DiscWorld
Aaron Timbrell dives into the software directory
Once again RISC World is sticking to its promise of cover mounting a full commercial package for our readers, this issue its MenuBar, originally published by Graham Crow and now by APDL.
MenuBar
MenuBar is a multi-tasking desktop utility for the Acorn Archimedes and RISC PC range of computers running under RISC OS. It requires RISC OS 3.1 or later, at least 1mb of RAM, and a hard disc. it is StrongARM compatible.
MenuBar provides a convenient way of accessing often-used directories, applications and files. In operation it is similar to the Filer and the Pinboard, but is presented as a slim bar of pull-down menus at the top of the screen, complementing the icon bar at the bottom. Menus may be dragged or clicked open and shut. A Bar may contain up to ten menus, each with up to 30 objects (ie directories, applications or files). It is very simple to add, reposition and remove objects or Menus.
Up to 30 separate Bars may be created and saved in a Library for loading as required.
MenuBar allows you to organise files to suit the way you work - regardless of the way they are stored on disc. Each Menu may be given a name so that, for example, you could arrange for 'DTP' to hold !Printers, !Style, !MultiChrs and a data directory. Or you might have 'Tools' containing !Measure, !CloseFile, !WimpAid, !Pointer, !Flags, !Magnifier, etc. A third might contain 'WIP' - work in progress. It's up to you! The important point is that all these objects can be run from within MenuBar by double-clicking or dragging.
Moreover, the Menus are instantly available: no frustrating delays while you dig deep into the filer hierarchy waiting for all the icons to be read. By including MenuBar in your Boot sequence your most important files are available from the MenuBar on start-up, and no need for any more cluttered backdrops with windows obscuring the icons you want!
MenuBar is economical on space because all it stores is basic information about the objects you drag onto it - just enough to display them and to allow them to be retrieved from their source (normally your hard disc) when required.
No warranty, express or implied, is made about the suitability of MenuBar for any purpose. The author cannot be held responsible for any damage to or loss of data which may occur whilst using this program.
MenuBar is © Graham Crow 1995 and David Holden 2001. All correspondence, problems, suggestions for improvement, etc. should be addressed to:
A.P.D.L.
39 Knighton Park Road
Sydenham
London SE26 5RN
Phone: 020 8778 2659
The complete DiscWorld line up
A6
The sample Artworks and Basic program test files used in Dave Holden's article, plus some hard disc speed tests.
CineWorks
RISC OS video editor.
Files
The software from Brian Pickard's file conversion series.
Games
All the games from this issues games world column.
MakeSFX
Dave Holden's self extracting file generator.
MenuBar
The complete version of MenuBar.
PD
All the latest PD, shareware and freeware releases from the PD column.
Turbo
A drawfile showing the modifications required to turbo charge a StrongARM along with some test programs.
ToolBox
This contains two sets of Toolbox Modules. The Castle archive contains the latest 26/32 bit neutral system components, required if you want to run a lot of new software releases on 26bit machines (ie. anything that isn't an Iyonix). The RISCOS Ltd archive contains later and improved versions of a number of modules and is suitable for all versions of RISC OS from 3.1 onwards.
Aaron Timbrell