Topic: News

We noticed this afternoon, shortly after lunch, that the Drobe web portal appears to have lost many recent articles going back from the present to 3rd of December 2006 (the most recent article up there at the time of writing).

Maybe they've had a hardware or disc crash and had to restore from an older backup. Hopefully this is just a temporary set back and that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. All the best guys.

It would be a shame to have lost all that pointless, wild, and uninformed speculation in the forums about the possible (or not) release of RISC OS source code and legal issues surrounding it, posted by so many people who just don't have a clue. :-)

Louie Smith recently announced that he is planning to launch a new bimonthly magazine for RISC OS users and programmers.

From a recent press release posted at csa, Peter Wild, CEO of Pattotek Ltd has anounced the he is selling Pattotek's 30% share in Castle Ltd.

RISC OS Ltd. have announced that there will now be RISC OS roadshows up north in Newcastle (on Tyne) and Glasgow, Glasgow on the 18Th of October and Newcastle on the 19Th.

With the RISC OS Roadshow looming fast (It's this week!), now is the time to get all those last minute Christmas software or hardware updates for your favourite OS.

News Roundup

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Things have been pretty frantic over here at work and I've hardly had time to unpack before the next trip away :-(

For those who don't follow the newsgroups, you may have missed the latest update (as I did) to Pete Everett's Kino Amp video player for RISC OS.

KinoAmp is now up to Version 0.32 and is an excellent application that can show off some of the capabiities of a StrongArm Risc PC.

As also reported elsewhere on the net, it is unfortunate that Both Stuart Tyrrell Developments and Virtual Acorn in two independent press releases have temporarily suspended supply of Virtual RiscPC software and A6 / A75 computers until further notice.

At a time when there seems to be a divergence in most things RISC OS related, eg two operating systems, two USB stacks, etc Finnybank have bucked the trend! It was announced today, that Finnybank, the company behind Acorn Publisher magazine have added to their portfolio of magazines by buying Acorn User from Tau Press.

A massive fire has wiped out a third of the motorcycles at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham. 650 machines, out of the 900 collection, valued at an estimated £8m have been destroyed.

Fire investigators say the blaze, reported at 4.40pm yesterday (16th Sept), started in boxes old air conditioning units, triggered by a carelessly disgarded cigarrette.

Our congratulations go to the WROCC for their Wakefield show efforts and to the visitors to the show who helped raise over £1100 for charity at this year.

Also, our thanks go to MicroDigital for providing the Creative Labs Inspire 5.1 speakers for the 2nd prize draw at the show - we won them and so now the office is nicely wired for sound, if only it had been draw three?!? :-S

The VirtualAcorn ccrew in the form of the Mercurial Aaron RISCWorld Timbrell has sent us an very interesting couple of tidbits...

First off, is that VA is happy to run anything compiled using the new 32 bit tools from Castle. Now there is no excuses for not using VA as a tool to program new apps for RISC OS.

Discounts seem to be all the rage now. First John Kortnink reduced the price of his Viewfinder card, then we get these..

Clares are pleased to announce the latest price reduction on LCD panels, we can now supply the following

• AOC 15" Silver 1024x768 LCD 295(UKP) inc VAT and carriage
  
• AOC 17" Silver 1280x1024 LCD 429(UKP) inc VAT and carriage.
  

This is followed by this gem from Castle

EPSON A4 USB SCANNER (MODEL 1660 - PHOTO)

• 48-bit colour scanning
  
• True 1600 x 3200 dpi scanning
  
• Built in transparency unit
  
• High speed scanning (A4 scan at 300dpi takes about 26s)
  
• TWAIN 2 driver included
  

Cost...

SCANNER PRICE ukp199
Castle's 4/port USB podule ukp59
D Pilling's Scanning Software ukp20

For more information, have a poke around at Castle's website

And finally today

New permanently low price for RISC OS 4 upgrades

Following the securing of further OTP ROM supplies RISCOS Ltd is pleased to announce a new permanently low price for RISC OS 4 upgrades.

With immediate effect the full RISC OS 4 ROM pack is now available for ukp85 including VAT. For users who want to upgrade more than one machine a set of ROMs only is available for ukp75 including VAT.

Discounts are available for Dealers, Authorised Installers and User Groups who place orders in bulk.

Orders may be placed by Cheque or Credit Card by Post to:-

RISCOS Ltd
3 Clarendon Road
Cardiff
CF23 9JD
Tel 02920 492324
Fax 02920 492326

Hi,

I've posted a few snaps from the South East Show.

The show was pretty crushy so I didn't really get any great opportunities to have clear shots. Hopefully these will be of some interest though.

Show Pics

And a quick summary of the show...

Peter Naulls has released another subscription package, but this time it is for those wanting to learn C.

For 40 UKP, you get a 6 month subscription to this service.

For more info, visit the website

However....

Not being content with new hardware coming around, we are seeing software updated for the new 32 bit OS. In a very large posting from our best mates at Cerilica, the first of the new breed of 32 bit software seems to be hitting the streets at the same time as the new hardware....

Cerilica Vantage goes 32bit


Following recent announcements of exciting new hardware developments on RISC OS web portals such as www.iconbar.com, Cerilica can finally reveal it has been working hard on a 32bit full upgrade version of its leading design and publishing software - Cerilica Vantage. This will allow Vantage to take advantage of the extra processing power offered by the next-generation ARM-based 32 bit-only RISC processors.

A two stage upgrade path is now being planned which will finally release key features already working in development versions and allow users an option to gain further new features. Bug fixes have also been a priority as well as fixes specifically targeted towards OS variations. Release dates will partly depend on external factors but we will post firm information about these events closer to the time.

In the meantime, you may wish to attend the forthcoming South East show where the latest development version of Vantage will be on display and demonstrated.

These are exciting times for the RISC OS platform. Cerilica Vantage has already been demonstrated to work on the long-awaited Microdigital Omega and we believe a choice of hardware can only be a good thing for the market. Our policy to is to cater for as many viable RISC OS platforms as possible to ensure our products have the largest potential user base.

Cerilica Vantage is available from only 175.00ukp fully inclusive of VAT and package and postage (UK) and is supplied with an on-screen and printable PDF manual. A comprehensive printed manual (over 230 pages) is also available as an option.

You want more from Cerilica, well, read on!

In case you've not yet seen it, the Iyonix PC from Castle Technology, is planned to run RISC OS 5, yes that is a five and means with 32Bit support!

The new PC is planned to have DDR Memory, an XScale processor and run 66Mhz PCI peripheral bus. A challenge for the Microdigital Omega offering?

Our friends at www.riscos.org have run a story about RISCOS Ltd's new brochure, promoting RISC OS. Available on the RISC OS Ltd website are copies of the brochure for download.