Dear Foundation member, News from RISC OS Ltd No. 7 14th February 2000 ================== Previous Newsletters -------------------- It looks like we have finally cracked the problems of distribution of email newsletters. Apologies once again to everyone who thought that the Foundation was doing nothing, but we had no way of knowing that so many people had not been receiving the emails. Just to clarify, there are two reasons why you may not have received previous emails. 1. That the email system was not sending correctly to you. 2. That we have an incorrect email address or no email address for you. First Foundation CD ------------------- This been completed and is expected back from the duplicators on 22nd and will be sent to everyone as fast as possible. Please don't start phoning to say that you haven't got your copy unless you haven't received it by the start of March. Changes of address or email --------------------------- If you have moved or changed your email address then please let us know. Over 200 emails bounced on Newsletter 6, due to addresses no longer being valid so if you didn't receive a copy of Newsletter 6 then please check that we have your current email address. (This message is of course for those who are reading this email from the archive on the web site!) RISC OS Community Wallchart --------------------------- This has proved to be a major logistical exercise to get all the company data onto 1 poster. There are over 250 companies still providing services to the RISC OS world, and every week we hear of new companies who provide RISC OS services. Once the data has been fixed then a final shipping date will be announced. A preview version will be hopefully be on show at the Acorn South West Show on 19th February. RISC OS Manuals CD ------------------ This has also gone to press now and will be shipping at the South West Show. If you have ordered a copy and are coming to the show, then you will hopefully be able to pick it up on the day. In order to cover the huge number of orders, Credit Cards and Cheques have now started to be processed, in order to avoid unnecessary delays in shipping. Acorn South West Show --------------------- The first Acorn show of the year comes to the Webbington Hotel, Loxton (about 10 miles west of Weston Super Mare) on Saturday 19th February. The show starts at 10.00 a.m and runs through till 4.30 Admission costs £2 Adults and only £1 for Foundation / ARM Club members. Children under 16 Free (if accompanied by an Adult) There is a free minibus running from Weston Super Mare Train station bewteen 9.45 and 4.30 For more information contact John Stonier (01935) 413170 mailto:jstonier@argonet.co.uk http://www.argonet.co.uk/acornshow/ RISCOS Ltd will be there along with all the top Acorn companies. There will be the usual presentation theatre, bring and buy stall and games arcade. RiscStation launch machines --------------------------- RiscStation have become the first new RISC OS computer manufacturer to start shipments. 15 machines were delivered to Sexey's School in Somerset just before Christmas and the main volume shipments commenced last week. We hope this signals the start of a new era for RISC OS machines, and eagerly await the new MicroDigital and Millipede machines. Want to share a Modem simultaneously between a PC and an Acorn? --------------------------------------------------------------- I haven't had time to fully check this out at present, but it appears that Microsoft have actually provided a means of sharing Internet Access via a modem on a PC to other users. Full details will follow in the next Newsletter. Programmers wanted ------------------ RISC OS Ltd is still recruiting and requires the following staff to work on forthcoming projects:- 1. Project manager to be responsible for all aspects of the "Ron" (RISC OS for netBook) project. 2. Programmer with extensive C and ARM Assembler knowledge to work on the next generation RISC OS kernel for all forthcoming ARM processors. 3. RISC OS Guru. This post will involve a detailed knowledge of all aspects of RISC OS, and an ability to discuss projects with both Software and Hardware developers. You will act as overall manager on all RISCOS projects and will be expected to provide strategic input on the future development of RISC OS. 4. General programmer. If you have a good basic knowledge of RISC OS and are looking to expand your experience then we would like to hear from you. All posts will be based at the RISCOS Ltd offices in Stratford Upon Avon. Salaries will as always depend on experience. I want ..... ------------ We asked you what you wanted to see in the next release of RISC OS 4 and the response to date has been very interesting and helpful. We are still keen to find out what you want so send your thoughts to mailto:iwant@riscos.com with the subject line I WANT MY RISC OS 4 Back Issues of Newsletters -------------------------- Earlier Newsletters are available on the Private members area of the WebSite. http://www.riscos.com/foundation/private The username to access the site is your Foundation Number as printed on your membership card e.g 0476 and the password is your PostCode (without) spaces e.g CF239JD If you live abroad then try using just the numeric part of any zip or area code you have. If that doesn't work then email mailto:foundation@riscos.com to ask for the password that has been set on the system. Please remember to quote your Foundation Number on all emails. Membership renewals.... ----------------------- We shall be extending the membership of everyone who joined in February, March, and April 1999 up until May 2000. Therefore if you joined on or before 31st May 1999 your date for renewal of Foundation membership will be 31st May 1999. We are hoping to be able to offer Direct Debit facilities by then. The delays with the CD and Newsletters have been due to events that have been out of our control, but we hope that the forthcoming CD's will prove the worth of the Foundation. Technical Support Help Line --------------------------- The amount of calls to the help line has fallen dramatically since Christmas, and after analysing the frequency of calls made, we have decided to change the times of the support line to 5.00 p.m until 8.30 p.m The RISC OS 4 Helpline is on 029 2049 2326 or email you query to mailto:support@riscos.com Enquiries for the Foundation and General Sales 029 2049 2324 from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday - Saturday. Fax for all enquiries 029 2044 0071 Please quote your Foundation Membership Number on all enquiries and if responding to a query please use the mailto: address to reply. Don't reply to the general foundation or admin email addresses as your enquiry may not get dealt with properly. We try to reply to all enquiries within 5 days. But at peak times it may take longer to reply. Acorn User Issue 218 March 2000 -------------------------------- The latest copy of Acorn User has just landed on my desk and in case you don't know what I look like there is a picture on page 7. It was a pity that the picture was taken sideways with the flash ending up below the lens, giving a very weird effect. Anyway as always the journalists have the right to print the story they feel like, but the article on the Psion deal needs some corrections. Firstly the agreement is to put RISC OS onto the netBook computer, rather than the Series 7 shown in the picture. The Series 7 actually has a 132 MHz processor (not the 100 MHz stated) and 16MB RAM as opposed to the 199 MHz processor and 32 MB RAM featured in the netBook. The Series 7 has the EPOC installed internally, whilst the netBook loads its Operating System from a Compact Flash Card (not from a PCMCIA Flash ROM card as stated). RISC OS on netBook (Ron for short) will be supplied on Compact Flash card for the netBook only. A different version of RISC OS would be needed for the Series 7, to fit internally on a new ROM. This might be possible, but there are two different companies who produce the netBook and the Series 7. Our agreement is with Psion Enterprise Computing who produce the industrial versions of Psion designs, so it will be the netBook that people should be buying if they want to run Ron in the future. There is no guarantee at present that Ron will be able to run on the Series 7. regards -- Paul Middleton RISCOS Ltd -----------------------------------------------------------------------