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Newsround

Posted by Jeffrey Lee on 20:00, 17/10/2011
RISC OS, Random stuff, RISC OS Open Ltd, Shows, RISCOS Ltd

Here's a quick roundup of everything that's happened over the past few weeks.

New software releases

NetSurf 2.8

Version 2.8 of the NetSurf browser was released last month. The major new features in this release are a new cross-platform system for handling frames and iframes, and an improved image cache.

Charm 2.4

Peter Nowosad's Charm programming language also saw a new release last month. Version 2.4 is the first version of the language to be 32bit compatible, so if you're looking for something a little bit different from your programming languages then now's a good as time as any to give it a go.

StrongHelp 2.86

A new version of StrongHelp was released to the StrongED mailing list, featuring several bugfixes, mainly for ARMv7 compatability. Download it here.

CDFaker now 32bit

Steffen Huber has released a 32bit version of Andy Armstrong's CDFaker utility, which allows you to mount ISO images and read their contents via CDFS. Apart from being 32bit compatible, this release is also fully ARMv7 compatible.

InterGIF 6.18

Martin Weurthner's popular InterGIF utility has also seen an update. The main focus of this release was to make the utility ARMv7 compatible.

DigitalCD updates

Music player DigitalCD and related modules (TimPlayer, DiskSample) have been updated to add support for more tracker music formats, along with a few bugfixes.

New C/C++ tools release

And last but not least, RISC OS Open have released version 22 of the C tools package. The main development focus for this release was on improving objasm, to add support for the full ARMv7 instruction set, and to add support for some features offered by the assembler available in ARM's RealView package (which has a shared heritage with objasm and the other 'ROOL' tools).

For purchasing information, see ROOL's announcement.

RISC OS 5 news

OMAP4 ROM now available to download

As mentioned in the previous news roundup, Willi Theiss has been working on porting RISC OS to TI's OMAP4. This work has now found its way into ROOL's CVS, allowing them to add a (Pandaboard-compatible) OMAP4 ROM image to the downloads page. However as this is a first release, expect to see a fair number of bugs and missing features.

Raspberry Pi port on the cards

Veteran developer Adrian Lees has expressed an interest in porting RISC OS to the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer. Previously the possibility of a port was put into doubt by the question of whether anyone would have access to the required hardware documentation, but since Adrian works at Broadcom alongside Raspberry Pi Foundation members it sounds like lack of documentation will be the least of his issues.

Bounty pot reaches £1K

The amount of money available to developers through the ROOL bounty system has now reached £1000. However none of the bounties have yet hit their (secret) target values, so it looks like any budding programmers will have to wait a bit longer before they're able to take on any of the tasks listed (unless they want to do it for free!)

Correction: As has been pointed out by ROOL, bounties don't have any target funding values. Instead, interested parties merely need to get in touch and say that they're starting work once they feel that the money in the pot has reached an acceptable value. For more info on the workings of the bounty system, see here.

Filesystem bounties

On the subject of bounties, developer Rob Sprowson has recently had a go at analysing all the different filesystem wishlist items and boiling them down to a list of defined bounties, which can be found here. It's probable that this list (or something close to it) will be adopted by ROOL and added to the bounty area of their website in the near future. Not to be content with just making a bounty list, Rob has also had a go at fixing a few filing system bugs recently, mainly focusing around making sure FileSwitch and the filer are happy with files between 2G and 4G in size, as well as fixing a couple of bugs in RPCEmu that stopped large files from working there.

London show approaching

And finally, this is your official reminder that the 2011 RISC OS London show is here in just under two weeks time, on the 29th of October. Apart from the usual names on the exhibitors list it's worth pointing out that there'll be a pre-release version of the Raspberry Pi board on show. And if Adrian hasn't got it running RISC OS natively by the end of the show, it sounds like the RPCEmu team will be there with a copy of the RPCEmu emulator as a fallback. Unfortunately one notable absentee from the exhibitors list is RISCOS Ltd, who are unable to attend due to a clash with another commitment.

	Newsround
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Chris Williams	Message #119157, posted by diodesign at 19:08, 18/10/2011
The Opposition Posts: 269	Re: RISC OS and RaspberryPi board There's now a QEMU emulator of the RPi in Ubuntu for anyone who can't or doesn't want to get hold of the hard-to-get hardware: http://www.cnx-software.com/2011/10/18/raspberry-pi-emulator-in-ubuntu-with-qemu/ C.
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Michael Drake	Message #119183, posted by tlsa at 18:28, 21/10/2011, in reply to message #119157
Web site Posts: 1097	It's good to see RISC OS 5 keeps advancing with these ports to new hardware. It makes ROLs renumbering of RO4 to RO6 look increasingly ridiculous, since RO6 is confined to the dead-end of 17 year old RiscPC hardware and RiscPC emulators.
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119184, posted by trevj at 02:05, 22/10/2011, in reply to message #119183
Member Posts: 660	ROLs renumbering of RO4 to RO6 If RO7 could one day emerge as a consolidation of the forks, that'd tidy that one up!
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Blind Moose	Message #119186, posted by Acornut at 11:41, 22/10/2011, in reply to message #119184
No-eye-deer (No Idea) Posts: 487	It's not fair, there's no A9home smiley
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Bryan Hogan	Message #119199, posted by helpful at 18:57, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119157
Member Posts: 255	In other show news, there will be a charity stall this year. So this is your chance to pass on some old stuff for a good cause, or find that rare cherished item you've been looking for! The stand can accept any Acorn/RISC OS hardware or software, but not CRT monitors or x86 PCs. The Charm programming language was mentioned in the article, and its author Peter Nowosad will be at the show to encourage you to give it a try, and giving a presentation in the theatre demonstrating how to create your first program. And let's not forget that this is the first time the ARMini has been seen darn' sarf'! Well, unless you saw mine at ROUGOL
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Philip Webster	Message #119200, posted by pwx at 20:18, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119199
Member Posts: 227	In other show news, there will be a charity stall this year. So this is your chance to pass on some old stuff for a good cause, or find that rare cherished item you've been looking for! The stand can accept any Acorn/RISC OS hardware or software, but not CRT monitors or x86 PCs. The Charm programming language was mentioned in the article, and its author Peter Nowosad will be at the show to encourage you to give it a try, and giving a presentation in the theatre demonstrating how to create your first program. And let's not forget that this is the first time the ARMini has been seen darn' sarf'! Well, unless you saw mine at ROUGOL I might come down to London for this show. I notice from the website that there will be parking for attendees. Not being from London, I have to ask the potentially silly question - is this venue in the congestion charge area?
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Philip Webster	Message #119201, posted by pwx at 20:21, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119200
Member Posts: 227	Also - any news on whether APDL will be there? Given that APDL is based in London, I could save myself some postage costs on the SD/IDE adapters I've been eyeing up for the past month...
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Simon Willcocks	Message #119202, posted by Stoppers at 20:44, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119200
Member Posts: 302	is this venue in the congestion charge area? Feltham is a long, long way outside the CC zone. Don't worry! In fact, it's smaller than it was: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/cc-zone-showing-removal-4Jan2011-map.pdf (76K). [Edited by Stoppers at 09:19, 24/10/2011]
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Ian Cook	Message #119203, posted by ilcook at 20:55, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119201
Resident idiot Posts: 1077	From past experience I don't think he will turn up. Also the show website doesn't have him showing. Also - any news on whether APDL will be there? Given that APDL is based in London, I could save myself some postage costs on the SD/IDE adapters I've been eyeing up for the past month...
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VinceH	Message #119205, posted by VincceH at 21:47, 23/10/2011, in reply to message #119199
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time Posts: 1600	And let's not forget that this is the first time the ARMini has been seen darn' sarf'! Well, unless you saw mine at ROUGOL It was at the South West Show in March. And I took mine along to one of the Bristol pub meetings (May, IIRC) to be poked and prodded. I do believe both of these things are in the South!
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Bryan Hogan	Message #119206, posted by helpful at 01:34, 24/10/2011, in reply to message #119205
Member Posts: 255	And let's not forget that this is the first time the ARMini has been seen darn' sarf'! Well, unless you saw mine at ROUGOL It was at the South West Show in March. Ah, my mistake, I thought Wakefield was its first appearance. Regarding parking - there is a rugby match at Twickenham this Saturday which will make the hotel much busier than previous years, so parking availability will be very limited. I suggest you familiarise yourself with the location of the alternate parking listed on the website.
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Philip Webster	Message #119210, posted by pwx at 13:32, 24/10/2011, in reply to message #119206
Member Posts: 227	Regarding parking - there is a rugby match at Twickenham this Saturday which will make the hotel much busier than previous years, so parking availability will be very limited. I suggest you familiarise yourself with the location of the alternate parking listed on the website. What time's the match, and how early do rugby people turn up to grab the parking spaces?
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Peter Howkins	Message #119211, posted by flibble at 13:40, 24/10/2011, in reply to message #119210
Posts: 892	What time's the match, and how early do rugby people turn up to grab the parking spaces? At 3pm there's Harlequins Vs Exeter, I wonder if that's the match they meant? It's at the smaller stadium (Harlequins Home ground) not the international stadium. http://www.viagogo.co.uk/Sports-Tickets/Rugby-Union/Premiership-Rugby/Harlequins-Tickets/E-380399
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VinceH	Message #119212, posted by VincceH at 18:39, 24/10/2011, in reply to message #119206
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time Posts: 1600	Regarding parking - there is a rugby match at Twickenham this Saturday which will make the hotel much busier than previous years, so parking availability will be very limited. I suggest you familiarise yourself with the location of the alternate parking listed on the website. Well, I'm arriving on the Friday and, as an amazing feat of being sensible, this year I haven't foolishly agreed to be at any clients' offices on that day, which means I'll be there earlier. So with luck I'll beat any rush for parking space in the hotel car park. [Edited by VincceH at 19:39, 24/10/2011]
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119227, posted by trevj at 18:18, 27/10/2011, in reply to message #119199
Member Posts: 660	In other show news Will [the RaspberryPi] be running RISC OS by the time of the show? BTW, the answer to my question in the original post is Yes Thanks and congratulations to Adrian, Theo, other usual suspects and anyone else who's been involved in this! [Edit: So, the Supervisor or the Desktop? We'll see on Saturday!] [Edited by trevj at 19:19, 27/10/2011]
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Theo Markettos	Message #119242, posted by caliston at 19:07, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119157
Member Posts: 5	Re: RISC OS and RaspberryPi board There's now a QEMU emulator of the RPi in Ubuntu for anyone who can't or doesn't want to get hold of the hard-to-get hardware: That's just an emulator of a random ARM11 platform. It isn't terribly interesting for RISC OS, because it has completely wrong peripherals compared with those found on a real BCM2835. It's fine if you want to test Linux apps on an ARM11 platform, but no use for anything lower level than that.
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Theo Markettos	Message #119243, posted by caliston at 19:08, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119157
Member Posts: 5	[clicked submit twice] [Edited by caliston at 19:08, 31/10/2011]
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Peter Howkins	Message #119244, posted by flibble at 20:18, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119243
Posts: 892	Some show pics. http://home.marutan.net/~peter/subsite/photos/20111029%20-%20RISC%20OS%20London%20Show/
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Martin Bazley	Message #119245, posted by swirlythingy at 20:57, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119244
Placenta Mendacium Est Posts: 460	Every time, without fail, somebody posts a set of pictures taken at a London show, I appear in at least one of them. It's reached the proportions of a sort of bonus 'Where's Wally?'-style puzzle in each set.
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Patric Aristide	Message #119246, posted by Tin Hat at 21:35, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119244
Member Posts: 56	Like the ARMini cardboard arrow, just so you know where the journey starts
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Chris Williams	Message #119247, posted by diodesign at 23:03, 31/10/2011, in reply to message #119242
The Opposition Posts: 269	Re: RISC OS and RaspberryPi board There's now a QEMU emulator of the RPi in Ubuntu for anyone who can't or doesn't want to get hold of the hard-to-get hardware: That's just an emulator of a random ARM11 platform. It isn't terribly interesting for RISC OS, because it has completely wrong peripherals compared with those found on a real BCM2835. It's fine if you want to test Linux apps on an ARM11 platform, but no use for anything lower level than that. My apologies, Theo - I thought it was at least a sane representation of the RPi board, rather than a generic ARM11 core emulation. Still, might be useful for the odd osdev tinkering until I get my hands on one of the RPis. PS: You have mail [Edited by diodesign at 23:05, 31/10/2011]
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keith dunlop	Message #119248, posted by epistaxsis at 03:13, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119244
Posts: 159	Some show pics. http://home.marutan.net/~peter/subsite/photos/20111029%20-%20RISC%20OS%20London%20Show/ Blimey Peter - when did you take up portrait photography? There's even a mugshot of me in there!
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119250, posted by trevj at 11:21, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119247
Member Posts: 660	PS: You have mail Is it about time for a special feature?
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119251, posted by trevj at 11:26, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119245
Member Posts: 660	[...] sort of bonus [...] Martin, I tried to catch up with you later on in the afternoon but you were talking at the R-Comp stand and then I lost you completely. I wanted to apologise for not answering your questions particularly well. Anyway, I'll try to include an FAQ and brief progress report on the WikiProject at some point, which should provide some clarification. Thanks.
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Martin Bazley	Message #119252, posted by swirlythingy at 17:05, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119251
Placenta Mendacium Est Posts: 460	you were talking at the R-Comp stand and then I lost you completely. Hardly surprising - the very last thing I did was visit the R-Comp stand to pick up my ARMini, and then I took it home!
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119253, posted by trevj at 19:22, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119252
Member Posts: 660	Ah - OK. Sorry I missed you.
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Trevor Johnson	Message #119255, posted by trevj at 21:45, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119244
Member Posts: 660	Some show pics. http://home.marutan.net/~peter/subsite/photos/20111029%20-%20RISC%20OS%20London%20Show/ Some more.
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Martin Bazley	Message #119256, posted by swirlythingy at 22:27, 1/11/2011, in reply to message #119255
Placenta Mendacium Est Posts: 460	Some more. And sure enough, there I am, barely visible, but definitely chatting to Vince M Hudd.
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Andrew Rawnsley	Message #119257, posted by arawnsley at 11:46, 2/11/2011, in reply to message #119256
R-Comp chap Posts: 600	Are you available to hire, Martin, to ensure people get more photos of their stands? (grin)
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VinceH	Message #119258, posted by VincceH at 09:21, 3/11/2011, in reply to message #119256
Lowering the tone since the dawn of time Posts: 1600	Some more. And sure enough, there I am, barely visible, but definitely chatting to Vince M Hudd. I was looking through my photos last night, editing some so that they are passable enough to use in a show report (which I have now had a chance to make a start on). I'm sure you will be pleased to read that you don't (AFAICS) appear in any of them. This may or may not be connected with the fact that most were taken before the show actually opened. [Edited by VincceH at 09:21, 3/11/2011]
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