Acorn News Service Newsletter

Issue: 171 (14 November 2004)

Featured site this issue: http://www.armclub.org.uk/shows/midlands/

General News

The ARM Club Midlands Show

Following their previous successful shows near Birmingham, The ARM Club will once again be running a show at the newly rebuilt National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham, on 4th December 2004. The event will be one of the first held since last year's disastrous fire, and work is well on the way to being completed comfortably in time.

The National Motorcycle Museum is just off junction 6 of the M42, at the junction of the M42 and the A45, very accessible by car. A free minibus shuttle will run from Birmingham International station for anybody coming by train or plane.

The show will be open from 10am to 4.30pm and there will be an entrance fee of GBP3 (GBP2 for club members) with accompanied children under the age of 14 admitted free. There is no need to pre-book tickets.

Up to date details are available at: <http://www.armclub.org.uk/shows/midlands/>

Commercial News

ArtGraph available

The MathMagical Software Company's recent release at the Guildford Show, ArtGraph, is now available directly from the author, Martin Hansen. This colourful program plots Algebraic Curves as Modern Art. The curves can be quite sophisticated; many examples are included in the colour printed users' guide. The program also features a rolling display of ten sample plots.

ArtGraph is only suitable for machines running at StrongARM speeds, IYONIX recommended.

ArtGraph costs GBP25. To order or request screenshots, e-mail <tc@shrewsbury.org.uk> or visit the MathMagical stand at the forthcoming ARM Club Midlands Show.

New Castle LCD offers

Castle is pleased to announce that it has renewed its popular LCD offer. This offer cuts the cost of LCD monitors when purchased with certain PANTHER, IYONIX or X100 pcs, in the run up to Christmas.

A choice of case configurations are available such as: X100 Desktop, IYONIX Mid Tower, and PANTHER Full Tower. A choice of specifications are available, eg 1GB DDR, 2 x 120GB, CDRW, Gb networking, Memory Card Reader.

Flat panel LCD monitors have been created to maximise computing space. Using less than half the space and power of a CRT, they dramatically reduce energy costs and contribute towards a cooler working environment. The flicker free nature of LCD technology promotes increased productivity by reducing eye strain and increasing user comfort.

The following LCDs are included in the offer:

• 17 inch LCD (1280 x 1024) was GBP164, now GBP110
• 19 inch LCD (1280 x 1024) was GBP420, now GBP200
• 20 inch LCD (1600 x 1200) was GBP614, now GBP560

Dual input monitors are also available. Full details are available at: <http://www.iyonix.com/>

The IYONIX pc computer range are available with prices from GBP1249 plus delivery (special offer systems start at GBP1399).

Alternatively, a 15 inch LCD is available free when purchased with the Panther, X122c and IYO12 IYONIX pc models. For details see: <http://www.iyonix.com/products/>

These offers expire on 31st January 2005.

PD/Shareware News

Updated software summary

• Fade v0.60
  A simple slideshow application. This version has been updated to make use of ImageFileRender if it is available, reverting to using ChangeFSI if it is not.
  <http://www.really.demon.co.uk/Pages/normal/software/software.html>
• FreeMap v3.20
  Detailed graphical display of free space on a disc. It replaces the window produced by the Free menu entry of the Filer. Changes have been made to better support the MassFS USB filing system which uses disc names instead of drive numbers. Names beginning with a digit will not be interpreted as drive numbers.
  <http://www.armclub.org.uk/free/>
• IClear v1.33
  Module to make it easier to delete text from a writable icon. The latest version fixes a small bug in the ArrowDrag feature which caused it to interfere with the Advanced Search dialogue box in some versions of StrongEd.
  <http://www.chris.fox.ukgateway.net/mfoxsoftware/#iclear>
• Lcheck v1.03
  National Lottery results checking program. Upgraded to work with RISC OS Adjust.
  <http://kevsoft.topcities.com/>
• Sourcery v0.41
  A development tool that manages all of the source code and resources that make up a project. Use whatever tools you want to build the project, Sourcery tries to make life easier without restricting what you want to use to build your software. Bug fixes, and new features including: output window resizes better; limited support for CVS and, in theory, Subversion; tool definitions expanded and project wide constants added; improved import of resource files; added Castle style help; added support for generating Castle style help.
  <http://www.really.demon.co.uk/Pages/normal/software/software.html>
• Sunfish v1.02
  An NFS client for RISC OS, implemented as an image filing system. This version contains an updated frontend which now allows you to edit existing mount files, and adds support for TCP connections. It also has a fix for a bug that could occur if it failed to make a successful connection.
  <http://www.alexwaugh.com/internet/>
• Variations v0.38
  Image processing and image thumbnailing program. Major changes in this version include: mesh warping; save directory thumbnails as Drawfiles; save as JPEG optionally preserves exif and comment data and writes a new thumbnail; save as JPEG can now write a simple comment; full info thumbnailing mode that displays any captions and comments embedded in the JPEGs with software such as Irfanview, Photoshop or WinXP.
  <http://www.compo.iconbar.com/variation.htm>
• ViewXLS v0.09
  A viewer for MS-Excel files. It should work with all file formats from Excel 4.0 to Excel XP. This version can save in Drawfile format.
  <http://home.allgaeu.org/areiser/riscos/software/viewxls/>

Club News

Upcoming meetings

• ROUGOL (London), 15th November - Paul Beverley
  <http://rougol.jellybaby.net/>
• BAUG (Bottisham), 23rd November
  <http://www.baug.org.uk/>
• ICENI (Ipswich), 1st December - Old computers and games
  <http://www.btinternet.com/~icenicomputerclub/>
• WROCC (Wakefield), 1st December - AppBasic
  <http://www.wrocc.org.uk/>
• Acorn Midlands Show (Birmingham), 4th December
  <http://www.armclub.org.uk/shows/midlands/>
• IRUG (Kent), 4th December
  <http://hosting.mixcat.com/irug/>
• NKACC (Kent), 9th December - Christmas meal
  <http://nkacc.roundel.net/>
• WAUG (Wessex), 11th December
  <http://www.mfraz.freeserve.co.uk/waug/>
• DARC (Derbyshire), 13th December - Gadgets Galore
  <http://www.darc-comp.org.uk/>
• SAUG (Southampton), 13th December
  <davehigton@dsl.pipex.com>
• EAUG (Essex), 14th December - A Christmas special
  <http://www.watsnees.demon.co.uk/fw/eaug/>
• LAUG (Liverpool), 14th December
  <http://www.italia.co.uk/laug/>

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