News in brief - RISC OS News, Software and Information

News in brief

Published: 11th Apr 2005, 17:24:45GMT Source: drobe.co.uk
By Chris Williams

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Artworks 2.4, Cineroma, software updates and more

Bonus points to everyone who spotted the latest addition to drobe.co.uk: the BBC B emulator. Perfect for procrastinating with while at work or reliving the 1980s from the comfort of your web browser. You'll need a recent Sun JVM to play with it. If you can't run it, then you can always try Murklesoft's commercial and recently updated emulators: 6502em and Z80em. Both are now 32bit compatible.

The features list for Artworks 2.4 keeps growing: PNG export and Rainbow blends to introduce more colours into a blend. Also, "Print anti-aliased" option for transparent objects, the ability to easily select particular anchor points on an object, and export of individual colour separations for CMYK sprite and TIFF files and other tweaks.

Hard disc repair tool DiscKnight has been bugfixed to version 1.47. Spam stomping SpamStamp stops at nothing and now stands at version 1.02: this new version includes bug fixes and a better configuration interface. Mark Hutchinson has released an application that solves Su Doku puzzles. He told us: "It can give hints too, and it checks for multiple solutions, etc. If I get around to it I might even add a puzzle generator, maybe."

Awk and Sed front end app Awksed has been dusted off and bugfixed by Harriet Bazley, who has also tweaked SideDiff. Paul Vigay has updated MP3 jukebox ROTunes to make it friendlier on the desktop. The DRU-R100 driver has been tweaked to show when the connected USB radio is muted.

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In other news
The charity stall at this year's Wakefield show is ready for action, although donations are limited to just software, memory, expansion cards, magazines and CDs, due to recycling laws on computer hardware.

The free ISP AAUGOnline has confirmed its closure, as first reported in March. Administrator Neil Spellings says he will switch off the service at the end of May, adding: "We thank all our users for their support over the past 4 years."

STD and Advantage Six have updated their phone numbers due to curious reason, "the nature of business being conducted by Advantage Six Ltd it is no longer practicable for Stuart Tyrrell Developments and Advantage Six to share a single switchboard number". You can call STD on 0845 458 8803 or 01706 848 744, and Advantage Six on 01706 848 600.

Also, if you want to see Cineroma in action, developer David McEwen will be demonstrating his fabled video player at the ROUGOL user group on Monday April 18. Cineroma is known to play various video formats currently out of reach of RISC OS, and according to ROUGOL, "utilises features of the graphics card and XScale CPU found in the Iyonix to improve performance".

Finally, old favourites ANT (that's ANT Plc to you) have been getting a lot of good press recently for their embedded web browser work - it may be called Fresco, but it's not the browser we know. Sources told us last year that the Fresco source tree still included old RISC OS build code, though.

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ninja 11/4/05 7:27PM	I'm slightly confused (no change there then). Is that 6502em the same app as WSS still appear to sell (although only version 3 it seems). And is that Cabriolet on the Murklesoft site the same app I bought off Icon technology a while back.... which WSS also appear to be selling. What the...?
govind 11/4/05 8:16PM	I'm having problems entering certain characters on the BBC emulator, such as the comma and full stop. Eventually used VDU 44 and VDU 46 and used the cursor/Copy keys!
murkle (+1.0) 11/4/05 11:37PM	*In reply to ninja:* Yes, Yes. (WSS's site is a bit out of date)
fylfot 11/4/05 11:55PM	About the Wakefield Charity Stand. Why are we no longer allowed to donate hardware "due to recycling laws on computer hardware"? IIRC, when I last asked show orgraniser Chris Hughes about this he referred me to the new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE). But according to the Environment Agency web site "it affects any business that manufactures, brands, imports, sells, stores, treats or dismantles electrical or electronic products within the European Union (EU)." And as we know, WROCC isn't a business, it's a not-for-profit club. Can anyone shed any light?
Sawadee 12/4/05 1:04AM	Maybe to clarify what WEEE says about recycling and the difference (if any) between Business and charity recycling, contact (email) WEEE with the question?
drjones69 12/4/05 1:14AM	Not that I know any more than quick websearch has just told me but a couple of points seem to spring out at me... 1. The WEEE doesn't seem to become law in the UK until summer 2005 2. Part of the WEEE directive seems to be about meeting 'Reuse and recycle' targets'. Anyway, I know no where enough to offer any further advice beyond those titbits. Regards, Ryan
wakeman2 (+5.5) 12/4/05 2:05PM	WEEE as I explained in our press release was due to become law last August but was delayed by this government because many big retailers did not want the responsibility it damaged their profits.... The problem is that many disposal comapanies have already started charging for the proper disposal of computer/electronic equipment including councils. Many councils only allow a user to take a max of 2 computers to a civic amenity site anyway. We had and still have a choice of taking a payment from the person danating the item of 3 pounds at least per item which could be used towards the cost of disposal per item. We have not done this lightly, its a cost and an admin problem, as a club we cannot afford this so, its pass the cost on or not do it. Etc. have indicated if someone does bring a working RiscPC or A7000 hey might take it off your hands and make a donation, but that is partly upto them. I am speaking again to the stadium owners to see if I can come up with a better arrangement. Chris Hughes Show organiser
dansguardian (+1.0) 12/4/05 4:16PM	What a horrid job; to dispose of perfectly working RiscPCs. I remember having to do this at Beebug but at least that was old 400/3000 series and the RiscPC had been around for many a year. It must be the Yorkshire herritage.
SimonC 12/4/05 5:17PM	RiscPCs often seem to get disposed of slowly, in pieces. Mine isn't far off from being the computer equivalent of the sock made entirely from darns. One or two of the old bits have ended up on the charity stall from time to time.
Gulli 12/4/05 11:29PM	Hmm, maybe in the long run this isn't such a bad thing. Old computers slowly drop out of offer and newer become more of an option.