This article was originally published in Eureka, the subscription Magazine for ARM Club Members.
I keep getting politely asked if I would like to write an article for Eureka to explain what RISCWorld is, so for those that don't know RISCWorld is a bi-monthly subscription magazine published by APDL, but we will come back to that. So why, after coming up with every more flimsy excuses every time, have I finally managed to get round to writing something. Well it's down to a cunning threat by your tenacious editor, since I can't seem to manage to write an article myself perhaps Dave Bradforth (who contributes to RISCWorld on a regular basis, and helped me out a great deal when I first started editing the magazine) could help. Ahhh, err...right. Well the thing is, although I have the greatest respect for Dave as an author I can't actually write with anyone else. Yes I can edit things written by others, mess up the grammar and generally make a dogs dinner of a well written article, but I can't write in conjunction with anyone else. Why? Well I work in my own way...er...like to get things correct...em...spend ages agonising over the correct phraseology...oh look, I'm an awkward bugger and I do things my way. If it helps you out you could think of this article as being co-authored, I wrote the words and Dave Bradforth wrote the gaps in between, does that help?
Now, back to RISCWorld, as I said earlier (think of this as a sort of "previously in this article" voice over) its a bi-monthly magazine published by APDL. I have been editing it since volume 1 issue 4, and at the moment I am working on volume 4 issue 6. The original editor, David Matthewman, felt unable to continue after a couple of issues and due to a big mouth and an underdeveloped sense of danger I said that it editing a magazine would be easy and offered to do an issue to prove my point. The fact that I am still editing it would tend to demonstrate that I have so far been totally unable to prove this point.
Anyway back to RISCWorld, unlike most other magazines RISCWorld is published on CD, rather than printed. This has a number of advantages such as:
We can print articles of any length
We can "cover mount" the software we talk about without having a cover.
We can tightly control production costs to keep the subscription price low (currently its just under £22 per year).
However producing a magazine on CD does have one disadvantage, you can't read it on the toilet. Actually having just written that sentence I appreciate that it isn't entirely true. If you had a laptop you could put it on your lap (watch out for burns) and read whilst on the loo, also if you had a strong microscope and could read the pits in the CD and convert that data into words in your head, you could also read RISCWorld on the loo. Actually you could also just sit there and read the printing on the CD, but that wouldn't take very long and after a few issues would get a bit repetitive. So lets just say that RISCWorld isn't as easy to read on the loo as other magazines. .
Anyway back to the main thrust of the article. RISCWorld usually has around 22 to 25 articles per issue, we have a number of regular columns covering Games, Public Domain software etc. We have a number of regular columnists some of whom are allowed their own columns. We also commission articles from all sorts of RISC OS users. We also pay money for articles as well, which is quite unusual these days, actually I wonder if I am getting paid for this? I doubt it, still it's 10:30 at night, there's nothing on telly, Hayley's gone to bed, so I might as well sit down and write this. To make it even more pleasurable I am also sitting here with a Bitter and Twisted. Now for those of you who misread that sentence please go back and try again, I didn't say I was sitting here bitter and twisted, but that I was sitting here with a Bitter and Twisted. For those that don't know this is a very fine bottled bitter, which in it's cask conditioned form was voted as the Champion Beer of Britain 2003, well that's what the label says anyway. The reason I mention the beer is in homage to the Arm Club presence at RISC OS Southwest 2004. If there had been a show award for synchronised staggering then I think I could guess the winners.
Ah, I seem to have gone off the subject again. Something else we do in RISCWorld is publish full versions of software, not demos, not shareware, but full on, complete with HTML manuals, software. Since APDL now owns the rights to it's own software, as well as iSV Products, Clares, Topologika, Beebug and countless others we have quite a large back catalogue to pick from. Over the last few issues we have given away Recycler, DrawWorks Millennium, TableCalc, Sleuth 1, Rhapsody and Menubar. On the issue I am working on now we will be cover mounting ProArtisan. We also feature as much of the software as possible that is covered in our other columns, we also include the latest PD/Freeware/Shareware as covered in the PD column as well as any other software that our authors think the readers would be interested in. We also commission software just for the magazine, as well as publish software written by myself and Dave Holden for our own use. Now readers who are paying attention may have noticed a pause of two minutes after the last sentence, this was caused by a faulty beer glass (it was empty), the glass has now been re-booted and normal service will be resumed.
For those that would like to take a look at a sample issue of RISCWorld we have a website cunningly hidden from prying eyes at www.riscworld.co.uk. This contains a sample issue made up from articles mainly from the first couple of volumes, but with a few newer ones thrown in for good measure. You can also find out the latest subscription rates and also see the contents pages from each back issue.
RISCWorld is a bit different from other magazines, I know this because I get told it by our readers, its difference is one of the main reasons we have such a dedicated subscription base. What that difference is I don't quite know. I approach the magazine from a simple point of view, would I like to read each issue. I work out the contents based on what I would like to read myself, and on what our authors want to read, then do my best to get someone to write it. We do get offered articles "on-spec" and this can sometimes prove very interesting, with one article that I wasn't expecting having a knock on effect on the entire issue. Sometimes this can result in large sections being re-written, but it's all good fun. So I enjoy editing RISCWorld, it means I keep abreast of what's going on in the RISC OS world, and it means I get a chance to write for money, which is nice. Actually I could make an advert out of that "Want to write for money? Then talk to one of our RISCWorld advisors...TODAY!"
So so far I have mentioned two of lives essentials, beer and money. What I haven't mentioned is cars, these are another essential, as regular RISCWorld readers will no doubt know. Still I will leave my latest motoring mishaps to my editorial pages, in the coming issue you will be able to read all about my fun and games trying to insure a Shogun, where as anyone with back issues can pick up on the long running saga of my VW Camper.
Anyway I seem to have gone off the point once again. So to finish up what's the perfect RISCWorld article, well it should be interesting, different and not featured in any other magazines. Since so many RISC OS users subscribe to a number of magazines they shouldn't see the same things again and again in different publications. Anyway the key to writing the ideal RISCWorld article is keep it to the point, start with a punchy title, introduce your subject, get sidetracked, waffle on about something that isn't strictly relevant. Then try and get the article back on track, succeed for a paragraph or so and then lose the plot again. Continue until you reach the end where you explain the whole thing nice and neatly.
RISCWorld, it's on CD, it's a good read, we give away lots of software and back issues make an ideal frisbee for rabbits.
Oh, and before I forget RISCWorld readers should remember that they can get a 10% discount off most APDL, iSV Products and ProAction titles when you order direct from APDL and mention that you are a RISCWorld subscriber.
Aaron
About the Author
Aaron Timbrell was born at an early age. He continued this early success first coming into contact with Acorn computers shortly after the Atom was launched. He wrote a number of woefully unsuccessful shareware programs before working at EFF in the early nineties. He started ISV Products in 1994, in 2001 he sold ISV to APDL and launched VirtualAcorn. Since then he has never looked back (mainly due to a niggling neck injury). He lives in constant dread that one day he might have to get a proper job, the VW Camper still isn't finished.
I may as well admit it: I like drawing. Some people doodle absentmindedly on a note pad, others carve their artistic creations into hapless tree trunks. And then there's always canvas and oil for those with loftier aspirations. My medium of choice, however, is a virtual desktop and ArtWorks. It's hard to quantify, but there's something about ArtWorks that sparks my creativity, encourages me to experiment with new designs and persevere until I've finished what I'm working on. Perhaps it's the remarkably uncluttered interface that attracts me to it, the fact that there's never a need to wade through menu after menu in search of a particular feature. Certainly, it's evident that the original ArtWorks team put a lot of thought into engineering the drawing tools to be intuitive, and I suspect that this goes a long way to account for the lasting appeal of the software. I've dallied with other vector art packages, but my heart was never in it and I missed ArtWorks all the while. It was, therefore, with great excitement that I took the plunge and upgraded to ArtWorks 2 last year. Having read the impressive feature-list, I was aware of some of the more significant enhancements that had been implemented by Martin Würthner when he took over development of the software. What I hadn't anticipated was just how much he'd managed to improve upon the original design, taking the software to new levels of ease of use. That, as it turned out, was only the beginning, and Wakefield 2004 saw the launch of ArtWorks 2.2 and the features that I will explore in this review
ClipView in action...
For years, the biggest wish on many people's ArtWorks wishlist was transparency. When, seemingly against the odds, Martin Würthner pulled that rabbit out of the hat (and very nice it is too!), it left many wondering what he would do for his next trick. The answer came in the form of the ClipView tool. Not only is ClipView the most significant of the new features in the ArtWorks 2.2 upgrade but, arguably, it rivals even transparency in the stakes for most useful new addition. But enough hype, what does it do? Well, put simply, it offers dynamic clipping. None the wiser? Hopefully, a few examples will make things clear.
Something that I often want to do is put a JPEG picture in a 'frame' with rounded corners before printing. It can be done in a bitmap package, such as Photodesk, but it's somewhat fiddly and time-consuming. With the ClipView tool in ArtWorks 2.2, the effect is both swift and easy to achieve: you simply create the border (a rounded rectangle), line it up with the picture, send the rectangle to the back, make sure that you've selected both rectangle and picture, and then choose 'Objects > Apply ClipView' (Shift-Ctrl-C)
Original image (reduced size) with square corners and white border
Green, rounded rectangle which will be used to clip the image
Image (full size) clipped to the shape of the rounded rectangle.
One way to look at it, is that the ClipView tool takes the rectangle (or whatever shape) that is behind the JPEG, and turns it into a window through which the JPEG can be viewed; everything that doesn't fit into that window is no longer visible. Another way to look at it, is that the JPEG is like a piece of pastry, and the shape behind is like a pastry cutter, but perhaps that analogy shouldn't be pursued until after lunch?
It is important to understand that ClipView is quite different to cropping an image in a bitmap package; nothing is actually deleted and, at any time, you can remove the ClipView and recover the original objects ('Objects > Remove ClipView' or Shift-Ctrl-C), in much the same way as objects can be grouped and ungrouped. Moreover, even after clipping, the object used to create the ClipView remains fully editable, and you can apply fill and line colours to it. Indeed, in the example above, I changed the colour of the rounded rectangle from bright green after having applied the ClipView. Much like other objects, ClipView objects can be moved, scaled, and rotated, etc
In the above example, I used a rounded rectangle to create the ClipView. Using the same technique, it is possible to clip an object to any shape, allowing for some interesting effects
The left-hand side of the image above offers a glimpse of the 'dynamic' nature of the clipping process: the path of the object used to clip the JPEG can be dragged and portions of the picture underneath then become visible (notice the hand)
The example below shows the same image clipped to a circle. The object on the left is two circles that have been joined to form a hollow shape, not dissimilar to a very paltry doughnut ring (sorry, I meant to leave the pastry examples alone). The not-at-all doughnut-like circle has then been placed on top of the clipped JPEG, and transparency applied to create the see-through ring
What is most remarkable about ClipView objects, is that the clipped object behaves as if there was no hidden area: the object moves swiftly, and the selection box is that of the object used to perform the clip (i.e. in the example above, it is a circle). Really, this has to be seen to be appreciated. Having said that, if you are only going to be using a small section of a large JPEG, it may be worth actually cropping the image to reduce the file size. There is no need to resort to a bitmap package as, with a little lateral thinking, ArtWorks 2 can do this itself. Place a rectangle outline over the area that you want to crop, and 'File > Export > Bitmap > Selection box'
As the example below demonstrates, the ClipView tool can be used, in effect, to produce bitmap fills of text. The text needs to be converted to a shape first ('Lines/Shapes > Make shapes' or Ctrl-N), and joined ('Lines/Shapes > Join Shapes' or Ctrl-I), but other than that, the process is pretty much identical to the other examples that we've looked at. Effects like these can be produced very rapidly, which is good for creativity and, above all, fun
Before we leave ClipView, it is worth mentioning that the AWViewer has been updated to handle ClipView objects, meaning that ArtWorks-compatible applications, such as Easi/TechWriter, Ovation Pro and Impression, etc., can display the clipped images
Tool selection...
ArtWorks has always offered a good range of keyboard shortcuts for the manipulation of objects, supporting the 'standards' for copy, paste, group and ungroup, bring object to front, etc., while providing a wealth of other combinations which cover pretty much everything from line thicknesses to whether the printable margins are visible or not. When it comes to the drawing tools themselves, however, there has not been an equivalent range of shortcuts; with the notable exception of the Select tool (F2), the only way to choose an individual tool has been by clicking on the respective button on the toolbar. This anomaly is addressed in ArtWorks 2.2 with the introduction of a facility which uses the Tab key, followed by a letter, to change tools. Rather than impose the ubiquitous string of hard-to-remember key combinations on the unwary user, however, Martin Würthner has thoughtfully implemented a system which allows users to define their own shortcuts. True to form, the shortcuts are also extremely easy to set-up
The first stage is to select a tool from the toolbar, and then it's as simple as visiting 'Utilities > Set tool shortcut' and entering a letter of your choice to be used after Tab. If the 'Case insensitive' option is left unticked, then capitals will be distinguished from lower case, thereby increasing the range of potential combinations. The final stage is to 'Save choices' on the ArtWorks 2 iconbar icon, and the shortcut is preserved
This might seem like a comparatively minor change, but I've found it to be remarkably useful; certainly, much more so than I'd expected. Not only is it a time-saver, but being able to switch seamlessly between my favourite tools means that there's much less of a distraction from the creative process. Used in conjunction with the invaluable Left-Alt (which switches temporarily to the Select tool), the Tab shortcuts are a boon for productivity and make ArtWorks 2.2 that extra bit more pleasant to use
I get a round...
In addition to introducing explicitly new features, Martin Würthner has done much to refine the functionality of the existing ArtWorks tools. This time around, it is the Path tool (the module responsible for the creation of rectangles, ellipses, polygons, etc.) which benefits from his expert attention. Two changes have been introduced. Firstly, a 'From centre' option has been added to the Ellipse infobar
And secondly, a crosshair is shown at the the centre of each selected shape (ellipse, rectangle, polygon, etc.) while the object is being created or manipulated
While these changes may seem fairly cosmetic, they have made a big difference, particularly in the case of the Ellipse tool. In contrast to most of the other basic tools, I've always found creating ellipses -- and in particular circles -- a rather hit and miss affair; even when using Ctrl to 'constrain' an ellipse to a circle, it has never seemed to centre where I wanted it. The 'From centre' option makes it easy to achieve the desired position and the little crosshair serves as a useful guide when creating, and altering, a shape (see example rectangle above)
And finally...
If you check the ArtWorks 2 website, then you'll see a long list of the niggly little bugs that Martin Würthner has managed to track down and eliminate. This, in itself, has enhanced the ArtWorks experience for me, with some of my 'pet hates' having been removed. The list of the 'bug fixes' that were introduced for ArtWorks 2.2 is significant, and enough to fill another page or three. More encouraging still is the ambitious list of potential features on the way. There is much to be look forward to, given that we have had a steady flow of updates from a developer who has a track record of delivering (and on time too!). In closing, I heartily recommend ArtWorks 2.2
In the December 2003 issue of Risc World (vol 4 issue 4) I looked at using Bidpay to make auction payments.
Typically, in the fast changing world of the Internet, no sooner has the article been written than Bidpay had had a re-vamp.
It now no longer uses the name of "Bidpay", rather it has been renamed Western Union Auction Payments, presumably after months of debate by "corporate identity" specialists. Bidpay was always a service of Western Union bit they have obviously decided to use the parent name which is generally better known from the variety of financial services they offer.
The web URL at
One obvious improvement is that there are separate entry boxes for the amount of the auction and the postage costs. Bidpay had a combined one and if you did not read the instructions carefully you stood the risk of omitting the postage cost from the money order and having to send a second.
Otherwise the site operates in a very similar manner to previously and it is just the design that has changed.
The fees charged are shown below and match the Bidpay one and do include postage by US first class mail.
I have used the new service once and found no difference in operation from Bidpay other than the page designs.
Mike Battersby
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/COMMENT/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, An open letter to the powers that be
An open letter to the powers that be
Dave Bradforth vents his spleen
Like many of us, I first gained an interest in Acorn computers in relatively early days. The year was 1987. The computer was the BBC Master 128, which at the time would have been running Granny's Garden during my time in school.
That wasn't all it was capable of, indeed software such as Pod, Interword, Teddy Bear's Picnic and many others made the BBC Micro and Master series the ideal computer for use within infant and junior schools and for a long time the Acorn series were true leaders in education.
When I moved up to secondary school, my interest only grew further with my own introduction to the Archimedes series and, courtesy of a friend, the games available for it. The presentation of the Archimedes was similar to the BBC Master 128 – the red function keys across the top of the keyboard bringing instant familiarity and a desire to experiment with the desktop.
Over the years that followed, and through applications such as Vector, Impression, ArtWorks and many classic games, my school years were spent sitting on various breeds of RISC OS computer from an A3000, to an A5000 and Risc PC.
The time did, of course, arrive when I would get a Risc PC of my own – a StrongARM Risc PC, in fact, from Beebug and at the time it cost a tad over £2,000 including all the bits and pieces I'd wanted with it. With my departure to university imminent, and my commitments to various Acorn magazines (RISC User and Archimedes World) the Risc PC came with me.
As Dafyd McFlanders I wrote, from my university halls, the games column in Archimedes World up until its closure. Through this I introduced many people to the Acorn world, and got them writing in the magazine, and gained some very useful experience myself.
Unfortunately, come September 1998, things were going to begin crashing down. With the closure of Acorn's workstations division, and the cancellation of Phoebe and Acorn World '98, the confidence of the Acorn market as a whole was hit; and while many companies responded positively to the news the next six months would see some significant departures – including the good ship Archimedes World and the beginning of the end for RISC User.
My passion for RISC OS didn't cease, and by chance of a conversation with David Holden, we acquired the rights to Sleuth 3 from Beebug Limited; the first of many such acquisitions to form the APDL-ProAction software range. ProAction was, at the time, the name through which I was publishing software of my own, and as such an amalgamation of the names for a joint branding seemed sensible.
Some of the APDL-ProAction projects have been extremely successful, including Sleuth 3, whereas others have been less so but over the years what has become very noticeable is the rapidly increasing size of the project. What started with three titles, now has available to it in excess of 160 with the acquisition of products from Clares Micro Supplies, Beebug Limited, Davyn, most recently The Fourth Dimension and I don't doubt many others.
While this has doubtless proved worthwhile for us, actually it's been extremely worthwhile, the fact that we've been able to acquire these titles at all is a sign of the changes within the market as a whole. Clares Micro Supplies Limited was placed into liquidation, shortly after the sale of the titles to ourselves, as unfortunately they were not achieving the sales required from the RISC OS market. Beebug Limited dropped out of the Acorn market entirely from the moment we acquired their last product.
The community feel that was present in the Acorn market since my first BBC Acorn User show in 1992 is still here, but in a market that's now one fifth of the size. Other players have long-since gone, many changes have occurred over the years but the community feeling which is essentially what kept a lot of people here has always been key to it.
The hardware scenario
In 1999, RiscStation Limited announced publicly the development of the R7500 series, which ultimately would take over a year to come to fruition. Around the same time, MicroDigital announced their Mico and Castle Technology had the A7000+.
The common factor between these machines lay in the processor – the 7500 series – which ultimately would be the limiting factor. Despite little quirks between each machine, they were all slow in comparison to a StrongARM Risc PC and none of them offered the hoped for speed improvements from Phoebe Risc PC 2.
RISC OS 4 was added to these machines eventually, and this would prove to be a very worthwhile product; allowing for the Omega and Kinetic series to be developed. The Omega took a bloody long time, the Kinetic was too expensive by far. The net result from both companies – products that you would have to think long and hard before buying.
Recent developments have been somewhat more interesting. With Virtual Acorn releasing VirtualRPC SE (and, more lately, VirtualRPC Adjust) the ability has been put in place for RISC OS dealers to supply solutions catering to the best of both worlds – PC technology with the Acorn operating system.
Of course, the PCs still run Windows XP, but as a result of that if users simply must have an application for their work purposes they don't have to buy a separate PC to use it. They can still run RISC OS applications, and support the RISC OS market, but in the meantime they have to continue with their work.
The other recent development (in the last two years) has been the Iyonix PC. The Iyonix PC has as its processor the Xscale, allowing for a 600Mhz machine, but requiring that a 32-bit version of the operating system be prepared. This had significant ramifications for the software market as a whole, as any software compiled for use with RISC OS on a 26-bit machine would require recompiling – but only if it was written in a language other than BASIC.
With the number of software companies that have disappeared from our market over the years, this left new Iyonix PC users without the ability to run many applications they'd depended on over the years. The new machine is fast and powerful, yes, but if you can't run software such as Impression or Sibelius because both companies have dropped out of the market how does that help you complete your work?
What was needed was a partnership, something that would allow current developers to develop and current users to emulate. Aemulor was released allowing many applications to run on the Iyonix – the next part is where my spleen is vented.
RISC OS 4 and RISC OS 5 working hand in hand
Whatever you may think of the current situation, let me make this quite clear. It's not physically possible to release applications for RISC OS 5 unless you're able to release applications for RISC OS 4 as well. The market (as in those who are actively purchasing RISC OS software) for Iyonix PC software is a fraction of that for RISC OS 4-compatible software.
To release software at all, you need to bet on a combination of the both allowing for a reasonable return on your sales.
The reason? This market is now at the smallest it has ever been, and with every public argument between companies involved it hits the confidence of those in play still further. We can't afford to lose any more users, the summer months – usually quiet in the build up to the big autumn shows – have been their quietest ever.
We have people continuing within the RISC OS market because they have a passion for the platform; but if their own confidence is hit as a result of very public disputes, their desire to continue in the market is hit and as a result they reduce their own activities. This is a scenario that I'm only too familiar with.
What I would like to ask is very simple, and straight to the point. Can we all just get along?
As you will all know by now, I'm stepping back largely from my RISC OS activities; with the exception of Alligata Media – the First Steps book will be with you by now, and we'll shortly release (via Alligata Software) a new hybrid PC/Acorn version of Repton 1. The reason for this step has been quite clear.
Necessity. It takes a lot of time to put software together, which I just don't have. However I would like to be able to look over my shoulder in six months time and still see a RISC OS market in place. Let's stop the in-fighting, let's just get on with it.
Dave Bradforth challenges Aaron to a game of golf - Virtual Golf, as published by The Fourth Dimension, which has recently joined the APDL-ProAction empire, they have a choice of courses and have chosen to stick close to Aaron's home and play at Wentworth...
Dave: Fancy a round of golf Aaron?
Aaron: I haven't brought my clubs.
Dave: No need, I've got 'Virtual Golf' for RISC OS!
The game was set up for a 2 player handicap attempt round, with Autumn as the season. The duo had a quick go on the driving range then a few 'pitch & putts' in practice mode, then went into their round.
HOLE 1
Dave: Call.
Aaron: Tails...
Dave: Off you go then.
The 1st hole is a 470 yds Par 4 − meaning it would take an average of 4 shots to complete. There's a strong right to left wind as they look up the hill on the 1st fairway.
Aaron: Might try a bit of 'slice' into the wind here.
Dave: You're joking, right?...
Aaron: Bang up the centre, that'll do nicely.
Dave: Ok, watch this...
Dave, it ought to be pointed out, can't play golf for toffee! His 1st shot ended up somewhere near the adjacent 18th green - out of bounds, so he had to hack his way back & made the 1st green in 6, then 4 putted - quite a start! From the 1st green:
Aaron: You've hit your form then Dave.
Dave: Very funny. Get on with it.
Aaron sinks his 3 putt for 2 over par - 'double bogey'.
Aaron: At least I stayed on the fairway!
HOLE 2
Aaron to tee off. A tricky 150 yd, Par 3 hole. No fairway, just the tee, the green, an awful lot of rough, oh yes, and 3 bunkers. Just how Dave ended up visiting all 3 is still a mystery!
Aaron: The auto caddy says a 7 iron, the back-wind is only slight so I would agree.
Dave: Oh, very technical!
Aaron: Watch & learn Dave... (thwack)... Beautiful - clean as a whistle, a few feet from the pin.
Dave: Which club was it you used?
Aaron: Not telling!
Dave: Fair enough. 3Wood I think... (thwack)...
Dave: Where's the green gone? Talk about can't see the wood for the trees!! Ok so the club selection was a little out - I'll listen to the caddy in future won't I?
So... Dave holed out in 10 shots again and Aaron managed a 'birdie" 2 (1 under Par).
HOLE 3
450 yds - Par 4. Fairly straightforward but a few tricky bunkers.Quite a strong back-wind should help with the length of shot.
Aaron: Two holes, 10 shots at each. You're consistent if nothing else!
Dave: Shut up and play your tee shot.
Aaron's ball landed just on the left of the fairway. Dave dropped into the bunker on the right.
Dave: I don't believe it! Did you see the amount of slice on that ball?
Aaron: You can't blame the mouse; I'm swinging it fine. Try using a ruler or book edge to run the bottom of the mouse along... Dave, I was only joking!
Dave hacked his way over the hill and onto the green in 4 strokes, Aaron made it in 2.
Aaron: Put the ruler away, Dave. I wasn't being serious - and, let's face it, you need more help than that - you need a miracle.
Dave: Do you want to wake up with a crowd round you?
Aaron: Touchy - Touchy!
Dave: Anyway, does that lighter green bit, near the hole, mean that it slopes more than the rest of the green.
Aaron: It looks like it. Look from the side and you'll see...
Dave: Oh yes, very clever.
After a few missed putts by each player, they eventually holed out; Aaron for 6 and Dave for 8
HOLE 4
Aaron: Only 4 over Par that time, you're improving.
Dave: You were 2 over!
Aaron: Touche.
Dave: Pardon me?
Aaron: Never mind. Look are we playing this game or not?
Dave: It's you to go!
Aaron: Oh, sorry.
Hole 4 is a 500 yd Par 5 dogleg to the left. The hazards are a couple of bunkers and a rather large water trap (lake). These are aided by the strong right to left back-wind.
Aaron: That'll do, a nice long drive up towards the left turn.
Dave: Sounds good to me...
(Thwack)...
Get out...
Get out...
Phew. I thought that was in the water, for sure. I should be able to clear those trees and get nicely onto the green - Don't you think?
Aaron: Not a chance!
Dave: We'll see about that. Here goes, a driver (1 wood), not too hard.
Thwack... Rustle... Clank... Tonk... Splash.
Dave: I can't catch my br... Shut up laughing.
Aaron: Sorry, but your face is a picture!
Dave: I must admit it's a very realistic game.
Aaron: Your scoring as well as you do in the real game, that's for certain!
Dave: And I do like the bit about getting my feet wet - very funny.
Aaron: Right, if I take a 5 wood - thank you caddy - and really hook it round those trees. I wonder if? We'll soon see.
The ball hooks around the trees and lands in the top bunker, near the green. After a little pitching & putting on the very tricky green, Aaron is down in (Par) 5 and Dave in 8.
HOLE 5
190 yds, Par 3.The hole is placed virtually on the lip of a 3 foot drop, so your initial drive is all important.
Aaron: A bit of head-wind. A 4 iron I think... (Thwack)... There we are, nice and straight.
Dave: (Singing) Anything you can do... (Thwack)... Oh Bunker!
Aaron sinks a dream putt of 20 yards for Par, and Dave manages a bogey 4.
HOLE 6
Dave: Good hole that one. I'm really getting the hang of this.
Aaron: Hmm are you really? I'm not convinced myself. We'll see about that.
This Par 4, 340 yd hole is a left handed crescent around a woodland. The strong head-wind won't help matters and the EIGHT bunkers are beckoning!! Aaron takes a driver and tries a slice around the trees - the ball lands plum in the middle of the fairway. Dave tries the same manoeuvre, but the ball hooks, instead of slicing, into the rough.
Dave: Ok, I can still make it to the green.What you don't realise is that I've been, quite deliberately, leading you into a false sense of security.
Aaron: Really?
Dave: Yes.
Aaron: And I DO believe you!!
Dave sinks a 48 foot putt to hole out in Par.
Aaron: How the hell??
Dave: Like I said - false sense of...
Aaron: Quiet I'm playing!
Aaron holes out for bogey (1 over Par).
HOLE 7
Dave to tee off (having won the last hole). 400 yds, Par 4. A fairly easy drive,pitch and putt. The large water traps are the only real hazard.
Aaron: You don't want to drive too far off this tee, you know.
Dave: Look here, when you can sink 48 foot putts - then you can give me advice.
Aaron: Well excuse me. You fluked it anyway... I'm telling you, you want to go steady!
Thwack... Splosh...
Aaron: Told you didn't I?
Dave: False sense of...
Aaron: Rubbish!
Dave: Get on with it.
Aaron takes two 5 wood shots and land within feet of the pin. Dave takes 5 shots and lands on the top shelf of the green with a daunting 34ft downhill putt, with a 4 ft drop just before the hole. Somehow Dave manages to sink the putt.
Dave: GET IN !! What can I say - somebody book me in for the Scottish open.
Aaron: How many times can a person get lucky in a game?
Aaron holes out to Par.
HOLE 8
Dave: Look Aaron, I'm just starting to warm up, can we start again?
Aaron: Don't get cocky just because you hit a couple of lucky ones and you fancy your chances. Anyway, this hole will sort out the golfers from the caddies.
Hole 8 is 400 yds, Par 4with water left and right of the fairway and a big lake at the front of the green. New balls please?!
Aaron plays a gentle drive and the wind drifts the ball to the left side of the fairway. Dave hits a superb drive (by his standards) and lies in prime position for a pitch onto the green.
Dave: Please let's start again.
Aaron: Look I'm telling you you're a flash in the pan. Just wait 'till the really tricky holes start to come up.
Dave hooks with a wedge, far too soft, and lands on the far bank of the lake. The ball rolls, gently and agonisingly, back into the water. After which Dave lands in the single bunker to the right of the green. Aaron plays straightforward, cautious shots and holes out for birdie (1 under Par). Dave ends up 4 over.
HOLE 9
Aaron: Sorry Dave, What was that about starting again? Something to do with a 'false sense of security'. Oh, 'I'm just starting to warm up'
Dave: Kick a man while he's down, why don't you?
Two really nice, long drives are needed to reach the pin on this 440 yd Par 4. Bunkers left and right of the fairway are the only real hazard.
Aaron hits a driver clean between the bunkers. However Dave's ball is taken by the strong wind into the left hand trap. From where he plays 2 shots, only to find the next bunker on the left.
Aaron: Brought your bucket and spade Dave?
Dave: I can't catch my breath. I hope I meet this Gordon J. Key sometime. I'll give him "worth selling your clubs to buy it"!
Aaron: You're just a poor loser, I'm loving this.
Dave: LOSER? Who's a loser? There are nine holes left and I'm not giving in without a fight!
Aaron: Can we get on with it then?
Dave: You asked for it.
Dave holed out 3 over Par, Aaron for bogey.
Dave: Right I'm going to start concentrating properly now.
Aaron: Oh yes? This should be fun!
And this is where we leave the odd couple and have some fun of our own. We've got three copies of Virtual Golf (with the extra courses) available to three lucky winners. All you need do is tell us which course Aaron and Dave are playing on, sound fair? Email the answer to
Last issues competition
You may remember we asked you how many activities are supplied with the DO I.T. suite in total. The answer was 20, which means that Hutch Curry is the winner. So APDL will be sending you your software pack ASAP.
We did like some of the wrong answers and one entry gets a special mention for saying the answer was eight, no sorry, that was the number of programs, not the number of activities. So better luck this time....
This issue we are publishing a set of over 500 sample clip art files in WMF format for use with the RISCWorld WMF converter. All the the sample files have been taken from the Focus 75,000 clipart collection.
This collection of 75,000 clip art images will enable you to design eye-catching creations both at work, at school and at home. All the images are royalty free for personal use and will bring stunning graphics to your fingertips. A Windows browser is included that lets you view all the images so you can find the one you need. RISC OS users will need a suitable clip art manager, such as Mr Clippy.
Special Subscribers offer
If you like the sample files then as a special RISC World reader offer you can buy the entire set on 2 CDs for the ridiculously low price of just £5 including carriage! We will even offer it at this special inclusive price to overseas readers. Stocks are limited so if you do want this great clip art collection at a very low price then call APDL now on 0208 778 2659 (+44 208 778 2659 outside the UK).
The complete DiscWorld line up
As per usual we have our collections of the latest RISC OS games and applications, as well as support files for this issues articles. So the full DiscWorld line up looks something like this:
ClipArt
Some sample WMF files to go with the RISCWorld WMF converter.
Games
All the games from this issues games world column.
Family
Support files for Dave Bradforth's genealogy article.
Iyonix
Support files from Mark Rowan's column.
KeyMouse
Dave Holden's KeyMouse application.
MFCalc
Multi Function calculator from Martin Carradus.
PD
All the latest PD, shareware and freeware releases from the PD column.
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.
WMF
The RISCWorld WMF converter and an Impression Manual.
Welcome to yet another action packed RISCWorld. You know I can do this editor thing if I try, luckily I usually get off track quite quickly, which means my editorials aren't really just editorials, just streams of unconsciousness. Anyway having just read Dave Bradforths open letter to the powers that be I think that I might have come up with a nice neat workable solution to the RISCOS Ltd vs Castle Technology Ltd debate.
Aarons Solution
What the hell is wrong with the status quo?
Yes, it's that simple. Let RISCOS Ltd develop their version of RISC OS in the way they see fit, and licence it to those that produce RISC OS Kit under their existing licence. At the same time allow Castle to develop their version of RISC OS for the Iyonix and for other projects as well as be allowed to licence it out under their purchase agreement with Pace. Both companies own their own versions of RISC OS, and both companies have paid substantial amounts of money for certain rights to RISC OS. My understanding is that under the contracts that currently exist each company is excluded from certain markets that have been purchased by the other. For example RISCOS Ltd does not have the right to develop set top boxes and some other devices, as Element 14, then Pace and finally Castle have those rights. Both companies should be allowed to exploit RISC OS in the markets they have paid for.
I have heard that Castle claims to own RISC OS "lock, stock and barrel." Well Castle can only own what Pace had to sell. Certain rights to RISC OS had already been sold before Pace took over, and not just to RISCOS Ltd either. To draw a simple analogy it's like buying a house with several sitting tenants. If you're sensible you can get enough rent out of them to pay the mortgage and make the building self sustaining. If on the other hand you try an evict any tenant you are liable to find yourself with a major problem.
I have been told by a couple of sources that what Castle really wants to do is develop a business model based on licensing technology (much like ARM), in which case it makes sense to licence RISC OS as widely as possible. So why not stop messing about and lets all get on with selling and promoting RISC OS based solutions. If what I have been told is true and Castle do want to develop a licensing based model then they had better understand that in order to do this you actually have to licence things out. They already have one big customer inside the traditional RISC OS desktop market, RISCOS Ltd, so lets all stop trying to re-write what already exists and get on with selling RISC OS as far and wide as possible. After all, for every copy of RISC OS sold Castle gets a royalty payment, so the more copies that are sold the more Castle get paid.
Editors Rant of the month
The following is about the vehicular faith, not specifically about computing.
I recently purchased yet another vehicle, only instead of the usual round of local papers, AutoTrader and AdTrader phone calls I purchased one on eBay. The vehicle in question was a 1973 Beetle, it was described as being in good condition, I queried what the underneath was like and was told that it was "sound as a pound." Bidding ended at just over £1000 and as the seller was close he said he would be able to deliver it. And on Saturday morning this is what he indeed did.
As an aside the reason I was buying a Beetle was that I had sold my kit car on eBay, to a nice chap from Germany, who flew over, paid cash, stayed for a chat and then drove the car away, to Germany. He left at about half three on Friday afternoon and got home at 9am on Saturday morning. I know this as I e-mailed him to make sure he had got back OK. He knew what faults the kit car had as I listed them and was very happy when he arrived and saw it.
Anyway I should have realised that the seller of the Beetle was a bit on the dim side when he couldn't find our house. Turnberry has 90 or so houses and no 86 is second up on the right, with a VW Camper parked on the drive. It's the only VW Camper in Turnberry, but Hayley and I watched merrily from our front window as the Beetle drove up and down the road. In the end I walked down the road to find him.
At a quick glance the Beetle was pretty much as described with a few minor rust patches on the outside but nothing serious and looked really quite good. So whilst Hayley made the Beetle owner and his return home driver a coffee I stuck my head underneath. Whoops. Although the car had indeed had new floor pan halves as described all the rest of the body rust hadn't been removed and with a deft prod of my finger I was able to punch a hole in the inner rear wheel arch right through to the base of the rear seat. After a few seconds I was able to pull out an entire body mount from the rusty hole. Well that's it, I'm not buying it as it's not as described.
Now this seemed to cause a problem. I explained that I had specifically asked about rust and been told there were a few minor patches. A fist sized hole within 18 inches of the suspension was not "minor". "But it's got an MOT" was the reply. So what? It shouldn't have as the rot was so far advanced that it would have been clearly visible a few months earlier. I also checked the other side of the car and found that it was exactly the same, only worse. This then caused a 20 minute argument with me explaining that I wasn't buying it as it wasn't as described, whilst the two idiots said rust didn't matter. In the end I got rather annoyed with them, gave them 10 quid for return petrol and threw them out of the house.
So what's the moral of the story. Firstly if you are selling something make sure you know what you are selling and that you describe it accurately. Don't just assume its OK before selling it, check it first. If it is knackered say so, don't hope you will be able to get away with passing on a lemon as 99% of the time you won't. As for buying something, well the same applies, check first, which I should have done. I assumed the seller had genuinely described the car and that was my mistake. If I had handed over the money and only discovered the rust later then it would have been too late. So know what you are selling and know what you are buying then things will go smoothly. If you don't know what you are selling or buying things can go badly wrong and someone will end up disappointed.
Printing RISC World
The new look of RISC World means that you will no longer get the yellow background when printing articles from RISCWorld. However you will still get the blue border on the left unless you turn off the printing of background images. The example below shows the print dialogue box from Fresco.
As you can see the option "No Background" is ticked. If you want to print out any of the RISCWorld pages and don't want to waste ink on a blue border then make sure you have clicked a similar option in your browser.
Aaron Timbrell
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/EDUC/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, The Education Column
The Education Column
Andrew Harmsworth with the latest Education news
In December 2003, Alligata Software took over the rights to the RISC OS line of Topologika's educational software. Over the next few issues, we'll be taking a critical look at their Educational Essentials range, beginning with Alphapics & Numberpics.
Topologika to Alligata
Last December, Alligata Software's David Bradforth announced that they had taken over the right to sell, support and distribute the RISC OS line of Topologika's educational software. With the market for RISC OS in education seemingly in freefall, this was a welcome move to help maintain the use of many machines that would otherwise be on their way to the skip sooner rather than later.
Educational Essentials is an extensive range of realistically-priced software (£19·90 each, inc. VAT), now all being supplied on CD-ROM. Primarily addressing numeracy and literacy, there are more than enough titles to keep primary school children busy for quite some time.
Alphapics & Numberpics
Alphapics & Numberpics cover a range of number recognition and picture-to-letter matching activities for early years children (ages 3-7). Both were originally designed by the Northamptonshire Computer Education Centre with (what appears to be) an original release date of 1996.
On opening the CD, one is presented with an !Install application, manual folder and ReadMe file:
Fig. 1: Contents of CD window.
I always think it's good practice to have such installation programs, even if all they're doing is copying applications directly over onto your hard-drive (in this case, it's not).
Fig. 2: Installation window.
You have a choice of installing either or both of the programs together, which is a nice touch. Chances are you'll want both.
Fig. 3: Installation complete!
Having installed them both, I quickly fired up Alphapics. Unfortunately, this produced an error and it failed to load (test machine is a StrongARM RiscPC, RISC OS 4.37). Loading up the manual, the hardware requirements are indicated as thus
"NumberPics and AlphaPics for RISC OS require a 2mb Acorn computer running RISC OS 3.1 or above. They should be viewed in a 256 colour mode, eg mode 28 or 15.
On changing to a 256 colour screen mode, it loaded fine. Just in case I'd been running something unfriendly, I re-booted the machine (back into 1024×768 with 32,000 colours). AlphaPics loaded first time! The welcome screen is professional and it is accompanied by a pre-recorded welcome message that is spoken to you
Fig. 4: AlphaPics Welcome Screen
The program then loads straight to the iconbar. On clicking upon its icon, you are asked to type in your name (which is also spoken by the computer)
Fig. 5: Name entry window
The program is capable of remembering how well each user has done, essential for teachers as there is so much monitoring of progress to be recorded these days. Various options are of course available via MENU on its icon
Fig. 6: Options window
There are two types of tests that can be done: spot or spy. If the phonetic option is enabled as well, you can use the right mouse button on each of the 4 letters to hear how they sound. Right clicking the object repeats the spoken word.
You can even choose which letter to include in the test, which is potentially useful for concentrating on letters that pupils are struggling to learn, or with those that they're regularly muddling up. Also, early years reading schemes (such as Jolly Phonics) often begin by teaching pupils a selection of letters (e.g. a, i, p, s, t)
Fig. 7: Choosing letters
Finally, changing between class and individual removes the tracking of individual progress, taking users directly to the selected activity.
Spot
With spot, an object is presented to you (spoken as well if you have sound enabled) and you have to spot which letter it begins with (out of a list of 4).
Fig. 8: Tent - but can you spot its first letter?
Although the quality of the graphic here has been made worse by shrinking the window, it isn't much better full size
The choice of letters offered by spot appears to be random. It would prove a more useful teaching aid if similarly written or sounding letters could appear on offer, e.g. c and k, v and w, etc.
Spy
With spy, pupils are presented with a letter (spoken) and 4 objects. They have to spy which one begins with the given letter. As with spot, using the right mouse button on the ? or letter speaks the object or letter. It would be more natural, however, to allow the clicks to be on the objects. That said, perhaps the authors were hoping to improve users mousing skills?
Fig. 9: The letter z - and familiar objects
Both spy and spot call upon the same set of graphics, so whilst changing between the tests does offer a wider range of activities (2 instead of 1), unfortunately there is too big a danger of "seen it all before" syndrome.
Limited Graphics
AlphaPics uses mode 27 (16 colour) graphics that come as Squashed sprite files inside the application. Unfortunately there is only one object per letter in the alphabet. This seriously limits the usefulness of the program as it currently stands, as if pupils are to be presented with only a small number of letters (perhaps ones which they muddle up like d and b, p and q, etc.) they'll soon get bored of seeing the same graphics each time.
Fig. 10: 26 objects for 26 letters
That the graphics are squashed sprites should, however, mean that the program could easily have them replaced with more modern examples. Whether it could easily be adapted to pick randomly from more than one graphic beginning with the same letter is perhaps a harder request.
Pupils records
Pupils' progress can be monitored either on screen or printed out. This is an essential and welcome feature that works well.
NumberPics
As with AlphaPics, your are greeted by a welcome screen accompanied by a pre-recorded message:
Fig. 11: NumberPics Welcome Screen
Unlike AlphaPics, you are offered the choice between its two activities - count and find - straight away (avoiding the need to find the options). In fact, when in use NumberPics greys out the menu options, whereas AlphaPics does not - selecting them just throws up an error message. It would be great if both programs had a consistent interface, from the welcome screen through to iconbar menu behaviour.
Count
The idea behind count is simply to show you a number of objects and get the user to count them. They then have to choose which number matches the number of objects:
Fig. 12: Nice pussies - but how many are there?
Get it wrong, and the computer counts the objects for you (speaking them if chosen) and displaying the numbers as it goes. Get it wrong again, and it shows you the correct answer - before moving on to the next task.
Various number ranges are available from the options screen: 0-4, 1-5, 0-9 and 1-10. Shown below the set-up of my RiscPC has problems coping with the display of this window. It does, however, work and is obvious:
Fig. 13: Options window for NumberPics
Once again, the class option will keep track of individuals, whereas the individual option just lets you get on with it.
Better Variety
Unlike AlphaPics, which was limited to one graphic per letter, NumberPics appears to display all objects a multiple number of times. So, for instance, you might get two lions for 2 one time, then two apples when you see it again. This is excellent and how it should be. The possibility of always having two apples for the number 2 was one I hoped wouldn't happen
Find - can't find!
Unlike AlphaPics, swapping to the alternative task cannot happen through menus or option windows. Instead, the program has to be quit from the iconbar and reloaded. Perhaps right-clicking the iconbar icon could load up the welcome screen to avoid this? Furthermore, the iconbar icon changes depending on whether choose or find is in play.
Fig. 14: Can you find 4 of something?
Like choose, find is able to display multiple numbers of objects from the same graphic file. Unlike AlphaPics, these are all contained within one Data file inside the application - so enhancement of these may not be easy.
As with AlphaPics, the mouse must be clicked on the small red square with a question mark in. It would seem more natural to be able to select the images themselves.
Right clicking each question mark speaks the number of objects in the window. Obviously this is very helpful, but can be turned off if sound is inactivated.
Conclusions
It's all too easy to be critical of older educational titles that have been given new lease of life on the RISC OS platform. Perhaps the best way of concluding things is to draw up a list of pro's and con's:
Pro'sCon's
Easy to install and us
Various levels of difficulty can be achieved through the removal of sound or levels selecte
Pupils' progress can be monitored and printed: essential
Easy choices of letters and numbers to test.
Reasonable price, if programs were slightly updated.
Limited graphics range, in particular for AlphaPic
Low-colour graphic
Unintelligent presenting of letters in AlphaPics: better to occasionally offer similar sounding or similarly written one
Slightly inconsistent interfaces between program
Can swap between tasks in AlphaPics, cannot with NumberPics without reloading
Overall these programs are satisfactory - to borrow an Ofsted phrase - but they ought to be at least good. To be good, they need some updating and as I've highlighted some of this would be relatively easy. They are worthwhile, although we would suggest that aiming them at 3-7 year olds is too wide an age range. Both are appropriate for 3-5 year olds making normal progress, no higher.
Hopefully come next issue I'll be able to report back on what its new developers think about what we've had to say this issue. I can't, however, offer either of these titles the RISCWorld "highly recommended" seal of approval in their current guises. Better luck next time!
If you have any questions or comments on the use of RISC OS computers in education, please either email education@harmsy.freeuk.com or better still join the RISC OS Education Discussion List, and air them there.
Andrew Harmsworth
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/GAMES/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, Games World
Games World
Paul Brett with the latest gaming news.
It's been a slightly quite couple of months in the RISC OS gaming world although there have been a couple of new games released and one exciting new announcement has been made, but let's get Dave Bradforth to tell us more.
APDL re-launch Fourth Dimension games
APDL-ProAction are pleased to announce that The Fourth Dimension's VFM range is being relaunched. This value for money range was launched in 1997 by Rick Sutcliffe, just before The Fourth Dimension relocated to the Isle of Man. The VFM range is shortly to incorporate virtually every title from the range - APDL are contacting the authors individually to discuss terms.
We're pleased, therefore, to announce that the following titles will shortly become available once again:
Holed Out Compendiu
EType Compendiu
Apocalyps
Powerban
Virtual Golf (incorporating the extra courses
Black Ange
EType
Stereoworl
APDL have also partnered up with Chronosoft, the renowned supplier of retro gaming, to take over the distribution of the individual 4D titles. Not all will necessarily be available, but the intention is that over time the majority of the titles will become available at a price point that won't break the bank.
Chronosoft will be handling the latest versions of the RISC OS software and they'll only be offering software that has been verified to run correctly on RISC OS 4 with a StrongARM card. If it runs on that setup, it'll run correctly on virtually anything else.
The price for all Archimedes titles will be £4.99.
Additionally, APDL have made plans to relaunch the classic BBC/Electron titles. The fixed price point for these titles will be 2.99ukp; but they need to source copies of each game in its original format to produce packaging, etc. If you can help please email me
APDL also hope to issuing special compilation CDs containing several games, although time scales are tight the first of these should be Technodream/Neveryn. (We hope to have a review next issue - ED).
Rick Dangerous
The ever busy
Rick can be equipped with a number of weapons.
Dynamite
This may be laid in order to trigger traps, blow away walls, enemies and generally do some damage all of which allow our hero to continue his quest. This also has the added feature of being VERY DANGEROUS when lit, so our hero must get away from it as quickly as possible before it detonates!
The Big Stick
This can be used to jab the enemy.
The Gun
There will be a limit to the number of bullets that this holds. By killing a badie a bonus may be left behind which when collected will replenish the supply. This means the player may have to go back and put himself yet again in danger. Use your ammunition wisely remember the gun is often a trigger to activate a trap, rather than to just kill the enemy.
There are a number of badies waiting to thwart Rick, and a number of traps. In order to avoid both you need to be resourceful like Rick. The traps are devious. You may need your stick, gun, dynamite or simply your wits to survive, depending on the nature of the trap. There are no instructions as how each trap is triggered or avoided so be careful - think ahead, things are not always what they seem........
Controls
There are a number of controls for Rick, these are:
Cursor keys - move left and righ
Cursor up - Jum
Cursor down - Duc
Space - Fir
Toggle Fullscreen - F
Zoom in and out - F2 and F
Mute - F
Adjust Volume - F5 and F
Cheat modes - F7, F8 and F
I hope you enjoy playing Rick Dangerous as much as I have, and now something slightly different.
Aleph One (Marathon)
Another slice of gaming action from the Unix Porting Project, Aleph One is an Open Source 3D first-person shooter game, based on the game Marathon 2 by Bungie Software. It is set in a Sci-Fi universe dominated by deviant computer AIs and features a well thought-out plot. To load Marathon double click on the !Marathon application, make sure that the !Aleph1 resource application has been seen first.
Controls
KeyPad8 - Walk forwar
KeyPad5 - Walk backwar
KeyPad4 - Turn lef
KeyPad6 - Turn righ
Z - Sidestep lef
X - Sidestep righ
D - Look u
C - Look dow
V - Look ahea
A - Glance lef
S - Glance righ
Space - Fire weapon, primary trigge
Alt - Fire weapon, secondary trigger (e.g. grenades
KeyPad7 - Select previous weapo
KeyPad9 - Select next weapo
Tab - Action (open doors, flip switches, log in to computer terminals
Shift - Sideste
Ctrl - Walk slowly/swi
M - Overhead ma
- - Zoom overhead map ou
= - Zoom overhead map i
\ - Toggle FPS displa
Esc - Quit game/leave termina
Alt-Q - Quit gam
Alt-C - Quit game (use this under BeOS because Alt-Q will qui
the whole Aleph One application without warning
Alt-P - Pause game (press Alt-P again to resume
F1 - Decrease screen siz
F2 - Increase screen siz
F3 - Toggle high/low resolutio
F4 - Reset OpenGL texture
F5 - Make the chase cam switch side
F6 - Toggle chase ca
F7 - Toggle tunnel visio
F8 - Toggle crosshair
F9 - Screen dump (saved in ~/.alephone/Screenshot_*.bmp files
F10 - Toggle position displa
F11 - Decrease gamma leve
F12 - Increase gamma leve
, - Decrease sound volum
. - Increase sound volum
[ and ] - Scroll player inventory vie
Backspace - Switch player view in replay
[ and ] - Adjust film replay spee
As a quick tip on the very first level make sure you find the sliding door in the darkened section, so with the volume turned up head along the walls till you hear the door open then head through it. Kill the guards as they come at you, then access the computer terminal with the TAB key, from then on you are on your own!
See you again next issue.
Paul Brett
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/GEN/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, Organise your family history
Organise your family history
David Bradforth concludes his series on genealogy...
With your data now collated and organised, you'll be looking next for ways of presenting the data to the masses at large. As such, you'll be looking for software that will achieve the simple aim of allowing you to do so, either in printed or electronic format.
This month, I've split this article into two parts - the first covers solutions for RISC OS users, whereas the second half provides brief details of a number of programs that will allow PC and Mac users to achieve the same aim. Why have we done this? Unfortunately it's likely that if you're researching your family history you'll also be making use of a PC as many Internet resources are still not available to RISC OS users.
Oregano UK Ltd have made some promising sounds about the future of Oregano 2, but for the moment if you want access on-line information it's probable that the PC/Mac direction is the only one open to gain full access to data - even that supplied by the government.
RISC OS software solutions
So far as commercial solutions for RISC OS users go, there seems to be but one - Ancestor+ - which is described in detail on the APDL website part of this CD-ROM. We've explored this package in a reasonable amount of detail over the last few issues, and as such we'll not go further into it. Other than to say that RISCWorld subscribers now get a 10% discount.
What's lacking in commercial software, certainly isn't lacking in terms of freeware.
GedcomWeb, by Hilary Phillips, allows you to convert GEDCOM files into family tree Web pages that make a little use of JavaScript to ensure the presentation is consistent. Unlike the web output from other genealogy software packages, GedcomWeb offers an interactive output that will allow the user to view and print different parts of the tree, and display in different styles.
Even if you're not too keen to share your family tree on the web, the output is still very useful for sending to relatives who may not have genealogy software as it will work with any modern web browser on any type of computer.
Features added since 3.00 include:
Support for lots more GEDCOM fields including occupation, christening, baptism, cremation, burial, plus more detailed event fields
You can now put in your own HTML headers and footers for the web pages, so that you can add your own logo or link to your homepage at the top of the tre
A redesigned choices interface so you can customise everything the author can think o
Improvements to the way trees are displayed, including the option to display the central person's sibling
GedcomWeb 3.00 has been compiled to run with the Iyonix PC and later, and as such will work with any version of RISC OS after 3.5 subject to Castle Technology's latest SharedCLibrary modules being loaded. The author provides a 26-bit version upon request, and may one day be convinced to recompile it using the Gstubs library - makes things easier for all users.
GedcomWeb is shareware, and the authors home page is at
If you'd prefer a text report of all the information contained within a Gedcom file, GedText by Rob Hemmings may well fit the bill.
GedText was written to work particularly well with the family tree output from Denis Howe's Family, but should work reasonably well with any GEDCOM data. As may be expected, it will not presently interpret all possible tags but will certainly make an effort to do so.
The latest version adds the ability to sort output by date of birth, and is available through Tim Powys-Lybbe's website at
Rob comments that the program is not completely finished, as there are still various improvements he'd like to see himself if he gets the time, so do make comments directly to the author as I'm sure he'd appreciate them - similarly if you've made changes of your own.
Digging through the Usenet archives, I've come across this from R-Comp:
We've been working away for a little while on a project which is sure to be of interest to RISC OS family history enthusiasts. It isn't designed to compete with existing products such as Ancestry, instead offering a powerful tool to be used alongside more traditional "family tree" products. We were targeting a release at the Birmingham show, but since the Motorcycle museum burned down, we have decided to announce it now. If you're interested, come along and ask about it at the show.
I was aware that the Rawnsley's were looking into their own family history, and must admit this didn't come as too much of a surprise. If there's any useful news on this item, we'll add it to the end of this article as a 'Stop Press' announcement.
This list is by no means complete, but I've got one further item that may be of interest to RISC OS users interested in genealogy. As you work through the different documents relating to your family history, you'll probably come across different calendar periods from Gregorian and Julian and more besides.
To answer this need, Erik Groenhuis released the Calendar module allowing in a limited fashion just that. Available from
PC and Mac based solutions
For PC users, there seem to be three key solutions - RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree and Family Tree Maker. Each offers facilities catering for everybody from complete beginner to absolute professional, although it must be said that the more complex your data the more difficult it can become to navigate your way around it.
Generations, a Broderbund offering not yet available in the UK, used to be available in a multi-CD pack containing data relating to the UK market for about £49.
It must be said that buying genealogy packages together with data is something of a false saving as the likelihood is the data you pick up for free will be completely irrelevant to your needs anyway. If you do require data, simply use
For Mac users, Reunion - a much developed Mac version of Generations - is the ultimate all in one solution. It's been under development for over ten years, and has won numerous awards along the way.
Winding things up
This brings to an end our short series on genealogy, but we'd like to keep the subject current in peoples minds. We'd like to hear of your own genealogy experiences - how you produced your data / trees, how you forced RISC OS to access research materials and so on.
If we get enough stories together, I'll put an article in the next issue summarising stories and we'll get a copy of Ancestor+ out to the best story (that which offers the most practical advice for fellow users).
Email your stories directly to me, and with luck I'll see you next time.
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/HARDWARE/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, Hardware World
Hardware World
David Bradforth answers the questions... well question... from the Hardware World mailbag; then takes a look at a quality colour laser printer at under £300.
Welcome to RISCWorld's hardware column. It's pleasing to be able to say that we've had some feedback from readers!!! Well he could be a reader, and after this - subject to paying the invoice we'll be sending for the question - will be a reader so let's consider that a given.
Martin Wynn asked 'When people talk about MassFS are they talking about Castle's SoftSCSI or STD's MassFS?'. When we talk about MassFS within RISCWorld, we're talking about the USB solutions available from STD / Advantage Six. STD have undertaken an immense amount of work on RISC OS solutions to benefit Risc PC users, as well as a few that will benefit users of the Iyonix PC, and as such we believe that their work deserves recognition.
We'd welcome news of any and all hardware developments for RISCWorld, but unfortunately new hardware developments seem few and far between. It's nice to see John Kortink making a reappearance with a BBC Master expansion, but given that the average BBC Master user does not run RISC OS on that machine, it's beyond the scope of RISCWorld.
What we're focusing on this issue is a review of Epson's AcuLaser C900.
Epson AcuLaser C900
With some recent changes in my work focus, I was in the market for a colour laser printer; but didn't want to spend upwards of £700 on one. I'd spent a lot of money getting laser prints from my local KallKwik printers, and while they people who run it are very nice, the service is expensive if all you need is a few copies.
The requirement was quite simple: a full colour laser printer, with a reasonable running cost that I can use with my Mac OS X computer; and also with RISC OS for the production of packaging and advertisement layouts; and page proofs from a magazine.
Walking into my local PC World store, I came across the AcuLaser C900.
The AcuLaser C900: bulky but cool
My first impression from the sample prints was - okay, that's impressive. Obviously the paper used for the test prints was the highest quality possible; and often the own-brand material Epson produce that mixes best with the inks used in the machine. But it was impressive quality, none the less.
Next step - take a look at the specifications.
Weighing in at almost 30Kg, you shouldn't attempt to lift the AcuLaser yourself without assistance. Unless you're feeling brave, that is, or would like a painful way to take a month off work. It's probably a lot easier to order it via telephone or the Internet, and have a courier take the strain for you - that's what they're paid to do!
The AcuLaser offers a maximum resolution of 600x600 in either black and white or colour; at 16ppm for black & white or 4ppm in colour. By default, the printer is supplied with 16Mb of SDRAM built onto the board, but you can expand this to 144Mb of RAM by slotting an extra SDRAM chip into the slot provided.
Virtually any paper size is taken up to slightly oversize A4, and envelopes can also easily be fed through the printer. The paper tray holds up to 200 sheets of paper, and is very easily located so you can restock it as necessary.
The toner cartridges supplied with the machine will print upto 1500 pages in colour or black and white; and as far as ways to get your data onto the printer - the printer has both USB and Parallel ports so subject to locating a suitable driver for RISC OS you should have no trouble connecting to this machine.
You do need a lot of memory in your computer to make use of this printer; as well as hard disc space. The printer driver for these printers tends to build up an image on your hard disc first, then copies it across to the printer to make things easier on the printer.
Well that's the technical bits out of the way - what about quality
The output of the C900 isn't perfect by any means. If you're looking to produce digital photographs in the quality expected from a photo laboratory, you are going to be sorely disappointed. However, for producing graphical proofs of existing artwork or the short-run production of inlays/manuals/books it's a perfect budget entry to the colour laser market.
The C900 is available now, from your local PC world for around £299, and via dabs.com online for £269 plus carriage.
Unfortunately, for me at least, I bought the printer from the Romford PC World and one week later the price came down £100 from £399 to £299. Needless to say, I was more than a little peeved... but the current price is still over £400 less than the launch price of the printer and, as such, well worth considering.
What would I say? Recommended purchase.
Aarons bit on the Epson AcuLaser C900
I also have an AcuLaser C900 so I thought I had better add a bit to this article myself. Firstly lets deal with the price. A quick internet search should show up the C900 from as little as £212 plus VAT, which is an absurd price for a colour laser, if you don't believe me try checking out sites such as
However before running off a buying one there are a couple of caveats. Firstly this is a Windows only printer, there is no RISC OS driver for it. So in order to use this under RISC OS you will need a copy of UniPrint from R-Comp and a PC. VirtualAcorn users should have no trouble, but those RISC OS users who do not have a PC networked to their RISC OS machine had better forget it.
The 2nd caveat relates to the supplied toner cartridges are best referred to as "trial sized", although the claim is that they will print 1500 pages this is misleading, in my experience you would be more likely to get 500 to 800 pages, less if you print photos. A replacement set of full toner will cost twice what the printer cost, as it needs 4 cartridges at almost £100 each. Admittedly these will be full size cartridges and will print a lot more than the ones supplied, you don't have to change them all at once, only as each one runs out, but it's best to be warned now.
The point to remember is that although this is a very cheap printer, and a very well made one, it still costs quite a lot to run. Dave made some comments about the machines print quality in his article, I have to say that although the C900 shares its print engine with the Minolta 2300W, the Epson produces much better prints, not as good as an inkjet on photopaper, but much better than an inkjet on plain paper. This is a very good printer, with a low up front cost, I wouldn't be without it! Just be aware what the long terms costs could be with heavy usage. At under £250 including VAT it's a bargain!
Aaron
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/HUGHJ/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, The Hugh Jampton Experience
The Hugh Jampton Experience
Yes it's the man from UNCLE (Useless Nitwit Can't Lift Engines)
Hello and welcome to another thrilling edition of the Hugh Jampton Experience!
The caption competition
Last issue we published the following picture and asked if our merry band of readers could come up with a suitable caption...
For some reason we had a much better response than in the previous issue, which had me worried, but luckily we can print a reasonable number of them...
"DVLA's new crackdown on illegal parking even took into account users who clamped their cars to prevent towing. They simply removed the road around your car."
Andrew Harmsworth
We also had a bundle of entries from Laurence Simmons.
"RESERVED PARKING SPACE"
"The new democracy: one man, one car, one wheel clamp."
"Can anyone give me a lift?"
"I wouldn't say that our wheel clampers are over zealous..."
We also had a fine entry from regular reader William McNee.
"Instead of clamping the car, I think the driver should be congratulated for being able to park there in the first place"
William McNee
John Crane also went into overload to come up with these...
"Short stay Car Park ! Hmm people seem to park here all day. We've tried clamping to no avail - so we just dug up the car park instead"
" I finally find a nice firm bit of ground to park on and they clamp me Typical !"
However for absolute and total cheek we have to return to Laurence with this...
"Congratulations! You've won the caption competition. Here's your prize."
Regretfully we don't normally have a prize, however as a special bonus we are allowing you to take yourself out for a meal, and to have the opportunity to pay the bill as well! Who says RISCWorld isn't generous?
So here's this issues picture, can anyone think of a suitable caption?
Send your entries to HughJ@riscworld.co.uk and you too could become a z-list celebrity.
Hugh's letters
I got this e-mail in from Chris Newman after the last issue of RISCWorld, for those of you who have been asleep we published a photo of a chap having a "gentlemens excuse me" over a Microsoft sign...
Dear Hugh,,
Got my copy of RISCWorld yesterday & was surprised to find there was only one entry for the picture caption competition & it wasn't mine. I sent you my entry - see below dotted line - on 25th June but maybe it didn't reach you in time. My machine said it went OK & it didn't get bounced back. Anyway, I'm sending them again for your delight & delectation. Better late than never!!! Could you please acknowledge receipt of this e-mail so we can check if it got to you OK. Many thanks for a good magazine again this month.
1. It couldn't happen to a nicer company.
2. Well, they do it to everyone else.
3. Pointing Percy at the programmers.....
4. I see the password protection program for the executive toilets has crashed again.
5. Just checking to see if micro & soft describe a medical condition that warrants referral to a sex therapist.
Chris Newman
Hugh's picture gallery
This issue's column has nearly turned into a real article, so I had better quickly fill it up with crap quickly...
And look we have just the thing to hand!
Of course I wouldn't want to say that all Macs are rubbish.
After all some operating systems might have been written by bicycle riders...
It's amazing though, just like a Weeble, Microsoft wobbles but it never falls down.
So like all good news programs (and ITN) lets finish with a cute animal picture.
The technical bods at Castle have been busy recently, with the release of yet another edition of the Iyonix PC, and an update to the OS which now stands at version 5.07.
The 1GB super-souped-up Panther TC reported on last issue has now been dropped significantly in price. For the same price as a top-end standard Iyonix PC (£1399) you can get yourself a Panther TC with 1GB RAM and two 120 GB hard drives. The normal price is £1599.
An Iyonix Panther ay Wakefield
I bought my comparatively puny Iyonix (128MB RAM and one 80GB hard drive) for £1299 (bitter? Who me?) so it's good to see Castle dropping the prices of their machines. Although this is a 'special offer' which only lasts until the end of September, I would think it likely that overall the Iyonix range will lower in price over the coming months, or we'll see many more 'special offers' such as this one, as the RISC OS enthusiast upgrades market must be pretty near saturated with Iyonixes by now and Castle can't wait around forever for the remaining few potential buyers to take the step.
Minor OS update
RISC OS 5.07 was released to users over the automated update system early in September. This update is mainly a bug-fix release, addressing problems with USB devices and networking, and adding a couple of new features for programmers (such as a 'new 4 parameter variant of the COLOUR command' which sounds intriguing!). One effect of the update has been to allow the Iyonix to reboot correctly from Linux, as previously the keyboard and mouse were disabled until the power was switched off and back on. Now the Iyonix reportedly reboots as would be expected, with functional keyboard and mouse.
As such, this was a relatively low-risk update. But of course, the usual precautions apply - make sure you take a backup of vital work in case the upgrade fails and you're without your computer for a few days, and ensure you know how to activate the RISC OS 5.06 restore application even if you're typing blind (full instructions are given in the README file).
Graphics glitches
That last point is an important one, as a number of initial reports indicated that some Iyonixes were losing their ability to display the screen properly, due to an update to the NVidia graphics card driver. The cards affected seem to be of the silent (fanless) type supplied with some machines.
However within hours Castle had withdrawn the update and fixed this bug, re-releasing it the following day. A small diagnostic utility in the updated programmer looks out for these affected cards, and makes a note in a file 'Send2CTL' with some diagnostic information if it finds you have one installed. Castle request that you send this file to them to help them understand what was causing the problem.
Other updates
A small update was issued not long after RISC OS 5.07 to add a couple of extra monitor definitions, and updated documentation for the EtherK ethernet networking driver. Apparently there are 'a number of non critical disc updates to follow'.
With all this activity at Framlingham Towers, one wonders how much longer it will be before the first release of the much-anticipated Merlin scheme to desktop users, particularly now that Castle and RISC OS Ltd are reportedly teaming up to work together on the project. I hope we can see some progress before the year is out. It's not long till the Iyonix's second birthday.
A quick guide to FAT (not as written by a dietician)
It's a fact of life these days that computer users have to interface with th
archaic FAT filing system - even if you're not a Windows (or even DOS
user most digital cameras, palmtops, and memory cards come pre-formatte
in the FAT16 or FAT32 format. It's everywhere - and worse, Microsoft ar
in a legal position to enforce payments of royalties for each and ever
use of the FAT filing system, no thanks to corporation-friendly softwar
patenting laws (but I'll not go down that route today).
Still, in the interests of compatibility with the outside world, it'
pretty important that Iyonix users can access devices formatted in the FA
filing system. After all, who wants to admit that their state-of-the-ar
£1399 Panther TC can't read images from a standard flash memory card?
Therefore it's a blessing that we've had a filing system known as DOSF
for quite some time (way back in the days of Acorn) which can read FAT1
discs, including most flash memory devices.
The problem
The difference between FAT16 and FAT32 (a newer version of the FA
system) is like the difference between the RISC OS 3 and RISC OS 4 dis
formats - the latter is much more advanced and allows long filename
amongst other useful features. The trouble is that our version of DOSF
(still) doesn't understand FAT32-formatted discs, which applies to mor
and more devices as the world tries to forget FAT16.
John Ballance at Castle recently wrote on the Iyonix support lis
"I anticipate [...] long filenames, at some stage soon. FAT32 etc t
follow that" which is very good news, particularly to users o
devices such as external USB hard discs where an 8-character filenam
limit, as imposed by FAT16, is nothing short of frustrating.
But there's another catch - the way DOSFS works is in the guise of a
image filing system (like SparkFS) - the data from the FAT-formatted dis
is presented to RISC OS as a single file, which DOSFS then reads an
displays to the user so you can see the individual files on the disc.
However RISC OS currently has a limit on filesizes of 2GB which prett
rules out all external USB hard discs, and in fact causes a few problem
elsewhere too (removal of this limitation is one of the requests made t
the Merlin discussion group, so hopefully we'll see movement on that i
the not-too-distant future).
The solution
Good news comes in the form of a new program by David O'Shea, calle
simply DOSFS2. Rather than working as an image filing system, it read
from a FAT-formatted disc directly so it can overcome the 2GB limi
imposed on normal DOSFS.
It's still very much in development, and at the time of writing i
read-only, so it's no use for making backups to an external USB har
drive. Hopefully future development will see David's work combined wit
Castle's FAT32 work as mentioned above to allow access to all shapes an
sizes of media which currently are still out of reach of RISC OS users.
DOSFS2 is available from here an
is also in the software directory on this issue.
Bigger, fatter, cheaper... but not faster
It's true that as you grow with your new computer it begins t
impress less. Remember when you first got your RiscPC and how much faste
than the A5000 it seemed? To me even a StrongARM RiscPC is hopelessly slo
compared to my Iyonix now. Yet I find myself more and more often mutterin
various things in impatient tones under my breath as I wait for my Iyoni
to complete a task.
It's very likely that as I've grown used to the increased speed of m
Iyonix I've also demanded more of it - I store more email in Pluto than
used to on the RiscPC, so it takes longer to start up for example. But th
psychologically perceived slowdown over time as I get used to the compute
is very apparent too.
The competition
I have an AMD AthlonXP laptop clocked at 1.8GHz. It normally runs Linu
with the KDE desktop, and occasionally WindowsXP (but I don't like to tal
about that!) and in general use both operating system desktops appea
sluggish and cumbersome.
It's a testament to the compactness and efficiency of RISC OS that i
is immensely more useable on a processor clocked at a mere third of th
speed. However that's not made up for by the sheer power of the 'other
processors when it comes to raw data handling.
Take, for example, the task of ripping a CD to disc and compressing th
tracks to MP3 files. My Iyonix, equipped with cdparanoi
and MP3Encode (until recently available from Justin Fletcher's site) usin
shine to do the actual encoding, will do the task i
typically about half an hour, up to 45 minutes.
On a recent occasion I was stranded without my Iyonix for a week wit
only my laptop for company, so I tested how long the process took on the AM
Athlon processor. Within 10 minutes I was done. MP3 encoding in particula
was noticeably faster than on the Iyonix (in the order of about 10 time
the speed) which is certainly not inconsiderable.
Thoughts for the future
Now don't get me wrong, I love the ARM processor and its low hea
emissions which gives the Iyonix the killer advantage of being nearl
silent without the use of any special equipment. And I realise that x8
processors such as the Athlon are very different beasts to the XScale use
in the Iyonix.
But with the release of yet another model of Iyonix-clone runnin
exactly the same processor as two years ago, the raw performance ga
between the two architectures is getting more and more desperate. That'
the sort of performance that I lament when encoding sound tracks wit
shine, or thumbnailing a large directory of images using PhotoFiler, o
manipulating huge photos of the stars in PhotoDesk.
It's important to realise that Castle are limited by the processor
Intel and other major corporations decide to release. It's a far cry fro
a decade ago when Acorn designed the ARM processor to order for thei
machines. Now RISC OS is at the whim of companies who probably haven'
even heard of it. And currently, the XScale IOP321 inside your Iyonix i
still one of the fastest suitable processors available for RISC OS to ru
on.
But faster ARM-compatible chips do exist, and GHz ARMs are on th
horizon. Isn't it about time the Iyonix played catch-up with it
heat-spewing American cousins?
One final thought though: should Castle really be focusing on faste
hardware at this moment in time, when such significant an
resource-consuming, but much-needed, software updates such as Merlin ar
in the pipeline to bring our system back into the modern age?
Mark Rowan iyonix@tamias.co.uk http://www.tamias.co.uk
In many programs you use the mouse to position or modify objects. Where this needs to be done with some accuracy moving the mouse itself can be rather imprecise, so often the program will let you use the arrow keys to move the pointer very slowly or, by tapping the key, one screen co-ordinate at a time.
KeyMouse
This behaviour can be seen with Draw and Ovation Pro as well as many other programs. However, it is lacking from Impression Publisher, and after using Ovation Pro I realised how valuable this feature is when positioning or re-sizing frames and how much I missed it when using Impression.
This little program was designed to replace this useful function in programs, such as Impression, that don't have it already. Holding down either ALT key and pressing any of the four arrow keys will move the pointer very slowly in the required direction. Holding down an ALT key and tapping an arrow key once will move the pointer just one screen unit to allow precise positioning. You can also move in bigger steps by holding down ALT and SHIFT and then pressing an arrow key.
Of course, you will normally also need to hold down the appropriate mouse button and also make sure you don't actually move the mouse. Right handed people will probably hold down the mouse button with their right hand as usual and then, if you put the little finger of your left hand on the right-hand ALT key you will find that you can easily reach the arrow keys with your index finger. This sounds a bit awkward, and may feel so at first, but you soon get used to it, and after using this program for quite a while I really wouldn't want to be without it now when using Impression.
Running KeyMouse
Just double-click on the !KeyMouse application to run it. Nothing will appear to happen because to avoid cluttering your desktop it doesn't install on the icon bar. However, if you open the Task Manager window you will see that it is running, and (unless you have an older Archimedes model) it will only be taking a meagre 4 Mb of RAM. You should now find that if you hold down the ALT key then the arrow keys will move the mouse pointer very slowly about the screen.
Quitting KeyMouse
Because it doesn't install on the icon bar you can't do this in the usual RISC OS way. Instead you have to open the Task Manager window, click MENU over the KeyMouse task name and select 'Quit' from the menu.
Finally
KeyMouse is not overly sophisticated. It was designed to do a simple job with the minimum of complexity and maximum robustness so that it will work with almost all programs. If you find the mouse pointer moves too slowly for your taste then just run two copies simultaneously, this will mean the mouse pointer will move twice as fast.
It's the page full of letters, but the answers are no better...s...
Dear Aaron,
Having been getting married and honeymooning, I've only just fired-up the latest issue of RISCWorld. Obviously you were writing your Great Dispute feature with gusto and passion, as otherwise silly errors would not have crept in. It's perhaps fitting that the Education Column looked closely at spell checking and the like...Polite cough:
Para 1: "I don't want to jeopardies" - jeopardise (typo?)
Para 2: " I am strongly incline to believe the later"
"inclined" of course, and "latter" not later.
Of course, the last two would not be picked up by a RISC OS spell checker. Perhaps it's about time our system packed even a basic grammar checker so such typos can be picked up?
Kind regards,
Andrew Harmsworth
Whoops, yes there were an unacceptable number of typos in the last issue and neither myself or Dave Holden picked them up, so sorry about that. I could come up with hundreds of excuses, but lets just blame Dave Holden and move on....
Oh yes and congratulations on getting married, I have been married for 11 years now, just think I would have got less for doing a post office.
Hi.
Are you still wanting me to review the new versions of !Z80em & !6502 as and when they appear, I can also review the new version of Repton as and when that appears as I will definitely be buying that. Nice Young Ones quote in the new issue of RISCWorld! I love the Young Ones, one of my all time classic programs!
cheers
Matthew
Yes please we are always looking for reviews, it's a shame that most of our software reviews are of APDL products, I would like to review software from other developers but there doesn't seem to be many releases that we can actually review. The Young Ones is indeed a classic program and has been running late night on Sky for the last week or two, which means I don't get to bed at a sensible time, one thing I did find very funny was the episode where the house was going to be knocked down, so Vivien trashes the house himself, quite right to. If someone is going to smash something of yours whatever you do then you might as well smash it yourself.
Dear Aaron,
A few days after reading Mike Battersby's interesting and informative article on PayPal, I received an email from someone calling themselves 'Pay Pal' asking me to confirm my bank account details. I deleted it. It's not the first I've received, I've also had an email from 'EBay' and two emails from banks. I've deleted them all, without following their links or opening attachments, obviously. I have say they all looked pretty convincing, but not convincing enough, anyway I'd only just heard of PayPal, I don't use E-Bay, and I don't use online banking services.
In fact I was a bit disappointed to get these emails because up to now I've never been spamed at this email address. I find it odd that I've been spamed in English as my email is in Italy. Also until recently I'd only given my email address to close friends, family and responsible colleagues and students, all Italian. For any one else I've got a spammy old hotmail address and also one at Yahoo. I never keep email addresses in address books (I use pen and paper for that) and I only use my Risc pc for quickfetching email. The only way my email address has been displayed to a wider audience is recently when I subscribed to some RISC OS user groups. Have I been naive? Should I now get an anti-spam email address? How?
Best regards
Lol Simmonds
I have also seen the fake PayPal e-mails, as well as ones for a number of UK banks, including rather amusingly Barclays. I say amusingly as within 10 minutes of seeing the spam e-mail I got a cold call from Barclays trying to sell me Ostrich insurance, or something, I asked if their time wouldn't perhaps be better spent solving the fake e-mail problem, but strangely they didn't have an answer. As for getting spammed in English it is the most common language, although I do sometimes get spammed in Japanese!
Dealing with the e-mail, most likely someone on the group had an infected machine of some sort that was harvesting e-mail addresses, or one of those posting had an infected machine that was being used to forward e-mails, or indeed perhaps one of your close friends had an infected machine. Anyway lets have a quick rant about anti-spam e-mail addresses, because these really annoy the hell out of me. Every couple of weeks I get an e-mail from someone or other complaining that I have not responded to an earlier e-mail, every time I check, and every time I have responded, but due to "over vigorous" spam filtering my e-mail has been binned, brilliant. What's the point of e-mailing, then binning my answer and finally complaining because I haven't responded? So to anyone who doesn't seem to get a response from me, check your spam bin. Another really annoying one relates to an e-mail list I am on. Every time a post is sent out it goes to all addresses on the list, everyone knows who is on the list, yet every time I post I get one e-mail address that sends me an e-mail back telling me to "click on this link to confirm you sent an e-mail", no I refuse to. If someone wants to set up an email system designed to prevent anyone e-mailing them to prevent spam then fine, at the end of the day the only way to avoid spam is to block all e-mails, which some people seem to think is worthwhile. I prefer to get the odd bit of spam and all my e-mails, rather than no spam and no e-mail.
Dear Aaron,
Attached a Wimp simulation (called Wator) for possible inclusion on your subscription disc. Sharks and Fish wage war on a toroidal planet...See 'ReadMe1st' within the zipped file for more info, or boot it up and select 'Help' from the bar icon menu. Just a bit of fun. Remember also that I supplied you with !MFCalc Version 2.00 some time ago. If you test it out, particularly if you choose the option 'Save Entries', you had better make a copy outside of the zipped file. I have just decided to attach that one as well, in case you have lost it in the general welter
Regards
Martin Carradus
P.S. Anyone want a programmer??
Thanks, Paul Brett has included Wator in the PD column and it's also in this issues software directory. It's interesting watching what happens with different start conditions. Sorry about MFCalc it just missed out on last issue, but it is included this time round. I don't personally need a programmer, but does anyone else? Does anyone have any projects that they might want to see if Martin can help with?
And finally back to Andrew Harmsworth...
Aaron,
It might be worth pointing out to Alan that there is a very good MS Excel reader for RISC OS now called Andrew
Thanks for that tip, having had a brief play with !ViewXLS myself I recommend it to all RISCWorld readers.
Martin Carradus takes us through his multi function calculator
!MFCalc performs numerical calculations on expressions typed into its Input slot when the 'Calculate' button is clicked upon. The slot may be cleared out either by typing Control with 'U', or by clicking on the 'Clear Entry' button.
The following can be typed into the 'Input' slot:-
Remarks
Remarks begin with '/*' and end with '*/', and are totally ignored by !MFCalc.
Numerics
These are of Five types:
Integers: e.g. 123
Exponented Integers: e.g. 1234E1 or 1234e+
Hexadecimal constants, which begin with '&', '&h' or '&H': e.g. &H1ab or &HADD. They are case insensitive
Octal constants, which begin with '&o' or '&O': e.g. &O013
Floating constants: They always have a decimal point in them and can also be exponented: e.g. .1234 or 1.25 or 2.3456e-6 or 0.001E+
Variables
A named storage location containing a numeric value.
These always begin with an alpha character or underscore, then continue with any alphanumeric or underscore. These are case sensitive and become available with the value zero wherever they are mentioned. Integer variables end with a '%', otherwise they are taken to be floating point, unless declared otherwise (see below). They also can be of any length up to the 256 character limit of the Input slot.
Examples: 'a' or 'A%' or '_HELLO' or 'var1%' or 'non_zero'.
Assignment of Variables
This is simply done by typing the variables name then '=' then some numeric expression to the right of that, which in turn may contain variable names. e.g. num0=1.0 or A%=B%+6 or _hello=_goodbye
These statements may optionally be preceded by the key word 'LET', in upper or lower case.
e.g. LET a=0.0 or let no%=2
Note that if you assign an integer variable a floating value, then it will be truncated to an integer.
e.g. let a%=-2.5 gives a% the value -2
Multiple Assignments
Simply concatenate the assignments together with a colon between.
Example: a%=b%*6:let c%=a%+4:d=c%^2
Operators
You have already seen some of these above, they are:
Addition and Subtraction: '+' and '-' e.g. 1+2 or 4.0-2.
You may also negate expressions: e.g. a%=-b
Multiplication and Division: '*' and '/' e.g. 6*7 or 1.0/2.
!MFCalc will complain about division by zero by outputting a commen
if this happens.
Integer Division: 'div' or 'DIV', performs the division and the
truncates it to an integer. Also complains about division by zero.
e.g. '5.0 div 2.0' gives the value '2'.
Modular Arithmetic: 'mod' or 'MOD', gives the remainder upon division.
e.g. 5 MOD 2 gives the value '1'. Complains about MOD with respect t
zero.
Lastly raising a% to the power b% is denoted by 'a%^b%', and, unlik
the rest binds to the right, so 'a%^b%^c%' is taken as 'a%^(b%^c%)'.
So 3^1^2 is 3, not 9.
!MFCalc complains about raising zero to a zero or negative power.
Also beware of raising negative quantities to fractional powers
As you can see, these expressions may be bracketed, but otherwise th
precedence of these operators is in reverse order to the list above
going from performing powers at highest precedence, to addition an
subtraction at lowest precedence.
In all this, if !MFCalc can't make sense of the input line, it output
a 'Syntax Error' comment.
Combinations
The number of ways of picking r objects from n without regar
to the order of the objects is usually denoted by:-
The 'combination' of r objects from n.
e.g. The number of ways of picking 1 object from 5 is 5
but the number of ways of picking 2 objects from 5 is 10.
The operator in !MFCalc you use is 'NCR' or 'ncr', so
'5 ncr 1' yields a value of 5
and '5 ncr 2' yields a value of 10.
You may use floating values, but !MFCalc complains if the
have any fractional places. !MFcalc also complains if eithe
of the values supplied is negative, or if the second value exceed
the first.
If you exceed several hundred for either of the arguments, you wil
get a message about 'Stack Overflow', as recursion is employed.
Lastly NCR binds the least of all the operators, so all calculation
on both sides are performed first before the combination is taken.
e.g. '6-1 ncr 3-1' will give you the value of '5 ncr 2'.
NB NCR is not associative, so !MFcalc will error multiple NCR
in one expression e.g. '12 NCR 2 NCR 2' will cause a syntax error.
Minimum and Maximum of Values
The operators 'MIN' and 'min' or 'MAX' and 'max' between tw
expressions give the minimum or maximum of the two values e.g.
'2 min 1' gives a value of 1, but '2 max 1' gives a value of 2
These operators bind more tightly than addition or subtraction, bu
less than multiplication and division or any higher operator, so,
'2 min 1 + 3 min 2', will give the sum '1 + 2' giving 3
but '2*6 min 3*8' will produce '12 min 24', giving 12.
Also they are left associative, so combinations of 'min' and 'max' ar
obeyed from left to right e.g.
'2 max 1 min 4' becomes '2 min 4', which becomes 2
You will note that you can obtain the minimum or maximum of more tha
two values by simply concatenating them between the same operator e.g.
'x% min y% min z%' gives the minimum of x% and y% and z% an
'x% max y% max z%' gives the maximum of x% and y% and z%.
Both 'min' and 'max' attempt to keep the resulting value as an intege
whenever possible e.g.
'2.0 max 4.0' will produce the integer value of '4', not '4.0'
but '2 max 4.7' will produce the floating value '4.7'
Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) and Greatest Common Divisor (GCD)
The Greatest Common Divisor of two Numbers is the largest number les
than or equal to them that divides into both numbers exactly.
e.g. '6 gcd 21' gives 3, as 6=3*2 and 21=3*7, so 3 is the larges
common factor. !MFCalc uses a method called 'Euclid's Algorithm' t
obtain this number. If two numbers share no common factor greater tha
or equal to two, then their GCD is one. This is true particularly whe
both are prime.
The Lowest Common Multiple of two numbers is the lowest number tha
shares the factors of both numbers.
e.g. '6 lcm 21' gives 42=3*2*7, as 6=3*2 and 21=3*7, 42 is th
smallest number that shares the factors of both numbers.
Note that that the LCM times the GCD of a and b is equal to (a times b
for all a and b.
LCM and GCD both complain if either of the supplied numbers is zero o
negative or fractional. Both, also, always give out integer results
(No decimal places shown.)
The operators 'gcd' and 'lcm' are on a par with 'min' and 'max' i
terms of priority - higher than addition or subtraction, but lowe
than multiplication or division or raising to powers.
e.g. '3*2 gcd 3*7', will give the answer '3', as the multiplication i
performed first before the 'gcd'.
These operators are also associative, so you may obtain the LCM of x%
y% and z%, by typing 'x% lcm y% lcm z%' in the 'Input:' slot an
clicking on 'Calculate'. If there is no operator of a highe
priority,'lcm' and 'gcd' are obeyed from left to right.
Mathematical Functions
There are twenty one of these available, and if the arguments are out o
range, !MFCalc complains. These functions need not have th
input expression in brackets and bind more tightly than any of th
operators. With trigonometric functions there are buttons on th
'SetUp' panel to select calculation in degrees, radians or grads.
'ABS' or 'abs' - Absolute positive value without the sign
'ACS' or 'acs' - Arccosine
'ASN' or 'asn' - Arcsine
'ATN' or 'atn' - Arctangent
'COS' or 'cos' - Cosine of the Angle given
'COSH' or 'cosh' - Hyperbolic cosine
'EXP' or 'exp' - Raising e to the given power
'FRAC' or 'frac' - Fractional part of the given number. Negative if the number is negative
'INT' or 'int' - Truncate to the integer below
'FIX' or 'fix' - Round to nearest integer. If negative, rounds down, if positive, rounds up
'LN' or 'ln' - Natural logarithm to base e
'LOG' or 'log' - Logarithm to base ten
'RND', 'rnd', "RAND", or "rand" - Gives out a random number in the range 0 - 1 (inclusive). Does not take in any value as an argument
'SGN' or 'sgn' - The 'sign' of the number, -1 if negative, 0 if zero, +1 if positive
'SIN' or 'sin' - Sine of supplied angle
'SINH' or 'sinh' - Hyperbolic sine
'SQR' or 'sqr' - Square root, complains if supplied number is negative. Additionally, 'SQRT' or 'sqrt' will also be accepted
'TAN' or 'tan' - Tangent of supplied angle
'TANH' or 'tanh' - Hyperbolic tangent
'CBR' or 'cbr' - Cube root, turns negative if supplied number is negative. Additionally, 'CBRT' or 'cbrt' will also be accepted
'LNFACT' or 'lnfact' - The natural logarithm of the factorial of the supplied argument. The factorial of a number is the product of the number with all the ones below it down to 1, so 3 factorial is 3.2.1=6 and 4 factorial is 4.3.2.1=24. The natural logarithm is taken because factorials grow large very quickly, so the logarithm slows this process down and stops numeric overflow at higher values. As with 'ncr', very large arguments cause a 'Stack Overflow' message
In addition, the key word 'PI' or 'pi' in a calculation gives out th
numeric value of the trigonometric constant pi.
All of these function names are reserved words and should not be use
for variable names.
As already mentioned, these functions bind more tightly than any othe
operator, so, for example, the value of 'SIN 90 +2' is 3.0, not th
Sine of 92, when in degree mode. Note that 'SIN' is separated from 9
so that the reserved word 'SIN' can be recognised. If you had type
'SIN90+2', a variable name 'SIN90' would be created, given a floatin
value of 0.0 and 2.0 added, so 2.0 would be output. Note, also, tha
if you had really wanted the Sine of 90+2, you should have use
brackets and put 'SIN(90+2)'.
The Form of the Calculated Value
The form (integer or floating point (double precision)) of th
expression being calculated is always at the level of the highes
operand, so, 2+3 gives an integer value of 5, and 5/2 gives an intege
value of 2, but 2+3.0 gives a floating value of 5.0, and 5/2.0 gives
floating value of 2.5. If you had meant an integer divide to b
performed, then you should have used 'DIV', i.e. '5 DIV 2.0' gives ou
an integer value of 2.
Getting back the Last Calculated Value
The special variable 'ANS' or 'ans' is assigned the value of the las
calculation. If this is an integer, ANS takes an integer value, i
this is a floating value, ANS is floating, otherwise ANS starts wit
an integer value of 0. Like any other variable, ANS may be assigned
value. e.g. let ANS=2.5 , but it will not appear in the list produce
by the LIST instruction (see below).
Declarations
Additionally you may declare variables to be integer or floatin
(double precision) using the key words 'INTEGER' or 'DOUBLE
respectively followed by a comma separated list of variable names o
any type, either integer or float. You may also assign these variabl
names by using '='.
e.g.
INTEGER a, b, c=3
or
DOUBLE A%=1.2,D,e=2.71828
You may not concatenate these declarations.
PRIME Keyword
Prime numbers are not divisible by anything other than 1 and themselves
If a number is not prime, it can be represented as the product o
primes and powers of primes less than itself, called factors. Th
number is said to be 'composite'.
'PRIME' or 'prime' followed by any expression will determine if th
integer produced is a prime number. Complains if the number i
fractional. If the number is negative, the sign is removed befor
prime determination. If the number is floating point, it i
integerised, but complains if the result would be too large for a
integer. Indicates if the number is zero or +1 or -1 or even. This i
done in integer arithmetic, so !MFCalc may crash if the number i
too large.
Gives the smallest factor if the number is not prime.
e.g. 'PRIME 2^31-1' will produce the REM '/* 2147483647 is Prime */'
'PRIME 13*17' will produce the REM '/* 221 is not Prime, Factor 13 */'.
'PRIME' or 'prime' followed by an expression can also be put
separated by a colon, at the very end of a colon-separated list o
assignments and 'input' statements (see below).
e.g. A 'Mersenne' prime is one of the form '2^n-1', so by repeatin
the line: 'input a%:prime 2^a%-1', using 'Entry Back' and 'Calculate'
you may investigate for what values of a%, 2^a%-1 is prime.
Lastly, PRIME sets ANS to the value of the found lowest factor of th
supplied expression, or to the value 1 if the expression is prime. So
for example, start with the line 'm%=1:ANS=1'. Then repeat the line
'm%=m%*ANS:PRIME <expression>:/m%', where <expression>: is th
expression you wish to factorise, and continue until you get a prime
You will then have found all the prime factors of <expression>:.
Getting Rid of all the Variables
The command 'CLEAR' or 'clear' will remove all the variables and star
from scratch again.
Getting Rid of One Variable
The command 'CLEAR' or 'clear' followed by the variable name will caus
the variable to be removed from the list of defined variable names.
e.g. CLEAR a%
A message indicates if the variable name was already undefined.
Checking the Variables Present
The single command 'LIST' or 'list' and clicking 'Calculate' wil
cause an alphabetical list of the variable names and values to appea
in the Input Slot. After each line, press the Return (Enter) key and
new line appears, or a message indicating the end of the list
Pressing the Escape key at any time terminates the list and a messag
indicating that appears. A message also indicates when no variable
have been defined. The list also shows if the variable has not bee
explicitly assigned a value. Also the form of representation of th
assigned value in the list gives the variable's data type - it i
represented as an integer without a decimal point if the variable i
to be taken as holding an integer value - with a decimal point if i
is a floating variable e.g. a variable with the a value of six woul
be listed with a value '6' if it was an integer variable, but '6.0' i
it was a floating (double precision) variable.
The Field Length and Number of Decimal Places
Just type numeric values into the slots provided, then pres
the 'Enter' key (Return). !MFCalc requires that you press 'Enter
before these values are recognised. Clearing them out to nothing jus
leaves the values unaltered. !MFCalc complains if you try to make th
field length less than the number of places, or the number of place
more than the field length. Not available in hexadecimal or octa
notation. Also the choice of representation in floating, exponentia
or general format is only available in decimal notation, not hex o
octal.
The INPUT command
The key word 'INPUT' followed by a single variable name e.g. INPUT a
will cause a prompt REM of the form:- '/* Type a%, Enter or Escape *
to appear in the 'Input:' slot together with a red caret. Typing th
value at the caret and pressing 'Enter' ('Return') will assign th
variable a% with the typed literal. Pressing the 'Escape' key at thi
point leaves the variable unassigned with its default value of zero.
Note that !MFCalc will only accept literals e.g. 123, 2.31, &123
&o127, 1E2, 0.5e-04 or a single variable name at the prompt, not whol
expressions. The only exception is that you may put a minus '-' sig
in front.
Also Note pressing the 'Backspace' or 'Delete' key, if you make
mistake, will erase the mistaken entry, and assign the variable th
new value on pressing 'Enter' ('Return'). Pressing the 'Escape' key
as mentioned above, aborts the current INPUT statement. In this case
no new value is assigned. This is useful if you do not wish to alte
the value of an INPUT variable. If you use the cursor keys to mov
backwards and forwards in the 'Input:' slot, they will have no effect.
Inherited Unassignment: If you use INPUT and enter an unassigne
variable name at the prompt, then the INPUT variable remain
unassigned.
INPUT statements can be concatenated, so, you may put e.g.
INPUT a%:INPUT b%:INPUT c%
And !MFCalc will prompt for the value a%, then b%, then c%
The INPUT statement allows you to give your own prompt by supplying
double quoted character string, which is converted to your own REM befor
the prompt caret e.g. 'INPUT "Give Value"; a%' will give:
'/* Give Value */ followed by a prompt for the value. If yo
supply '/*' or '*/' in the quoted string, they are removed from th
REM. If you require a double quote, supply "" within the string, whic
is converted to a " within your REM. The semi-colon afterwards, whe
supplied, suppresses a '?' from being added to the REM.
The PRINT Command
'PRINT' followed by any expression simply gives the value of th
expression when the 'Calculate' button is clicked on. The advantage i
that this command can occur after a colon at the end of any series o
assignments or INPUTs e.g.
'INPUT a%:b%=1:INPUT c%:PRINT a%+b%+c%' will prompt for the values o
a% and c% then give the value of a%+b%+c%. PRINT should only occur a
the end of an 'Input:' line.
Similarly to INPUT, PRINT can be followed by a string of characters i
double quotes before the expression. The string will be output as
comment before the value of the expression when 'Calculate' is clicke
on. You may separate the string from the expression by a semi-colon
but it has no effect.
As described below, you may bring this line back and so perform
calculation many times over with different input values.
The 'Entry Back' and 'Entry Forward' Buttons
Every time you click on 'Calculate', the 'Input:' slot value is store
away on a stack. The 'Entry Back' button, when clicked
successively brings back previous 'Input:' lines into the 'Input:
slot. There is enough storage to hold up to twenty previous lines
When this is exceeded, the 'stack' shifts up, so lines more tha
twenty ago are lost.
The 'Entry Forward' button moves forward in time right up to th
current line, reversing the effect of 'Entry Back'.
Neither of these buttons have any effect until you have entere
several lines.
If you go back to a previous line, then enter a different line an
click on 'Calculate', then immediately the entries forward in tim
from the chosen line are lost, but those previous in time to th
chosen line can still be obtained by clicking on the 'Entry Back
button.
'Input:' Lines are not recorded in the memory stack if they are blan
or they repeat the same calculation as the previous entry on th
stack. This means you can repeat previous calculations without i
affecting the previous line memory stack.
Lastly, the 'Clear Entries' button completely clears out the memor
stack and all knowledge of any previous lines is lost. Remember t
distinguish this from the 'Clear Entry' button, that just clears ou
the 'Input:' slot and has no effect on the memory stack.
The 'Save Entries' and 'Retrieve Entries' Buttons
The 'Save Entries' Button copies all the entries in the memory stac
to an internal file, which can be brought back by clicking on th
'Retrieve Entries' Button, even after you have Quit the whol
application. Both buttons give out a message indicating how man
entries were Saved/Retrieved, but in the case of 'Retrieve Entries'
Press the 'Enter' ('Return') key afterwards. The entry you will the
see in the 'Input:' slot is the last one you were looking at when yo
Saved the Entries.
If you have a constant set of calculations you perform, this save
having to type them in time and again.
Getting Out of the Application
You may select 'Quit' from both the icon bar menu and the 'Help' men
to terminate the application. Selecting the 'Close' icon on th
'SetUp' panel simply removes the panel and does not clear any of th
variable names, but typing 'QUIT' or 'quit' in the 'Input' slot an
clicking 'Calculate' both removes the panel and clears the variabl
names. Lastly, typing 'EXIT' or 'exit' and clicking 'Calculate
completely terminates the application. In certain circumstances, th
'Escape' key has the same effect as 'QUIT'.
Bugs
1. It has been discovered that the value returned for the Sine of 9
degrees is marginally greater than one, so if you immediately perfor
an Arc Sine on this value, !MFCalc objects to the number input to Ar
Sine being greater than one. i.e. ASN SIN 90 in degree mode produce
an error message, not a return value of 90. The same is true of SIN -90
The same is not true of the COS of zero.
2. If the resulting value of integer arithmetic with '+', '-', '*' o
'^' overflows the 32 bits used for its (signed) representation, the
the calculation is converted to a floating one. The same is not tru
for floating calculations. If you wish to calculate with larg
numbers, then you could use floating arithmetic e.g. represent on
hundred million as '100000000.0'. However, if any integer literal in
calculation exceeds about 8 digits, it is automatically converted s
as to be taken as floating literal and the whole calculation i
performed as a floating one anyway.
Integer '/', MOD or DIV are calculated in integer storage. If th
numbers involved are large (roughly over 8 digits), it can caus
integer overflow and !MFCalc crashes.
Also realise that even if the calculation is done in floating poin
format, because of the way the number is stored, only 16 - 1
significant digits can be held. If, for example, the result of th
calculation exceeds 10^17, then only the first 16 - 17 digits wil
appear before the decimal point, the rest being zero.
3. For various reasons, it is best to perform repeated raising t
powers (using '^') as all integer as all float (not mixed arithmetic).
e.g. 3 ^ 2 ^ 2 or 3.0 ^ 2.0 ^ 2.0, but not 3 ^ 2.0 ^ 2.0
However, with a single '^', any mixture of integer or float i
acceptable. As mentioned above, if the two operands are integer, th
result is an integer, but otherwise the result is floating.
Also beware of large numeric values (overflow) developing durin
repeated exponentiation. It can produce very odd output results
particularly when displaying in 'Floating' mode.
Reserved Words
A list of the reserved words (both in upper and lower case) used b
!MFCalc follow. They should not be used as variable names. If you ge
an odd result or a syntax error, then you are probably using
reserved word in the wrong place, or think you are using one whe
you have typed it incorrectly or not separated it properly from othe
alphanumerics. Note the reserved words are either all upper case o
VirtualAcorn are pleased to announce that to celebrate VirtualRPC's first birthday as a stand alone product we are running a special offer. Customers can now buy VirtualRPC-SE for only £99.00 inc VAT (plus £1.50 p&p in UK, £3.50 p&p overseas). VirtualRPC-SE allows user to run RISC OS and RISC OS applications on PCs running Windows 2000 and Windows XP. VirtualRPC-SE comes complete with RISC OS 4, which normally costs £85 on it's own, along with many RISC OS applications including Ovation, DrawWorks Millennium, Mr Clippy, SiteWriter and WebFX3D.
VirtualRPC-SE is easy to install using the Windows front end on the CD. Just put the CD in your PC and the installer will start, click on a few buttons and within a few minutes RISC OS will be installed on your PC along with hundreds of RISC OS applications.
VirtualRPC-SE includes networking support so you can easily share files with a real RISC OS machine, you can even browse the web using a RISC OS browser on a PC. Also included is our power management plugin that significantly increases battery life on portable computers. Unlike a real Risc PC VirtualRPC-SE supports screen modes up to 8Mb in size, including 1280 x 1024 in full 24 bit colour. On machines with standard internal CD and floppy drives VirtualRPC-SE can even read Acorn format discs directly allowing, allowing users to install software from their original discs.
For more details on VirtualAcorn products, or to order, contact 3QD Developments LTD.
3QD Developments Ltd
86 Turnberry
Home Farm
Bracknell
Berks
RG12 8ZH
01344 452868
Please note that all VirtualAcorn products require an unlock code which you will need to obtain from VirtualAcorn after installation.
The Unix Porting Project
The Unix Porting Project has been busy this Summer, laying important foundation work for many new ports to RISC OS. Some of these ports are already available, and have been mentioned elsewhere - including the UPP site, but have not been more widely announced.
Included are:
Dillo - A port of a simple web browser to RISC OS - there are many improvements over the previous release
RDesktop - A direct port of the RDP client for Linux, allowing viewing of remote sessions on Windows 2000 Server and Windows XP Pro
madplay - A command line MP3 player, which demonstrates the ability to easily use sound in ported programs. madplay also dithers its output, which it claims can give a better sound than non-dithered output(such as that in AMPlayer)
These programs contain only small, or no modifications from the original versions to work on RISC OS. The Unix Porting Project hopes to have many more exciting programs in future. Help support RISC OS development by subscribing for only 25UKP for 6 months.
New RISC OS user group in the netherlands
On Saturday 11 September, a new RISC OS user group will be founded within the HCC.
The HCC (www.hcc.nl, sorry almost exclusively in Dutch) is a large computer club with over 200,000 members. Within the HCC there are various user groups, and on 11 September the new RISC OS user group will be added.
The founding meeting will take place in the HCC main office in Houten (NL, just south of Utrecht), starting at 11.00h. Address: De Bouw 141, NL-3991 SZ Houten Route: www.hcc.nl -> Info kantoor -> Routebeschrijving.
More information about the RISC OS user group can be found from
Ger van Vugt.
First Steps with RISC OS 4
We're delighted to announce that the first stage of our First Steps project is available NOW. Covering vanilla RISC OS 4 (the standard RISC OS 4.02/4.03 variants) it explains, in plain English, everything you need to get started with RISC OS 4 itself.
This is an ongoing project, with the next steps including sections on the RISC OS applications (aside from Printers, which has been explained as part of configuring RISC OS) and supplements to cover the use of RISC OS Adjust, RISC OS within Virtual Acorn and ... well ... a few other surprises.
Obviously as we expand this project, the main book is going to get bulkier. As such, anybody who buys this book before the end of October will be sent all updates free of charge.
Within the UK, First Steps is priced at 14.99ukp including postage; please add 3ukp within Europe and 5ukp outside of Europe. This will include the cost of sending the printed updates to you.
To all existing purchasers, they've gone out today - so you should get them in the next few days. I very much hope they live up to your expectations.
First Steps can be ordered from APDL on 020 8778 2659, by post to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN or by email to
The Alligata Books are published by Alligata Media, and distributed by APDL. Alligata Media is a separate entity, and contact details are provided in each book we produce.
Dave Bradforth
RISCWorld
ÿÿÿÿVOLUME5/ISSUE3/PD/INDEX.HTM Volume 5, Issue 3, PD World
PD World
Paul Brett with the latest freeware and PD releases for RISC OS.
The summer causes a bit of a slow down in software development (quite true, who wants to be in front of a computer when you can be welding Volkswagen's - ED) but we still have some corker new releases for your software collection.
Bazound - Chris Bazley
Have you ever wondered why your computer's sound system goes silent or strangely distorted after running an old game or other badly-behaved program? If you are an expert user of RISC OS who is curious about such phenomena then an application Chris has written may be of use to you.
Bazound
'Bazound' is a small configuration and diagnostic utility for the RISC OS sound system. It may be useful to programmers writing sound software, and in situations where programs have left the sound system in an indeterminate state. It was written using Joe Taylor's 'AppBasic', a new programming aid that simplifies the task of writing Toolbox applications in BASIC
The latest version of 'Bazound' is 0.08 (8th August 2004). The significant improvement over previous versions that it can now tell you the name of the module code or workspace that a given address (e.g. the currently installed channel handler) lies within. Hitherto this step required the aid of an external utility such as '*addr' or '*where'
When a module such as 'DSymphonyPlayer' claims control of the 8 bit sound system from the default channel handler, this prevents any notes from being played via the usual mechanism (including the system beep). With the aid of Bazound the offending module can be identified and *RMKill'd to restore normality
Full source code is included which may be of interest to anyone considering using 'AppBasic' for application development themselves.
GedText - Rob Hemmings
GedText converts a Gedcom file to a text file. It has been written specifically to work with files output by the !Family application but may work with other Gedcom files. It was written to enable a full report of all information held in a Gedcom file as the standard report from !Family only shows a subset of the information stored on each person.
All tags used by !Family should be shown in a readable form, other tags will be shown as they appear in the raw Gedcom file.
It works by reading a Gedcom file dragged to its iconbar icon and outputs to a file of the same name but with /txt appended. The output file is a standard Text file that can be searched or amended with any text editor or printed if required.
As written the application allows for a maximum of 2,000 individuals and 1,000 families but this can be altered by setting the appropriate variables in the !Run file.
The output can be sorted in ascending order of birth year (where present). Individuals without a BIRTH record followed by a DATE record that ends in a valid year are sorted to the end of the file. For now, this option can be switched on (the default) by setting the system variable GedText$Sorted in the run file to "Y", for any other value the output will be in the same order as in the input Gedcom file.
Graphite - Marc Zinnschlag
We featured this in the last issue, but there is now an updated version. Graphite is an application for creating and editing of graphs. The term graph means here a set of nodes and edges, whereby each edge is connected to two nodes. This definition might be not very clear for someone, who is not familiar with the term graph. So here is second definition: Graphically (no pun intended) a graph consists of some boxes with text in it (the nodes) and some arrows (the edges), that go from one box to another.
Graphite
PassWord - Paul Vigay
If you have every need to generate a secure password then this program is for you. It will generate easy to remember random passwords for you and can even copy them directly to the caret position to make them easy to enter.
PassWord
TapirMail - David Llewellyn-Jones
TapirMail is an easy to use On-Line email client offering the ability to both send and receive POP email from any RISC OS workstation without the need to download it. To start TapirMail, simply double click on the application icon . TapirMail will install itself onto the icon bar. Clicking the middle mouse button, whilst the mouse point is over the iconbar will generate a pop-up menu.
A manual, very generously created by Paul Stewart, is supplied in the TapirMail archive. In addition to this, interactive help is also supported. Together these should hopefully provide sufficient information for most users to navigate around the program.
TapirMail
ThumbCat - Malcolm Ripley
ThumbCat catalogues images in two formats both on-screen in normal RISCOS windows and in HTML format. ThumbCat handles Sprites, Drawfiles, AVI's (from digital cameras), JPEG's, EXIF's and any file formats recognised by ImageFS or ChangeFSI. It will build a catalogue of a directory tree of images, directories dragged to the iconbar will be searched and all recognised images displayed in a thumbnail view. Image catalogues can be stored with images or remote from the images in a "pseudo" application. The pseudo application can be relocated without any loss of functionality. Thus catalogues can be created of read only sources. HTML catalogues can be created. These will have relative links for catalogues with the images and absolute references for catalogues remote from the images.
ThumbCat
VirtUDesk - The Flying Pig
VirtuDesk is a small Relocatable Module which runs as a task in the desktop. It allows you to access a ‘virtual’ desktop area. The idea is that, for those people who find that their desktop is constantly getting clogged up with layer upon layer of windows, VirtuDesk will provide large amounts of extra desktop space without the need to resort to lower resolution screen modes. It does this by providing an area up to 144 times the size of your original desktop which you can scroll around and keep windows in.
VirtUDesk
Finally we end with a bit of entertainment.
Wator - Martin Carrudus
The idea behind this was taken from "The Armchair Universe" by A.K.Dewdney, published by Freeman 1988.
Sharks and Fishes move around a toroidal grid of cells, so if they move off the the top edge, they reappear at the bottom, and vice versa. Similarly for the left and right edges of the grid. Sharks and Fishes move left and right and up and down, not diagonally.
Time advances from movement to movement by 'Chronons'.
Sharks eat Fishes, but starve and die if they have not eaten for a chosen time period. Sharks and Fishes breed and produce new Sharks/Fishes after chosen time periods.
The size of the grid, the number of Chronons since the start, the number of Sharks and the number of Fishes are shown on the Title Bar.
To start, go to 'SetUp' off the bar icon menu, and choose your values for the parameters, then click on 'OK' to start the Simulation. You cannot choose either grid dimension less than 15 cells or greater than 48 cells. You may only choose the grid size once during one run of !Wator. If you do not alter the Set Up, then it assumes default values. You will be warned when this is happening.
The simulation continues until either all the Fish are eaten, or all the Sharks starve, and any Fishes left breed and fill the entire Planet.
Menus are available both from the bar icon or the Simulation Window, but when they are activated when the Window is active, the Simulation halts, and is only restarted by continuously holding down any key. The 'Freeze' option will restart itself automatically. A pause between generations (in centi-seconds) is selectable. Please read the Text File 'ReadMe' within this Application for conditions of use.
Warning: !Wator crashes if you open anything on the icon bar. Halts if anything else happens: Hold down any key continuously to resume.
Wator
That is all we have time for this issue, see you in November.
You know how it is: you happen to be passing your local PC superstore, and are seduced by the bright lights, the flashy displays, and the gaudy signs that proclaim 'Massive Reductions' and 'Huge Savings'. So, a little warily, you wander through the automatic doors, which open with an easy whoosh that belies the fact that you are now entering alien territory: the land of non-RISC OS-compatible peripherals. There's a virtual warehouse in front of you, but your trolley (you've got a trolley? I admire your optimism!) is likely to remain empty as the shelves are stacked with software that is clearly designated as Windows-only. Perhaps there'll be an offer on rewritable CDs, you console yourself. Or maybe even printer consumables? "Ah yes, printers," you muse. "A new printer would be of interest. Just a quick peek, then, on the off-chance, to see what's available." And there they are, rows of them, large and small, colour and mono, ink-guzzlers and lasers, the latest in microdroplet, ultra-sharp, resolution-enhanced technology. And if that's not enough to dazzle and confuse, there are the looming shapes of the combined copier-scanner-fax hybrids that claim to do everything to help you in the office, bar making the coffee (computers and coffee still don't mix, it would seem). Spoilt for choice, really. Unless, of course, you're looking for something that's RISC OS-friendly, in which case, choosing a printer is not quite such a carefree experience...
Next Port of Call...
So there I was, surrounded by shiny chrome displays and cut-price silicon, carefully searching for a black-and-white laser printer for my RiscPC. On a laser printer hunt, I reminded myself, there are a number of things of which you have to be wary. First of all, and vital, is to make sure that the laser's printing technology is compatible with RISC OS. The cheaper range of laser printers typically turn out to be Windows-only, though this isn't always immediately apparent. Secondly, the printer needs to have the requisite ports for connection purposes. Many of the bargain-priced printers are USB only, but in the case of my RiscPC, I needed a parallel option. After a little pondering, I determined to find a printer that could easily be shared between my RiscPC and my Virtual RiscPC laptop. To that end, my ideal would be a printer that could be permanently connected to the RiscPC via the parallel port, but with a USB socket for occasional conversations with the laptop.
After much prodding around the backs of printers, and chasing away of eager assistants who were unsurprisingly without clue when it came to RISC OS, I found a likely looking candidate in the shape of a Samsung printer. It said it supported both Mac and Linux, as well as Windows, which is usually a good start, but claimed to do so courtesy of the SPL (Samsung Printer Language), which is a protocol with which I wasn't au fait. Time to go home for a quick Google, I decided.
Splashing Out...
After sifting through the online specifications at
Getting Going Under RISC OS...
The service from Savastore was excellent. I ordered online and, as promised, the machine arrived within a couple of days. Pellets of polystyrene and discarded instruction manuals soon littered the hall floor, and the moment had arrived to feed the Samsung ML-1750 its toner cartridge. This was an easy enough affair: the front panel pulled down, while the cartridge slid obligingly into place. Gratifyingly, the test print went smoothly, and it was time to lug the printer upstairs to meet the computer; in the event, not much lugging was involved, as the printer weighs a modest 15.4lbs (7kg). It turned out that setting up the RiscPC was a doddle: after all the worrying over whether the printer would be compatible, the whole process proved to be remarkably unproblematic. As the Samsung is designed to work with the Hewlett Packard 'standard', it was simply a case of introducing the !Printers software to the appropriate Hewlett Packard 'LasJet-6' PDF (Printer Definition File); if you need a copy, it's freely available from the RISCOS Ltd website:
Small Change...
I haven't mentioned the Samsung ML-1750's looks, have I? The first thing you notice is that it's compact, measuring just 348x355x193mm (13.7"x14.0"x7.6"). In fact, Samsung bill this as the world's smallest cassette-based digital black-and-white laser printer. It is, indeed, a very dinky little machine, with rounded edges which give it a stylish appeal. For all that, the unit feels solid and robust, largely dispensing with those flimsy paper flaps that are just waiting to be broken. Rather, the 250 sheet paper tray pulls out from the bottom of the printer, photocopier-style, and then, by default, the output stacks on top of the machine. Alternatively, there's the option to print to the rear output tray, which gives a straight paper path if you choose the 'Manual Feeder' (see diagram below), useful for envelopes, card, etc. The range of paper weights accepted by the Manual Feeder is pleasing: anything from 60-163g/m². On the subject of paper, a thoughtful touch is the paper level indicator (see diagram) which provides an at-a-glance assessment of the paper situation. As per my specification, the printer boasts both parallel and USB 2.0 ports, each of which is readily accessible, and they can both be connected at the same time. There's also an Off switch, nowadays somewhat of a rarity, but its presence is somehow reassuring.
Quality Street...
So much for setting things up. But what is the quality like? Text output is superb. The print is sharp and there is no obvious pixellation or smudging of characters. In terms of graphics output, the results are mixed. When printing JPEGs, there was some sign of banding (the bane of printing photos), and the output was rather darker than I'd expected. Possibly, the printer is applying too much toner, though it is, of course, possible to tweak photos in a graphics package such as Photodesk or Variations. My overall impression is that graphics printing is not quite as good as that offered by the top-range Hewlett Packard laser printers. If you're in the market for a mono laser printer though, I'd expect that printing text documents would be your priority and, when it comes to clarity of text output, the Samsung is easily as good as its markedly more expensive competitors. I should mention that although the printer is billed as 1200x600dpi, the Hewlett Packard drivers for RISC OS have a maximum setting of 600x600dpi. It may be possible to increase this, but I haven't bothered for one simple reason: having tried the printer under both RISC OS and Windows, the difference between 1200x600dpi and 600x600dpi isn't noticeable to my eye and, believe me, I'm excessively fussy about such things.
In the Running...
According to Samsung, the toner cartridge will last for 3,000 pages at five per cent coverage (the printer is supplied with a 1,000 page starter cartridge). In the real world, of course, one would typically print with more than five per cent coverage, and thus should expect the cartridge to last rather less than 3,000 pages. In my experience of light to medium usage with other laser printers, Samsung's figures would equate to close to a year's worth of printing. One neat feature of the built-in test print, is that it tells you how many pages you've printed, so it is possible to keep track of the nominal running costs, if that's important. If you are looking for ways to preserve the cartridge, then you can activate Toner Save mode by pressing the appropriate button on the Control Panel (see diagram). This doesn't seem to make that much difference to the quality of the output, except that the blacker areas in graphic prints become dark grey, but Samsung estimate that the printer may use forty per cent less toner in this mode. Certainly, the quality is perfect for drafts, and it's very convenient to switch modes. At any rate, replacement cartridges are available for c. £50, which represents good value for money.
When first activated, the printer takes about thirty seconds to warm up from its power-saving idle mode, and then hums into life. Notionally, it can churn out sixteen pages per minute, though you need a fast computer to supply data at that rate. In practice, printing directly from EasiWriter, my aging RiscPC managed around four pages a minute, which is quite useful. On a modern RISC OS computer, such as an Iyonix or an Omega, I'd expect the performance to be more in line with Samsung's estimate: the printer is certainly very nippy given the chance. The printer is also well-served by 8MB of (non-expandable) internal memory, rather generous considering the price.
Virtually Perfect...
As mentioned at the start, my cunning scheme was to also use the printer with my Virtual RiscPC laptop. The process was a tad more involved than setting up the RiscPC, but not significantly so. As RISC OS is running under emulation, it needs to pass printing information to Windows, so it was necessary to configure Windows to recognise the Samsung printer. It isn't supported by the standard array of Windows XP drivers, but the supplied CD soon sorted that. If you're at all familiar with Windows, negotiating the various set-up screens is not a cause for trauma. With that done, the Virtual RiscPC manual carefully explained how to get RISC OS to talk to Windows, and all was as expected. I did have an initial hiccup when I tried printing, getting a rare, but frustrating, 'Internal Error... Data Abort' from the RISC OS side of things. After a little head scratching, I decided to pay a visit to the Virtual RiscPC download page:
Conclusion
This is a cute and capable printer. I almost said 'little' printer, but that might suggest that it's not in a position to compete with the big players. With the impressive quality of its text output, it most certainly is. My one reservation, the darkness of photo printing, is not really an issue unless you plan to do much of this. Given the combination of high quality print and the low price, it seems churlish to complain about anything. The printer is nicely engineered, looks all the better for it, and is delightfully easy to use. What's more, the 12 month guarantee includes on-site repairs, which is extraordinary at this price. Indeed, price may be the deciding factor for many: without a doubt, this printer represents astonishingly good value for money.
Samsung:
Watford Electronics Savastore:
Direct link:
Editors note
(Since this review was written the price of the ML-1750 has dropped through the floor and I have seen it advertised on sites such as
Geoffrey Potter reviews the 32bit version of Schema
The history of my Accountancy practice, and the role that RISC OS computers have played in its development and success is something for another day, but for the purposes of this article the reader only has to imagine a busy office where Windows software is confined to idle hard drives for occasional use (or more recently as a slave to Virtual Acorn), and various RISC OS computers effortlessly turn out all manner of documents on a daily basis, neatly avoiding the viruses and endless security upgrades that Mr Gates's wonderful software demands.
It may seem remarkable that Microsoft can be sidelined in such a way when so many Accountants seem to live and breath Windows software, but my practical experience is that I rarely need to use Windows software, as good as it often is, because RISC OS provides perfectly adequate and often superior alternatives. .
Until 2000, I had been using the same accounts production software for 20 years, first on a CBM computer and later via a PC card in a RiscPC, but the company who maintained this software decided to sell out to Sage and then my problems started. Sage started imposing unrealistic conditions on the use of the software so I politely told them to stuff it and decided that I would develop my own programs. A rash decision at the time as I had no viable alternative, but I was determined to have more control over my key programs and saw this as an opportunity to develop systems that better reflected the needs of my business.
Still with the proviso that as much as possible was to be RISC OS based, I soon came to the conclusion that I would best achieve my aims by using spreadsheets, but to a much greater extent than I had ever done before. I purchased and tested the three main RISC OS programs, Eureka, Resultz and Schema2 and decided in the end that Schema2 was the best for the job. This has turned out to be the right decision and whilst both Eureka and Resultz have their own particular qualities and advantages, Schema2 has provided me with the best overall tool.
Over the last three years, I have developed many spreadsheet 'programs' for use in my business and whilst my programming techniques are fairly basic, no macros for example, I am extremely pleased with the results and see no need in the foreseeable future to purchase any (Windows) commercial programs, other than a payroll. Although I have managed to develop a perfectly usable Schema2 based payroll system for up to 20 employees, in practice the growing complexity of payroll management makes it difficult and time consuming to keep up to date, so in this instance a commercial program is more efficient and actually works out quite inexpensive to maintain.
Schema
Ever since my initial involvement with the mass Acorn market through Safesell Exhibitions Ltd, the company that was owned and run by myself and my wife and through which we organised seven Acorn User Shows, I have tried to keep up with new developments in the Acorn market and as a result I have owned nearly every type of Acorn or RISC OS based computer produced since 1989, and a couple of BBC machines before that as well. It did not take long, therefore, for me to take a fancy to an Iyonix - purely on the rational basis that this would improve the efficiency of my business you understand - and although there were still a number of negative aspects to the Iyonix, even 8 months after the launch, I took delivery of the new machine in July 2003 and set it up with the help of Chris Evans from CJE Micros.
I already had an inkling that whilst a number of key programs had already been converted to 32 bit at that time and many more would run under Aemulor, my own key Schema2 program had not been converted to 32 bit and probably did not perform well under Aemulor. My fears were confirmed when I discovered that Schema2 worked adequately on small spreadsheets but was up to ten times slower than a RiscPC on large sheets.
The situation seemed impossible to reconcile and with no promise of a 32 conversion in the foreseeable future, my only alternative was to network the RiscPC to the Iyonix and carry out all spreadsheet work on the RiscPC.
The situation looked a little better around the end of 2003 when I was studying the performance figures for Virtual RiscPC and these suggested that with a powerful processor in an IBM compatible machine, Virtual RiscPC would run at up to 30% faster than a standard RiscPC. After my usual five minutes to assess the situation I decided that an A6 from Stuart Tyrell would provide me with an up to date Windows machine as well as a way of getting Schema2 to work faster, and it was not long before I had an A6 networked to the Iyonix and the RiscPC carefully stored for back up use. I now had a slightly clumsy but perfectly practical set up with which to carry on with my work.
I was still irked by the fact that Schema2 was not able to take advantage of the speed of the Iyonix and I confess to experimenting with Excel to see if there would be any advantage in converting all my Schema2 sheets to Excel sheets. Whilst it was true that after some perseverance I was able to replicate one of my most useful sheets into an Excel format and that the program loaded, calculated and saved almost instantaneously when compared to Schema2, I found Excel to be a difficult program to use and simply moving about a sheet was a chore as the wild scrolling problem could leave you literally hundreds of rows or columns away from where you intended to be. In comparison, Schema2 has a crisp and positive reaction to the scroll bars and moving around a large sheet is a doddle.
I thought that there must be other spreadsheet programs available for Windows so I trawled the net and found a number of freeware, shareware and demo programs which all looked promising but each had some basic fault which made them that less appealing. In the end I realised that there is nothing anywhere quite like Schema2 and that the grass is definitely not greener on the other side of the monitor. If I had had any serious thoughts about changing platforms then these had now definitely been consigned to the recycle bin.
In July this year, I wanted to update another system in my office and having already bought a second A6 and networked it with a RiscPC, I now wanted to replace the RiscPC with an Iyonix. This would give me two identical systems which I have found in the past to be useful in case of problems. I had resigned myself to the fact that it might be a long time before a 32 bit version of Schema2 appeared - if ever - but this did not matter too much as the A6 would handle the spreadsheet work under VirtualRPC without too much problem. .
I placed the order for the new Iyonix and extras with Chris Evans early in August but just out of curiosity I, e-mailed David Holden of APDL to ask if there was any likelihood of a 32 bit version of Schema2 being developed in the near future. I already knew that David was a key person in the possible development and distribution of any future upgrades to Schema2 and he was the one to ask such a question.
I cannot describe the joy and excitement that I felt when David e-mailed me back to say that they had already been testing a beta version of a 26/32 bit conversion of Schema2 and would I like to carry out some beta testing for him? This news was on a par with winning the lottery or hearing that Microsoft has gone bust - a truly life changing event.
David acted very quickly and e-mailed me a copy of the new program which I unzipped and loaded onto the Iyonix in a matter of minutes. The effect was instantaneous with every sheet I tried, loading fast and faultlessly, no matter what size of the sheet was. The usually slow process of recalculating, which took almost literally forever on the Iyonix under Aemulor, seemed to take no time at all on every sheet I tested and saving back to the hard disk was also much zippier than ever before.
I soon realised that this was what I had been waiting for. All those hours testing alternative programs and platforms for the ideal spreadsheet program would now fade into distant memories as this was it - the ultimate RISC OS spreadsheet program.
I do exaggerate a little of course, as this is the same Schema2 program as before with the same limitations as before and compared to Excel - well there is no logical comparison. Nevertheless, I think the simplicity of Schema2 is its strength as this gives the user much more control over the sheet programming and allows the rapid entering of formula, particularly large blocks or repetitive actions. Excel is clogged up with user friendly interventions which I find annoying and unhelpful and simply slow up the whole programing process. .
I have now been using the 32 bit beta version of Schema2 on an Iyonix every day for about two weeks, and I have not encountered any particular problems in its operation. I am, of course, only using a very small selection of the facilities available but I am confident that for everyday use, the program can be relied on.
I have carried out a few basic speed tests which give a general indication of the way the program operates on a variety of machines. I have noted that there is no common rate of increase or decrease in efficiency for each machine as some seem to handle certain operations better than others, so the following information is just a rule of thumb guidance. Also remember that the new Schema2 program is neutral in that it will quite happily work on both 26 bit and 32 bit machines. .
For clarity I refer to the old program as Schema26 and the new program as Schema32 in the following tests although these are not official designations.
If we take the RiscPC (233 MHz processor) as our standard, then there was no discernible difference in the speed of Schema26 and Schema32 on this machine and both programs behaved in an identical manner. Although this is to be expected, it does indicate that Schema32 could be used on a 26 bit machine initially and then transferred to a 32 bit machine later without the need to update or change anything.
The story is very similar on the A6 running VirtualRPC in that there is no noticeable difference in the speed of operation between Schema26 and Schema32 and both operate without problems. In some instances, however, I have noted that VirtualRPC does carry out some operations up to 30% faster than on a basic RiscPC. I am no expert, but the performance curve of VirtualRPC does suggest that the faster the processor of the host machine, the faster RISC OS programs will run under VirtualRPC and this seems to be supported by my simple tests of Schema26 and Schema32.
The development of Schema32 has set the scene for the future a far as I am concerned. With talk of faster X-Scale processors on the immediate horizon, this program is now ready to take its place in the 'essential' section of the RISC OS program library. My basis tests showed that under Schema32, no sheet loaded, saved or recalculated in more than half the time of the RiscPC and in many instances, operations were up to ten times faster than on a RiscPC. Of particular interest were operations that included insertion or deletion of columns or rows in the middle of sheets. I have literally waited an hour or two for such operations to complete on a RiscPC but on the Iyonix with Schema32, these operations now seem to take just a few minutes.
As a general observation, Schema32 recalculates or updates between two and three times faster on an Iyonix than on a RiscPC and the beta version I have been testing seems to behave very well indeed. I would have been happy with a 32 bit version that was only as fast as a RiscPC but the big bonus is that the power of the Iyonix has now been successfully mastered by this new program, and all indications are the conversion is clean and stable and should a worthwhile investment for anyone who wants to use a practical RISC OS spreadsheet which is compatible with both 26 and 32 bit machines.
I should mention the converters that come with the main program. These converters provide a limited ability to convert Schema2 sheets to other formats such as Lotus 123 and Excel, and also convert from other formats into Schema2. I have only tried the Excel converter and find that this is not actually very effective for anything other than very basic sheets using the most common formulae. Without going into too much detail, it is very much easier to work with Excel sheets on a Windows computer than to try and covert to RISC OS format and there is really no advantage in trying to convert a Schema2 sheet to Excel format.
Although great efforts have been put into producing RISC OS programs which can read Windows software, there is no way that such programs can keep up to date with the constant changes to Windows software and I think it is lost cause. I do see a great future for RISC OS, however, as other operating systems line up to challenge Microsoft's dominance and I think it is better to develop and maintain existing RISC OS software and simply use an IBM compatible machine if you want to use Windows software. (Adequate IBM compatibles can be found at your local council tip!).
For the purposes of this article I have passed on my own findings from a relatively short but reasonably inclusive test of the 32 bit version of Schema2 and I hope I have been able to convey my absolute delight with the way it operates on the Iyonix straight out of the box. This update of an old friend will certainly improve the efficiency of my business and also offer new opportunities for developing my existing programs so that they work better and faster in the future.
Having successfully completed this conversion, I hope the development team will consider adding a few improvements to Schema2. Whilst carefully avoiding the Microsoft passion of adding dozens of obscure and virtually useless operations to the software, Schema2 would definitely benefit from a little tweaking here and there, but having said that, the basic program is perfectly functional and easy to use and has proved to be reliable and stable throughout the last few years that I have been using it on a daily basis. I think the program is excellent value for money and is a very worthwhile addition to any RISC OS program collection.
STOP PRESS - I have today received a copy of the anticipated commercial package for the new version of Schema2 which includes an updated hard backed loose leaf manual and a program CD. I always found the original manual to be very helpful and written for the non-technically minded and the re vamped manual has improved on this whilst remaining easy to follow. In addition, the original manual did not include the Macro writing section which could be obtained separately, but the new manual now includes a section on the use of Macros.
I note that APDL are credited with the ownership of Schema2 and I am truly impressed with the presentation and work that has been put in to conversion of this program. There have been no short cuts here and although it has taken some time to arrive, the results are very professional and inspire confidence.
Product details
Product:
Schema
Supplier:
APD
Price:
£59.00 inclusive (upgrade from APDL version £19, upgrade from Clares version £39
Dave Holden introduces the RISCWorld WMF convertor
Introduction
This program is designed to convert Windows metafile (WMF) to Acorn DrawFiles. Like DrawFiles WMF are vector files, and although there may be components that can't be converted many of them can be converted very well. They are widely available, often on low cost clip art CDs, and, unlike the various PC bitmap image formats, when converted to DrawFiles they can be easily manipulated and scaled like any other DrawFiles.
In fact this program was primarily written to make it easy to convert the WMF files on the '75,000 Clip Art CD' sold by APDL. A number of files taken from the CD are included with this issue of RISC World and, to accompany this program, there is also a special offer for the CD.
How it works.
Run the program by double-clicking on the application icon in the usual way. The ConvWMF icon will appear on the icon bar, and clicking MENU on this will display the usual menu with only two items, one leading to an Info window and 'Quit'. Clicking on his will do exactly what you would expect.
The program can work in two ways;
It can convert individual WMF files
It can convert complete directories of WMF files, including sub-directories if required
The second method is ideal for converting complete CDs of WMF files and is what the program was really intended for. However, it will probably take quite a lot of time to process a complete CD and, since this type of CD often has large numbers of files in each directory you really need RISC OS 4 or better if you want to leave the computer to do this unattended.
Single file conversion
Just drag the WMF file to the ConvWMF icon on the iconbar. The window shown below will open.
The name shown in this window will be the same as the name of the WMF file except that if the original file had a .WMF (or /WMF under RISC OS) file extension this will be stripped. You can, of course, alter this name if you wish. Now drag the DrawFile icon to wherever you want to put the converted file and it will be processed and saved there. Once this is complete the window will close.
If you now drag a second WMF file to the ConvWMF icon the same window will open but this time instead of just the name of the WMF file it will also contain the pathname of the directory you saved the first file to. This saves you having to drag the file icon again if you want to save it to the same directory as you now only need to click on 'OK'.
Converting directories of WMF files.
If you drag a folder icon to the ConvWMF icon on the icon bar then a different window, shown below, will open.
The full pathname of the source directory will appear in the top part of the window, as shown. The name of the actual directory dragged to the icon will appear in the writable icon at the bottom of the window. This is the default name that will be given to the destination directory when you convert the files, but you can, of course, change this if you wish.
Just drag the folder icon at the bottom right hand corner of the window to a suitable filer window and the conversion will begin.
The program will search the source directory for any WMF files, convert them to DrawFiles, and save them to te destination directory. As with single file conversion any .WMF file extensions will be removed.
As work progresses the name of the file currently being converted will be displayed, as shown below.
If the Recurse icon at the top right of the window is selected then the program will also search any sub directories, their sub-directories, and so on, with an equivalent directory with the same name being created on the destination drive if any are found. If it is not selected then only the actual directory dragged to the ConvWMF icon will be searched and any sub-directories will be ignored.
When the program has finished the message will change to tell you how many files were found and converted and, if Recurse was selected, how many directories that were searched were found to contain WMF files.
Clicking on Cancel at any time will abort the operation and the window will close. If the program is actually processing a file when you do this nothing might appear to happen, but this is because no action is taken until the current file is completed, when the process will terminate.
Clicking on Pause will stop operations when the current file is converted. The window will remain open and the button will be 'pushed in' and say Cont (for Continue). As you might expect, if you click on the button again the program will continue from where it left off when you paused it.
Recognition of WMF files.
ConvWMF recognises WMF files in two ways.
They have the correct RISC OS filetype of &B2F
The last four letters of the filename are /WMF to correspond with the .WMF PC file extension
The second method will be the one most commonly used as this enables you to use files directly from a PC CD.
Problems
The most common problems would be if you are using a pre RISC OS 4 machine and are trying to convert a CD full of WMF files. Firstly there are likely to be more than 77 files per directory on the CD, and this will obviously cause problems. Secondly directory or file names may be longer than the 10 characters permitted on RISC OS before RO4, and although they will simply be truncated to 10 characters if the first 10 characters of a file or directory name are the same as another file or directory this can cause difficulties.
You might find that there are some constructs used in more complex WMF files that will not be handled by this program. However, this is unlikely to occur in the more simple files normally supplied as clip art, which is what it is really intended for.
