The news is organised in chronological order, with the most recent stories at the top. Choose the month you require, then click on a topic heading to jump to the associated announcement.
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Stuart Tyrrell Developments remains one of the few RISC OS hardware developers to design and manufacture their own products, and this side of the business has also enjoyed the stability associated with our work in other arenas. Regardless, we have been amazed at the performance of our RISC OS work over the last couple of years - our mouse interfaces, switch boxes, NET100, our association with the Simtec USB project, and related products have certainly "bucked the trend" of what is often perceived to be a shrinking marketplace.
Our ethos is to design, commission and implement "ground up" solutions - for example, development of NET100 included a full, clean stack. As the design and associated code is not taken from public source or owned by others outside the project, this work may be sublicenced elsewhere with a corresponding reduction in development costs for RISC OS implementations. We have a number of mass-market devices in development which may benefit the RISC OS marketplace in a similar manner.
Over recent years, Stuart Tyrrell Developments has continued to expand, with its core business rooted firmly in the RISC OS and related arenas. During this time, we have been pleased to continue to offer a personal, friendly, expert service to our retail customers, in addition to providing for larger business-to-business customers.
In order to allow for further expansion, the addition of further specialised staff, and to enable the funding and development of larger projects, we have made some changes to the profile of the business. Paramount amongst these is the need to be able to separate off B2B transactions in order that they do not interfere with our ability to offer our utmost attention to our core customers.
These changes are:
On 1st October 2003, Stuart Tyrrell Developments will become a trading name of Advantage Six Ltd.
Retail customers may continue to trade with Stuart Tyrrell Developments as before. Phone numbers and addresses will remain the same - your calls will be answered by the same people. However Stuart Tyrrell Developments gains the protection of a larger parent company.
Current and potential Business to Business customers will become direct customers of Advantage Six Ltd, enabling these transactions to be handled more efficiently. Further details will be provided to these customers as required.
Forthcoming months will see the addition of further staff to the team. Familiar to many RISC OS users will be Matt Edgar. Hailing from a similar training background to Stuart Tyrrell, Matt arrives on a permanent basis with over 12 years of experience in software and electronic design and specialises in scaleable solutions. Visitors to our stand at the Wakefield show may have already met Matt, and benefited from his expertise and good nature.
Advantage Six Ltd and Stuart Tyrrell Developments are proud to announce this venture, and trust that it will lead to the release of a number of new and exciting RISC OS and related products in the future.
Contact:
Stuart Tyrrell Developments
PO Box 183
OLDHAM
Lancs
OL2 8FB
Tel: 0845 458 8803 / 01706 848 600
Fax: 0870 164 1604
Email: info@stdevel.co.uk
www: http://www.stdevel.co.uk
I have set up a new portal for people either getting back into RISC OS, emulating it or using older machines. Along with the portal I have also placed a few of my applications on the site, the only really useful one being !ShortCut, an application shortcut generator.
Located here: http://www.archez.co.uk
Please note this site is entirely PHP 4 and I still do not know whether is performs well with RISC OS browsers.
Image Software
24th September 2003
In light of recent email viruses with large attachments we would like to remind everyone that MailScout provides an ideal method of controlling the contents of your mailbox and avoiding junk email and viruses.
MailScout allows you to interactively review the emails in your mailbox on the mail server and delete unwanted spam/junk mail without the need to download it.
MailScout is an invaluable tool in the fight against spam and ideally suited to those who want a simple to setup and use solution, without the need to setup complicated rule files - simply select the emails you don't want and MailScout will delete them straight off the server. Just like webmail, but much quicker.
So why choose MailScout over other anti-spam tools and services ? MailScout is simple to setup, doesn't require you to setup or constantly maintain complicated rule files and avoids mistakes made by algorithmic tests which could delete legitimate email or allow spam to fall through. MailScout keeps *you* in complete control over which emails you keep and which you delete. Nothing is left to chance.
A clear, easy to read display gives you a list of all the emails sitting on the server. Most spam can be identified from the sender's address or subject, but should you need more information you can quickly and easily view all the headers of an email before making the choice to keep it or bin it.
MailScout comes with integration tools for most popular RISC OS email fetchers including POPstar (as used by DialUp) and Voyager. Support for ANT suite users is provided through the ANTutils application by Paul Vigay.
For more information on MailScout, please visit the webpage at http://www.imagesoft.co.uk/mailscout/index.html
We accept all major credit and debit cards (including Amex and Solo). Order before 5pm for next day delivery.
Thank you for your time.
!CCres v1.06 fixes a couple of bugs:
Added missing optionbutton_GENERATE_STATE_CHANGE flag Fixed crash when running !RunImage directly from command line, from within the desktop, but with wrong number of arguments.
!CCres is an application for converting Toolbox Res files (fae) and Wimp Template files (fec) to and from text format. It can be run from the command line or as a Wimp application.
Text file output uses a simple C-like format based on the equivalent OSLib header definitions.
!CCres is Freeware. It must only be distributed in its original form and there must be no charge for it.
Download from: http://www.btinternet.com/~davea.web/ccres/
Please report anomalies to mailto:DaveA.Web@btinternet.com
APDL/PROACTION SOFTWARE
19th September 2003
This new release of Ovation is priced at 9.90ukp plus 2ukp p&p; existing users can upgrade their CD-ROM by returning it to APDL together with a cheque/postal order for 5ukp. We'd like to remind you that you can also obtain Ovation 1.50 SE with DTP Principles (but without the printed manual) for 4.99ukp plus 1ukp p&p.
To order any of the products mentioned, contact APDL on 020 8778 2659, email info@apdl.co.uk or write to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN.
APDL/PROACTION SOFTWARE
19th September 2003
It is with pleasure that we announce the acquisition of AudioWorks, previously from Computer Concepts Limited. The audio capabilities of the RISC OS computer range are seldom exploited, but all RISC OS computers have the ability to play back high-quality stereo samples. AudioWorks provides a complete suite of sound editing functions in one easy to use, low cost, application.
AudioWorks is compatible with a whole range of sound files including Amiga IFF, Armadeus, DataVox, Microsoft Wave, Creative Voice file, Acorn Replay Movies, Digital Symphony, EMR Sound Synth and many more. In addition to playing back from the standard computer speaker, the software can sample from and play back to more advanced audio boards such as Computer Concepts' Eagle MultiMedia card and Lark Sound card. AudioWorks supports 8-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit, linear signed, linear unsigned, VIDC logarithmic, m-law logarithmic, mono and stereo samples.
AudioWorks is supplied with the AudioCtrl utility, which allows you to attach your own sound sample to many different desktop events, such as opening or closing a window or saving a file. Why not add a scream when you start your least favourite application and a cheer when you quit? Working with a computer will never be the same again!
Supplied on CD-ROM together with a 50-page manual, AudioWorks is now ukp14.90. To order, call APDL on 020 8778 2659; email info@apdl.co.uk or write to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN. Please note that AudioWorks is not IYONIX compatible.
ODBC is an industry standard API (Application Programming Interface) for database access. It stands for Open DataBase Connectivity. An ODBC compliant application can connect to different database engines using the same API and thus be portable across different databases. ODBC uses SQL (Structured Query Language) to allow an application to talk to a database.
To actually implement this on RISC OS an application is linked against a small stubs library which communicates with the ODBC driver manager. The driver manager then loads drivers for each different type of database as required without the application having to be aware of the database being used.
Currently drivers are provided for PostgreSQL and SQLite. To use PostgreSQL you will require a Linux (or some other *nix) server running the PostgreSQL RDBMS. SQLite has been ported and can be used natively on RISC OS without the need for an additional server.
More details are available at http://www.really.demon.co.uk.
This is the second release of the ODBC tools and includes the following improvements:
Alpha Programming presents:
C O C O G N U T 1 . 1 0
peer-to-peer filesharing for RISC OS
Saves current downloads and searches for the next session
Socket protection (will not close a socket unless it's been opened)
Bugfix allowing downloads from more sources (especially GTK-Gnutella with PARQ enabled)
Less CPU intensive when not using upload functions
Various small alterations
The Gnutella network is based on the peer-to-peer organisation. In a nutshell, this means that there are no central machines on the network and anyone who joins the network becomes part of it. No-one owns the Gnutella network, which means that it cannot be shut down by hackers or government organisations, unlike networks such as the original Audiogalaxy system, where clients such as the Satellite client for RISC OS are no longer usable.
http://www.alpha-programming.co.uk/software/cocognut/
Hi All just to say that I have now got on my site a Him and Her Planner 2004 in Draw format size A4 for Desktop publishers. Re-sending the URL: what I made a mistake in forgot to put www before user thanks to Ron Morgan, for pointing this out.
http://www.user.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/software/
Incase anyone is wondering why they are not getting any posts on the many RISC OS related mailing lists run on Smartgroups, the reason is the maintainance described below.
If you have posted something to a Smartgroups mailing list that has not yet appeared please DO NOT continue reposting it - this will only ensure that the system will stays down for an even longer period.
I've just come back from a weekend away, and found this message in my inbox, and I consider it entirely unreasonable that an entire weeks downtime, starting on a Monday morning, can be announced shortly before the end of the working day on a Friday. I would suggest that anyone else who also shares this view, makes smartgroups aware of their displeasure.
Cheers
---Dave
Dear Members,
The Service will not be available on the forthcoming dates next week.
From: Monday 15th September 09:00am (GMT+1)
Until: Friday 19th September 17.00pm (GMT+1)
This is due to essential maintenance and upgrading of our file systems.
We will be moving all your files to a more reliable storage system.
As a result, after this change:
Please also be aware that a mail queue will build up during this period, which we will endeavour to clear as soon possible once the service resumes. It would be useful to us as well as your members to stop any email activity during this period completely. We understand that this a very long outage period, please be assured that this is a course of action we do not take lightly.
Please communicate this information to your group members.
Thank you for your patience.
SmartGroups/FS Clubs operations
--
If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/smartgroups.announce
To leave the group, email: smartgroups.announce-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com
----------- End forwarded message -----------
Hi All just to say that I have now got on my site a Him and Her Planner 2004 in Draw format size A4 for Desktop publishers.
http://user.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/software/
Announcing a new product from Windfall Engineering.
PCIFace is a generic podule-bus-to-PCI interface for the Risc PC and A7000 that eliminates the need for budding PCI driver writers to develop any hardware.
For more details, please visit:
Version 1.17 of !AntiSpam is released and is on my web site:
http://www.apts04.dsl.pipex.com
This is a bug fix release (a mis-labelled icon).
Harriet Bazley has written a three instalment article on how to write User Tests. This very high quality article is also on the above web site. User Tests are a very powerful extension to !AntiSpam for anyone who is willing to write BASIC. Please note that User Tests are optional, and should /not/ be confused with Rules (the normal method of getting stuff deleted) which are plain text.
*** About !AntiSpam ***
!AntiSpam is a programme to delete spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail). It deletes e-mails while they are still on the server, and does so according to a set of simple rules. It can also fetch the wanted e-mails for you, similarly to POPstar. It is released free of charge under the GPL. It is written in BASIC; you get all the source, which is commented and not crunched, so you can modify it if you wish - but remember your obligations under the GPL.
There is a SmartGroup, which is the best place to get support and advice and to talk and listen to other users, swap hints and tips and files, etc. at http://www.smartgroups.co.uk/groups/antispam. Access to this SmartGroup is free and unrestricted.
!AntiSpam contains a StrongHelp file, which is extensive and has undergone two major rewrites in an effort to make it as helpful as its writers know how. If you are wondering whether you want to use !AntiSpam, a good way to find out is to download !AntiSpam and read the help. I'd also recommend joining the SmartGroup. It's all free.
Version 1.16 of !AntiSpam is released and is on my web site:
http://www.apts04.dsl.pipex.com
This is primarily a bug fix release, but the StrongHelp file has also been updated.
There is a SmartGroup, which is the best place to get support and advice and to talk and listen to other users, swap hints and tips and files, etc. at http://www.smartgroups.co.uk/groups/antispam Access to this SmartGroup is free and unrestricted.
!AntiSpam is a programme to delete spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail). It deletes e-mails while they are still on the server, and does so according to a set of simple rules. It can also fetch the wanted e-mails for you, similarly to POPstar. It is released free of charge under the GPL. It is written in BASIC; you get all the source, which is commented and not crunched, so you can modify it if you wish - but remember your obligations under the GPL.
!AntiSpam contains a StrongHelp file, which is extensive and has undergone two major rewrites in an effort to make it as helpful as its writers know how. If you are wondering whether you want to use !AntiSpam, a good way to find out is to download !AntiSpam and read the help. I'd also recommend joining the SmartGroup. It's all free.
NetChess version 1.05 is now available
Changes:
Existing users can upgrade from the netchess private area.
The demo version has also been updated to 1.05
NetChess is a shareware Internet Chess client allowing you to connect to internet chess servers - like freechess.org - and play, chat and watch chess games and other chess variants supported by the server.
It is available from
http://www.netchess.iconbar.com/
I have just released a long-overdue update for natter; the RISC OS multi-protocol instant messenger. It is now at version 1.20.
This new release fully supports both MSN and ICQ chat protocols, has sound effect support, comprehensive contact list management (including handling of groups), logging of all chat sessions, and an automatic upgrade download function, among many other new features. Public updates will be much more frequent from now on, probably in line with the updates that registered users receive.
natter is shareware, costing 10ukp. New with this release is an online payment system, using the ever-more-popular SWREG. See the website for details.
A quick note on the subject of the imminent MSN protocol changes: I am confident that the proposed changes will not cause a major hurdle for me to continue supporting the MSN protocol, and I hope to support the software long into the future.
Please see the website at http://natter.iconbar.com/ for an updated feature list, a download link, and various other information.
I have added a new piece of software to my Software pages.
This is a tiny BASIC utility (189 bytes) which can be called from a Run file to check if a specified task is running or not, and which takes the task name as a single parameter.
The program is imaginatively called TaskCheck.
If the task /is/ present, the program quits with an error report.
If the task is not running, it returns without doing anything, and the Run file can continue.
The purpose of the utility is to provide a simple way of avoiding multiple copies of applications being loaded where this is undesirable, as is often the case.
The task name parameter should be exactly as appears in the Task Manager window.
Thus, to check if your program task called 'MyProg' was running, your Run file would call '<MyProg$Dir>.TaskCheck MyProg', assuming the application name was !MyProg. The utility would be located in your application's directory.
My software pages can be accessed via the index page at:
I remind you to use this base URL, as the actual locations indexed from here may well change.
Due to popular demand, it is now possible to install Linux for Iyonix entirely from the internet, without purchase of CDs. Note that you will ideally need a broadband connection. Please visit the following for details:
For more information on Linux on Iyonix and latest release notes, please visit:
http://www.iyonix.com/linux.html
Which will shortly be updated from its August content.
Iyonix Linux CDs can still be purchased from 28 UKP, and non-CD email support for network installs can be purchased for 20 UKP for one month. For more details, visit:
http://www.chocky.org/linux/cds.html
It is hoped to support RiscPCs shortly.
A RISC OS driver is now available for the just released HP Deskjet 9300 printer. This printer will probably replace the Deskjet 1220 as HP's main A3 capable inkjet.
The driver provides settings to allow either full colour or grey scale printing at both 300 and 600dpi. Specific settings are provided for a variety of media types and print qualities.
An appropriate icon bar symbol, which resembles the 9300, is provided. The driver package also includes appropriate palette files and a 'toolkit'.
The driver should work reliably with RISC OS 4 and Printers version 1.64 or later. Use with Printers version 1.53, or later, may well be possible but is not guaranteed. The driver has not been tested with either the Alpha, Omega or Iyonix computers.
The driver should work reliably either via the parallel port, with the recommended IEEE1284 standard cable, or via the Simtec USB card. Simtec USB setup is straightforward and does not require a modified version of !Printers.
Support is not provided for Duplex or Photo-realistic printing.
For more information please visit the following web site: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jbcb/
This is to announce the 0.36 stable release of Director.
All the archives can be downloaded from:
http://director.sourceforge.net
or
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/director
Corrected module header for AddRes and modified it so that it can add single files to Resources:$ .
Fixed !Run file to reduce the Description length (for pre-RISC OS 4 machines)
ModVersion now handles the situation better if the module in question isn't present.
Other (minor) changes.
Since the last stable release of Director the following changes have been made:
Added -dontproxy to RunFilerAc.
Added -priority switch to all the IconSprites related menus and commands for Select 3.
Added Castle recommended system variables to !Run
Added error checking to DoClose (used in combination with Switch) Added language translations the Director module and Info window. (with thanks to Jérôme Mathevet for the French translations and code testing)
Added RISC OS 4 service table to all suitable modules. Added routine signatures to all modules.
Added support to the -maxwimpslot and -minwimpslot options for an 'm' or 'M' suffix (for megabyte).
Adjusted templates so that they look nicer in Select3. Close can now accept a command line argument of a window handle. CommMenu fixed to handle '|' chars from the output of a *command. FilerMenu copes with objects which don't exist. (Jerome Mathevet) Fixed DoClose so that it terminates the Iconize WIMP message. (Harriet Bazley)
Fixed up BinPL so that when it deleted entries, they weren't send to Recyclone under Select 3.
Fixed the bug where "*DirectorWindow <window>" followed by another *DirectorWindow operation on the same window without a Wimp_Poll inbetween caused Director to fail. (Richard Hallas)
Internal changes made to the build process.
MenuMenu now handles Resources:$ and other FSes which end in :$ (i.e. are without drive numbers). (Jerome Mathevet)
Now builds two Director modules, one for RISC OS 3.1 and one for RISC OS 3.6+ for language translations.
Stopped OldMenu: from generating an 'Illegal window handle' error under certain conditions.
Switch no longer mangles window title bars with '<untitled>' in them. It also handles window title bars which include the '<' character, correctly.
Director also allows an alternative and faster view onto files in the form of directory menus and allows these menus to be attached to other menus also.
Director has some other useful features such as remembering the most recently used files, the ability to add key strokes into the keyboard buffer and the ability to produce directory menus over drive icons.
Director is fully customisable by the user, and can do many or all of the functions of Pinboard+, TreeMenu (AKA DirMenu), Filer-, QuickDir, DeskUtils, Memorizer, Menon and some of the functions of Filer+.
The ViewFinder graphics card for the Risc PC and A7000 now supports ATI Radeon AGP cards.
Two new Radeon equipped ViewFinders are available: a Radeon 7000 card with 64 MB of memory (+ TV-out) and a Radeon 7500 card with 128 MB of memory (+ TV-out and a DVI connector), for 250 and 300 Euro inc. 19% VAT respectively. Upgrades for existing ViewFinder users are also available for 150 and 200 Euro inc. VAT.
ViewFinders with Radeon AGP cards currently offer the following:
More details are/will become available on:
A new version of DDF2Html is now available from
http://www.bigfoot.com/~chrisbazley/utilities.htm#ddf2html
This program converts Impression DDF ("text with styles") output into clean HTML markup.
Version 1.51 patches a bug introduced into version 1.50 - contrary to the manual, occurrences of an "Italic" *style* (as opposed to effect) were not being converted into <EM></EM> tags as advertised. This is only likely to affect people using Impression II... or anyone still using house styles developed under Impression II, i.e. people trying to convert their Archive articles into HTML :-)
There are no other changes in this version.
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| 2002 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2002 |
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| 2001 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2001 |
| Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan | ||
| 2000 | Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | 2000 |
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