News from RISCOS Ltd No. 15 May 1st 2001 ============ RISC OS User Survey ------------------- Thanks to everyone who filled in the Survey. There were over 200 responses in the first week from Foundation members and after it was announced on the CSAA news group that rose to over 1000 by the end of the second week. The total number of replies to date has been over 1250. Whilst it will take some time to analyse all the data, the information is already helping to build up a good picture of current RISC OS users. If you haven't already done so please spare a few minutes to fill it in, and please be honest with your replies and fill in all the sections. NB The survey is not just for Foundation members, so please get your friends to fill it in as well. RISC OS Internet Suite ---------------------- Following an agreement with ANT Limited, RISCOS Ltd has now taken over sales and development of the ANT Internet Suite, which will now be known as the RISC OS Internet Suite. Improvements and bug fixes to other parts of the suite will start to follow over the next few months. This will primarily revolve around converting the ANT Suite to use a new RISC OS Internet Stack. This will include DHCP support for those of you with cable modem Internet access and also converting the ANT Suite to use the RISC OS Choices system which will allow easy change over between settings when different people use the same computer or when a computer is used in multiple locations or with multiple ISP's. For various reasons we will not be doing any development on the Fresco Web Browser, but we shall be making the current version of it available as part of the bundled software with future versions of RISC OS. The current ANT Suite package is still available with a new reduced price of £49.95 inc VAT (exc delivery) direct from RISCOS Ltd. Purchasers from 1st May will get a free upgrade to the new RISC OS Internet Suite, when it is released. Current users of the ANT Internet Suite will be able to upgrade to the new RISC OS Internet Suite when it is released. Support for ANT Suite Users --------------------------- A new support service for current users of the ANT Suite has been launched by Paul Vigay who will provide configuration support and upgrades for a yearly fee. See http://www.vigay.com/ant/index.html for further details. Paul has also released the first Beta release of his AntUtils ISPMaker plugin at http://www.vigay.com/shareware.html ISPMaker is designed to be easy to use and understand, and will allow users to create Ant Internet Suite provider files from scratch, simply by entering the relevant server details provided by the ISP. However, the biggest benefit of ISPMaker is its ability to convert Windows INS files into ANT format. Therefore if you have a CD supplied by an ISP which only includes Windows settings, simply drag the .INS file onto ISPMakers window and it will create an Ant provider file for you. It will also convert RComp's DialUp provider files into ANT files for you. Although the current release is in a beta state, the Windows/DialUp conversion is working, as is most of the stand-alone creation (multiple telephone numbers and script writing is not yet available). Printer drivers --------------- A common question is what is happening about RISC OS Printer drivers and in particular Photoreal printer drivers? Well for once RISC OS has the upper hand over PC's with the latest drivers for the Canon BJC 8200 from Photodesk Ltd. At the recent RISC OS South West Show Chris Hornby was showing off the results from this new printer which gives stunning results if you want photographic quality printing from RISC OS. Further details at http://www.photodesk.ltd.uk/ As regards other Printer Drivers I would like to point out that it is simply impossible for RISCOS Ltd to try and provide drivers for every new printer produced. The reasons for this are threefold:- 1. There are simply too many new models being produced. 2. Many manufacturers just do not want to provide the necessary information for third parties to write drivers. 3. Even if we had the information RISCOS Ltd cannot afford on its own to produce drivers for printers that may only be used by a few people. Our plan is therefore to try to ensure that the RISC OS printing system is capable of driving as many printers as possible, whilst leaving the actual details of those drivers to third party developers/dealers. The point to note is that first and foremost we must have access to the necessary information to produce a driver. If any particular manufacturer is not prepared to provide information then it will be very hard for us to provide support. For instance, while RISCOS Ltd will maintain !Printers and the central driver modules, we expect dealers/developers to take on the responsibility for creating the printer definition files themselves for any printers they wish to sell. No programming knowledge should be required on the part of the dealers, just an ability to use the !PrintEdit application supplied. !Printers 1.64b which will shortly be available has the following enhancements over previous versions: * Choices are now stored within the Choices: system, rather than internally to !Printers. This means that one copy of !Printers can be shared easily between many computers (say on a read-only server) without all the machines automatically getting the same configuration. A !Choices application has been made available to provide a Choices: structure on machines not running the new boot sequence. (This does not mean however that we guarantee that any specific Driver will work on a non-RISC OS 4 machine.) * Previous versions of the PDriver and PDumper modules have had a fundamental limit to the combined length of the printer data strings (supposedly 256 characters, but actually smaller than this). As printers have grown in complexity and required more data to be sent to set them up, this limit has become restrictive. The internals of the printing system has now been changed to allow a much greater limit (around 64K). * Each new release of !Printers has generally required a new release of Turbodrivers (as the turbodrivers included a bug fixed !RunImage for !Printers). These bugfixes have now been rolled into !Printers itself so no 'patching' is required. To install turbodrivers you just need to copy the settings across into the choices directory from an old 1.53 version. * One trend in recent years has been for printers to rely on 'clever' software on the host computer to do things like head cleaning and nozzle alignment. Building this functionality into !Printers is not feasible due to the fact that every printer offers a different range of options, controlled in completely different ways. We have therefore added support for 'external config apps'. These can register themselves at boot time and can be invoked from !Printers - the user should see a seamless system. * 'Long' printout problems have now been solved (we think); printouts over 2.5 metres or so were causing problems - limited testing has been done on this. * Long standing bug in PDumperDM where multiple passes on JX class printers (such as Citizen Swift) can cause address exceptions. Apple patents desktop themes ---------------------------- On 13th February Apple were granted a patent for the use of desktop themes. The patent, from an application made back in May 1998 covers 'Systems and methods for providing a user with increased flexibility and control over the appearance and behaviour of objects on a user interface. Sets of objects can be grouped into themes to provide a user with a distinct overall impression of the interface. These themes can be invoked by calling a corresponding theme engine. Theme engines can be hard-coded or data-driven' For further details take a look at The Register at http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/174 Full details of the patent are at http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph- Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum. htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6,188,399'.WKU.&OS=PN/6,188,399&RS=PN/6,188,39961.html NB the above is a very long URL which might cause problems when entering into some browsers. If so then search for US patent application 6,188,399 What to do if my Risc PC mouse breaks ------------------------------------- A question that has arisen a few times recently is what are the choices if the mouse packs up on a Risc PC? Can I go and buy any of the vast range of PC mice available? Well if you want to use a PS2 mouse with a Risc PC you have three choices. 1. You can buy a PS2 Mouse adaptor from Stuart Tyrell Developments £24.95 ukp http://www.stdevel.demon.co.uk/ 2. You can buy the PS2 Pipe from Castle Technology http://www.castle-technology.co.uk/ £20.00 ukp 3. If you buy a PS2 mouse that also comes with a PS2 - 9pin adaptor you can plug that adaptor into the serial port on the Risc PC. To activate the PS2 mouse ... a) Double Click on !Boot to bring up the Configuration window b) Click on Mouse to bring up the Mouse configuration window c) In the Mouse type selection box select Microsoft serial mouse. The above assumes that you still have a working mouse. If not then you can make the same change from the command line by typing *configure MouseType 1 The PS2 mouse should now be active. To return to using the standard Acorn mouse you should type in *configure MouseType 0 Exhibitions in 2001 ------------------- Wakefield 2001 ************** Because of logistical reasons RISCOS Ltd will not be attending the Wakefield Show this year. RISC OS 4 Upgrades will be on sale on the CJE Micros stand and from other RISC OS Dealers at the show. As some of you will know, RISCOS Ltd now uses contractors to do the bulk of RISC OS development and consequently taking time out to attend exhibitions with the large stands we have had at the last two shows is not possible this year. You will however be able to meet and chat at the RISC OS Expo 2001 in Holland in June. RISC OS Expo 2001 ***************** The Dutch Acorn Users Group the Big Ben Club are once again organising their annual show at the Hotel Mercure in Nieuwegein just outside Utrecht. If you want an excuse to sample the delights of Holland then this is the perfect opportunity. Travel from the UK is very easy with regular ferries to France and Holland, as well as by train on Eurostar. The show is very well attended with all the top UK companies planning to attend and to make it easy nearly everyone speaks English! For further details:- http://www.bigbenclub.demon.nl/shows/expo01.html RISC OS SouthEast Show 2001 *************************** This event which was due to be held in Luton on Saturday 21st July 2001, has unfortunately had to be cancelled due to major renovation of the venue by the local council. Details of future Acorn Show events can be found at:- http://www.argonet.co.uk/acornshow RISC OS 2001 SHOW ***************** The ARM Club, in conjunction with ROUGOL and SASAUG, are proud to announce that the two day RISC OS 2001 Show will take place on the weekend of 20th and 21st of October. The venue will be the Blue Mountain Conference Centre at Binfield, Bracknell. The venue offers excellent road and rail links, being only 5 minutes from Junctiion 10 of the M4 and fast trains from Paddington taking only 30 minutes. A shuttle bus service will operate from Reading Station. The conference centre features a number of interconnected rooms giving greater space and flexibility for exhibitors and visitors. A dedicated theatre will allow the usual popular presentations to take place. Epsom, the venue for the last two years, has increased it's price substantially and the move to Bracknell allows stand prices to be reduced relative to last year. Ensuring more exhibitors, larger stands and an even better show. Put it in your diary now. Replying to queries from this Newsletter ---------------------------------------- If you are responding to a specific query in this newsletter please use the appropriate mailto: address to reply rather than replying to the sender of this email. Also don't reply to the general foundation or admin email addresses as your enquiry may not get dealt with promptly. We try to reply to all enquiries within 5 days. But at peak times it may take longer to reply. If you have received this email in error, or wish to be removed from this list then please send an email to mailto:foundation@riscos.com with the subject REMOVE regards -- Paul Middleton RISCOS Ltd ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright ©2001 RISCOS Ltd. RISC OS is a trademark of Pace Micro Technology plc. Certain other product names, brand names, and company names may be trademarks or designations of their respective owners.