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 |
C Learning is a new service for C Programmers - for RISC OS programmers, and for other platforms alike. It is aimed at novice C programmers, trying to learn the language.
C Learning is based on a six month subscription, of which the cost is currently at an introductory rate of 40ukp (normally 60ukp) or 65 US Dollars (normally 95). You can send your questions, code, problems, etc. and have them answered in a timely manner.
You can visit C Learning on its new website at http://www.c-learning.info/ or come visit me at the South East Show on Saturday, and ask about the project.
I have written a program that batch re-names files. But unlike all others that I have found, this one is special in two ways:
1) You can restrict it's re-naming activities to a filetype of your choice. For instance, so that it only works on CSV files or 'Word-imperfect' files...
2) It will look for occurences of a certain user-defined string within the filename, and replace it with another user-defined string.
Thus, if someone hands you a load of files with filenames of the form "YY/MM/DD/letter326" and wants you to convert them to Word-Imperfect files, you can't, because the program that does this will interpret the first '/' as an extension separator.
But now you can with this program. Just substitute '_' for '/' in all files with filetype <whatever>.
It wont recurse all directories (a feature) but does look just one level higher (another feature).
Well, I had just finished it when I noticed a program that someone else wrote (!dNAme by Matt Bellamy) that does what mine does! Except his doesn't have the capability to restrict itself to certain filetypes (of your choice). But then his works in the WIMP, mine doesn't (but the way I have implemented it means that it's almost as easy to use as one that is WIMPish.
Mine does it by directory dropping - its directory into yours, not vice versa! Read the help file!
Downloadable from URL below.
http://rogerdarlington.members.beeb.net
Cerilica is proud to announce that Insignia version 1.50 is now available to new customers as well as being a free upgrade to existing users.
Insignia was released at the beginning of 2002 and it is a unique graphics package that is ideal for creating web, print and presentation graphics without the need to have design experience. This major upgrade brings some fantastic new features:
To accompany the new release, the on-disc PDF manual has been extended to fully cover all new features - now 60 pages. The manual contains a full tutorial to help you get results quickly.
To mirror the release, the free-to-download demo version has gained the new features to allow all potential users see what this great value software now offers. The demo download now also offers four sample scripts showing a range of impressive results in addition to an updated quick PDF tutorial.
Best of all, Cerilica has maintained the low cost of the product at 39ukp (inc. of VAT and P&P to the UK)!
For full details, a demo copy and example results, please visit:
http://www.cerilica.com/insignia
Ordering details (including overseas dealers) may be found at:
http://www.cerilica.com/ordering
Cerilica will be selling the latest version of this product at the forthcoming RISC OS South East Show - while stocks last. For more information about the show, please visit:
http://www.fillin.co.uk/seshow/
The Pluto Users mailing list was set up in Autumn 2000 to provide a place for users of Pluto to discuss the application, offer hints and tips, and provide bug reports.
Pluto's author, Jonathan Duddington ("JSD"), had previously run the mailing list using Pluto itself, but ran out of time to do so, and was unable at the time to set up a public mailing list by other means. Gareth Dykes therefore eventually set up the "Pluto Users" mailing list at egroups, to ensure that Pluto users would have a place to talk.
Two years on, there have been a number of changes; egroups is now Yahoogroups, and Gareth has handed over administration of the mailing list to myself. Following some uncertainty over whether the original list would continue, Jonathan also set up a new Pluto mailing list, which is mainly focused on suggestions and recommendations for the development of the Pluto software. Jonathan still subscribes to the original Pluto Users mailing list also.
The original mailing list goes from strength to strength, and still provides a place for users of Pluto who may not wish to "look under the bonnet" of Pluto, or who appreciate help and advice from other users of the application. The list is also particularly valued by those who prefer an accessible group not dominated by discussion of policy or development work - whether new users of Pluto, or old hands!
The mailing list is open to any user; you don't need to have bought Pluto, and indeed some RISC OS software authors remain on the list mainly to ensure that forthcoming versions of their RISC OS software are compatible with Pluto where appropriate.
To subscribe to the Pluto Users mailing list, send an email to:
<mailto:Pluto-Users-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk>
Pluto is a news and mail reader (and text database) for RISC OS. For more information, email Jonathan Duddington, mailto:jsd@clara.co.uk
On the 2nd of December the CAMiLEON project is holding an event at the University of Leeds to announce, demonstrate and publicize its digital preservation work with BBC Domesday. The audience will include original members of the Domesday Project, as well as a good showing from the digital preservation, and BBC/Acorn/RiscOS communities. There will be four speakers including Peter Armstrong - the then Chairman of the Domesday Project and some special guests. A full demonstration of our BBC Domesday emulation will be running alonside the original BBC kit.
This will be an opportunity to chat with designers of Domesday and see it in action in its original and emulated forms. There is already a great deal of press interest and the event is expected to feature heavily in the national news.
The event will take place at 4pm on the 2nd December at the University of Leeds.
A number of places are available for this invitation only event. If you are interested in attending, please drop me an email at p.r.wheatley@leeds.ac.uk including the following details:
Name:
Snail mail address:
Phone:
Email:
Please could you also include details of your interest in Domesday or links to the BBC Domesday Project. We will be able to give some priority to those with a real Domesday link or to current RiscOS press.
Further information on the project can be found at: www.leeds.ac.uk/camileon
CAMiLEON is a joint project at the University of Leeds and the University of Michigan funded by JISC and NSF.
Many thanks
My website has an addition that enhances the use of Photodesk 3.04.
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/mripley/index.html
Software section.
This replaces the .!Sprites and .Resources.Territory.1.Templates files.
If you were to ask a RISC OS user what the holy grail of printing was, the chances are he'd say "to be able to print at a decent quality to any kind of printer". This would probably be followed by references to flying pigs. Well, those pigs just grew wings!
We are pleased to announce the release of the universal printer driver. No, this isn't April Fool's Day! Let's be a little more specific, it's a universal *network* printer driver, so won't be applicable to everyone. However, it does indeed allow you to print to any kind of printer, and with networking becoming fairly commonplace, it's something that should attract your attention!
How does it work? Well, the system relies on a printer being connected to a WindowsPC on your network (Win 95 - XP supported). The PC must have a working driver for the printer installed, but since every printer ships with a Windows driver, this isn't a problem.
The RISC OS machine then prints to the PC, which prints out the job natively, using the quality settings available through the Windows driver.
So, does it actually work? To test it all out, we purchased a cheap 50ukp inkjet, and hooked it up to a laptop via a USB cable. No RISC OS driver existed for the printer. We installed the PC driver, and checked the printer worked, then, on a Risc PC, clicked Print in Techwriter. Out popped a colour printed document from the printer, first time! We have subsequently used the system to proof adverts for magazines, print family trees and more.
Which RISC OS applications does it work with? Since the system integrates with !Printers, it should work with anything. We've tested with Impression, Artworks, Ovation Pro, Techwriter, Paint, Photodesk etc...
What printers does it work with? Anything that Windows supports. You've read above about our tests with a cheap inkjet, but you could also print to a high quality Photo printer using Photo Paper (and get the calibre of photo printing offered by the Windows driver!). Greyscale/mono printers are also supported.
You could also print to the cheaper "Windows-only" lasers, which require special Windows software to work. This opens up the cheaper colour laser printers such as the QMS "Desklaser" range or HP's new entry level models.
What is the quality like? The RISC OS software offers various resolutions, but because the Windows end does the printing, even low resolutions give excellent results. We have been very satisfied with the results from proof-printing adverts this week. Indeed, we'll be bringing them to the Show this weekend to demonstrate the kind of results that even low res printouts can achieve, let alone pushing the quality all the way up!
We've set a price of 35ukp for the software - this includes both the RISC OS and Windows end software - and of course VAT and UK delivery. We've chosen this price because software involving printing/networking/windows etc. is likely to require reasonable levels of support! Additionally, you no longer need to buy drivers for individual printers, so this is a "one off" purchase.
If you have any questions, please phone us on 01925 755043 or ask via email (response via email may be slow due to SE Show and various injuries).
All trademarks acknowledged, e&oe.
R-Comp is pleased to announce that version 2 of our widely praised DialUp software is now available. DialUp is known for its ease of use, speed and elegance. The new version builds on this, adding many new features to make the package more flexible and powerful than ever before. Of course, our challenge was to do this, whilst ensuring that DialUp remain as easy to use as ever!
So, what's new in DialUp 2? Perhaps the largest new feature is the ability to map different internet accounts/providers/phone numbers to different times of the day. This allows DialUp to pick the correct internet account automatically when you dial out. The feature also allows you to map no account at all to a period of time, preventing access at certain times of the day. The software can now be locked, too, so that once configured, the settings can't easily be changed by little fingers!
Mail and news handling has seen a fair bit of attention - you can now easily, temporarily disable POP emailboxes (eg. perhaps you want to access your work email only at weekends). Mail/news fetches can occur periodically when you are online, which can be useful if you are online for a long time, perhaps on a free-calls internet account. Another new feature of mail handling will be useful to people writing email online - you can now set DialUp to send email automatically when it is queued to go out. There are quick shortcuts to opening your incoming mail/news folders, as well as easy access to newsgroup listings. If your news server requires user/password details, these can now be easily entered.
Another important aspect of DialUp 2 is its behaviour when used on networks. With Broadband becoming popular, lots of people are running small home networks. DialUp 2 allows neat transition between dialup and network internet access, without reboots etc. This makes DialUp 2 ideal if you wish to have a modem backup account for when your broadband is down. Additionally, we have allowed DialUp 2 to interact with Netfetch to smooth transitions between broadband internet access, and modem backup. DialUp also now features an "always online" mode for network/broadband users. Whilst Netfetch remains our recommended tool for this, DialUp's mode will be useful if you regularly need to switch between the two types of connection.
The software is now compliant with the Global Clipboard in all its writable icons. The whole R-Comp internet suite now supports the Global clipboard, making exchange of information between members of the suite smooth and straightforward.
From the Dialing perspective, we've added finer control over timeouts, & support for pulse dialling (aka loop dialling). Rather more interestingly, there's now an option to auto-redial if you get cut off by your internet provider. This won't redial if you click "hangup" yourself, but if your ISP drops you due to inactivity or a 2hour timeout, the software can re-establish a connection if you wish.
Various other aspects of DialUp's behaviour are now customisable - all of these extra options are tucked away in an external program called DialUpXtra. This means that the main DialUp software itself is no more complex than before, indeed, in places we have tried to simplify things further, making it even more, the perfect choice for the new internet user.
We have added special support for users running proxy software such as ImageProxy or WebServe on networks. These programs can run when DialUp loads or connects, and control over whether DialUp prompts before connection is present. Additionally, applications can now be run when DialUp disconnects from the net.
Finally, there have been various updates to the Provider files to cover the various changes to surf-time deals, to Tiscali take-overs and other changes etc..
There are, of course, many other small enhancements to the software! We've done our best to ensure that DialUp remains as friendly and easy to use as ever, whilst offering more in the way of flexibility and functionality as you become more familiar with it.
As such, the upgrade price from DialUp to DialUp 2 is 12ukp inc VAT and UK delivery, provided you return your original DialUp disc. Remember to protect your old disc between two pieces of firm card - we have found that about a third of returned discs are faulty/damaged so we ask for your care in this.
Europe and Overseas, please add 2ukp delivery.
The "new" prices of DialUp will rise slightly:
DialUp2/WXL priority support (for WXL users) 15ukp
DialUp2 for Messenger Pro 2 users 20ukp
DialUp2 for those without either of the above 25ukp
Finally the R-Comp Internet Suite rises to 75ukp inc VAT
My website has an addition that extends the capabilities of Schema.
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/mripley/index.html
Software section.
The extensions to Schema are:
MAR_COPY_RIGHT
Copies the leftmost column of the selected area into all the other columns of the selected area.
MAR_INSB
Inserts x rows or columns before the x selected rows or columns (i.e. Excel behaviour)
MAR_INSA
Inserts x rows or columns after the x selected rows or columns (i.e. Schema behaviour)
MAR_NULL
Does nothing......!
Ctrl-R
calls MAR_COPY_RIGHT
Additional icons have been created to call MAR_INSA and MAR_INSB
Edit > Columns > Copy Right
Edit > Rows > Copy Down
The interfacing section of my website, http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/tudor, now contains a write up of a motor control project. The board will drive two small dc motors in both directions and allows for the connection of four switches.
A small program to test connected motors called !MotorCon is also provided.
Any feedback is welcome.
If you are interested, go to the bottom of my welcome page and follow the link to RiscPC interfacing.
I've just released GnuPG 1.2.1 for RISC OS. It's mainly a bug-fix release (no security critical bugs though, so you don't need to hurry for an update). If you are keen to know the exact changes, please refer to the NEWS file inside the distribution or linked to from my web page.
GnuPG itself is a commandline tool without any graphical stuff. It is the real crypto engine which can be used directly from a command prompt, from obey scripts or by other programs. Therefore it can be considered as a backend for other applications.
Messenger Pro 2.50 already supports GnuPG in a beta stage, later versions (2.60 onwards) have GnuPG support in release quality. Pluto supports GnuPG since version 2.04 as well. Currently those are the only two mail/news reader for RISC OS that have built-in support for GnuPG. I hope that other mail/news reader authors will support GnuPG in the future in a similar way like PGP 2.6.3ia is supported today. And I'm still hoping for front-ends to GnuPG. Authors, please get in contact with me. ;-)
Have fun and a Pretty Good Privacy,
We are pleased to announce that Grapevine version 1.03 has been sent out to customers via email this afternoon. As usual, if you feel you should have received the upgrade, and have not done so, please contact us.
Grapevine is our combined MSN and IRC communication, conversation and file transfer system.
The new release of the software is primarily an "odds and ends" release whilst we work on bigger things, but deals with important aspects such as top-bit-set handling for overseas users, improved internet address detection which is a key part of sending files, and fixes for various minor problems. A few minor extra features have also been added.
We hope users enjoy the continued development of this and other products!
Thanks to Chris Johnson's sterling work in converting all this year's Archive magazines into HTML format, and David Holden's setting up and CD copying skills, you can now buy...
Fifteen years' worth of information about things Acorn/RISC OS for just 19 pounds.
So that's 7.5+ million words, all electronically searchable and all popping up in HTML format.
In stock now.
Phone 01603-722544 to order a copy.
RISC OS South-East Show 2 November
Guildford College Stoke Road Guildford
The organisers are proud to announce that the sensational new Castle Iyonix Computer will be at RISC OS South-East. Castle Technology will be showing off the capabilities of this amazing 32 bit machine with RISC OS 5.
Castle MD, Jack Lillingston, will be presenting details of Iyonix and the operating system in the show theatre.
Visit www.iyonix.com for more information on this major new development.
Full show details can be found on www.fillin.co.uk/seshow
This is surely the most important Show for quite a long time.
When you've finished marvelling at the new product(s) why not come to see
We can't claim that our products are "new". We've been selling them in various versions for Acorn machines since 1986, and have supported Acorn and RISC OS shows many times a year every year since then.
Just in case you didn't know, our products remain the only dedicated statistical packages for RISC OS machines. The three levels of functionality (1stL, 1stJr and the full 1st package) provide statistical capability that will be a revelation to those who believe that spreadsheets will provide the statistics that they need.
Come and see the graphical facilities that are available, and easy to use. Our clients find them to be highly desirable in preparation of, for example, PhD theses, in research work in general, and in much less demanding situations, where rapid access to a variety of statistical methods and enlivening visual displays is essential. We use robust and carefully coded mathematical algorithms, which provide rapid and reliable results. Unique methods are frequently used to compute statistical quantities, all of them developed within the packages themselves.
Come and see the products in action, try them yourself and also benefit from substantial Show discounts.
On my website, http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/tudor, is version 2.82 of FSI_Batch. This fixes a bug that stopped locked aspect conversion from working if one of the values is 0. You can now drop a number of files into the window, set X to say 1024 and Y to zero and the resultant graphics will measure 1024 by Y/ratio. Very handy if you need graphics that fit the screen in any of the two directions.
For those that don't know the program
FSI_Batch will convert any group of files that ChangeFSI understands and transform them according to the options selected. These options are much like in ChangeFSI except the front end is more elaborate. The converted files are stored in an internal directory or a directory of your own choice if you prefer. Advanced users can use the command line by entering the command string in a special field.
The program will work with an A5000 as long as your version of ChangeFSI is a recent one and the SpriteExtend module is in the system directory.
Just drop any group of images - not directories - into the window, set the options and click on convert. Sit back and watch in amazement.
The program installs in the usual way. There is a single window, divided into three sections.
As an added feature, FSI_Batch will now convert Acorn sprite files that contain more than one image. A handy feature which allows you for instance to get at the individual images of a multi sprite file very easily.
The url of my website is below. Go to the bottom pf the index page and select the link to pd and shareware. And while you are at it - why not take a look at Limavady?
After much behind the scenes work I am pleased to be able to inform interested readers of the release of "MiniB",the floppy disc sized BBC micro compatible 6502 home brew computer.
It's equipped with a host of peripherals
And of course there's a BBC MOS "like" operating system to drive it all which presents all the usual OSByte etc... interfaces - so much so that BBC BASIC runs without modification!
The only minor draw back is that you have to build it yourself.
See http://www.sprow.co.uk/bbc/minib.htm for details.
I've just uploaded NetWatch version 1.63, there aren't many big changes in this new version, but because of the bug-fixes I thought it would be better to upload it right now.
The following changes are made:
NetWatch is available at my website:
http://home.student.utwente.nl/m.m.bezemer/netwatchuk.html
For people who don't know what NetWatch is:
NetWatch is a program which keeps up with changes on the internet. The user has to mark the pages of his interest. NetWatch will fetch these pages at defined intervals and calculate a checksum (MD5). This checksum is compared with the store checksum of the page. When these checksum aren't the same the page has changed and NetWatch will warn the user.
It's also possible to download something with NetWatch and when the download gets aborted for some reason, NetWatch is able to resume the download! (At least when the server is able to do)
The Unix Porting Project will be exhibiting at the South East show on November 2nd in Guildford. To find out more about the show visit http://www.fillin.co.uk/seshow/index.html
We can be found on stand A2, to the left of the entrance. Come along and ask about the vast number of software titles that could be converted to run on RISC OS, and how you can help make that happen with your subscription.
The Unix Porting Project's website is at http://www.chocky.org/unix/
Also find out about plans to convert a Unix Web Browser to RISC OS, as part of the project, and how you can also help contribute to this.
To find out more about the RISC OS Browser Issue, visit http://www.chocky.org/unix/browser.html
I'll also be announcing an exciting new subscription-based project at the show. To find out information about this visit us at the show, or wait for an annoucement shortly after.
And if all that weren't enough; also present on the RISC OS Projects stand will be Paul Vigay, with his array of products. More details to follow from Paul.
Finally, as a public service, we'd like to offer our expertise during QUIET moments on our stand by answering technical RISC OS questions - ask us about 32-bit(1), Internet issues, Programming, or any other RISC OS related question you may have. (Absolutely no PC questions please). Since some enquiries can be quite lengthy, we also ask for a small financial contribution for questions taking more than a few minutes to answer.
1. http://www.riscos.info/32bit/
For those unable to attend the SE Show, the Unix Porting Project is also planning to exhibit at the ARM Club Show on the 30th of November. To find out about this show, visit: http://www.armclub.org.uk/shows/midlands/
Time again for yet another upgrade to EXIFinfo, a utility of interest to users of digital camera images. We're now at version 0.56, and the changes include:
As ever, warmest thanks to the users who've reported bugs and suggested improvements. Heroes, the lot of you!
You can get the new version from http://www.photodesk.iconbar.com/
==== About the program ====
EXIFinfo generates files containing the information hidden inside the EXIF files (JPEGs) produced by digital cameras. The program can make anything from a simple text summary to a web page complete with thumbnail images, and because it uses script files it can be made to produce just about any format you want. It can also make caption files for the splendid image browser Thump.
It is not useful for ordinary JPEGs, processed digicam images, or images of any other format.
This is a beta version of the program, and contains bugs -- some known, many doubtless to be discovered. You use it at your own risk!
As always, feedback is welcome. Send your questions, suggestions, bouquets and brickbats to mailto:photodesk@iconbar.com
I've just uploaded !RiscSearch V0.87Beta to its homepage at www.riscsearch.de
The main changes in this version are some fixes to the decoders, and I've fixed an annoying bug that causes !Riscsearch to freeze the machine for a while when performing the very first query .....
It works ok for the original Acorn/Ant Resolver module and should also for Steward Brodie's DNSResolver, but i haven't tested this one yet.
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) 9 different engines, filters out duplicate matches and then presents all links in a window of your web-browser.
I've managed to locate a source of replacement LCD panels for the A4 laptop. These are new, sealed in the manufacturer's boxes (of 15, which I'll split), and come with scratch-protection film to be removed after installation. They are a drop-in replacement for the A4 screen panel, and can be self-fitted.
Panels are 7 pounds each, plus 1.50 pounds for UK postage for one panel or 2.50 for two (contact me for overseas/larger quantity postage).
The panels are passive matrix 9" mono LCDs, 640x480 pixels (VGA size) with pixels individually addressable (data input is via a modified raster scan), so can be used for other projects. They come without backlight (electroluminescent sheet is available from companies such as RS for this purpose, or other forms of backlighting such as LEDs can be used). Similar panels are considerably more expensive in quantity from other suppliers (such as earthlcd.com).
Further details, fitting instructions for the A4, and a datasheet for the panel can be found on my website at
http://www.markettos.org.uk/riscos/a4/lcd.html
To order, please email theo@markettos.org.uk.
**New version of Textseek**
The long-delayed new version of Textseek (v1.31) was released last week after a six-month wait and is available to download from
http://www.bigfoot.com/~chrisbazley/utilities.htm#textseek
Textseek is a fast text search program, which will search for a given (wildcarded) string through any type of file, and display its results in a throwback window, allowing you to see instantly which are relevant. The found string is displayed in the centre of the window, no matter where it occurs in the paragraph, and all control characters are nullified before they crash the throwback handler. A whole list of filetypes to search and/or to exclude can be specified, and DOS, Mac, and UNIX line-endings are all catered for.
This program is actively developed on an A5000, and thus is very Virtual-A5000 friendly!
Major changes are:
***As a result of this last change, all Textseek users are strongly***
***urged to upgrade.***
Following recent concerns that MailScout was agonisingly slow when scanning large mailboxes (containing several hundred emails) I'm pleased to announce that the new version of MailScout (version 1.11) is now available. This version explicitly deals with this speed issue and offers **huge** performance improvements over all previous versions.
The upgrade to version 1.11 has been sent out to all registered users.
If you are a registered user and have not yet received your upgrade (via email) then please contact customer.services@imagesoft.co.uk with your name and postal address.
For those who don't yet know - MailScout is an anti-spam and on-line email interrogation package. It allows you to scan your mailbox prior to downloading your email, to remove any spam/junk/unsolicited rubbish from your mailbox on the mail server *before* downloading your legitimate email.
A powerful, user-configurable filtering system is provided to automatically highlight emails which are possible spam (although the user always has final say over what gets kept and what gets deleted).
Although MailScout can be used with almost any Internet setup, simple integration tools are provided for users of Voyager and POPstar/DialUp.
MailScout provides an ideal tool in the fight against spam and is available for a mere 25UKP, fully inclusive of VAT and UK P&P. We can assist with setup and provide a friendly support service (as with all our software products) free of charge.
We are pleased to be able to accept all major credit/debit cards. For more information, or to place an order, please contact us on 01202 269720 or by email to sales@imagesoft.co.uk
Powerbase can be used to create databases of information of almost any kind and provides powerful facilities for maintaining such databases and for selectively retrieving and printing information from them. Using Powerbase at an elementary level is particularly easy - you can, for example, set up a simple address-book database in a matter of minutes - yet the needs of more advanced users have not been neglected. Descriptions of Powerbase from various sources have sometimes implied that it is a relational database. It isn't, but it can provide you with some of the facilities which fall outside the sphere of a simple flat-file (card index) type of database and for which a relational database program might otherwise be necessary.
It is best described as a flat-file database with table-validation. This means that text fields within the database can be linked to a list of items in such a way that the field will not accept items unless they are on the list. That list (called a validation table) can have many additional columns providing extra information which may be included in printed reports from the database if required.
Its website has been re-structured and was updated 9/10/02.
Latest versions of Powerbase:
9.10 The recently revised version of what was previously called PbaseDA. The recommended version for all users of RISC OS 3.5 or later. *Not* compatible with RISC OS 3.1.
8.33 A bug-fixed version of 8.30. No longer being developed but still available for RISC OS 3.1 users.
There is a revised and extended manual for v.9.10 which incorporates all the extras in the supplementary manual and all the features exclusive to v.9.10. The tutorials have also been revised and the main tutorial considerably expanded to cover creating and altering a database.
Appearing for the first time is a demonstration of how you can add non-standard features to Powerbase and an explanation of how it's done. Works with both 9.10 and 8.33.
All this at http://www.pendle.ukgateway.net/
CVS port 1.01 is available right now at my website.
The changes included in version 1.01 are:
I've also had a look (again) to OpenSSH and to let CVS make use of it. But it's too complicated, I can't find the correct functions or I really don't know what parameters they want to have. So I'm afraid no SSH2 and server mode for CVS at the moment...
For more information about my port or for a copy of it (or its source files) please have a look at my website:
http://home.student.utwente.nl/m.m.bezemer/cvsuk.html
For more information about CVS itself and what it does, please have a look at the documentation on the official CVS website at one of the following locations:
http://www.cvshome.org/docs
http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual
For further information and downloads:
http://www.s-ellis.freeserve.co.uk/stem/
Stuart Tyrrell Developments are pleased to announce the availability of the Simtec USB card to retail customers.
The USB card implements two USB compliant ports, both capable of supplying the full USB specified load of 500mA each without exceeding the Acorn Expansion Card specifications. It is supplied complete with HID drivers, allowing the use of keyboards, mice and other HID devices - for further details see the RISC OS section of our website and http://www.riscos-usb.org/
Price: USB card + Free Hub: UKP79+carr+VAT=UKP99inc
Contact:
Stuart Tyrrell Developments
PO Box 183
OLDHAM
OL2 8FB
Phone: 0845 458 8803 or 01706 848 600
Fax: 0870 164 1604
Web: http://www.stdevel.com/
Calling all Webmasters, in June 2001 the Acorn Cybervillage web site changed its URL. But being a clever and responsible WebMaster I put in place automatic redirection to change:
http://www.cybervillage.co.uk/acorn/
to
http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/
But over a year later I still see lots of people using the old link and I'm getting tired of emailing sites which are still in the wrong.
Shame on you webmasters and magazine authors. ;-)
Well now is the time to search through your hyperlinks and actually change them to the correct one because from the 15th October I'm going to place an automatic redirection on the old url to point to some pornographic web site.
There, that will make hopefully make those webmasters and authors take notice. :-)
ROX-Filer 1.3.4 (developer release) is out now! This version should be pretty stable.
ROX-Filer is a small, fast, powerful filer for Unix, Linux and compatible systems. Its user interface is based on the RISC OS filer, and it supports similar concepts, such as application directories, drag-and-drop saving and popup menus. It also implements a RISC OS like pinboard, and a panel which can be used in a similar way to the RISC OS iconbar. It also supports many features not found in RISC OS, including thumbnails of images, keyboard short-cuts, many more options, powerful search facilities, etc.
ROX-Filer can be used on its own, with another desktop (such as GNOME, KDE or XFCE), or as the core component of the ROX desktop. The ROX desktop aims to bring all the good features of RISC OS to modern systems. Get ROX-Filer here: (source and Linux-x86 binary archives at present):
http://rox.sf.net/rox_download.php3
The filer now requires Gtk+-2.0 (which installs easily alongside Gtk+-1.2):
Screenshots:
http://rox.sourceforge.net/index.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php
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.
Changes since 1.3.3:
Translations
http://rox.sourceforge.net/install.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/guide.php3
You can read more, download ROX-Filer, read the comments people have made, and look at some screenshots here:
http://rox.sourceforge.net
http://rox.sourceforge.net/comments.php3
http://rox.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php3
There are two mailing lists; rox-users and rox-devel. You can subscribe here, or look at the archives:
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=7023
A selection of tutorials on writing ROX applications is available on-line:
http://rox.sourceforge.net/tutor.php3
Enjoy!
Update:
Embarassingly, SuperFPEm 2.32 didn't work with RISC OS Select's version of FPEmulator (4.10). This was entirely my own fault, due to poor research. (SuperFPEm 2 has to know how to access the FPEmulator's workspace and I seem to have assumed it worked like 4.14 when in fact it works like 4.09).
I have fixed it now, plus a small performance improvent I thought of in the meantime.
It can be obtained from this URL, as before:
As always, comments and bug reports are welcome.
As of today's date the new version of VirtualA5000 (V 1.3) is shipping to customers. Existing customers can upgrade their copies of VirtualA5000 to the new version by downloading upgrades from our website.
The new "Laptop Friendly" version of VirtualA5000 includes support for integrated graphics cards as found on many laptops and some cheaper desktop computers. Previous versions of VirtualA5000 required the computer to have a powerful graphics card in order for VirtualA5000 to perform well. The new version has a software scaling mode that allows the PCs processor to perform the screen update, this offers a performance benefit on many machines.
The hardware scaling model from previous versions can still be selected using the VirtualA5000 options window for those who have powerful graphics cards.
In addition version 1.3 includes a scrolling desktop feature, this allows large RISC OS desktops to be displayed on smaller resolution displays. As the user moves the mouse pointer to the edges of the screen the whole RISC OS desktop will move to track the mouse. In addition we have made changes to the sound system to improve its performance on high speed processors. The new version of VirtualA5000 also includes full long file name display in the RISC OS filer, although we have always supported long file names older versions of VirtualA5000 have truncated the name in the filer window. The new VirtualA5000 also has a smoother mouse pointer than older versions and supports some new display modes including 1400x520 (For Dell Inspirons and some other laptops) and 1600x600 for desktop machines. Version 1.3 also ships with the latest version of the ArcDisc Acorn format disc reader.
Existing users can obtain the version 1.3 upgrades from the downloads section of our website at:
http://wwww.virtualacorn.co.uk/
Acorn Publisher - the magazine for *all* RISC OS users can now be purchased on-line. Details are available on our subscribe page which can be accessed from:
http://www.acornpublisher.com/
Acorn Publisher has long been recognised as the best RISC OS magazine covering the areas of graphics, desktop publishing and web design for both the professional and ordinary RISC OS user. Together with a soon-to-be-released web magazine (AP On-line), Acorn Publisher will cover the whole the whole spectrum of RISC OS interests. And even Windows (and Mac & Linux &c) users can learn from the generic information that has long been part of Acorn Publisher. Their needs, lets face it, are greater even than yours!
If you're looking for a magazine that treats you as intelligent and assumes that you want to produce high quality work then subscribe to Acorn Publisher. We're not available from newsagents but, if you want to browse before you buy, you needn't suffer the indignity of joining the line of non-buying readers in Smiths. Just tell us that you want to examine our magazine and we'll send you a free copy of Acorn Publisher to browse through in your own home. We're confident that you will want to subscribe.
[NB as a new subscriber to Acorn Publisher you will be entitled to discounts off the price of past issues of the magazine]
If you don't want to buy on-line then you can still pay your subscription using your credit/debit card by telephoning:
0161-969-9820
or sending a cheque to:
Acorn Publisher, 30 Finnybank Road, Sale, Cheshire M33 6LR
UK subscription rates* are ukp29.95 for 1 year (6 issues) - non-UK rates are given on our web site together with lists of contents for the last 2 volumes of Acorn Publisher magazine.
*subscriptions costs include UK postage and will allow free access to restricted areas of the Acorn Publisher / AP On-line web sites.
SuperFPEm speeds up floating point operations on RISC OS. It supports StrongARM, ARM710 and ARM610. It doesn't support the ARM7500FE, so ignore this message for A7000+, Riscstations, Micos etc.
It can be obtained from this URL:
And includes a help file that should give all further information that may be required.
In case that's insufficient:
Once upon a time... a chappy called Nial Douglas (known for wimp2) hacked the FPEmulator to speed up a dodgy release of Acorn Quake. He uploaded it to Hensa and I downloaded it and intrigued, continued the reverse-engineering 'just-for-fun'. Eventually, after trying rewriting lots of it, it got called "SuperFPEm" and I put it on my webspace for a while.
That any interest was shown in it at all was quite unexpected to me, as it merely made floating point on RISC OS a little bit less very slow that it was before, but it seems quite a few people installed it anyway.
I abandoned SuperFPEm as my coding style had changed and frankly it was a mess.
Last time I tried to fix it up, I failed. I tried to fix a problem someone seemed to be having with it, but gave up, having forgotten how much of it worked and finding the code hard to understand.
So now, over a year since my last attempt, I've got a new RISC-like strategy. I've decided to cut out vast quantities of the source code and concentrate on the bits that matter. In doing so, I've discovered lots of bugs in SuperFPEm that I never had a clue existed. It's much more reliable now.
For all the rare cases, SuperFPEm uses the FPEmulator and then bounces back to itself. In fact they enjoy a kind-of symbiotic relationship in which some of the instructions used by FPEmulator then get emulated by SuperFPEm, so trigonometric functions also get a speed-up even though SuperFPEm doesn't know anything about them any more.
I've tested it a lot and am quite happy with it, but I still would like anyone who tries it and has any problems to drop me an email, because the whole aim was to clear up *all* the problems with it, so I can say I finished the job. :-)
Here's the URL again:
| 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 |