RISCOS Ltd have released more information on Select, a newer version of !Printers (1.64a - with a cryptic message saying the fully featured version is on Select - does this mean those who don't want Select have to put up with a crippled version?)and more info for programmers about Select.

With more and more info being released on Select, the list is now looking good, except for a few points - it's still a large number of bug fixes and doesn't provide any sign of where it is leading to! Without the knowledge of where we will get with Select, combined with the current feeling of developers towards ROS Ltd, it will remain to be seen if it will do much to stimulate large scale developments.

Brilliant - except for one thing, the website is hideously broken (the front page links lead to nowhere!) so it may take a while to find what you're looking for.

(This was written at 17:20 [27/8/01] - it may have changed)

In related noises, support for 3.7 is no more. No real suprise there as ROS Ltd don't have access to the sources for 3.7!

While this is good in two ways (forcing people to get up to date OS and machines, removal of legacy) it is also bad (people don't want to upgrade or rely on legacy). With companies long since left the platform for updating the legacy code, this seems self defeating....

The press release is now out and you can get advanced tickets, info on how to get to the show and all other fun things from the website www.riscos2001.com.

There is plently of public transport and the venue is a lot easier to get to that previous years (it's now at the Blue Mountain Golf and Conference centre, Binfield, Berks instead of being squished as it was for the last two shows!)

• Advanced prices : £4
  
  
• On the door : £5
  
  
• Kids under 12 free with adult.
  

If you don't fancy buying over the net, you can buy by post.

Send a cheque (payable to The ARM Club) to

RISC OS 2001 Advanced Sales

45 Hillview Close

Purley

Surrey

CR8 1AU

A full list of exhibitors can be found here and it does look impressive!

News Flash!

Tickets are now available to be bought online. Get 'em while their fresh!

eQ R&D (http://www.eqrd.net) have launched a new version of both their MPEG video player (!Kino) and StupidPlayer (MP3).

StupidPlayer (unfortunate name!) is a very good MP3 player. While it does not have the advantages of AMPlayer, it does one thing that AMPlayer doesn't - allow decent sound and bitrate audio on the likes of the RiscStation 7500.

Kino is (currently) the only MPEG video player for RISC OS which allows sound to be played as well. It does a bang up job as well!

To use the software, you must download the 32 bit libraries from the RISCOS Ltd website.

Well, RComp have done it again.

Not content with producing the most frequently updated web browser around for 30 quid (as well as their other internet solutions software), they're now making WXL even better value for money by bundling with it plug ins for PDF, Flash and a few others - for the same price!

What makes this even better value is the fact that RComp also send out the software updates pretty frequently and for free.

Though WXL does have it's detractors, it is certainly one of the most up to date and powerful RISC OS browsers around.

For more information, contact RComp.

Well My RISC OS is now just over a week old!

The stats are quite amazing and just a little more than was expected ;-)

Thanks to you all and I hope that things continue to be this encouraging.

Does anyone know if there is a RISC OS utility which can record the desktop screens in realtime and save as a sprite file (with multiple frames) or as an animated gif or Replay file etc.




I would like to be able to record activity in the desktop and then replay as a movie or animation. I would need this to include mouse movement / pointer too.




If there is no such utility, does anyone fancy writing one?

The Kernel has already been changed for the first Select CD but these changes will continue in future issues of the OS.


The Kernel will be leaner with components split from the Kernel. these (now externel) components will be easier to maintain as they can be modified and tested without a complete ROM build.

The Register Reports : Intel eases XScale into Symbian phones.




"Intel is to provide hardware kits to help Symbian licencees produce 2.5G and 3G phones using the former's XScale processor. "



The XScale ships in September according to the article

My RISC OS needs a logo, it's well overdue!



Here's the chance for you to get involved. The first submission is included here, thanks Ronny.





We'd like you to comment and submit your own efforts. The winning logo will be used as the main logo for the default theme, other logos may be used in other themes (so there can be many winners!).



What's the prize? Oh you mean apart form the smug satisfaction that you won and can gloat for years to come? Well, a mention on the site!



The logos will probably also be used for link banners for use on your own sites.

Following feedback from users, the Avatar List now shows the graphic number/name, so no excuse for you having the default number 1 anymore!

The chat box and instant messaging have been fixed to work with Fresco




(The chat box works with !Browse, sort of, even though I'm not intending to fully support this browser, the top box needs manually refreshing after you submit some text to the chat!)

ChangeFSI, Draw, edit, Paint and SciCalc now (in RO4+) use the ClipHolder module. at last the global clipboard is used for the standard apps and there is no longer any excuse for other software writers to ignore the facility.
The ClipHolder module provides simplified Clipboard facilities for applications exporting a single file using standard Clipboard protocols.



Draw, Edit and Paint now have menus that are more style-guide compliant - again other writers please note!



CDPlayer is a new application. It runs automatically from the CD icon if a music CD is present. It‘s a basic program - leaving the beels and whistles to 3rd party programmers. It does link with AcornCD to extract track and disk names from the web database.



ChangeFSI can import PNGs (not masked) and doesn‘t keep popping over to the centre. Where before it used long silly names it now uses sensible ones. Speed decoding progressive JPEGS using djpeg is much improved.



Draw will now export simple SVGs - the vector graphics format to be used on web sites and presumably elsewhere.



Paint is (more) stable after having many bugs withdrawn! It supports dynamic areas for workspace, import JPEGs (reliably) and PNGs (not masked) and save sprites as JPEGs.



Squash will compress and decompress GZip files. [what difference will this make anyone?]



RISCOS Ltd were at pains to point out that Puzzle has been extended and is more devious. They‘re sadists!


I already have my own list of things to do to improve Draw (readers of my Acorn User column won‘t be surprised at this!) and I‘m hoping some might be included in later releases of Select.


What do you think ROL have missed (so far) in updating the apps?

Would you like RO4+ to be (even) more reliable and user friendly?

Would you like RO4+ to be designed such that software authors find it easy to add components to the OS?

These are design goals one and two from RISC OS Ltd. Are they goals you can agree with?



The other two design goals are fixing bugs and integrating external components (where appropriate and suitable).

Of course all this depends on context. What are ROL actually going to do with RO4+?

How could it be more user friendly - you suggest ideas and I'll tell you what ROL have already done.

What do software authors think about RO4+ being designed to make it easy to add enhancements?

Should ROL produce an OS complete with the latest possible bells and whistles leaving third-party authors to concentrate on producing separate applications?

How else might ROL improve the operating system for users and software writers?

RComp today have sent out a fix for all users of their Webster XL package for the !Webfetch application after finding a small problem when using MyRiscos.co.uk.

If you have not recieved this yet (or are not on the priority user list), please contact RComp for the upgrade.

email : rcomp@rcomp.co.uk

Note: The My RISCOS effect starts to be noticed! :-)

ZDNet reports: Advanced RISC Machines(ARM) yesterday unveiled more details of its ARM 10 architecture, at the Hot Chips Conference at Stanford University.

The idea behind #riscos is to provide an IRC channel where people can discuss RISC OS, without being drowned out by off-topic discussion, such as irrelevant arguments about Linux or Windows.




New users will be welcomed, as we all know what it's like to be new. You are encouraged to ask as many questions as you need, and you may join in with any discussion which is going on. Discussions can be about any aspect of RISC OS, or hardware which runs RISC OS.




We have a number of users who regularly join the channel, who have expertise in certain areas. A list is available on the website so you can check who best to address your questions to.




Check out the new redesigned #riscos website

RISC OS Select is the name given to the means by which the new Operating System, RO4+, will be distributed.


Instead of producing a version of the OS that will be set in stone for three or more years RISCOS Ltd will release the product in stages over two years. New for RISC OS the new OS will be on CD, you will need RO4 on your machine to run RO4+, and problems encountered in one version can be modified for the next.


As RISCOS Ltd expect to issue three CDs each year the wait between issues won't be excessive.
It's worth noting that RISCOS Ltd are not using us all as beta testers; each CD will include some beta and some release versions of software and purchasers can opt to ignore the beta software. Software in beta on one CD is likely to be in a release version on the next.


Undoubtedly there will be enough adventurous souls who will want to explore and test the beta software and ensure the feedback to ROL for the good of us all.

Note: Previous article in series

<font color="red">Preface updated and extended 27th August.</font>

Up to very recently RISC OS Select was simply a list of plans and hopes on the RISCOS Ltd website. Now I've seen it in operation. Over the next few weeks I'll bring you my opinion of the Select scheme.

Is it a big jump or simply bug-fixes?

Have RISCOS Ltd listened to our requests?

What is the response of hardware and software developers?

Is it worth the money?