Acorn News Service Newsletter
Issue: 250 (19 April 2009)
Featured site this issue: http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/
General News
8 bit World at the Wakefield Show
At the Wakefield RISC OS Computer Show on 25th April, enthusiast and
collector Joel Rowbottom will be displaying an interactive museum of Acorn
hardware from the 1980s; giving you the opportunity to play the games you
remember, on the machines you once owned.
The centre-piece of the exhibition is the BBC Domesday Project, a rare
interactive snapshot of life in 1985 compiled by schools across the
British Isles. It is one of a handful of surviving laserdisc systems,
incorporating photos, video and narrative to commemorate the 900th
anniversary of the original Domesday Book.
"The Domesday Project is always popular with visitors," says Joel.
"Frequently we find contributors who were 7 years old when it was written,
who can now finally see work they participated in over 20 years ago."
Also on show will be a working Acorn Econet network and a selection of BBC
computers from 1981 through to 1988.
For more information visit the show website:
<http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/>
RISC OS Computer Show Wakefield '09
The 2009 Wakefield show will be open from 10am to 5pm on Saturday,
25th April, at The Cedar Court Hotel, Wakefield. Full details of
exhibitors and the theatre programme are available from:
<http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/>
Commercial News
Veneralia celebrations at STD
STD announced Vpod <http://www.stdevel.co.uk/pressrel/090401.txt>:
Ok, so we're not Roman, but when have we ever let a small detail like
that get in the way of a good party? And, if we're talking of partying,
who better to show us the way? Ave Caesar!
It's been exactly V years since we last marked Veneralia with a product
launch so we thought that it was about time that we did it again.
Last time it was our unique UNIpod hopping onto the stage that caused
the uproar and has proved incredibly popular ever since. This year we're
hoping our vibrant Vpod will spring forth to a similarly vast audience.
UNIpod: the only podule you'll ever need
Vpod: the only other podule you'll ever need ;-)
It's early in the season and Vpod is still a little bud, full of
potential and vitality, verging on blooming but not yet bearing fruit.
We expect them to ripen by the 25th of April and to have a bountiful
crop in time to produce stunning displays at the Wakefield
flower^H^H^H^H^H^HRISC OS show.
So come along and share our vivid Vpod vision!
Venus Verticordia, the guest of honour at our celebration, had this to
say about the Vpod: "I love it already and so will you!"
Adjusting her myrtle wreath vainly, voluptuous Venus voiced, "Vpod is
such a fantastic product, I'm glad you named it after me."
Sorry, no pictures are available yet. Our artist has run out of #ffcba4,
he expects to be able to pick some more up on his way back from lunch.
He dithered about mixing #ffcda3 and #ffc9a5, but he likes his pictures
perfect.
<http://www.stdevel.co.uk/>
R-Comp release SafeStore backup system 1.20
R-Comp have released version 1.20 of their popular SafeStore backup system
for RISC OS machines. This will be the "Wakefield Show" version, and has
been sent out to existing SafeStore customers as a free upgrade.
The new version has many enhancements for anyone using network-attached
hard drives. These enhancements come as a result of weeks of testing with
a variety of such drives, which showed up many issues that prevented
RISC OS data being correctly copied to the drives.
Version 1.20 also includes improved logging, especially if problems are
encountered during the "scanning for changes" phase, and improvements in
working with VirtualAcorn and HostFS.
Obviously SafeStore 1.20 contains lots of updates for network users, but
SafeStore is perfectly at ease backing up files within the same machine,
to external drives, or via FTP.
SafeStore is available on its own for GBP35, or bundled with a wide
variety of external drives.
<http://www.rcomp.co.uk/>
PD/Shareware News
New software summary
- MPGTX, MPEG audio/video/system file toolbox
The first release of MPGTX version 1.3 for RISC OS platforms. MPGTX is a
command-line MPEG audio/video/system file toolbox, that slices and joins
audio and video files. This is a beta release. It includes documentation
and the mpgtx executable, but no front-end application launcher or
resource folder.
<http://www.users.on.net/~belles/software/mpgtx.zip>
Updated software summary
- FFmpeg v1.02
A versatile, open-source, multi-platform video and audio converter.
Release 1.02 (5 April 2009) of the FFmpeg package for RISC OS includes
build 18169 of FFmpeg for StrongARM Risc PC and newer RISC OS platforms.
Through the use of FFmpeg, it is now possible to play a large number of
audio-visual formats for which there are no native RISC OS players. Some
major advantages of this release over the previous one include: partial
support for AAC decoding (for some internet radio streams); full support
for AC3 decoding; debugged MPEG 2 encoding; setting the audio sample
rate in the front-end's conversion panel.
<http://www.users.on.net/~belles/software/ffmpeg/>
- SiteMatch v2.39
A utility which synchronises remote web sites to local copies on your
filing system using FTP or portable media. It can also be used for
making incremental backups of directories. This version adds support for
psftp.
<http://www.richardporter.me.uk/riscos/sitematch/>
Club News
Upcoming meetings
ANS Information
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