Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/text/hints/volume_06/issue08

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 38.3 KB | 885 lines

Using RISC OS 3.10
6.8
Hugh Eagle
6.8
Encouragement for the faint-hearted!
6.8
Peter Young says that he is not only electronically illiterate but also
notoriously clumsy and so he left fitting the upgrade for over three
months. When he finally did dare to do it, he found it a lot easier than
he had dreaded − he broke nothing and it all worked first time. The only
worrying bit was changing the links, because the diagram was not clear
but a quick call to the suppliers (Beebug) soon put him right. So his
advice for others is: don’t be scared!
6.8
RISC OS 3.11
6.8
Newer machines and upgrades are now being shipped with version 3.11 of
the operating system. Barry Thompson says that this clears up a NetUtils
problem which occurs when computers equipped with RISC OS 3.10 are used
on a network. The problem was that if you opened or extended a file
longer than 64Kb, anything beyond 64Kb was filled with null characters.
Existing network users can obtain a module (NetUtils) from their local
Acorn dealer.
6.8
Comparing the 3.11 and 3.10 Release Notes, the only other differences I
could find were the following brief notes:
6.8
•    DOS partition size – DOSFS cannot be used with DOS partitions of 32Mb
or larger.
6.8
•    Acorn Lisp – you must issue a *FX 13,11 command before loading Acorn
LISP.
6.8
•    Inspiration – versions of Inspiration up to 1.03 will not run with
RISC OS 3.10 or later.
6.8
(I gather that 3.11 also improves the situation with the ADFSbuffers
problem. On a 1Mb machine with 3.10, you are still advised to set
ADFSbuffers to 0. This is no longer necessary with 3.11. Ed.)
6.8
Programs that work
6.8
Mah Jong, The Game: Peter Young reports that the problem he mentioned
last month was caused by an inappropriate *FX call which he had inserted
in the !Run file – so there seems to be nothing wrong with Mah Jong
itself.
6.8
Hard Disc Companion: Peter Young says that setting an IDEFS cache (see
below) has speeded this up considerably.
6.8
Ovation: In Archive 6.3 p14, we reported a problem with the printing of
indented lines from Ovation. Ken Cowap has now received a new version of
the program (version 1.37S) which, amongst other things, specifically
cures this particular problem. He says the problem turned out to be due
not to Ovation but to the RISC OS 3 printer drivers. Although Acorn
acknowledged this, they saw no immediate possibility of a fix, and Risc
Developments very commendably undertook to rewrite part of Ovation.
6.8
Program problems
6.8
Aldebaran: Atle Mjelde Bårdholt says that you must quit all application
tasks first (enter the Task display and Quit all tasks including
Pinboard), then run the game and it will install itself on the iconbar.
He says another solution is to exit the desktop and then type
*!Aldebaran at the command prompt. (Surely, Aldebaran is one of the most
recent games. Can it be true that it doesn’t run from the desktop?)
6.8
Atle Mjelde Bårdholt also says that old Minerva games generally
reconfigure your machine. To avoid this, skip the !Boot file and click
on the next file in the sequence (e.g. in Hoverbod BS1 and in Missile
Control Title).
6.8
Ralph Gibbons finds that Break147 doesn’t work and would like to know if
there is a fix.
6.8
Mike Cook of Musbury Consultants repeats the point made by David Holden
last month: one reason older programs may not work is that the
abbreviations for some * commands have changed (e.g. *CHA. used to be
*ChannelVoice but is now *ChangeDynamicArea). Running the Obey file
Commands on the RISC OS 3 support disc is supposed to help but if that
doesn’t, he suggests editing the program. This affects the PD sample
player !DSedit and his own !Sample.
6.8
Mike Cook also says that another change in the new operating system
resulted in the sampling part of his software not working. This also
affected the real time sound manipulator !Echo and the !Scope storage
oscilloscope. Any readers with the original programs can send him a disc
for a free upgrade. His address is 5 Helmshore Road, Haslingden,
Rossendale, Lancashire, BB4 4BG.
6.8
Last month, we listed Powerband and Saloon Cars as not working. Rob
Brown says that Fourth Dimension can supply RISC OS 3 compatible
replacements (for £2 per program, he thinks).
6.8
Don’t forget that Rob Brown would welcome any contributions to his
compatibility chart, periodic updates of which will be included on the
Archive monthly program disc. His address is “Valtanee”, Brighton Road,
Lower Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6UP.
6.8
Printing
6.8
“VDU 2” printing
6.8
David Holden says that, although VDU 2 printing still works with
RISC OS 3, it appears to monopolise the computer until printing is
finished. He has noticed that a couple of his programs that used to
multi-task, no longer do so and BBC emulator programs take a lot longer
to return control to the operator, even if using a printer buffer.
6.8
Printer buffering
6.8
Are the points in the previous paragraph perhaps connected to the non-
functioning of the RISC OS 3 printer buffer mentioned last month? Or are
there further problems? Has anyone got a fix for it or them? The
questions seem endless!
6.8
Ralph Gibbons used to find a printer buffer routine (written by Anton
Calver and on Careware 5 & 7) very useful under RISC OS 2. Does Anton
read Archive? Has he updated his routine to run under RISC OS 3?
6.8
BJ330
6.8
In answer to Tord Eriksson’s plea (Archive 6.6 p56), Brian Cocksedge
recommends the Computer Concepts Turbo Driver (£53 through Archive).
This produces much quicker printouts. The printer should be set to IBM
emulation (he understands this gives a better quality printout). The
stripes in graphics areas are a feature of the BJ printers due to minor
mechanical errors in the feed mechanism and the momentum of the print
head.
6.8
To print A3, as well as setting the paper size in the printer
preferences window, you have to tell the printer the size. Brian does
this by sending “Esc,C,99” to the printer via a small Obey file
containing the commands:
6.8
*FX 138,27
6.8
*FX 138,67
6.8
*FX 138,99
6.8
LaserDirect
6.8
Steve Hutchinson experienced the same spurious lines that Roger King
reported in Archive 6.5 p31. He was told by CC that this was due to the
LaserDirect card not being happy in its podule slot. Rearranging podules
solved it for him.
6.8
Photocopying via LaserDirect
6.8
Tim Powys-Lybbe received version 2.09b of the LaserDirect software,
which cleared up the problems with print quality. However, his scanner
will now not do a photocopy at all, reporting (even with 3 Mb free) that
there is not enough free memory to do a photocopy. If he reverts to
version 2.05a, photocopying continues to work fine.
6.8
Disc drives
6.8
Speeding up an IDE drive
6.8
After he upgraded to RISC OS 3, Peter Young initially found his IDE
drive (with a Beebug interface) to be very slow but eventually
discovered that setting an IDE cache speeded things up considerably. The
command to set it is:
6.8
*Configure IDEFSDirCache 16k
6.8
Before he created the cache, Peter was getting strange messages like dir
“@” not found when he specified directories at the command line with
references like $.xxx... rather than IDEFS:: IDEDisc4.$.xxx.... Since he
is now religiously using full pathnames, he doesn’t know whether
creating the cache might have solved the problem.
6.8
Peter says he still doesn’t really know whether what he wants is a cache
or a buffer. Can anyone throw any light on exactly what they do and what
the optimum sizes are for each in different circumstances? (Since
configuration options are provided, presumably one is expected to use
them, but when and how?)
6.8
SCSI discs
6.8
Andrew Shell encountered the same problems as Philip Lardner (Archive
6.6 p56) with copying, moving or deleting files to, from, or in the root
directory. By resetting his configuration so that *Status reads:
6.8
    SCSIFSDirCache     16k
6.8
    SCSFSdisks         1
6.8
    SCSIFSDrive        4
6.8
    File System    SCSI
6.8
(and using !Configure to set “SCSI hard discs” to 1) he thought he had
solved the problem. All now seems to work correctly so far as saving,
copying and deleting are concerned. However, when he tried the Find
command on the !FONTS directory he got a sequence of finds reading
“...!Boot.!FONTS”, “...!Boot.!FONTS.!FONTS”, ... ,
“.....!FONTS.!FONTS,!FONTS”, etc. He also had a similar problem with the
Stamp command. Does anyone have any solutions?
6.8
SCSIFiler and Set Alias$Free
6.8
Following the hints in past months involving these, P. N. Cousins would
like to know: what is the SCSIFiler module for and how does the Set
Alias$Free hint (Archive 6.5 p27) work?
6.8
Tim Nicholson has noted that using the SCSIFiler module (as recommended
in Archive 6.7 p44 and elsewhere) has the added advantage that it gives
the interactive window for Verify and reads the disc name at start-up
and shows the name under the iconbar icon.
6.8
5¼“ drive interfaces
6.8
Gordon Lindsay-Jones has found, with the help of his dealer, a
replacement for his Watford interface: the one from Risc Developments
works and is, he feels, a superior product. Apart from other advantages,
it has seven switches with which to set the external drive
configurations and comes with instructions on the settings required.
6.8
D. S. Allen and Philip Foster have both written to say that the Watford
interface can be fixed by cutting some wires! D. S. Allen knows of “two
people that have cut the right hand two wires (as viewed facing the
computer front) of the cables from the Watford board to the computer
board and also the one from the Watford board to the internal disc
drive. Both drives work all right after this.” Philip Foster describes
the solution as “cutting through the two end wires (furthest from the
red marker wire and next to the 20 pin removable PAL ROM) of the ribbon
cable running from the mother board to the interface board.” He adds
that “as this is clearly a somewhat irreversible act” he would suggest
ringing Watford to confirm before you do it.
6.8
Miscellaneous hints and tips
6.8
Use of the Copy key
6.8
Richard Torrens writes: “We all know that, in a writable icon, <Copy>
deletes the character to the right of the caret. Did you know that
<Shift-Copy> deletes to the end of the current word and <Ctrl-Copy>
deletes to the end of the current line?”
6.8
How much space for a desktop program?
6.8
P. N. Cousins would like to know how you know how much memory you need
to use when writing programs that run under the desktop. In my
experience, allocating too small a WimpSlot can lead to some most
perplexing error messages, so I would certainly like to know if there is
a foolproof answer. My solution is trial and error: first I estimate how
much space is needed for the program code plus variables and workspace
for sprites, etc, then I set the WimpSlot somewhat larger than my
estimate and repeatedly reduce it (32Kb at a time) until the program
crashes. Not very scientific, but it generally works.
6.8
Miscellaneous
6.8
All these hints are from Rob Davison:
6.8
I have a couple of lines in my application !Run files like this...
6.8
SET Titler$RiscOs3 yep
6.8
RMENSURE UtilityModule 3.10 SET Titler$RiscOs3 nope
6.8
...and near the start of !RunImage, something like the following:
6.8
DIM block% &C00
6.8
SYS “XOS_GSTrans”,“<Titler$RiscOs3>”,block% ,&C00 TO,,l%
6.8
block%?l%=&0D
6.8
IF $block%=“yep” THEN newos%= TRUE ELSE newos%=FALSE
6.8
SYS“XOS_CLI”,“UNSET Titler$RiscOs3”
6.8
•    There are several other configuration options which are not accessible
in !Configure that allow you to setup your system more exactly in the
area of double-click delays, etc.
6.8
One of the more interesting ones which may be useful to those people who
are new to RISC OS, is WimpMenuDragDelay which sets the time in 1/10
second units for which menu activity is disabled after a menu has been
automatically opened. This enables the pointer to move over other menu
entries without cancelling the submenu. To change it, you need to use
the command line (remember that thing?) Syntax:
6.8
*Configure WimpMenuDragDelay <delay>
6.8
•    There is an in-built rolling credit list of all the people involved in
the creation of the Operating System. It is accessed by bringing up the
‘info’ dialog box for the operating system (accessible from the task
manager menu) and clicking with <menu> on the characters ‘t’ ‘e’ ‘A’ and
‘m’ in that order in the string ‘© Acorn Computers Ltd 1992.’ If nothing
happens after a couple of seconds, re-open the menu and try again.
6.8
(Click with <menu>? − that’s against Acorn’s guidelines surely?!)
6.8
However, if you just bring up the dialog box and click <menu> off any of
the icons (e.g. on the grey window background) then the Task Manager
aborts and the only way to recover a normal machine is to press <ctrl-
reset>. (Oops!)
6.8
Boot-up options
6.8
An item on Peter Young’s wish list for RISC OS 4 is the ability to call
different !Boot sequences by pressing user-defined keys at power-on. I
agree that it would be useful to have this built into the operating
system. However, it is already quite easy to achieve a similar result. I
know that some people find Ian Copestake’s !TWO very useful for this
purpose. Alternatively, you can “do it yourself” without too much
difficulty. Assume, for example, that you have saved two Desktop boot
files called Plain and Fancy in a directory called BootFiles. Then
create a Basic file in the root directory called !Boot reading as
follows:
6.8
CLS
6.8
PRINT‘’“Choose one of the
6.8
following sets of
6.8
Boot-up preferences“‘’
6.8
PRINT“   1.  Plain”
6.8
PRINT“   2.  Fancy”
6.8
PRINT‘’“Type 1 or 2”
6.8
A$=GET$
6.8
CASE A$ OF
6.8
 WHEN “1”:OSCLI(“Desktop -File $.BootFiles.Plain”)
6.8
 WHEN “2”:OSCLI(“Desktop -File $.BootFiles.Fancy”)
6.8
 OTHERWISE: OSCLI(“Desktop”)
6.8
ENDCASE
6.8
There are numerous variations on this theme. You can use negative INKEY
values to test for a key being held down rather than waiting for a
keypress with GET$. If you like, you can put Plain and Fancy in, say,
the !System directory instead of creating a new directory, or you can
rename the Basic file !Run, create a directory called !Boot and move
!Run into it along with Plain and Fancy.
6.8
Obviously, you can adapt this idea to suit your purposes, but beware of
pressing R or <Delete> when you switch the computer on, since these will
reset your configuration!
6.8
Splitting the boot sequence into two parts like this was recommended
last month for making sure that the SCSIFiler module is properly
installed before the desktop is initialised.  It also opens up a number
of other possibilities....
6.8
It has always seemed to me that the usefulness of the facility for
automatic saving of desktop boot files is limited (a) because they tend
to get cluttered up with unnecessarily opened directories and booted
applications, and (b) because they omit necessary things like virus
protection modules, extra screen modes, etc. Problem (a) can be reduced
by making sure that you only open those directories that you want open
and boot those directories that you want booted before you save the
desktop boot file (the equivalent of Plain or Fancy in the above
example); (b) can be solved by following the two-stage approach and
putting the more technical bits in a hand-crafted pre-desktop !Boot
file, which you will probably not want to change very often, while the
desktop boot file is left simply to run applications, open directories
and fire up the pinboard.
6.8
So far as I can see, you will still need to do some hand-editing of the
desktop boot file if you want a non“-RISC OS 3 aware” application to be
booted or run automatically. Alternatively, you can get an application
to auto-boot by having the desktop boot file automatically open the
directory that the application is in. Furthermore, you can get the
application to run automatically by editing its own !Boot file to run
the !Run file.
6.8
Tim Nicholson notes that you must also split the boot sequence into two
parts if you want to follow the suggestion in the March Acorn User for
altering the desktop initialisation banner.
6.8
In Archive 6.5 p33, Colin Singleton reported problems with trying to
switch from one “world” to another by double-clicking on a second boot
file. He has concluded that you must reset the computer first, since
running the second boot file doesn’t clear memory first: it simply tries
to add the applications listed in it to those that are already running.
6.8
Finally, to end this section on boot files, a quote from Colin
Singleton, with whom I have a lot of sympathy: “The autoboot facility is
not much use if it does only half the job. I need to be able to
understand what it has produced and to patch it up accordingly. I might
as well carry on using my old boot file, which is what I am doing. The
new feature is useless (and very confusing) for those users who do not
know how to build a boot file. Perhaps in time all software will be
‘aware’ of boot files, then the feature will be useful.”
6.8
ARM3 too fast for Watford scanner (?)
6.8
Mr A. Shell found that, after he upgraded to RISC OS 3 and installed an
ARM3, his Watford Electronics Hand Scanner 1990, Issue 2 (using a Geni
Scan-4500) stopped working. However, he has found that after entering
the command *Cache off, the scanner works perfectly. When the scanning
is finished, *Cache on  speeds the processing up.
6.8
Zooming in Draw
6.8
When I acquired Artworks, I thought one of its neatest features was the
ability to use the mouse to mark the area into which you want to zoom.
Now, I have found while reading the manual (Applications Guide p48) that
Draw does just the same – in fact, it goes one better, because you don’t
need to select a zoom tool first, you just hold down <shift> and drag
with <adjust>. To return to your previous scaling you use <Ctrl-R>; the
manual also describes various other hot-key combinations to adjust the
scaling.
6.8
Turning CapsLock off
6.8
Peter Young has a few old, and some not so old, programs which will only
take upper case input, and putting *FX202,1 into the !Run file meant,
with RISC OS 2, that he didn’t have to remember to press capslock first.
In RISC OS 3, this call seems to turn off keyboard input entirely,
though it occasionally produces input different from what is typed for a
couple of presses before it crashes the machine.
6.8
I think, if I have interpreted the Programmers’ Reference Manual
correctly (pages 511-512 in the RISC OS 2 manual), that the correct code
to turn capslock off while leaving the other keyboard settings unaltered
is *FX 202,16,239; the command *FX 202,16 will turn capslock off but may
alter some of the other settings.
6.8
What *FX 202 does is to alter the “keyboard status byte”. If the command
is given in the form *FX 202,R1,R2 then R2 controls which bits of the
status byte are changed and R1 supplies the new bits. In technical
terms, the new value of the status byte is made equal to
6.8
(the old value AND R2) EOR R1
6.8
Therefore, to force a particular bit in the status byte to adopt value n
(either 0 or 1) you leave that bit unset in R2 and made equal to n in
R1; to leave a bit unchanged you set it in R2 and unset it in R1.
6.8
Capslock is controlled by bit 4 (the one with value 16), so to set it
(thus turning capslock off) you use the values 239 (= 255 minus 16) and
16 for R2 and R1 respectively.
6.8
The shortened form of the command, *FX 202,R1 has the same effect as *FX
202,R1,0
6.8
(It’s not clear to me why *FX 202,1 should have worked either in
RISC­OS 2 or on the BBC.)
6.8
Editing !Run files
6.8
Peter Young asks if one is allowed to amend the !Run files of commercial
programs. My answer is that there is no reason at all why you shouldn’t,
so long as you know what you are doing. You could, for instance, include
a command to turn capslock off (see above) or a command to run a printer
driver automatically. Some programs allow you to change preferences by
setting up system variables in the !Run file. In RISC OS 2, some people
even amended the !Run file of Acorn’s !Edit to make it run on a system
with lots of fonts.
6.8
ROM Speed
6.8
Seán Kelly writes that the old ROM speed up trick still works on some
computers with RISC OS 3.1. On an Archimedes, the ROM speed can be read
with the following Basic lines:
6.8
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,0,0 TO R%
6.8
PRINT (R% AND &C0) DIV &40
6.8
The lowest speed is 0, the highest 2 − the MEMC data sheet defines a
value of 3 as ‘not meaningful’ although it appears to have the same
effect as 2. The speeds are not absolute, but depend on the computer’s
memory clock speed. On old A440, RISC OS 3.1 selects a value of 2, so no
speed up is possible, but on an A5000, a value of 1 is set by RISC OS
3.1 and changing this to 2 increases the machine’s speed by about 5%.
6.8
The ROM speeds can be set by using:
6.8
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,&00,&C0: REM slowest, speed 0
6.8
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,&40,&C0: REM speed 1
6.8
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,&80,&C0: REM fastest, speed 2
6.8
These lines are included as programs on the monthly program disc,
together with the short program called ACK which, on Seán’s un-sped-up
A5000, executes in about 1 second. Double-clicking on one of the speed
changers followed by ACK will show how the different speeds affect your
computer. An A5000 appears to run at speed 2 with no problems. Program
Speed2 can be automatically run by !Boot, providing a slight performance
boost to A5000s.
6.8
RMFaster-ing
6.8
Seán Kelly also reports that *RMFaster on certain modules, such as
Basic, can produce a useful increase in speed for applications that read
the ROM a lot. Without an ARM3, the speed increase can be very large −
with the cache off, he has found Basic programs that run over 30% faster
with Basic in RAM. With the cache on, the increase tends to be about 5%,
so RMFaster-ing on an ARM3 machine is really a waste of memory unless
time is really important.
6.8
Interestingly, both ROM speed-ups and RMFaster-ing only produce a slight
speed increase, typically 5%, on an ARM3 machine. This appears to show
that the cache’s hit rate is very high.
6.8
Also on the program disc ...
6.8
Also on the monthly program disc are a number of utilities from Rob
Davison: SmoothM – a relocatable module which averages mouse coordinates
and is ideal for use in pixel-based art packages such as Paint or
Artisan. To use it, double click on the module and enable averaging with
the command *SmoothON. To restore normal use, enter the command
*SmoothOFF. This module is public domain and is, in fact, based on an
article which appeared in Archive 1.5 (February 1988) by Malcom
Banthorpe.
6.8
SolDrag and NormDrag are short programs to turn solid sprite dragging on
and off.
6.8
Tools and 22Sprites are modified toolsprites and high resolution icon
sprites.
6.8
Some Bugs
6.8
First, from Rob Davison:
6.8
There are quite a number still in the operating system. Most are very
obscure, but some are quite serious and one may be slightly embarrassing
to Acorn! Hopefully, they will do a ‘RISC OS 3 Extras disc’ to fix the
more important ones.
6.8
•    Impression style icons − There is a serious bug in this part of the
window manager. If the application you are writing uses a dialog box
similar to the in-built applications (e.g. Edit) when quitting, but
including the new style icons, the operating system reports an abort on
Data transfer after the application has quit. The solution is to close
and delete all windows yourself and call Wimp_Poll enough times to
ensure that they have all gone before quitting.
6.8
•    Paint − Load the application and repeatedly create 256 colour sprites
of 128x64 pixels. Paint bombs (usually) when the sixth sprite is created
with an ‘Unrecoverable internal error SpriteExtend: Bad pixel
translation table’.
6.8
The only good point is that your file is preserved in Wimp$ScrapDir
before Paint dies.
6.8
The problem mentioned in Archive, where the name in the save dialog box
is corrupted in some circumstances, still exists.
6.8
•    !Edit − This is a fairly worrying one (R. W. Darlington has found
similar problems). Edit has had the same bug since its first release in
RISC OS 2.00. Sometimes, the text window is not redrawn properly and the
caret can appear to be on a different line. Text is deleted or inserted
at the wrong place and it can sometimes be quite a while before you
realise what is going on. I encounter this problem much more now because
of the excellent facilities for editing Basic programs. If Acorn can’t
get windows to redraw correctly in all circumstances, what chance do the
rest of us have? (Quick fix: press <f12>, <return>, <return> before
doing any major editing.)
6.8
•    Operating system bugs − I have one (and only one) 800Kb ‘E’ format
disc which works and verifies fine on RISC OS 2.00 whereas RISC OS 3.00
and 3.10 absolutely refuse to look at it and tell me ‘Disc not
formatted’.
6.8
I have managed to get the dreaded ‘Abort on Data transfer’ while using
interactive file copying but only under extreme provocation. It was much
more common in 3.00!
6.8
There is another problem where, if you set the MOUSE RECTANGLE to allow
the pointer off the left of the screen and then record button clicks,
the y-coordinate is set to −1 with the first returned button click. E.g.
6.8
*POINTER 1
6.8
MOUSE RECTANGLE -1000,-1000,2000 ,2000
6.8
MOUSE TO 100,500
6.8
REPEAT
6.8
MOUSE x%,y%,b%
6.8
PRINTTAB(0,0);“x=”;x%;“  ”
6.8
PRINTTAB(0,1);“y=”;y%;“  ”
6.8
PRINTTAB(0,2);“b=”;b%;“  ”
6.8
UNTIL b%<>0
6.8
END
6.8
Run this and move the pointer off the left of the screen. Click a button
and the displayed y coordinate changes to −1 regardless of the last
position. (The solution is to do another mouse read immediately after
the UNTIL and use the values returned from that.)
6.8
Next, from Seán Kelly:
6.8
!Paint has two bugs related to deleting rows and columns in sprites. The
first is that when columns to delete are selected by dragging right with
the mouse, it is not possible to delete the rightmost column of the
sprite (no matter how far it is zoomed in). The second is that, when
dragging rows to delete downwards, the topmost row (where the operation
was started) is not deleted.
6.8
If there is data in the RAM filing system, RISC OS 3.1 complains if you
attempt to leave the desktop by selecting EXIT from the task manager
menu, although the RAMFS is not affected.
6.8
Sometimes, a RAMFS filer window stays on screen when the RAMFS has been
killed.
6.8
Finally, from R. W. Darlington:
6.8
When I load so many items on the iconbar that it has to scroll to reach
opposite ends and I then delete an item from the middle of the list, I
sometimes finds that as well as the deleted one disappearing, other
icons disappear leaving only their names. Also, all the directory icons
and application icons disappear from directory viewers leaving only
their names as reminders as to what is there.
6.8
In !Paint, when I try to x-scale or y-scale a sprite, I find that it
takes one column off the right hand edge and puts it at the left hand
edge.
6.8
Has anyone else experienced these or other bugs?
6.8
Matters Arising
6.8
Alarm (switching between GMT and BST)
6.8
(Archive 6.3p15 / 6.5p35) Colin Singleton confirms that the alarm set
for 1 a.m. on 7th February 1994 is to remind you to set the BST on and
off dates in 1994.
6.8
Don’t worry: you don’t have to stay up to catch this alarm: it will come
up when you next switch the computer on.
6.8
Ken Cowap has sent in a description which he hopes will complement the
rather brief instructions in the Applications Guide (p132) on this
rather convoluted facility:
6.8
When this option is selected, Alarm will automatically switch between
GMT and BST times on the dates you specify. Click on the arrows to
change the time, day, month and year.
6.8
Entries must be for one calendar year only even though the “BST starts
on:” date may already have passed. Any such past date will be ignored
but must be entered nevertheless.
6.8
As the changeover dates are liable to undefined variation from year to
year, Alarm will issue a warning during the month prior to that of the
next year’s first expected changeover.
6.8
The warning will be recorded in the Alarm Browser Window as “Application
alarm set by Alarm”, and the dates/times of valid changeover(s) will
still be activated. These alarms appear in dark grey and cannot be
selected. When the warning is activated, a message appears saying: “The
dates for entering and leaving BST are no longer valid and should be
reset as soon as possible.” and two options are offered: “Reset them
later” and “Reset them now.” The warning will be repeated automatically
at 24 hour intervals until “Reset them now” is selected and the dates
and times are reset.
6.8
Ken warns that anyone wanting to experiment by setting the system clock
into the future should take care to back up their alarms first, since a
“move into the future” will activate and lose all alarms set to go off
before that date. Also note that there is a long delay accompanied by
unexplained hourglass activity before the warning notice appears.
6.8
Impression dongle
6.8
(Archive 6.5 p32) Colin Singleton has been assured by Computer Concepts
that shorting the pins of the Impression dongle can do no harm.
Switching the computer off while Impression is running can cause
problems. Apparently, the reason is that Impression continually checks
that its dongle is present and, if it happens to be checking when power
is lost, the dongle is liable to receive a burst of static which renders
it inoperable. This will drain away if you leave it for a time (perhaps
a few hours) but the quick cure, according to CC, is to short the lines
to each other using a small coin rubbed against the rows of male pins.
Colin recommends removing the dongle from both the machine and the
printer first.
6.8
Getting the hare and tortoise into step
6.8
(Archive 6.6 p59) Jim Nottingham has written in response to my plea...
“the solution is to fire up the computer in slow mode with a *Configure
Cache off command and run the !Arm3 application in the Boot file. This
brings up the computer with the cache on and the hare on the iconbar. If
you want the computer to boot up with the Arm3 cache off, add *Cache off
to his Boot file after running the Arm3 application.”
6.8
Well! I must be completely dense. I’ve tried to follow these
instructions to the letter. I have typed *Configure Cache off at the
command line (and *Status confirms that the cache configuration is
“off”) and I have a !Boot file (file type “Desktop”) the first two lines
of which read:
6.8
Filer_Boot ADFS::Four.$.!System
6.8
RUN system:!Arm3
6.8
When I boot up, the cache is off and the tortoise on the iconbar. When I
click once on the tortoise, the cache is turned on, but the tortoise
stays. When I click a second time, the hare appears but the cache is
turned off. Adding Cache on as the next line of the !Boot file doesn’t
seem to help. What do I do next (apart from swapping the names of the
two icons as I’ve suggested before!)?
6.8
Pinboard backdrop sprites
6.8
In Archive 6.4 p12, R. W. Darlington gave a suggested modification to
the !Boot file which results in a different backdrop being shown each
time the computer is reset. His method causes the available sprites to
be chosen in strict rotation. Geoffrey Rimmer has suggested a variation
of the same idea which would choose one of the sprites at random.
6.8
Assuming, as before, that there are 75 sprites called Sprit00 to Sprit74
in the directory PinSp, his suggested code is:
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Set S$ <Sys$Time>
6.8
SetEval S$ S$ RIGHT5
6.8
SetEval NN STR(VAL(S$ RIGHT2 + S$ LEFT2)MOD 75)
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If LEN(NN)=1 Then SetEval NN “0” +NN
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SetEval Tile$Name “Sprit”+NN
6.8
Pinboard
6.8
Backdrop -T ADFS::4.$.PinSp. <Tile$Name>
6.8
Finally ...
6.8
Page 140 of the User Guide says that the example commands to set
Alias$@PrintType and Alias$@RunType variables must have trailing spaces.
Does anyone know why?  A
6.8
Supermarket − In Four Languages
6.8
Alex Thomas
6.8
This review is a language teacher’s perspective on the ‘Supermarket’
language programs produced by New Era Software in four languages
(English, French, German and Spanish).
6.8
Surely, I thought, this must be every modern language teacher’s dream
software for the Archimedes. Just think of the realistic situations set
against the background of shopping in a supermarket which could meet the
demands of the National Curriculum (Modern Languages and IT) and the
GCSE syllabuses. This disc must, I thought, deal with asking for
particular items, quantities, containers, problems at the checkout,
queries about the bill, breakages, complaints, special offers, coupons,
shoplifting, advertising, job vacancies − the potential is tremendous.
6.8
With my mind buzzing with such expectations, I was eager to try out this
program with a class, so I sat down after school to run through it and
plan some meaningful tasks. I was hoping to use the German version, so
that was where I started. I needed to enter the shop name and a message
to go on the till receipts − everything was in German, so I was feeling
very positive about the program. (The function keys are used for accents
in all the languages.) The next screen asked for information about what
is bought, the price, the amount tendered, method of payment − still all
in German, as are the print commands, etc.
6.8
Having entered some information, I printed it out − a very basic till
receipt with my list of items and prices, which are totalled with the
amount of change calculated and my message from the first screen (thank
you). It was much the same as all those till receipts I have brought
back from various trips in recent years, except that at least the pupil
has to enter the items bought and understand approximately twenty items
of vocabulary which appear on the screen for each “customer”.
6.8
I began to plan tasks for my beginners using the printouts. One pupil
could produce one and the others ask questions to find out the prices.
We could produce them for different shops and compare prices.... but
then, I have a cupboard full of attractive, colourful supermarket
advertising leaflets from Germany, in class sets, surely it would be
better to use them!
6.8
I decided to go back to the program to see what else it has to offer
which the GCSE sets could use. I pressed “clear” to see what happened −
the chance to enter another list of items and prices! Since the computer
totals the prices and works out the change, you can’t even work on
complaints at the checkout, except by pretending that the wrong price
was entered.
6.8
There is no list of acceptable items, so there is no spellcheck, it
accepts complete nonsense − an item is any set of letters, a price any
number. There are no graphics, no variations on the basic layout and
content, nothing which will interest the pupils or give them a sense of
achievement, unless the teacher spends hours devising speaking tasks
based on till receipts.
6.8
Is it worth taking the whole class to the computer room to produce a
till receipt, or devising a flexible learning lesson with a variety of
small group activities so that this program can be used on the one
computer in my room? No, definitely not. I have some much better ideas
based on my wide selection of realia!
6.8
The program’s handbook suggests many sophisticated possibilities using
product files and bar codes which may be valid for teachers of
Technology, etc to develop. However, as a language teacher, I have not
yet found the time to work on these areas which seem to have little to
do with communication, verbal or written. In case I was too hasty in my
rejection of this program, I decided to use it with a class anyway. The
first pupil (below average year 9) got to the printing stage and said
“Now what?” − “That’s all it does”, I replied. He returned to his group
to do the structured oral tasks I had set up, showed them his till
receipt and the rest asked, “Wouldn’t it be quicker if we just wrote one
out miss?”  A
6.8
Hints and Tips
6.8
•    A5000 serial port problems − Several of you will have experienced
problems with dead or dying serial ports on their A5000s. Acorn are
aware of problems on early A5000 p.c.b.s and have a fix for them.
However, there are still some problems with static. Until Acorn find a
solution, the best we can do is take suitable precautions. (1) Use
braid-screened cable and connect the braid to the connector shells at
both ends. Also, never connect a cable when the machine at either end is
switched on. Always switch on both devices after the cable has been
connected.
6.8
•    Filer_CloseDir − On my 4Mb A3000, I like to open ‘related’ windows to
various programs and then close them again when finished, by using
Filer_OpenDir <pathname> <position> and Filer_ CloseDir <pathname>
respectively. I put these commands in the !Run file of !BJ10e Turbo
Drivers, one before the command to run !Runimage and the other after.
Readers should be warned that the command Filer_CloseDir clashes with
CC’s Turbo Driver (v2.09b) when using their Compression filing system
(CFS) (v1.17). If the Turbo driver is loaded first and then CFS, you
will find that, when trying to quit the Turbo Driver, it goes into an
error loop with SWI &43303 not known and only a <ctrl-break> or <reset>
will release the computer so you lose all unsaved files, etc. No problem
occurs when they are loaded in reverse order or when Filer_ CloseDir is
deleted from the !Run file of !BJ10e.
6.8
Does anyone know whether any other programs clash with Filer_CloseDir?
Brian Cocksedge, Midhurst.
6.8
•    Filofax printing − We had a letter printed on a piece of Filofax paper
which proved that you can do so with a Canon BJ200 with CC’s Turbo
Driver software using a custom page size of 95 × 165 mm. If you use
Impression (II or Junior), it shows the print area so it is easy then to
create a suitable frame and choose a small typeface (say, 8 pt) and view
the page at 200%.  Brian Stewart, Nairn.
6.8
•    Inkjet printing − When inkjet/bubblejet printouts need a relatively
large amount of ink, the paper can become a little wrinkled. To remove
the wrinkles, pass the paper through a laser printer by printing a blank
page. This calendars the paper to its original smooth finish.  George
Foot, Oxted.
6.8
•    Laser toner cartridges − The first sign you get that a laser toner
cartridge is about to run out is a line down the paper which is
obviously very low on toner. If you “rock the cartridge gently”, you may
be able to spread the toner out sufficiently to get a few more sheets
out of it. Try rocking first but then eventually, try shaking. Beware,
if you shake too soon, you can end up with toner all over the place!
Colin Singleton, Sheffield.
6.8
•    ShowPage confusion − It has been said within the pages of Archive that
“ShowPage does not work with RISC OS 3”. This is not entirely correct.
It will not work with RISC OS 3 fonts, i.e. those which have their own
kerning tables, and it will not work with RISC OS 3’s ROM fonts.
However, if you want to use ShowPage, all you need to do is to replace
the in-built fonts (Corpus, Homerton and Trinity) with ones within your
own font folder and included a FontRemove command to remove the ROM
fonts.  A
6.8