|-------------------------- Acorn News Service --------------------------|
 |                     http://www.acornusers.org/ans/                     |
 | ISSUE 50                                               6 February 2000 |
 |                                                                        |
 |       An independent fortnightly newsletter for the Acorn world.       |
 |        Send your news items or comments to ans@acornusers.org.         |
 |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 |           Featured site this issue: http://www.drobe.co.uk/            |
 |------------------------------------------------------------------------|


Contents
--------
 1) General News
 2) Commercial News
 3) PD/Shareware News
 4) Club News
 5) ANS information



General News
------------

 1) Printer Definition File survey

  As part of RISCOS Ltd's continuing development of Printers, an installer
  application, to allow simplified selection of the available printers,
  will be produced.

  RISCOS Ltd is interested in knowing what printer you use, what printer
  definition file you use with it, and where you got that file.

  For each printer you use, e-mail the following information to
  printersurvey@riscos.com.

    Manufacturer: Manufacturer name
    Model:        Model name/number
    PDF:          PDF filename
    Originator:   Originator of the PDF
    Status:       Status of the PDF (supported/unsupported, copyright etc)
    Comments:     Any comments

  http://www.riscos.com/


 2) PipeDream mailing list

  A new self help mailing list is available for users of PipeDream. To
  subscribe send a blank email to PipeDream@4qd.co.uk with the subject:
  Subscribe.

  PipeDream@4qd.co.uk?Subject=Subscribe



Commercial News
---------------

 1) Personalise the Drobe portal

  Drobe Launch Pad has launched a customisation system, which allows every
  user to redesign the Drobe Launch Pad homepage to suit their individual
  needs.

  Previously similar options had only been found on the larger, main stream
  portals and Drobe Launch Pad is delighted to bring this technology to the
  RISC OS market.

  Drobe Launch Pad also announced a free prize draw in association with
  Dansoft Developments http://www.dansoft.co.nz/, authors of the
  forthcoming SiteWriter web page design program.

  Registering automatically enters new users into the draw to win a copy of
  WebFX3D, Dansoft Developments' advanced 3D graphics program for RISC OS.

  To register go to http://www.drobe.co.uk/.


 2) PICsuite now supports 16C55X series

  PICsuite is a programmer, assembler, disassembler, simulator and launcher
  to help you write code for tiny computers - from 8 to 40 pin PIC chips.
  Support has just been added for the 16C554, 16C556, 16C558 micros from
  Microchip.

  For more information go to http://www.sprow.co.uk/pics/.


 3) Power-tec moves to Partis Computing

  Alsystems are changing their direction and market place, and so have
  passed the Power-tec name, sales and support of the entire range of
  products to Partis Computing, the developer of 90% of Power-tec products.

  All outstanding support contracts will be honoured. To subscribe to the
  new PowerChat mailing list, send an email to mailserver@partis.org.uk with
  the subject 'subscribe power-chat'.

  Technical support emails should now be sent to
  power-tec-tech@partis.org.uk.

  http://www.partis.org.uk/power-tec/


 4) PhotoReal drivers for Epson 750 and 1200 from Spacetech

  To complement their existing range of PhotoReal Drivers, Spacetech have
  completed a new algorithm to drive the latest Epson Stylus Photo printers.
  This takes account of the variable dot pitch and six ink technology
  featured by these printers. 

  A colour calibration application, PhotoReal is supplied for the
  experienced user who may want to vary the fixed printer calibration
  settings, as well as a distribution of the standard driver for plain
  paper printing at resolutions from 360 to 1440 dpi.

  Both printers are available from Spacetech, with the PhotoReal driver
  bundled. The A4 Epson Stylus Photo 750 is GBP209.95. The Espon Stylus
  Photo 1200 is GBP399.95. The driver on its own is available for GBP69.00.
  All prices include VAT.

  http://www.spacetech.co.uk/news/p0200.html



PD/Shareware News
-----------------

 1) POVRay 3.1g ported to RISC OS

  POVRay 3.1g raytracer has been ported to RISC OS and is available from
  http://www.multimania.com/mathevet/povpage.htm.

  This is an important release because a number of language keywords has
  been dropped and a few others appeared (the new features of 3.02 were
  experimental and scenes rendered with 3.02 will not render the same in
  3.1g).

  Two executables are provided to cater for different machines:
    * 'povray' that will work as long as an FPEmulator module is present.
    * 'povrayyl', linked with YLib, a special Maths library that takes
      advantage of a Floating Point unit (FPA10 or ARM7500FE).

  Furthermore, both executables have Throwback support.

  Also, there is a port of latest JPEG utilities v6b:
    * cjpeg/djpeg: convert from/to JPEG (JFIF).
    * rdjpgcom/wrjpgcom: add a comment marker in a JPEG 
    * jpegtran: optimize JPEG image and convert from/to progressive JPEGs.

  http://www.multimania.com/mathevet/


 2) Castle Harenae

  Castle Harenae is now available for download from:
  http://for.mat.bham.ac.uk/llewelld/ch.htm.

  It is a two-player game in which you have to construct a maze for your
  opponent to complete in the shortest possible time.

  The game is freeware and in future more plugins will be released which
  will extend the features of the game. More details are available from the
  website.


 3) Condenser, ZIP files

  Condenser is a filer-like ZIP file compressor/decompressor. It currently
  supports:
    * Move in/out of ZIP files
    * Delete files from ZIP files
    * Create new ZIP files
    * Display of RISC OS filetypes

  Apart from the file interpretation routine, Condenser uses the InfoZIP
  executables so most real ZIP files should be compatible.

  Condenser is on its first public release at 0.08.
  http://members.xoom.com/zmjagroup/soft.html


 4) JScript beta

  JScript is a developmental Javascript implementation. This version is
  the prototype version in BASIC.

  JScript is 0.26 beta, and currently supports almost all Javascript
  constructs. A real version in C is now a top priority.

  http://members.xoom.com/zmjagroup/soft.html


 5) Psion S5 to RISC OS file converter

  Thomas Milius has completed a Psion Series 5 to RISC OS file converter,
  Psionconv. It is freeware and open source, available from
  http://home.t-online.de/home/thomas-milius/English/Computer/index.htm.

  Psionconv v0.03 converts Psion Word to HTML, Sketch/MBM to Sprite,
  and Texted to Text files.


 6) Updated software summary

  * AntUtils v1.34
    Utilities for users of the ANT Internet Suite. Shareware. New version
    includes bug fixes and some new options for Fresco.
    http://www.vigay.com/riscos/comms.html#antutils

  * CD_Search v1.07
    Index of popular RISC OS CD-ROMs. Now includes information on RiscDiscs
    1-3, bringing the number of CDs indexed to seventeen.
    http://www.richie.ukgateway.net/search/

  * DigitalCD v2.46
    A desktop music player compatible with RISC OS 3.1 or later, which
    provides independent control panels for any connected CD drive and file
    playlists. The new version supports the AMPlayer module, and includes
    various minor corrections and works better with the Blitz IDE interface.
    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4471/digital.htm

  * FTPc v1.24
    Freeware internet File Transfer Protocol Client. Improved VMS and HP1000
    supported.
    http://www.c-granville.freeserve.co.uk/

  * IfPing v1.11
    Ping a given address, and if it receives a response, executes the main
    command, otherwise executes the optional other command. Bug fix.
    http://www.toth.org.uk/~aardvark/programs/ifping.html

  * SMSTrans v1.16e
    Send SMS messages to mobile phones. Fixes a couple of bugs in the
    transmission library, and hopefully Orange should now be more stable.
    http://www.toth.org.uk/~aardvark/programs/sms.html

  * Thump v1.40
    An image thumbnailer and viewer which works by showing thumbnails of
    images when browsing the directory structure. It works best with JPEGs
    but many formats are supported. Many new features and speed improvement.
    http://members.xoom.com/rick_hudson/software/thump.html

  * TimeSheet v1.00
    TimeSheet keeps track of the time spent on tasks within a project. Time
    spent on up to 10 individual tasks within a project can be recorded.
    http://www.QuercusComputers.co.uk/download.htm



Club News
---------

 1) Upcoming meetings

  * Essex Acorn User Group, 8th February - Massaging text with Edit
    http://www.watsnees.demon.co.uk/eaug.html

  * Wessex ARM User Group, 12th February - RISC OS 4 road show
    http://www.argonet.co.uk/acornshow/waug/

  * Southampton Acorn Users Group, 14th February
    davehigton@arcade.demon.co.uk

  * Arche at HobbyTronic, Germany, 16th to 20th February
    http://www.arcsite.de/arche/



ANS Information
---------------

 1) Contact ANS

  Editor         - James Sears       - james@ans.acornusers.org
  Webmaster      - Stephen Courtney  - stephen@ans.acornusers.org
  Founder        - Eytan Abrahams    - eytan@ans.acornusers.org
  Life-Webmaster - Richard Hesketh   - richard@ans.acornusers.org
  ADL Moderator  - Paul Johnson      - paul@ans.acornusers.org
  Translator     - Michael Gerbracht - michael@ans.acornusers.org


 2) How to send in news

  To send in your news items simply e-mail ans@acornusers.org, or use the
  form on the ANS website http://www.acornusers.org/ans/newsdesk.html.
  Also if you have an Acorn related announcements mailing list, feel free
  to subscribe ans@acornusers.org.


 3) How to subscribe to ANS

  If you are reading this on the ANS web site, or have received a forwarded
  copy of ANS and would like to subscribe to the mailing list, simply send
  any e-mail to ans-subscribe@ans.acornusers.org. Alternatively use the form
  on the ANS web site at http://www.acornusers.org/ans/subscribe.html.

  For details of other commands e-mail ans-help@ans.acornusers.org.


 4) Fetching web pages via e-mail

  If you do not have web access you can fetch any URL referenced in ANS by
  using the KFS web by e-mail service. To use this free service send an
  e-mail to www@kfs.org with the subject header "send ". For example to
  fetch the web by e-mail service information page send an e-mail like this:

    From: youraddress@example.com
    To: www@kfs.org
    Subject: send http://www.kfs.org/web-by-mail.html

------------ Acorn News Service, http://www.acornusers.org/ans/ ------------