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Home > Archive > Issue 167 Current Issue: No. 260 (28 March 2010)
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Acorn News Service Newsletter

Issue: 167 (19 September 2004)

Featured site this issue: http://www.chocky.org/unix/

General News

New RISC OS user group in the Netherlands

The HCC <http://www.hcc.nl/> is large computer club in the Netherlands, with over 200000 members. Within the HCC there are various user groups, and on 11th September a new RISC OS user group was added.

For more information see <http://www.risc.hccnet.nl/>.

Updates from the Unix Porting Project

The Unix Porting Project has been busy this Summer, laying important foundation work for many new ports to RISC OS. Some of these ports are already available, and have been mentioned elsewhere - including the UPP web site <http://www.chocky.org/unix/>, but have not been more widely announced. Included are:

  • Dillo - A port of a simple web browser to RISC OS - there are many improvements over the previous release.
  • RDesktop - A direct port of the RDP client for Linux, allowing viewing of remote sessions on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and XP Pro.
  • madplay - A command line MPEG audio player, which demonstrates the ability to easily use sound in ported programs. madplay also dithers its output, which it claims can give a better sound than non-dithered output (such as that in AMPlayer).

These programs contain only small, or no modifications from the original versions to work on RISC OS. The Unix Porting Project hopes to have many more exciting programs in the future. You can help support RISC OS development by subscribing (GBP25 for 6 months).

<http://www.chocky.org/unix/>

Commercial News

APDL software upgrades

  • Schema2 upgrade
    A new 32 bit Iyonix compatible version of Schema2 is now available from APDL. Schema2 is the long established and comprehensive RISC OS spreadsheet. The complete package is supplied on CD and comes with a 220+ page printed user guide. Schema2 costs GBP59 including VAT and UK carriage. Upgrades are also available from earlier versions: GBP19 inc from the APDL CD version or GBP39 inc from the Clares version.
    <http://www.apdl.co.uk/progs/schema.htm#upgrade>
  • ProArtisan24 update
    An update for ProArtisan24 has just been released. This is version 1.21 and fixes a number of small glitches in the previous 32 bit release. The update is available for free download from APDL web site. Note that this update will ONLY work with the 32 bit version (1.20) of ProArtisan24.
    <http://www.apdl.co.uk/progs/proart.htm#upgrade>

R-Comp software upgrades

  • DataPower 2 CD
    A new revision of the CD edition of DataPower 2 (relational database software) is now available. The big change is a totally new version of the manual and documentation, now expanded to cover the scripting language in more detail, be more RISC OS specific, and provide much clearer information on all aspects of DP2. Existing R-Comp registered DP2 users will receive this via e-mail. The installation software has now also been enhanced based on experiences with VirtualRPC. The default locations for installation should now work sensibly on all RISC OS machines.
  • Grapevine v2.01
    Version 2.01 of Grapevine2 instant messaging and communication software (for MSN, ICQ and IRC) has been sent to customers. The latest version represents R-Comp's continuing support for this important RISC OS Internet application, which benefits from near full-time development. GV2.01 addresses a number of issues and suggestions from users, and includes a number of new features including two-way font mapping between RISC OS and Microsoft Windows font names, and the ability to change where GV takes you for mail checking etc.

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

Updated second hand items at Liquid Silicon

Liquid Silicon's bargains/second hand page has been updated with several new listings and big reductions in second hand machine prices plus processor cards, ROMs, backplanes, SCSI/Calligraph/Eagle podules etc.

<http://www.liquid-silicon.com/bargs.htm>

First Steps with RISC OS 4 - available now

The first stage of Alligata Books' First Steps project is now available. Covering vanilla RISC OS 4 (the standard RISC OS 4.02/4.03 variants) it explains, in plain english, everything you need to get started with RISC OS 4 itself.

It is an ongoing project, with the next steps including sections on the RISC OS applications (aside from Printers, which has been explained as part of configuring RISC OS) and supplements to cover the use of RISC OS Adjust, RISC OS within Virtual Acorn etc.

Anybody who buys this book before the end of October will be sent all updates free of charge.

Within the UK, First Steps is priced at GBP14.99 including postage; please add GBP3 elsewhere in Europe and GBP5 outside of Europe. This will include the cost of sending the printed updates to you.

First Steps can be ordered from APDL on 020 8778 2659, by post to APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 5RN or by e-mail. Make payment out to APDL.

The Alligata Books are published by Alligata Media, and distributed by APDL. Alligata Media is a separate entity, and contact details are provided in each book.

<http://www.apdl.co.uk/>

Aemulor and Aemulor Pro upgrades available

Upgrades for both Aemulor and Aemulor Pro are now available for download. This is a bug-fix release chiefly aimed at bringing Aemulor uses up to date with the corrections and enhancements from which Aemulor Pro users already benefit.

There have been a couple of further minor corrections and compatibility improvements since the release of Aemulor Pro 2.30, so Pro users may still find it beneficial to upgrade to 2.31. In particular those users who encountered the error "Unaligned filing system entry point" with 26-bit filing systems such as Win95FS should now find this has been resolved. Other changes are some small speed improvements, and a fix for the oddly coloured toolsprites issue in Eureka.

Further improvements to Pro such as faster low-bpp screen modes, improved handling and scaling of emulated low-bpp modes, and further emulation speed increases will be incorporated into another forthcoming update to Aemulor Pro once it has been more thoroughly tested .

The upgrades are free to all registered users, and can be obtained by logging into the main web site <http://www.aemulor.com/> and visiting the "My downloads" page. The full release notes can be found online on the documentation page, and there is an updated ReadMe supplied in the archive with some additional hints and tips on getting the best out of Aemulor.

Aemulor will be demonstrating Aemulor, Aemulor Pro and the next release of Pro with improved low-bpp screen emulation at the RISC OS South East show on Saturday October 23rd 2004. More details on the show can be found at <http://www.fillin.co.uk/seshow/>

PD/Shareware News

New software summary

  • CLibSupport, POSIX support library
    A simple library used to supply some missing POSIX functions when porting libraries under Norcroft.
    <http://www.really.demon.co.uk/Pages/normal/software/software.html>
  • Igor, telnet server
    A simple Telnet server. It allows people to connect to your computer remotely and execute commands within the CLI environment provided by RISC OS. It is a really early pre-alpha version, so may not be safe to use on the 'net.
    <http://www.flypig.co.uk/dnload.htm>
  • Libwww, W3C web library port
    A version of the W3C Libwww web API library. The W3C describes it as "a highly modular, general-purpose client side Web API written in C... well suited for both small and large applications, like browser/editors, robots, batch tools, etc." There are also some useful example applications included.
    <http://www.flypig.co.uk/dnload.htm>
  • SampleEd, sound sample editor
    Disk based sound sample editor. Provides effects such as fade, reverse, echo and amplify. Additionally supports the LADSPA plugin API to extend the effects available. Many sound formats supported using libsndfile and PlayIt used for playback. Note that this should be considered an alpha release. It is fairly stable but does crash sometimes. Sound playback is currently limited to 2 channels.
    <http://www.really.demon.co.uk/Pages/normal/software/software.html>
  • XML-RPC-C, XML-RCP library port
    A port of the XML-RPC-C API library, which allows you to make XML-RPC calls from C programs. The XML-RPC-C website states that "XML-RPC is a quick-and-easy way to make procedure calls over the Internet. It converts the procedure call into XML document, sends it to a remote server using HTTP, and gets back the response as XML. This library provides a modular implementation of XML-RPC for C and C++."
    <http://www.flypig.co.uk/dnload.htm>

Updated software summary

Unix libraries available

Libraries from the Unix Porting Project autobuilder are now available for download. These will be of interest to developers porting programs as they cover a wide range of libraries, and are regularly built (every day) recent versions.

There are currently about 40 libraries available. For more details see: <http://www.riscos.info/porting/libraries.html>

Club News

Upcoming meetings

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