarily with trying to update GameSuite for the Risc PC, but may also be spread to cover other games engines and development.

GameSuite is a games engine, designed by Andy Southgate, author of Asylum and Oddball. Whilst technically it is not the most optimised games engine in the world, it is suitable for smaller work - the fact that it was used to produce two commercial games in the past is testimony to this. It is easy to use, and is ideal for beginners or those with only knowledge of BASIC to write, for example, a platformer, without the hassles of assembler.

I am currently maintaining the group, which will be publically owned. It is hoped that people could make steady contributions to development.

I am urging anyone who is interested in the development of games software and who has any knowledge AT ALL on programming to join the group, and contribute on a discussion on the subject. Those who have already written games, used to write games, are writing games or would like to write them are particularly welcome. If you have any expertise AT ALL on the subject, or even if you know of someone else is, then please get involved.

Anyone interested, please e-mail me, or look up GameSuite on www.SmartGroups.com.

Andrew Hill

Audiogalaxy Satellite 1.05Alpha

28th October 2001

Marc Warne

Many of you have had problems recently connecting to the Audiogalaxy servers. Although I didn't originally intend to release the new version in this incomplete form, I feel it is best to because none of you can connect any more.

So...!Satellite 1.05Alpha has now been released! It's available at:

The program is incomplete in places and there are a few known bugs such as the transfers window opening whenever a new transfer is initiated. Work is underway for a proper release which will hopefully include full file sending capabilities.

What is the Audiogalaxy Satellite?

The Audiogalaxy Satellite is a small and simple program that allows you to share your music with friends and other users on Audiogalaxy. You must download [...] and run the Audiogalaxy Satellite for the system to work correctly.

(information from the Audiogalaxy website)

Marc Warne

More RISK maps from Thomas Rankin

27th October 2001

max

Website http://www.casa1.demon.co.uk/

2 more RISK board game maps by Thomas Rankin have been added to my site. These are !Wales and !Hive. The latter is an interesting variation on the theme.

The Acorn PC software emulator information page, including patches and advice on getting the software to run on a RiscPC.

Spares and books/ manuals page for Acorn Archimedes and BBC Micro computers.

max

Infozip 3.00

26th October 2001

Harriet Bazley

The new version of !Infozip, my Filer-like front-end to the Info-ZIP routines is out.

Version 3.00 features a significant change to the user interface - all file names and paths within the zipfile (i.e. in the File info box: !UnixHome/c/SetHome) are now displayed in Unix format, and a pane at the top of the contents window is used to display the the current directory path within the zipfile, instead of this data being displayed in the titlebar. The titlebar now holds the RISC OS path of the zipfile itself, making it more Director-friendly! Associated with this change, ADJUST-clicking on the close icon of the contents window now opens the parent directory of the zipfile instead of going up a level within the zipfile contents display itself - a new up arrow icon on the new pane takes over the latter function. Of course, 'Open parent' from the menu still works....

Other changes - there is no longer any limit to the number of files that can be displayed in a directory, or to the width of a filename (although if it is more than 272 OS units wide, it will be abbreviated to ensure that the columns of icons in the window do not become ridiculously far apart). Resizing the window will cause the icons to rearrange so that all columns are still visible. Changing screen mode/desktop font will cause the columns to resize so that the full length of filenames are visible. The initial width of the contents window is always sufficient to display the entire length of the 'internal path', even if the current directory displayed is empty. Various icons right-align instead of left- or centre-aligning if too narrow for the data they contain. Basically - major changes, on a line with the change from RISC OS 3.1 to RISC OS 3.5.

The contents window now uses 'virtual' icons and user redraw instead of hardwired real icons - so redraw is slower. Still usable on an A5000 even with over 100 files in one directory - but in this case redraw is now noticeable instead of instantaneous :-(

All files are now displayed as untyped, instead of as Data files. New-style sprites provided for 'Archive' filetype on RISC OS 4. Dragging zipfiles to the iconbar now works even if ArcFS is running. Iconbar text now changes between 'Busy' and 'Idle' instead of 'Busy' and 'Zip', since the latter was a cause of confusion.

A few bugs fixed - menu-handling on ADJUST-clicks tidied up. Filetypes in the range &000-&0FF no longer incorrectly identified as already compressed. Vartical centring on screen of alertbox and configure windows corrected.

Infozip is available from
http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/utilities.htm#infozip

########

Known bugs in v3.00:

Harriet Bazley

Digital Photography Now RISC OS browser compatibility

26th October 2001

Ian Burley

Humblest apologies to all of you who have doggedly tried to browse DPN with RISC OS browsers. Many pages will not load properly.

However, I have hopefully ensured that the main RISC OS page and a special RISC OS compatible home page, will work properly with RISC OS browsers.

The RISC OS page edited by Paul Vigay is at:

http://www.dp-now.com/Features/RISC_OS/risc_os.html

Paul can be contacted via paul@dp-now.com for suggestions and feedback to help him formulate future updates.

Ian Burley

Shanghai v1.05

26th October 2001

David Chapman

Shanghai has been updated to version 1.05.

Changes from v.103 (last release version) are:

Fixed bug whereby an illegal tile could have removed if that tile had been selected before using the undo facility to replace a tile adjacent to it (thanks to Markus Huber for bringing that one to my attention).

Removed 'Save options' and 'Quit' from play board menu and moved 'Options' to Iconbar menu. (suggestions from Markus Huber again).

Removed the possibility of being able to add another name to the hi-score table if the hint button was used again after a hi-score name had just been put in.

Layouts are now in the form of level,row,column making it easier to create your own layouts, although a layout editor program is in the pipeline.

Shifting heap memory management now implemented so tilesets of anysize can be created and used.

Game pause now works correctly i.e. remaining tiles are blanked when paused.

Shanghai now has the ability to load and save games. Saved games can be started from the position where the game was saved or from beginning.

The layouts display window now shows the different layouts by plotting individual tiles instead of displaying a sprite of the given layout thereby reducing the amount of memory required.

The layouts and tilesets menus are now dynamic insofar as they will auto adjust when layouts or tilesets are added or removed.

The statistics window now gives stats for each individual layout.

Two new layouts have been added to the game.

Classic tileset graphics enhanced making it much clearer to see the tiles.

Medieval tileset ported from original Mah Jongg game by request (the wife!!)

Clicking <Select> on the iconbar icon only starts the first game not subsequent games. (suggestion from Ray Dawson)

For those who don't know what Shanghai is:

Shanghai is a desktop version of the ancient Chinese game of Mah Jongg. This version incorporates 17 different layout designs, 4 different high resolution graphics tilesets with the ability to automatically incorporate user designed layouts and tilesets. The only requirement is a desktop screenmode of 1024x768 (although some of the layouts can be displayed in a smaller screen modes) and at least 256 colours.

The game is Freeware and can be downloaded from the http://shanghai.riscos.org.uk/

David Chapman

MidiWays : Update to !Historian

25th October 2001

Lenny

I've recently uploaded !Historian 0.16 to my site:

Historian allows maintainance of Fresco's history list. It can either be used as a VIX module (for Voyager users), or as a standalone application.

Only minor changes in this version, though mainly to allow it to run with RISC OS Select.

Lenny

MidiWays : Update to !Midiphile

25th October 2001

Lenny

I've recently uploaded !Midiphile 0.22 to my site:

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.

Recent versions introduce the use of Choices: when saving user preferences, and support for long filenames.

Lenny

MidiWays : Update to !Verma

25th October 2001

Lenny

I've recently uploaded !Verma 0.17 to my site:

Verma is a simple utility that displays version information about Modules that are stored on disc. Eg drag !Boot or !System to its icon and it will display details for all modules found there-in. It will also indicate multiple copies of modules (irrespective of their version number).

This version introduces a few bug fixes, support for long filenames, and more module info. Oh, and it will work with RISC OS Select.

Lenny

*RMRost-Meetings

24th October 2001

Thomas Mala

We proudly announce our next two meetings in November and December 2001. More on our homepage (see below)...

Our homepage is found under URL://www.rmrost.de and under the link 'Termine' are a small list of our monthly meetings. On these meetings we discuss about the future (and wishes) of RISC OS. A few members of us have the sweet dream of an own programmed real-time-space-game (and we try it...) for ROS-users.

Thomas Mala

RISC OS Banner Network

23rd October 2001

RISC OS Banner Network

I am setting up a RISC OS banner network, basiclly you put a banner on your RISC OS related website and your site will be advertised on other RISC OS related websites. This is a free service, the only cost is putting a banner on your website. To join visit
http://www.riscos.f2s.com/banners/

This article comes from My RISC OS
http://www.myriscos.co.uk/

The URL for this story is:
http://www.myriscos.co.uk/article.php?sid=72

RISC OS Banner Network

Email and Snail Mail Address Changes

23rd October 2001

Vince M. Hudd

The following changes are being instigated in order to combat a large upsurge in the amount of spam and its snail mail equivalent now being received.

Snail Mail Address

The FREEPOST address is being discontinued; it's hardly ever used these days for 'legitimate' mail, anyway, so there is very little reason to continue with it.

Henceforth, all snail mail correspondence for Soft Rock Software should be sent to:

Soft Rock Software
124 Marissal Road
Henbury
Bristol
BS10 7NP

Email

Please update your email address books so that any email addresses they contain @softrock.co.uk are changed to addresses @spamsoftrock.co.uk - in other words, insert the word 'spam' between the '@' and the 'softrock.co.uk'

http://www.softrock.co.uk/ will remain the home of the main Soft Rock Software website, but the domain will no longer be used for email; the new domain, spamsoftrock.co.uk, has been registered specifically for this purpose - i.e. addresses such as the one used for this announcement are *NOT* spam trapped, they are real.

After a short overlap period, all email to addresses @softrock.co.uk will be redirected to a web based email system, where it will receive a cursory glance once in a blue moon (just in case) and then deleted.

Mailing Lists

The WebChange mailing list address is unaffected by any of this - it remains as wc4ros@www.softrock.co.uk (using majordomo@www.softrock.co.uk with 'subscribe wc4ros' or 'unsubscribe wc4ros' in the body to subscribe or unsubscribe as appropriate.

A mailing list for the Windows version also exists, as wc4win@www.softrock.co.uk (same subscribe/unsubscribe instructions as above, but use wc4win in place of wc4ros), but as development of that version is like a snail in reverse gear, I don't expect to see (m)any subscribers ;-)

The (recently changed, invitation only) beta test mailing list address(es) are also unaffected.

The #Argonet IRC mailing list, which was hitherto being handled by Pluto, has seen no legitimate messages for quite some time, only spam (which gets deleted). This list, therefore, is now closed.

Vince M. Hudd

MakeTable 0.24 released

23rd October 2001

Nick Roberts

Version 0.24 of !MakeTable is available for download from

!MakeTable is a tool to convert CSV/TSV files into HTML tables and vice versa.

0.24 corrects some minor bugs reported in the recent release of 0.23, and tidies up the main control dialog box.

Nick Roberts

ArtWorks+modules Mailing List

23rd October 2001

Nik Gare

A new Artworks Mail list has been set up at Smartgroups. This is an open list open to anyone, with the aim of getting the most of of Artworks and its additional modules. To sign up send a blank email to artworks-subscribe@smartgroups.antispammeasure.com or use the web interface at http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/artworks

More information about additional Armodules (and general Artworks info) can be found at http://www.mw-software.com/

Nik Gare

RISC OS digital photography section in Digital Photography Now

22nd October 2001

Ian Burley

Digital Photography Now (www.dp-now.com) is a new Web site dedicated to users of consumer-level (up to prosumer) digital cameras, scanners, photo printers, accessories, software and related services.

There is an embryonic section dedicated to RISC OS, edited by Paul Vigay (very kindly contributing for the love of it!), on the site starting from today.

Before I get flamed - it's just a start, it's not perfect and I know some RISC OS browsers will not work properly on the site - all I can do us apologise in advance.

DPN was set up with the hard commercial reality of addressing the 99.9% visitors who use Microsoft IE and Netscape (versions 4 or later). I will do anything I can to make life easier for RISC OS broswer users, but it may take some time. Please be patient in the mean time.

Any suggestions for making this resource active and vibrant - please contact Paul via paul.vigay@dp-now.com or myself (ian.burley@dp-now.com). The future of this new section is more in your hands than mine!

Ian Burley

MakeTable 0.23 released

21st October 2001

Nick Roberts

Version 0.23 of !MakeTable is available for download from

!MakeTable is a tool to convert CSV/TSV files into HTML tables and vice versa.

This version fixes a couple of minor bugs, and also provides mechanisms for row and cell alignment parameters to be read from the source CSV/TSV files.

Nick Roberts

!Spook - a program to jam Echelon

20th October 2001

Nat Queen

As a small contribution to this year's Jam Echelon Day (21 October 2001 - see http://www.cipherwar.com/echelon/ if you don't know what this is all about), a new program !Spook has been released on my privacy/security site at

http://web.bham.ac.uk/N.M.Queen/pgp/acorn.html

!Spook enables you to generate random phrases containing 'trigger words' to frustrate Echelon, the secretive global spy system coordinated by the NSA which indiscriminately intercepts billions of everyday private e-mail messages and other electronic communications and automatically scans them for designated keywords. Many people protest against such snooping by occasionally adding a few suggestive keywords to their routine communications. !Spook not only automates this process, but also generates an intriguing variety of random phrases. It can also generate random 'greetings' for any snoopers who may be 'listening'.

This program by itself cannot defeat Echelon or other eavesdroppers who invade our privacy, but it might help to give them a bloody nose. :-)

Nat Queen

Pic_Index JPEG image thumbnail indexer

19th October 2001

John Williams

Whilst I have no doubt that WebThumbs from R-Comp (recently announced here) is a valuable and useful resource for automatically producing web pages from images, I respectfully suggest that you should /also/ look at Pic_Index.

Pic_Index is an application which produces thumbnail-indexed web pages from collections of JPEGs - and which are very user-configurable.

These 'albums' are useful, in addition to use on web sites, as a means of accessibly storing images on CD or disc. Soon the facility of searching for specific sets of images by using key words is to be implemented for registered users, the key word field being an extension of the 'comment' or 'caption' which can be assigned to each image. This will be /very/ useful for camera users who generate vast quantities of images!

Subject to continuous on-going development and having a current registration fee of only 5ukp, it is well-worth visiting

to find out more!

And there /is/ more - loads more!

Moreover, the down-loadable version will allow you a reasonable number of trial uses (nine or ten in normal use) before expiring and demanding registration for further usage.

Whilst not having the backing of a well-respected company such as R-Comp, Pic_Index does have the advantage of a committed and industrious author, known on UseNet for some years, with a continuing vision of further development and a proven record of implementing this and responding to user's needs.

It is /not/ finished - it never will be! It is an evolving concept that thrives on /your/ input of /your/ requirements!

Visit the pages and see the specimen album. Read the comments of satisfied users. Download the trial version.

You know it makes sense!

The above is not intended to denigrate any other product - just to encourage you to make an informed choice!

Pushy, me? Never!

John Williams

Melotech contact details

19th October 2001

Michael Stubbs

Melotech is pleased to announce a new, normal-rate telephone and fax number. With immediate effect, the new number is 0113 242 4510.

Melotech does not employ dedicated sales staff - the people you talk to are the people that do the work. This brings obvious benefits to you, as you have one contact throughout and we don't pass on the cost of employing sales personnel. However, this means that we often will not be available to take telephone calls. We therefore ask you to use email or fax as the primary method of communication.

http://www.melotech.co.uk/

Michael Stubbs

More companies represented at RISC OS 2001!

18th October 2001

CJE/NCS Sales

The following companies will not be at RISC OS 2001 themselves but have arranged with CJE Micro's to offer their products at the show.

Dalriada Data Technology
Aleph One Ltd
Image Software
Partis Computing

CJE Micro's can be found on stand 29.

Chris Evans

RCI announce Multiplayer Descent 2

18th October 2001

R-Comp Interactive/RCI

R-Comp Interactive are pleased to announce that the long-awaited multiplayer version of Descent 2 will be available at the Bracknell show this weekend.

This new version of Descent 2 can be played over a network in many different game types including team play, co-operative play, deathmatch etc. Lots of different game options ensure endless hours of fun!

Additionally, this version will run on Arm710/7500 machines (although slowly). Whilst we wouldn't encourage users of these machines to purchase the game as a single player title, it may allow more users to enjoy the multiplayer aspects of the game.

R-Comp Interactive/RCI

R-Comp announce Messenger Pro Server Edition

18th October 2001

R-Comp

Messenger Pro 2 is almost certainly the most powerful and flexible email/news software for RISC OS, and is constantly been described as 'better than anything on the other platforms'. However, until now, it was only half the story. Sure, you could do everything you needed on a single machine, or connect to a network mail server. But you couldn't *be* that mail server. Now you can.

So, we are proud to introduce the lastest member of the Messenger Pro family - Messenger Pro Server Edition. This is a brand new version of the software that allows you to share your mail and news across your home or business network, and access it from other RISC OS, Windows etc. machines. Unlike some other solutions, setting up Messenger Pro Server is simplicity itself, just a handful of clicks and you'll be up and running. Indeed, it looks and feels just like the standard version of Messenger Pro, yet it shares your mail and news using industry standard IMAP, SMTP and NNTP protocols.

So, what does this mean in practise? Well, if you own several computers, you can now download all you mail on one main machine and continue to do email on that machine as you do now (with all the security, reliability and compatiblity benefits of using RISC OS for email). But, at the same time, other family members can be accessing their mail from their machines, by connecting to your main machine. Indeed by storing mail centrally, any family member could use any machine on the network to check their mail, making it flexible and effective.

And of course, if you want to filter out unwanted messages, you can set the server to filter the mail just as you would normally.

As you might imagine, if you have more than one computer, this is a wonderful boon, and it'll be priced to be affordable to home users as well as businesses.

Whilst we had expected to have the final shipping version available at the Bracknell show, the extensive testing and reliability checking required for a server product mean that whilst you will be able to see Messenger Pro Server edition running, and read, write, search, move, copy, etc. mail/news from the server with different users etc. we won't be releasing the product until shortly after the show. Nevertheless we're sure you'll want to see it in action at the show and will be amazed when you do.

R-Comp

R-Comp announce WebThumbs web gallery creator

18th October 2001

R-Comp

We are pleased to announce a new application to be launched at the Bracknall show this weekend.

WebThumbs is a program which takes a series of photo images (or other bitmap images) and allows you to automatically produce web pages showcasing them. Numerous different styles of pages can be produced, and you can change colours, text, fonts, sizes, background images etc. to suit your needs. This is a very flexible and powerful way of getting your images onto the web!

Rather than being sold as a standalone product, we are including WebThumbs in two of our existing programs - The Web Designer's Toolkit 2, and EasyClip 2, as we feel it complements these titles perfectly.

We would imagine that most Web Designer's Toolkit users will receive this as part of the HTMLEdit v5 upgrade (see other announcement). EasyClip 2 users can upgrade by sending their original EasyClip 2 discs back to us with a check for 5ukp to cover postage and the new software.

R-Comp

R-Comp announce EasyClip 2+

18th October 2001

R-Comp

R-Comp is pleased to announce a new version of our EasyClip 2 software to be released at the Bracknell show this weekend.

EasyClip 2 is a photograph and clipart management system, which makes it easy to store, search, view, slideshow and otherwise look after your images. In an age of Digital Cameras, web site graphics and traditional DTP, it has more uses than ever!

The latest version of the software includes our new WebThumbs application (see other announcement) which allows you to take a series of images (eg. your holiday photos) and automatically generate a web site or series of pages to showcase them. Numerous different styles and customisations can be made to ensure your site is clear and distinctive.

Additionally, there have been several minor enhancements to the EasyClip application itself as a result of customer feedback.

Existing EasyClip 2 users with the R-Comp release of the program can upgrade for 5ukp. The price for new customers remains the same at 25ukp.

R-Comp

R-Comp announce HTMLEdit v5

18th October 2001

R-Comp

R-Comp is pleased to announce the availability of HTMLEdit v5 at the Bracknall show this weekend!

Version 5 of our award-winning HTMLEdit software brings support for many of the latest web technologies such as JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets, as well as support for HTML 4.01. There's support for font faces, and the whole handling of fonts/colours has been revamped. Named colours are supported, as well as much more detailed colour selection. The software allows JavaScript "roll-over" buttons to be added quickly and easily, as well as providing extended JavaScript support throughout. Numerous other additions have been made, including enhancements to the link/image validations, previewing of images from the image database, improvements to Publish and dynamic content etc... Also included are additional add-ons to assist in development of JavaScript and CSS.

If all this sounds a bit complex, don't worry. We've put a lot of effort into ensuring that all these extra functions are not intrusive, so that the package retains its ease of use.

The upgrade also includes changes to (almost?) all the programs in the Web Designer's Toolkit, so please include that disc too if you are upgrading. There are new features here, as well as more minor enhancements. Additionally, the new WebThumbs image-gallery program is included in the latest version of the Toolkit.

Upgrading

Users of HTMLEdit v3 or later (ie. v3, v3.5, v4, v4+) can upgrade to HTMLEdit v5 for 20ukp inc VAT. Please return your existing discs (black AND white discs) with a cheque. If you own the Web Designer's Toolkit, don't forget to include that disc as well, to ensure you receive the latest version! If you haven't yet upgraded from v3/3.5, you won't have the new easy to use manual in the studio box. We would recommend you buy this too - cost 12ukp - but this is optional. It is essential however, if you are still using the Web Designer's Toolkit v1 (applies to few users only) that you upgrade first to v2 in order to get the benefit of the new WDT2 enhancements. If you are in doubt of which version you have please enquire first.

If you wish to upgrade at the show this weekend, PLEASE BRING YOUR 3 DISCS WITH YOU!

R-Comp

TempDir and RISC OS Select

17th October 2001

Stuart Halliday

We at Quantum Software have found that !TempDir (any version) causes a boot up error message "This program only runs under RISC OS 3.1 or above." to appear once you've rebooted after upgrading to this new version of the OS.

To solve this minor bug go to
http://www.quantumsoft.co.uk/tempdir/tdpatch1.zip and unarchive this small zip file over your existing copy of !TempDir.

None of your settings in !TempDir will be affected.

We apologise for this stupid bug.

Stuart Halliday

See Phoebe's first ever public appearance at RISC OS 2001

17th October 2001

Neil Spellings

The Association of Acorn Usergroups (AAUG) are pleased to announce they will have numerous things of interest on their stand at this years RISC OS 2001 show on 20th-21st October.

*Yes, we did say a WORKING Phoebe, complete with RISC OS 3.8, IOMD2, VIDC20, PCI slots, SDRAM, and of course the yellow case :-)

What we are short of is software to show off its incredible speed - if you have something which you think would be suitable (commercial or share/freeware) , please email me neil@aaug.net

Note we wont be able to install or try any software on the day, so any submissions must be emailed to me in advance.

For information on the RISC OS 2001 show and for advance tickets visit
http://www.riscos2001.com

For information on the AAUG and usergroup information and discounts
http://www.aaug.net

To signup to AAUG Online, the only FREE RISC OS-friendly ISP, visit http://www.aaugonline.net

Neil Spellings

BookMaker V1.69 released

16th October 2001

Nick Roberts

Version 1.69 of BookMaker is available for download from

This version fixes a bug with support for the VoyaTerm and FreeTerm telnet clients.

BookMaker is a hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISC OS browsers, most email clients and other internet tools.

Nick Roberts

Cerilica at RISC OS 2001

16th October 2001

Cerilica Limited

Cerilica will naturally be attending the largest RISC OS Show to be held in the South of England on the 20/21st October. Being the first show that Cerilica Vantage (RISC OS' latest 'killer app') will be available over the counter, we are ensuring all visitors will have a great chance to see the package perform before their eyes. For this show, TRUISM 2.5 will presented for the first time illustrating exactly why Vantage will bring RISC OS into new professional publishing arenas. Optimisation has also taken place for users of the ViewFinder video graphics upgrade to provide enhanced redraw speeds.

Cerilica's custom stand (number 37 on the show website plan) features four presentation machines with all available Cerilica software from Vantage to RiScript being personally demonstrated by professionals. This allows all visitors to see how Cerilica can cater for your specific design and publishing needs. In addition to this, Cerilica will be giving a presentation in the show theatre from 11:00 on both days.

We will be well stocked with all exclusive Cerilica packages, including the Publishing Pack and the latest product, Batch EPS, which will both be uniquely available on disc for the show (normally only supplied over the internet). The sales desk can easily process your order by card, cheque or cash.

Cerilica will also unveil its latest brand new design software at the show. Set to be made available shortly after the event, it will be possible to reserve your copy by simply making your interest known. Even though we are not disclosing what the software does until the 20th October, it will be of great interest to designers for both the web and print and will be competitively priced at 39ukp fully inclusive!

Finally, we are very pleased to announce that one half of the RiScript author team will be attending the event. Roeland can proudly declare his part in producing one of RISC OS' most successful current products and will be on-hand to answer any specific questions relating to the premier and continuously developed PDF package.

For full information about the event, please visit:
http://www.riscos2001.com

For the latest Cerilica news, please visit:
http://www.cerilica.com/news

See you all at Bracknell!

Cerilica Limited

New stuff at eQ R&D

15th October 2001

David Feugey

Hello, this is David from eQ R&D...
A lot of good news this time :)

First, all our software will work now on most computers (no more 32 bit libraries). So all our software can be used very easily...

StupidPlayer 1.0 : Not much changes, but it works as expected, so "1.0 version"!

Kino 0.3 : A few changes... You should use this version anyway.

MPxPlayer 0.1 : First version of a very fast desktop MP3 player for computers with FPU. It's even faster than StupidPlayer... It could even work on A5000 (should be possible with a few changes as 8 bit output)! This software is based on LibFreeAMP and comes with a lightweight interface.

Zhaba : One more time, it's only a technology preview, but it's working. Zhaba is a Java Virtual Machine very closed to Waba (used on Palm computers). Download it, decompress it, and just click on a "JClass" file...

Please note that the Website is smaller now, so downloads are faster than before. We have also change all the contacts to give e-mails for each member of the company.

Finally, welcome to Denis Pichugin who reach us at eQ!

All is on www.eqrd.net... As usual...

David Feugey

New AcornSearch resources

15th October 2001

Ian Hawkins

There are new resources on the AcornSearch website for everyone to use. They are as follows:

Auction listings from Yahoo & ebay

Listings are compiled twice-daily for all Acorn/RISC OS related items currently available on the Yahoo and ebay auction engines, ranging from many old pieces of Acorn hardware (for the nostalgic amongst us) to StrongARM based RiscPCs.

Useful files

All Acorn news & auctions from the front page are available as tabbed-separated value files from the website as follows:

News: http://www.acornsearch.com/news.txt
Files: http://www.acornsearch.com/files.txt
Ebay auctions: http://www.acornsearch.com/ebay-auction.txt
Yahoo auctions: http://www.acornsearch.com/yahoo-auction.txt

The format of the files is described on
http://www.acornsearch.com/fileformat.txt

Of course, the availability of this information just begs for some type of RISC OS application to be written. :)

Developing projects

In the near future - To help promote development for the RISC OS platform, I hope to offer free webspace to developers working on RISC OS programs. Details to follow soon.

Reminders...

I'd like to remind everyone that AcornSearch offers a read-only newsfeed of all the Acorn/RISC OS newsgroups - Those of you on BTinternet might have noticed that news.btinternet.com has been regularly dropping articles, and might want to try AcornSearch as an alternative for downloading news.

I am always looking for constructive criticism for improving the engine. And for more content. Currently the 'Technical information' & 'Mods' pages have no information. If someone would like to volunteer information for the pages, or let me use content from another site, I would be greatful.

Remember, RISC OS related banner adverts on AcornSearch are free. Go to http://www.acornsearch.com/adverts.html for more information on how to get your company/program/hardware advertised.

Footnote.

You may be interested to know that the AcornSearch engine has developed into a few other subject-specific sites.

Working:
http://www.javahunter.com/ JavaHunter - A Java related search engine.
http://www.sgihunter.com/ sgiHunter - A search engine for info about SGI/IRIX

In progress:
http://www.epochunter.com/ EpocHunter - Symbian/EPOC related search engine.

AcornSearch will continue to exist for long into the future. Since its original incarnation back in 1996 in BASIC on a RiscPC it has been constantly developed into what you can see today.

Ian Hawkins

Educational Software

15th October 2001

Neill McNeill

Educational programs for the Acorn/RISC OS platform are now freely available:

Countdown: program for testing multiplication bonds against the clock.

Clozeword: a program to develop reading skills using cloze procedure.

FullMarks: a program to develop correct use of punctuation

Password: a program to develop spelling using Look Cover Write Check

Fuzzword: a program for developing letter sequencing skills.

Why not pay us a visit at:
http://www.narrator.demon.co.uk/senssoft

Neill McNeill

RiscCPS Updated

14th October 2001

David McEwen

Version 1.25 is available now from my website.

Changes include:

RiscCPS is an arcade emulator specifically written for RISC OS, which currently supports around 73 romsets. Capcom Play System, Neo Geo and System 16 & 18 are currently emulated. This provides access to many games that were previously unplayable on RISC OS. These games include Metal Slug 1 & 2, Pulstar, Street Fighter 2, Vampire: The Night warriors, amongst many many others. If you appreciate high quality games then this is for you.

You will need a fair amount of RAM to use the emulator (ranging from 12MB upwards). It is also recommended that you have a StrongARM processor. On my 200Mhz SA I get around 16/20fps in Neo Geo games without frameskip... on an ARM710 RiscPC I got around 15fps with a frameskip of 3 (which IMHO isn't particularly playable). However it may mean that it is more playable on the ARM 7500FE powered machines than I previously thought.

So if you want all this you can grab it from my website:

http://www.acornemus.freeserve.co.uk

David McEwen

More software releases

14th October 2001

Richard James C. Butler

Various updates and a new application are now available from my servers at:
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc>

APPLICATIONS
EasiFiler 1.08b (easy application launcher)
AthaClean 2.06 (Wipes <Wimp$Scrap>, now shows message when run
Restore 1.00 (Pressing 'Insert' while this is running during PreDesk will allow you to restore the CMOS data saved with my app !CMOS)

PATCHES
Stylus (now turns auto-repeat back on when quit and turns caps off)

SOURCES
EasiFiler 1.08b (BASIC source to EasiFiler)
AthaClean 2.06 (C source to AthaClean)
Acronyms 5.26 (C source to Acronyms - new !)
Restore 1.00 (BASIC source to Restore)

Richard James C. Butler

EasiFiler 1.08b

14th October 2001

Richard James C. Butler

EasiFiler is the result of a poll on csa.apps for the last two days.

EasiFiler is a replacment for the module ResourceFiler, and provides a easy application launcher for most used applications.

Sorry for the people who have 16+ items in Apps, they will have to choose which they use most and leave the rest in the standard ResourceFS Apps directory!

Even if you don't like the idea of a application launcher, have a look, it's freeware.

EasiFiler binary and source can be downloaded from
<http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc>

Richard James C. Butler

Drobe is back online

13th October 2001

Chris Williams

Two things regarding the RISC OS news portal drobe.co.uk:

Chris Williams

PipeDream mailing list

13th October 2001

Richard Torrens

It is with regret that I announce the closure of the PipeDream mailing list.

A list such as this should have been has little point if the persons responsible for the programs's development do not actively participate.

Most of you are aware that Gerald and I had a disagreement many months ago. After that, Gerald ostracised the list.

I had hoped that laying low would let time heal the wound, but it has not.

Recently I asked the list members isf anyine else cared to run the list. Maybe if I withdrew, Gerald would feel free to use it. But there were no volunteers.

I am afraid that Gerald has a long memory. I am certain that the list cannot suceed while I run it.

Clearly I went about things in the wrong way - though I do not know if there was a right way. And I still am not at all sure exactly what actions of mine led to the rift.

So the only choice I have now is to close the list. Sorry.

I apologise to all that things did not work out.

Richard Torrens

!ShowNeT v1.00 for !NetTime users

13th October 2001

Keith Wright

Announcing the release of !ShowNeT.

!ShowNet allows the user of !NetTime to view their time used without actually being online.

It is available from
http://www.denmarkwa.net.au/~kwright/

Keith Wright

New RISK maps

13th October 2001

max

Thomas Rankin has kindly donated many new RISK (the board game for Acorn RISC OS) maps.

I will be reviewing a couple at a time and uploading to my site. The first two maps are; 'Poland' and 'Dead'.

Also on my site is information about Acorn's software PCemulator and old Acorn hardware, books and software for sale.

http://www.casa1.demon.co.uk/

max

New version of Ancestor+

13th October 2001

David Holden

APDL is pleased to announce that a new version of Ancestor+, the RISC OS Genealogy and Family History program, will be released at the RISC OS 2001 Show.

This is a major upgrade and, as well as other improvements, now includes a full scrolling view of all or part of the tree which can be saved as a Drawfile. Unlike other programs, this 'view' is not fixed, but individuals can be dragged about and interchanged so that you can, for example, alter the order of children or spouses, and the links will be automatically redrawn.

Naturally, as with earlier versions of Ancestor+, this tree (or the entire database) can be exported as a cross-linked HTML file or GEDCOM to make it easy to exchange information with other family members.

The new version will normally be distributed on CD, and there will be a completely new printed manual. Because this is such a major upgrade for the first time since Ancestor+ appeared there will be a charge. At the RISC OS 2001 show this will be 20 ukp including VAT, but you must bring your original program disc with you.

Ancestor+ will continue to be developed and improved and once you have paid this upgrade fee further updates will be available free from the APDL web site as before.

Upgrade prices and availability after the show will be announced.

David Holden
APDL http://www.apdl.co.uk/

Shiner 1.00/1.05

12th October 2001

Richard James C. Butler

Shiner, a front-end for the very fast MP3 encoder Shine, is now available from my servers at <http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/downloads>

Two version are available:
(a) Shiner 1.00 based on ARM Shine 1.00
(b) Shiner 1.05 based on ARM Shine 1.05

Hope you find them useful!

Richard James C. Butler

New software releases

12th October 2001

Richard James C. Butler

I'm bored so I made these software releases available: :-)

APPLICATIONS
Acronyms 5.26 (Tiny change to the way the wimp polls, if you have 5.25, there is no need to download this)
CMOS 1.00 (Saves, Restores and Deletes (the saved copy of the) CMOS data)
Invaders 1.01 (Launches 'Invaders' (RISC OS 4 only !))
AthaClean 2.05 (Wipes <Wimp$Scrap> completely at each boot)
TextJoin 1.10 (join files together - very nifty: I've joined 200MB with it!)
Shiner 1.00/1.05 (front-end for ARM Shine 1.00 and 1.05)

PATCHES
Jigsaw 1.00 (Makes Jigsaw work on Ro4/StrongARM)
Shylock 1.00 (Makes Shylock work on Ro4/StrongARM)
Stylus 1.00 (Makes Stylus work on Ro4/StrongARM)

SOURCES
Invaders 1.01 (simple C source)
AthaClean 2.05 (simple C source)

All can be downloaded from: <http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc>

I hope you find them useful ! :-)

Richard James C. Butler

!GraphTask 4.01 release

10th October 2001

David J. Ruck

Version 4.01 of !GraphTask is now available, incorporating a few minor fixes:

!GraphTask provides graphical taskwindows allowing many non desktop programs to be run in a multitasking desktop window. It supports VDU graphics plotting, numbered modes including teletext mode 7, palette changes, scaling of the window, and reporting the mouse corrected position.

It is freely available for download along with many other useful programs at http://www.armclub.org.uk/free

David J. Ruck

LibXML/LibXSLT tools update (again)

10th October 2001

Justin Fletcher

The LibXML & LibXSLT tools xmllint and xsltproc, as well as the RISC OS source for libxml 2.4.6 have been updated at:

The tools updated are :

This update follows todays release of the libxml 2.4.6 and libxslt 1.0.5 sources.

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).

As in the past, I intend to keep RISC OS libxml2/libxslt releases within 24 hours of the base unix source release.

Followups by email, please.

Justin Fletcher

BookMaker 1.68 now available

9th October 2001

Nick Roberts

BookMaker V1.68 is now available for download from

This version includes both bug-fixes and a couple of minor enhancements:

BookMaker is a hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISCOS browsers, most email clients and other internet tools.

Nick Roberts

Desktop Repton - time to play Repton within a desktop window!!!

7th October 2001

APDL/PROACTION SOFTWARE

Since it first reached the Acorn platform in 1985, the Repton series of games has proven itself to be an instant hit with most members of the family. Some like the puzzles, some like the ability to create your own levels - others just think that the lead character, Repton, is cute [as far as green lizard-like things go].

It is with pleasure that I can now announce the release, at RISC OS 2001, of Desktop Repton 3 - a new version of the classic Repton game which allows you to play ENTIRELY WITHIN THE DESKTOP! Games included within the collection are Repton 3, The Life of Repton, Repton Around the World in 40 Screens and Repton Thru Time; plus for the first time ever a fully multi-tasking editor is supplied integrating with RISC OS applications just as you'd expect.

The launch date for the title is 20th October 2001, at RISC OS 2001, at a price of 14.90ukp. It's supplied on CD-ROM, in a jewel case with a special colour printed manual guiding you through all aspects of the game and editor. This special edition format may only be available for a limited time, and it really makes all of the difference!

If you wish to order, please call APDL on 020 8778 2659, email sales@apdl.co.uk or write to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN. Postage is included within the UK, but overseas customers please enquire before ordering to confirm postage.

David Bradforth

RISC OS 2001 Show

7th October 2001

Mr J Sawer

THE RISC OS 2001 SHOW OCTOBER 20 AND 21
THE BLUE MOUNTAIM CENTRE, BINSTEAD, BERKSHIRE
SATURDAY 10AM TO 5PM
SUNDAY 10AM TO 4PM

Final arrangements for the RISC OS 2001 show are now being made. Confirmed exhibitors include Castle, Cerilica, RISC OS Ltd, Softease, RComp, APDL, Surftec, Photodesk, Jonathan Duddington, Warm Silence Software, CJE Micros, Net BSD, Archive, Electronic Font Foundry, Acorn User, Fortran Friends, Serious Statistical Software, Clic Software, Association of Acorn User Groups and, the main sponsors and organisers, The ARM Club. Likely additions are CTA Direct, Xplan, Martin Wurther, Liquid Silicon, Flair Design, RiscStation, Reflex Electronics, Future Computer Systems, Akalat Publishing, Printmaker and Microdigital.

Theatre presentations are to be made by Cerilica, RComp and RISC OS Ltd. It is hoped that added to these will be Surftec and Microdigital.

Castle will have their popular Internet Cafe, allowing everyone to surf the net using the latest version of Oregano. RComp will be operating an arcade to demonstrate their latest RISC OS games.

The Blue Mountain Centre is easily reached by road or public transport. Shuttle busses will leave Reading main line station at half hour intervals on Saturday, every hour on Sunday. To find the shuttle bus, go towards the lower numbered platforms and the Brunel Arcade shopping area. Leave through the main doors to the side of W H Smith. The shuttle busses will leave from far side of the road outside, next to Gregories Cafe and on the opposite side of the road to the taxi rank. Busses will be operated by Burgfield Minicoaches, and will carry RISC OS 2001 signs.

For the location of the venue, road directions and the latest details of the show, visit the show web site, www.riscos2001.com

Mr J Sawer

AMPlayer beta testers needed

7th October 2001

Robin Watts

Further to Justins message yesterday in which he mentions the AMPlayer beta testers list, this is an appeal for more beta testers.

Our current beta testers were chosen to be people with StrongARM based machines; the next version of AMPlayer (about to enter testing) has had its operation on ARM7500FE based machines significantly enhanced; my A7000+ can now play 128kbps streams in realtime (albeit with x2 decimation of the output samples). Newer (faster) ARM 7500FE based machines (such as RiscStations) should be able to do noticably better than that.

Consequently, if any owners of such machines wish to take part in the beta testing process, please drop us a line at the following address <mailto:amplayer@armware.dk>.

Robin Watts

AMPlayer news update and various support groups

6th October 2001

Justin Fletcher

It seems that the documentation in the last release of AMPlayer contained some erroneous information. Specifically, the details on AMPlayer_Control appear to be incorrect. If anyone is interested in further details, can they please contact the AMPlayer developers at <mailto:amplayer@armware.dk>.

In the light of this, and partly from guilty through having not announced this before, it's worthwhile saying that there is a SmartGroup for MP3 application developers at:

This is not primarily for discussion of AMPlayer, but for any authors writing front end, manipulation tools, or other related utilities under RISC OS. It's a low volume group, with some knowledgeable people on it.

Also of interest to authors of sound software is the RISC OS audio developers group. This is a group whose charter is not specifically aimed at MP3, but at general audio. Andre Timmermans runs this group :

And there is still a group for beta testers of AMPlayer where we give out beta versions and expect feedback on it. This has been exceptionally useful in the development of AMPlayer, and we would again like to thank its members. Anyone interested in beta testing the AMPlayer module can contact us at the above email address.

Justin Fletcher

BotKiller 2 released as freeware!

5th October 2001

Jan Klose

BOTKILLER 2 RELEASED AS FREEWARE!

While you are waiting for the game TEK, you might be happy to hear that Artex Software have released the puzzle platform game BotKiller 2 as freeware! It can be downloaded directly from the Artex Software website:

The level editor is also included, so you can go ahead and design your own puzzles.

Jan Klose
Artex Software

!NetTime 1.06

5th October 2001

Keith Wright

NetTime 1.06 has been uploaded and is available from
http://www.denmarkwa.net.au/~kwright/

It includes a bug fix to do with the pop up reminder window.

NetTime keeps a record of how long it has been running since it was started, and also aggregates how long it has been in use since the last reset of the software,(done by using menu button over the window). It also shows the date of the last reset and has a pop up reminder when a month has passed since the last reset.

Keith Wright

LAME: High quality, fast(ish) mp3 encoding on StrongARM. Now 20% faster.

3rd October 2001

Mech

New, faster StrongARM/RISC OS port of LAME version 3.89 (beta 1)

Hi, I have just uploaded my latest port of LAME.

LAME is a very flexible command-line mp3 encoder for RISC OS. There is a StrongARM-only version and an ARM7500FE version.

It is available for download from http://www.toth.org.uk/~mech/ and so is the source. It's been there for a while, but I just didn't bother to announce it in c.s.a.announce.

Sorry about the readme, I didn't spend much time on it. There isn't a fancy web page either.

If you want a front-end for it, I think Justin Fletcher's generic one supports it.

Speed

Well, that depends on the hardware and what kind of options you use it with... 20-30% of realtime on a StrongARM for your average mp3. I don't know how fast it goes on a Kinetic, but it would be interesting to find out.

If you have a PC, you will probably want to use that for mp3 encoding. It'll be hugely faster. :-)

Sound quality/accuracy:

Even at minimum quality setting (-q 9), Peter Everett (the author of ARM Shine) said on the subject of LAME: "it's still *far* superior to shine (you can quote me on that)". So there you go. It may not be quite as fast as the latest version of Shine, but you get more for the wait. :-)

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't anything better on RISC OS for making mp3s.

Mech

Archiology back

2nd October 2001

Michael Gilbert

I'm pleased to be able to report that Pace have given positive permission for the contents of the Archiology site to be made available.

My thanks to Craig Charlwood @Pace for responding to my request, and all @Pace for saying yes.

And to Justin Fletcher for prodding me into actually asking (:-)

In case you don't know/have forgotten, it's a place where I've uploaded zipped copies of the contents of original Acorn Applications, Demo and other discs for machines in the Archimedes and A-series pre 1994.

I'll try and put up images too, but that won't happen today...

The Archiology website: http://www.eclipse.co.uk/gilberts/archiology

Michael Gilbert

Atomwide to discontinue manufacturing

2nd October 2001

Philip Chapman

As all good things come to an end, Atomwide is preparing to discontinue the manufacture of its Ethernet interfaces and High Speed Serial Cards for Acorn computers. The products will remain available while stocks last, with support continuing for as long as is practical.

Anyone with a requirement for significant quantities, or even single pieces, of Ethernet or Serial cards should contact Atomwide before midday on Monday 8th October. After this date, remaining stocks will be available on a strictly 'first come, first served' basis.

Please note that a 40% deposit payment will be required at point of order to secure product from the final build run, which will be available around the end of October 2001, with the usual 12 month warranty.

Philip Chapman

RISC OS Software Engineer position - Cambridge

1st October 2001

Claire Barton

IMagicTV are one of the recognized leaders in the delivery of video over broadband networks. We have an opportunity for engineers with 3+ years experience to join a small team working on leading edge technology.

Experience of Acorn/Pace RISC OS operating system, preferably gained with set top boxes, and strong C skills are essential. ARM assembler and C++ experience desirable.

Excellent conditions of employment in a small friendly company.

CVs by email to Claire Barton, Human Resources, iMagicTV (UK) Ltd, Suite 315 Wellington House, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1BG. Tel: +44 (0) 1223 451288

Claire Barton

Locate 0.60 Released

1st October 2001

Steve Fryatt

After a long wait, Locate version 0.60 is finally available for download from my website. The main new feature since the last version is that objects and selections can now be dragged from the results window in to other applications.

However, there are several smaller additions and a few improvements. In no particular order: various error handling has been improved, filetype menu creation should be faster on non-SA machines thanks to code from Harriet Bazley and datestamps are now checked for directories and applications. There have also been a few bug fixes, which are probably worth the upgrade in their own.

The program is Freeware, and can be downloaded from my website at

If you do download it, I would appreciate your comments and feedback on any bugs or features that could be added or improved. It should work on any version of RISC OS from 3.1 onwards; let me know if it doesn't!

Locate is a Desktop utility to search for files, directories and applications meeting a given set of criteria. It will match filenames using wildcards and will also compare size, age, type, attributes and contents; the idea is based very loosely on the 'Find files' utility in Windows and the equivalent on the Mac.

Steve Fryatt

AMPlayer 1.36 release

1st October 2001

Justin Fletcher

Hot on the heels of AMPlayer 1.35 comes... <astounding drum roll> AMPlayer 1.36! Wander over to:

Robin described 1.35 wonderfully last time, so I wonn't say much more except to that 1.36 has working 8bit sound support.

[For those that don't know, AMPlayer is an MP3 player for all RISC OS machines - Backup Mod.]

8-bit sound support will only be selected if SharedSound is not available. The sound system selection mechanism was, for various reasons, ignoring the fact that 8 bit was available.

Since RISC OS 4 comes with SharedSound in ROM, if you only have 8 bit sound, you would be wise to unplug SharedSound. A future version of SharedSound, supporting 8 bit systems will appear at some point, I'm sure.

Justin Fletcher


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