Yes!!! Phew!! Well now you can, with !NewIBar, brought to you courtesy of Nought About Software up here in Glasgow (“Glasgow’s Miles Better”). In fact,not only do you get a nice Icon Bar, but you also get nice 3D error windows, and marbled icons on the desktop.
Never before has the desktop looked so good!
Requirements:
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a) Approx 65k free disc space. (Don't worry - only uses about 9k of memory)
b) Risc OS 3.10 or 3.11 (Don’t use on a Risc PC!!)
c) A hard disc is recommended.
OK, still interested?
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Damn. Well in that case I s’pose you’ll want tae install my cooel proggy. Actually it’s quite simple. NOT.
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All right, because of the nature of the patch, it has to be loaded before thedesktop is started (i.e. before the RISC OS 3 banner comes onto the screen). This is going to cause problems for all of you with no !Boot files on your computer, so I will give separate instructions for both people with and without !Boot files.
People With Boot Files....
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• Open up your !System folder (it should be in the root directory)
This is done by holding down <Shift> while double clicking !System.
• Create a new folder within the !System called BootFolder
• Copy the application !NewIBar into !System.BootFolder
• Move your old !Boot file into !System.BootFolder
• Rename your old !Boot file to BootDesk
• Copy the !Boot file from the NewIBar folder on the floppy you got the program on to the root directory of your boot disc (i.e. to where your !Boot file used to be)
Now reboot your computer...!
People Without !Boot Files....
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Floppy Disc Only Users (ie no hard disc)
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. Format a fresh floppy disc.
. Copy your !System and !Scrap folders to this new disc.
. Hold down Shift and Double-Click on !System.
. Click Menu over the filer window that appears.
. Move the pointer to the arrow at the side of New Directory.
. Type BootFolder into the box that appears.
. Double-Click on the BootFolder icon that appears.
. Copy !NewIBar into the window that appeared as a result of double-clicking on BootFolder.
. Press F12 and type CONFIGURE FILESYSTEM ADFS
. Press return then type CONFIGURE BOOT then press return.
. Type OPT 4 2
. Press return to return to the Desktop
. Click menu over the Acorn icon on the right hand side of the icon bar.
. Slide the pointer to Desktop Boot and position the pointer on the arrow.
. Change the filename of !Boot to BootDesk and drag it to the BootFolder fold er.
. Set the Desktop up as you want it (ie run the programs you want to be run when you turn the computer on) then click over the Acorn icon again, goto Desktop Boot, then click on OK.
. Copy the file !Boot from the disc that !NewIBar came on to the root directory of the disc you have installed !NewIBar to.
. OK, that’s it. Leave the floppy in the drive and reset your computer.
People with hard drives
1 Make sure you have !Fonts, !Scrap and !System in youur root directory (the one that’s displayed when you click on the hard disc icon).
2 Hold down Shift and double click on !System
3 Click Menu over the new window that opens.
4 Move the pointer to New Directory and type BootFolder into the box that appears.
5 Copy !NewIBar (from the floppy disc) into BootFolder.
6 Click Menu over the task manager (Acorn icon) and move the pointer to Desktop Boot.
7 In the filename rectangle, delete !Boot, and type BootDesk, then drag the icon to the BootFolder folder.
8 Now the hard bit. Look at the top of one of your filer windows. Look at the left of one of the title bars. Remember the text up to the double colon ( :: ). It should end in FS i.e. ADFS, IDEFS, SCSIFS etc.
9 Press F12, and type CONFIGURE FILESYSTEM followed by the name you remembered in step 8 above, for example CONFIGURE FILESYSTEM IDEFS
10 Press return, then type CONFIGURE BOOT and press return.
11 If your filesystem was ADFS, type CONFIGURE DRIVE 4 and press return.
12 Type the name of your filesystem (i.e. IDEFS or SCSIFS) and press return
13 Type DRIVE 4 then press return
14 Type OPT 4 2 then press return
NOW REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER. IF IT DOESN'T WORK, TRY THE ABOVE PROCEDURE AGAIN. If it still doesn't work, then get in contact with me and I'll try and sort your problems out.
Technical Info....
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The boring bit... Well I’d better explain how it works anyway. It’s quite
simple really.
1. First the proggy loads a SpriteFile containing the marble effect for the icon bar and the new icons for the desktop.
2. Then it loads up a module which over-writes the “Templates” file in the Wimp folder in the Resource Filing System.
3. Then it starts up the Desktop.
4. Then it runs the file called !Boot in your !System folder.
And that’s it!!!!!!
Contacting The Author....
If for any reason you want to contact me (!!?) then you can do so by writing to me at the address below. Unfortunately I can’t assure a speedy response, but I will do my best to answer all letters received. If you can’t get !NewIBar to run then send me the details of your computer (ie memory, OS version, where you’ve installed the files to, monitor type etc).
My address is :
Michael Marshall,
“Langdale”,
Bridge of Weir Road,
Kilmacolm,
Renfrewshire.
Scotland.
PA13 4NU
(Yup, I’m just up the road from floody Paisley!!
Known Bugs....(!!)
Yup, I’m afraid there are a few...
• After a great number of screen redraws, the marbled effect seems to wear off... (not my fault, honest...)
• This program hasn’t been tested on RISC OS versions 3.00, or 3.12.
• The sprite is in 256 colours, and goes all funny in 16 colour modes (like mode 12)......
To be added / fixed in next version...
• Fix the problem with the sprite (convert to 16 colours) - Fixed in this version.....
• Make the sprite smaller so it uses less memory
• Make Filer Action Windows look marbled
Program History....
1.00 First release. Crashed the computer when run....
1.01 Fixed the problem - the template file was corrupted... Still crashes my Archi when the screen redraws....
1.02 Fixed redraws - seems that when I saved the template file, I saved the icon bar window too large. It’s now the correct size.
1.03 Fixed the sprite - now works in 2, 4, 8, 16 and 256 colour modes.
