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2000-06-01
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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 Acorn Group PLC. |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ISSUE 40 5 September 1999 |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| To send in your news items or comments, use the ANS website, |
| or e-mail them to ans@acornusers.org. |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Featured site this issue: http://www.theregister.co.uk/ |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Contents
--------
1) Editorial
2) General News
3) Commercial News
4) PD/Shareware News
5) Club News
6) ANS information
Editorial
---------
It seems the Acorn market is quite quiet at the moment, waiting for the
imminent release of new hardware. However although the last two weeks have
been uneventful in terms of RISC OS scene developments, much has been
happening to ARM.
Intel has announced a new 1000 MIPS networking chip based around a new
StrongARM <http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/Fe90199a.htm>;
Nintendo will be using an ARM based processor in the successor to the
very popular Game Boy <http://www.nintendo.com/corp/press/090199b.html>;
Psion has announced the Series 7, a consumer version of the StrongARM
powered netBook <http://5alive.psionking.com/Archives99/Sep06_1367.htm>
(if a RISC OS laptop does not turn up, this EPOC on StrongARM system could
be a very good alternative); and meanwhile ARM continues to be successful
in new embedded markets, eg cars <http://www.arm.com/Markets/Automotive/>.
Even thought Acorn is no longer involved in developing RISC OS, or as an
owner of ARM, we are reliant on the architecture, and proud of the
technology which originated at Acorn, so it is excellent to see ARM going
from strength to strength.
Also as some of you may have noticed, Stephen Courtney, ANS webmaster,
has recently created a new web site for ANS. Please visit the new ANS site
<http://www.acornusers.org/ans/> and let us know what you think.
James Sears, Editor
james@ans.acornusers.org
General News
------------
1) Mailing list for RISC OS Perl users
The RISC OS Perl mailing list is moving to a new home, where it will
operate continuously and will not be dependant on one persons access
to the net.
The mailing list address is RISCOS@perl.org (case does not matter).
To subscribe to the list, simply e-mail riscos-subscribe@perl.org.
Commercial News
---------------
1) TeleButler Home Information System
TeleButler provides a unique Home Information System which makes your
Acorn computer useful around the house. Rather than being limited to a
single screen, it enables your computer to communicate throughout your
house via your television sets.
A special "information channel" is generated by the computer, and is
available on channel 9 of all of your televisions to show you:
* The caller's name and number when the telephone rings.
* The number dialled on any telephone extension in your home.
* The name of the person being called.
* When the telephone is in use and when the call has finished.
* A customised TV and Radio guide listing your favourite programmes.
* Other useful information from your own software.
It is based primarily on Octopus Systems' Caller Display and Teletext+
which themselves offer lots of useful features. You can either buy the
TeleButler system as a complete pack, or build it up piece by piece.
The TeleButler system and its various components are available now from
Octopus Systems:
Teletext+ software with CC Teletext card GBP125
Caller Display Unit with Caller Display V2 software GBP104
Modulator for connecting RGB output to TV aerial GBP59
Speak software (for announcing callers etc) GBP21
TeleButler Pack, comprising all of the above GBP285
These prices include UK delivery and VAT. More details are available from
Octopus System's web site:
http://www.octosys.co.uk/tb.html TeleButler
http://www.octosys.co.uk/cid.html Caller Display
http://www.octosys.co.uk/ttx.html Teletext+
2) iSV Products and RISC OS 4
iSV Products have identified the cause of a problem which affected use of
their on screen manuals under RISC OS 4.
Users who have RISC OS 4, or who intend to upgrade in the future, should
download a patch which fixes this bug. The patch is available from the
support area of iSV Products' site <http://members.aol.com/isvproduct/>.
3) Acorn User magazine subscriptions, Australasia
RiscStation (Australasia) and Tau Press have announced a revamped
subscription scheme for Acorn User magazine.
There is a new blanket subscription price for Australasia, AUD145, giving
you 13 issues for less than the UK overseas subscription price. Four and
eight issue subscriptions are also available.
By subscribing directly from RiscStation, not only do you save money, but
your magazines will be delivered in a much shorter time than before.
For more details see <http://www.acornuser.com/> or
<http://www.riscstation.com.au/>.
Also ESD (Education Software & Distributors) are continuing their existing
subscription scheme for Acorn User in New Zealand, available at NZD153
including GST for 13 issues.
Contact ESD for details <http://www.esd.co.nz/>.
4) MicroDigital's Mico on-time
Acorn Arcade has reported that despite delays to RISC OS 4 and the
RiscStation, MicroDigital have told Acorn Arcade that the Mico will
still start shipping this month, as planned.
<http://www.acornarcade.com/news/index.html#micoontime>
PD/Shareware News
-----------------
1) New software on the CBSA web site
* Internet
ArcFixer - solves the problems of only getting gibberish on the screen
when using a non-Acorn PC to download .arc and .spk files from the net.
* Games
Dilbert - creates your own company mission statements which make as much
sense as people still using Hotmail and insisting it to be "safe".
* Programming
WimpBasic runtime modules 2.09 - slight fix to the previous version.
Snoop - see what is going on inside your windows.
* Art
PlotSprite - Two source files showing how to plot a sprite.
All available from <http://www.acornusers.org/cbsa/>.
2) ConvertLFS, LongFS fix for RISC OS 4
RISC OS 4 users, who previously used LongFS for long file names, may have
discovered that their new F+ disc is full of lots of files with names such
as '!ZZ!!Z!!LF' and 'qwerty}001'.
Executor, a free package to rename files to their correct names, is
available from Quantum Software at <http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/qs/>.
3) Port of TAB, lute tablature printing
Tommaso Leddi has ported TAB to RISC OS. TAB is a program to typeset lute
tablature, which works like TeX in that a plain text file (that bears
little resemblance to the desired output) is created and processed into a
device independent printer format file.
You can download RISC OS TAB from:
<http://userspace.ats.it/free/leddit/tab.html>
More information on TAB is available from:
<http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute/AboutTab.html>
4) Quick boot utility, Freeze
Arm's Tech has announced the first public release of Freeze. Freeze can
save the state of a machine and restore it back at any time. Using Freeze,
a long boot sequence can take less than 5 seconds.
Any user can save time and work more efficiently with several applications
and documents, which can be saved for later use at any time.
It supports any combination of many states, users and machines, and has
been tested extensively from RO3.11 to RO3.71 with many hardware
configurations.
Freeze from Arm's Tech is Shareware, the registration fee is GBP10.
The full version can be downloaded from:
<http://aglaee.imag.fr/ArmsTech/GUS/Freeze.html>
5) EuroDict - new version and dictionary files
Philip Murray-Pearce has produced a number of enlarged and new dictionary
files for EuroDict, a dictionary program allowing translation of words and
phrases to and from English and languages using European scripts.
There are also some minor improvements and bug corrections to EuroDict
itself. EuroDict v1.30, together with two example dictionary files (for
Danish and Finnish), is available for free download from:
<http://homepages.which.net/~philip.murray-pearce/home.htm>
Details of how to obtain any of the other 18 dictionary files (Dutch,
Frisian, German, Gothic, Norwegian, Old English, Swedish; Esperanto,
French, Scottish Gaelic, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish; Modern
Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Russian) are contained in EuroDict's Help
file.
Also available from the web site are the previously announced programs
Onomata (vocabulary tester) and Jiten (Japanese dictionary).
6) RasMol v1.30
The RISC OS port of RasMol, a free molecular visualization program
originally only available for MS Windows, Unix and Mac OS, has been
updated and is now based on the latest RasMol 2.7.1 sources.
Furthermore, a number of additional RISC OS features have been added,
eg support for dynamic areas.
You can download RasMol v1.30 and other software from
<http://www.explan.demon.co.uk/mw-software/>.
Club News
---------
1) September meeting dates from AAUG
The following user group meetings are planned for September. Always check
the AAUG web site <http://www.aaug.net/> to confirm details.
September 1999
==============
9th - North Kent Computer Club meeting
10th - Welwyn Hatfield meeting
11th - Arche ACORN User Club (Germany)
13th - Southampton meeting
13th - SASAUG meeting
13th - DARC meeting - Levens Software: HTMLPro and Ovation Pro Applets
14th - Bottisham Acorn Usergroup meeting
14th - Liverpool Acorn Usergroup meeting
14th - Essex Acorn Usergroup meeting
24th - Blackpool meeting
28th - Acorn Club NorthEast meeting
29th - Bristol Acorn User Group meeting
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.aaug.net/>.
2) Arche Acorn User Club
The Arche ACORN User Club is a German user group, which organizes a
meeting in Essen every 2 months, where members and guests can discuss
their experiences and problems with the Archimedes, Risc PC and other
RISC OS computers.
Every RISC OS user is invited to the next meeting on Saturday 11th
September, 1 pm. The meeting is held at: Haus des Sports (Hauptbad),
Steeler Strasse 38, Essen, Germany.
More information (in German) is available at ArcSite
<http://www.arcsite.de/arche/>, or send an email to arche@arcsite.de.
ANS Information
---------------
1) Contact ANS
Editor - James Sears - james@ans.acornusers.org
Webmaster - Stephen Courtney - stephen@ans.acornusers.org
Founder - Eytan Abrahams - eytan@ans.acornusers.org
Life-Webmaster - Richard Hesketh - richard@ans.acornusers.org
ADL Moderator - Paul Johnson - paul@ans.acornusers.org
Translator - Michael Gerbracht - michael@ans.acornusers.org
2) How to send in news
To send in your news items simply e-mail ans@acornusers.org, or use the
form on the ANS website <http://www.acornusers.org/ans/newsdesk.html>.
Also if you have an Acorn related announcements mailing list, feel free
to subscribe ans@acornusers.org.
3) 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
any e-mail to ans-subscribe@ans.acornusers.org. Alternatively use the form
on the ANS web site at <http://www.acornusers.org/ans/subscribe.html>.
For details of other commands e-mail ans-help@ans.acornusers.org.
4) Fetching web pages via e-mail
If you do not have web access you can fetch any URL referenced in ANS by
using the KFS web by e-mail service. To use this free service send an
e-mail to www@kfs.org with the subject header "send <URL>". For example to
fetch the web by e-mail service information page send an e-mail like this:
From: youraddress@example.com
To: www@kfs.org
Subject: send http://www.kfs.org/web-by-mail.html
------------ Acorn News Service, http://www.acornusers.org/ans/ ------------