Acorn News Service

Contents

1. General News
2. Commercial News
3. PD/Shareware News
4. Club News
5. ANS Information

General News

1. C Programming on RISC OS web site

   Peter Naulls has launched a new web site devoted to C Programming on RISC OS, http://www.riscos.info/. The site is still a work in progress and accepts submissions.

   The site will cover all aspects of C programming on RISC OS, from discussion of the various compilers through to tutorials for performing specific kinds of tasks. More information is being added regularly.

   An updated version of lcc, a C compiler for RISC OS, is also available from the site.

   http://www.riscos.info/

2. Webjames/PHP mailing list

   • Discussion of WebJames (an HTTP server), PHP (a scripting language) and related subjects.
     mailto:webjames-php-subscribe@smartgroups.com
     http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/webjames-php

3. Wakefield Show ticket orders

   Tickets for the Wakefield Show (18th & 19th May) can now be ordered online from http://www.spellings.net/wakefield.php.

   http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/show/2002/prices.html

4. Dutch RISC OS Expo 2002

   The Big Ben Club, the national Dutch Acorn User Group, is holding its annual RISC OS Expo on Saturday, 22nd June 2002.

   Venue: Expohall, Hotel Mercure, Buizerdlaan 10, Nieuwegein (near the city of Utrecht)
   A first class location, with restaurant, parking garage (free)
   Time: 10.00am to 5.00pm
   Admission: members free, non-members EUR7

   The Show offers exhibitions/promotions by various companies, including Dutch, German and British Acorn dealers, demonstrations by club members, etc. Visitors are members and non-members from Holland, Belgium and Germany, etc. There will be the theatre next to the Expo hall for demonstration purposes.

   http://www.bigbenclub.nl/

Commercial News

1. Crystal - Transparency in ArtWorks

   MW Software is proud to announce the release of Crystal, the ArtWorks transparency module.

   ArtWorks, an advanced vector graphics package for RISC OS, has received a large number of new features and enhancements over the past years, eg the TextArea module adding rotatable multi-column text areas or the BMExport module adding high-quality Sprite and GIF export options.

   The new Crystal module is without doubt the most significant update ever produced; Finally, ArtWorks has full transparency support! Crystal offers three types of transparency (Mix, Stained glass, Bleach) and allows you to apply a transparency type and percentage to any ArtWorks object, no matter whether it is a shape, a line of text, a sprite, a text area, etc.

   Further information and example screenshots can be found at: http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/crystal.html

   Crystal costs GBP35 (EUR55) (inc. VAT, price for e-mail delivery, add GBP2.50/EUR4 for snail-mail delivery). Crystal requires RISC OS 3.5 or higher and ArtWorks 1.5 or higher.

   Developing Crystal has only been possible because MW Software has been able to take control of the ArtWorks kernel. This means that more features can be added and more bugs can be fixed. These bug-fixes are implemented by AWFixMod, a new ArtWorks module that is freely available. You can download AWFixMod from the ArtWorks bugs & fixes page at: http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/awbugs.html#awfixmod

2. Cerilica Vantage 1.10 preview

   Cerilica has revealed details of what will be Vantage's largest and most significant upgrade to date.

   Due to be released in April, free to all existing customers, the upgrade contains many important new tools and enhancements to aid both the design and production process from deep alpha blending to SVG export.

   For further details and some example images of what is now possible using one of the most powerful vector rendering engines available today, please visit: http://www.cerilica.com/vantage/

   To accompany the software upgrade, a number of new comprehensive tutorials (in the Vantage interactive Drawfile document format) will be released simultaneously along with the new original example files.

3. R-Comp WebsterXL 1.99f, 100Mbit network card

   R-Comp have sent version 1.99f of their web browser, WebsterXL, to Priority Support customers, and have demonstrated a 100Mbit network (designed and produced in conjunction with Simtec, RiscStation and STD) at a recent user group meeting.

   WebsterXL 1.99f contains many enhancements, most notably, support for style sheets (CSS) which are used to alter font faces, sizes, colours and other attributes.

   http://www.rcomp.co.uk/

PD/Shareware News

1. New software summary

   • SharedSoundBuffer, sound module

     A module which provides SWIs to accept data blocks which it plays using SharedSound. This will be useful for programs which need to output sound within the desktop without needing a support module.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

   • SockApps, network utility

     A program which can be a client, server (both work from the tty) and a back to back server and a port mapper, both of which can log to files and/or the window, has been released. It is likely to be of most use to programmers.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

   • SoundFS, virtual filing system

     A module which uses SharedSoundBuffer to output any data written to a filing system, allowing programs which write sound to files to be used directly. It also provides a template for writing Filing Systems in C.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

2. Updated software summary

   • BDRand v3.21

     A highly configurable backdrop randomiser for RO3.1+. Bug fixes.

     http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/tigger/programs/dtutils.html

   • BookMaker v1.71

     A hotlist and address book management tool that supports all major RISC OS browsers, most email clients and other Internet tools. This version adds support for Nettle and completes support for WebsterXL.

     http://www.bookmaker.riscos.org.uk/

   • ButtonBar v1.58

     Add button bars to any programs which accept keyboard input or *-commands. This latest version lets you add gaps between buttons to improve the layout of bars. The editor has also been made more stable.

     http://www.mat.bham.ac.uk/llewelld/dnload.htm

   • EasiFiler v1.16

     Application launcher. The result of clicking on the EasiFiler iconbar icon can now be configured, user interface improvements.

     http://homepage.eircom.net/~lrtc/computers/software/easifiler

   • FresUtils v1.04

     Utility for Fresco users. Shareware.

     http://www.vigay.com/cgi-bin/r?a=fresutils

   • lcc v4.1

     A small and fast ANSI C compiler.

     http://www.riscos.info/downloads/

   • LibXML 2.4.19/LibXSLT 1.0.15

     Latest version of the XML library and tools.

     http://homepage.ntlworld.com/justin.fletcher/XML/

   • NetWatch v1.61

     Monitor specified web pages for changes. This version can be used with proxy servers.

     http://home.student.utwente.nl/m.m.bezemer/netwatchuk.html

   • PBFront

     A module which moves the pinboard to the front of the window stack, when Alt-uparrow is held. Updated for RISC OS Select.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

   • SMouse

     A small module for assigning mouse buttons to other buttons' effects, useful for swapping Left and Right buttons for left handed users, and other combinations for two button mice etc. Updated to be easily changeable for different swaps, so any button can generate any key.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

   • Stream v0.31

     A player for shoutcast and m3u streaming audio MPEG. Now has an iconbar icon and back icons.

     http://duffell.cjb.net/

   • Variations v0.12

     Fast and easy image processing, adjust the hue, saturation, brightness, gamma, contrast and sharpness of digital images. This version fixes a number of mostly fairly minor issues and adds the ability to deal with interlaced JPEGs, as well as load and edit a variety of other image formats by calling ChangeFSI in the background.

     http://compo.iconbar.com/variation.htm

   • VirtuDesk v1.06

     A small virtual desktop program. You can now scroll around the virtual desktops by pushing the mouse pointer off the edges of the screen.

     http://www.mat.bham.ac.uk/llewelld/dnload.htm

Club News

1. Upcoming meetings

   • DARC (Derbyshire), 8th April

     Networking, AGM

     http://www.darc-comp.org.uk/

   • SASAUG (Surrey & Sussex), 8th April

     Dave Holden, APDL

     http://www.poppyfields.net/sasaug/

   • SAUG (Southampton), 8th April

     mailto:davehigton@freenet.co.uk

   • BAUG (Bottisham), 9th April

     http://come.to/baug

   • EAUG (Essex), 9th April

     Questions & answers, AGM

     http://www.wattys.fsnet.co.uk/eaug.html

   • NKACC (Kent), 11th April

     Photoshop

     http://nkacc.roundel.net/

   • M25EROUG (M25 East), 16th April

     Paul Middleton, RISCOS Ltd.

     http://m25eroug.riscos.org.uk/

   • HHRUG (Hemel Hempstead), 17th April

     http://www.hhrug.org.uk/

   • Wakefield 2002

     18th & 19th May

     http://wakefieldshow.org.uk/show/2002/

   • Dutch RISC OS Expo 2002

     22nd June

     http://www.bigbenclub.nl/

ANS Information

1. Contact ANS

   Editor	James Sears	james@ans.acornusers.org
   Webmaster	Stephen Courtney	stephen@ans.acornusers.org
   Translator	Michael Gerbracht	michael@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

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.

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