Honestly, did you really think you could get rid of my marathon programming threads that easily? And myspace? Eewwww. Podcasts, on the other hand...

New features

But in all seriousness, our transformation into an Apple fanbois wet dream was due to our latest feature, the site themes feature thing, from which you can select from a selection of different themes with which to alter the site more to your liking. So far we've got the standard TIB and AcornArcade themes, as well as the Apple one, and a simple RISC OS one. More themes will be arriving as soon as we can get the sword away from Rich and chain him back down behind his keyboard.
 
There's also a new script we're playing with to allow RSS updates of forum posts. Either using a regular RSS reader, or setting up an RSS "account" in Thunderbird (etc.) pointing here:
https://i.iconbar.com/forums/rss-rss20.php
...you'll be able to see when new messages have been written. It's like that list down the side of the main site, but even more divorced from the forum itself! You can change the rss20 bit to rss09, rss10 or atom03 for other flavours of feed.
 
Links:
Site themes feature thing
Forum RSS feed

Hello, and welcome to the new new look iConbar. Since we're all Mac users now (even Rich!), we thought it was about time that we ditched RISC OS properly and changed the focus of the site to cover all things Apple. No more will I be posting marathon threads in the Playpen about games that no-one is interested in and that I'll never complete, for I've found a new hobby of making podcasts, directing fan films on YouTube, and chatting on my myspace. And no, you're not invited. It's strictly Mac users only.
 
Go Apple. It's just so much better.

Back in the days when I owned an Acorn Electron, Acornsoft View and a dot matrix printer I often believed, during lengthy and hypnotic printing sessions, that my clunky old printer could - with a little ingenious programming - be used as a drum machine. Perhaps it could even make beautiful music. I was wrong.
 
Nearly twenty years later (last summer, actually), Epistaxis Time tried it for real in a Resonance FM broadcast by building an "instrument of punishment" called the Dot Matrix Guitar. Host Dan Wilson said "It's a raspy, nasty noise. I hope it agitates you." It does.
 
You can listen to it online here, download the MP3, or subscribe to the podcast.
 
Resonance FM is ace. One recent show was 8-Bit Adventures - 30 minutes of bleeps from the world's best 8-bit musicians. The radio station is based in London but you can listen to it in streaming MP3 format from anywhere in the world by the power of Greyskullthe Internet. Unfortunately they're fairly strapped for cash, so join in the fundraising if you can. Even if the shows I've mentioned aren't your fancy, it's brilliant to find a radio station with the freedom to commission and broadcast stuff like this.

Now here's something you don't see every day: RISC OS on TV! Take a look at the screen capture linked on the right - what operating system do you see Edgar Stiles from 24 using? Perhaps he has an Iyonix hidden under his desk.
 
And what about this one with Jack Bauer? Why is he using the RISC OS Task Manager? Somebody get him chopper command!
 
Following a conversation on IRC, it turns out that a certain Mr Paul Vigay is (indirectly) responsible. As a UFO consultant for the movie Signs, PV took the opportunity to promote the benefits of his Risc PC to several TV tech bods in the US - in particular, one Steven Lloyd, now a digital compositor working on several Fox TV shows, including 24. RISC OS has been used in TV and film production in the past, thanks to Uniqueway/RISCOS Ltd's Paul Middleton (listen to Podcast V for more details), often when "realistic" computer displays are needed (ie. not Windows). As RISC OS is completely unknown in America, it's easy to pass off the standard RISC OS desktop as something hi-tech!
 
If you've spotted RISC OS in the media, please get in touch.
 
Update: Spoilers.

It's remiss of me, as a founder member of the Paul Vigay Appreciation Society, not to have kept you more up to date on the movements of our glorious leader lately. That's something I intend to put right immediately, if not sooner.

Obviously not sufficiently challenged by holding down two jobs (mild mannered support dude by day; kick-ass ISP CEO by night), he's graced us with three releases in the past week! New !Boot plugin TaskSetup allows you to configure which applications are loaded on startup - similar to how old Macs used to do things. In a similar vein, there's also been an update to MiscSetup, so you can configure various options which aren't catered for in the standard configuration options.

The other big news is "yet another first in the RISC OS world", a pixel advert scheme. I shudder to use the words "bandwagon" and "jump" while writing about The Vigay, but you might be quite familar with the concept from another website. However, The Vigay hopes to use this to "not only raise money for RISC OS development but also hopefully raise the profile of RISC OS through the media and internet world". Laudible aims indeed.

You can find these and other updates (such as the 32bit version of Cumana's Illustrated Holy Bible CD) on The Vigay's sites RISCOS.org and Vigay.com.

While I'm in roundup mode, I might as well shoehorn in one non-Vigay related note. Hi to all New Zealand readers, and sorry for lumping you in with some Korean hacker IP addresses in the firewall. Many thanks to Michael Foot for finding a way to report this, and I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Even if it is Vigay-free.

Links:
RISCOS.org, the Vigay's advocacy site
The Vigay's homepage
The Vigay's Software
The Vigay's New Wildlife Subdomain, where Father Vigay's photos reside.

Happy New Year from The Icon Bar! That's your lot for 2005, and we'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last year. Special credit goes to those who have been interviewed in our Podcasts: Paul Middleton, Chris Bazley, Stu & Matt from A6, Simon Challands and Jason Tribbeck.

It is good to see that Peter Naulls has updated his blog with his predictions for 2006, and what he thinks are the most comedy moments from 2005 (and No! we didn't pay him to write the 7th item on his list).

Don't forget to vote in our new years poll, and see you in 2006.

Our Christmas present to you! Yes, I spent all night editing this. And I bet you won't see it until Boxing Day at the earliest. Lazy buggers.

• News: Graphics acceleration, Child's Play nears half a million dollars, Starfighter 3000 again, APDL release more 4th D games, Retro Fusion mag, moss is a star!
• Debate: Zap vs. StrongEd
• Interview: Paul Middleton
• Check it out: Nerdcore (warning! explicit lyrics!)
• Awards: they don't receive anything you know

File: MP3 (15.18MB) Dialup (4.10MB)
Duration: 32:02
Links: Wikipedia Entry for Nerdcore
MC Chris | MC Frontalot | MC Hawking | MC Plus+
ytcracker | Optimus Rhyme

Just in case you forgot, or didn't listen to the podcast all the way through - SASAUG RISC OS South East Show 2005 at Guildford College, Saturday October 22nd 2005. It's from 10am to 4pm and costs a fiver on the door.

Chris Evans - no, not the Ginger Whinger, the super-fit Donald Sutherland look-alike - will apparently have three stands there under various company names, and even that's not enough to stock everything. So you might have a rare opportunity to hear him say "we don't have that in stock" for once. Although don't count on it, because they're going loaded with everything from USB pen drives to VRPC-loaded laptops and LCD screens.

R-Comp - for shame! Only two emails prior to a show? We usually look forward to a deluge! So we'll mention UniPrint 2, with its ability to open files or Web URLs from the RISC OS desktop on a networked PC (handy for IE-only websites or complex Office documents), and it's better Virtual Acorn integration - but we're not mentioning MusicMan. Nope. Not mentioning it at all. No MusicMan 1.50 mention for you.

And finally check out the Finnybank stand for issues of Qercus, and because the say they "have news about how we might help RISC OS developers - in particular those producing software for free or nearly free - so come and see us at the Qercus stand if that describes you." News monkeys - I want details!

Update: This just in - the Advantage Six team couldn't be on their own stand this year due to prior commitments, but will be literally flying in to prove the portability of the A9home on the CJE and RISCOS Ltd. stands. However, the mental picture of them helicoptering in to the show ground with a metal case handcuffed to their wrists that sentence conjured up is probably better than the presumed reality of them arriving bleary-eyed at Gatwick and hopping a taxi to the show with an A9home nestled in a suitcase between their dirty laundry. Your questions will be answered in between sips of very strong coffee. That's how much Stu and Matt love you guys.

Update 2: How could I have forgotten ArtWorks 2.50 with native PDF export?