News from RISCOS Ltd No. 27 May 7th 2003 ============ Firstly I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter and more recently the May Day Bank Holiday. We are busy planning for the Wakefield Show, which should have some interesting new items on sale. We shall be showing the latest version of Select - Release 3. The following is a list of the final features for Select 3 which includes some major new highlights that we have been keeping under wraps until now. SELECT 3 Features ================= Introduction ============ Building upon the work done in Select 1 and 2, Select 3 improves upon both the significant changes made to both the graphics and networking components as well as adding many new features. The focus on Select 3 has been mostly based around stablising features from Select 2 and improving the desktop usability of the Operating system. *** Major highlights *** ======================== * Cut and paste Text in writeable icons provided by the Window Manager is now able to be selected by keyboard and mouse. Such icons can be used with the standard clipboard operations * Thumbnailing The filer can now display images as thumbnails, allowing photo albums and other image collections to be browsed more easily. * Improved 'buttons' Action buttons, as well as groups and other 3D-style icons have been improved and may be made round or given colours. Support for button styles is a 'plugin' interface and other clients may provide different button renderings. * Alpha-channel sprites A new class of sprites has been created for alpha-channel sprites. These sprites can be used whereever the standard sprite operations would be used through system sprite rendering calls. Alpha-channel sprites allow each pixel to have variable translucency, which means that sprites can blend better to their backgrounds. * Recycle bin Files deleted by the user can, optionally, be sent to a recycling bin from which they can be retrieved if necessary. * Improved Paint application !Paint's internal and external operation has had a major overhaul to cater for some of the new features of Select 3, including alpha-channel sprites. Feature breakdown ================= In the following breakdown, not all changes have been listed. In particular, fixes to components are not listed unless their effect is significant. Select is supplied with a more complete breakdown of the changes on a per-component basis. Application changes ------------------- * New !Recyclone application provides a rubbish bin into which files deleted by the user will be placed. A configuration tool is provided to allow the bin to be expired and its location changed. * New !NetLights application displays network activity on the iconbar. * !Draw can now import any type handled by ImageFileConvert where the type can be converted to a type which is handled natively by Draw. This means that PNG files, Artworks, BMP and other images types can now be imported. * !Paint has been given a major overhaul. See the separate section for more details. Desktop changes --------------- * DragASprite no longer uses a 'drop' shadow when translucency is active. * DragAnObject's sprite creation code has been optimised slightly. * Wimp now supports a 'priority' sprite pool which is able to forcibly override anything in the other sprite pools. * 'IconBorder' plugin system allows the default slabbed borders to be rendered in a customisable manner. FilterManager has been updated to support multiple icon border filter clients. Example bordering source code will be supplied. * 'Auto-open submenus' option now opens submenus and windows in the correct position regardless of where the mouse is placed. * Selection of text within writeable icons and its use with cut and paste operations is now supported by the Window Manager. This furthers the work started in Select 1 to make the entire OS capable of using the cut and paste system. * Tinting of icons is now more reliable and can use any tint type provided by the ColourMap module. * Command windows generated by single tasking applications when run from the desktop are now centred on the screen. * FilerAction proxying is now an option which may be disabled under the clients control. This might be used by rubbish bin applications to invoke 'delete' operations on items already in the bin. * When in EY0 modes, Pinboard now correctly sizes its background window on a mode change. * Pinboard configuration application can now be accessed by its main menu. Optimisation for redraw speed of tiled ImageFileRender images. * Pinboard and Filer have both been updated to provide StyleGuide compliant save dialogue boxes. * Attempting to delete !Boot will now raise a warning. * Attempting to copy a directory called !Boot over your !Boot directory will now invoke the boot merge tool. * Should Filer fail to launch the filer action window for a delete operation, the confirm deletes option is now honoured. * In Filer, the Help option is now greyed if a directory and application combination are selected. * Filer windows have been updated to be more style-guide compliant and to address issues raised by the use of icon bordering. * Filer now offers to share directories as read only by default, rather than read-write. It makes sense not to share folders as public read/write by default. * Filer now provides a fourth display option beside those for Large, Small and information icons. The 'Thumbnails' display renders images using the ImageFileRender components, allowing any known image format to be displayed within the Filer. * Directories starting with a ! but without a !Run file are no longer treated as an application, allowing such names to be used safely if necessary. * RAMFSFiler will share the disc as read only by default. * The Sprite Pool has been updated with a number of slight modifications: * RAMFS icon now fits in with the new style of icons * JPEG icon now follows the bitmap style * Shared CD discs now look more like the CDROM icon * Addition of Zip, GIF, PNM, XBM, Sun raster, PCX, ICO, Clear, and BMP sprite icons. * LanManFS icon updated to fit better with correct style. * TaskManager can now launch Configure from the menu. The info box now describes the OS as RISC OS Select, and has been improved to address some issues with Icon Bordering. * Toolbox "Discard, Cancel, Save" icons have been resized to be 'standard' size. * TextGadget scrolling list boxes now display associated sprites more sensibly when selected; previously these would be displayed lighter than the rest of the line. The text is now positioned a little further across the window, away from the sprite in order to reduce the tight look that had been created. * ImageFileGadget correctly positions its window now; previously it would inset the window by a pixel. When resizing the gadget, the entire window is redrawn to ensure that it remains up to date. The facilities provided to developers for using ImageFileGadget have been greatly improved. * ImageFileGadget is now able to report mouse click events and has a much greater array of image manipulation options. * TextArea gadget now supports standard clipboard operations properly, allows for 'key notifications', and renders much more quickly in most cases. * Toolbox slider gadgets would respond to clicks and scrolls over the wells of the gadget even when the slider was set to be display only. They no longer react to such events. * Free space client templates tweaked to address issues relating to Icon Bordering. * The sprite file DesktopBanner$File is now loaded by the Desktop module, if it is present, and used as the welcome banner on entry to the desktop. * ShareFS 'Share directory' window is now updated to represent the current settings of the share if one is present, including the name of the Share. * TaskWindow now includes a fix for 'The MessageTrans Bug'. Graphics changes ---------------- * Rendering of sprites with 1bpp masks, using no scaling or colour translation, where the sprite data ends on a word boundary, but the mask data does not end on a word boundary, and the output alignment is not a word boundary due to a graphics window being present... now works properly. * SpriteExtend would fail to generate code when translucent sprites were rendered in paletted screen modes where the eigen factor was EX0 or EY0. This allows sprites to be visibly dragged in such modes. * FontManager can now safely resize its dynamic area. The version supplied in Select 2 had problems on certain systems which has now been addressed. * ImageFileRender now provides *ImageFileRenderers command for listing the supported renderers. This is mirrored in a new SWI to enumerate the renderers. * A default viewer application can now be specified through ImageFileRender and will be set up as system variables for all renderable types. * ImageFileRender's sprite renderer now supports information requests previous versions were would return the colour type incorrectly for certain sprite types. Sprite rendering will now render sprites of 8bpp or less through a wide translation table which improves their appearance when colourmapping is used in 16bbp or higher. * New ImageFileConvert module is used with the Convert* modules to provide a generic conversion method, allowing conversion between different file formats through a number of SWI calls. *ImageFileConverters will list the supported converters. * DrawFile will now render sprites in 8bpp or less through a wide translation table which improves their appearance when colourmapping is used in 16bbp or higher. * JPEG rendering where DPI based JPEGs are given as ratios are now taken into account in a similar manner to that used by !Draw. JPEGs which supply a ratio, DPI or DPC (dots per centimetre) of 0 will now be treated as 90 DPI. JPEGs with low values for DPI or DPC will now be treated as is this was a ratio. * CompressJPEG module now registers as a sprite to JPEG converter with ImageFileConvert. * JPEG handling is much more robust now, and should never generate aborts for either valid or corrupt compressed data. * ImageFileRender_Artworks module added to render Artworks documents. * New ConvertGIF added to ROM to generate a 'dummy' image. This is a placeholder module which avoids the requirement for a Unisys patent for the use of the LZW algorithm. * New ConvertXBM added to ROM to convert XBM image files to sprites. * New ConvertSun added to ROM to convert Sun raster image files to sprites. * New ConvertBMP added to ROM to convert Windows BMP image files to sprites. * New ConvertPNM added to ROM, supporting type 1-6 PNM files. * New ConvertICO added to ROM to convert Windows .ico files to sprites. * New ConvertPCX added to ROM to convert PCX files to sprites. * New ConvertClear added to ROM to convert Translator 'Clear' files to sprites. * New ConvertSprite module added , which supports creation of sprites through ImageFileConvert from any format which ImageFileRender can handle. ConvertSprite provides a proxy ImageFileConvert handler for ImageFileRender in much the same way that ImageFileRender automatically provides a proxy ImageFileRender handler for ImageFileConvert. ConvertSprite can also provide callback and SWI functions to render images to a sprite. * ConvertPNG has almost full support for creating PNGs from sprites (including alpha-channel sprites), with only CMYK sprites presently unsupported. Sprites can be created from any form of PNG, generating alpha-channel sprites where necessary. * DrawFile module now supports creation of SVG files from DrawFiles using the ImageFileConvert interface. * New ColourMap module allows generation of colourmapping descriptors without recourse to assembler. Currently supported mappings are : Blend, Brighten, Contrast, Gamma, Identity, Invert, Monochrome, Monochrome and scale and User. Colour map descriptors can be chained together to create more complex effects. * SpriteExtend, Kernel and ColourTrans have been updated to provide a new sprite type for alpha-channel sprites. Alpha-channel sprites allow the images to be rendered with varying levels of translucency per pixel. Previously, sprites could only provide binary (pixel on or off) masks. * SpriteUtil (System sprite area provider) has had a number of commands fixed to remove errors when no system sprite area is present. * InverseTable 'destination tracking' is now improved and should no longer result in corrupt font colours or alpha channel rendering. Networking changes ------------------ * Internet, ShareFS and Freeway have had issues relating to large file transfers addressed. * InetConfigure can now configure static IP addresses properly. Previous versions would retain the addresses stored in CMOS rather than using the new addresses supplied by the user. * Internet module has had a fix for interfaces with no addresses never issuing service calls. * Aliased interfaces are no longer dynamically named; the names used on their creation are now retained, allowing deterministic operation. * Internet can now handle changes in interface addresses more reliably. Previous versions had issues relating to multiple aliased interfaces and ARP requests which could cause machines to seemingly 'vanish'. * Added support for ZeroConf IP configuration. ZeroConf is a means by which an address can be obtained for a machine on a network without any configuration process. This is similar to the configuration used by the Access, but standardised across multiple platforms by a global group. * DHCPClient and ZeroConf client both respond to *ShowStat to provided their statistics. * DHCP client now supports address changed due to its deletion of the interface address. Previously this was not an issue, because Internet never issued service for address deletion, but now that this has been done it is now aware of this case. * The AppleTalk client is now supplied in ROM. This allows RISC OS systems to contact AppleTalk file and print servers. * LanManFS has been improved, resulting in faster resolution of names on local networks. The 'Transact' SWI call has been updated to allow a larger number of Transact communications to be made, including old WinPopup messaging. Miscellaneous changes --------------------- * OS_CLI is handled by an external module, CLIV. * Some calls have been moved from the kernel to a new module called LegacyBBC. * BEL (VDU 7) no longer uses OS_Word 7, but is passed to Sound calls directly. * FileTypes now declares PCX, PNG, SunRaster, BMP, Clear, ICO and XBM file type names. * FileSwitch is now able to reference path variables (pseudo-filing systems) through $, eg Music:$ for . Writing to a path variable with multiple entries where a $Write variable exists will now use the $Write directory for the operation. * FileSwitch no longer leaves streams open if a 'close' fails. * ResourceFS will now only issue 'changed' messages where the files changed are opened by it, thus reducing the impact on menus opened by the user when ShareFS discs become available over the network. * ParallelDeviceDriver is now capable of reading Device IDs. This allows the auto-detection of the make and model of Printer connected. * PCI memory reservation has been removed from the kernel, freeing 256M of logical address space for use by dynamic areas. * Conversions module has a minor for for ReadUnsigned returning an invalid V flag on some conversions. * ScreenBlanker now supports a second-level blanking using DPMS. ScreenBlanker no longer uses CMOS to get its initial settings and defaults to 'off'. * CDFS legacy support for built in conversions removed. * EvaluateExpression module takes over from the Kernel's OS_EvaluateExpression. Additionally, expressions can now extract directory or leaf names from a string, canonicalise a filename and generate a string from the current time. Configuration tools ------------------- * Softload ROM images are now sorted into date order, making selection of ROMs much simpler. ROM images are now supplied in archives together with their change lists; these lists are recorded with the ROM when installed to allow them to be viewed at a later date. * Resolver configuration is now able to locate DNS servers on the local network, even with bind variants. * Interface configuration can now take effect immediately, rather than requiring a reboot. * Re-written Filer configuration tool includes the new thumbnail configuration options. * All tools now warn if the configuration application is closed when changes have been made. Tools where changes have been made are indicated by a '*' in the title of the window, in line with standard RISC OS practice. * CPIShell is now able to be passed command line arguments to pass to the launched plugin. This is used to allow installation of components through Filer_Action (dragging over !Boot). * TimeSetup is now capable of setting the timezone. Scrapfile naming ---------------- Previously, when a network interface is active on a machine the ScrapDirectory is set to a Directory named after the MAC Address of the first installed Network card. If NetFS was active, this would be replaced by the station ID. With Select 3, the scrap directory naming is now based solely on the hardware configuration, as detected by HWScan. For most users this will be disabled and so the scrap directory will be named 'Disabled'. New IconSetUp Configuration Tool -------------------------------- The new IconSetup configuration tool allows the setting of options for the standard IconBorderRound module. The following options are supported for buttons and borders : Rounded edges with Small, Medium, Normal or Large curves Apply to (sunken) writeable fields Enable 'special' colour schemes with choice of Foreground and Background colour for Action buttons, Default buttons, and Groups All the above colours may be applied as solid colour or as a tint of the original colour. Furthermore button icons and information fields may have the colour applied as a Blend (top to bottom blend of the border colours, applying the button colour as a strong tint). Button icons may have a rim highlight and may have either thick or thin borders. Paint ----- The Paint application has been updated to support the new alpha-channel sprite format provided by Select 3. Paint can create sprites with alpha-channels, add an alpha-channel to an existing sprite, and allow editing of the alpha-channel. Paint's user interface has also been brought up to date, with a separate attached toolbox for each sprite (similar to !Draw) so each sprite has it's own "working set" of toolbox settings. Shortcuts for zoom and select colour have been added along with a new colour display area. The menu tree has been revised to be more logical and Styleguide compliant. Paint makes better use of the ImageFileConvert system in Select 3 and can directly load any filetypes supported by ImageFileConvert (PNG, JPEG, Clear, ICO, BMP etc). Paint allows saving of an image in JPEG and PNG format as well as sprite. A good number of bug fixes and performance improvements have also been added along with usability features such as a true graphic brush display and better clipboard support. Other News ========== Standing Order Renewals ----------------------- We have had a large number of problems with administering Standing Order payments. Common problems are Banks who don't pay the Standing Order, subscribers not changing the amount due to match the latest price, people who forget they have paid by Standing Order and renew by Cheque or Credit Card as well, etc etc. Checking that payments have been made has been taking an increasing amount of time, so we have reluctantly decided to not accept any new requests for payment by Standing Order. It is also likely that we shall be asking for existing Standing Order payments to be cancelled and other payment methods to be created. New Credit card security checks ------------------------------- From March 2003 most Credit Card companies will have new security arrangements in place to help curb the fraud losses from Mail Order and telephone sales. The new measures include Address Verification and a Card Security Code. In order to process a Mail Order Transaction, we will now require the Three Digit Card Security Code which is present on the signature strip on the reverse of your Credit Card. This code is not printed on any Credit Card receipts and therefore can only be obtained by someone who has the actual Credit Card. Secondly you must provide your registered address that the credit card companies have listed for you, before we can process any transactions using your card. NB We are registered with the Data Protection Registrar and we do not store your Credit Card details on any Electronic Media. Bogus companies requesting your account details ----------------------------------------------- We haven't heard of anyone trying to obtain Select or Foundation Password details by stealth as yet, but I have had two attempts to obtain eBay and PayPal account details, from Spam emails purporting to be security checks from the real organisations. > From: verification@paypal.com > Subject: PayPal Verification > To: @riscos.com > > Dear PayPal user, > As part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to > reduce the instance of fraud on our website, we are undertaking a period > review of our member accounts. > You are requested to visit our site by following the link given below > http://www.paypal.com/verification/%?6488820019 > Please fill in the required information. > This is required for us to continue to offer you a safe and risk free > environment to send and receive money online, and maintain the PayPal > Experience. > Thank you > Accounts Management > As outlined in our User Agreement, PayPal will periodically send you > information about site changes and enhancements. Visit our Privacy Policy > and User Agreement if you have any questions. > Copyright 2003 PayPal. All Rights Reserved. > Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. > PayPal and the PayPal logo are trademarks of PayPal > > About Us | Accounts | Fees | Privacy | Security Center | User Agreement | > Developers | Referrals | Help > > > > Copyright © 1999-2003 PayPal. All rights reserved. > Information about FDIC pass-through insurance Whilst the email appears to be genuine following the text email link just gives an error. However looking at the HMTL version of the email shows that the link is actually going off to a different web site, which is nothing to do with PayPal. A similar scheme was used by the eBay fraudsters who simply grabbed a real eBay page and edited it to point to their site. The moral is that no reputable company would email you to request your password or other personal details. You should also never need to submit them in writing, or enter them for any transaction that you yourself have not instigated. So if you receive any such emails always check personally with the company concerned before sending any such information. Changes at Cerilica ------------------- The following announcement was made on Monday 7th April. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change of Directors at Cerilica Limited It is with sadness that Cerilica bids farewell to Nicholas van der Walle, one of its founding directors, who is moving out of the software developement field to greater explore his artistic and creative abilities. We will miss not only his good humour and excellent presentation and support skills, but also his distinctive style, creative imagination and unique grammar and spelling ;-) It is entirely due to Nick's determination and persistence that Cerilica was created and has contributed so much to the RISC OS world. Co-founder Simon Birtwistle takes over day-to-day running of Cerilica. This has necessitated moving the office from Ross-on-Wye to Liverpool and as a result our address will be changing. Sadly we will no longer be able to provide telephone support, so all enquiries and orders must now be placed via email. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The slow-down of the RISC OS market has meant that Cerilica no longer requires full-time staff, nor can we afford the luxury. Nick did not feel that he had much to contribute if he was no longer available nine to five, Monday to Friday, and was no longer certain of the future of Cerilica and the RISC OS world. I see things differently - it merely requires us to reduce overheads so we can continue to serve and support our customers. The change-over is taking longer than I expected - I went down to Ross to pick up the stock, which I could pick up with one hand, but what filled the car was boxes and boxes of paperwork - many, many huge files full of the stuff. I have not previously been involved in the day-to-day running of this business, so all this information, and Nick's filing system, is taking some time to work out. The PO Box address will change this week, though the old one will continue to work for some months. However, the phone number has now been cancelled - it was too expensive and we won't have anyone available full-time. All email is now coming direct to me, though I don't yet have an archive of previous emails. I must apologise to anyone who was in discussions with Cerilica, for this interruption. I will be contacting those who have written to us, but if you are waiting for a reply to an email sent before the start of this month, please write again! As for the future, Vantage 1.10 will be released at the end of April - regardless of the status of the new features such as drop shadows. This will see a change in development strategy. Previously I have maintained a single source, so new features and bug fixes happened at the same time. This resulted in the latest version always being faulty in some new way, and so Cerilica was not keen to release it. I am now going to concentrate on stabilising this release. Next, we release the Iyonix version we demonstrated some time ago. Then, the stand-alone renderer. I will announce news of the Iyonix versions of RiScript and Insignia when I have confirmation of their availability. Cerilica may not be able to attend some shows - unlike Nick I have unavoidable business commitments some weekends which prevent me from attending. I will try to get to at least one this year, but I really can't promise. My real job comes first because it pays the mortgage. ;-) Simon Birtwistle simon@cerilica.com Technical Director Cerilica Ltd www.cerilica.com Russian RISC OS site ------------------- As has been reported in Foundation Risc User in the past there is a lot of interest in RISC OS in Russia. eQ Lab is a joint venture between eQ R&D and the Institute of Applied Informatics of TSPU (Tomsk - Russian Federation). eQ Russia is an independant company located in Moscow - Russian Federation. RISC OS Software Site http://www.riscos.ru/ eQ Lab: http://www.eqlab.org/ eQ R&D main website: http://www.eqrd.net/ They have lots of interesting projects many of which are available on CD-ROM. * SDL CD-Rom * RISC OS SDL port * SDL samples * SDL games * Full sources * TinyGL * TGL samples * OBJ3D viewer * Full sources * MultiMedia CD-Rom * StupidPlayer * MPxPlayer * Kino * Kino 2 (alpha version) * FFMPEG media converter * Full sources * Network Utils CD-Rom * RDP client (fullscreen) * RDP client (windowed mode, just for fun) * IPPrint * Full sources * RS Linux CD-Rom * RiscStation/A7K loop linux (do not need HD repartition, easy to use) * RISC OS Developer CD-Rom * RISC OS GCCSDK for Windows 9x/NT/2K/XP * Russian Kit (fonts and keymap switcher) * Russian advanced keyboard driver * USB4LPT SDK (just for fun) * Full sources Finished projects * Kino: First RISC OS software video MPEG1/2 player with audio support, optimized to work with ARM7500FE based computers like RiscStation or A7000+. * MPxPlayer: Fastest RISC OS audio MPEG 1/2/2.5 layers 1/2/3 player optimized for FPA (integrated in ARM7500FE CPU). This player gives you a way to listen music on RiscStation and A7000+ like computers. * TinyGL: RISC OS port of the original Fabrice Bellard's TinyGL, a small implementation of OpenGL. Unlike Mesa, it's small and fast, but only main OpenGL calls are implemented. To get full specifications, go to main TinyGL page at http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/TinyGL. * USB4LPT and simple USB stack: This is our USB adapter for USB-less computers like old PCs, Acorn computers, etc. The adapter can be connected to computer via bidirectional parallel port. It is based on Cypress SL811H core and can work in host or slave mode. * RISC OS SDK for Win32: This is our build of RISC OS GCCSDK for Windows. You can now compile RISC OS software on your Windows computer! Current projects * RISC OS RDP client: This is a port of rdesktop (www.rdesktop.org) for use with RISC OS computers to connect to Windows Servers with Terminal Server Software. Client works only in fullscreen mode. An older version works also in windowed mode. * SDL: RISC OS SDL port. Works only in fullscreen mode. Sound support is in progress. * LoopLinux for RISC OS computers: Preinstalled version of Linux. Do not need any manipulation with your harddrive. Only copy !Linux to the first partition of your primary harddrive and run it! Currently includes only RiscStation and A7000 kernel. * Kino2: Portable avi player for playing MPEG4 / DivX;) video. Originally made only for RISC OS, it supports now Win32 and WinCE (iPAQ 36xx). RISC OS - sound support in progress. WinCE - in high quality video sound is crappy. Win32 - slow on slow computers ;) * PS/2toIrDA: Adapter to connect normal PC keyboard to PDA via infrared port. For further details contact Administration, sales: Denis Pichugin mailto:denis.pichugin@eqrd.net Software questions: Alexander Chukov. mailto:alexander.chukov@eqrd.net Compiling 32 bit code on cc 5.xx -------------------------------- Contrary to popular belief it is possible to compile 32 bit code suitable for use on the Iyonix using the original Acorn C/C++. To do it is quite simple. Append '-apcs 3/32' to the command line for the compiler. This is sufficient to build the code as complaint to what is known as APCS-32. Such code must be linked against similarly compiled 32 bit components. the -apcs switch as is defined as:- --8<-------- At least one qualifier must be present, and there must be no space between qualifiers. The following qualifiers are permitted: /26[bit] (DEFAULT) 26 bit APCS variant. /32[bit] 32 bit APCS variant. /reent[rant] Reentrant APCS variant. /nonreent[rant] (DEFAULT) Non reentrant APCS variant. /swst[ackcheck] (DEFAULT) Software stack checking APCS variant. /noswst[ackcheck] No software stack checking APCS variant. /fpe2 Floating point emulator 2 compatibility. /fpe3 (DEFAULT) Floating point emulator 3 compatibility. /fp[regargs] FP arguments passed in FP registers. /nofp[regargs] (DEFAULT) FP arguments are not passed in FP registers. --8<-------- Further undocumented features can be found in the CCundoc file at http://www.movspclr.co.uk/info/ccundoc.html Pace Micro soars on Amstrad speculation --------------------------------------- This is slightly old news now taken from the advanced-television.com newsletter, but is of interest following recent events at Pace. "Shares in Pace Micro Technology climbed more than 15 per cent on amid speculation that the set-top box manufacturer may become the target of a takeover bid from its smaller rival Amstrad, the consumer electronics company chaired by Sir Alan Sugar. A representative of Sir Alan confirmed that the entrepreneur had acquired a stake in Pace through Amshold, his family-controlled investment company. Amshold owns 29.9 per cent of Amstrad as well as Viglen, a personal computer manufacturer, and several properties in central London. The size of Amshold's stake in Pace, thought to be less than 3 per cent, was not revealed. Pace's shares, which have been languishing below 25p in recent weeks compared with a high of 18 UKP three years ago, closed up 2.8p to 20.8p, giving it a market capitalisation of 68 UKP million. Amstrad shares fell 2p to 27p, valuing the business at 32 UKP million. Malcolm Miller, Pace's chief executive from November 1997 to January 1 this year, was once regarded as one of Sir Alan's proteges. Mr Miller spent 16 years at Amstrad, where he oversaw the launch of its first low-cost analogue satellite receiver. He was a managing director when he left Amstrad in 1994. "As I have said to countless people today, I know my obligations under the stock exchange rules and I have not got to talk to anybody," Sir Alan said. He added that he has not employed any financial advisers to play a part in his private share dealings. Pace, which has issued five profit warnings over the past two years, is still looking for a replacement for Mr Miller. John Dyson, finance director, is acting as chief executive. Tim Fern left his position as chief technology officer at the company during February. One of Pace's institutional shareholders said a merger with Amstrad could produce synergies and help the two companies improve their margins even though the market in which they operated had shrunk. If Amstrad does bid it is thought others might enter the fray from both the US and Asia. The two companies recently fell to an operating loss at the half-year stage. Amstrad turned a £387,927 operating profit into a loss of £469,290 in the six months to December 31, while Pace transformed an operating profit of £29million into a loss of £23 million in the 26 weeks to November 30." Spam ---- Anyone who hasn't got a Spam interceptor system in place will have noticed the amount of Spam being sent out worldwide is now phenomenal. Our server logs an average of 200 spam messages per day being sent to the various riscos email addresses. Darren Windsor mailto:darren@imagesoft.co.uk has sent out a friendly reminder to all those who have recently seen an increase in spam that his MailScout package provides an ideal way to deal with the problem on both RISC OS and Windows. MailScout allows you to interrogate your mailbox and remove unwanted email messages directly off the server, without the need to download them. Unlike other products/services the user has final say over what gets kept and what gets trashed. A user configurable filtering system allows the user to configure filters to help identify spam messages and automatically highlight them for possible deletion. MailScout comes complete with integration tools for Voyager and POPstar/ DialUp users. Thanks to Paul Vigay the latest version of ANTutils provides integration between the ANT suite and MailScout so ANT users are no longer left out. ** MailScout is fully 32-bit compatible and will happily run on both 26-bit and 32-bit versions of RISC OS ** Both the Windows and RISC OS versions of MailScout are available for 25UKP (fully inclusive of VAT and P&P). They accept all major credit and debit cards (including Solo and American Express) and official orders are welcome. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.imagesoft.co.uk ArtWorks News ------------- Martin Wuerthner is continuing his development of ArtWorks at an amazing pace and his newsletters make fascinating reading. Here are just some of his latest items. SVGExport released! =================== Finally, there is a reliable cross-platform solution for transferring vector graphics data. After many years of being confined to outdated and limited EPS output filters, the SVGExport module allows you to transfer your ArtWorks illustrations to Windows and Mac applications using the new SVG format, a platform independent internet standard. A free SVGViewer browser plug-in for Windows, MacOS and Linux is available from the Adobe web site. For more information and a few screenshots, have a look at http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/svgexport.html SVGExport costs 20 Pounds. You can pay by either sending me a cheque or by ordering the upgrade online through SWREG. You can find the order link on the SVGExport page (see URL above). There, you will also find an alternative link to order SVGExport and Polygon 2 in one go (for 30 Pounds), which makes it more convenient to order because you only have to go through the ordering system once. Polygon 2 released! =================== Long-time customers may recall that my whole business of writing ArtWorks modules really started with Polygon. Since its initial release in 1996, however, it has not acquired any new features for a long time. Following suggestions made by several users I have just added rounded corners to its feature set. You can have the outside corners of polygons (or stars) rounded, or the inside corners of stars, or both. You can change the roundness of the corners conveniently by dragging handles or by entering numeric values. Polygon 2 allows a wealth of new nice-looking star-like shapes to be created and I am sure you will agree with me that it is a lot of fun to play with. For a few screenshots, have a look at http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/polygon2.html The upgrade from Polygon to Polygon 2 costs 10 Pounds. You can pay by either sending me a cheque or by ordering the upgrade online through SWREG. You can find the order link on the Polygon 2 page (see URL above). There, you will also find an alternative link to order Polygon 2 and SVGExport in one go. Polygon 2 is the first release of code that was initially meant to be part of ArtWorks 2. However, I thought that some people may want to see and use the new features before the full ArtWorks 2 package is available, so I have decided to make this upgrade available in advance. In the past, various users have contacted me asking about whether they should buy modules now or wait until a collection offer is available later that includes them. It is true that usually, buying the modules one at a time is more expensive than waiting and then buying a collection offer later. Not so this time: As Polygon 2 is really part of ArtWorks 2, you will get the money spent on Polygon 2 back when you order the ArtWorks 2 upgrade, so you do not lose by buying the Polygon 2 upgrade now! ArtWorks 2 news =============== Initially, it was planned that ArtWorks 2 would be just a 32-bit version of ArtWorks 1.7, and thus largely identical to it apart from a streamlined user interface. Since then, the target has been redefined: I will seize the opportunity to add a significant number of new features at the same time, so ArtWorks 2 will be a real step forward. This, however, means that the initial target release date (end of March) will not be met. Instead, ArtWorks 2 will be released just in time for the Wakefield Show on the 10th of May. Although ArtWorks 2 will include many of what are now optional add-on modules as standard, it will still remain a modular package - for example, it will not include Crystal, TextArea and SVGExport, which remain optional extras. It is planned that major new features like dynamic clipping and bitmap fills will be released later as chargeable plug-in modules as usual. Running ArtWorks on the Iyonix ============================== Iyonix owners who downloaded the Aemulor demo from www.aemulor.com were in for a big surprise when using it to run ArtWorks for the first time: Instead of being slower (as was generally expected), it surprisingly turned out that ArtWorks runs significantly faster under emulation on the Iyonix than on a StrongARM RiscPC with a ViewFinder card, which, before the release of the Iyonix, has probably been the most frequently used setup for serious graphics design. A test I did showed a 40% speed increase when rendering one of the most complex clip-art files ("Cocktail"). This is partly due to the excellent work of the Aemulor developers who have greatly improved the emulation speed compared to earlier versions of Aemulor demonstrated at shows and partly due to the fact that the enormous slow-down that the ViewFinder card imposed on non-trivial graphics rendering is no longer an issue on the Iyonix. That said, it should be added that running ArtWorks under emulation on the Iyonix is indeed slower than running it on a StrongARM RiscPC *without* a ViewFinder card, but this comparison does not make too much sense because most users found serious graphics design impossible without a ViewFinder card. For those who want to run ArtWorks under Aemulor, I have set up a page with detailed instructions on how to transfer your current ArtWorks installation to your Iyonix machine. You can find this at http://www.mw-software.com/software/awmodules/aw32bit.html#aemulor Of course, a further speed-up is to be expected when a fully 32-bit version of ArtWorks is released. Forthcoming Shows ----------------- Wakefield Show 2003 ------------------- The Wakefield Computer Show is this coming weekend for one day only on Saturday 10th May. The show web site is now active at http://www.wakefieldshow.org.uk/ RISCOS Ltd will be showing the latest until now Top Secret features of Select 3. Along with a some other big surprises, so make sure you put it in your diary for this weekend. Big Ben Show - RISC OS Expo 2003 -------------------------------- The Big Ben Club is the nationwide Dutch Acorn User Group. Each year the Big Ben Club organises a national show, this year called the RISC OS Expo 2003. As usual RISCOS Ltd is sponsoring the Show and we will again be showing the latest features of Select 3. date: Saturday, June 21nd, 2003 venue: Expohall, Hotel Mercure Buizerdlaan 10, Nieuwegein (near the city of Utrecht). A first class location, with restaurant, parking garage (free) and rooms for the night. from: 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. The Show offers exhibitions/promotions by various companies, including Dutch, German and British Acorn/RiscOS dealers, demonstrations by club members, etc. Visitors are members and non-members from Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, England etc. Further details at http://www.bigbenclub.nl/ or http://www.bigbenclub.org/ User Group Visits ----------------- I shall be visting the Wakefield User Group on Wednesday June 4th. If other User Groups would like a visit please contact me mailto:paul@riscos.com Replying to queries from this Newsletter ---------------------------------------- If you are responding to a specific query in this newsletter please use the appropriate mailto: address to reply rather than replying to the sender of this email. Also don't reply to the general foundation or admin email addresses as your enquiry may not get dealt with promptly. We try to reply to all enquiries within 5 days. But at peak times it may take longer to reply. If you have received this email in error, or wish to be removed from this list then please send an email to mailto:foundation@riscos.com with the subject REMOVE regards -- Paul Middleton RISCOS Ltd 3 Clarendon Road Cardiff CF23 9JD Tel 02920 492324 Fax 02920 492326 mailto:paul@riscos.com Copyright ©2003 RISCOS Ltd. RISC OS is a trademark of Pace Micro Technologyplc. Certain other product names, brand names, and company names may be trademarks or designations of their respective owners.