RISC OS Freeware from APDL

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RISC OS Freeware

All software here is offered 'as is' with no guarantee or warranty as to fitness for purpose. While we believe it will be useful and operate as described you download and use it entirely at your own risk.

This page lists a number of programs for you to download. These are all in ArcFS archives although they have been given a .ZIP file extension to ensure that they are universally understood to be archives. These can be de-archives using SparkFS or ArcFS.

Read-only ArcFS

You will need this to de-archive many of the resources available on this site and most of them are compressed using ArcFS. This is the 32 bit neutral read only version of ArcFS, compressed into a self-extracting archive. When you have downloaded it make sure its filetype is set to &FF8 (Absolute) and then double-click on it. Drag the icon in the small window which will appear to a suitable place on your hard drive and the program will be extracted from the archive.

Download read-only ArcFS (42K)

HDSpeed

This is the definitive hard drive performance testing program for RISC OS. Can be used on almost any machine including Virtual Acorn. Tests most aspects of hard drive speed and can provide a 'log' file in Text or CSV format showing not only the actual speeds obtained but also a comparison with a 'base' drive.

Download HDSpeed (130K)

DrawWorks XE.

The new entry level DrawWorks. This is a full version with no restrictions but with only a fraction of the features of the full commercial version, DrawWorks XL. It now replaces DrawWorks SE, and works on all versions of RISC OS from 3.1 up to 6, including Select.
New version 2.63. This has various improvements but the most important one is that it has been updated to make it integrate better with RISC OS Six and the A9 from Advantage 6.

Download DrawWorks XE (810K)

TextFind.

Searches through textfiles, selected from a list, for a word or phrase and produces a list of the files and lines where the word or phrase was found.

Download TextFind (23K)

Chopper.

'Chops up' large files so they can be put onto floppy discs and then joined up again. Very easy to use. Lots of people have asked for something to do this, so here it is. Now includes a cut-down program !Joiner which can be distributed with split files and SPLIT.EXE and SPLICE.EXE to do the same thing on a PC so very large files can easily be transported between PC and Acorn.

Download Chopper (52K)

ProCopy.

This is a floppy disc imaginf and copying program. It was originally written in the days when APDL was distributing several hundred floppy discs every week, and was also used by many other PD libraries and software distributors. It was previously sold as Shareware but has now been released as Freeware with a manual in HTML. Works OK on everthing I've tried it on from a RISC OS 2 A310 up to the Iyonix.
A much earlier version of ProCopy program was published in Archimedes World as !Copier

Download ProCopy (170K)

Font Designers Toolkit.

Provides many facilities for editing and creating fonts. You can make new weights of a font easily and quickly, edit shapes using the supplied copy of FontEd, even add and edit kerning. The toolkit has now been replaced with our full font editor Dr Fonty which offers many many more features including PC font export and drawfile import.

Download Font Designers Toolkit (300K)

Cross Stitch.

Latest version of XStitch1. Easily and quickly convert sprites to cross stitch charts with Anchor(TM) colours. You can choose the hpi of the canvas, select the type of grid and produce both black and white and colour canvases. The later version XStitch Sovereign also supports on screen canvas editing, backstitch, WYSIWYG previews and a host of other features.

Download Cross Stitch (200K)

LotULike.

The big money ball picker. A simple exercise in trying to win the lottery and failing. You will need to obtain the lottery results in CSV format and use the automatic program supplied to convert them to LotULike format before the program can be used.

Download LotULike (73K)

PipIn.

Originally written in the early days of the Archimedes to convert between Interword (widely used on the BBCcomputer and on the Archimedes under the BBC Emulator) and PipeDream, and from either to 1st Word Plus or plain text. I doubt if anyone is still using IWord but as it can convert IWord (including multi-file documents) or PDream (including Z88 PDream) to properly formatted plain text it's ideal for people who might have old IWord or PDream files and no longer have the original programs.

Download PipIn (50K)

Z88 Link.

Serial link terminal program for the Sinclair/Cambridge Z88 notebook. Will let you transfer files between Z88 and RISC OS computer and send files on the Z88 to the RISC OS computer's printer. It can also convert between the Z88's version of BBC Basic and the 'native' RISC OS version.

Download Z88 Link (34K)

NC-100 Link.

Serial link terminal program for the Amstrad NC-100 notebook. Will let you transfer files between NC-100 and RISC OS computer and send files on the NC-100 to the RISC OS computer's printer. It can also convert the NC-100 Address Book files to CSV for importing into another database.

Download NC-100 Link (42K)

!MakeSFX.

This will let you create self extracting archives which can contain almost any number of files or applications. The program puts these into a single Absolute file. Double-clicking on this on any RISC OS computer will then de-archive the files keeping filetypes, dates, directory structure etc. intact.
This is an ideal way to distribute multi-file RISC OS material over the net where using something like ArcFS or SparkFS would be inconvenient. For example, we use it to distribute the read-only version of ArcFS itself.

Download !MakeSFX (32K)

!QRZ.

This is a RISC OS 'front end' for the Walnut Creek QRZ! radio amateur callsign database CD. Lets you search the CD for callsigns, names, etc. Creates an index on your hard drive so searches can be very fast. Obviously you will need the CD . . . .

Download !QRZ (34K)

BBC ROM converters

A collection of programs to let you use old BBC ROMs under RISC OS. Included are converters for View, ViewSheet, ViewStore, InterSheet and the Archimedes (not BBC) versions of InterWord and WordWise+. Although not desktop programs you do get an iconbar icon and can load/save files much more easily than the 'official' Archimedes conversions. I doubt if anyone is using any of these programs now, but if you've got old files this will let you access them.
You will need the original ROM image or program disc.

Download BBC ROM converters (320K)

PlayBack

PlayBack lets you record mouse movements, mouse button clicks and keystrokes and then replay them. These recordings can be used for demonstration or educational purposes, providing a novel method for introducing desktop applications to all levels of users. Recordings may be up to 1 hour long and can have an associated commentary to describe the recorded actions as they occur.

Download PlayBack (175K)