Iyonix Issues
Matt Thompson
Another RISCWorld and another Iyonix column, The main news this month is the release of the RISC OS 5.11 ROM from Castle, there were a few initial problems with this release mainly to do with scanners not working but the problems were quickly fixed, and the RISC OS 5.11 ROM image is now in it's third version (at the time of writing) so make sure you have this updated version installed. The ROM image should be announced automatically by the !Iyowtch program when you go online, however if you've already upgraded with release 1 of the ROM image, you will need to go to the Iyonix website and download it from there instead.
Changes in this new ROM release include a fix to EtherK that caused network problems, and some updates to the USB stack to support devices such as a USB Radio (see below for more on this) for me the ROM installation ran smoothly with no problems and I have noticed that the strange white bars that appeared with I did a CTRL/Break restart are no longer there and the boot up time is a bit quicker. It's good to see further improvements on RISC OS 5, and long may they continue.
It is being hinted that Castle may charge for some future updates but this will be for updates which add new functionality to RISC OS 5. The USB2 upgrade is a prime example of this sort of thing, if you want it you pay for it, if you don't have the need for it then you don't have to buy it. I think this is a good idea and will help to improve RISC OS 5 even more, let's hope this happens.
USB Radio
As mentioned above with the release of the new RISC OS 5.11 ROM you can now use a USB radio with your Iyonix. A USB radio is a device similar to the USB memory sticks or MP3 players you can get which you simply plug into one of the USB ports on the Iyonix and using a special program you can control the radio's output and listen to the radio through the computers speakers.
In order to do this you will need to be running RISC OS 5.11 , then you will need to download the software !Avermedia from www.apts04.dsl.pipex.com. There is one slight problem and that is that the USB radio that the software works with has been discontinued. It is made by Avermedia, hence the software name, but there is one RISC OS dealer who has some in stock for about �30.00 - I wonder who that might be!!!
The game Dinosaw which was mentioned last month, will actually run natively on the Iyonix without the need for using Aemulor Pro which is good news - download your copy of Dinosaw from www.acornarcade.com although it appears that the music doesn't play if you run the game natively you only get in-game sound effects, but if you load it through Aemulor Pro the music will play but the sound effects have gone - the choice is yours.
Software updates
In keeping with tradition of this column, we have yet another update to Vice, this is the third update in as many Iyonix columns, good to see continued development on this program, and again this is a bug fixing exercise, so if you use Vice then visit www.viceteam.org and download the latest RISC OS version which is now at V1.19.
Chris Johnson has been busy updating his excellent MP3 ID tag program !ID3TagEd, a very useful program and one which I use a lot and would recommend to anyone who needs to add ID tags to their MP3s, the latest version is V0.13, and can be downloaded from www.chrisjohnson.plus.com/software/id3taged.html.
Those of you who have upgraded your copies of Easiwriter to V8.50 should download an upgrade to take you to V8.54, this update fixes a few bugs and problems, so head over to www.iconsupport.demon.co.uk but you need to have upgraded to V8.50 first. New versions and upgrades from V8.43 are shipped as V8.54.
RISC OS MPEG player Kinoamp has had an update, with development being taken over from Peter Everett by Andre Timmermans. This new version includes a number of changes of which are all detailed on the website http://users.skynet.be/Andre.Timmermans/image/kinoamp/kinoamp.htm the latest version is now V0.34 and the screenshot below shows it playing the video to Tom Novy feat. Michael Marshall "Your Body".
BBC Micro emulator, !Beebit has been updated to version 0.59 this version includes a number�of improvements. These include fixes for some problems with running Level 9 adventures in Master and BBC B+ emulation modes - the new version can be downloaded from http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mjfoot under the BBC Emulator link.
After joining the 2006 MessengerPRO subscription scheme, I received the first upgrade within a couple of weeks and another update today, now up to V4.08. It is good to see continued development of this excellent piece of software, and if you are already a MessengerPRO user then do not hesitate to subscribe to this update scheme, if you have yet to try MessengerPRO it is definitely worth considering - contact R Comp at www.rcomp.co.uk for more details.
I think this the way of paying for updates is the only way of getting quality up to date RISC OS software, as it is such a small market we cannot really expect to get such software for free, unless people are feeling really generous.
I personally do not mind paying up front for updates to programs such as MessengerPro. Other programs seem to be enjoying similar success notably Easiwriter and Artworks, both are being continually upgraded and improved with every release. Perhaps this method could be used to bring much needed programs to RISC OS such as up to date web browsers with the latest features, this doesn't need to be started anew as there are plenty of browsers already available which could be added to. A good media player would also be useful to play all the various audio and visual file types that exist.
Finally a driver for using PCI based serial port cards on the Iyonix was recently released, this module and more information on this can be found at www.tankstage.co.uk/software.html.
That's about it for this month, I thought there would be a shortage of stuff to write about this month but turned out all right in the end plenty of software updates and a new ROM image.
As ever if you have anything Iyonix related you want mentioned in Risc World or want to plug your software then the Iyonix column can be contacted at Iyonix@riscos.org.
Matt Thompson