November news in brief By Chris Williams. Published: 30th Nov 2004, 17:53:00 | Permalink | PrintableArtworks bugs, A500s, software and more As the penultimate month of 2004 draws to a close, it's time to summarise recent news.
Artworks bug hunting reward
MW Software are in the process of fixing long standing bugs in Artworks 2 - and there's one fault that's proving to be particularly irritating for all concerned.
Martin Wuerthner describes the problem as follows: "Sometimes, when closing a document window, there is a repeating EM00 error, i.e., you get an error box showing EM00 and when you click on OK, there is another error box, etc. This is a serious bug because you have to quit ArtWorks using Alt-Break to get out of it."
If you are the first to produce a repeatable, step-by-step guide that causes this bug to manifest in Artworks 2.3, then MW Software will reward you with a 20 quid discount off a current or future Artworks upgrade - an approach that would be very interesting if other RISC OS companies considered this sort of offer too.
Bargin history
An A500 prototype has been sold on ebay for just 56 quid. The auction concluded on the 29th after only seven bids, while a similar A500 went for over 400 quid in 2002.
From the item's description: "This Acorn A500 is one of just 16 handbuilt machines that were given to software houses to develop applications for the as yet, unreleased Acorn Archimedes computer. This machine has the original 'Arabella' processor in place and four Acorn Risc OS 2 ROMS. The serial number on the mother board is 63 and it is dated 4th December 1986. This particular machine was used by Minerva Software to develop MultiStore."
Really good updates
Richard Windley has updated a couple of pieces from his software range: Sourcery, a project manager for software developers, is up to version 0.41 and features initial support for CVS and Subversion plus bug fixes. Slideshow application Fade 0.60 now supports Select's ImageFileRender graphics system, if available, to render various image formats.
Warp factor fun
Variations, Rob Davison's free bitmap graphics effects toolkit, is now even more impressive: version 0.38 features new mesh warping (as pictured) and the ability to export a directory of thumbnails. A free update for Composition users has also been released and includes 33 new graphic effects. Composition is Rob's commercial graphics package.
Delirious with code
In an announcement that's a blast from the past, Joe Oldak of Acorn era demo group Kulture has offered to hand the source code of Delirium over to anyone willing to develop the screen saver further.
"None of the original Kulture members have any time to work on it, nor do we have the latest RISC OS machines to play with. One of the main points of Delirium was to look good on the fastest RISC OS machines, and our StrongARM RiscPCs are now somewhat dated," writes Joe.
"If anyone with a nice new machine and a bit of time is interested in taking over the development of Delirium, then we're more than happy to make the source code available."
If you're up for taking Delirium further, Joe's email address is on the Delirium website.
A Frobbing feeling
Wacky, independent RISC OS fanzine Frobnicate issue 22 is available now online, in OvationPro and PDF format. Edited and mostly written by the ever excitable Castle cheerleader Rick Murray, the current issue covers programming language Lua, a look at magazine adverts from the Acorn era, hardware hands on articles, various opinion pieces on computers and the world in general and more besides. It's free to read and don't forget to drop Rick an email once you've read it.
Win a RiscPC and networking goodies
Paul Beverley of Archive mag writes, "Just a reminder to Archive Magazine readers that there is a RiscPC plus 100 pounds' worth of networking equipment of your choice donated by CJE Micro's awaiting the winner of our networking competition (Archive 18.2 p19). We've only had two entries so far, so the field is wide open. Just tell us your exciting idea for using a networked RISC OS computer for a specific purpose."
In brief
Christopher Fox has picked up development of his late father's software. You can download a bug fixed version of IClear here. Stefan Bellon has released RemotePrinterFS, enabling users to use printers that support JetDirect or the LPD protocol. R-Comp's Dialup 3 and NetFetch 2 software now pack the software publisher's new Hermes email software. The RISC OS port of CVS has an updated GUI, now incorporates the security fixes added to the mainstream version and has been rebuilt with an improved UnixLib. John Ballance has updated his RISC OS FTP server to allow the listing of large directories and improved support for particular FTP clients.
Finally, some of you have spotted that BBC Radio Four are doing limited MP3 trials of shows, allowing programmes to be enjoyed on RISC OS. Be sure to give them your feedback.
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