RISC OS4 Wishlist
Rey Cobham
the features of RO4 rather than just releasing a bug-fixed version - I got
wondering what sort of features would improve the system... So here goes,
what does everyone else out there reckon. (And I personally couldn't care
less about PMT so _please_ don't go there! Greg are you listening?)
As a user of JS Duddingtons !Speak module (which has impressed a good few
PC owners) I reckon incorporating this into the various bundled apps
(Edit, and perhaps even the filer or 'error' messages) would be an
excellent start.
My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
control back when printing - I would hope this may be looked at in the
future, I presume since they are adding support for Photoreal drivers
changes are going to have to be made. :o)
The memory handling seems to get messy once people start using large
amounts (altho' mine seems OK at around 49Mb). I've heard some really
daft things occurring (in machines with 128Mb+) which obviously need to be
fixed.
Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
-it's a minor gripe but...
I definitely believe that support for the stomping Screensaver Delirium
should be made. And I know people have said that it's simply not possible
to release RO4 for the earlier (pre Risc PC) machines - would it not be
possible to shoehorn a revised version for them - it seems to me that
there'd be a hell of a market...
Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
Rey
--
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E-Mail: fo...@argonet.co.uk
Tony Houghton
...
> (And I personally couldn't care
> less about PMT so _please_ don't go there! Greg are you listening?)
[Snip]
> My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
> control back when printing
With PMT you'd get control back instantly.
--
TH * http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~tonyh/
Supporting CUT: http://www.unmetered.org.uk/
Rick Hudson
Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> -it's a minor gripe but...
Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
(including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
there must be a practical compromise!
--
Rick Hudson ri...@actrix.gen.nz
http://www.actrix.gen.nz/users/rick/
Andy Marks
Rick Hudson <ri...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> I would like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of
> drives (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them
> permanent icon bar inhabitants.
That sounds remarkably like "My Computer" on Windows. And I *hate* that. I
prefer the Risc OS method!!! ;-)
--
--------------------------------------------
Andy Marks - and...@argonet.co.uk
Worksop, Nottinghamshire
Very near the World-Famous(?) Creswell Crags
I know, I've been there!
--------------------------------------------
Andre' Schaefer
Rick Hudson schrieb:
>
> In message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>
> Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> > it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> > HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> > prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> > -it's a minor gripe but...
>
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> there must be a practical compromise!
There is (as nearly alays) a PD-App which does exacltly that. I'll look
at home for it.
please remind me to send it, if i forget...
Andre'
Andre' Schaefer
Andre' Schaefer schrieb:
Found it: It's on Hensa and called Kysmet. (Well it seems to be the one
I had in mind - I am not sure...)
http://mic2.hensa.ac.uk/local/riscos/filemanager/kysmet/
Have Fun with it.
Andre'
Richard Goodwin
> In message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>
> Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > But being able to use smaller icons for the HD, CDs
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much
> real estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy,
> ShareFS, Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or
> something. I would like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up
> list of drives (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of
> them permanent icon bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing
> comparisons to a certain PC OS but there must be a practical compromise!
Pah! On my work PC I had to go into my computer and start dragging some
shortcuts out to just above the taskbar to make it usable - I now have icons
marked "CDFS 0", "HardDisc4", "ADFS 0", "ShareFS" (network neighbourhood),
"Apps" (Control panal) and SparkFS (WinZip) :)
Cheers,
Rich.
--
_ _________________________________
/_| _ _. _ /| /_ _/_ /' Richard Goodwin - my views only.
/ || (_|(_)/ |/(/_/_ / mailto:ric...@goodwin.uk.com
________ (_) ___________./ http://www.goodwin.uk.com/richard/
Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?
Liam Gretton
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much
> real estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy,
The necessity of having so many device icons should diminish with RO4
anyway. With its better support for large discs, there would be less need to
partition drives to bring them down to manageable sizes. My 4GB SCSI drive
is currently partitioned into two 2GB slices only because RO3 makes such
poor use of it otherwise.
I think !Printers could do with one iconbar icon which opens a window with
all the available printers though. Until a recent rationalisation exercise,
I had seven printers configured, of which I only used one from day to day.
--
Liam Gretton l...@star.le.ac.uk
Space Research Centre, http://www.src.le.ac.uk/
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Mark Moxon
>Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
>about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that makes
me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
That's "most". Not "all". :-)
Mark
--
Mark Moxon
Liam Gretton
<URL:mailto:ma...@xara.com> wrote:
> Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that
> makes me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
It's already there in RISC OS. We just need to encourage more app developers
to make use of it.
Saying that, with RISC OS fluid drag and drop, I think it's not as useful as
it is with Windows.
Stuart Halliday
says...
> > it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> > HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> > prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> > -it's a minor gripe but...
>
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> there must be a practical compromise!
What I've done in the past is to kill the disc drive icons on boot up
and use !Blinds to make a little pop up blind containing the shortcuts
to the drive's root directory.
This works well as long as you only want to open the Hard drive.
--
Stuart Halliday
Acorn Cybervillage
http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/
Paul Vigay
<URL:mailto:l...@star.le.ac.uk> wrote:
> I think !Printers could do with one iconbar icon which opens a window with
> all the available printers though. Until a recent rationalisation exercise,
> I had seven printers configured, of which I only used one from day to day.
I agree with that one! My machine here at work has nine printers installed,
which fills the icon bar on it's own - not including my 15 Omniclient
mounts.... :-)
--
Paul Vigay Computer Resources Manager,
__\\|//__ Bohunt Community School
Web: http://www.matrix.clara.net (` o-o ') Liphook, Hampshire
BBS: +44 (0)1705 871531 (ansi,8n1) ----ooO-(_)-Ooo---------------------------
All views my own and I reserve the right to change them without warning!
Martin
> estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> there must be a practical compromise!
The alternative is to copy the system used on another well known OS, and
have the icon for the floppy drive appear when a disk is inserted, and
magically vanish when the disk is removed, with the same happening with
the CD icon.
Martin Dann
David James
<l...@star.le.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> In article <7dd3t2$dfa$1...@gxsn.com>, Mark Moxon
> <URL:mailto:ma...@xara.com> wrote:
> > Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> > terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that
> > makes me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
>
> It's already there in RISC OS. We just need to encourage more app
> developers
> to make use of it.
>
Impression both use it.
What other applications support it? Maybe we could compile a list of
applications that do?
--
Please help me with my Real Audio research:
www.argonet.co.uk/users/djames/project.htm
John Percy Kerslake
select click brings up the current printer
functions
adjust click brings up other printer drivers?
Andy Marks wrote:
>
> In article <41981be848%ri...@rick.actrix.gen.nz>,
> Rick Hudson <ri...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> > I would like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of
> > drives (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them
> > permanent icon bar inhabitants.
>
> That sounds remarkably like "My Computer" on Windows. And I *hate* that. I
> prefer the Risc OS method!!! ;-)
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------
> Andy Marks - and...@argonet.co.uk
> Worksop, Nottinghamshire
> Very near the World-Famous(?) Creswell Crags
> I know, I've been there!
> --------------------------------------------
--
John Percy Kerslake B.Sc., F.B.I.S.,
kers...@SEES.bangor.ac.uk
Web Page =
http://www.sees.bangor.ac.uk/~kerslake/welcome.htm
Pager=01426-235878, Work=01248-351151 ext. 2711,
Fax 01248-361429
Dyslexia rules K. O.
Rey Cobham
Mark Moxon <ma...@xara.com> wrote:
> Rey Cobham wrote in message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>...
> >Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> >about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about
> >it!
> Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that
> makes me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
> That's "most". Not "all". :-)
I missed that one and I'd have to agree that is one of the few good points
of Gates' OS. This feature must surely make it to RO at some point!
People counter with mentions of fluid drag'n'drop but copying text about
it's often a lot more convenient in Windoze. :o(
Altho' Liam Gretton mentioned this feature is there (in RO) very few apps
(I've come across) seem to implement it.
That mention of providing a different system to having loads of icons when
using multiple printers is also a good 'un. (Yes you can make them
inactive but...)
A little utility to prevent you from shutting down accidentally would be
nice - can be a real pain when you meant to hit Ctrl F12. I use Warner of
Shutdown - but it doesn't respond to keypress' - only the mouse...
TTFN
Rey
--
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Warhammer Pages: http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/foxy/foxy/
E-Mail: fo...@argonet.co.uk
Liam Gretton
<URL:mailto:fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> I missed that one and I'd have to agree that is one of the few good points
> of Gates' OS. This feature must surely make it to RO at some point!
> People counter with mentions of fluid drag'n'drop but copying text about
> it's often a lot more convenient in Windoze. :o( Altho' Liam Gretton
> mentioned this feature is there (in RO) very few apps (I've come across)
> seem to implement it.
I think a lot of the apps you'd expect already support it (Impression,
Ovation, Zap, TechWriter etc), but I suspect that where people find it most
useful in Windows (IME anyway), is being able to select text from
practically anywhere, whether it be a writable icon, a browser window or a
word processor.
To be able to do this in RISC OS would require large changes, particularly
to the WindowManager I suspect. Icons would have to have such properties
built in (there are some patches which provide such features for writable
icons at least; I'm using one now called WritableUtils by Richard van der
Hoff).
The argument that RISC OS has superb drag and drop which can make
clipboarding between apps redundant proves itself when you take the
occasional stand-out app such as TechWriter. Here, for example I can select
a table and drag it straight out of the window to another app, where it will
appear as a TSV file. It treats other objects on the page similarly and is
IMHO a model of how RISC OS apps should behave.
Stephen Crocker
Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> After reading in Risc User that Risc OS Ltd were interested in advancing
> the features of RO4 rather than just releasing a bug-fixed version - I got
> wondering what sort of features would improve the system... So here goes,
> what does everyone else out there reckon. (And I personally couldn't care
> less about PMT so _please_ don't go there! Greg are you listening?)
Well, they could use Wimp2...
> As a user of JS Duddingtons !Speak module (which has impressed a good few
> PC owners) I reckon incorporating this into the various bundled apps
> (Edit, and perhaps even the filer or 'error' messages) would be an
> excellent start.
Ooh, wouldn't that be fun! Imagine a PC user looking over your
shoulder, ready to comment on how dated those error boxes look, only to
be confronted with a talking error message!
> My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
> control back when printing - I would hope this may be looked at in the
> future, I presume since they are adding support for Photoreal drivers
> changes are going to have to be made. :o)
I think that may be related to the iler hogging the CPU, which is
something it would be _really_ nice to iron out of RO4!
> The memory handling seems to get messy once people start using large
> amounts (altho' mine seems OK at around 49Mb). I've heard some really
> daft things occurring (in machines with 128Mb+) which obviously need to be
> fixed.
RO4 was designed to use at least 2 Megs with DIMMS, so they've probably
fixed that.
> Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> -it's a minor gripe but...
How about a wrap on the icon bar? Hmmm...
> I definitely believe that support for the stomping Screensaver Delirium
> should be made. And I know people have said that it's simply not possible
> to release RO4 for the earlier (pre Risc PC) machines - would it not be
> possible to shoehorn a revised version for them - it seems to me that
> there'd be a hell of a market...
If A3000 etc. users could upgrade to RO4, they might not want to buy a
new RPC... Nah, that argument's not really going to hold until
Millipede come up with the goods...
> Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
If lazy task swapping works just as well on old SAs now, that's
something. I'd actually like to see a selection of sets of desktop
tools, icons etc. to make RISC OS more customisable. How about some
nice sounds and things? Also, bundled software might be useful, such as
Advance, Fresco (or Browse if they getthe rights) and the stuff supplied
with the J233/WebWizard.
What I'd _really_ like is somthing new on the hardware front. I was
really looking forward to throwing away my old MIDI podule and getting
sound input, PCI etc. RPC1.5 will improve performance to Phoebe
standard, but we really need something more. The next logical step
would be to port RISC OS to CATS, then use that as the basis for a new
Phoebe-esque machine, possibly combining podules with PCI...
--
x^ ( ) _________ // Email: mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk
< U O |_|_|_|_|_| O || WWW: http://www.crok.demon.co.uk
\, |/|\ _________ [ ]
. |/^\ . 2 . /__\
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Rik Griffin
ri...@actrix.gen.nz (Rick Hudson) wrote:
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent
> icon bar inhabitants.
Try "Kysmet" by SICK. It provides a vertical stack of filer icons, that can
be reduced into a single icon bar icon at a click. Very useful, however I
can't remember where I got it from! Sorry.
--
"This moment hangs, like your ragged hair."
Celebrate - Fields of the Nephilim
Andrew Wingate
Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
I would love to see defragmentation as an option on the harddisc icons, or
an option to defrag on bootup or after shutdown after a configured period.
Looking at my main partition (the permanent RISC OS one), I see it has over
a period of time got nastily fragmented and it can be amazing how much free
space PackDisc can deliver when used every few months, or after a major
clearout of certain directories - if only it could sort out root
directories it would be even better, According to RealCount, 20.6% of my
used disc space results from 'Wasted Sectors' and that's 230Mb worth.
Inbuilt support for PNGs could be cool too, in the same way JPEGs are
supported. Easier configuration for !Internet would be useful so that you
could make it use the latest modules without having to edit your
Boot:Choices.Internet.Startup every time you clicked Save in InetSetup.
Just a few quick things that sprung to mind. Feel free to ignore them.
--
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| mailto:an...@cryogen.com | http://www.ox.compsoc.net/~xyzzy/ |
Why are you here?
Martin Kaletsch
<wishes for RO4>
What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
--
*****************************************************************************
* Martin Kaletsch * This mail was written on an *
************************************** Acorn RiscPC *
* kale...@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de****************************************
* Kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de * pgp-key available *
*****************************************************************************
Quoth the Raven: Nevermore!
Martin Kaletsch
Andre' Schaefer <s...@bonn.iz-soz.de> wrote:
<about util for saving space on iconbar>
There's another one called !Storage. Got it from a GAGNews disc. Still lying
around here.
It puts one icon on the bar wich opens a window with the usual drive-icons.
--
*****************************************************************************
* Martin Kaletsch * This mail was written on an *
************************************** Acorn RiscPC *
* kale...@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de****************************************
* Kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de * pgp-key available *
*****************************************************************************
I am the lizard king. I can do anything.
Martin Kaletsch
--
*****************************************************************************
* Martin Kaletsch * This mail was written on an *
************************************** Acorn RiscPC *
* kale...@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de****************************************
* Kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de * pgp-key available *
*****************************************************************************
I've allies in heaven, I've commrades in hell...
Simon John
> > Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> > it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> > HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> > prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> > -it's a minor gripe but...
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS
> but there must be a practical compromise!
Yeah, with three HD's, Zip and CD-ROM, I'd like a single HD icon with a
pop-up menu for the other two and maybe even a 'Pinboard-able' option.
--
Simon E. John
Email: sim...@argonet.co.uk
Also: sim...@ukgateway.net
And: si...@sejohn.freeserve.co.uk
Soon: si...@suit-u-sir.com
A day not wasted is a day wasted!
N/V/S Fazakerley
>
> Rey Cobham wrote in message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>...
> >about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about
> it!
>
>
it
> terribly when I switch to my Windows PC. It's one of those features that
> makes
> me forgive Risc OS most of its eccentricities...
I can use the 'global clipboard' all the time on my RPC, at least for text.
For instance, I selected the above para in Voyager's news window, clicked on
cut, clicked on StrongEd to open a new text window, clicked on paste,
changed 'PC' to 'Risc PC', clicked on cut, opened Easiwriter, clicked on
paste, changed 'Risc PC' to 'Windows PC', clicked on cut, opened Ovation
Pro, clicked on paste, changed 'Windows' to 'Risc OS', clicked on cut and
then clicked on paste in this still-active news-post window to drop it back
into position.
I think we all get so used to dragging and dropping in the foreground that
we don't realise how far the Risc OS clipboard has come along in the
background.
For instance, the other day I received a two-page Readme for a very
technical project that turned out to be written in German. So I fired up
Fresco, headed for Babelfish via Alta Vista
<http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?>, opened the readme in StrongEd, picked up a couple of paras at a time with the mouse and dropped them straight into the slot in the live translation window and off they whizzed to the States or somewhere. It was just about the most literal desktop paradigm I've experienced on a computer. Seconds later, back came the text translated into English. I saved each chunk by dragging it back into the original document: after a few moments deleting the odd stray bits of HTML the job was done. The whole process took perhaps 40 seconds from start to finish and, crucially, I never once lost sight of any of the many elements I was dealing with in all the various windows.
This is the kind of thing that's a slow nightmare to do 'blind' via a
clipboard, but it's an absolute joy on the Risc OS desktop. (I feel an
article for Paul Beverley's Risc OS Recipes coming on ;-)
Admittedly, Risc OS lags behind without a file/image clipboard, but even if
one was added most people wouldn't discover it because Risc OS d&d is just
so intuitive.
-Neil F.
--
................................................................................
NEIL FAZAKERLEY f a z @ a r g o n e t . c o . uk
................................................................................
Simon John
Paul Vigay <pvi...@bohunt.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[snip]
> > I think !Printers could do with one iconbar icon which opens a window with
> > all the available printers though. Until a recent rationalisation
> > exercise, I had seven printers configured, of which I only used one from
> > day to day.
> I agree with that one! My machine here at work has nine printers installed,
> which fills the icon bar on it's own - not including my 15 Omniclient
> mounts.... :-)
I have ArcFax, a PhotoReal mode for the Stlyus600, a draft mode for the
Stylus600 and the TurboDriver for the HPDJ.
I have the Styluses active (two icons, one selected) and the others are
marked inactive in the Printer control window. ArcFax is made active when
needed, I doubt I'll ever use the TD again....
So effectively 4 PDFs, only two icons.
FWIW I'd prefer a lightning fast PhotoReal version of !Printers than one that
has few icons - like a cross between FastSpool+/PhotoReal or an updated
TurboDriver.
--
Simon E. John
Email: sim...@argonet.co.uk
Also: sim...@ukgateway.net
And: si...@sejohn.freeserve.co.uk
Soon: si...@suit-u-sir.com
I canna do it cap'n, I just doont ha' the pooer!
Simon John
Stephen Crocker <cr...@crok.demon.co.uk> wrote:
[snip]
> > After reading in Risc User that Risc OS Ltd were interested in advancing
> > the features of RO4 rather than just releasing a bug-fixed version - I got
> > wondering what sort of features would improve the system... So here goes,
> > what does everyone else out there reckon. (And I personally couldn't care
> > less about PMT so _please_ don't go there! Greg are you listening?)
> Well, they could use Wimp2...
Yeah, then *no* programs would work with it! Whoopee!
> > As a user of JS Duddingtons !Speak module (which has impressed a good few
> > PC owners) I reckon incorporating this into the various bundled apps
> > (Edit, and perhaps even the filer or 'error' messages) would be an
> > excellent start.
> Ooh, wouldn't that be fun! Imagine a PC user looking over your
> shoulder, ready to comment on how dated those error boxes look, only to
> be confronted with a talking error message!
Or !Speak incorporated into the new !BubbleHelp-style !Help.
> > My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
> > control back when printing - I would hope this may be looked at in the
> > future, I presume since they are adding support for Photoreal drivers
> > changes are going to have to be made. :o)
> I think that may be related to the iler hogging the CPU, which is
> something it would be _really_ nice to iron out of RO4!
IF "iler" = "filer" THEN
I don't see the relationship.
ENDIF
> > The memory handling seems to get messy once people start using large
> > amounts (altho' mine seems OK at around 49Mb). I've heard some really
> > daft things occurring (in machines with 128Mb+) which obviously need to be
> > fixed.
> RO4 was designed to use at least 2 Megs with DIMMS, so they've probably
> fixed that.
Only had the problem with CC !FontInstall with my 50Mb.
> > Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> > it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> > HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> > prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> > -it's a minor gripe but...
> How about a wrap on the icon bar? Hmmm...
> > I definitely believe that support for the stomping Screensaver Delirium
> > should be made. And I know people have said that it's simply not possible
> > to release RO4 for the earlier (pre Risc PC) machines - would it not be
> > possible to shoehorn a revised version for them - it seems to me that
> > there'd be a hell of a market...
Don't really like Delirium, but some better screensavers are needed -
although I thought this was planned.
> If A3000 etc. users could upgrade to RO4, they might not want to buy a
> new RPC... Nah, that argument's not really going to hold until
> Millipede come up with the goods...
> > Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> > about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
> If lazy task swapping works just as well on old SAs now, that's
> something. I'd actually like to see a selection of sets of desktop
> tools, icons etc. to make RISC OS more customisable. How about some
> nice sounds and things? Also, bundled software might be useful, such as
> Advance, Fresco (or Browse if they getthe rights) and the stuff supplied
> with the J233/WebWizard.
I thought is was lazy task swapping *doesn't* work on Rev. J/K/S SA's and
*does* on Rev. T's - but it doesn't make much difference anyway.
> What I'd _really_ like is somthing new on the hardware front. I was
> really looking forward to throwing away my old MIDI podule and getting
> sound input, PCI etc. RPC1.5 will improve performance to Phoebe
> standard, but we really need something more. The next logical step
> would be to port RISC OS to CATS, then use that as the basis for a new
> Phoebe-esque machine, possibly combining podules with PCI...
Yeah, I'd like RO4, then RPC1.5, then maybe a CATS/ChiBER sort of thing.
--
Simon E. John
Email: sim...@argonet.co.uk
Also: sim...@ukgateway.net
And: si...@sejohn.freeserve.co.uk
Soon: si...@suit-u-sir.com
I wouldn't be caught dead with a necrophiliac.
pstewart
SNIP
>
> My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
> control back when printing - I would hope this may be looked at in the
> future, I presume since they are adding support for Photoreal drivers
> changes are going to have to be made. :o)
>
SNIP
I find that increasing you printerbuffersize to it's max helps quite a
lot. To do this, Press F12 and type Con. printerbuffersize 255
--
Paul Stewart
Member of ACNE
Darlington, NE England
------ RISC OS Ltd - The NEW Developers of the------
worlds best Operating System
------48MB SA RISC PC------
------ http://www.pstewart.freeserve.co.uk ------
pstewart
m.D...@RemoveThisBit.bristol.ac.uk (Martin) wrote:
> > Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> > estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> > Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> > like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> > (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> > bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> > there must be a practical compromise!
>
>
> The alternative is to copy the system used on another well known OS, and
> have the icon for the floppy drive appear when a disk is inserted, and
> magically vanish when the disk is removed, with the same happening with
> the CD icon.
>
> Martin Dann
Not a bad idea. To take it a step further, why not have sound that
plays when you insert any removable media.
Justin Fletcher
David James <dja...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <ant25113...@xmm4.xra.le.ac.uk>, Liam Gretton
> <l...@star.le.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> > In article <7dd3t2$dfa$1...@gxsn.com>, Mark Moxon
> > <URL:mailto:ma...@xara.com> wrote:
> > > Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> > > terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that
> > > makes me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
> >
> > It's already there in RISC OS. We just need to encourage more app
> > developers
> > to make use of it.
> >
> I never knew this, but having played around I've found that TechWriter and
> Impression both use it.
>
> What other applications support it? Maybe we could compile a list of
> applications that do?
Let's save a little bit of bother (collected from the list of applications
that supported it when I asked about 2 months ago) :
* DataPower
* Zap
* StrongEd
* Messenger (mail reader) [1.40 onward, but 1.40 broken]
* Pluto (mail reader)
* IRClient (IRC client)
* JFShared DispLib applications (about 10 applications which should be
able to support it or already do); details on request
* WritableUtils module (copies text from writable icons)
* IcnClipBrd (similar to above) [Unconfirmed]
* Clip (application to 'hold' clipboard on application quit)
* Clipboard (application to save clipboard)
* Schema2 (spreadsheet)
* Impression series
* Techwriter/Easiwriter (work processors)
* AdvanceDB (Database)
* ARPlayer
* Impression family (DTP)
* Ovation Pro (DTP)
* Cerilica Vantage (graphic design)
* vim (vi like editor)
* Swipe (copy icon and window title text)
* DigitalCD [Unconfirmed]
* NoPaint [Unconfirmed]
--
Justin Fletcher, Software Engineer, RISCOS Ltd
URL: http://www.riscos.com/
[ Any opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer ]
Justin Fletcher
"Mark Moxon" <ma...@xara.com> wrote:
> Rey Cobham wrote in message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>...
> >Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> >about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
>
> Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that makes
> me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
I think you'll find that global clipboard as a protocol has been present
since around 1993 (IIRC). It has been argued that global clipboard is not
too useful in a drag and drop environment, but I find it useful. There are
quite a number of applications that support it.
IIRC, Impression in one of its variants does. I don't happen to have anything
other than Style and that didn't in the tests I did. Maybe you are in a
better opportunity to remind me which of them it is that supports it ?
druck
>
> In <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>, Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>> My major gripe (with RISC OS) is the amount of time it takes to get
>> control back when printing
Yes but printing would break. With true PMT, much more
contexts need to be preserved across tasks such as the
printing state. Also the wimp message passing system
would need an overhaul as it is very much dependant
on messages being handled before control is relinquished.
This aint going to happen on RO4 I'm afraid.
---druck
Tony Houghton
> A little utility to prevent you from shutting down accidentally would be
> nice - can be a real pain when you meant to hit Ctrl F12. I use Warner of
> Shutdown - but it doesn't respond to keypress' - only the mouse...
> TTFN
A program to do that was discussed on csa.programmer recently (er,
well, sometime since Christmas I think), and something better than
that Warner did get mentioned or written.
IIRC the thread was called "Bored programmer from Germany", but if you
go looking for it, don't get it confused with another thread referring
to it which has just cropped up.
--
TH * http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~tonyh/
Supporting CUT: http://www.unmetered.org.uk/
Tony Houghton
> - It would be nice to drag icons from the iconbar to the pinboard.
So that you can have icons which behave like iconbar icons on the
backdrop? I think that might make the backdrop a bit too confusing.
[Snip]
> - Shift click anywhere in a window to bring it to the top of the stack.
There are patches for that AFAIK.
Stuart Halliday
kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de says...
>
> What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
I think Keystroke, Undelete and softRAID should be apart of RISC OS 4?
;-)
ZMJA Group
> Anyhow, over to you...I'm curious to see what fellow Acorn users think
> about what needs updating/replacing - not that I can do anything about it!
The configuration, of course! Like a central Internet configuration (as
mention before on this newsgroup).
I have written an alternative configuration utility. A bit slow ATM,
and is only very basic.
Download from : http://members.xoom.com/zmjagroup/download/radish.zip
--
Michael Curtis
ZMJA Group
Email : zmja_...@hello.to
Web : http://hello.to/zmja_group
Glyn Royds
Simon John <sim...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Yeah, with three HD's, Zip and CD-ROM, I'd like a single HD icon with a
> pop-up menu for the other two and maybe even a 'Pinboard-able' option.
Or even Kysmet by the SICK crew: http://xavier.bangor.ac.uk/downloads/
--
_ __ __ All views expressed in news postings are
/ '/ __ /_/__ __//_ my own and may have no relation whatsoever
/_///_// / / |/_//_//_/__/ to the views of my employer.
,_/ ,_/ ,_/ ICQ: 28543429
Glyn Royds
Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> - <Alt>+<Break> pops up a list that allows you to select the app that you
> want to kill directly.
Seconded! There's nothing as frustrating as cycling through upto
60 apps, getting bored and only noticing that the task you wanted
to kill is displayed just as you've hit 'Next Task'
Chris Evans
<URL:mailto:stu...@cybervillage.co.removethisfirst.uk> wrote:
> In article <bbdb7fe848%kale...@kaletsch.uni-marburg.de>,
> kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de says...
> >
> > What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> > installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
>
> I think Keystroke, Undelete and softRAID should be apart of RISC OS 4?
RiscOS Ltd would appreciate a generous gift! I should think.
There is a problem though in bundling software PD or chargeable
as you then stiffle alternative commercial software!
Chris Evans
--
CJE Micro's / NCS 'Acorn Centre of Technology'
Telephone: (01903) 523222 Fax: (01903) 523679
ch...@cje.co.uk http://www.cje.co.uk/
78 Brighton Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 2EN.
Darren Salt
Justin Fletcher <jus...@riscos.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Let's save a little bit of bother (collected from the list of applications
> that supported it when I asked about 2 months ago) :
> * DataPower
> * Zap
> * StrongEd
> * Messenger (mail reader) [1.40 onward, but 1.40 broken]
Messenger Pro 1.83 too. I see that you're using 1.81, which (IIRC; I've now
deleted my copy of that version) is broken in this respect.
[snip]
> * Impression series
[snip]
> * Impression family (DTP)
Hmm... ;-)
[snip]
> * NoPaint [Unconfirmed]
Experimentation suggests export only.
--
| Darren Salt | ds@youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | Acorn | nr. Ashington,
| Risc PC, Spec +3, | ds@zap,uk,eu,org ** anti-UCE | Club | Northumberland
| A3010, BBC M128 | arcsalt@spuddy,mew,co,uk | NE | Toon Army
| Nothing much, coming your way *soon*...
Teamwork is essential. It allows you to blame somebody else.
Mark Beerling
> RiscOS Ltd would appreciate a generous gift! I should think.
> There is a problem though in bundling software PD or chargeable as you
> then stiffle alternative commercial software!
Have you thought about other ways of funding sw development?
Prehaps cutdown versions of commercial sw with dealer adverts
Or shareware sw sponsered by dealers or hardware suppliers?
The idea should be to wet the appetite for more!
Regards
Mark R. Beerling in Munich on m...@cube.net
Stephen Crocker
Martin Kaletsch <kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de> wrote:
> In message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>
> Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> <wishes for RO4>
>
> What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
However, it seems to make it impossible to write in the writable icon
for the "copy" dialogue box! Or maybe mine's just an old version...
--
x^ ( ) _________ // Email: mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk
< U O |_|_|_|_|_| O || WWW: http://www.crok.demon.co.uk
\, |/|\ _________ [ ]
. |/^\ . 2 . /__\
... We come in peace. Shoot to kill.
Stephen Crocker
Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> - It would be nice to drag icons from the iconbar to the pinboard.
EERGH!
> - An option to switch off text below iconbar icons.
Why? If you have several HDs, printers etc, yu want to know wha they
are!
> Maybe just like the filer: Large, small, full info
Maybe...
> - Many apps aren't really needed on the iconbar.
> Printers for example only takes up space.
If you want to switch between printers, it's very handy.
> It would be nice if apps could be hidden. Picking from a pop up
> list should put the app back on the iconbar.
Hmmm...
> - <Alt>+<Break> pops up a list that allows you to select the app that you
> want to kill directly.
Which is fine unless you've got more apps running than you can fit on
the screen...
> - Shift click anywhere in a window to bring it to the top of the stack.
Shift? _BAD_ idea, given that shift is used so much in text editing
(and the filer by hackers).
--
x^ ( ) _________ // Email: mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk
< U O |_|_|_|_|_| O || WWW: http://www.crok.demon.co.uk
\, |/|\ _________ [ ]
. |/^\ . 2 . /__\
... President/VicePresident is undefined. Cannot divide by zero.
Martin Kaletsch
Stephen Crocker <cr...@crok.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> > installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
>
> However, it seems to make it impossible to write in the writable icon
> for the "copy" dialogue box! Or maybe mine's just an old version...
Works fine with V. 1.00 !
I could mail you this version.
Robert Seago
<URL:mailto:kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de> wrote:
>
> What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
>
different ones for date and such in StrongEd and TechWriter for example.
Likewise the use of F1 depends on whether Bubble Help is loaded, or not.
I also like the ability for keyboard shortcuts for user strings, such as
my name and address. Director provides me with most of what I need, and
a lot besides. I'm sure people have already suggested that this could be
included.
Regards from : Using a : Software for RiscOS:Conservation Pages
Robert Seago : StrongArm RiscPC : http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rjseago/
--
Jeremy Poulter
pstewart <pa...@pstewart.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <m.Dann-2503...@yellow-magnet.phy.bris.ac.uk>
> m.D...@RemoveThisBit.bristol.ac.uk (Martin) wrote:
>
> > > Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> > > estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> > > Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> > > like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> > > (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> > > bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> > > there must be a practical compromise!
> >
> >
> > The alternative is to copy the system used on another well known OS, and
> > have the icon for the floppy drive appear when a disk is inserted, and
> > magically vanish when the disk is removed, with the same happening with
> > the CD icon.
> >
> > Martin Dann
I thought that was a good idea till I tried it with CDViewer, but Im not so
sure now. It will still be in the next release so you can deside for your
self!!
> Not a bad idea. To take it a step further, why not have sound that
> plays when you insert any removable media.
Humm, I have never been a fan of the comuper making sounds for everything
that happens, If it is something that requires your attention then fine but
sounds to tell you that a CD has just been put in the drive when you have
just opened the drive and put one in is a bit OTT!!
--
+------------------------------------------------+
| Jeremy Poulter Station Manager, B1000 |
| jeremy....@unforgettable.com |
| http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/jeremy.poulter /
+-----------------------------------------------'
Jeremy Poulter
[snip list of apps that support clipboard]
> * ARPlayer
Why? How?
Jeremy Poulter
Martin Kaletsch <kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de> wrote:
> In message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>
> Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> <wishes for RO4>
>
> What I would like are some mor keyboard shortcuts! I currently have Qfiler
> installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
>
Now please do not shoot me or any thing like that but I would like to be able
to get away with not using the mouse like you can in windows as I find this
can sometimes make navigating a lot faster.
dgs
Chris Evans <ch...@cje.co.uk> wrote:
> > I think Keystroke, Undelete and softRAID should be apart of RISC OS 4?
>
> RiscOS Ltd would appreciate a generous gift! I should think.
>
> There is a problem though in bundling software PD or chargeable
> as you then stiffle alternative commercial software!
Certainly in the case of PD, I think RISC OS Ltd. should be
brave and learn to make choices in this sort of thing. While
supporting commercial developers is important, it's not a good
reason to think that being able to give away cool apps free is
a bad thing!
Manchester Acorn User Group - http://www.acorn.manchester.ac.uk/
RPC x86 Card Info Pages - http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/pccard/
"Your machine is NOT dead until it stops working" - Ian Gledhill
Patrick
> > Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my Risc PC, and miss
> it
> > terribly when I switch to my Windows PC. It's one of those features that
> > makes
> > me forgive Risc OS most of its eccentricities...
>
> I can use the 'global clipboard' all the time on my RPC, at least for text.
>
> For instance,
<snip two instances>
> This is the kind of thing that's a slow nightmare to do 'blind' via a
> clipboard, but it's an absolute joy on the Risc OS desktop. (I feel an
> article for Paul Beverley's Risc OS Recipes coming on ;-)
Oh, yes - please do it!
--
Patrick Dowling, NSW 2775. Australia
patr...@pnc.com.au
Tony Houghton
> I rather like it proffesionally integrated into the OS instead of loading
> a bucket of PD patches......
There you see, RISC OS modules aren't good enough and you need a
compilable kernel ;).
Tony Houghton
> In article <ant26133...@cje.local>,
> Chris Evans <ch...@cje.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > > I think Keystroke, Undelete and softRAID should be apart of RISC OS 4?
> >
> > RiscOS Ltd would appreciate a generous gift! I should think.
> >
> > There is a problem though in bundling software PD or chargeable
> > as you then stiffle alternative commercial software!
>
> Certainly in the case of PD, I think RISC OS Ltd. should be
> brave and learn to make choices in this sort of thing. While
> supporting commercial developers is important, it's not a good
> reason to think that being able to give away cool apps free is
> a bad thing!
Especially ones that are free to start with, and/or ones without
direct competition. It would be good if RISCOS Ltd do that sort of
thing. Acorn had a rather insular attitude. For example, why on earth
didn't they snap up Virtualise and build it into RISC OS 3.6?
Nigel Parker
Does anybody read postings quoted like this:
--START--
> > Somebody wrote:
> Written by somebody...
Reply posted without any line spacing...
--END--
Some people seem to think that spacing their comments isn't necessary,
but I don't read anything unless it's laid out properly.
Unless your news reader supports threading or coloured quotes it is very
difficult to follow threads properly, IMO. Putting a line above and
below your comments makes it *so* much easier!
Before I get flamed, this is relevant to these newsgroups since people
do do this here...
Nigel
--
Girton College Email: nigel....@iee.org
Cambridge Phone: 0411 384803
England Pager: ncp...@genie.co.uk (140 chars)
CB3 0JG Web: http://welcome.to/nigels
Jim Nagel
-- could Alarm please allow digital date and time to display on 2 lines,
to save some width. (and in a proper font!)
-- make consistent use of Adjust-click on the iconbar. so often it does
exactly the same as Select. e.g. allow Adjust-click on a drive to do
something user-programmable, like open a CFS directory
(am i the only person who uses CFS?)
-- Adjust-click on taskmanager could show bottom part of its window.
or could open a second-tier iconbar where utilities such as Blinds
and Keystroke could live.
-- partitions of a drive should not appear as additional drives. after
all they are more like huge folders.
other things i'd like:
-- PCA.
-- modem drivers and call-rate tables common to all apps that use them,
like printer drivers.
-- a monitor-calibration utility (like the one from Photodesk or the one
that will come with Vantage) combined with the displaymanager (rather
than taking up two places on the iconbar). a single-click method of
swapping between calibrated and ordinary desktop display. (better yet,
improve the desktop palette so it remains useful in calibrated display.)
-- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
-- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding other
occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
-- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
-- when you create a new directory, its window opens.
-- error messages automatically log to a disk file, rather than having
to copy down those awkward exception address numbers with a pencil.
-- an easy way on taskmanager menu to generate a system snapshot
to attach to bug reports.
-- just as Return does the same as Select-clicking a "moated" OK box,
let Enter act like Adjust-click: do the action but keep dialog open.
-- commas (or spaces) to make 19279165 readable at a glance when
you do a Count.
-- *Help Configure reminds me which command reads the present value:
is it *show or is it *status? ditto for *Help Set and several others.
-- Pinboard "save as" dialog remembers where present file came from.
-- F3 works in Paint. ANY keys work in Paint. PCA Paint.
-- when typing in a subsubmenu, like "Set type", a slight unintentional
jarring of the mouse does not disappear your field.
oh, i'll probably think of other wee wishes.
--
--ji mnagel > Mime welcome, but please warn before attaching >400K
Computer Shopper magazine UK, freelance
on a StrongArm xAcorn Risc Machine. British technik. no tax to Gate$.
immune from MMillenniu worries: online till 2248 AD.
(mnemonic: double NN too!)
remove ".spamyourself" to reply -- unless you're a spammer!
Stephen Crocker
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> many people have wished for less clutter on the iconbar. me too:
> -- could Alarm please allow digital date and time to display on 2 lines,
> to save some width. (and in a proper font!)
That sounds like a good idea.
> -- make consistent use of Adjust-click on the iconbar. so often it does
> exactly the same as Select. e.g. allow Adjust-click on a drive to do
> something user-programmable, like open a CFS directory
But this could only be done with standard RISC OS bits like Filer, Task
Manager etc.
> (am i the only person who uses CFS?)
Nope!
> -- Adjust-click on taskmanager could show bottom part of its window.
Ergh! That would just get too confusing. How about bringing up a
taskwindow or something?
> or could open a second-tier iconbar where utilities such as Blinds
> and Keystroke could live.
An interestinf idea...
> -- partitions of a drive should not appear as additional drives. after
> all they are more like huge folders.
I see your point. Something like Comana's stackable drive icons,
perhaps?
> other things i'd like:
> -- PCA.
Isn't that that 3D thing by Clares?
> -- modem drivers and call-rate tables common to all apps that use them,
> like printer drivers.
But how could you ensure that people use those drivers? Loads of people
have written diallers, some of which are no longer developed, and all of
them use their own drivers.
> -- a monitor-calibration utility (like the one from Photodesk or the one
> that will come with Vantage) combined with the displaymanager (rather
> than taking up two places on the iconbar). a single-click method of
> swapping between calibrated and ordinary desktop display. (better yet,
> improve the desktop palette so it remains useful in calibrated display.)
You'll have to enlighten some os on that one.
> -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
> -- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding other
> occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
If all writable icons behaved just like text in Edit and used the
universal clipboard, I'd be _very_ happy!
> -- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
Some programs already do this. It might be hard to integrate a new
system with these.
> -- when you create a new directory, its window opens.
Hmmm...
> -- error messages automatically log to a disk file, rather than having
> to copy down those awkward exception address numbers with a pencil.
There is a module which does this. I think it was on a recent AU cover
disc. However, there's the problem of big log files...
> -- an easy way on taskmanager menu to generate a system snapshot
> to attach to bug reports.
Preferably with a keyboard shortcut so you can do it using a menu or
something...
> -- just as Return does the same as Select-clicking a "moated" OK box,
> let Enter act like Adjust-click: do the action but keep dialog open.
Erm... They're both the same, aren't they?
> -- commas (or spaces) to make 19279165 readable at a glance when
> you do a Count.
Yes...
> -- *Help Configure reminds me which command reads the present value:
> is it *show or is it *status? ditto for *Help Set and several others.
Sounds handy. It's *status for CMOS RAM. *show gives system variables.
> -- Pinboard "save as" dialog remembers where present file came from.
Eh?
> -- F3 works in Paint. ANY keys work in Paint. PCA Paint.
Hmmm... I had no idea it was so limited...
> -- when typing in a subsubmenu, like "Set type", a slight unintentional
> jarring of the mouse does not disappear your field.
Or clicking on it!
--
x^ ( ) _________ // Email: mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk
< U O |_|_|_|_|_| O || WWW: http://www.crok.demon.co.uk
\, |/|\ _________ [ ]
. |/^\ . 2 . /__\
... There is no gravity--The earth sucks!
Colin McQueen
the screen can be selected and cut to the CB ? Maybe it need the window
manager changing ? I'm thinking here of helping the browsers provide a way
of exporting bits of text.
--
Colin McQueen : Network Manager at The Romsey School
Web : http://www.romseyschool.org.uk/
http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/cmcqueen/
Email : cmcq...@argonet.co.uk or cmcq...@romseyschool.org.uk
N.A.Atkinson
>
> In message <7dd3t2$dfa$1...@gxsn.com>
> "Mark Moxon" <ma...@xara.com> wrote:
>
> > Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> > terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that makes
> > me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
>
> I think you'll find that global clipboard as a protocol has been present
> since around 1993 (IIRC). It has been argued that global clipboard is not
> too useful in a drag and drop environment, but I find it useful. There are
> quite a number of applications that support it.
As is apparent from previous posts so the question has to be, why was
this never talked about and why did noone use it. If this exists then
why not make a protocol that all programs abide by since Acorn did this
in the past to great effect. It really is irritating when I can't copy
something from a program to the next using ctrl-C and ctrl-V. Oh, how I
love the little tit-bits in Windows [sigh].
--
Woof woof,
Nathan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PR Agent/Webmaster/Team hub of Visions Of The Impossible:
http://cube.icestorm.com/wrath/
Founder of the "Coding Vault":
http://www.acornarcade.com/features/codevault/
Matthew Hambley
Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> For example if the VIDC code is ripped out (RO5?) later this year, we need
> another videoprocessor.
> Maybe it would be best to support only one major supplier of videocards.
> Maybe even one type of video card. I suggest the Diamond Viper 770
> Good 2D and 3D performance.
If we're talking about a single 3rd party graphics card may I sugest waiting
for the PowerVR 2D/3D card to be released. A real stormer by all accounts.
If you don't believe me, find a DreamCast. :-)
--
(\/)atthew Hambley --------------\ "Tell me what you know or I'll pee in
\ your ear!"
snow...@therealm.freeserve.co.uk \ - Gaspode interogates a Gargoyle
http://www.therealm.freeserve.co.uk \-------------------------------------
pstewart
>
> Now we are talking about a RO4 wishlist, we should maybe also discuss the
> hardware.
> For example if the VIDC code is ripped out (RO5?) later this year, we need
> another videoprocessor.
> Maybe it would be best to support only one major supplier of videocards.
> Maybe even one type of video card. I suggest the Diamond Viper 770
> Good 2D and 3D performance.
> I don't intend to start a 'pre-Phoebe thread but I think some things need
> to be considered in the OS design right now.
> For example good graphics cards use 2/4x AGP now. By the time the new
> RPC is released that will be the standard (and cheaper)
> A good video card can aloso solve some CPU power problems.
> The Viper cards for example have a hardware MPEG decoder on board.
>
>
Hang on. What your saying is that RISCOS Ltd will remove all VIDC Code.
This would result in A7000's and RPC's not being supported by RO5.
Surely they will have to leave in support for these machines.
--
Paul Stewart
Member of ACNE
Darlington, NE England
------ RISC OS Ltd - The NEW Developers of the------
worlds best Operating System
------48MB SA RISC PC------
------ http://www.pstewart.freeserve.co.uk ------
Darren Salt
Colin McQueen <cmcq...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> Has anyone asked for the global clipboard to be extended so that any text
> on the screen can be selected and cut to the CB ? Maybe it need the window
> manager changing ? I'm thinking here of helping the browsers provide a way
> of exporting bits of text.
Any text which the WindowManager can't automatically redraw can't be selected
in this way without explicit support from the application.
--
| Darren Salt | ds@youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | Acorn | nr. Ashington,
| Risc PC, Spec +3, | ds@zap,uk,eu,org ** anti-UCE | Club | Northumberland
| A3010, BBC M128 | arcsalt@spuddy,mew,co,uk | NE | Toon Army
| Retrocomputing: a PC card in a Risc PC
The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of who to blame it on.
Martin Kaletsch
> > Qfiler installed wich is quite good-something like that as part of RO...
> >
>
> Now please do not shoot me or any thing like that but I would like to be able
> to get away with not using the mouse like you can in windows as I find this
> can sometimes make navigating a lot faster.
That was more or les what I had in mind, but I didn't want to use *that*
comparison ;-)
By the way, what about something like AltTab or coolswitch as standard?
(These collide a bit with !Browse)
--
*****************************************************************************
* Martin Kaletsch * This mail was written on an *
************************************** Acorn RiscPC *
* kale...@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de****************************************
* Kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de * pgp-key available *
*****************************************************************************
Sometimes I dream of sleepiness, sometimes I feel like I'm alive.
Martin Kaletsch
I always thought that the best way to deal with this was to remove the
support for the video stuff from the kernel so that different drivers can be
used. (The usual PC-way)
One of the drivers could then be for the old VIDC, so that the same kernel
can be used for old and new machines.
Then drivers for this or that board could be supplied from third parties and
it was no imediate concern for RISCOS to choose a special hardware.
--
*****************************************************************************
* Martin Kaletsch * This mail was written on an *
************************************** Acorn RiscPC *
* kale...@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de****************************************
* Kale...@mathematik.uni-marburg.de * pgp-key available *
*****************************************************************************
I have reached these lands but newly from an ultimate dim Thule
Mark Gillman
<URL:mailto:snow...@therealm.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> If we're talking about a single 3rd party graphics card may I sugest waiting
> for the PowerVR 2D/3D card to be released. A real stormer by all accounts.
> If you don't believe me, find a DreamCast. :-)
Pah. I'd rather have a couple of those Graphics Synthesisers the PSX2
is going to have, if that's all the same to you :-)
BTW, just to hack off those who are still waiting for FP; have you
seen the claimed performance for PSX2? 6.2GFLOPS.....
--
Mark Gillman
Earth is full. Go home.
Kevin Bagust
Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> Now we are talking about a RO4 wishlist, we should maybe also discuss
> the hardware.
> For example if the VIDC code is ripped out (RO5?) later
> this year, we need another videoprocessor.
> Maybe it would be best to support only one major supplier of
> videocards. Maybe even one type of video card. I suggest the Diamond
> Viper 770 Good 2D and 3D performance.
> I don't intend to start a 'pre-Phoebe thread but I think some things
> need to be considered in the OS design right now.
> For example good graphics cards use 2/4x AGP now. By the time the new
> RPC is released that will be the standard (and cheaper)
> A good video card can aloso solve some CPU power problems.
> The Viper cards for example have a hardware MPEG decoder on board.
I think this would be a bad idea. It would be much better to define and
publish an abstraction layer between RISC-OS and the graphics card. Then
implement the hardware drivers as a module. This would allow for support
for the VIDC, a standard graphics card, or any graphics card that someone
wants to write a driver for. If they go for supporting just one make of
graphics card, in a couple of years when the next generation of graphics
cards come out, they will be in the same position that they are in now of
having to rewrite RISC-OS to support a new graphics cards.
Kevin
--
Kevin Bagust
ke...@bagust.freeserve.co.uk
Gary Jones
<URL:mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk> wrote:
<<snipped>>
> I'd actually like to see a selection of sets of desktop
> tools, icons etc. to make RISC OS more customisable. How about some
> nice sounds and things? Also, bundled software might be useful, such as
> Advance, Fresco (or Browse if they getthe rights) and the stuff supplied
> with the J233/WebWizard.
>
What about a decent backup utility included within Apps? I've yet
to find anything that's satisfactory for RISC OS.
Also... a file recycler/waste basket.
Please *fix* the Save Box from disappearing when you click
elsewhere before saving a file! Alternatively, implement save
file in root of a drive when a file is dropped on it's icon...
particularly for RamDisc.
Talking of RamDisc... please can it be resizable when files are
stored there.
Cheers
Gary
--
Gary Jones mailto:gmj...@cwcom.net
STILL using the Acorn Risc PC 700
Rob Davison
Stephen Crocker <cr...@crok.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Before being shot for writing message <ant27030284ft$G...@jim.ukonline.co.uk>
> Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
[snip]
> > (am i the only person who uses CFS?)
> Nope!
<fx: shudders> It'll all end in tears, believe me...
> > or could open a second-tier iconbar where utilities such as Blinds
> > and Keystroke could live.
> An interesting idea...
yeah, or a vertical iconbar. Trouble is, apps tend to use hardwired Y
coordinates for opening their iconbar menus...
>
> > -- partitions of a drive should not appear as additional drives. after
> > all they are more like huge folders.
> I see your point. Something like Cumana's stackable drive icons,
> perhaps?
That'd be nice.
> > other things i'd like:
> > -- PCA.
> Isn't that that 3D...
No.
> ...thing by Clares?
Yes. :-)
Its a sort of OLE-2 style system. The idea is to allow common objects
like sprites, drawfiles and text to be accessed by more than one program
at once - so a sprite could be edited in a DTP frame without you having
to export it to an editor, modify it and drop it back in.
The original idea has expanded somewhat to allow complete programs to be
made up of PCA 'tools' - sort of like the ArtWorks system except tools
are much easier to write, are available even if not running, can be in
any language and *all* tools work with any program that supports the
protocol.
Thats the idea, anyway. More (badly outdated) info on my website.
> > -- a monitor-calibration utility (like the one from Photodesk or the one
> > that will come with Vantage) combined with the displaymanager (rather
> > than taking up two places on the iconbar). a single-click method of
> > swapping between calibrated and ordinary desktop display. (better yet,
> > improve the desktop palette so it remains useful in calibrated display.)
System level colour calibration is long overdue. Doing it properly isn't
a minor job though...
> > -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> > so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
AKA Iclear. For what its worth, I find Ctrl-U is no problem (you're
moving to the keyboard to type a new name anyway...)
> > -- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding other
> > occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
> If all writable icons behaved just like text in Edit and used the
> universal clipboard, I'd be _very_ happy!
There are various patches that do this. Again, its something that has
never personally caused me any grief...
> > -- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
> Some programs already do this. It might be hard to integrate a new
> system with these.
Any decent ones have this as an option that can be turned off...
> > -- when you create a new directory, its window opens.
> Hmmm...
Yeuch. If its to be done, make it configurable.
> > -- error messages automatically log to a disk file, rather than having
> > to copy down those awkward exception address numbers with a pencil.
> There is a module which does this. I think it was on a recent AU cover
> disc. However, there's the problem of big log files...
...and errors related to file writes. :-)
> > -- just as Return does the same as Select-clicking a "moated" OK box,
> > let Enter act like Adjust-click: do the action but keep dialog open.
> Erm... They're both the same, aren't they?
Not necessarily. Hmmm. Thats a nice idea.
> > -- commas (or spaces) to make 19279165 readable at a glance when
> > you do a Count.
> Yes...
Or better still, 18.38MB
- again, make it a configure option.
> > -- Pinboard "save as" dialog remembers where present file came from.
> Eh?
...put pinboard out to pasture.
Include Larger (or something similar) instead.
> > -- F3 works in Paint. ANY keys work in Paint.
Paint is great at what it does but wouldn't you like...
an undo?
Bezier curves?
The ability to paint with any drawfile (at any scale and angle)
Soft, semi transparent brushes?
Interpolated painting?
Filters? (sharpen, smooth, emboss etc.)
Textures?
Antialiased rotation?
Antialiased rescale?
Cut'n paste of an irregular area (with drop shadow and opacity)?
Multi line antialised text?
Global clipboard support?
GIF/JPEG load and save?
...you get the idea I'm sure.
> PCA Paint.
> Hmmm... I had no idea it was so limited...
<cryptic comment>
I'm working on that...or at least I should be...
</cryptic comment>
> > -- when typing in a subsubmenu, like "Set type", a slight unintentional
> > jarring of the mouse does not disappear your field.
> Or clicking on it!
Played with *Configure WimpMenuDragDelay ?
Can't say I like it much...
*H. WIMPMENUDR.
==> Help on keyword WimpMenuDragDelay
*Configure WimpMenuDragDelay sets the time in 1/10 second units for which
menu activity is disabled after a menu has been automatically opened.
This enables the pointer to move over other menu entries without
cancelling the submenu. Syntax: *Configure WimpMenuDragDelay <delay>
Rob.
--
Rob Davison.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7320
If you can't laugh at yourself, someone else is going to do it for you, and
you're not going to enjoy it nearly as much.
Matthew Hambley
> Before being shot for writing message <ant27030284ft$G...@jim.ukonline.co.uk>
> Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> > other things i'd like:
> > -- PCA.
> Isn't that that 3D thing by Clares?
No, it's Plugin Complient Applications (or some similar thing) which allows
an OLE like embeded editing functionality. I believe there was some talk of
it being part of ROS4.
> > -- modem drivers and call-rate tables common to all apps that use them,
> > like printer drivers.
> But how could you ensure that people use those drivers? Loads of people
> have written diallers, some of which are no longer developed, and all of
> them use their own drivers.
We already have the serial block drivers but I don't think that's what your
talking about.
Jim Nagel
by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
-- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
R> AKA Iclear. For what its worth, I find Ctrl-U is no problem (you're
moving to the keyboard to type a new name anyway...)
Ctrl-U isnt an obvious keystroke for new users. it annoys me as a
touch-typist because it's an awkward reach for the left hand when
the right is on its way back from the mouse. and i think it's my heavy-
handed doing of Ctr-U that often causes the mouse to shift an unintentional
fraction, thereby causing the "writable icon" (i HATE that bit of jargon!
another wish: rename it as writable "field" or somethingin the big book)ł
to disappear.
-- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding otherž
occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
R> There are various patches that do this. Again, it's something that has
never personally caused me any grief...
i do a lot of importing of foreign text files, and it's a real pain to have
to use !Chars or !Mousky and hunt for the funny character, then
type its wretched *Ascii number*, for goodness sake, into the Find box
(the dialog disappears if you click in !Chars, can you believe.)
-- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
S> Some programs already do this. It might be hard to integrate a new
system with these.
R> Any decent ones have this as an option that can be turned off...
the filer already prevents you creating a new directory with the same
name as an existing object, or a file with the same name as an existing dir,
so why not warn me if i try to create a file with same name as existing file?
i have several times come a-cropper when i quickly save notes taken by phone
or something grabbed fast while online, and find i've overwritten something.
i want to do a major reorganization of my harddrive, and don't want to have
to check all the time whether filename already exists in the directory i want
to shift something into.
-- when you create a new directory, its window opens.
S> Hmmm...
R> Yeuch. If its to be done, make it configurable.
my usual reason for creating a new subdirectory is to put something in it.
it's annoying to create it, then have to scroll the main directory to hunt it,
then open it.
-- commas (or spaces) to make 19279165 readable at a glance when
you do a Count.
R> Or better still, 18.38MB - again, make it a configure option.
i often want the exact number of bytes, e.g. when i send a file to the Shopper
office, so they can know it arrived exact.
-- Pinboard "save as" dialog remembers where present file came from.
S> Eh?
i make a change to my usual Pinboard that loaded at bootup.
its Save box shows only default filename, rather than pathname it came from.
...put pinboard out to pasture.
Include Larger (or something similar) instead.
-- PCA Paint.
R> <cryptic comment>
I'm working on that...or at least I should be...
</cryptic comment>
people may have forgotten that PCA Paint was going to come with Phoebe.
it would be great to see it now with RiscOS4, because i think the best way
of explaining to people the potential of PCA is to get a widespread taste
and wish you success, Rob.
Sendu Bala
there could explain one or two things...
: 512Mb SDRAM no VRAM
This must be bad right? Is there any reason that no VRAM might be a
good thing, or at least an acceptable thing?
: Video monitor output 1800x1400 full colour
: 256bit (4 times the bandwidth of Phoebe)
: Audio/Visual expansion connector
: Video out, commercial quality
: Four channels of real audio/video
I'm not sure if I should be druling with excitement, pleased, or
dissapointed. Though 4x bandwidth sounds great to be sure. What
exactly does the 256bit bit mean? How many bits does the current RPC
have for its gfx system? How does the 1800x1400 resoltion compare to
current PCs?
Any ideas on what that expanion connector might be for? Adding 3d
acceleration??
Four channels of... anyone wanna explain the significance of that?
Why would you want 4 channels of video? How would that work?
I would have thought that, even if the rest was utter crap, then at
least the video spec of Millipedes board would blow the competition
out of the water... does it?
: 66MHz memory clock
This sounds a little low? Comments...
And in case you havn't seen them, here are the rest of the specs:
: Mechanically compatible with Risc PC
: SA variant soldered to mother board
: 100base Ethernet
: Enhanced IDE interface
: Retention of present podule bus
: No PCI support or USB and SCSI
: No custom chips ie IMOD and VIDC, two FPGAs.
: Midi in/out
: Support for 16 MHz PC cards
:
: Trying to get a demo ready for Wakefield show
: End of year shippable
: Price approaching 1000.00 UKP [a guess]
--
Sendu Bala se...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk | http://www.sbs-net.demon.co.uk/
Tori Amos, Babylon5, DNA and my SA RPC
"If life gets any better than this, I'll be genuinely surprised"
Simon John
Sendu Bala <se...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> I was looking at the specs for Millipedes MB, and I hope someone out
> there could explain one or two things...
> : 512Mb SDRAM no VRAM
> This must be bad right? Is there any reason that no VRAM might be a
> good thing, or at least an acceptable thing?
SDRAM is quicker than VRAM - it doesn't mean there isn't any video memory, it
just uses the main RAM I guess (like the A7000+ using EDO RAM).
This means that if you upgrade to 512Mb SDRAM, you also upgrade the amount of
RAM available to video I guess.
> : Video monitor output 1800x1400 full colour
> : 256bit (4 times the bandwidth of Phoebe)
> : Audio/Visual expansion connector
> : Video out, commercial quality
> : Four channels of real audio/video
> I'm not sure if I should be druling with excitement, pleased, or
> dissapointed. Though 4x bandwidth sounds great to be sure. What
> exactly does the 256bit bit mean? How many bits does the current RPC
> have for its gfx system?
Dunno.
> How does the 1800x1400 resoltion compare to current PCs?
About the same as top-of-the-range cards/monitors/eyes can handle.
> Any ideas on what that expanion connector might be for? Adding 3d
> acceleration??
Something like that probably (APEX?)
> Four channels of... anyone wanna explain the significance of that?
> Why would you want 4 channels of video? How would that work?
> I would have thought that, even if the rest was utter crap, then at
> least the video spec of Millipedes board would blow the competition
> out of the water... does it?
Not up to top-of-the-range PC graphics cards like Voodoo2/Matrox etc.
> : 66MHz memory clock
> This sounds a little low? Comments...
Standard ATM, 100MHz PC100 RAM is much more expensive than 66MHz SDRAM,
better than Phoebe's 64MHz bus.
> And in case you havn't seen them, here are the rest of the specs:
> : Mechanically compatible with Risc PC
Well, yeah.
> : SA variant soldered to mother board
Rev-T will be best, although I wonder if we could put our own J/K/S's on?
> : 100base Ethernet
100b - nice - T/2?
> : Enhanced IDE interface
4 way PIO mode 4 at last.
> : Retention of present podule bus
Sounds painful (at least we don't have to chuck everything out).
> : No PCI support or USB and SCSI
Someone must make a USB card - if we're not going to get PCI - to get some
new hardware available quick to take advantage of the new m/b.
> : No custom chips ie IMOD and VIDC, two FPGAs.
Yay!
> : Midi in/out
Nice. Thru?
> : Support for 16 MHz PC cards
What do you mean? PC Cards as in 5x86/133's or ISA?
> : Trying to get a demo ready for Wakefield show
As RO4.
> : End of year shippable
Yay!
> : Price approaching 1000.00 UKP [a guess]
Nasty :-(
BTW, where did this come from (website? - have to look....)
--
Simon E. John
Email: sim...@argonet.co.uk
Also: sim...@ukgateway.net
And: si...@sejohn.freeserve.co.uk
Soon: si...@suit-u-sir.com
Help, I'm being repressed!
dgs
> : 66MHz memory clock
>
> This sounds a little low? Comments...
It ain't fast (the same as Phoebe), but on the other hand it's
256-bit rather than 32-bit, which is quite a difference
(that's the "4x").
dgs
Simon John <sim...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> BTW, where did this come from (website? - have to look....)
It's from a report written by a representative at the meeting
held on the 19th March. The info given there was direct from
Millipede themselves (in person).
N.B. I didn't post it here :-)
Steve Fryatt
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
> -- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding otherž
> occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
>
> R> There are various patches that do this. Again, it's something that has
> never personally caused me any grief...
>
> i do a lot of importing of foreign text files, and it's a real pain to have
> to use !Chars or !Mousky and hunt for the funny character, then
> type its wretched *Ascii number*, for goodness sake, into the Find box
> (the dialog disappears if you click in !Chars, can you believe.)
You can point to the character in !Chars and press Shift, rather than
clicking, to insert it in the dialogue box. Similar keys often work in the
other Chars like apps.
Steve
--
Steve Fryatt
dgs
> : Price approaching 1000.00 UKP [a guess]
Just to clarify, that was *not* the guess of Richard from Millipede,
that was the guess of the person writing the account of the meeting...
Sendu Bala
<URL:mailto:d...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <48e9eee5...@argonet.co.uk>,
> Simon John <sim...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > BTW, where did this come from (website? - have to look....)
>
> It's from a report written by a representative at the meeting
> held on the 19th March. The info given there was direct from
> Millipede themselves (in person).
Yeah, to make it clear:
: Richard Jozefowski <ric...@millipede.co.uk> the MD of Millipede
: then gave us a talk on his thoughts and proposals for a Risc PC
: motherboard replacement.
And, if I understand it correctly, the person who wrote the above,
and who guessed at the cost of the board, was Barry Thompson from
DARC (though just in case Barry get's in trouble, it wasn't him who
released his notes)... what is 'DARC'?
The link to the text file of the full report by Barry was posted to
csa.misc a little while ago, under a different topic. It mainly talks
about RISC OS 4 stuff.
dgs
Sendu Bala <se...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> And, if I understand it correctly, the person who wrote the above,
> and who guessed at the cost of the board, was Barry Thompson from
> DARC (though just in case Barry get's in trouble, it wasn't him who
> released his notes)... what is 'DARC'?
Derbyshire Acorn Risc Club.
Nico ter Haar
<URL:mailto:pa...@pstewart.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <ant27081...@hoppy.net>
> Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
> >
> > Now we are talking about a RO4 wishlist, we should maybe also discuss the
> > hardware.
> > For example if the VIDC code is ripped out (RO5?) later this year, we need
> > another videoprocessor.
> > Maybe it would be best to support only one major supplier of videocards.
> > Maybe even one type of video card. I suggest the Diamond Viper 770
> > Good 2D and 3D performance.
> > I don't intend to start a 'pre-Phoebe thread but I think some things need
> > to be considered in the OS design right now.
> > For example good graphics cards use 2/4x AGP now. By the time the new
> > RPC is released that will be the standard (and cheaper)
> > A good video card can aloso solve some CPU power problems.
> > The Viper cards for example have a hardware MPEG decoder on board.
> >
> >
> This would result in A7000's and RPC's not being supported by RO5.
> Surely they will have to leave in support for these machines.
>
If they leave support we get another stone around the neck, ROS4.1/2/3
etc. could be used for smaller changes while ROS5 is only suitable for the
new machines.
Nico
--
Nico ter Haar, StrongARM 202MHz at home!
----> Acorn FoonGrep2 - supporting the "1998 CDfoons" !
mailto:ni...@neptune.demon.nl http://www.neptune.demon.nl/
John Cartmell
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
[R=comment from Rob Davidson]
> -- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding otherfi
> occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
> R> There are various patches that do this. Again, it's something that
> has never personally caused me any grief...
> i do a lot of importing of foreign text files, and it's a real pain to
> have to use !Chars or !Mousky and hunt for the funny character, then
> type its wretched *Ascii number*, for goodness sake, into the Find box
> (the dialog disappears if you click in !Chars, can you believe.)
How about a character picker? - pressing a key combination produces a
bubble indicating the ASCII number of the character under the pointer and
(optionally) copies the character into the clipboard.
--
John Cartmell - Manchester UK
using a RiscPC & StrongARM - still the best way to understand technology
pstewart
But what about the existing userbase? This is the problem. Do we just
say RO5 is so different that it will not run on older hardware, so
different that developers have to write two versions of their software
RO5 only and RO3/4 versions. The cost would stifle new software
development.
On the other hand a 32bit RO5 that did not support older hardware would
also have its advantage's. However, the trick is going to be getting
enough people to upgrade to a new system that has RO5 in it and to get
developers to develop RO5 only products i.e. attempt to force people to
upgrade like they do in the PC world (the price has go to be right).
Jeremy Poulter
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
>
>
> -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
>
> R> AKA Iclear. For what its worth, I find Ctrl-U is no problem (you're
> moving to the keyboard to type a new name anyway...)
>
I'm sure it is Ctrl-U for historical reasons. I'm sure Ascii code 21 (Ctrl-U)
is Clare line or something like that. Havn't got an Ascii table to hand so I
could be talkin out my rear end!!!
--
+------------------------------------------------+
| Jeremy Poulter Station Manager, B1000 |
| jeremy....@unforgettable.com |
| http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/jeremy.poulter /
+-----------------------------------------------'
David
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
> -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is
> awkward).
No. I often append a letter/number to a default filename. If it
disappears when I start typing, I have to type more.
> R> AKA Iclear. For what its worth, I find Ctrl-U is no problem (you're
> moving to the keyboard to type a new name anyway...)
> Ctrl-U isnt an obvious keystroke for new users. it annoys me as a
> touch-typist because it's an awkward reach for the left hand when the
> right is on its way back from the mouse. and i think it's my heavy-
> handed doing of Ctr-U that often causes the mouse to shift an
> unintentional fraction, thereby causing the "writable icon" (i HATE
> that bit of jargon! another wish: rename it as writable "field" or
> somethingin the big book)ł to disappear.
Anything which deletes shouldn't be too easy - unless there's an
'undo'. Now, there's an idea for writable icons...
> -- cut and paste between dialog boxes and text (e.g. finding other
> occurrences of a string of gobbledygook in imported text).
> R> There are various patches that do this. Again, it's something that
> > never personally caused me any grief...
> i do a lot of importing of foreign text files, and it's a real pain
> to have to use !Chars or !Mousky and hunt for the funny character,
> then type its wretched *Ascii number*, for goodness sake, into the
> Find box (the dialog disappears if you click in !Chars, can you
> believe.)
Use shift. I use !Mousky in preference to !Chars but it's much the
same. What is needed in an improved !Chars is the ability to perform
control operations - backspace, delete, etc.
> -- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
> S> Some programs already do this. It might be hard to integrate a new
> system with these.
> R> Any decent ones have this as an option that can be turned off...
> the filer already prevents you creating a new directory with the same
> name as an existing object, or a file with the same name as an
> existing dir, so why not warn me if i try to create a file with same
> name as existing file? i have several times come a-cropper when i
> quickly save notes taken by phone or something grabbed fast while
> online, and find i've overwritten something. i want to do a major
> reorganization of my harddrive, and don't want to have to check all
> the time whether filename already exists in the directory i want to
> shift something into.
How about a warning box coming up which says that the object 'XXX'
exists - but which also gives you the option to save it as 'XXXa' (or
'XXXb', etc., which the Filer has determined does not yet exist) at the
click of a mouse button or return key?
> -- when you create a new directory, its window opens.
> S> Hmmm...
> R> Yeuch. If its to be done, make it configurable.
> my usual reason for creating a new subdirectory is to put something
> in it. it's annoying to create it, then have to scroll the main
> directory to hunt it, then open it.
Logical. You are more likely than not to want a new directory be open.
> -- commas (or spaces) to make 19279165 readable at a glance when
> you do a Count.
> R> Or better still, 18.38MB - again, make it a configure option.
> i often want the exact number of bytes, e.g. when i send a file to
> the Shopper office, so they can know it arrived exact.
I think RO4 should use Sergio Monesi's !RealCount which not only gives
exact bytes, comma'd, but also the 'K' or 'M' value and the various
wasted amounts.
[snip rest]
--
/ O \ David - da...@dacha.freeuk.com - and - da...@zetnet.co.uk
/ N N \ A Yorkshire Dialect Society page; Backgrounds; Puzzles;
/ F R U \ Verse & Very Much Worse; Humour; Freebies; Astrology;
/ A R T S \ Entirely Frameless! - http://home.freeuk.net/dacha/
Tat tvam asi
Tony Houghton
> In article <ant28155...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk>,
> Sendu Bala <se...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > I was looking at the specs for Millipedes MB, and I hope someone out
> > there could explain one or two things...
>
> > : 512Mb SDRAM no VRAM
>
> > This must be bad right? Is there any reason that no VRAM might be a
> > good thing, or at least an acceptable thing?
>
> SDRAM is quicker than VRAM - it doesn't mean there isn't any video memory, it
> just uses the main RAM I guess (like the A7000+ using EDO RAM).
But it does mean that the system slows down if you try to use high
resolutions etc. The maximum an A7000+ can manage is modes taking 1MB
RAM, and even then only at slow refresh rates. Even with SDRAM I don't
see how they can get anything more than 4MB, and it would slow the
system down too. So it sounds not even as good as Phoebe in that
respect :-(.
Hang on, I see mention of 256-bit buses further down thread. That
would help enormously, but how "wide" are SDRAM SIMMs? I was kind of
under the impression that standard PC ones are 64-bit. Will the
Millipede board need sets of 4 standard ones, or special wider ones
which may be rarer and more expensive (although not as expensive as
buying multiple 64-bit ones)?
--
TH * http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~tonyh/
Supporting CUT: http://www.unmetered.org.uk/
John Surcombe
direction then what would really be good is some type of database
support in the operating system. At the moment there isn't much
standardised abstraction of databases of the type found in Windows
with ODBC - we don't even have any kind of registry (while I would
agree that the Windows registry of course is a complete mess, the
idea behind it is quite a lot more sound than a 'Choices'
directory...), no real SQL support to speak of and certainly no way
of talking to network database servers like Microsoft's or
Oracle's.
It doesn't have to be anything big - all it really needs at the
basic level is some kind of very limited loopback database server,
an abstraction layer and bags and bags of room for expansion. What
it actually does is less important than the fact that it's in the
operating system.
--
Cheers now, John
André Timmermans
> [snip]
> > * NoPaint [Unconfirmed]
>
> Experimentation suggests export only.
I Imported sprites from Techwriter without any problem.
André
Tim Fountain
wrote:
> In article <ant281305bc8t$G...@jim.ukonline.co.uk>,
> Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> > expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> > by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
>
>
> > -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> > so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is
> > awkward).
>
> No. I often append a letter/number to a default filename. If it
> disappears when I start typing, I have to type more.
Or you could just press the right cursor key, and then your
number/letter.
--
Tim Fountain (t...@markgf.demon.co.uk)
http://www.markgf.demon.co.uk/
Steven Sykes
<URL:mailto:pa...@pstewart.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> But what about the existing userbase? This is the problem. Do we just
> say RO5 is so different that it will not run on older hardware, so
> different that developers have to write two versions of their software
> RO5 only and RO3/4 versions. The cost would stifle new software
> development.
It certainly would be a problem. When Atari released the STE, no one
supported its extra joysticks and enhanced graphics etc because the ST
was a very established machine and there weren't enough STEs around to
warrant developing a STE version.
Cheers,
--
Steven
Webmaster of WACC - Wellington Acorn Computer Club
WACC pages: http://www.paradise.net.nz/~pbrowne/WACC/
Phone: (03) 358-5601 or (025) 908-448
My pages: http://www.paradise.net.nz/~acorn/
... "Bother", said Pooh, as the pin fell out the grenade
Steven Sykes
<URL:mailto:jeremy....@unforgettable.com> wrote:
> In message <ant281305bc8t$G...@jim.ukonline.co.uk>
> Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
>
> > expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> > by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
> >
> >
> > so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
> >
> > moving to the keyboard to type a new name anyway...)
> >
>
> is Clare line or something like that. Havn't got an Ascii table to hand so I
> could be talkin out my rear end!!!
It's also Ctrl-U in UNIX to clear a line, and Acorn are lovers of UNIX!
Dickon Hood
Steven Sykes <nos...@thankyou.verymuch> wrote:
: In article <824b11ea48%Jer...@golden.argonet.co.uk>, Jeremy Poulter
: <URL:mailto:jeremy....@unforgettable.com> wrote:
: > I'm sure it is Ctrl-U for historical reasons. I'm sure Ascii code 21
: > (Ctrl-U) is Clare line or something like that. Havn't got an Ascii table
: > to hand so I could be talkin out my rear end!!!
: It's also Ctrl-U in UNIX to clear a line, and Acorn are lovers of UNIX!
Well, given the total lack of any other server-class OS (barring the moribund
VMS), you can't blame them... Interesting to see how little things have
changed, really. Back in the 80s you had Unix and VMS as the two server
OSes, and now you have Unix and a travesty of a VMS-alike. Only one of which
is anywhere near server-class...
--
Dickon Hood
Due to binaries posted to non-binary newsgroups, my .sig is
temporarily unavailable. Normal service will be resumed as soon as
possible. We apologise for the inconvenience in the mean time.
Glyn Royds
Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> i do a lot of importing of foreign text files, and it's a real pain to
> have to use !Chars or !Mousky and hunt for the funny character, then
> type its wretched *Ascii number*, for goodness sake, into the Find box
> (the dialog disappears if you click in !Chars, can you believe.)
I think you'll find that pressing the SHIFT key whilst over a char in
the !Chars display will pass that key to the input buffer. Shift won't
close even Menu style dialogues. It's probably a case of RTFM here.
TTFN, Glyn.
--
_ __ __ All views expressed in news postings are
/ '/ __ /_/__ __//_ my own and may have no relation whatsoever
/_///_// / / |/_//_//_/__/ to the views of my employer.
,_/ ,_/ ,_/ ICQ: 28543429
Michael Davey - Sun UK Support Engineer
>
> In message <48e814d...@argonet.co.uk>
> Rey Cobham <fo...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Finally, the icon bar should be a little more flexible IMHO. I don't need
> > it to autohide or whatever. But being able to use smaller icons for the
> > HD, CDs and applications, and perhaps being able to double it up so as to
> > prevent the need to scroll miles when I'm running several proggies at once
> > -it's a minor gripe but...
>
> Filer icons have always bugged me a little bit as they occupy too much real
> estate. In my case some of the lesser used drives (eg floppy, ShareFS,
> Syquest) could be banished to a one-click-away window or something. I would
> like something like a single filer icon with a pop-up list of drives
> (including remote mounts) and the option to have some of them permanent icon
> bar inhabitants. I'll refrain from drawing comparisons to a certain PC OS but
> there must be a practical compromise!
How about implementing FNS/XFN, so that all file systems fit into a
single hierarchy, including remote machines and remote mounts?
--
Mike
Malo Hautus
Mark Moxon wrote:
> Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that makes
> me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
>
> That's "most". Not "all". :-)
In particular, it sometimes rather frustrating not te be able to
copy-and-paste (or drag?) text to and from a writable icon. Also, the
method used on other systems, where an opened writable icon is
automatically selected, so that you don't have to press ^U, is very
convenient.
Malo Hautus
Michael Davey - Sun UK Support Engineer
>
> In article <ant25105...@xmm4.xra.le.ac.uk>, Liam Gretton
> <URL:mailto:l...@star.le.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > I think !Printers could do with one iconbar icon which opens a window with
> > all the available printers though. Until a recent rationalisation exercise,
> > I had seven printers configured, of which I only used one from day to day.
>
> I agree with that one! My machine here at work has nine printers installed,
> which fills the icon bar on it's own - not including my 15 Omniclient
> mounts.... :-)
The NS2 had a sub iconbar feature. When you clicked a certain icon on
the main iconbar, the iconbar was replaced with another iconbar with
different icons. They called the iconbar a toolbar, thou.
The same could be used in riscos, clicking the disks icon would bring up
the disks iconbar with HD4, HD5, Floppy0, etc.
Another bar could be used for printers.
--
Mike
Malo Hautus
Rey Cobham wrote:
>
> In article <7dd3t2$dfa$1...@gxsn.com>,
> Mark Moxon <ma...@xara.com> wrote:
>..
> > Oh, for a global clipboard. I use it constantly on my PC, and miss it
> > terribly when I switch to my Risc PC. It's one of those features that
> > makes me forgive Windows most of its eccentricities...
> > That's "most". Not "all". :-)
>
> I missed that one and I'd have to agree that is one of the few good points
> of Gates' OS. This feature must surely make it to RO at some point!
Let's get the history straight! BG seems to get credit for a lot of
things he didn't do. The global clipboard was used on the Macintosh and
the NeXT long before Windows 95.
So, I wouldn't call this a good point of Gates' OS. We can only say that
this was one of the (few?) wrong choices in RISC OS.
Malo
Chris Evans
<URL:mailto:to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
> In <48e9eee5...@argonet.co.uk>, Simon John <sim...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > In article <ant28155...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk>,
> > Sendu Bala <se...@sbs-net.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > > I was looking at the specs for Millipedes MB, and I hope someone out
> > > there could explain one or two things...
> >
> > > : 512Mb SDRAM no VRAM
> >
> > > This must be bad right? Is there any reason that no VRAM might be a
> > > good thing, or at least an acceptable thing?
> >
> > SDRAM is quicker than VRAM - it doesn't mean there isn't any video memory, it
> > just uses the main RAM I guess (like the A7000+ using EDO RAM).
>
> But it does mean that the system slows down if you try to use high
> resolutions etc. The maximum an A7000+ can manage is modes taking 1MB
> RAM, and even then only at slow refresh rates. Even with SDRAM I don't
> see how they can get anything more than 4MB, and it would slow the
> system down too. So it sounds not even as good as Phoebe in that
> respect :-(.
A. SDRAM is much faster than EDO
B. I belive VRAM is being phased out as few people use it anymore and Millipede
was trying not to build in obsolete parts!
> Hang on, I see mention of 256-bit buses further down thread. That
> would help enormously, but how "wide" are SDRAM SIMMs? I was kind of
> under the impression that standard PC ones are 64-bit. Will the
> Millipede board need sets of 4 standard ones, or special wider ones
> which may be rarer and more expensive (although not as expensive as
> buying multiple 64-bit ones)?
The RAM according to a previous informed posting would be SODIMM
I think that is is Small Outline DIMM (SDRAM)
Chris Evans
--
CJE Micro's / NCS 'Acorn Centre of Technology'
Telephone: (01903) 523222 Fax: (01903) 523679
ch...@cje.co.uk http://www.cje.co.uk/
78 Brighton Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 2EN.
Stuart Halliday
the cited author.]
In article <ant26133...@cje.local>, ch...@cje.co.uk says...
> In article <MPG.1165657c4...@news.ecs.local>, Stuart Halliday
> <URL:mailto:stu...@cybervillage.co.removethisfirst.uk> wrote:
> > I think Keystroke, Undelete and softRAID should be apart of RISC OS 4?
>
> RiscOS Ltd would appreciate a generous gift! I should think.
Who do you suggest I speak to?
Keystroke has been out since 1992 and has remained very popular and is
very stable.
So I'm willing to give it to RISC OS Ltd if they want it.
Undelete and softRAID could be had for very little.
But I would need to discuss things with their repective authors.
--
Stuart Halliday
Acorn Cybervillage
http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/
Martin
<jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> -- Save As box comes up with default filename already highlighted,
> so that whatever you type will replace the default (Ctrl-U is awkward).
I found a little trick a while back to replace the leafname when no path
name exists. If you open up a save box with UNTITILED in it and type
.NewName so it becomes UNTITILED.NewName and drag it to a filer window
to same, it will be saved under the name NewName and save on the Ctrl-U.
Martin Dann
Chris Evans
<URL:mailto:ke...@bagust.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <ant27081...@hoppy.net>,
> Tony Hopstaken <webr...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
> > Now we are talking about a RO4 wishlist, we should maybe also discuss
> > the hardware.
> > For example if the VIDC code is ripped out (RO5?) later
> > this year, we need another videoprocessor.
> > Maybe it would be best to support only one major supplier of
> > videocards. Maybe even one type of video card. I suggest the Diamond
> > Viper 770 Good 2D and 3D performance.
> > I don't intend to start a 'pre-Phoebe thread but I think some things
> > need to be considered in the OS design right now.
> > For example good graphics cards use 2/4x AGP now. By the time the new
> > RPC is released that will be the standard (and cheaper)
> > A good video card can aloso solve some CPU power problems.
> > The Viper cards for example have a hardware MPEG decoder on board.
>
> publish an abstraction layer between RISC-OS and the graphics card. Then
> implement the hardware drivers as a module. This would allow for support
> for the VIDC, a standard graphics card, or any graphics card that someone
> wants to write a driver for. If they go for supporting just one make of
> graphics card, in a couple of years when the next generation of graphics
> cards come out, they will be in the same position that they are in now of
> having to rewrite RISC-OS to support a new graphics cards.
A hardware driver as a module!
I'm no expert but I think from a quick run down the module list that:-
UtilityModule
WindowManager
Desktop
ColourTrans
DragASprite
Draw
FontManager
GameModes
DisplayManager
SpriteExtend
SpriteUtils
WindowUtils
ColourPicker
ScreenModes
Will/may all have very VIDC dependant code.
Plus of course all the sound & I/O modules will be hardware dependant.
Chris Evans
<URL:mailto:da...@dacha.freeuk.com> wrote:
> In article <ant281305bc8t$G...@jim.ukonline.co.uk>,
> Jim Nagel <jim....@UKonline.co.uk.spamyourself> wrote:
> > expanding reasons behind some of my wishlist items, after comments
> > by Stephen Crocker and Rob Davison:
>
> > -- when saving, a warning if a filename is already used -- PLEASE!
> > S> Some programs already do this. It might be hard to integrate a new
> > system with these.
> > R> Any decent ones have this as an option that can be turned off...
>
> > the filer already prevents you creating a new directory with the same
> > name as an existing object, or a file with the same name as an
> > existing dir, so why not warn me if i try to create a file with same
> > name as existing file? i have several times come a-cropper when i
> > quickly save notes taken by phone or something grabbed fast while
> > online, and find i've overwritten something. i want to do a major
> > reorganization of my harddrive, and don't want to have to check all
> > the time whether filename already exists in the directory i want to
> > shift something into.
>
> How about a warning box coming up which says that the object 'XXX'
> exists - but which also gives you the option to save it as 'XXXa' (or
> 'XXXb', etc., which the Filer has determined does not yet exist) at the
> click of a mouse button or return key?
Any interception would break quite a few programs!
An option to set in compliant programs would get round this!
Fred Bambrough
Gary Jones <gmj...@cwcom.SPAMOFF.net> wrote:
> In article <f8ee79e848%cr...@crok.demon.co.uk>, Stephen Crocker
> <URL:mailto:cr...@crok.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> <<snipped>>
>
> > I'd actually like to see a selection of sets of desktop
> > tools, icons etc. to make RISC OS more customisable. How about some
> > nice sounds and things? Also, bundled software might be useful, such as
> > Advance, Fresco (or Browse if they getthe rights) and the stuff supplied
> > with the J233/WebWizard.
> >
>
> What about a decent backup utility included within Apps? I've yet
> to find anything that's satisfactory for RISC OS.
>
> Also... a file recycler/waste basket.
>
> Please *fix* the Save Box from disappearing when you click
> elsewhere before saving a file! Alternatively, implement save
> file in root of a drive when a file is dropped on it's icon...
> particularly for RamDisc.
>
> Talking of RamDisc... please can it be resizable when files are
> stored there.
Hate to put a damper on things but I rather hope that ROS Ltd have gone
beyond wish lists and fixed (as in cast in stone) ROS4. Time flies as
their intended release date approaches and, over and above all else, I
would like a tested, solid (AFAP) system. Actually, given that Acorn already
had a product, I'm hoping they're doing more on QC than extras. Wasn't that
always the trademark of an 'Acorn' machine?
We're hoping that this is an interim product, aren't we?
--
Fred
PGP key available
Richard Jozefowski
In article <slrn7ftgu...@tonyh.tcp.co.uk>, Tony Houghton
<URL:mailto:to...@tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
> But it does mean that the system slows down if you try to use high
> resolutions etc. The maximum an A7000+ can manage is modes taking 1MB
> RAM, and even then only at slow refresh rates. Even with SDRAM I don't
> see how they can get anything more than 4MB, and it would slow the
> system down too. So it sounds not even as good as Phoebe in that
> respect :-(.
It largely depends upon three factors:
1) Raw memory bandwidth
2) What percentage of this bandwidth is "stolen" by video DMA
3) The length of time taken by each DMA bursts (causing processor access
latency)
We're aiming to have production boards running at a memory speed of 66MHz,
perhaps faster. With a 256 bit bus that's a bandwidth of around 2GB/s, four
times that of Phoebe. Sure, in the highest resolution full colour mode up
to 50% of that bandwidth will be taken by video DMA, that still leaves you
with twice Phoebe bandwidth!
A video DMA burst will take about 20 cycles. The access lumpiness is offset
by an additional write buffer and read ahead logic that buffers 2 cycles of
memory (16 words) between the 256 bit memory and 32 bit processor.
I don't understand the 4MB limit. One of the big ADVANTAGES of shared
memory is that video memory can be traded against program memory. That
means you could have over 500MB dedicated to video memory and, before you
ask, I know of applications that will find that very useful.
> Hang on, I see mention of 256-bit buses further down thread. That
> would help enormously, but how "wide" are SDRAM SIMMs? I was kind of
> under the impression that standard PC ones are 64-bit. Will the
> Millipede board need sets of 4 standard ones, or special wider ones
> which may be rarer and more expensive (although not as expensive as
> buying multiple 64-bit ones)?
Four SODIMM modules (the type you get in portables) will be needed to obtain
the highest resolution full colour modes. We may support a two module
configuration for the mere 1280x1024 full colour mode but still allowing up
to about 1800x1400 in sixteen bit per pixel mode. These modules are cheap
compared with a 2MB VRAM module for the RISC PC!
Hope to be able to reveal more "offical" information at Wakefield.
--
Richard