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- Hints and Tips
- 7.10
- • Cumana CD-ROM 300 (SLCD), Photo CD. I had problems installing the new
- module on my A5000. I had followed the installation instructions given
- in the help file, putting new lines in the !Boot file but could not
- change the module and kept getting error messages. I contacted Cumana
- who were very helpful. By a process of elimination, we found out that
- the lines added to the !Boot file should be this:-
- 7.10
- RMEnsure SLCD 1.22 RMLoad (Path).SLCD. SLCD1
- 7.10
- RMEnsure SLCD 1.22 error SLCD version 1.22 not found
- 7.10
- where (Path) will be something like
- 7.10
- ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Cumana
- 7.10
- or whatever the directory is that contains the new module. Angela
- Bareford, Woking.
- 7.10
- • IDEFS and RISC OS 3. I recently upgraded my A3000 to ARM3, which
- proved to be a very harrowing experience due to certain... err...
- misunderstandings on the part of Watford Electronics. However, with the
- computer back on my desk, I felt more contented, until I discovered that
- my hard disc drive disagreed with the new processor. So, I contacted
- Risc Developments, who were very helpful, and they sent me a new IDE
- controller ROM. I would recommend that all owners of R.D. internal hard
- disc drives and RISC OS 3 should get this as it interfaces better with
- the new operating system and provides a proper space free window.
- 7.10
- Unfortunately, I can’t do that, as it doesn’t seem to work with my
- system. Everything is fine until it has to cope with a file that is
- about 1Mb long; this can occur when using ArcFS archives which are
- treated as one file or when installing Wordworks − the dictionary file
- is massive! RD are somewhat confused by this as they thought they had
- fixed it, so my faithful little hard drive must be entrusted to Parcel
- Force for the hazardous journey to St. Albans.
- 7.10
- Therefore, I felt I ought to warn Archive readers with a similar
- configuration that archiving and WordWorking can be very bad for your
- general welfare − no-one likes having to wipe everything! The versions
- in question are: IDEFS v:1.27 and IDEFiler v:1.11 on the EPROM v: 1.33A.
- 7.10
- It is, however, nice to see that some companies can be genuinely helpful
- − notably those who do not also deal with PC products ... Nigel Caplan,
- Leeds.
- 7.10
- • Indelible files in CFS − Sometimes, in using Computer Concepts’ CFS,
- a file may become corrupted, and end up on the disc as an indelible
- file. No direct * command, such as *WIPE, *REMOVE, or *DELETE has any
- effect. The simple solution is to create another file in Impression or
- Artworks with exactly the same name as the dud file. On attempting to
- save the new file, you meet the familiar CC warning message inviting you
- to delete the old file and save the new one. When you press OK, the dud
- file is replaced by a nice new file which can then be deleted as
- normal. Gerald Moxon, Leeds.
- 7.10
- • Inkjet problems on BJ10? − If you find that the ink stops flowing a
- short time after installing a new cartridge, and if the self-clean does
- not work, try removing the cartridge and blowing into the little hole at
- the side of the cartridge. This trick has worked every time I have tried
- it and was taught me by a printer repair engineer. Clive Bell,
- Stevenage.
- 7.10
- • Menu Help ...continued. I would like to add a suggestion to the saga
- about getting menu help, first raised by Gwyn Williams (Archive 6.11
- p11), and followed by two articles by Richard Simpson (Archive 6.12 p33
- and 7.8 p42).
- 7.10
- The problem is that the Gwyn Williams’ examples only work for those
- mythical owners of the new RISC_OSlib, and the solutions suggested by
- Richard Simpson cause other problems which he referred to last month.
- 7.10
- Although I also do not own the new RISC_OSlib, I implemented menu help
- using Gwyn Williams’ solution by including my own function for
- wimpt_messages.
- 7.10
- (1) Add the header reference
- 7.10
- #include “swis.h”
- 7.10
- (2) Define a new swi
- 7.10
- #define Wimp_AddMessages 0x400F6
- 7.10
- (3) Include the new wimpt_messages routine
- 7.10
- static void wimpt_messages (wimp_ msgaction *messages)
- 7.10
- {r ;
- 7.10
- r.r[0]=(int)messages;
- 7.10
- wimpt_complain(os_swix(Wimp_AddMessages, &r));
- 7.10
- }
- 7.10
- I hope this is useful. Peter Tuson, Fleet.
- 7.10
- • Saving the desktop state at shutdown − After playing with !Help and
- Switcher’s save Desktop file, I discovered an icon that was almost
- completely out of view. The icon is at the bottom of the ‘Desktop boot’
- save-window below the ‘Auto boot’ icon. (it can be seen by loading the
- Switcher templates into FormEd, and altering the window size.) It
- transpires that it is possible to make the desktop save the current
- state at shutdown. It all revolves around the alias SaveDesk$File.
- 7.10
- By typing
- 7.10
- *Set SaveDesk$File <filename>
- 7.10
- the current state of the desktop will be saved, as a desktop file called
- <filename>, whenever a Shutdown (Ctrl-Shift-F12) is performed, or ‘Exit
- ’is selected from the Switcher menu.
- 7.10
- I have been unable to find any references to this in the RISC OS 3 User
- Guide, so I would imagine that it is not fully implemented, or not
- recommended by Acorn. Neil Walker, Wymondham, Norfolk.
- 7.10
- • Toshiba CD-ROM drives and CDFS − I recently experienced problems in
- connecting a Toshiba 4101 SCSI CD-ROM drive to my system. The problem
- was that the CD-ROM icon would be displayed on the iconbar but clicking
- on it, or trying to play audio discs would cause the error ‘CD-ROM drive
- not found.’
- 7.10
- I found out that the Toshiba EE50X driver provided with CDFS does not
- work with this drive, (nor apparently the 3401). Luckily, Morley
- Electronics sell a new driver for £25 which does work, and so these
- cheap CD-ROM drives will now work with Archimedes computers.
- 7.10
- Apparently, the latest CDFS is v2.21 and hopefully allows drives to be
- set to double speed, and removes the bug where ejecting an audio disc
- kills CDFS. Richard Burrell, Bristol.
- 7.10
- • Two dimensional scroll bars − Here’s an interesting ‘feature’ of RISC
- OS 3.11. Load up Edit or Impression with a file that covers more than a
- screenfull. Now go to one of the scroll bars and click on the ‘thumb’
- (the bar) with <adjust>. The pointer will disappear and moving the mouse
- will cause the window to scroll in any direction − up, down, left and
- right! Impression seems to do this better than Edit, but any offers why
- it happens at all? Nigel Caplan, Leeds.
- 7.10
- This feature is part of the normal Wimp-controlled operation of a
- window. It is particularly useful in graphics programs such as Draw,
- Artworks and bitmap applications with pages much larger than the
- window. Dave Webb, NCS. A
- 7.10
-