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|-------------------------- Acorn News Service --------------------------|
| http://www.acornusers.org/ANS/ |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| The Acorn News Service is an independent service. |
| It is in no way connected with, or supported by the Acorn Group PLC. |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ISSUE 16 19 September 1998 |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Editor: E.Abrahams ------ eytan@acornusers.org |
| Sub-Editor: J.Sears ------ james@acornusers.org |
| Webmaster: R.Hesketh ------ richard@acornusers.org |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| To send in your news items or comments, use the ANS website, |
| or e-mail them to ans@acornusers.org. |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| >> Random site pick this issue: http://www.convergence.org/ << |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ANS.....Better than ever before! |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Contents
--------
1) Editorial
2) General News
3) Commercial News
4) PD/Shareware News
5) Club News
6) ANS information
Editorial
---------
You've heard about it. You've read about it. Yep! It's our new Sub-Editor.
We're very glad to welcome James Sears.
We're now "back to normal" with an expanded man power team. With James now
on board, we are confident that we will continue to provide the high quality
service we are proud of.
Richard is planning some major additions to the website. As far as the site
goes, the updates have been a little slow but this should improve now
Richard has no Sub Editing worries... just more work from his job! ;-)
In general, the ANS membership numbers keep on going UP. We are very proud
of this, as more people are subscribing, and only one person unsubscribed in
the past month! At just over 450 members, we're THE fastest growing Acorn
mailing list.
A few new ideas are being planned as I write this. More to come as time
goes on.
Until then, enjoy!
Eytan.
Editor
General News
------------
1) RC5 crackers...
There is an Acorn specific team on the RC5 cracking effort - team "Acorn
Users Group".
If you feel like joining in on the team, boosting the Acorn Users score,
feel free to sign up on the website http://www.distributed.net/
They also have a mailing list, see below for details.
2) RC5/DES Mailing List
A mailing list has been set up for people using the distributed.net
clients to crack RC5/DES on Acorn computers. For anyone interested in
talking about the available clients or related subjects, you can join the
mailing list by sending an e-mail to maillist@alphapro.demon.co.uk with
the *subject* of 'SIGNON acornrc5'.
This mailing list is open to all people in the contest that are in some
way connected to Acorns. This includes people in the 'Acorn User
(cracking) Group', 'Arcade BBS (cracking group)' and of course 'ant.org'.
If you don't understand what this is all about, have a look at
http://www.alphapro.demon.co.uk/Acorn/rc5des.html for for information on
helping Acorns be recognised and being a part of the world's largest
computer.
3) AcornSite - Let others know when your site is updated
AcornSite has just been updated, with a new part called 'Update'. It is so
that you can let other people know every time you web site is updated.
All you do is fill in a form on the page each time you make an update to
your web page. Enter your URL and changes that you have made, and your
update is added to the current list.
It should help to show which sites are regularly kept up-to-date and how
big the changes are to the site.
If you have just updated your site and would like to be added to the list
follow the 'update' link on AcornSite at http://www.visitweb.com/acornsite
4) comp.{binaries/sources}.acorn website update
Just to let you know the comp.{binaries/sources}.acorn website has been
updated yet again and a few bugs removed from the pages (it's now super
happy of WebsterXL).
Updated software
----------------
VZap 1.33 - Now recognises 5 new families of virus as well as many new
strains of old viruses. Also has a better filer handling system.
New software
------------
NetUtils - A patch to load NetUtils, BorderUtil and FilerUtil.
VProtect 3.10 - a replacement version of the Pineapple Software antivirus
module.
Voyager - A new set of sprites for Voyager.
NOTICE
------
The site will be going down in the next fortnight for a day or so - I'm
rejigging the pages again as I can now split the files up even further
(eg Antivirus, internet etc) - it should make things easier to navigate.
Uploading & FTP
---------------
You can upload to the website via anon ftp now. The software gets
forwarded to me and I'll send it to the moderator of the c.b/s.a ngs.
URL at the end. Anon FTP is still the same.
TTFN, comp.binaries/sources.acorn website commandant.
http://www.acornusers.org/cbsa/
ftp://ftp.acornusers.org/pub/cbsa/
ftp://ftp.acornusers.org/pub/cbsa/incoming/ (uploads)
Commercial News
---------------
1) Phoebe (RiscPC II) Update
[Following Acorn's restructuring and cancellation of the RiscPC 2 project
this is now out of date... just as Phoebe was looking better than ever
with the large discount and great software bundle :-( It is interesting
to note that some of RISC OS 4 appears to work on RiscPCs. -JS]
Production units of Acorn's new computer, Phoebe, are not expected until
the end of October due to delays in silicon production of the new IOMD2
chip. This means it is unlikely dealers will receive units to exhibit at
Acorn World, although Acorn intend to have some functioning machines on
their stand. Registered developers will receive parts of RISC OS 4 to
allow compatibility testing before the actual machine is available.
Phil Smith, VP of Operations at Acorn, said: "We're extremely disappointed
about these delays in the silicon which have arisen from unforseen
problems in the supply chain in the Far East. These problems have now
been resolved and we now have samples of the IOMD2 chip for testing.
Unfortunately however, these delays have resulted in slippage on
deadlines."
Acorn is also allowing Clan and user group members a discount of up to 28%
on new Phoebes. Clan members can place a deposit of up to GBP500, and
Acorn User Group members of up to GBP400, and the total price of the
Phoebe will be reduced by that amount. For details see Acorn's web site
<http://www.acorn.com/acorn/phoebe-offer/>.
The updated Phoebe specifications published by Acorn are interesting,
especially some of the software which Acorn hope to include: EasiWriter
Pro, MIDI players, speech recognition, Java, Shockwave 4, OmniClient, ICA
Client, Replay III and MovieFS. These seem to be aimed at providing
maximum compatibility, on the Internet, other networks, and for various
file formats. Also games Iron Dignity, Descent and Ankh will probably be
included, in contrast to !Patience of earlier machines. Read in full at
http://www.acorn.com/acorn/news/press/1998/september/phoebe_spec.html
From the Convergence non-Wintel newsletter, reprinted with permission.
http://www.convergence.org/news/
2) STB/NC
Acorn have signed an agreement with a Canadian software company, ImagicTV,
to provide Acorn acTiVe Digital Video Receiving Devices (DVRDs) in the
first commercial roll-out of a broadcast TV solution over existing copper
telephone wires. The multi-million dollar deal incorporates Acorn's
delivery of 10000 acTiVe DVRDs to ImagicTV in the next nine months.
Acorn also announced the next phase in their strategic partnership with
Boca Research for the development and distribution of thin-client
computing devices. The agreement is based on Acorn's new thin-client
terminal reference design, DeskLite, which provides access to Microsoft
applications via MetaFrame and WinFrame software for Windows NT.
Anthony Zalenski, President and CEO at Boca Research, said "We are
delighted to be working with Acorn on this venture. The projects we have
undertaken with Acorn in the past have convinced us of their technological
advancement and professionalism. These factors, coupled with Boca
Research's manufacturing capabilities and marketing skills, ensure a
bright future for this new range of thin clients".
Source: Convergence International Newsletter - http://www.convergence.org/
3) ARM's new low cost evaluation board
ARM recently announced a new low cost evaluation board, fulfilling the
growing need of people new to the architecture who want to experiment with
out high expenditure. The ARM Evaluation Board, AEB-1, is now widely
available for $150, and includes documentation, serial cable, power
supply, and a 60 day evaluation version of the ARM software development
kit.
The board features a Sharp LH77790 microcontroller with ARM7DI 32 bit RISC
CPU core, LCD controller, common peripherals controllers, cache, and local
SRAM. Also on the board is 128K SRAM, 256K FLASH, JTAG Debug port, serial
port, LEDs and bus access.
Source: Convergence International Newsletter - http://www.convergence.org/
4) Power-tec PowerFlash Upgrade for Cumana SCSI II card owners!
Yes exactly what you've been waiting for; the ability to re-engine your
Cumana SCSI II card performance to Powerful Ultra SCSI III.
Simply bring along your Cumana SCSI II card to Stand 65 at Acorn World and
our technicians will replace your old SCSI II chip with a powerful State-
of-the-Art Ultra fast SCSI III controller IC while you look around the
Show. For your peace of mind, your SCSI card will be thoroughly tested on
site to ensure data integrity. Indeed, we are so confident in the product
that we are giving a new 12 month hardware warranty with every PowerFLASH
SCSI III upgrade, just like new! Your goods will be ready for collection
as you leave the Show.
This new powerful SCSI III Controller IC is backwards compatible with
SCSI II devices, so there's no need to worry. Simply plug your new
SCSI III card into your Acorn computer, run the installer software and
your SCSI devices, such as hard discs, scanners and CD ROM drives will
work as before.
...and the price for this remarkable upgrade?
Just GBP49 excluding VAT.
The PowerFLASH upgrade requires your Cumana SCSI II card to be returned to
Alsystems for upgrade.
The Power-tec PowerFLASH Upgrade is PRICED AT GBP49 plus GBP5 postage and
packaging (excluding VAT).
To order your Power-tec PowerFLASH Upgrade either:
* Place a web order at: http://www.alsystems.co.uk/order/
* E-Mail an order: sales@alsystems.co.uk
* Phone: +44 (0)1420 561111
* Fax: +44 (0)1420 561100
All Trademarks acknowledged. Without prejudice.
If you have further technical questions please e-mail:
neil@alsystems.co.uk
5) SunBurst
SunBurst is now available and shipping. The game works on ARM2 and over
and requires a minimum of 2MB RAM. There is a HD and a DD version.
Details on the game and downloadable demo are available from:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/3873/
6) Epson Stylus Photo700 and PhotoEX drivers from Spacetech
1440 dpi 6 colour PhotoReal drivers now available from Spacetech Ltd.
Epson Stylus PhotoEX and Epson Stylus Photo 700 now supported, other 6 ink
printers in the pipeline.
Spacetech have announced, that their new perceptual remodelling algorithm
for rasterising bitmap printer dumps has now been applied to the latest
1440 dpi high resolution Epson Stylus Photo printers, the A4 Photo700 and
the A3 PhotoEX.
The Printer driver makes use of the same Colour Management System (CMS)
normally found in PHOTODESK to produce high quality four colour
separations from the output of any RISC OS application, and included with
the printer driver is a calibration utility to allow the experienced user
to manipulate the colour interpretation of the application.
These drivers mean that Printers supported so far are the Canon BJC4200,
BJC4300, BJC4550, BJC4650, Epson Stylus Photo, Stylus Photo700 and Stylus
PhotoEX. Work continues on the Canon BJC7000.
PhotoReal is supplied free of charge when bundled with a printer purchased
from Spacetech. It is available for GBP69.00 incl VAT to users who have
already purchased a supported printer elsewhere.
7) Management Buy-out of Acorn User
As of 9th September 1998 the ownership of Acorn User magazine passed from
IDG Media to Tau Press Ltd in a management buy-out led by Steve Turnbull,
who has been the magazine's editor since early 1996. This has occurred as
part of an overall strategy, on the part of Steve and his partners, to
reinvigorate the entire Acorn market.
IDG Managing Director Ian Bloomfield said: "While Acorn User is still
profitable it's not a natural fit with the rest of our portfolio which is
now clearly split between PC and Console titles. When Steve suggested the
buy-out we were happy to go along with the plan and will be giving him all
the production support he requires."
The new company, Tau Press Ltd, is backed by two successful entrepreneurs,
Piers Springthorpe and Aidan Carlson.
From the readers' viewpoint there will be little change initially, said
Steve: 'All the regular contributors will still be there, the articles
will remain at the same high standard plus the competitions and special
offers will keep rolling in — "if it ain't broke don't fix it"'.
Distribution will remain the same as well.
Steve Turnbull (40) Production Director, has been in magazine production
for the last 13 years moving from lowly Editorial Assistant up to full
Editor in just 5 years, being responsible for the production of over 100
magazine issues. He has a technical background, with a degree in Computer
Science.
Piers Springthorpe (31) Marketing Director, started with stock market
trading; through a position as a sales director for a manufacturing
company — growing its business dramatically in just three years; to a
London-based management consultancy then one based in the Northwest.
Aidan Carlson (35) Sales Director, is a sales powerhouse whose additional
skills had him promoted to management early in his career. With his own
business consultancy he had over 50 clients in the Northwest.
Other staff joining Tau Press are Lisa Bracewell (Advertising Sales) and
Alan Jones (Art Editor) who have both worked on Acorn User before. Charlie
Moran (Production Manager) and Stephen Scott (Expansion Manager).
For the time being neither the address nor telephone number for Tau Press
will change, as its offices are in the same building as IDG Media.
Address: Acorn User
Tau Press
Media House
Adlington Park
Macclesfield
SK10 4NP
Phone : 01625 878888
Fax : 01625 850652
8) New Mag
With new management at Acorn User and the intention to make it into a real
Acorn Mag and not MacAcorn User and also to promote Acorn in ways as yet
to be divulged I have decided to abort New Mag. Many thanks to those who
had shown an interest in the project.
All best wishes Roy.
Roy Robinson / ACD Press / Birdtech
Acorn Computer/Design/Print/Publish
Tel: 01493 600966 Fax: 01493 442445
Email: birdtech@argonet.co.uk
PD/Shareware News
-----------------
1) Calendar for 1999
There is a calendar for 1999 in draw format, it is a his and her type
planner in a months format so that both of you can put in reminders of
what you have got to do next.
It is all so useful for Desktop Publishers feel free to use it as you
like, you can alter the fonts to what suits you.
You can download it from http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/
2) New StrongHelp BASIC manual released
A major overhaul has been given to the StrongHelp BASIC manual. Find it
at http://home.eunet.no/~guttorvi/strong.html
3) StrongED 4.54 released
Version 4.54 of the text editor StrongED is available for download from:
http://home.eunet.no/~guttorvi/strong.html
There are no major changes since 4.52, but quite a few minor improvements
and bug fixes. These include:
* When 'advanced' syntax is used in any of the search boxes, it is
resized to show a collection of the most-often used elements, together
with a short reminder of what each element does.
* The download archive now contains an alternative configuration
directory where all modes are configured to white-on-black. Second,
in the config box for a mode, you can now select a complete colour
scheme (press Menu) instead of setting the colour of the various
elements one by one.
* The block edit / 'indent' routine now edits lines based on the caret's
graphical position, and not it's character offset. This means it now
works sensibly in lines with TAB characters.
* The StrongED manual has been restructured internally, so that you now
can press F1 to get help on keywords and functions when you edit a
mode file (when using the supplied StrongMode mode).
4) UplHome Version 1.24
UplHome is a freeware program that creates FTP scripts for !TCPIP (KA9Q),
freenet FTP and sFTP. It is used to send updates from your local copy of
your web site to a remote FTP server. It only sends the changes since the
last upload.
Other features include:
* Changing timestamps in html files.
* Reporting on "orphan" links in your web site. Reports will improve in
the next version.
* Old file deletion from remote server.
* Downloads count.txt and banduse.txt for Demon users.
* Works with Demon, Argonet and any other ISP supporting FTP as a method
to update web pages.
Browse to http://www.tilmun.demon.co.uk/club/roy.htm to download,
register, fill in the wish list questionnaire and join the mailing list.
5) SR2000 Track Editor
After many months of waiting, !SRDesign is now available. It is based on
!Design, the original FedNet track editor with a few differences:
* Fully multitasking - runs in desktop
* Much more user friendly
* Supports Interactive Help
* Automatic bounding boxes
It and many more programs available for download NOW at the Acorn
SymbioSyS website at http://ocean.ucc.ie/99/oshea/acorn/
6) Replayer 1.0.0 -- a Replay sound library
Replayer 1.0.0 has just been released. Replayer is a library for using
the Acorn Replay sound drivers, and for playing the sound part of Acorn
Replay files. Two example command-line programs (useful in their own
right) are provided, one which plays raw sound data, the other which
plays Replay files (with a few bells and whistles).
It might be useful if you want to add Replay sound playing to an
application. Using the Replay sound drivers also lets sound players work
with both 8-bit and 16-bit sound systems. The non-driver parts of Replayer
are portable, so it could be used as the basis for a Replay player for
other platforms.
Replayer has the novelty feature of being able to play Replay files
backwards. Combined with CDAudio, this could be used to play CDs backwards
to search for satanic messages. :-)
Replayer includes source code (as usual), and can be downloaded from:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/mseaborn/comp/programs.html#replayer
7) MouseOff & MagPi-Mo'
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dacha/free.htm
MouseOff is a small module which disconnects the Mouse module during
screen blanking to prevent unwanted powering up from accidental mouse
movement.
MagPi-Mo' is combination of magnifier, pointer-info and mouse-setter in
just 24K (+32K when the magnifier window is in use).
Magnification 2x to 9x, adjustable window size, cross-hairs in any of 16
colours plotted by Set, Or, And or Eor, to provide good visibility against
almost any background, or turned off.
Pointer info gives information on up to 13 window and icon parameters and
can be configured in any combination as long as at least one is showing.
Units can be set to OS decimal or hex, Pixel decimal or hex, centimetres
or inches.
Mouse-setter allows quick setting of the mouse speed from 1 to 8 and also
allows toggling to X=0, Y=0 or X=Y=1, on pressing the Alt Gr (right Alt)
key. the latter function can be switched off.
Settings can be saved and restored.
Other free downloads include a Hermetic font containing Greek and Hebrew
characters; and astrological, gaming and other symbols.
8) High resolution Nuclear Holocaust released
Nuclear Holocaust is a multiplayer player sideways-view tanks game. Use up
to 22 different weapons, and a host of accessories, shielding and more to
blow up your enemies without getting blown up yourself.
Firing consists of pointing your tank's turret in the desired direction
and clicking on OK. You also set up the power of the shot, and whether or
not to use a variety of extras you can tack onto the weapon, not to
mention moving about (using fuel), using parachutes to prevent rather
embarrassing falls, your shields, and best of all, the weapon itself. It
is possible to play with up to 4 players, any of which can be computer or
human controlled.
The latest version can be downloaded at the new Acorn Arcade Nuclear
Holocaust pages - direct link:
http://www.acornarcade.com/cgi-bin/go-aa?features/gamesupport/holoc/
Changes in this version
-----------------------
2.01-2.55 : (not in chronological order)
* High resolution implemented
- allocates required memory dynamically allowing any resolution the
computer is capable of
- new high res menu and title graphics
- menus now use a nice anti-aliased font instead of the big blocky
blue one
* CD music implemented
- can use any CDFS drive
- autodetects CDFS and number of CD tracks
- autodetects changes to CD during game
- randomly selects tracks rather than letting CD run
- pressing 'M' at any time now selects a new track
- maintains balance control over volume (retains initial state)
* All new selection of hefty tracker music
- Autodetected and optional
- No more dodgy Smooth Criminal remix
* Wimp interface
- set screen resolution
- toggle autointerlacing in low resolutions
- select music, set default CD drive
* Teleporter weapon
- Tanks teleport in and out at start + end of games
- use of weapon saps shields and works over limited distance
* Sine wave grasslands
* Nice, new, neater pointer
* Value change bug on SA's fixed
* Less parachutes + shields in arcade mode
* Speech autodetected
* Added worms/tanx style power setting (optional)
* Renamed '/NUCLEAR/ HOLOCAUST'
9) Version 3.10 of my "mkdrawf" utilities
Release 3.10 of "mkdrawf", my tool for creating drawfiles, is now
available. It's enormously better than the previous released version
(3.09); the main changes are:
* Syntactic improvements:
- The ability to write expressions in infix notation
- *Sensible* passing of parameters to macros
(These two alone make a *big* difference to how nice mkdrawf
is to use.)
- A much nicer For loop syntax (two, even!)
- Symbolic names for common colours
* Semantic improvements:
- Some new mathematical operators
- Specification of JPEG objects is easier
- Support for circular arcs
- Some bugs fixed
* Cosmetic improvements:
- Manual reformatted and brought up to date
- Error handling is *very* slightly better
- Debugging is slightly easier
You can get it by anonymous FTP at:
ftp://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/mkdrawf-3.10.arc
or on the web at:
http://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/~gjm11/software.html
For those who don't know: "mkdrawf" is a powerful tool for making Acorn
drawfiles; it is a (rather nasty) programming language in its own right.
It comes with a tool that turns drawfiles into "mkdrawf" input files; it's
sometimes useful to do that, munge the file with perl somehow, and then
use "mkdrawf" to produce a modified drawfile.
Warning: if you want the Impression version of the manual to look nice,
you'll need to install a few fonts; details are in the web page mentioned
above, or you can just grab ftp://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/goudy.arc
or ftp://g.pet.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/goudy0.zip which is smaller, but
then you'll need to do some *SetType's.
10) VNC Server
The forth release of the VNC server has been uploaded to:
http://www.interconnex.co.uk/~paul/
Anyone who fetched release 3 is strongly advised to get this version as it
fixes a nasty memory leak.
What's VNC? "Virtual Network Computing" is a system which allows you to
access one networked computer from another. The desktop from the server
appears in a window on the client. There's links to more info at the above
site.
Club News
---------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Brought to you in association with The Association of Acorn User Groups*
The AAUG website provides details of all the user groups worldwide, and
how you can benefit from becoming a member. For more information, visit:
http://www.argonet.co.uk/scs/AAUG/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Re-launch of NKACC
The North Kent Amateur Computer Club has been around for quite a while,
meeting in various venues South East of London. It has been a little quiet
for a while, so they have arranged a get-together to see old friends and
hopefully to welcome new members.
The meeting will be on Thursday 24th. September in the Memorial Hall,
Woodland Way, Petts Wood, Orpington, 8.00pm 'till 10.00pm. Doors will open
from 7.30, and refreshments will be available. (The hall is near the pub
in Station Square, which is our other main venue!)
A map of the area is linked from:
http://www.humperdink.demon.co.uk/nkacc.htm
The Club consists of a bunch of friendly pro-computer people, who enjoy
chatting about what makes all kinds of new technology tick.
Historically, the Club has gone through Amiga, Acorn, Apple and Wintel
phases, with a liberal sprinkling of various pocket/notebook machines
along the way.
Currently, members have experience of Acorn and Wintel machines, running
all the major OSs. We hope that members will bring their machines and
their friends to meetings so that we can all learn about them, especially
if they are a bit unusual or innovative.
We want to know what you want from a club, so please bring along your
ideas as well as your machines.
If you are not a member, please make yourself known to a committee member,
and we will tell you more about the club.
If you just can't make the 24th but want to be kept informed about future
meetings, please send an email to ricnev@argonet.co.uk and you will be put
on the mailing list.
2) News from Fraug
The Fraug is The French Acorn User Group. On their web site you can now
find some examples which illustrate how to implement a preemptive
multi-threading and it now works under the latest versions (>3.5) of
RISC OS! (from Benoit Gilon)
Fraug's website contains nearly 3Mo of software for RISC OS.
Email : fraug@mygale.org
Web : http://www.mygale.org/~fraug/
ANS information
---------------
1) How to send in news
To send in your news items, simply include the information below, and send
it to ans@acornusers.org. Alternatively use the form on the ANS website at
http://www.acornusers.org/ANS/newsdesk.html
First name:
Surname:
E-mail address:
Text of news item:
2) How to subscribe to ANS
If you are reading this on the ANS web site, or have received a forwarded
copy of ANS and would like to subscribe to the mailing list, simply send
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(without quotes) in the body.
------------ Acorn News Service, http://www.acornusers.org/ANS/ ------------