RISC OS Select
Introduction
Purchasing RISC OS 4
Joining RISC OS Select
Registered Developers
End User Support
RISC OS Select Q and A
RISC OS Select Features
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Introduction
In the two years since we took over the development of the desktop version of
RISC OS there have been major changes in the RISC OS marketplace. RISCOS Ltd is
adapting to those changes and RISC OS Select is the first result of
those changes.
26 bit versions of RISC OS under the project name of RISC OS 4.5 will in
future be supplied on a yearly subscription basis.
This is similar to the way that yearly maintenance and upgrade schemes are
provided for other major software packages.
From now on RISC OS will be updated on a rolling basis, instead of releasing
a major upgrade every couple of years. The important point to note is that there
is no target for a "Final" release version of RISC OS, since
technology and user requirements will very much dictate what features are, or
are not, added to new versions of RISC OS and hence the RISC OS Select Scheme is
deliberately intended to be fluid in nature.
It is also very important to note that RISC OS Select is a personal
subscription meaning that you may install the software provided under the scheme
onto any machines which you or your family (who are resident at the same
location own). If you have 3 machines at home you do not have to take out 3 RISC
OS Select Subscriptions. If you are a company with greater than 10 machines then
a special price applies.
The advantage of the scheme is that the timescale for fixing bugs and
offering new features will be significantly decreased.
Many people who heard about the Scheme at the Wakefield Show have been
concerned that with the Operating System being soft loaded that it would
therefore be prone to virus attack. We would like to point out that using the
Select Scheme components does not mean you have to remove the current physical
ROM's from the machine and hence in the unlikely event of problems with the new
ROM image you will always be able to return to using the original RISC OS 4
settings.
Future components of RISC OS will be released in two formats:-
1. ROM images which can be soft loaded to replace the existing physical
ROM's
2. Individual modules that can be loaded as part of the Boot sequence.
The new ROM image and modules can be stored on local Hard Disc, on a Network,
or loaded directly from CD. Part of the new ROM image boot sequence will provide
the option to choose which medium you wish to boot from, so that you may for
example wish to keep a backup of your usual Boot sequence on CDR and then
install the new RISC OS Select ROM image and Boot sequence onto your main hard
drive. All Subscribers to RISC OS Select will receive up to 3 CD's per year i.e.
one CD approximately every 4 months. The CD will contain both Beta software and
official release versions. It is anticipated that components which are issued as
Beta on one CD will become official releases on the next CD. Interim components
will also be available from a password protected area of the new RISC OS Select
Web Site. The scheme is suitable both for users who want to be sure of receiving
the latest fixes & official releases and also for users who like to have the
latest experimental modules & features.
(Subscribers to RISC OS Select will be provided with a method whereby they
can choose to just install the release components or else they can try out the
latest features, knowing that they can restore to a known working set-up at any
time. To do this each Select CD will contain a "safe" boot image with
all the released upgrades and patches pre-installed as a working disc image.)
N.B. Users will have to initially purchase RISC OS 4 in ROM either as an upgrade
from RISC OS 3.5/6/7 or else as an integral part of a new computer.
It will NOT be possible to soft load RISC OS Select packages onto anything
other than RISC OS 4.
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Purchasing RISC OS 4
New Users
New users will be have three choices when purchasing RISC OS 4 in the
future.
i) To join the RISC OS Select Scheme for £229. For this they will receive
the current full RISC OS 4 ROM package and a one year subscription to the Select
Scheme.
or
ii) To buy the current RISC OS 4.02 ROM and installation CD for the special
new reduced price of £75. (This will NOT include any bundled applications, such
as Vector, Writer, ImageFS or the new RISC OS Internet Suite)
or
iii) Buy the current full package with bundled applications and Manuals
CD for the new reduced price of £85.
(Users choosing ii) or iii) will not get access to the web site or other
upgrade features of RISC OS Select.)
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RISC OS Select
Users of machines that were supplied with RISC OS 4 will only be able to join
the Select Scheme at the full price of £155, irrespective of when they
purchased their computer. e.g. if you have bought RISC OS 4 as part of a Kinetic
Strong ARM upgrade or with a RiscStation, Risc PC, A7000+ or MicroDigital
Mico.
N.B. All prices are inclusive of VAT.
Overseas subscribers will be charged postage at cost if they wish to receive
CD's. They may optionally choose to only receive updates via the Web Site at a
reduced cost.
Full list of RISC
OS products and prices.
Application forms for the RISC OS Select Scheme are available from the RISCOS Ltd
Web Site at http://www.riscos.com/select/
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Registered Developers
Since the formation of RISCOS Ltd the demands of the current software developers
have been very varied. In a recent survey of developers most of them indicated
that they do not usually need much individual support. In order to provide full
support to those that require it we shall be increasing the fees for Registered
Developers to £500 per 6 months as from 1st June 2001. This will entitle them
to direct contact with the RISC OS Development team. Developers that only need
access to technical documentation will be able to do so by joining the RISC OS
Select Scheme. Anyone that joins the RISC OS Select scheme may also apply to be
become an affiliate Registered Developer. There will be no fee for becoming an
affiliate and they will be able to use the Registered Developers logo. The
Foundation RISC User CD and the RISC OS Products Database Web Site will contain
a database of all Registered Developers, and their products. The only
requirement for becoming an affiliate and having software included on the
database will be that a fully functional version (and any subsequent updates) of
the software is supplied to RISCOS Ltd for evaluation and internal use.
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End User Support
With immediate effect RISCOS Ltd will no longer be offering technical support
for end-users via telephone. Support queries can still be sent to
mailto:support@riscos.com but there will no guarantee of an individual response.
Where appropriate new answers will be added to the RISC OS Knowledge Base at http://support.riscos.com/
Back to the top
RISC OS Select Q and A
Q. Do I have to take out a RISC OS Select Subscription for every machine I
own?
A. NO. The scheme is a personal one and allows you to install the RISC OS Select
software on any machines you own. If you are a business with more than 10
machines then a site wide subscription to Select costs £300 per annum. You will
however have to have bought a separate RISC OS 4 ROM upgrade for each machine
you own, in the first place before joining the Select Scheme. Discounts are
available for bulk purchases of RISC OS 4 ROM's.
Q. What new features will there be in the RISC OS Select Scheme?
A. We have many new features planned for RISC OS 4. It is not possible to state
exactly when any particular new feature or update will appear since the whole
idea of the Select Scheme is to make new items available as soon as possible,
rather then waiting 3-4 years before releasing everything at once. By releasing
a smaller number of items at a time then the testing schedule is made much
easier and those people that like trying out the latest features can do so as
soon as possible.
Q. I don't like the idea of softloads. I want to wait until the proper ROM
release of RISC OS 4.5
A. You will unfortunately have a long wait as there will not be a
"proper" ROM release. The whole idea is that there will be a rolling
scheme of updates. It is possible that there might be new ROM images available
every month from the web site, not just every 4 months on CD, but that will
depend entirely on how long any particular item takes to develop. It was always
intended that RISC OS should be able to be updated on a much more regular basis
than once every couple of years. Unfortunately the problems with obtaining
suitable FlashROMS made that impossible. The softload scheme now allows that to
happen. We want developers and end-users to become a close part of the future
development of RISC OS, and whilst it is not possible to make RISC OS Open
Source as some people would like, by releasing new components as soon as
possible everyone will get the chance to play their part in testing and
improving RISC OS faster than has been possible in the past.
Q. Doesn't making RISC OS softloadable open it up to viruses?
A. NO. You will still have the ROM in the machine, that cannot be altered. The
ROM image will only be able to load over a specific physical ROM. If a virus
attempts to change the ROM image it simply won't load.
Q. Why don't you offer a Monthly payment Scheme?
A. The administration burden and costs of taking and checking monthly payments
are simply too much.
Q. £1,000 is just too much to become a Registered Developer now. Doesn't
this mean you are trying to discourage RISC OS Developers?
A. NO. Virtually all the information that was previously only available to
Registered Developers will now be available as part of the RISC OS Select
Scheme. So for just over half the price of the old Registered Developer Scheme
you now get updated versions of RISC OS effectively for free if you join the
RISC OS Select Scheme. The new Registered Developers Scheme is purely aimed at
Developers who need to have direct contact with the programming team and access
to documentation on specific features that cannot be made public.
Q. £105 per year is too much. If it was more like £50 and we got a
proper set of ROM's at the end of each year I'd be happy!
A. The maintenance and development of RISC OS is unfortunately an expensive
business, and the volumes in which RISC OS is sold, simply doesn't make sense at
other prices. As many people have pointed out, Acorn used to subsidize their
software development from the hardware sales. Since RISCOS Ltd doesn't produce
hardware we don't have that luxury. As regards supplying proper ROM's the
problem is the cost and availability of ROM's. At present Masked ROM's (as
originally supplied with RISC OS 3 machines) are on 16 - 20 weeks lead time.
With Beta testing time added to that schedule it would mean that there would be
over 9 months between code being released and it actually reaching end users.
Under the RISC OS Select Scheme we can cut that cycle down to less than 2 weeks.
The cost of the ROM's is also nearly £25 and hence there would be little money
left to actually fund the development of RISC OS if we only sold it for £50 and
gave away ROM sets as well.
Q. In that case why don't you use Flash ROM's?
A. Unfortunately suitable Flash ROM's are not available.
Q. Exactly what new features are planned for the RISC OS Select
Scheme.
A. The following is the features that are in the current
RISC OS Select ROM image:-
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RISC OS Select Features
New version of CDFS with support for RockRidge extensions, Joliet and
mixed mode disc reading.
Filer has been improved with :
- indication of shared discs via file icons,
- refresh option for filer displays,
- numeric sorting of names,
- lowercasifying option,
- optional alternate renaming method,
- create new directory by click on menu entry,
- sharing of directories made simpler,
- easier entry of filenames with spaces - i.e. you can now just type <space> in a filename entry
rather than <alt><space>.
Updates to !ChangeFSI and !Paint to allow importing of PNG files.
JPEG export from !Paint
System application support for the Universal Clipboard system allowing
cutting and pasting between compliant applications.
New version of !Printers with support for networked printer drivers.
Startup choices to allow user to choose boot device so that booting is
possible from CD-ROM, network or hard disc. LanManFS in ROM along with new
Internet stack with BootP and DHCP support and updated ShareFS. This will also
work with the Appletalk client module which will be available shortly.
ROM images larger than 4MB to support everything being in ROM for machines
than may require to boot without a hard disc.
New configuration applications for fonts, replay, screensetup and filer.
Miscellaneous improvements to kernel
!Bugz application for easy reporting of faults.
ADFSfiler quick format
Improved speed of booting over ShareFS
New integrated CDPlayer and CDFS Filer
Graduated Pinboard backdrop
Multi-user choices
GZip support in !Squash
Improved internet configuration And many other features that are of interest
to programmers such as :-
Filer has improved error handling
Improved DeviceFS/BufferManager interaction
FileSwitch with : -
Enumerate file handles Fix for upcall on rename in an image filing system
!Impression second-ROM bank access fix (would crash on click)
Wimp EdgeNotify message
Wimp copes with long CLIs to StartTask
Shared ZLib and PNG support.
Programmers Zip file handling
ShareFS now supports EOF
MimeMap has :-
reduced processesing impact caching of matches to improve efficiency
SpriteExtend : fixes for 1:2 sampled JPEGs rendering speed improvements Exif
support
Improved JPEG compression support
ClipboardHolder module provides a persistent clipboard
Freeway fix for S_0 bug
Fix for HeapSort failing near the end of a page
All Obey files are now cached. This means that you CANNOT use *Obey
Pipe:Gunge if the file is already open.
PipeFS speed improvements
Taskwindow speed improvements for Upcall handling
Sound service handling for external hardware
Select 2 Changes
Graphics
Much of the focus of the Select 2 development has been focused around the
enhancement of the graphical facilities of the operating system. The
associated document 'GraphicsSystem' provides a more general overview of the
graphics system and some of the changes that have been made.
Particular changes of note are :
CMYK sprites are now supported
CMYK sprites can be created, manipulated and plotted. The current
implementation is functional, however certain applications which
manipulate sprites directly may be provoke undefined results.
Sprite, JPEG and DrawFile rendering may use 'colour mapping'
Colour mapping allows arbitrary functions to manipulate the colours
as used within the graphics.
JPEGs rendering system has been improved
The number of variants of JPEG that are handled has been improved,
including the rendering of progressive JPEGs.
Sprites may be rendered translucently
Sprite operations which would previously generate a solid image may
now be rendered at arbitrary degrees of translucency. This new
facility is used by the DragASprite module to provide translucent
dragging of objects within the desktop.
Sprite generation from PNGs
Sprites may be generated from PNG imaged using the new ConvertPNG
module.
Generic image file rendering
Image files may be rendered through a plugin interface provided by
the new 'ImageFileRender' module.
System sprite pool changed
The system sprite pool is no longer maintained by the Kernel. All
manipulation of the system sprite pool is now delegated to the SpriteUtils module.
Generic blending tables can now be generated
The new BlendTable module has been created to generate tables for blending
between different colours in shallow colour modes.
Input
In order to support the 'Wheel' mice which are now prevalent, parts of the
system have been modified to provide a new interface for accessing such
devices. The kernel issues additional requests to pointer devices to
discover the state of such devices. Support for PS2 and quadrature wheel
mice is now provided.
A PS2 wheel mouse can be used via the standard RiscPC quadrature interface
by using an STD PS2 mouse interface. The STD mouse interface must be
configured to 'driver' mode (consult documentation supplied with the PS2
interface) and the relevant mouse type selected in the mouse configuration.
Alternatively, use *Configure MouseType 10 to select the STD PS2 mouse
interface driver.
Within the desktop, new flag bits and icon validations have been defined
to allow applications aware of the new interface to take advantage
of the new input method. Toolbox 'Slider' gadgets and ColourPicker
'Slider' gadgets have been enhanced to support the new interface.
Refer to 'PointerDevices' for low level driver information and
'WindowScroll' for the desktop interface.
Window manager
In keeping with the core graphical changes, the WindowManager has
been enhanced to ensure that these graphical changes are used where
applicable.
Disabled icons algorithm improved
The colours to which icons now fade when disabled are now slightly
different to those previously used. Disabled icons will now fade
toward the background colour of the window, rather than toward
white.
Deep shaded sprites
Sprites in icons with 32 thousand or 16 million colours will now
fade correctly in the same manner as their shallow colour
counterparts.
Furniture tool order configuration
The window furniture tools can be configured to use different
a different order to that which RISC OS has previously used.
A simple configuration tool is provided within the Window configuration
group.
New interface for sizing text Text sizing of italic fonts has been
improved to allow for the printable area to be determined for desktop
fonts. Previously, italic fonts might be truncated by sizing routines
using the standard operations.
Networking
Networking operations have been improved where they have been found to
be lacking. The changes are necessarily not as large as those which took
place for Select 1, but are still important.
Automatic configuration of network interfaces
Network operations have been improved to allow the automatic
configuration of network interfaces. A new configuration command and a
related option in the interface configuration tool have been added.
The InetConfigure module takes on the job of performing this automatic
configuration, and has necessitated the removal of the old FWAutoAddress
configuration command.
A(corn) Universal Network support
In order to support certain applications which require support for 'AUN'
networking, the NetI and related components have been updated to support
the facilities offered by Select. 'AUN' refers to the support for
Econet operations over Ethernet. New configuration tools have been
developed and can be found within the 'Network' configuration group.
In keeping with the automatic configuration changes, network maps
used by AUN systems can be automatically configured from the network
address.
Internet pollwords
A new 'ioctl' operation has been added to allow applications to flag
changes on a socket when operations occur. This alleviates the
requirement for additional shared code just to notify multitasking
applications of activity on sockets.
Fix for ShareFS authenticated objects
Authenticated shares were issued incorrectly in Select 1. This fix
allows objects to be shared using authentication.
Kernel
The Kernel has been changed to support a number of the changes described
elsewhere in this document, in particular for handling of CMYK sprites
and mouse wheel. In addition, parts of the kernel have been reworked in
anticipation of future developments.
RiscStation support
The hardware used within the RiscStation machines is now supported
by the kernel and such machines will now function with the same
ROM image as other machines.
Addition of function signatures
Certain parts of the kernel have been updated to use function
signatures. This is an on going process which should allow for
simpler debugging. It should be noted that many of the modules
within Select are now built with function name embedding enabled
such that developers can identify problem locations.
Rationalised module operations
Certain calls (Unplugging and Inserting modules) were only possible
through CLI commands under previous versions of the OS. Select makes
these available as SWI calls to simplify their interface.
A new operation has been added to allow the enumeration of modules
with their private words pointers - an operation which was previously
impossible.
A module service has been added to allow clients to be aware of the
state of modules.
Fix for 1bpp sprite mask operations
Certain operations on 1bpp masks would fail.
Removal of OS_SubstituteArgs
This call now lives in the OSSWIs module.
Dynamic area delegation
Font and System Sprite dynamic areas have now been delegated to the FontManager and SpriteUtils modules respectively.
Desktop
The Desktop components have been improved slightly to allow for issues
raised in Select 1.
Filer text strings are now sized more reliably
Text in filenames on icons is now sized correctly using the new Wimp_TextOp calls (see above).
Random requests for unshared discs fixed.
Previously an interaction between special fields on discs with
filers open and shared discs would cause directory viewers opened
on to directories which had become unshared to request the unshared
discs. This has been corrected.
Reduced memory usage for selection of large numbers of files
Previously, attempting to drag a large number of files would use
a large amount of memory. This has been reduced substantially.
Moving files on ImageNFS no longer faults directories
When moving directories on ImageNFS, an error about directories containing
objects is no longer generated.
Pinboard can use Drawfiles as background images.
Strictly speaking Pinboard can use any file format supported by the
ImageFileRender module. At present, this means DrawFile or
JPEG in addition to Sprites.
Toolbox
The toolbox components have been updated to support some of the wheel
mouse additions, and to address some issues raised by Select 1.
Scrolling lists are now faded in a better manner
Although the algorithm is not identical to that used by the WindowManager, it more closely matches it than previously.
Scrolling lists can now use column headings
It is possible to use the column lists together with headings to
allow lists of related elements to be grouped together.
Documentation to follow.
Improved resizing on scrolling list transitions
The extent of the scrolling list windows was not always being
correctly calculated as changes were made between different
display formats.
Scrolling list help is now provided
Previously, help messages were not provided where they had been
provided by the client. They will now be provided.
Scroll wheel support for sliders
Slider gadgets can be modified by using the scroll wheel, if supported
by the mouse driver.
Configuration tools
The configuration tools have been updated to address a few issues raised in
Select 1 and to provide the configuration of the extra facilities which
Select 2 offers. In some cases, components have moved in the structure, but
only to the extent that they now live within sub-groups. The configuration
groups can now provide a 'full info' mode for displaying more information
about the tools.
Access configuration renamed ShareFS
The name 'Access' was confusing to some users and so the component
has been renamed to ShareFS.
AUN configuration tools provided
To configure the AUN networking components provided within Select 2,
two new tools are provided - AUN and NetFS.
Boot configuration tools improved.
Configuration tools can now change display format (large and small
icons), be resized and can open directories.
New input configuration group
The 'Input' group allows configuration of input devices. The mouse
and keyboard tools have been moved here and a mouse scroll
configuration tool has been added to this group.
Automatic interface configuration
In interface configuration tool, the old AUN auto-configuration option has
been extended to cover the new auto-configuration options.
Pinboard configuration tool reflects changes in Pinboard
The tool has been updated to support the ImageFileRender component,
allowing it to render any image that Pinboard can use.
New time and date configuration tool
The Date and Time tool can configure the date manually, or configure
network time fetches on startup. This function replaces the 'Set
clock...' option which would normally be accessed through Alarm.
Users configuration now allows auto-logon
The 'default user' can now be selected, allowing automatic log on
with as a user without supplying a password.
* New windows configuration group
The old Window tool can now be found within the Window configuration
group. This should allow for greater flexibility in the future. A
rudimentary configuration tool is provided to cater for configuration
of the furniture order.
Sound frequency configuration tool.
A rudimentary tool for configuring the loading of RateTracker is
provided.
Applications
The applications supplied with Select have not changed significantly with
the exception of Paint and, to a much lesser extent, Draw. Draw can now
use ctrl-D to 'duplicate' the current selection in a similar manner to the
prior, non-clipboard, ctrl-C operation. In addition, ctrl-V now pastes
the clipboard at the pointer, fixing a rather annoying fault in the
previous version.
Paint has had what can only be described as a major overhaul. In line with
some of the graphics changes described above, Paint has been extended to
use CMYK sprites and has improved PNG import capabilities. Many other changes
are documented in the related documentation.
Note: Because of the significant number of changes which require the
enhanced graphics system provided by Select 2, Paint will not function
on earlier versions of the OS. You should make a backup of the
previous version if you intend to use it with earlier OS versions.
Refer to 'Paint'.
ResEd has had a few updates to cater for the additional options provided by
the window system.
Library
The library has not changed significantly for Select 2. A new JPEG transcoding tool, 'MiniJTran' has been created to use the features provided
by the transcoding CompressJPEG module. This allows JPEG files to be
converted to and from progressive images.
Updated modules
The modules provided within !System have been updated to include the common ethernet drivers. This should alleviate some of the issues involved in
upgrading. VProtect has been updated to the latest version, and a version
of RateTracker has been provided.
Refer to 'RateTracker'.
Select 3
Building upon the work done in Select 1 and 2, Select 3 improves upon both
the significant changes made to both the graphics and networking components
as well as adding many new features. The focus on Select 3 has been mostly
based around stablising features from Select 2 and improving the desktop
usability of the Operating system.
Major highlights
Cut and paste
Text in writeable icons provided by the Window Manager is now able to be
selected by keyboard and mouse. Such icons can be used with the standard
clipboard operations
Thumbnailing
The filer can now display images as thumbnails, allowing photo albums and
other image collections to be browsed more easily.
Improved 'buttons'
Action buttons, as well as groups and other 3D-style icons have been
improved and may be made round or given colours. Support for button styles
is a 'plugin' interface and other clients may provide different button
renderings.
Alpha-channel sprites
A new class of sprites has been created for alpha-channel sprites. These
sprites can be used whereever the standard sprite operations would be
used through system sprite rendering calls. Alpha-channel sprites allow
each pixel to have variable translucency, which means that sprites can
blend better to their backgrounds.
Recycle bin
Files deleted by the user can, optionally, be sent to a recycling bin
from which they can be retrieved if necessary.
Improved Paint application
!Paint's internal and external operation has had a major overhaul to
cater for some of the new features of Select 3, including alpha-channel
sprites.
Feature breakdown
In the following breakdown, not all changes have been listed. In particular,
fixes to components are not listed unless their effect is significant.
Select is supplied with a more complete breakdown of the changes on a
per-component basis.
Application changes
New !Recyclone application provides a rubbish bin into which files
deleted by the user will be placed. A configuration tool is provided to
allow the bin to be expired and its location changed.
New !NetLights application displays network activity on the iconbar.
!Draw can now import any type handled by ImageFileConvert where the type
can be converted to a type which is handled natively by Draw. This means
that PNG files, Artworks, BMP and other images types can now be imported.
!Paint has been given a major overhaul. See the separate section for
more details.
Desktop changes
DragASprite no longer uses a 'drop' shadow when translucency is
active.
DragAnObject's sprite creation code has been optimised slightly.
Wimp now supports a 'priority' sprite pool which is able to forcibly
override anything in the other sprite pools.
'IconBorder' plugin system allows the default slabbed borders to be
rendered in a customisable manner. FilterManager has been updated
to support multiple icon border filter clients. Example bordering
source code will be supplied.
'Auto-open submenus' option now opens submenus and windows in the correct
position regardless of where the mouse is placed.
Selection of text within writeable icons and its use with cut and paste
operations is now supported by the Window Manager. This furthers the
work started in Select 1 to make the entire OS capable of using the
cut and paste system.
Tinting of icons is now more reliable and can use any tint type provided
by the ColourMap module.
Command windows generated by single tasking applications when run from
the desktop are now centred on the screen.
FilerAction proxying is now an option which may be disabled under the
clients control. This might be used by rubbish bin applications to
invoke 'delete' operations on items already in the bin.
When in EY0 modes, Pinboard now correctly sizes its background
window on a mode change.
Pinboard configuration application can now be accessed by its main menu.
Optimisation for redraw speed of tiled ImageFileRender images.
Pinboard and Filer have both been updated to provide StyleGuide compliant
save dialogue boxes.
Attempting to delete !Boot will now raise a warning.
Attempting to copy a directory called !Boot over your !Boot
directory will now invoke the boot merge tool.
Should Filer fail to launch the filer action window for a delete
operation, the confirm deletes option is now honoured.
In Filer, the Help option is now greyed if a directory and
application combination are selected.
Filer windows have been updated to be more style-guide compliant
and to address issues raised by the use of icon bordering.
Filer now offers to share directories as read only by default, rather
than read-write. It makes sense not to share folders as public
read/write by default.
Filer now provides a fourth display option beside those for Large, Small
and information icons. The 'Thumbnails' display renders images using
the ImageFileRender components, allowing any known image format to be
displayed within the Filer.
Directories starting with a ! but without a !Run file are no longer
treated as an application, allowing such names to be used safely if
necessary.
RAMFSFiler will share the disc as read only by default.
The Sprite Pool has been updated with a number of slight modifications:
RAMFS icon now fits in with the new style of icons
JPEG icon now follows the bitmap style
Shared CD discs now look more like the CDROM icon
Addition of Zip, GIF, PNM, XBM, Sun raster, PCX, ICO, Clear,
and BMP sprite icons.
LanManFS icon updated to fit better with correct style.
TaskManager can now launch Configure from the menu.
The info box now describes the OS as RISC OS Select, and has been
improved to address some issues with Icon Bordering.
Toolbox "Discard, Cancel, Save" icons have been resized to be 'standard'
size.
TextGadget scrolling list boxes now display associated sprites more
sensibly when selected; previously these would be displayed lighter than
the rest of the line.
The text is now positioned a little further across the window, away from
the sprite in order to reduce the tight look that had been created.
ImageFileGadget correctly positions its window now; previously it would
inset the window by a pixel.
When resizing the gadget, the entire window is redrawn to ensure that it
remains up to date.
The facilities provided to developers for using ImageFileGadget have been
greatly improved.
ImageFileGadget is now able to report mouse click events and has a much
greater array of image manipulation options.
TextArea gadget now supports standard clipboard operations properly,
allows for 'key notifications', and renders much more quickly in most
cases.
Toolbox slider gadgets would respond to clicks and scrolls over the wells
of the gadget even when the slider was set to be display only. They no
longer react to such events.
Free space client templates tweaked to address issues relating to Icon
Bordering.
The sprite file DesktopBanner$File is now loaded by the Desktop module,
if it is present, and used as the welcome banner on entry to the desktop.
ShareFS 'Share directory' window is now updated to represent the current
settings of the share if one is present, including the name of the Share.
TaskWindow now includes a fix for 'The MessageTrans Bug'.
Graphics changes
Rendering of sprites with 1bpp masks, using no scaling or colour
translation, where the sprite data ends on a word boundary, but
the mask data does not end on a word boundary, and the output
alignment is not a word boundary due to a graphics window being
present... now works properly.
SpriteExtend would fail to generate code when translucent sprites
were rendered in paletted screen modes where the eigen factor was
EX0 or EY0. This allows sprites to be visibly dragged in such modes.
FontManager can now safely resize its dynamic area. The version
supplied in Select 2 had problems on certain systems which has now
been addressed.
ImageFileRender now provides *ImageFileRenderers command for listing the
supported renderers. This is mirrored in a new SWI to enumerate the
renderers.
A default viewer application can now be specified through ImageFileRender
and will be set up as system variables for all renderable types.
ImageFileRender's sprite renderer now supports information requests
previous versions were would return the colour type incorrectly for
certain sprite types.
Sprite rendering will now render sprites of 8bpp or less through a wide
translation table which improves their appearance when colourmapping is
used in 16bbp or higher.
New ImageFileConvert module is used with the Convert* modules to provide
a generic conversion method, allowing conversion between different file
formats through a number of SWI calls. *ImageFileConverters will list
the supported converters.
DrawFile will now render sprites in 8bpp or less through a wide
translation table which improves their appearance when colourmapping is
used in 16bbp or higher.
JPEG rendering where DPI based JPEGs are given as ratios are now taken
into account in a similar manner to that used by !Draw.
JPEGs which supply a ratio, DPI or DPC (dots per centimetre) of 0 will
now be treated as 90 DPI. JPEGs with low values for DPI or DPC will now
be treated as is this was a ratio.
CompressJPEG module now registers as a sprite to JPEG converter with
ImageFileConvert.
JPEG handling is much more robust now, and should never generate aborts
for either valid or corrupt compressed data.
ImageFileRender_Artworks module added to render Artworks documents.
New ConvertGIF added to ROM to generate a 'dummy' image. This is a
placeholder module which avoids the requirement for a Unisys patent for
the use of the LZW algorithm.
New ConvertXBM added to ROM to convert XBM image files to sprites.
New ConvertSun added to ROM to convert Sun raster image files to sprites.
New ConvertBMP added to ROM to convert Windows BMP image files to sprites.
New ConvertPNM added to ROM, supporting type 1-6 PNM files.
New ConvertICO added to ROM to convert Windows .ico files to sprites.
New ConvertPCX added to ROM to convert PCX files to sprites.
New ConvertClear added to ROM to convert Translator 'Clear' files to
sprites.
New ConvertSprite module added , which supports creation of sprites through
ImageFileConvert from any format which ImageFileRender can handle.
ConvertSprite provides a proxy ImageFileConvert handler for
ImageFileRender in much the same way that ImageFileRender automatically
provides a proxy ImageFileRender handler for ImageFileConvert.
ConvertSprite can also provide callback and SWI functions to render
images to a sprite.
ConvertPNG has almost full support for creating PNGs from sprites
(including alpha-channel sprites), with only CMYK sprites presently
unsupported. Sprites can be created from any form of PNG, generating
alpha-channel sprites where necessary.
DrawFile module now supports creation of SVG files from DrawFiles using
the ImageFileConvert interface.
New ColourMap module allows generation of colourmapping descriptors
without recourse to assembler. Currently supported mappings are :
Blend, Brighten, Contrast, Gamma, Identity, Invert, Monochrome,
Monochrome and scale and User.
Colour map descriptors can be chained together to create more complex
effects.
SpriteExtend, Kernel and ColourTrans have been updated to provide a new
sprite type for alpha-channel sprites. Alpha-channel sprites allow the
images to be rendered with varying levels of translucency per pixel.
Previously, sprites could only provide binary (pixel on or off) masks.
SpriteUtil (System sprite area provider) has had a number of commands
fixed to remove errors when no system sprite area is present.
InverseTable 'destination tracking' is now improved and should no longer
result in corrupt font colours or alpha channel rendering.
Networking changes
Internet, ShareFS and Freeway have had issues relating to large
file transfers addressed.
InetConfigure can now configure static IP addresses properly.
Previous versions would retain the addresses stored in CMOS rather
than using the new addresses supplied by the user.
Internet module has had a fix for interfaces with no addresses
never issuing service calls.
Aliased interfaces are no longer dynamically named; the names used on
their creation are now retained, allowing deterministic operation.
Internet can now handle changes in interface addresses more reliably.
Previous versions had issues relating to multiple aliased interfaces and
ARP requests which could cause machines to seemingly 'vanish'.
Added support for ZeroConf IP configuration. ZeroConf is a means by
which an address can be obtained for a machine on a network without
any configuration process. This is similar to the configuration used
by the Access, but standardised across multiple platforms by a global
group.
DHCPClient and ZeroConf client both respond to *ShowStat to provided
their statistics.
DHCP client now supports address changed due to its deletion of
the interface address. Previously this was not an issue, because
Internet never issued service for address deletion, but now that
this has been done it is now aware of this case.
The AppleTalk client is now supplied in ROM. This allows RISC OS systems
to contact AppleTalk file and print servers.
LanManFS has been improved, resulting in faster resolution of names
on local networks. The 'Transact' SWI call has been updated to allow
a larger number of Transact communications to be made, including old
WinPopup messaging.
Miscellaneous changes
OS_CLI is handled by an external module, CLIV.
Some calls have been moved from the kernel to a new module called
LegacyBBC.
BEL (VDU 7) no longer uses OS_Word 7, but is passed to Sound calls
directly.
FileTypes now declares PCX, PNG, SunRaster, BMP, Clear, ICO and XBM file
type names.
FileSwitch is now able to reference path variables (pseudo-filing systems)
through $, eg Music:$ for <Music$Path>. Writing to a path variable with
multiple entries where a <path>$Write variable exists will now use the
$Write directory for the operation.
FileSwitch no longer leaves streams open if a 'close' fails.
ResourceFS will now only issue 'changed' messages where the files changed
are opened by it, thus reducing the impact on menus opened by the user
when ShareFS discs become available over the network.
ParallelDeviceDriver is now capable of reading Device IDs.
This allows the auto-detection of the make and model of Printer
connected.
PCI memory reservation has been removed from the kernel, freeing 256M of
logical address space for use by dynamic areas.
Conversions module has a minor for for ReadUnsigned returning an invalid
V flag on some conversions.
ScreenBlanker now supports a second-level blanking using DPMS.
ScreenBlanker no longer uses CMOS to get its initial settings and defaults
to 'off'.
CDFS legacy support for built in conversions removed.
EvaluateExpression module takes over from the Kernel's
OS_EvaluateExpression. Additionally, expressions can now extract
directory or leaf names from a string, canonicalise a filename and
generate a string from the current time.
Configuration tools
Softload ROM images are now sorted into date order, making selection
of ROMs much simpler. ROM images are now supplied in archives together
with their change lists; these lists are recorded with the ROM when
installed to allow them to be viewed at a later date.
Resolver configuration is now able to locate DNS servers on the local
network, even with bind variants.
Interface configuration can now take effect immediately, rather than
requiring a reboot.
Re-written Filer configuration tool includes the new thumbnail
configuration options.
All tools now warn if the configuration application is closed when
changes have been made. Tools where changes have been made are indicated
by a '*' in the title of the window, in line with standard RISC OS
practice.
CPIShell is now able to be passed command line arguments to pass to the
launched plugin. This is used to allow installation of components through
Filer_Action (dragging over !Boot).
TimeSetup is now capable of setting the timezone.
Scrapfile naming
Previously, when a network interface is active on a machine the
ScrapDirectory is set to a Directory named after the MAC Address of the
first installed Network card. If NetFS was active, this would be replaced
by the station ID.
With Select 3, the scrap directory naming is now based solely on the
hardware configuration, as detected by HWScan. For most users this will
be disabled and so the scrap directory will be named 'Disabled'.
New IconSetUp Configuration Tool
The new IconSetup configuration tool allows the setting of options for the
standard IconBorderRound module. The following options are supported for
buttons and borders :
Rounded edges with Small, Medium, Normal or Large curves
Apply to (sunken) writeable fields, display fields, or groups
'Special' colour schemes
with choice of Foreground and Background colour for
Action buttons, Default buttons, and Groups
All the above colours may be applied as solid colour or as a tint of the
original colour.
Furthermore button icons and information fields may have the colour applied
as a Blend (top to bottom blend of the border colours, applying the button
colour as a strong tint).
Button icons may have a rim highlight and may have either thick or thin
borders.
Paint
The Paint application has been updated to support the new alpha-channel
sprite format provided by Select 3. Paint can create sprites with
alpha-channels, add an alpha-channel to an existing sprite, and allow
editing of the alpha-channel.
Paint's user interface has also been brought up to date, with a separate
attached toolbox for each sprite (similar to !Draw) so each sprite has
it's own "working set" of toolbox settings. Shortcuts for zoom and
select colour have been added along with a new colour display area. The
menu tree has been revised to be more logical and Styleguide compliant.
Paint makes better use of the ImageFileConvert system in Select 3 and can
directly load any filetypes supported by ImageFileConvert (PNG, JPEG,
Clear, ICO, BMP etc). Paint allows saving of an image in JPEG and PNG
format as well as sprite.
A good number of bug fixes and performance improvements have also been
added along with usability features such as a true graphic brush display
and improved clipboard support.
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E&OE © Copyright RISCOS Ltd. 2001-4 last Updated 02/03/07
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