Archive Magazine CD 1995/Archive Magazine CD 1995.iso/text/hints/all_hints

Text File | 1995-08-02 | 1.5 MB | 38,577 lines

Hints and Tips
1.1
Using Electrohome Monitors
1.1
Ian Nicholls of Kidderminster says that the “Electrohome” colour
monitor, as sold by Opus, works OK on the Archimedes. All you have to do
is make up the appropriate connector. (Or purchase one from CJE Micros
or somesuch.) The pin connections for the Archimedes are given on the
inside back cover.
1.1
Using Modes 18 - 20
1.1
Whilst on the subject of monitors, let me clear up the confusion there
seems to be in the computer press about the high resolution modes and
the extra video hardware which the 400 series machines are said to have.
This extra hardware is NOT for driving modes 18 - 20. Even on the 300
series, there is all the hardware needed to run these modes on a multi-
sync monitor.
1.1
The extra hardware in the 400 series is actually for even higher
resolution graphics − it will go up to 1280 by 976 pixels in monochrome
(160 characters by 122 lines of text) and, as with modes 18 - 20, it
requires a special monitor. There is no industry standard for such
monitors, and Acorn are still looking into providing a suitable monitor
with their own badge on it. This extra high resolution is of course
aimed at the CAD (computer aided design) market, and it is said that
AutoCAD is being translated onto the Archimedes.
1.1
Using a Multi-sync Monitor
1.1
If you have a multi-sync monitor and want to get it working on the 300
series, all you need to do is to switch the computer on whilst holding
down the <R> key. This resets the CMOS RAM settings (so if, like me, you
had changed them, you will have to re-configure again!) and it changes
the configuration of the RGB output to run in multi-sync mode. It then
allows you to access the extra screen modes that had been previously
forbidden to those of us who only have standard monitors. If you should
want to change the machine back again to run a standard monitor, you
have to do another <R-power-up> which switches it back again (and re-
sets the CMOS RAM settings AGAIN!). In other words each time you do an
<R-power-up> it toggles between the two monitor settings.
1.1
Using View
1.1
Gerald Jones of Northampton tells us that only those of you who have
gone from a Master Compact to an Archimedes will be able to get View
going − for the time being, at least, because the ROM versions of VIEW
will not work under the emulator. If you do have a disc version of View,
Acorn tell us that the way to get it going is to copy 65ARTHUR from the
MODULES directory on the Archimedes Welcome disc onto another disc and
VIEW from the Compact Welcome disc and then use *BUILD !BOOT  to create
a boot file which consists of:
1.1
   *65ARTHUR
1.1
   *GO F800
1.1
   *LOAD VIEW 8000
1.1
   *GO 8000
1.1
and then remember to type *OPT 4,3 to set it up so that it will execute
the boot file on <shift-break>. All you have to do then is to chop up
your VIEW keystrip and stick it together in the Archimedes keyboard
format remembering that the f0 key functions are now on the <print> key!
1.1
Attaching a 5.25“ drive
1.1
Have you tried to get a 5.25“ disc drive linked up to the Archimedes?
Presumably, you did the obvious thing and removed the cable from the
p.c.b. to the 3.5” drive and plugged in the cable from the 5.25“ drive.
And you too found that it didn’t work! Well, the official answer is that
it is possible to connect a 5.25” drive but that there are “different
connections”. Actually, it seems that the only difference is that they
have put the connector in the opposite way round!
1.1
Unfortunately, you can’t just turn the connector round because of the
location lug on the side of it. The solution is either to file the notch
off the side of the connector so that it will go in either way round, or
buy a new 34-way insulation displacement connector which you can crimp
onto the end of your disc cable, the opposite way round from the
existing one, or buy a disc extension cable from a supplier such as CJE
Micros (£15 + £1 p&p − address in Fact-File at the back of the
magazine). The advantage of doing it that way is that the extension
cable is long enough to stick out at the back of the computer through
the podule connection slot so that you can connect and disconnect the
extra drive without taking the lid on and off.
1.1
You can, if you want, put a single 5.25“ drive as drive 1 or a pair of
drives as drives 1 and 2. The extra drives must, of course, have their
own power supply units and you need to type *CONFIGURE FLOPPIES 2 (or 3)
so that the ADFS knows how many drives there are. You will also need to
get inside the 5.25” drives in order to change the link settings to
configure them as drives 1 (and 2) and you should also, theoretically,
remove the terminating resistors − usually a set of resistors (dual-in-
line or single-in-line)  near the drive-select setting links. This is
because there are already terminating resistors in the internal 3.5“
drive and you should not have two sets. If you have a dual drive where
they are on top of one another rather than side by side, you may find it
difficult to get at the second drive in order to change the link
selection. If so, the easiest solution is to make the top drive 2 and
just remember that the lower drive is drive 1.
1.1
One problem you may still find (which Acorn haven’t yet managed to
explain) is that if you switch on the power to the disc drive before or
at the same time as  the computer, the computer seems unable to start up
− you just get a blank screen. All you have to do though is to make sure
you switch the computer on first and then the disc drive. You will also
find that the desk-top program does not recognise the third drive − even
if you have typed *CONFIGURE FLOPPIES 3, it only displays two disc icons
on the screen. (If anyone works out how to modify the program to
recognise all three, let me know.)
1.1
ADFS bugs
1.1
There are one or two bugs in the ADFS, though they are apparently
reasonably obscure. The only one I have found myself is that if you try
to *BUILD a !BOOT file onto a disc that already has a !BOOT file and you
have left the disc write-protected, when you press <escape>, the system
hangs up and you have to press <ctrl-break> or reset to escape. Some of
the bugs have been corrected on the 0.03 version of the ADFS that you
will find in the MODULES directory on your Welcome disc. This version
will have to be *RMLOAD’ed, then to check that you have got the right
version installed, type *HELP MODULES which gives you the current
version numbers of all modules. It should say ADFS 0.03 (17 Jun 1987)
instead of ADFS 0.02 (05 Jun 1987). Incidentally, the file name on the
Welcome disc is Adfs0-03, not Adfs0_03 as you might tend to expect, so
if you get a file not found error, check that you have typed it
correctly.
1.1
Have you discoveredÉ?
1.1
I’d like this to be a regular feature. It consists of the sort of things
that may be obvious to some people, but perhaps that you’ve noticed from
reading the User Guide (or the Programmers’ Reference Manual when it
becomes available). If you find something that you thought, “Well, I
didn’t realise that!’, let us know. I’ll start it off this month with
things that were new to me.
1.1
•   The pad character “|” which is the shifted back-slash character (the
key just above the return key) can be used to “pad” out those incredibly
long VDU codes that end with lots of zeros. For example, to switch off
the cursor, you can use VDU23,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 which can admittedly
be shortened to VDU23,1,0;0;0;0; can now be reduced to VDU23,1| which
has the extra advantage that you don’t have to try to remember exactly
how many zeros it needs to complete the command.
1.1
•   Instead of saying value=value+extra, you can use the new operator
“+=” and say value+=extra which is a significant saving if, like me, you
tend to use long variable names; likewise with −=extra.  (Well with
“604412 bytes remaining”, it may not be worth worrying about memory
space, but it does save on printer ribbons!)
1.1
• DANGER! • BEWARE! • WARNING!!!!!
1.1
Newcomers to ADFS beware! If you have been using *WIPE * and looking
through and saying “yes” or “no” to each, Don’t try it on ADFS! You will
find that *WIPE * deletes ALL the un-locked files in the current
directory. It’s like *DESTROY * but without even displaying a list of
all the files it was about to delete and asking for confirmation. I
discovered this ‘nasty’ the hard way − I lost about 10 programs at a
stroke.It wasn’t too bad though as I had copied them across from DFS and
only modified one or two.
1.1
What you should say is *WIPE * C where the C stands for “Confirm” − then
it asks you about each file in turn. − You have been warned!!!!

Hints and Tips
RGB Connector
Hugh Nolan, of Old Roan, Liverpool, writes, “The pinout for the RGB
connector on page 18 of Archive 1.1 indicates that it follows that of an
IBM PGA rather than the more common EGA standard. If anybody has a
monitor supplied with a lead for use with an EGA and wishes to build a
new cable they should note that the EGA pinouts are as follows:
1.2
1.2
   1   Ground   6   Secondary Green/Intensity
1.2
   2   Secondary Red
1.2
   3   Red   7 Secondary Blue/Mono
1.2
   4   Green   8   Horizontal Retrace
1.2
   5   Blue   9   Vertical Retrace
1.2
I am currently using such a monitor with my BBC model B and the
connections are fairly straightforward except that the BBC’s connector
does not have separate vertical and horizontal syncs, so I have wired
the composite sync to pin 9 (Vertical Retrace) of the monitor.”
1.2
Using a multi-sync monitor
1.2
A much easier way to change to a multi-sync monitor is to use:
1.2
*CONFIGURE MONITORTYPE 1 and
1.2
*CONFIGURE MONITORTYPE 0  to switch back to the normal monitor.
1.2
Epson screen-dumps
1.2
No doubt you have discovered the modules called HardCopyFX, MX and RX,
and you too have discovered that they don’t work! Gerrald Fitton has the
answer for us. His bug-fix has been passed on to Acorn who are also
circulating it. The recipe is as follows:
1.2
*LOAD Modules.HardCopyFX 10000  (that’s four noughts - beware of using
three!)
1.2
!&104E0=&E59C1020
1.2
!&104E4=&E20100FF
1.2
(now replace the disc for the one onto which you want to put the hard-
copy module)
1.2
*SAVE HardCopyFX 10000 + 700
1.2
*SETTYPE HardCopyFX &FFA
1.2
*STAMP HardCopyFX
1.2
To use the module, *RMLOAD HardCopyFX (or just *HardCopyFX will do) and
then call it with *HardCopyFX plus various parameters − *HELP HardCopyFX
will show you what all the parameters are. Has anyone been  experiment
ing with it? What do all the parameters mean and what are their ranges?
(Landscape, XScale, YScale, Margin and Threshold)
1.2
Avoiding constant use of *MOUNT
1.2
If you, like me, have a number of different discs and you can’t remember
what is on which, you will probably be fed up of having to type *MOUNT
each time you change the disc before you can get a catalogue. Try
*CONFIGURE NODIR and <ctrl-break> and you will find that as long as you
haven’t gone down to lower directories, you can just change the disc and
do a *CAT (or *. works as on the BBC micro) and it will re-catalogue the
disc in the drive. For more details, see James Lynn’s article about
*CONFIGURE.
1.2
File copying problems
1.2
There are one or two problems with the *COPY command under the 0.2 and
0.3 operating systems but, not being used to using ADFS myself, I am
never sure when it is a bug and when it is me being stupid. One thing
you will find though is that when doing a *COPY from disc to disc using
a single drive, it seems to hang up when it should be saying “Enter
source disc and press the space bar” but don’t panic, it’s probably
still OK and it’s just that the prompt has not been printed. Replace the
disc you were expecting to put in next and press <space> and I think you
will find that it carries on OK. If you haven’t discovered how to do
disc to disc copying on one drive, see the “Have you discovered”
section.
1.2
File transfer problems
1.2
If you are still having problems getting files across from other
computers to the Archimedes, we have received one or two programs from
subscribers. There is not enough space to print them in this issue, but
if you drop us a line, we could send you a listing.
1.2
Attaching a 5.25“ disc drive
1.2
Acorn have told us that they would not recommend us to do this as the
disc drive hardware in the computer is only designed to drive 3.5“
drives with low control line loading and that if you want to attach a
5.25” drive, you should have suitable buffer circuitry added. The
feedback we are getting for subscribers is that most of you are having
success with this, though one person said that one drive he attached
would not work whilst another one did and another person actually blew
up the driver chip in the Archimedes. So, it’s up to you, but in the
light of these comments from Acorn, it would clearly be a good idea to
remove the pull-up resistors on the auxilliary drive.
1.2
(For an alternative, check the “Hardware Available” section to see what
Brainsoft have done to get round the problem.)
1.2
Three floppies on the desktop
1.2
In order to get three floppies on the desktop, i.e. assuming you have
added a double 5.25“ disc drive, Gerrald Fitton again comes to our
rescue. “In the BASIC library program called
$.desktop.accessory.filehandlr you will find that lines 130 and 140
accept the first and second floppies, so you will need an extra line:
1.2
145 IF floppies%>2 THEN PROCsys _addtoiconbar_left(“floppy2”,É
1.2
etc as per lines 130 and 140 and you will have to make a further copy of
lines 290 to 420 (which refer to floppy 0) emulating the changes made to
generate lines 430 to 560 which refer to floppy 1 by inserting “2” in
the appropriate places.
1.2
Fortran 77
1.2
Tom Fortescue warns potential purchasers of Fortran77 that (a) it needs
at least 1Mbyte and is therefore unusable on the A305 (I haven’t been
able to check this with Acornsoft.) and (b) it does not come with an
editor, so unless you’ve got View or Wordwise or Inter-Word or somesuch,
you won’t get very far with it!
1.2
Stereo speakers
1.2
Enoch Mayer says that he has bought, for around £25, a couple of
“Realisitic” (Tandy) amplified speakers designed for use with personal
stereo radio/tape players. (Model: Minimus-0.6 amplified speaker system
Cat N¼ 40-1259E) Although they run off two sets of four size-C bat
teries, they can easily be adapted to run off small battery eliminators.
They tone in nicely with the Archimedes, but the best thing is that when
no sound signal is received they automatically shut off, thus eliminat
ing the “fuzz”!

•   RAM upgrades − If you want to up-grade the ram yourself, rather than
trying to remove the main p.c.b. to get at the sockets where the new
chips are to go, you can remove the front fascia. To do this, remove the
lid, then disconnect the wires that go to the speaker and the ‘power on’
LED by pulling the four-pin socket off the pins on the board. The tongue
at the front of this socket is a clip that holds the socket in place, so
ease this forwards and the socket should slip off easily.  Then you can
remove the fascia itself by undoing the five screws, three underneath
and one at each side. Care should be taken with the eject button on the
disc drive as this can break off fairly easily if roughly handled. (Some
say, will inevitably break off, but a bit of super-glue or the like is
all you need to stick it back in place.) You will then have to remove
the bridge that supports the disc drive(s). This can be done by removing
one screw underneath the computer (do this first) then two screws at the
side. Plug in the chips and reverse the process, again being careful of
the disc eject button.
1.3
•   Fitting a second drive is supposed to be a ‘dealer only’ upgrade,
but as long as you know a bit about electronics and vaguely what happens
inside computers, it is not too difficult to fit it yourself. However,
you should watch out that the front fascia plate is not too high. If it
is, it will bear on the disc and may cause an error when you try to
access the disc. I discovered this when I found that the drives worked
OK until I put the new two-hole fascia in place. My solution, when this
happened, was “brute force and ignorance”! The metal bracket on which
the drive is supported has a little bit of “give” in it − enough to
raise the front of the drive by the couple of millimetres necessary to
lift it away from the fascia.
1.3
The other important thing to know is that to configure your second drive
as drive 1 you need to move the tiny black slider switch at the side of
the drive. It is a four position switch and usually comes in position 0,
so one click will move it to position 1.
1.3
•   Anti-Buzz Fix  − There are, apparently, two different buzzes. One is
what occurs after you have pressed <escape> or <break> and the other a
much more annoying buzz which not all computers seem to have. The first
buzz is a software problem which is fixed in the 1.2 Arthur, so I am
told, but the other requires a hardware fix which is supposed to be done
by dealers as a free modification, but if you are deft with a soldering
iron and are willing to risk your warranty, here’s what to doÉ
1.3
The solution, according to Acorn’s technical services department isÉ
1.3
“Solder a 100µF, 10 volt electrolytic capacitor across pins 7 (positive)
and 4 (negative) of IC68. The capacitor should be kept as close to the
p.c.b. as possible and should be secured to the board with glue or hot
wax.”
1.3
The bad news is that IC 68 is underneath the bar that supports the disc
drive(s)! The easiest way to get at it is actually, (1) take off the
lid, (2) unplug the lead that  goes to the speaker and power-on LED
(beware, the socket on the ends of the cable has a lip that locks it
onto the pins on the board − ease the lip forward before trying to pull
the socket off), (3) take off the front fascia (one screw at each side
and three under the front edge) and (4) unscrew the drive-support bridge
(one screw underneath and two at the side).
1.3
•   Problems with monitors − Some folk are having problems with certain
monitors. If the problem is lack of contrast, use an oscilloscope to
check the voltage output levels from the Archimedes. If they are less
than 0.7 volts peak-to-peak you may need to change the values of the
output resistors. Acorn have changed resistors R20, R41 and R59 from 68
ohms to 43 ohms, so if you want to increase the output voltage, you
could either change the resistors or solder a 120 ohm resistor in
parallel with each.
1.3
The other problem with some monitors, especially the NEC and Fujitsu
multisync monitors, is of getting a greenish tinge on white areas. This
comes about because Acorn put the sync signal onto the green line which
is apparently what certain monitors expect. To remove this sync signal,
simply remove resistor R39 − a quick snip with a good pair of side-
cutters should do it, but make sure you get the right resistor!
1.3
(When I tried to do these modifications, I found it wasn’t too easy to
decide which resistor was which because the numbers are actually
underneath the resistors. If you look at the line of resistors coming
away from the video output socket you will see that they are: R1, R3,
R18, R20 (68R), R35, R37, R39 (1k2), R41 (68R), R45, R50, R52, R59
(68R), R60, R63 and R67.)
1.3
•   Archimedes on Econet − As far as we can gather, the Econet hardware
to be added to the basic 305 or 310 is just the same as the module which
you would purchase for the Master or Compact − certainly, the part
supplied by Acorn to one of our readers had the same part number as the
Master equivalent. One problem which Econet users may find on earlier
systems is that even if you only want to use the disc system, you still
have to have a clock signal available, otherwise the computer hangs up!
Presumably this will be corrected in the 1.2 operating system! If you
are used to using !BOOT files on the network, you will need to change
them all to !ARMBOOT as well as having !BOOT files for the BBC. The
Archimedes will work quite well on a Level 3 server but there are no net
utilities like VIEW, REMOTE, NOTIFY, ROFF etc. The only one provided is
an enhanced FREE which includes RDFREE with it. Acorn have “no plans”
for providing these utilities. This, for schools, is quite a problem as
you cannot get to see what is going on around the net. However, software
transfer around the net is very easy. (These comments were kindly
provided by Mr V Smith of King Edwards School, Lytham.)
1.3
•   Control key abbreviations − Lazy typists like me will like to know
that if you want to type, say, MODE12 perhaps to list a program that was
running in different screen mode or within a window, you can be
abbreviate it to <ctrl-V><ctrl-L>. What you are doing is the equivalent
of VDU22,12. On the BBC micro this was not a good idea because BASIC was
unaware of the change of mode and would start to over-write screen
memory with variables, but it is OK on the Archimedes because the screen
memory is protected by having configured a certain amount of screen RAM.
If you try it and then type PRINT MODE, it knows it is in mode 12. Other
mode numbers can be worked out − mode 0 would be <cvtrl-V><ctrl-@>, 1 is
A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D, 5-E, 6-F, 7-G, 8-H, 9-I, 10-J, 11-K, 12-L, 13-M, 14-N,
15-O, 16-P, 17-Q, 18-R, 19-S, 20-T, 21-U.
1.3
This can be extended to things like changing background colour, say to
blue, with <ctrl-S><ctrl-@><ctrl-D><ctrl-@><ctrl-@><ctrl-@> (where
<ctrl-@> is actually done with <ctrl-shift-2>) but there comes a limit
where it is quicker to type in the command rather than remembering the
control codes. You can even do all the plotting functions in this way −
try, for example, <ctrl-Y><e><ctrl-C><ctrl-C><ctrl-C><ctrl-C>. (That’s a
lower case “e”, not <ctrl-e> so switch caps lock off and just press <e>.
If nothing happens, do a mode change first to a graphics mode, say MODE
12, then try it.)
1.3
To change mode when in the Arthur Supervisor, you could use, say, ECHO
|| V || L or ECHO || S || @ || D || @ || @ || @ or you could use ECHO
<19><0><4><0><0><0> but you can again just type in the <ctrl> sequences
as mentioned above.
1.3
•   Special effects in View − You can use *ECHO or use the control key
sequences mentioned above when you are using View. Also, if you want to
put the ‘format block’, ‘move block’ and ‘delete block’ commands onto
function keys 10 to 12 (instead of using the <print> key) you can use:
1.3
*KEY 10 || ! || L
1.3
*KEY 11 || ! || \
1.3
*KEY 12 || ! ,
1.3
Despite what it says in the User Guide about the pageup and pagedown
keys not being used, they seem to work in View and they do actually move
you a page at a time up and down.
1.3
•   *RMtidy − Beware that on the 0.20 Arthur, this can cause the machine
to crash whenm you subsequently try to us *RMLOAD.
1.3
•   There is apparently another undocumented screen mode which will be
available on Arthur 1.2 − mode 21 which is 640 x 512 in 256 colours,
though it will obviously only be usable on a multi-sync monitor and uses
320k of RAM! Also, on the 400 series there will be two extra high
resolution monochrome modes for 64kHz monitors − mode 22 which is 160 x
122 text with 1280 x 976 graphics and mode 23 which is text only at 144
x 54. These use the extra hardware that is on the 400 series boards
though it looks as if there should be space for the chips on the 300
boards if you are prepared to risk fitting them yourself. There are no
sockets, so you would have to solder-suck all the holes first, and it’s
a multi-layer board.
1.3
•   Delete on keypad − If you compare the keypads of the Master and the
Archimedes, you will see that where the Archimedes has a fullstop, the
Master has a delete key. If you think it would be useful to have the
delete function on the keypad, turn the num lock LED off and try
pressing the fullstop key!
1.3
•   Function key definitions − If you want to know what the current key
definitions are, *SHOW K* will print them on the screen. The only slight
confusion is that they appear in alphabetic order − KEY$0, KEY$1,
KEY$10,  KEY$11,  KEY$12,  KEY$13, KEY$14, KEY$15,  KEY$2,  KEY$3 etc!
1.3
Function key 0, as you probably know by now, is put onto the PRINT key,
but where are the other function keys − 13, 14 and 15? The only one I
have found is 13 which is on the INSERT key The other thing to watch is
that although there is a separate key for function key 10 (the break key
on the BBC micro), when you press <break>, KEY$10 is expanded as it was
on the BBC micro! (That was on 0.2. Has it changed in later versions of
the OS?)
1.3
•   Diary & notepad − The diary and notepad can be saved onto disc by
putting the pointer on the pad or the calendar and clicking the middle
button. It then asks for confirmation that you want to save it. The
notepad is saved as “notepad” and the diary as “Diary87” (or whatever
year it is for). To load them back in again later, you have to open up
the disc and click on the required file before clicking on the diary or
notepad with the middle button and selecting LOAD. When saving, the name
is fixed by the desktop program, but once it has been saved, you can
rename the file if you want to save more than one, though obviously this
applies more to the note-pad as I know that some of you are still having
to use the notepad as a word-processor! Having said all that, I have to
admit that when I was trying this out, I had problems saving the
calendar − I kept getting “Disc full” or “Disc in need of compaction”
errors. Any offers of explanation?
1.3
•   The SYSTEMDEVS module is a set of logical device drivers that can be
used from Arthur. They make the device appear to the programmer as if
they were a file system. In Arthur 0.20 you have to load the module from
the Welcome disc, but in 0.30 onwards it should be in ROM. They include
LPT:, KEYBD:, PRINTER:, VDU and RAWVDU: so a simple command to copy a
file to screen would be *COPY FILE VDU: and any non-printing characters
appear in the format used to program the function keys, i.e. using pad
characters so that, for example, ASCII 12 comes out as || L.
1.3
What is the point of these facilities? Well, you can use them to
redirect the flow of data into or out of a program or relating to an
Arthur command. Thus you can say *EX {>info } which sends the output
from the EX command to a file called “info” and *CAT {>>info } will then
ADD the catalogue information onto the end of the info file, or *CAT
{printer: } would print out the catalogue. *BASIC {<data } PROG would
run the BASIC program PROG and take it input information from the DATA
file rather than from the keyboard. Another possible application is for
debugging a program that is sending data to a disc file. Rather than
stopping the program and examining the disc file periodically, you could
change the line in the program where you set up the file for output and
use instead X% = OPENOUT “PRINT:” then subsequent PRINT#X%’s or
BPUT#X%’s would go to the printer. If the output is un-printable (or do
I mean non-printing?!) characters then you could set the printer into a
hex dump format which many dot matrix printers have these days. Then a
final suggestion for an application would be when using network and
ADFS. To avoid switching between the two, you could say X%=OPENOUT
“ADFS:$.TEST”. This means that you could presumably have files open on
both the network and the disk at the same time, but not having a network
for my solitary Archimedes, I cannot check this!
1.3
(These comments were derived from an article in “Eureka” the Auckland
BBC User Groups’ Archimedes Newsletter. Many thanks to the editor, Tony
Krzyzewski. Write to him if you want more details of Eureka c/o Barsons
Computers, P O Box 26287, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand.)
1.3
•   ROMs that work under the emulator.
1.3
Acornsoft’s Comal, Prolog and Lisp seem at first look to be OK, and one
reader comments that Logotron’s Logo is OK but that the graphics are
“funny” − whatever that means.
1.3
Damon Hoggett reckons that to get the View series ROM’s to work, you
need to *LOAD them at &10000 and then poke the following addresses to
&EA (a NOP instruction) as explained last month. View B3.0: &128A2,
ViewSheet B1.0: &10690, 691 and 692 and ViewStore 1.0: &12BCE, BCF and
BD0 then you *SAVE filename 10000+4000 8000 8000. We made a mistake with
the mention last month of Viewstore 1.1 (page 23). The poke should be
?&12BE2=&EA, not 1ABE2 and you should also poke the next two bytes,
&12BE3 and E4.
1.3
BBCSoft’s Monitor ROM seems to work OK with the emulator. You can
apparently assemble, disassemble and single-step through 6502 machine
code without problems.
1.3
Some folk are saying the Inter-Chart works under the emulator, though
not option 9 to import data.
1.3
•   BASIC editor on 0.20 OS − If you are in BASIC and you type EDIT,
BASIC issues a *ARMBE command, so if that module is not already loaded
into memory, it will look in the operating system ROM and then in the
current directory on the current drive for the ARMBE module. If it is
not there, it will come up with “Bad command”. However, if it finds it,
it will load it into memory. Then to enter the editor, you just type
EDIT again. So, until you get your 1.2 OS(!) it is a good idea to copy
the ARMBE module into the directory in which you keep your BASIC
programs so that it is ready to use at any time.
1.3
•   No room in RMA − If you are in BASIC and try to *RMLOAD a module,
you may get “No room in RMA” even if the configuration is set to allow
enough space for that particular module. But if you QUIT first into the
Arthur supervisor you can do the RMLOAD and then go back into BASIC and
OLD to get your program back. However, I think I would tend to save the
program first just in case!
1.3
•   BASIC V tips from Colin Dean, author of ‘Advanced BASIC’ (Tubelink’s
BASIC V look-alike for the BBC & Master)
1.3
In the LIST IF command, if you put a space between the IF and the
<string> that follows it, you get a different effect. For example if you
have two lines:
1.3
10RECTANGLE 1,2,3,4
1.3
20 RECTANGLE 5,6,7,8
1.3
Then “LIST IF RECTANGLE” shows line 20 only, whereas “LIST IFRECTANGLE”
shows both.
1.3
A neat way to test more than one expression at once, without having to
use heavily nested IF’s is to use “CASE TRUE OF”. For example,
1.3
CASE TRUE OF
1.3
  WHEN X=3 AND Y=4:PRINT“X=3 and Y=4”
1.3
  WHEN X>7, Z=0:PRINT“X>7 OR Z=0”
1.3
ENDCASE
1.3
However, you should beware of mixing numerics and logicals in CASE
expressions. For example,
1.3
X = 6
1.3
CASE X OF
1.3
  WHEN TRUE : PRINT “TRUE”
1.3
  WHEN FALSE : PRINT “FALSE”
1.3
  OTHERWISE PRINT “SPURIOUS”
1.3
ENDCASE
1.3
this prints “SPURIOUS” because ‘6’ is neither true (−1) or false (0).
1.3
•   Improved boot file for WWPlus − The !BOOT file on the Archimedes
Wordwise Plus discs is a BASIC program which checks whether the 6502
emulator is installed and if not loads it off the Welcome disc. If
instead you copy 65arthur onto your Wordwise Plus discs you can use a
simpler boot file which just says:
1.3
QUIT
1.3
65ARTHUR
1.3
WW+
1.3
and then do a *OPT 4 3 so that the computer EXEC’s the boot file instead
of running it. If you are using the disc version of CP-ROM, just add
1.3
:SELECT SEGMENT 8
1.3
:LOAD TEXT “$.CP-ROM.CPstart”
1.3
*FX138,0,152
1.3
to the boot file and it will start up the CP-ROM as well.
1.3
•   Have you seen the whale?! − When playing Zarch, one or two folk have
discovered a whale that appears in the sea (or is it a shark or a sea-
monster?). You get 1000 points if you exterminate it and sometimes it
“beaches” itself and becomes a much easier target. By the way, how are
the scores going? I’ve just about managed to avoid being called a wet
lettuce or a stuffed aubergine, but one reader, Malcolm Roberts says his
son has reached 53,291.
1.3
(STOP PRESS! I’ve just seen it too − very fleetingly. It was bluish with
a zig-zag fin on its back!)
1.3

•   Having asked last time about function keys 14 and 15, it seems that
they are only available when the cursor editing is switched off by doing
a *FX4,2 after which, cursor right, down and up give definitions 13, 14
and 15. (Remember that 13 is normally available on the insert key
anyway.)
1.4
•   Word-Perfect does not work under the PC-Emulator at present. This is
due to a bug in the emulator which is being fixed − a new version will
be available “shortly”.
1.4
•   If you want to read the mouse when using the 6502-emulator, this can
be done in BASIC IV by using ADVAL 7 and 8 to return the X and Y co-
ordinates respectively. 6502 machine code programs can be modified to
use OS_Byte 128 with X=7 to give the X value and X=8 to give the Y
value. The co-ordinates are returned in the X and Y registers, X being
the low byte and y the high byte.
1.4
If you want to read the mouse buttons from BASIC IV, use INKEY(-n) where
n=10, 11 and 12 for select, menu and adjust respectively and in machine
code use OS_Byte 129 with X containing the -n number (&F6, &F5 and &F4)
and Y containing &FF.
1.4
•   Users of the Acorn colour monitors may not have realised that there
is a switch inside the control panel at the front of the monitor which
switches off all but the green gun. Depressing this switch makes the
display slightly easier to read, especially if you are trying to use a
132 column mode.
1.4
•   Setting the “*TIME” format − The output format used by *TIME can be
changed via a ‘*SET Sys$DateFormat’ command. The following is a list of
the valid parameters and the result they will return:
1.4
%am   Display ‘am’ or ‘pm’ depending on the time.
1.4
%pm   Display ‘am’ or ‘pm’ depending on the time.
1.4
%ce   Current century
1.4
%cs   (Centiseconds) Hundredths of a second
1.4
%dn   Day number (001 = 1st January)
1.4
%dy   Day of the month
1.4
%mi   Minutes
1.4
%mn   Month number
1.4
%mo   Current month (e.g. ‘January’)
1.4
%m3   Current month abbreviated to 3 characters (e.g. ‘Jan’)
1.4
%se   Seconds
1.4
%st   Day of the month trailer (i.e. ‘st’, ‘nd’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’)
1.4
%we   Weekday (e.g. ‘Wednesday’)
1.4
%w3   Weekday abbreviated to 3 characters (e.g. ‘Wed’)
1.4
%wk   Week number (since start of year)
1.4
%wn   Weekday number (1 = Sunday, 7 = Saturday)
1.4
%yr   Current year (e.g. 87)
1.4
%12   Hours on 12 hour clock
1.4
%24   Hours on 24 hour clock
1.4
Note that changing the format does not affect the TIME$ format as used
in BASIC V.
1.4
The default setting, which is: %w3,%dy %m3 %ce%yr.%24:%mi:%se, can be
seen by typing *SHOW S*.
1.4
If the date or the year is changed, the day of the week is automatically
recalculated, so no errors occur. (See competition results on page 46.)
1.4
Other characters may also be inserted into the definition of the *TIME
format. For example,
1.4
*SET Sys$DateFormat %we, %dy%st %mo, %ce%yr. Time: %24:%mi [%se seconds]
1.4
will produce output in the form: “Monday, 07th December, 1987. Time:
12:07 [45 seconds]”.
1.4
If you want to strip off the leading zero on the %dy output, use %zdy%st
which will produce “7th December”. If you want, for some reason to have
the character ‘%’ as part of the format, use “%%”.
1.4
If you want to split the string into several zero-terminated strings,
you can use ‘%0’ which will insert a zero byte into the string.
1.4
New time formats in BASIC − If all you want to do is print out the value
of time within a BASIC program you can simply use the star command *TIME
as a line within the program. If however you want to pick up the time as
an actual string, you need to use the following function:
1.4
DEF FNnewtime
1.4
LOCAL Workarea, Time$
1.4
DIM Workarea 256
1.4
?Workarea = 3
1.4
SYS “OS_Word”,14,Workarea,256
1.4
SYS “OS_ConvertStandardDateAnd Time”,Workarea,Workarea,256 TO Time$
1.4
=Time$
1.4
Help!!! The format which the system uses to record time and date is a 40
bit number (as used to store the datestamp of a file) but we have not as
yet found a system routine to convert any date into this format. Has
anyone found such a routine or written anything of the sort?
1.4
•   Break/escape effects − To control the effects of <escape> and
<break> with various combinations of <ctrl> and <shift>, you can use
*FX247,n where n is a binary number whose eight bits control the various
effects as follows:
1.4
Bits 7 and 6 control action of <shift-ctrl-break>
1.4
   7   6
1.4
   0   0   −   “Normal action” (= hard reset + boot drive 0)
1.4
   0   1   −   Acts like <escape>
1.4
   1   0   −   Disables <shift-ctrl-break>
1.4
Bits 5 and 4 control action of <ctrl-break>
1.4
   5   4
1.4
   0   0   −   Hard reset
1.4
   0   1   −   Acts like <escape>
1.4
   1   0   −   Disables <ctrl-break>
1.4
Bits 3 and 2 control action of <shift-break>
1.4
   0   0   −   Boots disc in drive 0
1.4
   0   1   −   Acts like <escape>
1.4
   1   0   −   Disables <shift-break>
1.4
Bits 1 and 0 control action of <break>
1.4
   0   0   −   Soft reset
1.4
   0   1   −   Acts like <escape>
1.4
   1   0   −   Disables <break>
1.4
The default setting (on 0.20 OS) seems to be *FX247,1 so that all works
“as normal” except that the break key has been turned into another
escape key. Typing *FX247,0 or just *FX247 turns the break key into the
old “proper” break key that BBC owners will remember, i.e. it does a
soft reset, as does the reset button on the back of the keyboard.
1.4
•   When you re-load a picture created by the ARM-Paint program, you
sometimes find that certain of the colours are flashing. To avoid this,
add a line to the PAINTING program:
1.4
18165 *FX9
1.4
which should fix the problem. It actually flashes while the picture is
being loaded but then the flashing stops when this line is executed.
1.4
•   Long printer cables. Those of you who have been using very long
printer cables on the BBC micro will find that the Archimedes’ printer
output has not got sufficient drive to cope with more than about 2
metres of cable. The only way to get round this would be to use a
printer buffer that had a higher output drive capability.
1.4
•   For an interesting sound effect (on 0.30 Arthur), type in
“*Configure Sounddefault 1 7 7” followed by <ctrl-break>. This alters
the bell sound as produced by VDU7. To return to normal, set Soundde
fault 1 7 1.
1.4
•   For those who still haven’t got a word-processor (you did fill in
your registration form, didn’t you?!?) and are wanting to use the BASIC
editor as a wordprocessor, type *KEY0 L.O8||ML.||B||M||A||?||A||?||C and
you will find that the ‘print’ key lives up to its name.
1.4
•   ROMs that work under the emulator. The second processor version of
ISO Pascal (files Dpascal and Dcomp on the disc that comes with the two-
ROM set) works fine under the emulator though the compilation time is a
little slower than on the Beeb.
1.4
Anyone who has the EDIT software from the BBC Master can transfer it to
the Archimedes and it seems to work OK. There appears to be a strange
message when the software is called and if the function key help screen
is selected, it looks a bit peculiar. If you only want to process small
amounts of text (about 30k) then use EDIT − it’s much cheaper than
buying TWIN for £30.
1.4
•   The default values of the parameters in the HardcopyFX module are
0,1,1,0,1 which gives, in order, landscape (i.e. sideways − to get
portrait, use 1), X and Y scale factors of 1 (no limit, it seems, but
you can’t use fractions), the margin which is measured in 1/72 nds of an
inch with a maximum of 576 and finally the threshold (the colour number
which determines whether a dot is printed or not, I presume) which can
take values up to 255. There is a clever “Printer Time Out” error built
into the code in case the printer is not connected.
1.4
•   Switching off the desktop on Arthur 1.2.
1.4
If, having changed from operating system 0.2 to 1.2, you don’t like
going into the desktop every time you switch on, you can *CONFIGURE
Language 4 and <ctrl-break> and you will be brought into BASIC instead.
The desktop can then be called up with *DESKTOP at any time. If you
decide to go back to initialising into the desktop, *CONFIGURE Language
3 should do the trick.
1.4
Do keep the hints & tips coming. They are one of the most useful parts
of the magazine − do you agree? We could do with more feedback about
what you like and what you don’t.
1.4
The trouble is that you remember that you read something but cannot
remember in which issue or on which page so we’re hoping to do a full
Archive index − anyone like to start it off for us? Would you like just
a paper index or one on database? Let me know what you think.
1.4
Watch out too for a binder for your Archive magazine. More details next
month.

•   Text files for BASIC. I always used to write my BASIC programs in
Wordwise and put an AUTO command as the top line then go into BASIC and
NEW and then *EXEC <filename>. But IÕve just discovered (what IÕm sure
you all knew already) that BASIC can do it for me. You donÕt have to put
AUTO at the top you just say  *BASIC -LOAD <filename> and it will load
the text version of the program and put line numbers onto it. However,
as with the *EXEC technique, you cannot use long multi-statement lines
or you will get the “Line too long” error.
1.05
(One reader, who was using Arthur 0.2, found that text files longer than
32k got corrupted, but I tried it on my system with BASIC 1.02 and
Arthur 1.2 and it seemed OK.)
1.05
•   Fast screen save. This is obviously something which a number of you
have been thinking about. I got a lot of response to my pleas for help.
Several of you gave ways of *SAVEing the screen information from the
appropriate bit of RAM and re-loading it there, though this obviously
will not bring with it the palette information or the correct mode. For
example:
1.05
DEF PROCscreensave(filename$)
1.05
LOCAL K%
1.05
CASE MODE OF
1.05
  WHEN 0,1,4,5,6 : K%=20
1.05
  WHEN 2,3,8,9,11,18 : K%=40
1.05
  WHEN 7,10,12,13,14,19 : K%=80
1.05
  WHEN 16,17 : K%=132
1.05
  WHEN 15,20 : K%=160
1.05
ENDCASE
1.05
!&80=149:!&84=-1
1.05
SYS 49,&80,&88 : REM OS_ReadVduVariables
1.05
OSCLI“SAVE ”+filename$+“ ”+STR$
1.05
~(!&88)+“ +”+STR$~(K%*1024)
1.05
ENDPROC
1.05
This takes only a second or two to save the screen. It can be reloaded
by typing *LOAD filename. The program saves the whole screen, not just
the graphics window. You must not have scrolled the screen prior to
saving or re-loading, but a CLS before re-loading will cancel the
scrolling. Also, you must be in the right mode for the screen you are
about to load and you need to have the same screen colour definitions
set up.
1.05
What we have been promised though is a module, which we hope to publish
next month, which will give you legal *commands (or SWIs) for loading
and saving screen information including palette and mode and you will
find that it is several times faster than the existing SCREENSAVE
routines.
1.05
•   Extra help on BASICÉ (OS1.2) If you type *BASIC -help<return> you
get a bit more help information about BASIC. (But does anyone know what
the last two bits refer to? i.e. what is an “in-core” program? Does it
mean you can have more than one program in memory?)
1.05
•   ADFS: If you name all your discs with *NAMEDISC, the Archimedes will
remember the previously mounted discs. So, for example, if you put in a
disc called TESTING and you *MOUNT it and then put in a disc called
BASICPROGS and *MOUNT that, you can then see the directory of TESTING
without putting the disc back in again. All you do is type *MOUNT
TESTING and you can *CAT it. If you then want to look at the disc that
is in the drive, you will of course have to *MOUNT again. The only
problem occurs when you have backup discs because they will have the
same name — this gives “Ambiguous disc name”.
1.05
•   Sprite Editor. “To create a new spriteÉ” It took me ages to find out
how to create a new sprite. The manual tells you to click on the
“Create” box and “you are then prompted for a name and a mode”. I was
expecting a prompt something like: “Please enter name:”. I saw the words
“Create sprite” appear at the bottom of the screen and assumed it wanted
some sort of confirmation that that was what I wanted to do, but
whatever I did, the words disappeared again! In fact that is the actual
prompt that the manual was referring to! All you do is type in the new
name and press <return>. You would have thought they could have put in a
more obvious prompt than that — or maybe just switched on the cursor to
indicate that it was time to type something rather than click on the
mouse buttons, but perhaps I have been spoiled by using the Apple Mac
where prompts are rather more obvious and logical! Huhh!
1.05
•   Reading the catalogue. An easier way to read the contents of a
catalogue, rather than reading it off the screen (see Gus GemÕs article
last month) is to use SYS “OS_GBPB” as followsÉ
1.05
DIM C% 999
1.05
!&80=&2A00
1.05
SYS “OS_GBPB”,9,&80,C%,999,0,
1.05
999 TO ,,,ENTRIES
1.05
This stores the filenames and sub-directories of the current directory
at the address C%, in alphabetical order and each terminated by a zero
byte. The number of entries is stored in the BASIC variable ENTRIES.
1.05
•   Neater than OSCLIÉ SYS 6 (equivalent of FX calls) is much neater
than using OSCLIs: e.g. Matthew TreagusÕ screen bank switching would
look neater if, instead of using OSCLI (“FX112,”+STR$N%) he had used SYS
6,112,N%. If you donÕt like the anonymity of SYS 6, you can use SYS
“OS_Byte”,112,N%. (See GeraldÕs article on page 12.)
1.05
•   BeebugÕs Masterfile can be made to work on the Archimedes without
using the emulator — it just needs a very few modifications — contact
DrÊÊPeter Catermole at Winchester College, Kingsgate Road, Winchester,
SO23 9PG.
1.05
•   BBC ROMs — Continuing the saga of poking various bytes to get BBC
ROMs to work under the emulator, View B3.0 should apparently have A8A1,
2 and 3 poked to &EA and Viewspell 1.0, &820F, 8210 and 8211 likewise.
1.05
•   When setting the clock, the setting box sometimes covers the face of
the clock, so point at the bottom right hand corner of the clock box and
then press the middle mouse button.
1.05
•   Plugging modules in and out. ItÕs all very well to have lots of
modules in the 1.2 ROM but, at power up, several of these modules are
installed into ram which cuts down your available memory. Exactly which
ones are installed is set by various bytes in the CMOS ram. To find out
what all the modules are and whether they are actually active, type
*ROMModules. (or just *ROM. for short.) You can “unplug” the modules by
using *UNPLUG <modulename> and it stays unplugged until you “insert” it
again with *RMREINIT <modulename>. It seems that the extra space does
not become available until you press <ctrl-break>. If you type *UNPLUG
without a module name it tells you which modules are currently
unplugged.
1.05
•   HowÕs this for a screen dump? (sent in by Ken Yeardley) It is for
mode 0, it works on the NEC PC8023, it can be put on a function key and
it only takes 118 seconds.
1.05
VDU2,1,27,84,1,&31,1,&36: FOR
1.05
A%=&1FDCFB0 TO &1FDCFFF:VDU2,
1.05
1,27,83,1,&30,1,&35,1,&31,1,&32:
1.05
FOR B%=A% TO A%-20400 STEP-&50:
1.05
VDU1,?B%,1,?B%: NEXT: VDU1,10:
1.05
NEXT: VDU3
1.05
The reason it is so short is that the NEC printer has the MSB and LSB of
the byte that defines which pins hit the paper, the opposite way round
from Epson printers. (See page 9 for a sample screendump.
1.05
•   Beware the microwave! One reader was having problems with data
corruption on the RS423 but it turned out to be only when his wife was
using the microwave oven four yards away, the other side of a brick
wall!
1.05
•   HereÕs a little routine sent in by Mike Hobart which uses the
debugger module for disassembly and memory dumps. It doesnÕt quite rival
Toolkit, but itÕs a bit cheaper!
1.05
INPUT“Disassembly or Memory dump? (D/M)”,R$
1.05
CASE R$ OF
1.05
  WHEN “d”,“D” : N%=FNi:REPEAT PROCx(“I”,N%,“ +10”):UNTIL FALSE
1.05
  WHEN “m”,“M” : N%=FNi:REPEAT PROCx(“”,N%,“ +FF”):UNTIL FALSE
1.05
ENDCASE
1.05
END
1.05
DEFPROCx(S$,M%,L$)
1.05
WHILE INKEY(-99)
1.05
  OS_CLI(“MEMORY”+S$+“ ”+
1.05
STR$~(N%)+L$)
1.05
 N%=N%+100
1.05
ENDWHILE
1.05
ENDPROC
1.05
DEFFNi
1.05
INPUT“From(Address &nnnnnn)”‘N$
1.05
PRINT“Press <space> to scroll”
1.05
IF ASCN$<>ASC“&”THEN N$=“&”+N$
1.05
=EVAL N$
1.05
•   Desktop on 1.2. (All the remaining H & T are based on material sent
in by Bruce Roberts.) As an alternative to double clicking on <select>
to open a file or run an application, try a single click on the adjust
button — it has the same effect.
1.05
The quick way to open a diary (or notepad), rather than opening the
diary window first and then pressing <menu>, is to double click on the
diary icon on the disk directory — the window opens automatically.
1.05
You can now save diaries and notepads with whatever name you like and
you can also click, or move with the cursor keys, and put text anywhere
in the window.
1.05
The following keys can now be used on diary and notepad:
1.05
<insert>   Insert single character
1.05
<copy>   Delete character to the right of
1.05
   the cursor
1.05
<ctrl-insert>   Insert a line above the cursor
1.05
<ctrl-copy>   Delete a line
1.05
<shift-left/right>   Move 4 characters sideways
1.05
<ctrl-left/right>   Move to the end of the line
1.05
Notepads can be created from within View by saving a file (up to 100
lines, 78 characters wide) and then doing a *SETTYPE <filename> &FEE.
Existing notepads can be edited with View provided you use READ
<filename> instead of LOADing it and WRITE <filename> instead of SAVEing
it.
1.05
•   After using the desktop, the function keys do not produce the normal
programmable strings or ASCII values. It seems that this is because
Acorn have not stuck to their own rules (see ProgrammersÕ Reference
Manual, page 488) because they do not call SWI Wimp_ CloseDown. The
“fix” published elsewhere of typing *FX225,1 is fine if you only want to
restore the strings to f0 - f9. To get f10 - f12 back, you need *FX221,1
but the simplest thing seems to be to make sure that everything is back
to its default setting by using a program, perhaps called QUIT, which
you can run from the desktop instead of clicking on the exit icon. To
set the default of all the combinations of <ctrl> and <shift> with all
the function keys, you need:
1.05
   *FX225,1
1.05
   *FX226,&80
1.05
   *FX227,&90
1.05
   *FX228,0
1.05
   *FX221,1
1.05
   *FX222,&D0
1.05
   *FX223,&E0
1.05
   *FX224,&F0
1.05
   MODE 0
1.05
   *BASIC
1.05
If you donÕt put in a MODE statement, youÕll find yourself typing
invisibly! The *BASIC means you come out into BASIC but with no program
in memory.
1.05
As an alternative, you could miss out the call to BASIC and put:
1.05
   W%=GET
1.05
   *MOUNT
1.05
   *!BOOT
1.05
The idea would be that you would click on this program, change to the
disc you want to boot up, and press a key. You may want to include a
prompt to the user to “replace disc and press space bar” or somesuch.
The use of *!BOOT means that it doesnÕt matter if the boot file should
be *EXECed or *RUN — either will be done by the *!BOOT according to the
file type.
1.05
•   Avoiding the desktop. If you don’t want to go into the desktop every
time you switch on or press <ctrl-break>, do a *CONFIGURE LANGUAGE 4 and
press <ctrl-break>. When you want to go into the desktop, type *DESKTOP
or *DES. for short. If you change your mind, *CON. LANG. 3 will bring
you into desktop at switch on or LANG. 0 will start you in the super
visor mode.
1.05
•   View boot file. Here is a more sophisticated boot file than the one
we gave originally:
1.05
*ECHO<22><3>
1.05
*| selects mode 3
1.05
*GOS
1.05
*65ARTHUR
1.05
*GO F800
1.05
*LOAD VIEW 8000
1.05
*GO 8000
1.05
*ECHO<19><0><16><48><48><240>
1.05
*| sets background colour
1.05
*ECHO<19><1><16><240><240><208>
1.05
*| sets foreground colour
1.05
*ECHO<19><2><24><240><128><0>
1.05
*| sets border/line colour
1.05
SET FI
1.05
*| sets Format and Insert modes
1.05
NEW
1.05
•   Avoiding *MOUNT. To avoid typing *MOUNT each time you put a new disc
in the drive, you can set an alias with, for example, *SET ALIAS$? MOUNT
| M CAT so that when you type *?<return> it does the mount and the
catalogue all in one.
1.05
•   Centronics GLP screendump. The *HardCopyMX nearly works because the
printer  is Epson-compatible-ish! All you need to do is issue, from
BASIC, the following codes:
1.05
VDU2,1,27,1,65,1,8,1,27,1,50,3

•   (1.2 OS) If you want to look at the desktop manager programs and
perhaps modify them and run them from disk, the following information
may be of use:
1.6
The DESKTOP has its own filing system activated by *DESKFS. If you do a
*CAT, you will get:   DeskTopMgr
1.6
DeskTopMgr2
1.6
&.!palette
1.6
Icons.Desktop
1.6
Icons.Calculator
1.6
Icons22.Desktop
1.6
Icons22.Calculator
1.6
You can then LOAD the DeskTopMgr2 program and LIST it. (DeskTopMgrÊis
just the 5-line startup program that gets left in BASIC when you exit
the desktop.)
1.6
If you change back to *ADFS, you can then save the program. To copy the
palette and/or the Icons, you have to use commands such as:
1.6
*COPY DESKFS:I*.Desktop $.I*.Desktop
1.6
(assuming you are in ADFS and have created a directory called Icons)
1.6
To run the program from disk, you need the icon and palette files to be
copied across then if you fancy tackling 76k of “crunched” BASIC
program, you can try editing it!
1.6
•   If you are using the decrement or increment (+= or −=) in a BASIC
program and you get a “Mistake” error on that line, the chances are that
you have forgotten to initialise the variable. Try typing X=X+1:PRINT X
and it will give the value 1 but if you type Y+=1 it will say “Mistake”.
What it really should say is “Unknown or missing variable”, but still,
good programmers won’t get the problem because we always remember to
initialise all our variables, don’t we? (We do?)
1.6
•   Testing multi-sync output without a multi-sync monitor! If you are
writing software and hoping to sell enough of it to be able to afford a
multi-sync monitor(!) you have the problem of testing your software in
modes 18 to 20. If you use *Configure MonitorType 1, modes 0 to 17 are
still displayed as normal then when you select modes 18 to 20 and
generate the screen output, you can use a screendump (such as Gerald
Fitton’s minidump or *HardCopyFX) to look at what you’ve got. If you’re
worried about damaging the monitor, switch it off before changing mode.
1.6
•   Using large printer buffers etc. If you’re using a buffer that’s
larger than 64 kbytes, it’s no use trying to use ADVAL with a negative
number (e.g. PRINT ADVAL(-4) for the printer buffer) − it only returns
the least two significant bytes. Instead, use SYS “OS_Byte”, &80, &FC TO
, X%, Y% : bytes_free%= X%+256*Y% where &FC is the − 4 value. (Actually,
instead of working out that − 4 is the equivalent of &FC you can, it
seems, be lazy and use − 4 in the SYS command. Ed.)
1.6
•   Easy loading of modules: To enable you to load the emulator and fast
BASIC easily, you can create some library programs on your Welcome disc
(or better still, a copy of your Welcome disc!). This is what you do for
fast BASIC:
1.6
*BUILD LIBRARY.FAST
1.6
*FX225,1|M
1.6
*KEY1 QUIT||M*MODULES.RAMBASIC
1.6
||M*KEY1||MCLS||MHELP||M
1.6
*FX138,0,129
1.6
<escape>
1.6
and then change it into a BASIC program with
1.6
 *SETTYPE LIB*.FAST &FFB<return>.
1.6
Note that there are double pad characters before each ‘M’ in order that
when the program line is run, each double pad character is interpreted
as a single pad character for the actual key definition.
1.6
The bits after calling the module are optional. The first is to clear
key1 again in case you press it accidentally. The second is to clear the
screen and the third is to give a help message to show that you are
actually in RAM_BASIC. (See below).
1.6
Once this is set up, to get into fast BASIC all you do is type
*FAST<return>.
1.6
For the 6502 emulator, use the name LIB*.6502 and don’t put the HELP
command in because that does not work on BASIC IV.
1.6
•   Tidying up after ArcWriter! You can do a similar thing to the above
hint in order to tidy up after using ArcWriter.
1.6
*BUILD LIBRARY.RESET
1.6
*FX225,1|M
1.6
*KEY1 QUIT||M*CONFIGURE FONTSIZE
1.6
2||M*RMREINIT FONTMANAGER||M
1.6
*RMTIDY||M*BASIC||M
1.6
*KEY1||MHELP||M
1.6
*FX138,0,129
1.6
<escape>
1.6
Typing *RESET will do the tidy-up for you.
1.6
•   Identifying RAMBASIC. To get RAM_ BASIC to tell you that it actually
IS the RAM version and not the ROM version, you can change a few bytes
so that it prints out ‘RAM BBC BASIC’ instead of ‘ARM BBC BASIC’ on the
startup and HELP messages. To do this, proceed as follows:
1.6
*LOAD MO*.RAM* 20000
1.6
?&202B0=ASC“R”
1.6
?&202B1=ASC“A”
1.6
?&23F78=ASC“R”
1.6
?&23F79=ASC“A”
1.6
*SAVE MO*.RAM_BASIC 20000 +E434
1.6
*SETTYPE MO*.RA* &FFA
1.6
•   Reversing the CAPS lock. If you hold down the shift key when you put
the CAPS lock light on, you will find that the shift key now has the
opposite effect, i.e. letters typed without pressing shift come up as
uppercase letters, but when you press the shift key you get lower case
letters. This can be useful if you are programming and mostly work in
upper case but with occasional use of lower case.
1.6
•   Displaying screens in different modes. If you have a screen that has
been SCREENSAVE’d, you can display it in another mode. (e.g. Artisan
screens in 256 colour modes!) Assuming you have configured spritesize to
at least 11, proceed as follows:
1.6
MODE 13
1.6
*SLOAD filename  \ NOT
1.6
 *SCREENLOAD
1.6
*SCHOOSE screendump
1.6
PLOT &ED,0,0
1.6
You will note that the palette has changed and that it is a lower
resolution, however, it will still be quite decent and you will have all
those lovely colours to play around with!
1.6
If you choose mode 15, you will get the same picture displayed in 256
colours but squeezed into only half the screen width.
1.6
If you want to change the colours you will have to load it into the
sprite editor (SEDIT) and change the colours manually.
1.6
•   Using the View Series. You will find that after coming from the
desktop, TAB does not work. The solution is to type *FX219,9.
1.6
ViewProfessional works fine if you use the second processor version −
the VP file on the 5.25“ disk − however it should be *LOAD’ed at 4000
(not 8000) and called with *GO 4000. (See page 5, Archive 1.1)
1.6
•   Diary/Notepad problems. Beware: If you are printing something from
notepad or diary, check that an active printer is on-line before
starting to print otherwise the system may hang up and the only way out
is to press <ctrl-break> − frustrating if you haven’t saved the text
first!
1.6
•   Slower listings. I know this is obvious to ex-BBC users, but I’ve
not seen mentioned anywhere the fact that holding <ctrl> and <shift>
keys down together will stop the screen scrolling. Archimedes lists
programs so quickly that even if you use <ctrl-N> to get a paged
listing, you may well get two pages instead of one if you hesitate on
pressing the shift key, so using <ctrl> and <shift> allows you to
control the listing yourself.
1.6
•   File transfer between wordprocessors. If you have Wordwise Plus or
View files and you want to import them into GraphicWriter, use *SETTYPE
filename &FFF to ensure that GraphicWriter sees them as text files.
(Actually it should already see Wordwise Plus files as text because of
the save address that Wordwise Plus uses − check by doing *INFO *.) Then
you can simply load the files into GraphicWriter using the file menu. To
transfer the files back to View or Wordwise, you need to save them as
ASCII files. This is done by opening the file menu then clicking on the
word “TEXT” with the ADJUST button, typing in a filename and pressing
<return>.
1.6
(I tried to do the same sort of thing with ArcWriter but it kept
crashing each time I tried to load a file, so I gave up!)
1.6
•   Smart ON ERROR routine. If your ON ERROR routine includes the
following, you get the usual error message and then, if you press any
key other than <escape> it will drop into the ARM BASIC editor at the
offending line. So if you do not want to go into the editor, press
<escape> instead.
1.6
ON ERROR OFF
1.6
PRINT REPORT$+“ at line ”;ERL
1.6
dummy%=GET
1.6
SYS 5,(“KEY0 EDIT ”+STR$(ERL)
1.6
+“|M”)
1.6
SYS 6,138,0,128
1.6
END
1.6
If you prefer to move into EDIT a few lines above the offending line,
use STR$(ERL−50) or whatever.
1.6
•   Dual purpose boot files. It is quite possible to have a boot file
that will work equally well from within the desktop or as a conventional
boot file operated with <shift-break>. What you do is *BUILD the file as
usual but then *settype <filename> &FFB which gives it a link to BASIC.
If you then double-click on it in the desktop, it adds line numbers to
it and runs it as a BASIC program. However, it will only work with
<shift-break> if the machine is configured to start up in BASIC, not in
the desktop (i.e. *CON. Language 4, not 3).
1.6
•   With the PC emulator you can get more space than Mark Sealey
reckoned in his review last month by *unplugging various of the modules.
On reader reckons to get almost 590,000 bytes free (= 576k).
1.6
•   Disabling Modules. Archive no.5 explains how *Unplug can be used to
disable Modules, but this method needs a <ctrl-break>. An alternative is
to use *RMKill and *RMTidy from the operating system *-prompt (not from
BASIC), e.g.
1.6
*RMKill FontManager
1.6
*RMKill StringLib
1.6
*RMKill Percussion
1.6
*RMKill ARMBasicEditor
1.6
*RMKill WindowManager
1.6
*RMTidy
1.6
This typically releases 96 Kbytes of memory on an A310 machine and
doesn’t need a <ctrl-break>. It is particularly useful if you’re short
of space in BASIC, Pascal or FORTRAN, etc and aren’t using fancy sound,
the WIMP environment or the BASIC editor. Each module can be reinstated
by using *RMReinit <Module name>, or all can be restarted by <ctrl-
break>.
1.6
•   GW BASIC on the PC Emulator. There is an undocumented way to get
back into the MS-DOS operating system after using GW BASIC. Try pressing
function key f-11.
1.6
•   PC Emulator. Version 1.09 (which existing users can get by sending
back their old disc plus £15 to Acorn) runs, amongst other things,
Ability Plus, dBase 3 Plus, Kermit, Word Perfect, LTS NewsMaster (see
separate review). (Can anyone add to this list?)
1.6
•   RS423É yet again! If you have the 1.2 operating system and if you
have the version of the serial chip that is made by GTE (it’s the 28 pin
IC at the back left of the pcb) and if you change over from using the
CTS line at the Archimedes end to using the DSR line (i.e. link 1, 4 and
8 and join pin 6 to the RTS line from the other machine) then Acorn have
a fix which you load in as a module. Send a blank disc to Customer
Services to get a copy. The version they sent me didn’t work the first
time I tried it with some data transfer software so I pressed <escape>
and tried again and it worked perfectly at 19,200 baud. Then I tried
again and it wouldn’t send anything, pressed <escape> and away it went!
Still, when you do get it going it sends and receives at 19,200 baud in
both directions without any data corruption. I left it running for a
couple of hours and there was no corruption at all.
1.6
•   After the desktopÉ simpler than the list of FX commands that we gave
last month is to call SYS“Wimp_CloseDown” (which is what Acorn should
have put in their desktop program in the first place!!!) but if you
don’t fancy trying to type that every time, getting upper and lower case
exactly correct, you can create a one line BASIC program with 10
SYS“Wimp_Close Down” and save it on your disk as $.library. undesk and
then just type *undesk (or whatever abbreviation you can get away with)
and all will be restored to normal.
1.6
•   Using the Seikosha 250X printer is a bit of a problem. When you plug
it into the Archimedes, all power is lost. This seems to be because of
the +5.0 volts on lines 18 and 36 of the printer connector − these are
earthed at the Archimedes end and so have to be disconnected somehow.
One reader, Adrian Moreton, has succeeded but it is too complicated to
explain here. If you want the information, send us an s.a.e. and we’ll
send you a photocopy of his letter and the excellent diagrams he has
drawn.
1.6
•   ADFS wildcards. Had you gathered that ADFS will take * or #
wildcards anywhere in a filename? On the BBC, you could only put them at
the end of the filename. So, for example, if you’ve got PROGRAM1,
PROGRAM2, PROGRAM3 etc you only need to say something like LOAD “PR*2”
or even LOAD “*2” if none of the other files have numeric endings. That
makes life much easier, doesn’t it?! (Thanks to Benjamin Finn for
pointing that out. The next hint is his, too.)
1.6
•   Errors in library procedures. If an error occurs in a PROC or FN
that is installed using LIBRARY or INSTALL, the correct error message is
given but the line number quoted is the last number in the main program.
Although we cannot get a line number pointer to the error, we can at
least find out from which procedure in the main program the library
routine was called when the error occurred.
1.6
At the beginning of each definition of a PROC or FN you should put
something like:
1.6
   DEF PROCdosomething
1.6
   LOCAL ERROR
1.6
   ON ERROR LOCAL PRINT REPORT$
1.6
 “ in PROCdosomething”:END
1.6
      .
1.6
      .
1.6
   ENDPROC
1.6
•   Help with Econet is offered by Michael Ryan of XOB, Balkeerie,
Eassie, By Forfar, Angus, DD8 1SR. Michael says, “Here are some comments
about Archimedes on Econet in response to comments in Archive 1.3, page
8.
1.6
“RDFREE is part of the Econet filing system module and hence not a disc-
based utility as with the BBC version. Issued with a user identity as
parameter, it gives the total disc free space and that user’s allocated
portion of it. Issued with no parameter, it returns the user’s own free
space and the total free space.
1.6
“Acorn are supplying a number of other utilities including SETFREE,
SETSTAT, USERS, PROT and UNPROT, though they have not yet made it clear
how they are to be distributed, so don’t hold your breath.
1.6
“Though it is very unlikely that they will supply the more sophisticated
utilities (VIEW, REMOTE, NOTIFY etc) all is not lost. XOB already have a
wide range of utilities for the BBC/Master series and have already
implemented several of them on the Archimedes. More details from us on
0307−84364.”

•   Most of the keys on the numeric pad have secondary functions if used
with the Num Lock off. In BASIC, 1 gives copy, 2 and 3 are both cursor
down, 4 is cursor left, 5 doesn’t seem to do anything, 6 is cursor
right, 7 is ‘cursor home’ and 8 and 9 and cursor up. In View, the single
cursor movements are 2, 4, 6 and 8 while 3 and 9 are page down and page
up respectively.

•   GETfile and PUTfile on the MS-DOS emulator are difficult to use if
you only have a single drive. However, if you configure a RAM disc with
MS-DOS you can then copy MS-DOS files onto it and then form the ADFS
files on the physical drive and vice versa to take ADFS files in to the
MS-DOS file system.
1.7
•   Programs that work under the PC-emulator. I’ve had lots of informa
tion about MS-DOS software that does work, but has anyone found any
software that does NOT work under the PC-emulator?
1.7
•   With version 1.09 of the PC emulator, if you do the followingÉ
1.7
*LOAD PC.Emulate 10000
1.7
?&137C8=0
1.7
*SAVE PC.Emulate2 10000
1.7
you will find that the memory isn’t cleared when you press the reset
button.
1.7
•   One good book to help new MS-DOS’ers (sorry!) is “Quick Reference
Guide to MS-DOS” by Van Wolverton, published by Microsoft Press,
obtainable via Watford Electronics at £3.95. (ISBN 1-55615-025-3)
1.7
•   From various reports, it seems that CHKDSK does work properly though
it has to be used with care. It can be used to repair the File Allo
cation Table (FAT) and repair errors in directories. Files are not
necessarily stored contiguously on an MS-DOS disc, so if part of a file
is lost then CHKDSK can be used to convert lost chains to files (i.e.
write to a disc directory). Generally, CHKDSK by itself is safe. CHKDSK
*.* /V is usually safe, but CHKDSK *.* /F is dangerous if you don’t know
what you are doing!
1.7
•   One reader says he has solved the problem of “To linefeed or not to
linefeedÉ” by adding a single pole switch in parallel with the contact
on the printer dip-switch that sets the auto-linefeed on and off,
leaving the dip-switch in the open position, of course. Don’t forget
though that most printers only look at the dip-switch settings at power-
up, though some do so when you do a software reset with 27,64.
1.7
•   With Arc-Writer, to get it not to double space on a Panasonic
printer, use the AW_PCedit program, select the RX80D and change the
number of steps per 100 units vertically from 21600 to 600.
1.7
•   View 3 works under the emulator if you poke locations A8A1, A8A2 and
A8A3 with &EA.
1.7
•   Acornsoft ISO Pascal, Comal, Prolog and LISP all work under the
emulator says one reader.
1.7
•   Share Analyser (Synergy Software) works perfectly under the 6502
emulator.
1.7
•   Four floppies on 1.2 OS. If you try *con. floppies 4, you will find
that it tells you the number is too big, but if you use *FX162,135,4 and
do a <ctrl-break>, you will finds that *STATUS tells you that you have
four floppies.
1.7
•   Booting other drives. In contrast with the BBC micros, you can, on
Archimedes, *MOUNT 1 and then <shift-break> to boot the disc in drive 1.
1.7
•   WIMP Manager. Be aware that the first time Wimp_poll is called, it
clears the screen.
1.7
•   Fitting the backplane: It is an awkward job to fit the backplane
because two plastic spacers are used into which self-tapping screws have
to be inserted. This is best done in a vice to avoid stripping screw
heads and/or sticking screwdrivers through your fingers!
1.7
•   ‘Unknown IRQ at &00000000’. If you get this error message (and
possibly find that the machine hangs up on you) check whether your RS423
lead is properly screened, if at all. If it is not screened, it seems to
be able to pick up interference (remember the micro-wave problems
mentioned in issue 5, page 8?) and this generates spurious interrupts.
1.7
•   More ideas on the black art of RS423 communication! Here is one
reader’s recipe for succesful RS423 transfer, though it may not work for
everyoneÉ Try using the ‘fix’ module (Archive 1.6 program disc) with
pins 1,4,8 and 9 linked together and 6 (DSR) and 7 (RTS) as the control
lines.
1.7
•   Running more than one BASIC program. If you have a BASIC program you
want to run while you are working on another program in memory, you can
program a couple of keys with:
1.7
*KEY 4 P%=PAGE : PAGE=&30000
1.7
: CHAIN “testprog”|M
1.7
*KEY 5 PAGE=P% : OLD|M
1.7
•   System Delta Plus: If you have trouble loading newly formed
databases and get “No Room” when you know there is plenty of room, add a
.D to the filename when loading, i.e. type in the filename as, say,
“RECORDS.D”.
1.7
•   Inter-Word: If you have come from the desktop, you will find that
the tab key does not work. This can be corrected with *FX219,9.
1.7
If you want the £ sign, you will find it is produced by the ` key (far
top left key).
1.7
If you want the ` signÉ tough! (The £ sign duplicates the “insert ruler”
function!)
1.7
•   Stuck in a black hole? If you find yourself typing in black on
black, try typing MODE MODE<return>. It allows you to type again, but
maintains the mode you were in.
1.7
•   SystemDevs module. The redirection commands, some of which we said
didn’t seem to work, are sensitive to spacing. The correct forms are as
follows where the spaces are represented by bullets (•):
1.7
*CAT•{•>•info• }
1.7
Spools catalogue to file “info”
1.7
*CAT•{•>>•info• }
1.7
Adds catalogue to file “info”
1.7
*BASIC•{•<•data• }•PROG
1.7
Runs “PROG” and uses information in file “data” for input.
1.7
•   Using the Acorn ROM Podule: No links are available for the RAM
sockets, although you can configure the sockets by software for 8k, 32k
or 128k RAM chips. Using HM6264LP-15 ram in the sockets and configuring
them as 8k does not immediately work. However if you configure them as
32k chip and apply an offset of &2000 when loading i.e.:
1.7
*RMLoad <podule number>
1.7
<socket> <filename> 2000
1.7
then your data will load correctly. This is because the Chip Select (CS)
on the 8k chips is on the pin Address 13 (pin 26) on the 32k and 128k.
This causes the 8k chip to be mapped into 8-16k and 24-32k hence the
offset of 8k. The inverted CS on pin 20 is common to all three devices.
(Without configuring them as 32k, the operating system reports that the
device is not big enough for an 8k offset.)
1.7
•   Concerning Acornsoft C and TWIN: ‘Concurrency’ (keeping text in one
window and compiling a program in the other) does not work. The compiler
(v1.5A) has a bug in it that prevents it from working. Acorn said that
it used to work OK on the pre-release version! However, compiler output
can be sent to a file called tmp.temp if the -spool option is used.
1.7
It may be necessary to relocate TWIN in order to compile programs. My
version of TWIN loaded at &60000 but needed to be relocated to &80000 to
allow the compiler enough space. (See below.) If the compiler crashes,
try increasing the SystemSize using *configure.
1.7
The two compiler messages, ‘Fatal I/O error’ and ‘Binary output error’,
simply mean that your disc is full!
1.7
•   More about TWIN. Twin is an editor which seems to have one or two
hidden features; firstly it is a relocatable program, and consequently
can be loaded anywhere where RAM exists (barring overwriting OS
workspace etc.). I have created a version which I call LoTwin which
loads at &10000; this leaves space for BASIC programs only 256 bytes
fewer than are available on a BBC Master using Shadow RAM, and yet it
allows me considerably more work space than the standard Twin.
1.7
To create a version of Twin called ‘MYTWIN’ which loads and runs other
than at the ‘normal’ address, perform the following actions:
1.7
*DIR <dir’ry_containing _Twin>
1.7
*LOAD TWIN <new_load_address>
1.7
*EX
1.7
*SAVE MYTWIN <new_load_
1.7
address> +<size>
1.7
<size> is obtained from the 3rd column of hex data after the ‘*EX’.
1.7
Then, to invoke the new version, type
1.7
*MYTWIN
1.7
and it will run. Pressing <shift-f5> followed by <T> after entering
MYTWIN will show the load address on the top line immediately to the
left of the time.I have yet to see mentioned in print the ‘warm start’
for TWIN. If something nasty happens and your Archimedes locks up just
as you have spent a couple of hours typing in something using TWIN, and
you have no option but to press <ctrl-break>, or even <ctrl-reset>, do
not despair, simply type:
1.7
*GO <twin_start_address> -WARM
1.7
and you will find yourself back in TWIN exactly as you were when the
‘nasty’ happened, barring any corruption caused by the ‘nasty’. Don’t
forget the ‘-’ preceding the “WARM’! I have found myself in this
position after a momentary power cut, and although the warm start did
not restore TWIN as a fully functional editor (due to corruption), it
restored Twin’s ability to save text, so I saved what I had done, and
was then able to reload Twin, and then reload my text.
1.7
•   Iso Pascal: Be warned before you buy Iso Pascal, it has NO support
for Arthur − otherwise, says one reader, it is an excellent implementa
tion. Also (in common with C) it comes with a very thin manual, so a
copy of TWIN and a book about the language (see the mini-review on page
25) will be needed for most people.
1.7
(More information  about other languages was sent in, but this was all I
could digest with my limited knowledge of languages other than BASIC.
Would anyone be prepared to receive all the “other languages” informa
tion and knock it up into a special section each month?)
1.7
Using the Computer Concepts ROM Podule
1.7
How many times have you had to press <ctrl-break> and muttered under
your breath because you’ve lost your function key definitions? That need
never happen again if you have Computer Concepts’s ROM podule with some
battery-backed RAM on it. All you do is configure the system to start up
in the RFS instead of the ADFS and also configure it to auto-boot. Then
in the RFS, you put a boot file something like:
1.7
REM > RFS:!BOOT
1.7
*SET Run$Path ,ADFS:$.,RFS:$.%.
1.7
*ADFS
1.7
*FX255,8
1.7
PRINT “Acorn ADFS”‘
1.7
*KEY 0 These are
1.7
*KEY 1 my favourite
1.7
*KEY 2 key definitions
1.7
*SET ALIAS$> Cat
1.7
*SET ALIAS$? HELP etc
1.7
*BASIC
1.7
(You will notice that the Run$Path uses ‘$’ instead of ‘%’ as stated on
page 28 of the Computer Concepts manual.)
1.7
•   To get the Inter series software to boot up with a simple call such
as *ISHEET, copy 65Arthur into the RAM area using *COPY
ADFS:Modules.65Arthur RFS:65Arthur and, providing you have set up the
Run$Path as above, *ISHEET, *IWORD and *ICHART will automatically load
the emulator and then the appropriate software.
1.7
•   Installing Wordwise Plus. If you copy the Archimedes version of
Wordwise Plus from Computer Concepts’s disc (filename “WW+”) into the
RFS calling it, say, WWIMAGE, you can modify the BASIC program “ISHEET”
and save it as “WW+” so that, as above, you can just type *WW+ and it
will auto-load the emulator and run the software. The modifications are
to change the references to “ISIMAGE” at lines 130 and 270 into
“WWIMAGE”.
1.7
•   If you want to modify any of the programs in a ROM, all you do is
either LOAD it, edit it and SAVE it or, if you have the modified version
on disc, just *COPY it. If you tell it to SAVE a file with a name that
exists in ROM it gives the ram version precedence over the ROM version.
1.7
To find out whether a particular file is in ROM or RAM, use the *INFO
<filename> command. If it comes up with a “*” before the final figure of
the information, the file is in the RAM area. To get the ROM version
back, you either have to do a <ctrl-break> or type *RMREINIT RFS
<return> because *delete filename removes all trace of it so that even
the ROM version is inaccessible.
1.7
Thanks to Adrian Look for all the following hints and tips.
1.7
•   X-SWI’s. When using SWI’s if you put an X before the name then the
SYS call from BASIC will not generate an error. For example:
1.7
SYS “XOS_CLI”,block
1.7
•   Modes & drawing speed. The VIDC receives the video data down the
data bus lines of the ARM processor. While this is happening the RISC
chip cannot perform any processing. This means that the screen modes
using higher memory will be slower. Try timing a FOR-NEXT loop of
1,000,000!  So, if speed is of the essence, it may be better to go into
mode 0, do the calculations and save them in an array and then go into
mode whatever to plot the results.
1.7
However, there is a compensating factor. The lower memory modes use one
byte to represent several pixels, thus addressing pixels requires extra
calculation − whereas the higher memory modes use only one byte to
represent a pixel so addressing pixels is much quicker. This means that
graphics will be quicker in higher modes.
1.7
Mode   F/N loop   Draw   Mem.   Colours
1.7
      (secs)   (secs)   (k)
1.7
   0   14.9   51   20   2
1.7
   1   14.9   38   20   4
1.7
   2   15.6   34   40   16
1.7
   3   15.6    −   40   Text
1.7
   4   14.9   38   20   2
1.7
   5   14.9   32   20   4
1.7
   6   14.9    −   20   Text
1.7
   7   15.6    −   80   T-Text
1.7
   8   15.6   54   40   4
1.7
   9   15.6   40   40   16
1.7
   10   17.1   39   80   256
1.7
   11   15.6    −   40   Text
1.7
   12   17.1   61   80   16
1.7
   13   17.1   45   80   256
1.7
   14   17.1    −   80   Text
1.7
   15   21.3   79   160   256
1.7
   16   19.6    −   132   Text
1.7
   17   19.5    −   132   Text
1.7
   18   15.4   70   40   2
1.7
   19   16.9   77   80   4
1.7
   20   21.0   98   160   16
1.7
•   OS_Pretty Print. Have you ever wondered how the operating system
manages to display all its messages without any of the words getting
split at the end of a screen line, no matter what mode it is in? Well,
the answer is ‘OS_ PrettyPrint’.
1.7
If you print all your strings using this call it will stop any words
going over the end-of-line boundary. This call recognises the following
control characters in a special way:
1.7
− CR (CHR$(13)) causes not just a carriage return but also a newline.
1.7
− TAB (CHR$(9)) causes a tabulation to the next multiple of eight
columns.
1.7
− CHR$(31) is a ‘pad character’, that is, the procedure will print a
space when this code occurs but it will not break the string up at this
point.
1.7
Example:
1.7
A$=“Hello my name is...”
1.7
SYS “OS_PrettyPrint”,A$
1.7
•   The QUICK option When you use the (Q)uick option in the *COPY and
*BACKUP commands, the OS will use all available memory. This means that
if you are in high memory screen modes then you will have less memory to
use. So if you want even quicker *COPYing or *BACKUPs then try it in a
mode which uses less memory.
1.7
•   Run$Path and File$Path. The FileSwitch uses two system variables
called Run$Path and File$Path. You can see their values by typing
either:
1.7
*SHOW File$Path <return> and/or
1.7
*SHOW Run$Path <return>
1.7
You will probably get the following results:
1.7
File$Path : type String, value :
1.7
Run$Path : type String, value : ,%.
1.7
These are the default settings. The values stored in the File$Path and
Run$Path variables are actually a list of directory filenames separated
by commas and terminated with dots.
1.7
When the FileSwitch is told to read a file it will look at File$Path
variable and search for the file in each of the directories listed until
it finds a match. Similarly the FileSwitch will do the same when it is
told to execute a file, only it will use the Run$Path variable as the
list of directories. For example:
1.7
*SET File$Path RFS:%.,,%.
1.7
This would cause the FileSwitch to search for the file first in the RFS
filing system’s library directory, then in the current filing system’s
current directory (hence the “,,” which means don’t add anything to the
filename as entered), and finally in the current filing system’s library
directory.
1.7
Here is a list of all the possible directory prefixes (although you can
actually specify any directory by name − wildcards may be used):
1.7
 *    −    all
1.7
 $    −    root
1.7
 &    −    user
1.7
 @    −    current
1.7
 ^    −    parent
1.7
 %    −    library
1.7
 }    −    previous
1.7
•   Flushing the Mouse. You may have noticed that the mouse has a buffer
of its own. This means that the Arc stores all the mouse movements and
clicks just as it stores the keyboard entries. How many of you play
around with the mouse when a program is ‘thinking’ or waiting for a
screen to load? This will leave a whole load of mouse positions and
clicks in the buffer, so any subsequent MOUSE X,Y,B readings will not
reflect the true position of the mouse but the positions stored in the
buffer!!! So how do you clear the buffer? To flush all the buffers,
type:
1.7
*FX 15 <return>
1.7
to flush just the mouse buffer, type:
1.7
*FX 21,9 <return>
1.7
•   Local DATA statements. (Based on an idea sent in by C.R.Fitch) In
answer to the query last month, it is possible to have DATA statements
in a program that does not rely on line numbers. What you can do is to
use the error handler to pin-point a line number just before the local
data statements. For every data set you want to access, just use the
following format:
1.7
DEFPROCdata_set
1.7
LOCAL ERROR
1.7
ON ERROR LOCAL RESTORE ERL
1.7
IF ERL=0 THEN ERROR 1,“get line
1.7
 number“
1.7
RESTORE ERROR
1.7
DATA 1,2,3,4,5 : REM put your
1.7
 own data here
1.7
ENDPROC
1.7
Then if you want to use the data set, just call the procedure, as for
example:
1.7
PROCdata_set
1.7
FOR i=1 TO 5
1.7
READ data:PRINT data
1.7
NEXT i
1.7
The procedure leaves everything exactly as it was (except the data
pointer) so it does not affect the program at all. The only snag is that
we don’t know where the old data pointer was so we can’t continue
reading data from where we left off! Any ideas??
1.7
(The remaining information in this section is about using the MS-DOS
emulator. More information than this was sent in, but this was all I
could digest with my limited knowledge of MS-DOS. Would anyone be
prepared to receive all such information and knock it up into a special
MS-DOS section each month?)
1.7

• Colour TV output for Archimedes?  If you haven’t got a colour monitor
and want to use a TV to look at the output from the Archimedes in
colour, you can feed the signal from the video output into the ‘video
in’ on a video recorder (always assuming you’ve got one!) and connect
the ‘RF out’ from the recorder to the TV.
1.08
• Drive lights on external 5.25“ drives.  One reader suggested that to
avoid the external drive light coming on when I accessed the interal
drive(s) I should remove all links except DS1 (I use DS2 to make it
drive2), TO, RR and MS.  I followed his advice and it seems to be OK
now.
1.08
• 400 or 300?  If a piece of software wants to find out if it is running
in a 300 series machine or a 400 series it can read the MEMC to find the
size of page being used, thus:
1.08
   program segment missing
1.08
• More buzzing.  One reader noticed that the buzzing from the speaker
gets worse when you upgrade from a 305 to a 310.  Other readers have
found that the buzz gets to an intolerable level with certain software
such as ArcWriter.  In any case, this is now recognised by Acorn as a
field change, so your local dealer should be able to sort it out for
you.  If your local dealer is not within easy reach then the “capacitor
fix” mentioned in issue 3, page 7, is easy enough to do as long as you
are reasonably competent at soldering.
1.08

1.08
• Printer Acknowledge Line.  The IOC (Input Output Controller) has a
printer acknowledge line which can be read from the ARM supervisor mode.
However, it is not advisable to ‘play around’ in this area, unless you
know what you are doing, because some locations are read only and
attempting to write to them could damage your IOC chip.  Here is an
example program that reads the printer acknowledge line.
1.08
   program segment missing
1.08
• *TypeFile Command.  One reader tried to define an alias which types
out a file on the printer and then switches the printer off again, but
he found that it was easier said than done.  I set Adrian Look onto it
and he has managed to find a way of doing it (albeit rather tortuous!):
1.08
   program segment missing
1.08
then to print out the file, you do a *TypeFile<filename>.  The <60> and
<62> are the ASCII codes for “<‘ and “>”.
1.08
It sounds a bit long-winded, but what you are trying to do is generate
ASCII codes <2> and <3> to switch the printer on and off again.  When
you do a *SHOW, it gives the definition of TypeFile as ECHO |<2>|M TYPE
%0|M ECHO |<3>|M.
1.08
• “What’s the time, Arthur??”  − If you wanted to change the prompt
which Arthur gives, you could try, for example:
1.08
   *Set CLI$PROMPT >>>
1.08
and you would get a question mark instead of the star prompt.  Then, if
you want Arthur to tell you time at each prompt, use:
1.08
   *SETMACRO CLI$PROMPT <SYS$TIME>*
1.08
This prints out the time and then prints the star prompt.  The reason
you use SETMACRO rather than just SET is that it needs to be a variable
which is up-dated each time the command is used.  If you don’t like the
seconds figure to be included, try:
1.08
   <SYS$TIME><127><127><127>*
1.08
This prints out the time but then generates three delete characters
which remove the seconds figures and the colon.

•   View B3.0. Following on from the hint about View B3.0, John Phelan
writes th•   “More articles about the basics, please”, said a number of
folk at the Micro User Show. WeÕve had something on using ADFS and are
starting assembler for beginners but can anyone say specifically what
they want information on and can anyone offer to write any “basic”
articles, please? In particularÉ
1.09
•   Article on ARMBE. We really do need someone to write a very
practical guide to using the ARM BASIC Editor. For example, IÕve only
just realised that <insert> toggles between insert and over-write mode
and so you donÕt have to go through the preferences menu. I suspect a
lot of people are not using ARMBE simply because they are familiar with
BASICÕs own line editor and havenÕt got time to learn ARMBE even though
it would save them time in the long run. Please write to us if you would
like to have a go at this. Thanks.
1.09
•   BASIC V utility library. If you have worked out some neat utilities
like the one in Hints & Tips about aligning decimal points, why not send
them in to us. Clifford Hoggarth has offered to edit the section, so
either send your contributions to us or direct to him at 20 Pinfold
Drive, Eccleston Mere, St Helens, WA10 5BT.
1.09
•   Education articles. IÕm getting requests for articles relevant to
education, but no-one is offering such articles. Can anyone help?!
1.09
•   Hard Disc users. One reader, who has a 440 on order, wants to know
if there are any doÕs and donÕtÕs with a hard disc. Are there any hard-
disc users who want to comment?
1.09
•   View B3.0. Following on from the hint about View B3.0, John Phelan
writes that there is still a problem with the pound key. On the
Archimedes, this key returns ASCII 163. Is this redefinable?
1.09
•   Calculating ¹ and e. Brian Cowan asks if anyone knows the way that
pi and/or e may be calculated digit by digit on a computer. Presum-ably
they must be all integer algorithms(?)
1.09
•   Taxan KP-810 on ArcWriter. Has anyone worked out how to get a
printer driver working for this combination? Drop a line to E. Clinks
cales, 68 Wyvis Drive, Nairn, IV12 4TP.
1.09
•   Video-titling. Is there any software, says M Davies of Cardigan, for
video-titling? Wild Vision do the hardware for Genlock and Video
Overlay, but where is the software?
1.09
Also, he asks, is there any software, preferably ROM based, to give NLQ
print on his Epson RX80 and also desktop publishing?
1.09
Help Answers
1.09
•   Label printer for cassette tapesÉ Try the June issue of Micro User,
page 39.
1.09

1.09
•   View B3.0. In order to get View B3.0 working properly under the 6502
emulator, as well as poking the three bytes at &A8A1 to &EA you have to
poke &80C2 — 4 to &EA otherwise, the emulator tries to run it as a
second processor ROM image — without any success. With this patch, the
address space from &B328 to &BFFF is effectively free for patching.
Perhaps some enterprising programmer could use this space for extra
routines — e.g. a resident printer-driver.
1.09
•   Special characters. If you want to generate special characters on-
screen, try pressing <ctrl-shift-alt> and then one of the ordinary keys
and you will find that you can get all sorts of alternative characters
such as © and ¨ and the half, quarter and three-quarter signs (which I
havenÕt even got on the Apple Mac!). What is more, if you are using Arc-
Writer, it will actually print some of the symbols, such as the
fractions, on the printer!
1.09
•   PSU for external 5.25“ drives. If you have an external 5.25” disc
drive that does not have its own power supply, you can take the power
from the power supply for the hard disc but you will need a special
cable and connector. Those who have bought interfaces from Dudley Micro
Supplies might be able to get help from them. (Or try the ArcDFS
interface mentioned in Hardware & Software Available section.)
1.09
•   Aligning decimal points. If you are trying to print out various
figures and want the decimal points to line up above one another, you
can use the “fixed format”. (See the explanation of the @% variable
under the section in the User Guide about the PRINT command.) However,
the fixed format prints out trailing zeros, e.g. it prints 234.0000
instead of 234.
1.09
The bad news: One reader wanted to avoid this and so was trying to write
a BASIC routine to do the aligning and discovered some nasties (presum
ably due to rounding errors) that gave the value of LOG100 as 2 but
INT(LOG100) as 1! Also he found that LEN(STR$3.3) was given as 3, but
LEN(STR$4.3) was given as 11!
1.09
The good news: You can do a STR$, use INSTR to find the position of the
decimal point and then use PRINT TAB( to position it correctly as in the
following example. (Thanks, APL!)
1.09
 10 REM >$.AlignDP
1.09
 20
1.09
 30 REM ***************************
1.09
 40 REM * Aligning your decimals  *
1.09
 50 REM *  by Adrian Philip Look  *
1.09
 60 REM *    28th April 1988      *
1.09
 70 REM ***************************
1.09
 80
1.09
 90 REPEAT
1.09
100   random=RND(10000)-RND(1)*(RND
1.09
(1)<.7)
1.09
110   PROCalign(20,random)
1.09
120 UNTIL FALSE
1.09
130 END
1.09
140
1.09
150 DEFPROCalign(x,number)
1.09
:REM x = position of DP
1.09
160 number$=STR$(number)
1.09
170 dot=INSTR(number$,“.”)
1.09
180 IF dot=0 dot=LEN(number$)+1
1.09
:REM i.e. no DP
1.09
190 IF dot=1 dot=0:REM leads with DP
1.09
200 PRINT TAB(x-dot);number
1.09
:REM beware of (x-dot)<0
1.09
210 ENDPROC
1.09
STOP PRESS. The original enquirer about this, Peter Trigg, has just come
back with:
1.09
DEFPROCalign(x%,number)
1.09
:REM x% = position of DP
1.09
LOCAL length%
1.09
length%=LEN(STR$(INT(number)))
1.09
PRINT TAB(x%-length%);number
1.09
ENDPROC
1.09
This is somewhat neater and it seems to work OK. (This just emphasises
the need for sharing ideas — which is why we are setting up our “BASIC
utilities” section — see Help!!! section.)
1.09
•   Music Editor. If you have a number of tunes that were prepared using
the Music Editor on the 0.2 or 0.3 Welcome discs. You will probably find
that all the voices are wrong — usually that the main tune was being
played on the percussion! The reason is that the Music Editor refers to
the voices by number only, so if the modules are in a different order,
the voices are likewise in a different order. It is however possible to
change the order of the modules by *RMKILLing the one which is higher in
the *ROMMODULES list then doing a *RMTIDY and then *RMREINITing the
module which you had just killed.
1.09
•   Beware &36D!  Some BBC software (Apollo Mission for example) pokes
!877=0 (or !&36D=0). If you transfer this to the Archimedes you will
find that the system locks up and neither <ctrl-break> nor <reset> has
any effect. Even switching off is ineffective. The only way out is an
<R>-power-up. (Do it twice to restore the correct monitor-type setting.)
1.09
•   File copying on a single drive. Are you having difficulty copying
files from one disk to another using just one disk drive? Is it that
when using the *COPY command with the Prompt option, the system prompts
for insertion of the destination disk but never recognises it? If so,
issue the command *NODIR first. The system will then read the disk
directory every time it attempts to access a disk rather than storing
the directory in memory so that disks no longer need *MOUNTing. It is
possible to make the change permanent by doing *Configure NODIR.
1.09
•   Boot files that work from desktop or with <shift-break> — set *OPT
4,2 (Run) and create a BASIC program called !BOOT. You can then <shift-
break> if configured as language 3 or 4 (desktop or BASIC) or double
click the !boot icon from desktop.
1.09
If necessary the !BOOT file can contain a line such as: 10*EXEC !BOOT1
1.09
!BOOT1 contains tasks such as loading modules that need to be done from
supervisor mode.
1.09
•   To run Master software, use *Alphabet Master and *Keyboard Master.
1.09
•   *TypeFile again. After the ideas given last month, I knew there
should be an easier wayÉ Clifford Hoggarth has come up with:
1.09
*Alias$TypeFile Echo ||B|M Type %0|M Echo ||C|M
1.09
The point is that on first interpretation, || is turned into | so that
it become Echo |B which gives the ASCII 2 (ctrl-B) to turn on the
printer and Echo |C to do the reverse.
1.09
•   System Delta Plus — The section in the manual on printer control
codes is not very clear. The following points may make it clearer: (1)
Clicking on <menu> on the printer control icon brings up a sub-menu
giving options for Bold, Compressed or Reset. (2) To select multiple
escape sequences, click <select> on the printer control icon, select the
Escape icon and enter the first code in the sequence, then press
<return>, enter the second code and again press <return>. Repeat this if
necessary and click on the OK icon when you have finished. E.g. to get
NLQ on an Epson , you want ESC120,1. So use: <select> Escape icon, type
120, press <return>, type 1, press <return>, <select> OK icon.
1.09
One limitation of the System Delta Plus package, as it stands, is that
you can only create four numeric total fields when producing a “List”.
The solution, according to Minerva Systems will be to purchase their
“Reporter” software — when it becomes available!
1.09
•   Taxan Kaga printer (or the Canon equiv-alent) — there is a fairly
simple way of being able to switch the auto-line feed on and off, to
avoid problems with software that may or may not require the printer to
auto-line feed.
1.09
All you do is to place a switch between two pins of the printer
connector. The pins to connect are pin 14 (auto-line feed) and any GND
line. When they are connected an auto-line is not performed.
1.09
•   Ambiguous *-commands. If you have two modules loaded into the
Archimedes that use the same *-command name, you can call the command
required by: *<module name>: <command> <....> So, for example, if you
had two modules, ÔUtilityÕ and ÔToolkitÕ both of which have a CATALL
command, you can use either *Utility:CATALL or *Toolkit:CATALL to
differentiate between them.
1.09

•   BASIC Editor. If you type “EDIT.” instead of just “EDIT”, it gets
you back into the editor at the same place you left it. This can be very
useful when editing long programs. It even seems to work if you load and
save other programs in the interim as long as you get the original
program back into memory. Also, you can say EDIT Fred and it will take
you to the first occurrence of the word “Fred” in the file. So, with
judicious use of REM statements, you can jump into the program at just
the right place every time. If you want to find DEFPROCfred, EDIT fred
will probably bring you to PROCfred rather than the definition itself,
but REM !FRED above the top of the procedure would allow you to type
EDIT !FRED (note, all uppercase, which is easier to type) to drop you
straight to the desired place in the program.
1.10
•   Artisan — fast load and save. If you have typed in the Fastload/Save
module from the March issue of Archive, *COPY FastRm onto the Artisan
disk and then LOAD “ART3”, list line 270 and add *RMLOAD FastRm|M and
then re-save it. Now LOAD “ART5” change line 2540 to OSCLI“FastLoad ”+f$
and line 2620 to OSCLI”FastSave “+f$. Then re-save it. You now have a
new and improved disc facility for Artisan.
1.10
•   305, 310, 410 or 440? Following on from the hint in the May issue
(page 7) itÕs all very well to know what the page size is, 8k or 32k,
but to differentiate between a 305 and a 310 or between a 410 and a 440,
you need to know how much memory is available. One way of doing this is
to set up a local error trap and do a *Configure Spritesize 128. If the
machine has 1 Mbyte or less it will generate a “Configure parameter too
big” error. If it still generates an error when you use *Configure
Spritesize 64 then the software knows it is running in a 305. We have
not had chance to check this on a 305 or a 410, so please will someone
let us know if it does not work.
1.10
•   System DeltaPlus. If you want to use two drives, issue the following
two commands from the card index:
1.10
*dir :1
1.10
*set Delta$WPPrefix :0.$
1.10
Then donÕt specify the drive number in the data file name.
1.10
•   View 3 & Viewstore 1.1. Various folk are still having problems with
these. If so, try the following as suggested by Sean Kelly — thanks.
1.10
Viewstore 1.1. Locations &ABE2, &ABE3 and &ABE4 should all be set to the
value &EA.
1.10
View 3. Set locations &A8D6, &A8D7 and &A8D8 to the value &EA. Also,
there are four places where you get LDA#&82, JSR Osbyte (i.e. &A9, &82,
&20, &F4, &FF). This is used to check for the second processor on the
BBC. So to fool it, you have to change each of these to: LDX#&FF,
LDY#&FF, NOP. You can either do this by poking &A2, &FF, &A0, &FF, &EA
into each of the sets of locations: &8834 to &8838, &88D8 to &88DC,
&895C to &8960 and &AF8D to &AF91. (I checked these locations against
the B3.0 version in the Master 128Õs and it bore no resemblance to it.
Apparently it refers to the A3.0 version. Ed.)
1.10
•   Improved sound. If you have the colour monitor that comes with the
Archimedes, you can use the Audio Input at the back of the monitor (a
phono socket) to take a signal from the Headphones output (3.5 mm stereo
jack) from the Archimedes. Just use one of the channels or combine them
with 100R resistors. (If youÕre not quite sure how to do this, weÕll try
to give more details next month.) This give a much better sound and
provides you with a volume control.
1.10
Next two hints are from Peter KigginsÉ
1.10
•   When using a SWI from BASIC which either takes or returns a string,
it is not necessary to use pointers to strings.  The SYS command knows
that a pointer has been returned by the SWI and copies the relevant text
into the string.  For example, instead of
1.10
$TxtPtr%=Number$
1.10
SYS“OS_ReadUnsigned”,FromBase%,TextPtr% TO ,,Decimal%
1.10
you can use the more readable and easier
1.10
SYS“OS_ReadUnsigned”,FromBase%,Number$ TO ,,Decimal%
1.10
And to read the command line which started the program, all that’s
required is
1.10
SYS “OS_GetEnv” TO Command_line$
1.10
•   BASIC commands TWIN and TWINO can be used without Acorn’s (editor)
TWIN.  How?  When TWIN is executed, BASIC first converts the current
program from internal tokenised format to plain text format; then it
calls TWIN with the location of the text as a command line string.  So
all that is required is a program called TWIN which reads the command
line and saves the relevant chunk of memory:-
1.10
 10 REM >twin
1.10
 20 REM*** fails with very short pieces of text ***
1.10
 30 SYS “OS_GetEnv” TO command_line$
1.10
 40 posat%=INSTR(command_line$,“@”)
1.10
 50 poscomma%=INSTR(command_line$,“,”,posat%)
1.10
 60 possemic%=INSTR(command_line$,“;”,poscomma%)
1.10
 70 start$=“&”+MID$(command_line$,posat%+1,poscomma%-(posat%+1))
1.10
 80 finish$=“&”+MID$(command_line$,poscomma%+1,possemic%-(poscomma%+1))
1.10
 90 INPUT“Enter file name: ” file$
1.10
100 OSCLI(“save ”+file$+“ ”+start$+“ ”+finish$)
1.10
110 OSCLI(“settype ”+file$+“ &FFF”)
1.10
The point of all this is that the BASIC Editor can now be used to
produce text files — for wordprocessing, compiling, etc.
1.10
•   Auto-Booting — some of the commercial auto-boot programs don’t take
into account the filing system! This can be very annoying if you have a
ROM podule and your system is set to start up in the RFS. The answer is
(i) the software developers should produce proper auto-boot programs; or
(ii) if you already have bought a program — put *CON.FILE.ADFS in auto-
boot program!
1.10
Hard Disc Auto-Booting — some readers are lucky enough to have hard
discs. However, life with a hard disc is not all a bed of roses! Having
copied your application programs to the hard disc, you run into problems
with the auto-booting routines. Here is a one of many possible solu
tions. Indeed this program could be used for those of us with floppies,
who have more than one application on a disc.
1.10
 10 REM >$.!BOOT
1.10
 20 REM **************************
1.10
 30 REM * Multiple  Auto-Booting *
1.10
 40 REM * written by Adrian Look *
1.10
 50 REM *     22nd June 1988     *
1.10
 60 REM **************************
1.10
 70
1.10
 80 SYS “OS_Byte”,161,16 TO ,,misc_flags
1.10
 90 auto_boot=(misc_flags AND %10000)
1.10
100 file$=“boot”
1.10
110 file=OPENIN(file$):CLOSE #file
1.10
120 IF file=0 THEN PROCmenu
1.10
130 file=OPENIN(file$)
1.10
140 INPUT #file,boot$
1.10
150 CLOSE #file
1.10
160 IF auto_boot THEN OSCLI(“REMOVE ”+file$)
1.10
170 OSCLI(“RUN ”+file$)
1.10
180 END
1.10
190
1.10
200 DEFPROCmenu
1.10
210 REM **** your own code ****
1.10
220 REM
1.10
230 REM should exit with file$
1.10
240 REM containing the filename
1.10
250 REM of the program to be run.
1.10
260 REM
1.10
270 REM e.g. PRINT #file,filename$
1.10
280 ENDPROC
1.10
The program checks whether a file (file$) is on the disk. If it is, then
the program reads the filename contained in file$ and runs it! Other
wise, the program should create file$ — as indicated.
1.10
This method also allows you to write library programs which will: create
file$ and then run the boot program. Thus by running these library files
you can also initiate your application programs — without the need for a
menu!
1.10
•   Quazer Fix. If you are using Quasar 1.40, here is a cheat, (for
those who like such things!) which allows you to keep going a bit
longer. Firstly, *LOAD QuazCode 9000 and then rename Quazcode as, say,
OldCode. Now if you want to set the number of lives, you need to change
location &3D058. It should currently contain 2, so to change the number
of lives to, say 10, put ?&3D058=10. Now if you want to avoid being
killed when you collide, change the contents of location &3D90B from &E2
to &F2 by puting ?&3D90B=&F2. Finally, *SAVE QuazCode 9000 +36520.
1.10
•Passwords if you want them. Quazer Passwords: 2 Lizards, 3 Spiders, 4
Pedantic, 5 Analysis, 6 Larkin, 7 Company, 8 Manual,9 Trading
1.10
Hoverbod passwords: 2 Minervas, 3 SirBarry, 4 ZotyBlob, 5 Flumpies, 6
Squidgee, 7 Wobblies, 8 Posskett
1.10

1.10
The following Hints & Tips were sent in by Mike Harrison (of Watford
Digitiser fame). HeÕs also sent us various other bits of information
which appear elsewhere in this issue and the next issue. Many thanks
Mike.
1.10
Writing modules
1.10
(Ref. issue 5, page 45) SWIs in modules must always use the ‘X’ version
of the SWI and, where appropriate, check for an error and exit,
preserving the value of r0 returned by the SWI (i.e. don’t restore the
old value of R0 if it had been saved). e.g.
1.10
.a_module_routine
1.10
STMFD R13!,{r0-2 ,14} \or however many registers you need to save
1.10
SWI “XOS_SomethingOrOther”
1.10
STRVS R0,[R13] \overwrite old r0 with error pointer
1.10
LDMVSFD R13!,{r0-2 ,PC}
1.10
\ the last 2 statements could alternatively have been :
1.10
\
1.10
\ ADDVS R13,R13,#4 : LDMVSFD R13!,{r1-2 ,PC}
1.10
For short routines, or where several SWIs are used, the following is
neater..
1.10
.a_short_routine
1.10
STMFD R13!,{r0-5 ,14}
1.10
SWI “XOS_SomeSwi”
1.10
SWIVC “XOS_SomethingElse”
1.10
SWIVC “XOS_YetAnotherSwi”
1.10
STRVS R0,[R13]
1.10
LDMFD R13!,{r0-5 ,PC}
1.10
In this example, all code after first SWI should be conditional on V
clear, so if any SWI gives an error, the code will ‘drop through’ to the
end.
1.10
Remember that some SWIs may return errors you don’t expect — e.g.
OS_WriteC could return an error when output is *Spooled, setting the
screen mode could give ‘Bad Mode’ etc. — some thought is required to
ensure that module code will be reliable in all environments.
1.10
When setting up offsets in headers and command tables, it is much easier
to specify them when using offset assembly (OPT 4/6/7) — set O% to the
code buffer, and P% to 0. Offsets can then be included directly with
EQUD (e.g. EQUD moduletitle). Warning — if you are still using Basic
1.00, there is a bug in ALIGN when using offset assembly. Version 1.02
is OK.
1.10
The following assembler macro is useful when building keyword tables in
modules (it assumes the use of offset assembly, as described above):
1.10
DEF FNcommand(I%,A$)
1.10
[ OPTpass : EQUS A$ : EQUB0 :
1.10
ALIGN
1.10
EQUD EVAL(A$)
1.10
EQUD I%
1.10
EQUD EVAL(A$+“syntax”)
1.10
EQUD EVAL(A$+“help”)
1.10
]:=pass
1.10
OPT FNcommand(“NewCmd”,N) will create a table entry, using the labels
.NewCmd .NewCmdhelp and .NewCmdsyntax (N is the information word).
1.10
Note that ‘pass’ is the name of the pass variable — change this if you
use a different name.
1.10
Podule manager/Clock slowdown
1.10
(Ref. issue 7, page 44) The problem here is that SWIs are passed to
modules with interrupts disabled, so if the SWI takes a significant
amount of time to complete, the clock will slow down (the mouse pointer
will also become sluggish). I can’t see why the podule manager should
need interrupts off, so it’s probably an unintended ‘feature’ — SWI code
which takes time to execute SHOULD enable interrupts, unless they have
to be off. (The digitiser module only runs with interrupts off when
absolutely necessary!) When interrupts have been disabled for signifi
cant amounts of time, the seconds count of the real-time clock gets out
of step with the minutes, which then don’t roll over at 59 secs — this
looks weird if you don’t know about it!
1.10
System Devices
1.10
(Ref. issue 6, page 41) There is a very interesting feature, which I
haven’t seen documented, concerning device oriented filing systems. When
you set the printer type using *FX5,n where n is greater than 2, the OS
looks for a system variable called printertype$n — n being the value
used for FX5. This variable holds the name of the output file or device
to which printer output should be sent. The Econet module, NetPrint,
uses this to set printer type 4 to “netprint:”. What happens is that
when you do <ctrl-B>, a file is opened, with the name given in this
system variable, and <ctrl-C> closes the file. While this would normally
send output to a hardware device, it can also use the name of a normal
file; e.g.
1.10
*set printertype$5 outfile
1.10
*fx5 5
1.10
Will cause subsequent printer output to be written to the file “outfile”
— handy for debugging, and for saving data to print on other machines.
Note that this will only work if a program does VDU2, sends ALL its
output, then does VDU3. If it keeps turning the printer on and off all
the time with VDU2/3, only the last part of the output will be in the
file, as VDU2 re-opens the file, discarding its previous contents.
(Econet users know only too well the problems caused by software not
handling the printer correctly!)
1.10
Just for fun, try :
1.10
*set printertype$5 vdu:
1.10
*fx5 5
1.10
<Ctrl-B>
1.10
All vdu output will appear ttwwiiccee!! — once via the normal route, and
again via the printer stream.
1.10
Use of SYS
1.10
(Ref. issue 9, page 47) The following is a bomb-proof version of OSCLI
in BASIC, which will report errors without entering BASICs error handler
(it can also be used for other SWIs — e.g. OS_File to trap filing errors
neatly)
1.10
DEFPROCoscli(OS$)
1.10
LOCAL flag%,error%
1.10
SYS“XOS_CLI”,OS$ TO error% ; flag%
1.10
IF flag% AND 1 THEN P.“Error : ”;:SYS“OS_Write0”,error%+4
1.10
REM the error number can be read using !error%
1.10
ENDPROC
1.10
It works by reading back the V flag and error pointer returned by the X
version of the SWI
1.10
TWIN
1.10
(Ref. issue 7, page 7) You can warm start Twin using *Twin -warm, using
the same version of Twin, of course — *GO may cause problems if the code
has been corrupted, (or you’ve forgotten the address!). There is a bug
in all the versions of Twin I’ve seen (I’m not sure what version has
been released), which means that when exiting from TWIN to BASIC, the
event vector is messed up, so if you overwrite the address where Twin
was run, and enable events, the machine crashes. This can be avoided by
doing QUIT, *BASIC, and OLD.
1.10
In one issue, there was a tip for entering ARMBE automatically at the
line in error — here’s a similar routine if you prefer using TWIN to
edit BASIC programs — It uses the TWINO8 option to strip line numbers
(which you don’t need to use, DO YOU!!). If the error wasn’t Escape,
pressing <Y> will enter TWIN at the line where the error occurred. Note
that it assumes lines are numbered in 10s — this will be the case if the
program has been edited in TWIN without line numbers, but not if lines
have been inserted/deleted from the BASIC prompt — in this case, enter
TWIN, and exit again, or do RENUMBER.
1.10
ON ERROR PROCERR
1.10
...
1.10
...
1.10
DEFPROCERR
1.10
REPORT:PRINT“ at line ”ERL
1.10
IF ERR=17 END
1.10
PRINT“EDIT ?”:IF GET$=“Y” ELSE END
1.10
*FX138 0 129
1.10
*FX138 0 128
1.10
FORA%=1 TO LEN(STR$(ERL DIV10))
1.10
SYS 6,138,,ASC(MID$(STR$(ERL DIV10),A%,1))
1.10
NEXT:*FX138 0 13
1.10
END
1.10
Hidden software
1.10
(Ref. issue 9, page 4)  Take a close look at the digitiser module!
1.10

Hints & Tips
1.11
•   *COMPACT − The User Guide says that *COMPACT “moves files around on
the disc, collecting all the free space into a continuous block”.
However, if you have a disc that has several gaps you will find that you
need several compactions. One disc which had 5 gaps in the FS map had to
be compacted eight times before the map showed only a single gap. (See
review of R.A.Engineering’s Utilities, page ?????)
1.11
•   *COPY − When copying multiple files using wildcards, you must ONLY
specify the directory into which to copy and not try to specify the
actual file name in any way e.g. if you want to copy files PROGA, PROGB,
PROGC etc from the “BASIC” directory into the “BACKUP” directory, use
*COPY $.BASIC.PROG* $.BACKUP.* but if you try to use *COPY $.BASIC.PROG*
$.BACKUP.PROG* it won’t work. This is not desperately clear in the User
Guide and I’ve only just worked out why 90% of my attempts to do
wildcard copies have not worked!
1.11
•   CAPS LOCK − Another thing which is obvious if you know about it is
that you can set up the keyboard to print upper case normally but then
go into lower case when you press <shift>. This can be done either by
*Configure SHCAPS if you want it to start up in that mode (or CAPS or
NOCAPS if you don’t) or by holding the shift key down and pressing and
releasing the Caps Lock key.
1.11
•   CHAINing programs − In response to our complaint in last month’s Bug
or Feature that programs chaining one another cannot be called from
drive 1 using the desktop, Philip Colmer of Acorn’s Customer Support
Department tells us that it is definitely a feature. There are a number
of ways of avoiding the problem. Firstly, you could reference files by
disc name, so we could CHAIN“:ProgDisc.$.Progs.Nextprog” or whatever.
Alternatively, you could use the fact that when you run a BASIC program
in drive 1 from the desktop, it generates a command something like
*basic −quit “ADFS::1.$.Progs.FirstProg”. You could then use OS_GetEnv
to read the command string and find out where the program has been
called from. Thridly, have a look at PC.PC from the 1.20 version of the
PC emulator to see an intelligent (incredibly so!) boot-up program which
has been very carefully commented to enable you to modify it for your
own use.
1.11
•   Auto-booting − Again from Philip Colmer comes the suggestion that
you should use the PC.PC program to boot up applications from within
directories on the hard disc. The program uses legal OS calls instead of
re-configuring. It does a *DIR and then runs the program specified. The
only restriction on it is that it cannot change the system sprite size
but, he points out, if programs were written properly, they would not be
using the system sprite area!
1.11
•   System Devices − You can treat devices as files, e.g.
C%=OPENOUT(“NETPRINT:”). This is particularly useful in the example
given on page 9 last month because you can now open a channel to the
network printer, send some stuff to it when you are ready (using BPUT
#C%) and when everything is done, close the ‘file’ (CLOSE#0) and it will
then be printed! (This also came from Philip Colmer − Thanks PC! −
Funny, you know, I always thought that PC stood for Personal Computer!
Ed.)
1.11
The following Hints were prepared by Adrian LookÉ
1.11
•   Smooth Scrolling − Using VDU 23,7 you can scroll the current text
window up, down, left, or right. Horizontally, the picture can be
scrolled by one byte, but vertically it can only be scrolled by one
character cell. This can produce a smooth scroll by placing a WAIT (for
the vertical sync pulse) command before the VDU 23,7. If any further
delay is implemented then the picture shudders as it scrolls. This means
that a slow smooth scroll cannot be used. The answer is to redefine the
screen base address manually (as we used to do on the BBC). This is done
using ‘OS_Word’ &16.
1.11
DIM block% 4
1.11
:
1.11
block%?0=type
1.11
block%!1=offset
1.11
WAIT
1.11
SYS “OS_Word”,&16,block%
1.11
“type”   : when 1 − base used by VDU drivers (i.e. screen updated)
1.11
   : when 2 − base used by hardware (i.e. screen displayed)
1.11
“offset”   : from the address of the base of the screen buffer to the
start of the screen display.
1.11
The following example program should help to make it clearer.
1.11
 10 REM >scrolling
1.11
 20
1.11
 30 REM **************************
1.11
 40 REM *   Scrolling Screens??  *
1.11
 50 REM * written by Adrian Look *
1.11
 60 REM *     21st July 1988     *
1.11
 70 REM **************************
1.11
 80
1.11
 90 MODE 0:OFF
1.11
100 DIM block% &10
1.11
110 count=0
1.11
120
1.11
130 PRINTTAB(3,15);“Some text”
1.11
140
1.11
150 REPEAT
1.11
160   PROCscroll(1)
1.11
170 UNTIL 0
1.11
180 END
1.11
190
1.11
200 DEFPROCscroll(speed)
1.11
210 PROCinfo
1.11
220 add=x/m
1.11
230 IF SGN(count)>0 THEN speed=-speed
1.11
240 REPEAT
1.11
250   block%?0=2
1.11
260   block%!1=add*count
1.11
270   WAIT
1.11
280   SYS “OS_Word”,22,block%
1.11
290   count+=speed
1.11
300 UNTIL add*count>x*y/m+4160 OR count<0
1.11
310 ENDPROC
1.11
320
1.11
330 DEFPROCinfo
1.11
340 SYS “OS_ReadModeVariable”,MODE,4 TO ,,x
1.11
350 x=4-x:x=8*(2^x)*10
1.11
360 SYS “OS_ReadModeVariable”,MODE,5 TO ,,y
1.11
370 y=3-y:y=y*256
1.11
380 SYS “OS_ReadModeVariable”,MODE,3 TO ,,c
1.11
390 CASE c OF
1.11
400   WHEN 1  : m=8
1.11
410   WHEN 3  : m=4
1.11
420   WHEN 15 : m=2
1.11
430   WHEN 63 : m=1
1.11
440 ENDCASE
1.11
450 ENDPROC
1.11

1.11
•   Desktop Utilities − The desktop is essentially a skeleton program
which allows the programmer to install his/her own icons, windows,
menus, commands, etc, which the DeskTop will then operate. This is done
with a very clever set of FN’s. for example:
1.11
PROCinstall(“adrian”)
1.11
:
1.11
DEFPROCinstall(file$)
1.11
INSTALL file$
1.11
void=EVAL(“FNinstall_file_”+file$)
1.11
ENDPROC
1.11
This means that by EVALuating a string the DeskTop can call any file-
specific function. In the case above, FNinstall_file_adrian will be
called. By using this system, any command can be ‘installed’ or even
replaced. Explaining or even listing the functions and procedures
available in the DeskTop program is not really possible in the magazine.
However, bearing in mind the methods used, you will find before long you
can write some very useful tools for the DeskTop. It should even
possible to completely re-write the it! As an example, here is a program
which will allow you to use star commands. Don’t forget to *SETTYPE
‘filename’ FE0 to indicate that the program is a desktop utility (We
have included several other utilities on the program disk).
1.11
 10 REM >star
1.11
 20
1.11
 30 REM *******************************
1.11
 40 REM *  Star Commands for Desk Top *
1.11
 50 REM *    written by Adrian Look   *
1.11
 60 REM * original idea Denis Howlett *
1.11
 70 REM *******************************
1.11
 80
1.11
 90 DEFFNinstall_file_star
1.11
100 file=OPENIN(filehandler_path$+“.istar”):CLOSE #file
1.11
110 IF file=0 THEN ERROR 1,“Can’t find icon file ‘istar’”
1.11
120 OSCLI(“SMERGE ”+filehandler_path$+“.istar”)
1.11
130
PROCsys_addtoiconbar(“star”,“command”,&301A,icon_fgcol,icon_bgcol,48)
1.11
140 SYS “Wimp_ForceRedraw”,-1,0,0,1279,100
1.11
150 =0
1.11
160
1.11
170 DEFFNaction_star
1.11
180 PROCstar_command(5,5,75,25,2,1)
1.11
190 =0
1.11
200
1.11
210 DEFPROCstar_command(x0,y0,x1,y1,bx,by)
1.11
220 *POINTER 0
1.11
230 VDU 26,4,28,x0,y1,x1,y0
1.11
240 y0=31-y0:y1=31-y1
1.11
250 gx=x0*16-bx*8:dx=(x1-x0)*16+bx*16+16
1.11
260 gy=y1*32-by*16:dy=(y0-y1)*32+by*32+32
1.11
270 GCOL 0,&4:RECTANGLE FILL gx-4,gy-4,dx+8,dy+8
1.11
280 GCOL 0,&0:RECTANGLE FILL gx,gy,dx,dy
1.11
290 LOCAL ERROR
1.11
300 REPEAT
1.11
310   ON ERROR LOCAL PRINT REPORT$
1.11
320   *FX 4,0
1.11
330   INPUT“*”star$
1.11
340   *FX 4,1
1.11
350   OSCLI(star$)
1.11
360 UNTIL star$=“”
1.11
370 RESTORE ERROR
1.11
380 SYS “Wimp_ForceRedraw”,-1,gx-4,gy-4,gx+dx+8,gy+dy+8
1.11
390 VDU 26,5
1.11
400 *FX 21,9
1.11
410 *POINTER
1.11
420 ENDPROC
1.11
N.B. (i) You will need a STAR shaped icon called ‘command’, saved as
‘istar’. However, if you want to test the program before designing an
icon, skip lines 100-120 and change “command” in line 130 to “unknown”.
1.11
  (ii) Because the DeskTop uses the filename of the utility as a ‘seed’,
it important that the utility’s filename be consistent with its
procedure names. For example: if you rename ‘star’ to ‘command’ then the
DeskTop will look for FNaction_command instead of FNaction_star, so you
will get an error!
1.11
•   Making the Print Key Save − Last month it was suggested in Neil
Strong’s article about making the print key print that a slight
modification of the program could make it save screen shots to the disc
using SCREENSAVE “$.pic” instead of HARDCOPYFX. However, this limits you
to one screen shot at a time (otherwise you will overwrite your last
one). If we use the system variables and update the ‘print key’ program
we can get it to save a screen called ‘$.scr0’, followed by, ‘$.scr1’,
‘$.scr2’..etc!
1.11
871 adr r0,command1
1.11
872 swi “OS_CLI”
1.11
920 equs “ScreenSave scr<file>”  ; FastSave even!#?
1.11
941 .command1
1.11
942 equs “SetEval file file+1”
1.11
943 EQUB 0
1.11
944 ALIGN
1.11
1020 OSCLI(“SetEval file 0”)
1.11
1030 END
1.11
If you wish to (re)set the ‘file count’ to n, then just type:
1.11
*SETEVAL file n
1.11
•   SpellMaster Browse in Wordwise Plus − If you have Spell-Master and
Wordwise Plus you can very easily write a two line segment program which
will call the browse window. i.e.
1.11
*BROWSE
1.11
DISPLAY
1.11
Thus if the program were in segment zero you could press <shift><print>
while editing your text and check your spelling using the browse window.
This obviously opens up all sorts of possibilities for Wordwise Plus to
use Spell Master’s facilities.
1.11

•   PipeDream − For those who have not used View etc and who have
therefore not had to fight printer drivers, the following may be useful:
1.12
The printer driver is loaded on initialisation and when <Alt><P><D> is
used, but NOT when a document is printed, so any changes made to a
printer driver are not acted upon until either of these events. It’s
obvious really, but if you haven’t registered the fact, it could cause a
lot of confusion.
1.12
For those who wish to use bold throughout a document, (e.g. for
producing something on a dot-matrix printer that will go through a Fax
machine) it would seem an obvious solution to put markers at the
beginning and end of the document and make it all bold highlight.
However, this is not a good idea because your printer will have to cope
with double printing each word, one word at a time! Instead, change the
printer driver so that the bold highlight is NOT cancelled at the end of
a line. i.e. change the Y to an N and either send the necessary ESC
sequence in the PON line or put a highlight 2 at the very start of your
text.
1.12
•   Transferring character definitions − If you have files produced by
the CHARDES program from the Master Welcome disc (mentioned last month,
page 34) here is a little BASIC program to run the files on the
Archimedes:
1.12
 10 REM >ThinChar
1.12
 20 CLS : INPUT “FileName ”;A$
1.12
 30 OSCLI (“LOAD ”+A$+“ 12800”)
1.12
 40 FOR I=127 TO 32 STEP -1
1.12
 50 VDU23,I
1.12
 60 VDU(?(&12844+I-32))
1.12
 70 VDU(?(&128A4+I-32))
1.12
 80 VDU(?(&12904+I-32))
1.12
 90 VDU(?(&12964+I-32))
1.12
100 VDU(?(&129C4+I-32))
1.12
110 VDU(?(&12A24+I-32))
1.12
120 VDU(?(&12A84+I-32))
1.12
130 VDU(?(&12AE4+I-32))
1.12
140 NEXT
1.12
•   Quazer (again). The fix for Quazer 1.42 is ?&3D090=N¼ of lives,
?&3D98F=&F2, *SAVE Quazcode 9000 +365AC, *settype Quazcode FF8. •
Printing in binary − PRINT ~number% prints number% in hexadecimal but
there isn’t an equivalent for printing in binary. However, there are SYS
commands that will do it for you. The following program illustrates the
use of SYS &E0 which converts a number to a four byte binary number
string (SYS’s &DF, DE and DD convert to 3, 2 and 1 byte binary numbers).
1.12
The only other point of interest in the program is the way that the
leading zeros are stripped off by lines 190, 200 (which can be omitted,
of course, if you want the leading zeros!). The INSTR command finds the
position of the first “1” starting from the left hand end of the string,
take off one to give the number of zeros to be removed. The LEFT$
command at line 200 turns those zero characters into the character set
by pad$. (This illustrates the fact that you can use string functions on
the left hand side of an assignment.) If pad$ is a space character, the
binary numbers produced will all be the same length and so will be right
justified but if you want the strings left justified, you can set pad$
to CHR$0. (An alternative for left justification would be to use
numb$=RIGHT$(numb$,32-n%).)
1.12
 10 REM > BinPrint
1.12
 20
1.12
 30 pad$=CHR$0 :REM left justif’n
1.12
 40 pad$=“ ” : REM right justif’n
1.12
 50 OS_ConvertBinary4=&E0
1.12
 60
1.12
 70 REPEAT
1.12
 80   INPUT “Number? ”number$
1.12
 90   number%=EVAL(number$)
1.12
100   A$=FNbinconvert(number%)
1.12
110   PRINT A$
1.12
120 UNTIL0
1.12
130
1.12
140 DEF FNbinconvert(numb%)
1.12
150 LOCAL numb$,n%
1.12
160
1.12
170 SYS OS_ConvertBinary4,numb%,
1.12
32,numb$ TO numb$
1.12
180
1.12
190 n%=INSTR(numb$,“1”)-1
1.12
200 LEFT$(numb$,n%)=STRING$(n%
1.12
,pad$)
1.12
210 =numb$
1.12
•   Hard Disc Head Parking − Don’t forget that if the RFS is selected,
it will accept the *BYE command but it will not park the heads on the
drive. You have to be in ADFS.
1.12
•   Screenload/save − It is interesting to compare the time taken to
save and load screens using *screensave and *screenload with the time
taken to define the whole screen as a sprite and save it using *Ssave or
load it with *Sload. In all modes there is considerable saving e.g.
1.12
   Mode1   Mode12   Mode 15
1.12
  *Screensave(load)   7(4)   25(18)   52(38)
1.12
  *Ssave(load)   1(<1)   3(3)   7(6)
1.12
•   Libraries and *mountÉ If you *mount a disc, the library from the
previous disc remains in memory. For those with a single drive, this may
seem a nuisance but the reason the library is not changed is that you
can have a library on one drive and shove discs in and out of the other
drive without losing the library − particularly important with hard
discs. Obviously you could reselect the library with *library $.Library
but it is much easier to use *bye. That way, you don’t even have to use
*mount.
1.12
•   Reliable RS423 transfer from BBC’s. This is mostly just reiterating
what has gone before, but to transfer reliably from BBC to Archimedes at
9,600 baud you need to [1] use the 1.24 serial patch (on Archive program
disc 7) [2] Set *Configure DATA 5 (i.e. 8 data bits and 1 stop bit which
is the default on the BBC) and [3] connect the BBC’s RTS output to the
Archimedes’ DSR input (pin 6) instead of the CTS input (pin 8) and link
pins 1, 4 and 8 together.
1.12
•   View A3.0 Further to the patches given in July issue (Vol. 1.10 page
6) Richard House reckons that instead of using &FF’s in the various
locations you should use &00’s. (If someone has a working version of
A3.0, please send it in so that we can add it to our collection of
working patches!)
1.12
•   Viewstore 1.1 − Following on from the July Hints & Tips, not that
not only should &ABE2, 3 and 4 be set to &EA, but also, the LDA #&82,
JSR OSBYTE (&A9, &82, &20, &F4, &FF) routines need to be altered as with
View A3.0. These occur at locations &A256 − A25A, &AA22 − AA26 and &AB98
− AB9C. The code required in each of these locations is &A2, &00, &A0,
&00, &EA. (LDX #&00, LDY #&00, NOP). (If you can’t cope with these
technicalities, send us a disc with Viewstore 1.1 on it and we’ll modify
it for you.)
1.12
•   Correct Nesting? To check that the nesting of loops, IF’s and CASE’s
is correct within a program, use LISTO2 and LIST the program. If at the
end of the program, the final line has two or more spaces after the line
number, you’ve got an incorrect nesting somewhere. To check through,
there should be no spaces between line numbers and DEFPROC’s, DEFFN’s or
ENDPROC’s.
1.12
•   Marconi Trackerball. Archimedes’ mouse’s tail can apparently be
removed, so says Mr T A Doncaster, and plugged into an identical
connector within the Marconi RB2/PC-1 tracker ball and all works without
any further fiddling about. Watch that the supply polarity is correct
though.
1.12
•   Readable zeros. In InterSheet in particular, I find the slashed-
zeros misleading − they can easily be mistaken for eights. If you re-
program the zero character using a VDU23 command you can avoid the
confusion. It does increase the possibility of confusion with a capital-
O but that is far less important in spreadsheet work than confusion with
8. So, I store the following program in the RAM on the RFS and call it
up with *IS<return>:
1.12
10 REM >RFS:IS
1.12
20 VDU23,48,60,102,102,102,102,
1.12
102,60,0
1.12
30 CHAIN “RFS:ISHEET”
1.12
No doubt you could modify this program if you wanted to use the same re-
programmed zero character with other spreadsheet software.
1.12
•   Computer salutions. R.E.Boldero, in the July edition, asked for a
way of getting his computer to greet him each time he switched on. The
next hint shows a partial solution.
1.12
•   RFS Boot file − If you use a ROM podule with battery backup, you can
create a boot file that runs in the RFS and sets up all sorts of
goodies. I used to have a BASIC program called !BOOT which set up all
sorts of things on power-up or <ctrl-break> but if you are developing a
BASIC program, get stuck and press <ctrl-break>, you lose the program
because it is replaced by the boot program!!!!! After Adrian had fallen
into this trap a few times when using my computer, he developed the
following rather ingenious (not to say devious) EXECable boot program.
(*Configure Filesystem RFS, *Configure Boot and *OPT 4,3 in the RFS.)
1.12
We have since added a facility for making Arthur talk to you a bit more
politely, from an idea sent in by Chris Hayes.
1.12
To create the boot file, I start with the following Wordwise Plus file
which is then spooled as “RFS:!BOOT”.  (The line numbers are purely for
discussion purposes.)
1.12
 1 <gr>LL160<gr>PC “~”
1.12
 2 VDU21
1.12
 3 VDU6,11,32,32,32,32,32,32,21
1.12
 4 VDU6,19,0,4,0,0,0,21
1.12
 5 VDU6,19,1,0,0,0,0,21
1.12
 6 VDU6,13,11,11,11,11,11,21
1.12
 7 VDU6:COLOUR 6:VDU21
1.12
 8 VDU6:PRINT“N o r w i c h   C o
1.12
 m p u t e r   S e r v i c e s“
1.12
:VDU21
1.12
 9 VDU6:COLOUR 7:VDU21
1.12

1.12
10 *SETCLI$PROMPT <13><10>Good
1.12
 Morning! *
1.12
11 *IF SYS$TIME LEFT 2>11 THEN SET
1.12
 CLI$PROMPT <13><10>Good Afternoon! *
1.12
12 *IF SYS$TIME LEFT 2>18 THEN SET
1.12
 CLI$PROMPT <13><10>Good
1.12
 Evening! *
1.12

1.12
13 *KEY0 *MOUNT 0|M*FREE|M*CAT|M
1.12
14 *KEY1 etc...
1.12
20 *KEY12 *FORMAT 0 D|M
1.12

1.12
21 *SET Run$Path ,ADFS:$.,RFS:$.
1.12
,%.
1.12
22 *SET Alias$> CAT
1.12

1.12
23 *FX255,8
1.12
24 *ADFS
1.12
25 *BASIC<gr>OC6
1.12
The LL160 command (1) ensures that the command lines are not split up
and the PC command ensures that the pad characters are sent when
spooling the file. (2) switches off the screen display, but since this
actual command appears on the screen, (3) moves up and wipes it out
again! (4) and (5) change foreground and background colours (6) moves
the cursor back up the screen, before printing out a welcome message in
a different colour, (7 & 8) and switching back to white (9). The IF
SYS$TIME commands then sets up the Arthurian prompt (normally a star on
its own) to be something a bit more timely. (This doesn’t automatically
change the greeting as the time of day changes, it gives you the
greeting that was appropriate last time you pressed <ctrl-break>.) The
function keys are then programmed, the runpath is set up etc (21 − 24)
(See Archive 1.7, page 8) before BASIC is invoked with an OC6 to re-
enable the screen.
1.12
(You could create it by making it a BASIC program that started...
1.12
*SPOOL RFS:!BOOT
1.12
PRINT“VDU21”
1.12
and endedÉ
1.12
PRINT“*BASIC”;CHR$(6);
1.12
*SPOOL
1.12
I haven’t tried this BASIC version, but I presume it would work.)
1.12
•   Keyboard repeat speed. You may have noticed with First Word Plus or
other wordprocessors that when pressing <return> on auto-repeat it
cannot keep up and, when you take your finger off the key, it goes on
spewing out returns until the keyboard buffer is empty. You can avoid
this by reducing the auto-repeat speed with, say, *Configure repeat 15
(instead of the default of 8) and then pressing <ctrl-break>. (It should
really be called the auto repeat time as the number is the time in
centi-seconds between repeats.) Instead of changing the configuration,
you may prefer to could add a *FX12,15 command into the !BOOT file and
then press <ctrl-break> after your WP session to restore the default
repeat speed.
1.12
•   Disappearing cursor in EDIT. Have you noticed that if you hold the
cursor key down in the BASIC editor, the cursor disappears so that you
can’t see where it is on the line? Try changing the auto repeat speed as
mentioned in the hint above − doesn’t always work, but it seems to make
it better if you have a faster speed (smaller number in the command).
1.12
•   Auto indenting in EDIT. Some people like to put the indenting into
the program itself to show the structure (as opposed to using LISTO3 to
show the structure when you list it). If you are using the ARM BASIC
editor, you can add the spaces automatically as you type in the program.
What happens is that if you put a number of spaces at the beginning of
one program line then, when you press <return>, the new line has the
same number of leading spaces as the line before, so until you reach a
REPEAT or UNTIL or FOR or NEXT etc, you just press <return> and type the
next line without thinking about the indenting.
1.12
•   Disappearing programs in EDIT!! On the BASIC editor, if you edit a
line that occupies more than one screen line and make it shorter, it may
leave a blank line on the screen (no problem − this disappears as soon
as you move the cursor away from that line). If you then press <return>
to create a new line, the new line goes in the gap left by the editing
(still, apparently, no problem). However as soon as you try to use any
of the move, delete, or copy functions, all the line numbers go wrong
and cursor movement becomes rather unpredictable. Indeed, if you move
down the program, you will find that when the line that was edited moves
off the top of the screen, the scrolling continues and the program
disappears into oblivion! (Reset and OLD will recover your program
intact.)
1.12
The solution is, if you get a line gap, either re-number (which happens
automatically if the line numbers were already consecutive) or move down
a line then back up again before pressing <return>.
1.12
•   Pencil for Artisan. If you want to add a ‘pencil’ facility to
Artisan, the joined-lines function can be made to provide this in the
following way. (1) Using a copy (not the original!!) of the Artisan
disc, enter the BASIC editor and load ART5. (2) Use Search and Edit to
find DEFPROCKB. (3) Alter the procedure so that it looks like this:-
1.12
DEFPROCKB
1.12
LOCAL X%, Y%, B%
1.12
IF J%=6 AND CLARE%=-1 THEN
1.12
MOUSE X%,Y%,B% :ENDPROC
1.12
ELSE
1.12
REPEAT:MOUSE X%,Y%,B%:UNTIL B%<>BB%:ENDPROC
1.12
ENDIF
1.12
(4) Save this as ART5. (5) For completeness, use the Welcome utility,
SEDIT, to change the joined-lines icon into a pencil icon. (6) Now, with
the joined-lines function selected, holding down <select> draws a
continuous line. On releasing <select>, the normal rubber band line
appears, but it can be released by pressing <adjust> once. Pressing
<adjust> again carries out the UNDO function.
1.12
(While on the subject of modifying Artisan, note the short addition in
Acorn User, April ’88 which adds an airbrush effect.)
1.12
•   Star LC24-10. If you are having problems with getting a Star LC24-10
to accept output from First Word Plus or Graphic Writer, check the EPROM
chip in the printer next to the dip switches. If it has a label on it
showing version 1.0, contact Star Micronics and they will supply a free
up-grade.
1.12
•   Moving menus. If you find that your menus keep moving about, drag
the box down to the extreme bottom right corner of the screen until you
can go no further. This makes them a little more secure − simple, but
soothing!
1.12
•   Programming for speed. Programs like EMR’s SoundSynth and Minerva’s
Hoverbod and Missile Control are actually written in BASIC, with calls
to ARM assembly language routines where extra speed is really necessary.
1.12
If you thought professional quality programs demanded assembly language
only, think again! Perhaps there is a program you had thought of
writing, but did not feel could be written in BASIC; the speed of the
Archimedes has changed all of that.
1.12
Your strategy should be to write the whole program in BASIC first and
then see which routines need replacing with assembly language in order
to provide the right response times.
1.12
Mike Ginns’ recent book from DABS Press, “Archimedes Assembly Language”,
contains a large number of assembly language counterparts for BASIC
statements (he calls them “templates”), and would be of great value if
you want to try your hand at this sort of approach. Although the book
has rather a large number of grammatical errors and is not quite as
fully comprehensive as it claims to be, but is still a good buy at
£14.95. (Ian Nicholls)
1.12
First Word Plus Hints
1.12
•   Using PC’s − If you have access to a PC and a PC version of First
Word Plus, you may be interested to know that you can transfer files
between the two using the Getfile and Putfile utilities of the PC
Emulator. You can even transfer supplementary dictionaries the same way.
1.12
•   Adding printer drivers − It may not be very obvious how you add the
extra printer drivers that we’ve provided on the program discs, onto
your First Word Plus disc. Suppose you want the Kaga Taxan driver. Put
in the program disc and type
1.12
*copy 1WP.cfg.Kaga_Taxan 1WP.cfg.* P
1.12
then change discs and press <space> as prompted. (Or use dual drives if
you have them.)
1.12
•   Default printer driver − If you want to make, say the Juki driver,
the default so that it comes up with that as the driver when you boot up
the disc, use:
1.12
*copy  $.1WP.cfg.Juki  $.Res*.
1.12
1WP.1wp_print F
1.12
The F in the copy command makes it over-write the existing default
driver.
1.12
•   Paging problems. You can now get a version of First Word Plus that
obeys the command in the printer driver to stop at the end of a page to
allow you to change the paper. Brian Carroll writesÉ “I returned my disc
to Acorn and had it back by return of post with a clear and helpful
letter. It seems that Acorn are at last getting the message about
customer support. There are only two modified files: $.resources.1WP.1WP
and $.resources.1WP. 1ML, so for anyone who has done some work to
configure their working master disc it would be simpler just to copy
these two files across than to start again from scratch. The bug-fix
works OK, so the printer drivers that I sent for Canon PW-1080A (program
disc number 10) will work properly.”
1.12
•   LQ1050 − You can add double height to the printer driver merely by
using Search and Replace, changing 57 for 77 (double width for double
height). It works fine − the only thing to remember is to set the line
spacing to 2 in the ruler when choosing expanded pitch.
1.12
•   Large documents. Beware when you are printing long documents (30
pages+) as FWP can get a bit confused and print the wrong pages.


•   How to wipe a disc clean − If you want to wipe a disc completely
clean, you can use *WIPE * ~CFR<return> (Use this command with care −
there’s no going back once you’ve pressed <return>!) − in other words,
remove files with any name (*), don’t ask for confirmation of each wipe
(~C), force them (F) to be deleted even if they are locked and do it
recursively (R) so that the contents of all directories are deleted.
However, even this drastic measure won’t allow you to delete a library
directory if one exists. So do a *Lib “”<return> before the *WIPE
command.
2.1
•   GammaPlot/System Delta Plus − If you have been trying to import SDP
files into GammaPlot and have been unsuccessful, read onÉ Firstly you
have to copy the System Delta Plus software onto your GammaPlot disc.
Then if it still doesn’t work, it will be because you have an older
version of System Delta Plus. Send the original SDP disc back to Minerva
and ask for an up-grade.
2.1
•   Mounting problems (sic) − Do you find that sometimes it refuses to
respond to a *MOUNT command even if you take the disc out and put it
back in again? Two solutions: type *BYE and then you should find that
*CAT will cause it to access the disc OR if, like me, you’ve got *MOUNT
on a function key, just do a *MOUNT with no disc in the drive then
*MOUNT with the new disc in place. If you are in First Word Plus where
you cannot issue star commands anyway, the latter technique should do
the trick since you can achieve the equivalent of *MOUNT by clicking on
the close box (the X) in the file menu. (Just as a matter of interest,
does anyone know why it gets into this state sometimes?)
2.1
•   Users of C (and other compiled languages) may find the following
command file useful, as sent in by Peter Linstead. You can put it in the
$ directory of your hard disc and use it when starting a C programming
session. Once you have assigned your current program’s name to NAME
using, for example, *SET NAME MYPROG you can edit the source file by
pressing <f1>. Once out of TWIN, <f2> will compile and link the source
code and <f3> will execute the run code. By using SETMACRO, you can
change the working name with another *SET command without running the
command file again. It assumes that both FPE and TWIN are in the
$.Library.
2.1
*| > $.Library .C
2.1
*FPE
2.1
*DIR $.ARM.BENCH
2.1
*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOT *TWIN
2.1
 C.<NAME> |M
2.1
*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOC *CC <NAME>
2.1
 − LINK |M
2.1
*SETMACRO ALIAS$AUTOR *RUN
2.1
P.<NAME> |M
2.1
*KEY 1 *AUTOT|M
2.1
*KEY 2 *AUTOC|M
2.1
*KEY 3 *AUTOR|M
2.1
*SET RUN$PATH ,%.,$.ARM.LIBRARY.,@.P.
2.1
*GOS
2.1
(I have just reproduced this from Peter’s hand-written letter and I
haven’t got C to try it out on, so I hope I’ve transcribed it correctly.
If it hadn’t been for the postal strike I’d have sent it to David Wild
first, so please bear with us if you find it is not completely correct.
Ed.)
2.1
•   ANSI C Compiler − Mike Sherratt writesÉ “On a very fundamental noteÉ
The manual is very terse. To compile the demo programs on the distribu
tion diskette − Balls64, Sieve and Hello, heed the ReadMe file where it
says ‘RMLoad the FP emulator etc i.e. RMload fpe240’. Get to the
directory level ‘Bench’ then do:
2.1
*CC −Arthur Sieve
2.1
The spaces are significant, ‘−’ is minus. The Sieve source file is in
sub-directory ‘c’. The executable file is now in sub-directory ‘p’.
2.1
The program can be run from the star prompt by typing *Sieve. The ‘c.’
prefix is embedded (for lack of a better word) in the compiler, so don’t
try to create the prefix!! You are now on the way.
2.1
This information came thanks to Watford Elec-tronics who used Acorn’s
dealer hot-line for me.“
2.1
(Because of the postal strike, this has been inserted by the Ed rather
than sending it to David for checking, so hopefully it will be OK!?)
2.1
•   Formatting from programs − If you want to write a disc copier
program, as we at Archive obviously did for copying the program discs,
you have to find some way to get round the fact that *FORMAT asks for a
keyboard confirmation. We did it by creating a file on the second drive
that consisted of just <Y> and then called that is input from the
program. Ingenious! But then we found the easy (undocumented) way of
doing it:
2.1
*FORMAT 0 D Y
2.1
Simple if you know how!
2.1
•   Replacement 3.5“ disc drives − One reader had to replace his 3.5”
drive and Acorn could only offer him the official second disc drive up-
grade (which includes a new front facia which he didn’t need) so he
bought an un-cased 3.5“ drive from Matmos Ltd (1 Church Street,
Cuckfield, W.Sussex, RH17 5JZ, 0444−414484) for £59.50 + £3 carriage +
VAT. This drive was almost a direct fit and only required some judicious
filing of the button slot to complete the replacement.
2.1
•   Debugging ARM code listings − It is sometimes useful for non-ARM
code specialists who want to type in ARM code program listings to have
‘wayside pointers’ as the code runs to help them debug the program and
find out where they have made typing errors. Adding the occasional SWI
&1nn (where nn is 30 to 39 for number 0 to 9) will print out these
numbers as an indication of how far the program has got. (Better still,
buy the monthly program disc!!! Ed.)
2.1



•   Mannisman Tally printers with serial interface − Pin connections
are: pins 1, 4 and 6 linked together on the Archimedes, pin 3 to pin 3
on the printer, pin 5 to pin 7 on the printer and pin 8 to both pins 11
and 19 on the printer.
2.2
•   SWI “XOS...” − If you are using SWI “XOS...” commands so that you
can handle your own errors, it will fail if you try to return
immediately after this command to the calling routine. A dummy instruc
tion needs to be inserted before the LDMFD instruction. Presumably a
‘feature’ of OS 1.2.
2.2
•   Problems with *Memory and *MemoryI − If you try to use these two
commands in the debugger with the aim of dumping to printer, you will
find that codes above &7F are not weeded out − they are all sent to the
printer regardless which can cause all sorts of problems. The following
program patch will solve the problem.
2.2
 10 REM> DEBUGPCH
2.2
 20 REM (C) JW^2 4th OCTOBER 1988
2.2
 30 DIM A% &270C
2.2
 40 OSCLI“SAVE Debugged_D 38486A0
2.2
 +270C“
2.2
 50 OSCLI“LOAD Debugged_D ”+STR$~A%
2.2
 60 FOR F=0 TO 3 STEP 3
2.2
 70   P%=A%+&2230
2.2
 80   [
2.2
 90   OPT F
2.2
100   STMDB R13!,{r0-r9 ,R14}
2.2
110   .LOOP
2.2
120   LDRB  R0,[R9],#1
2.2
130   CMP   R0,#&7F
2.2
140   MOVHS R0,#&2E
2.2
150   CMP   R0,#&1F
2.2
160   MOVLS R0,#&2E
2.2
170   SWI   “XOS_WriteC”
2.2
180   BVS   (LOOP+&35D)
2.2
190   SUBS  R2,R2,#1
2.2
200   BNE   LOOP
2.2
210   ]
2.2
220 NEXT
2.2
230 OSCLI“SAVE Debugged_D ”+STR$~A%+
2.2
“ +270C”
2.2
240 OSCLI“SETTYPE Debugged_D &FFA”
2.2
•   EDIT’s disappearing cursor − If you use ‘options’ (<shift-f3>), you
can change to a non-flashing cursor which is visible all the time, and
you don’t have to change it each time you switch on the machine because
EDIT stores its options in cmos ram. (Anyone know if there’s a way to
re-program it to change the colour of the cursor?)
2.2
•   Putting sound through the monitor − It is perfectly possible to put
the sound output from the 3.5mm stereo jack socket on the Archimedes
through the amplifiers and speaker(s) of both the standard Acorn colour
monitor and also the Phillips CM8833. All you need is a piece of twin
screened cable (though actually I used ordinary thin three core mains
flex which is OK for such a short length) and a 3.5 mm stereo jack plug
(RS Components 274−284, £1.19 for two). The SCART plug connections are
that pin 2 is right audio, 4 is earth and 6 is left audio. The pins
should be numbered, but if not, 2, 4 and 6 are the first three pins
along the long edge of the plug starting from the rectangular end.
2.2
Three possible problems: firstly, you may find that the SCART plug has
no pins at positions 2, 4 and 6 in which case you will have to buy a new
plug (Tandy N¼ 15−7030, £1.49 each) and re-wire the other connections.
Secondly, you may find that your cable doesn’t fit through the space
available for the cable entry in the SCART plug − in which case, some
judicious hacking of the plastic is needed. Finally, if the SCART plug
has got pins at 2, 4 and 6, you may not be able to get at them to solder
onto them. The solution here is to push each of the three pins back out
through the body of the plug, solder them then push them back in again.
It sounds easy but it’s not − there are little barbs the stop the pins
being pushed out so you have to try to manipulate these and push the
pins out at the same time − OK if you have three hands!
2.2
The result − If the kids want to play Orion at full volume, they can,
but I can turn it back down to a sensible volume when I use the system.
2.2
•   Stereo Speakers − I recently followed the suggestion in Archive 1.2,
page 7 and purchased the amplified speakers (Model 40-1259E) from a
local Tandy store. Initially I also purchased a couple of mains adaptors
to power each unit but I found that this caused a considerable mains hum
through both speakers. Upon returning to the Tandy store, I was advised
that hum was caused by the mains adaptors not being earthed and, rather
than spending more money on earthed mains adaptors, I exchanged the
original adaptors for re-chargeable batteries which seem to work fine −
there are also fewer wires trailing around! Whilst the stereo effect is
very good, there is a problem in that there is no volume control fitted
to these speakers; the suggestion from one of the staff at Tandy was to
wire in two of their “L-Pad Speaker Level Controls”. Have any other
Archive readers tried this or come up with a different solution?
2.2
I have found that by amending the *Configure SoundDefault middle
parameter to a lower value than 7, the volume can be reduced, this does
provide some measure of control of sound volume; these parameters can
take a value of 0 to 7 with each unit corresponding to one eighth of the
overall maximum volume (see PRM, page 537).
2.2
•   Monitor problems (with solutions!) − Fujitsu and MAG 14C − The
problem began on the MAG with a distortion of the top few lines of the
display when in a multisync mode. The nature of this problem suggested
that the monitor took several scan lines to lock onto the composite sync
signal fed to it from the Archimedes. It was decided to feed it with
separate vertical (frame) and horizontal (line) sync signals, which
necessitated having to alter the preset links 10 and 11 within the
Archimedes. At present this involves cutting a track (Lk10) and
inserting a link (Lk11), since these links are not brought out on the
normal Molex type links. Having done this modification you need a
*Configure Sync 0 to set ‘Vertical sync only’ instead of ‘Composite
sync’ to the monitor, otherwise the display rolls (indicating lost frame
sync). This then cured the screen distortion problem but because of the
way Acorn have put Composite/Vertical sync on the green signal, it kills
the green output. With much trepidation this problem was overcome by
disabling Acorn’s implementation of this signal by cutting pin 2 of IC
4. The result is a perfect picture.
2.2
The Fujitsu monitor problem was much simpler and cured far easier after
the troubles with the MAG.
2.2
Although the picture quality was very good, there was an excess of
green, even though R39 had been removed (see Archive 1.3 p8) It was
originally thought that some internal adjustment of the green gun was
needed but, with the experience of MAG monitor (and having tried it on
the modified sync signal from the green output) the link changes proved
unnecessary as the monitor worked perfectly happily with composite sync.
Again the result was a perfect picture.
2.2
Anyone wanting further information on this modi-fication can either
contact Reg Dalton on 0742 487992 (less technical/Evenings only) or
Steve Bass (who did all the work) on 0742 708028 (Daytime) or 0742
886622 (Evenings).
2.2
•   Screen saving from the SCML Teletext adaptor − R L Jefferies has
worked out how to dump screens from the SCML Teletext Adaptor. (Pressing
the ‘S’ command option gives an error but SCML have not replied to his
questions about that yet.) He has utilised Robin Newman’s mode 7 to mode
9 utility as supplied on program disc 1.10. He copied this into the
library directory on the Teletext disc and then created a mode 7 to mode
9 screensave module using Neil Strong’s “Printkey screen dump” (issues
1.10 p 45 and 1.11 p 7). Two lines need altering in the source program:
2.2
line 840 should be changed to cmp r0,#83 and line 920 should be equs
“M7M9 screensave scr<file>”
2.2
Note that you should *SETEVAL file XX before you load the “S” key module
and before executing the Teletext module. One small niggle is that Robin
Newman’s module returns with the cursor ON. Is there an easy way to get
rid of this?
2.2
•   Bug in C − Karl Strickland writesÉ There appears to be a bug in the
fgets() function in version 1.54A (latest public release) of ANSI C.
Instead, use the function given below and declare it using
2.2
char *xfgets (char*,int,FILE*);
2.2
We have to use xfgets (as opposed to fgets) because the linker gets
confused if it finds the same function declared twice.
2.2
char* xfgets (char* a,int b,FILE *s)
2.2
{2 .2
   int c,d;
2.2
   *a=NULL;     /* Must include STDIO.H */
2.2
   for (c=0;c<b;c++) {2 .2
      d=fgetc(s);
2.2
      if (d==EOF)
2.2
         return NULL;
2.2
      else
2.2
         if (d==13)
2.2
            return a;
2.2
         else
2.2
            strncat(a,(char*)&d,1);
2.2
   }
2.2
   return a;
2.2
}
2.2
•   A hint for Twin from Bj¿rn Fl¿tten − When using Twin to edit large
BASIC programs you can easily run out of memory. (Twin complains by
hanging up the computer when called.) This is because of the inconveni
ent way Twin is called from BASIC. Because Twin works on ASCII files,
BASIC has to expand the current program from tokenised form to ASCII.
This copy is placed on top of the BASIC program and is maybe 20-30%
larger than the original. Then Twin is called and makes a new copy of
the program which it places on top of itself. This means that an
unnecessary lot of memory is used.
2.2
One solution is to let Twin run from the address of PAGE. This works
because Twin is not loaded into memory before the BASIC program is
expanded. However, you will have to ensure that the BASIC program is
bigger than Twin, if not, Twin will be loaded over the expanded version
of your program.
2.2
(This unfortunately makes the problem of Twin not releasing some vectors
worse. This means that these vectors will point into the middle of your
BASIC program after exiting from Twin. Use reset after exiting to BASIC
and then OLD, to cure this.)
2.2
•   Problems with (Master) EDIT − If you get rubbish when you load up
the EDIT ROM image from the BBC Master into the 6502 emulator, try
loading it with:
2.2
*65arthur
2.2
*GO F800
2.2
*EDIT
2.2
•   From Arthur to BASIC − If you are in the Arthur supervisor and you
type *Progname where Progname is a BASIC program, it will run the
program and drop you back out into the supervisor (equivalent to *BASIC
−chain Progname). However, if you *LOAD Progname, it switches to BASIC,
loads the program and gives you back control with a ‘>’ prompt −
equivalent to *BASIC −load Progname but shorter to type and certainly
easier than *BASIC followed by LOAD “Progname”. If you do a *SHOW, you
will see the filetype definitions which make sense of it all.
2.2
•   Sprites and Sprite Commands − Paul White-horn writesÉ The Sprite
Editor on the Welcome disc does not work properly being unable to create
masked sprites (those with a transparent back-ground) or to save shades
of colour that have been set up in the various edit modes. For many
board style games this is not an insuperable difficulty and for chess
and checkers, mode 1 creates reasonably detailed sprites in red, yellow,
black and white.
2.2
The simplest way of getting your own sprites from the Welcome disc onto
your game or program disc is to *SNEW to wipe out anything that can be
called a sprite in RAM, *SLOAD (by name or number) your sprite or sprite
file into the machine from the Welcome disc (you don’t need to be in the
Sprite Editor to do this), take out the Welcome disc, insert your game
disc, *MOUNT it and *SSAVE (name) the contents of the machine’s RAM.
Whatever sprites you have in RAM at this point will all go into a file
created and named by the *SSAVE command and will be placed on your own
disc.
2.2
To check that they are all safely installed on your game disc *SNEW
again (to clear RAM) and *SLOAD (name) the sprite(s) you have just
*SSAVE’d on your disc. Now typing *SLIST will bring up a list of ALL the
sprites in RAM which should correspond to the ones you have just
transferred from the Welcome disc. At this point you can rename the
sprites you see listed before you but the syntax for the *SRENAME
command is not as it appears in the User Guide. Type *SRENAME (oldname)
(newname) without commas or other punctuation marks separating the two
names and without any quote marks round the names. This renames sprites
in RAM and if you want these new names preserved on your disc then they
must be *SSAVE’d collectively back to disc and you can  save them with a
different file name if you wish.
2.2
*SDELETE (name) deletes a sprite in RAM whereas *DELETE (name) deletes a
sprite (or file of sprites) on disc. Having weeded out sprites you don’t
require with *SDELETE it is best to *SSAVE those you do need (possibly
with a new file name) and *SNEW to clear RAM before proceeding further.
This way you will not have rogue sprites lurking in RAM or in files on
your disc where they may be called by default if they have the same name
or number as the new ones.
2.2
To create files of sprites from different sources you can use *SMERGE
which merges a sprite (or file of same) from disc with those already
installed in RAM. Those coming from disc have priority so if you have
two sprites with the same name or number, the one on the disc will
overpower its namesake in RAM. This command seems a little haphazard on
my 310 especially with sprites which are numbered and occasionally
several tries are needed to make it happen as required.
2.2
If you intend to choose sprites during the course of your game as a
consequence of numerical operations then it is necessary to use numbers
as names so that they can be called with the VDU command. The VDU call
takes variables with a range between 0 and 255 so make sure your sprites
don’t exceed this range.
2.2
*SINFO prints the size of the sprite workspace and *SCOPY (oldname)
(newname) copies the named sprite. *SGET picks up a portion of the
screen as a sprite but for details of this see the User Guide.
2.2
•   EMR SoundSynth + CC ROM podule − There has been a problem of a clash
between EMR’s SoundSynth and Computer Concepts’ ROM/RAM podule in that
after using SoundSynth, the contents of the RAM filing system disap
peared! (Fortunately, I had a recent backup!) EMR have been looking into
the problem and have sorted it out. If you have had the same problem,
return your disc to EMR and they will replace it “in most cases, free of
charge”.
2.2
•   Loading palette files − Here is a simple BASIC program to load a
“!Palette” file and set the palette up. The file format really is
simple: 3 bytes are stored for each colour − red, green and blue
respectively. This group of 3 bytes is repeated for all 20 colours saved
− logical colours 0-15, the border, and mouse colours 1-3.
2.2
 10 REM >TestPal
2.2
 20 REM ===> To demonstrate reading a
2.2
 30 REM ===> Desktop !Palette file
2.2
 40 REM By John Smith, September 1988
2.2
 50 REM
2.2
 60 MODE 12 :REM Any 16-colour mode
2.2
 will do.
2.2
 70 :
2.2
 80 REM Put all 16 colours on screen,
2.2
 and a 2-colour mouse pointer.
2.2
 90 FOR x%=0 TO 15
2.2
100   GCOL x%
2.2
110   RECTANGLE FILL x%*80,0,80,1023
2.2
120 NEXT
2.2
130 MOUSE ON
2.2
140 *POINTER 1
2.2
150 PRINTTAB(0,0);“Now press a key to
2.2
 load the ‘!Palette’ file“
2.2
160 dummy=GET
2.2
170 :
2.2
180 REM Now load the palette file.
2.2
190 handle%=OPENIN “!Palette”
2.2
200 REM Do “standard” colours first.
2.2
210 FOR loop%=0 TO 15
2.2
220   COLOUR loop%, BGET#handle%,
2.2
 BGET#handle%, BGET#handle%
2.2
230 NEXT
2.2
240 :
2.2
250 REM Screen Border
2.2
260 VDU 19,0,24, BGET#handle%,
2.2
 BGET#handle%, BGET#handle%
2.2
270 :
2.2
280 REM Mouse colour 1
2.2
290 MOUSE COLOUR 1, BGET#handle%,
2.2
 BGET#handle%, BGET#handle%
2.2
300 MOUSE COLOUR 2, BGET#handle%,
2.2
 BGET#handle%, BGET#handle%
2.2
310 MOUSE COLOUR 3, BGET#handle%,
2.2
 BGET#handle%, BGET#handle%
2.2
320 CLOSE#handle%
2.2
•   InterWord to ArcWriter − if you have InterWord files from BBC days
and want to transfer them to ArcWriter, look in the First Word Plus
hints below where the transfer to FWP is achieved by transferring first
to ArcWriter.
2.2
•   Double-precision to BBC BASIC − following on from the floating point
BCD to BBC BASIC conversion program published in Archive 1.11, page 32,
Carl Cepurneek has done a routine which converts from the more efficient
Double-precision reals to BBC BASIC.
2.2
10 REM>Carl - FPU number conversion
2.2
20 REM BBC BASIC V to FPU memory
2.2
30 REM format conversions
2.2
 40 REM Packed decimal print routine
2.2
 50
2.2
 60 REM Carl P.Cepurneek 26 Clyde St
2.2
 70 REM Parkside, S.A.5063,Australia
2.2
100
2.2
110 DEFPROCcvt_s(bbc,adr) :REM from
2.2
 BBC real at |bbc to FP at adr
2.2
120 LOCAL exp%,sign%,mant%
2.2
130 !adr=0:adr!4=0   :REM clear
2.2
140 IF |bbc=0:!adr=0:ENDPROC
2.2
150 exp%=(bbc?4)-&80 :REM get
2.2
 adjusted exponent
2.2
160 IFexp%>0 exp%=exp%+126 ELSE exp%=
2.2
126-ABS(exp%)
2.2
170 !adr=!adr OR exp%<<23:REM set
2.2
 exponent bits
2.2
180 sign%=!bbc AND &80000000
2.2
:REM isolate sign bit
2.2
190 !adr=!adr OR sign%:REM set sign bit
2.2
200 mant%=!bbc AND &7FFFFFFF :REM
2.2
 clear neg bit if set
2.2
210 !adr=!adr OR mant%>>>8:REM set
2.2
 mantissa
2.2
220 ENDPROC
2.2
230
2.2
240 DEFPROCcvt_d(bbc,adr):REM from
2.2
 real at address bbc
2.2
250 LOCAL exp%,sign%,mant%
2.2
260 !adr=0:adr!4=0
2.2
270 IF |bbc=0:!adr=0:ENDPROC
2.2
280 exp%=(bbc?4)-&80 :REM get
2.2
 adjusted bbc exponent
2.2
290 IF exp%>0 exp%=exp%+1022 ELSE exp%
2.2
=1022-ABS(exp%)
2.2
300 !adr=!adr OR exp%<<20
2.2
310 sign%=!bbc AND &80000000
2.2
:REM isolate sign bit
2.2
320 !adr=!adr OR sign%:REM set sign bit
2.2
330 mant%=!bbc AND &7FFFFFFF
2.2
:REM clear sign bit set
2.2
340 !adr=!adr OR mant%>>>11 :REM set
2.2
 mantissa msbits
2.2
350 mant%=mant%<<21 :REM shift over
2.2
 low bits
2.2
360 adr!4=adr!4 OR mant%  :REM set
2.2
 mantissa lsbits
2.2
370 ENDPROC
2.2
380
2.2
390 DEFPROCcvt_e(bbc,adr):REM from
2.2
 BBC real at |bbc
2.2
400 LOCAL exp%,sign%,mant%
2.2
410 !adr=0:adr!4=0:adr!8=0 :REM clear
2.2
 destination
2.2
420 IF |bbc=0:!adr=0:ENDPROC
2.2
430 exp%=(bbc?4)-&80 :REM get
2.2
 adjusted exponent
2.2
440 IFexp%>0 exp%=exp%+16382 ELSE
2.2
 exp%=16382-ABS(exp%)
2.2
450 !adr=!adr OR exp%  :REM set
2.2
 exponent bits
2.2
460 sign%=!bbc AND &80000000
2.2
:REM isolate sign bit
2.2
470 !adr=!adr OR sign%:REM set sign bit
2.2
480 mant%=!bbc OR &80000000  :REM set
2.2
 top bit (J)
2.2
490 adr!4=adr!4 OR mant% :REM set
2.2
 mantissa
2.2
500 ENDPROC
2.2
510
2.2
520 DEFFNprint_packed(base%)
2.2
530 LOCAL ms%,ms$,es%,es$,m%,s%
2.2
540 @%=&00001
2.2
550 m%=(!base% AND &80000000)>>>31
2.2
560 IF m%=0 ms$=“+” ELSE ms$=“-”
2.2
570 PRINT ms$;
2.2
580 m%=(!base% AND &F<<8) >>>8
2.2
590 PRINT m%;“.”;
2.2
600 FOR s%=4 TO 0 STEP -4
2.2
610   m%=(!base% AND &F<<s%) >>>s%
2.2
620   PRINT m%;
2.2
630 NEXT
2.2
640 FOR w%=4 TO 8 STEP 4
2.2
650   FOR s%=28 TO 0 STEP -4
2.2
660     m%=(w%!base% AND &F<<s%) >>>s%
2.2
670     PRINT m%;
2.2
680   NEXT
2.2
690 NEXT
2.2
700 e%=(!base% AND &40000000)>>>30
2.2
710 IF e%=0 es$=“+” ELSE es$=“-”
2.2
720 PRINT“ E”;es$;
2.2
730 FOR s%=24 TO 12 STEP -4
2.2
740   m%=(!base% AND &F<<s%) >>>s%
2.2
750   PRINT m%;
2.2
760 NEXT
2.2
770 =“”
2.2
•   Using 40-track drives − If you have a 40 track 5.25“ drive as used
on PC clones, you can use it under the PC emulator but, in native
Archimedes ADFS modes you will have problems. To get round it, format
the disc as normal then, when it goes beyond “Formatting 40” and starts
clicking as it reaches the end of the travel on the head movement, press
<ctrl-break>. The disc is now formatted, but the free space map and
catalogue have not been installed. This can be done with:
2.2
DIM buffer% 3072
2.2
SYS“ADFS_DiscOp”,,1,0,buffer%,3072
2.2
SYS“ADFS_DiscOp”,,2,1,buffer%,3072
2.2
You try this entirely at your own risk! Ed.
2.2
•   Problems with ON ERROR LOCAL − John Smith says he thinks he’s
discovered a problem when using LOCAL ERROR with ON ERROR LOCAL. It
occurs because ON ERROR LOCAL stores the exact position in the program
structure. The User Guide mentions this with respect to REPEAT...UNTIL
and WHILE...ENDWHILE loops, but it also seems to apply to IF..THEN...
ELSE...ENDIF constructs. Once the error handler has done its job,
processing must continue at the same part in the structure in which the
original error happened. For example,
2.2
1000 DEF PROCtest(arg)
2.2
1010 LOCAL ERROR
2.2
1020 ON ERROR LOCAL PRINT “Can’t
2.2
 divide by zero − try again“
2.2
1030 IF arg < 100 THEN
2.2
1040 INPUT value
2.2
1050 PRINT arg/value
2.2
1060 ENDIF
2.2
1070 ENDPROC
2.2
If a value of zero is input, line 1050 will error. As written, the above
code will then print a warning message and effectively execute a “GOTO
1030”. At this point, the error handler stack is corrupted. The program
may appear to work without problem, but if any future error should
occur, the program may produce a run-time error something like “Attempt
to exit from badly nested error handler” or something similar. Occasion
ally, I have even managed to produce the dreaded “Address Exception
error”!
2.2
The solution to this problem is quite simple − place the code that could
error together with the relevant error handler in a separate PROCedure.
I have not (yet) had any problems doing this:
2.2
1000 DEF PROCtest(arg)
2.2
1030 IF arg < 100 THEN
2.2
1050 PROCprint(arg)
2.2
1060 ENDIF
2.2
1070 ENDPROC
2.2
2000 DEF PROCprint(arg)
2.2
2010 LOCAL ERROR
2.2
2020 ON ERROR LOCAL PRINT “Can’t
2.2
 divide by zero − try again“
2.2
2040 INPUT value
2.2
2050 PRINT arg/value
2.2
2060 ENDPROC
2.2
First Word Plus Hints & Tips
2.2
Here are a few of the many contributions we’ve been sent about First
Word Plus. We’ve got a file of about ten other contributions, so we do
need someone who knows FWP, has a reasonable skill at writing and has a
bit of spare time to field the enquiries, assimilate the hints and tips
and regurgitate something to us each month.
2.2
•   First Word Plus startup − If you are getting fed up of starting
First Word Plus and finding yourself in lower case, you could *Configure
Nocaps, but that is a nuisance if you do programming and want to start
up in Shiftcaps. The solution is to extend the boot file, adding
*FX202,48.
2.2
•   LQ850 with sheetfeeder − If you’re having problems with this
combination, Acorn say that you should edit the printer driver so that
entry 4 (vertical tab) is commented out by pre-fixing it with a “*”.
Also, note that if your printer is doing auto-linefeeds, you should also
edit option 1 to remove the line feed value (A) from the line to leave
just the carriage return (D).
2.2
•   Star LC10 − (ref. the Help enquiry we had last month) David Francis
says he uses the Epson FX driver successfully with this printer. He has
the dip switches set as follows: 1-1 to 1-8 and 2-1 and 2-4 are all ON
and 2-2 and 2-3 are OFF. The Archimedes is configured to IGNORE 0. With
this setting, the printer prints out the test, including the graphics
part. As set, it also prints under <ctrl-B> as well as with Artisan.
He’s also tried to change the hex file to get it to work with quadruple
size, but hasn’t succeeded yet.
2.2
•   Printer drivers − In designing my own printer drivers for both the
Citizen 120D and Star LC-10 printers, I have not come across the problem
noted, but mine were modified from the Epson LX printer driver. There
was an item on the Letters section (page 128) of October’s issue of the
Micro User referring to an apparently similar problem, which the writer
cured by “commenting out” line &20 of the printer driver. I must admit
that I cannot understand why this should have any effect, but in case it
benefits other Archive readers, I detail below those elements of the
printer drivers I have set up relating to form or line feeds (refer also
to page 227 of the First Word Plus manual):
2.2
1D, A − Linefeed (N.B. carriage return & linefeed)
2.2
1E, C − Formfeed (N.B. &C = 12 as mentioned in the article)
2.2
1F, 12 − Horizontal initialisation (N.B. appears to cancel condensed)
2.2
20, 1B, 52, 0 − Vertical initialisation (N.B. appears to select USA
characters)
2.2
A further possible cause of problems may be to do with the printer’s dip
switches, on page 218 of the First Word Plus manual it does state that:
2.2
Skip over perforation must be DISABLED and Auto linefeed must be
DISABLED
2.2
•   Printer Drivers with extended characters − Ted Peat has sent in
various bits for FWP which we’ve put on the program disc.
2.2
The printer drivers were written to permit both the Panasonic KXP-1081
and the Diablo-ecs printer to access the same set of extended characters
(those with codes from 160 to 255). The character set of the Archimedes
is also modified to suit.
2.2
The Diablo-ecs printers use a daisy wheel with a double row of charac
ters, giving 192 in all. The usual ASCII set is supplemented by
characters with codes >128. The description given here applies to the
‘scientific’ wheel containing Greek and mathematical symbols. The KXP-
1081 can be switched to emulate the IBM Graphics set, which also
includes some Greek letters and some (but not all) useful mathematical
symbols, again with codes >128. There are also some table-drawing
symbols which are replicated several times over, and accented characters
not needed for this application. Since up to 40 user-defined characters
are possible, these redundant characters can be replaced. This then
offers the opportunity to produce matched sets of symbols for the two
printers and the Archimedes.
2.2
I decided to include the complete Greek alphabet, which involves
duplication of some upper case letters, and (for the KXP-1081 only), one
set of table-drawing symbols. Two other symbols were added: an overline
and backspace. Backspace is entered into the text as a large leftward
pointing arrow-head (stored as character 161), but interpreted by the
printer as a true backspace. One consequence of this, of course, is that
text loses its WYSIWYG property. The advantage, however, is that both
superscripts and subscripts can be attached to the same symbol, and the
overline can be used to write a bar above a character. Since these
peculiar needs are only likely within equations, the loss of on-screen
text formatting is a minor irritation. Another complication was that the
Diablo lost its left margin alignment after a backspace, when printing
in the reverse direction. This option had to be switched off, slowing
the printer down.
2.2
There were two options for changing the Archi-medes character set. One
was to change the Archi-medes font, to match that desired as far as
possible, and then to redefine characters for the few changes needed.
The most useful character set is that described as BFONT on p. 458 of
the User Guide. To access this you need to *Configure Country Master.
The second way: which is the one I adopted was to redefine all charac
ters from 160 to 255. To do this I added a section to the 1st Word +
loading program (Library.1stWord+ on the program disc).
2.2
Once this was done, mapping the new character set to the Diablo’s set
was easy: merely rewrite one of the provided Diablo Printer Drivers (in
the hex dir-ectory) by changing the character translation table which
forms the last part of the printer driver text.
2.2
The KXP-1081 offered more complications. Firstly, it is necessary to
download the redefined character set before loading 1stWordPlus. Another
addition to the loader program, together with a user prompt, took care
of this. Secondly, switching this printer to its IBM Graphics mode
caused comp-lications with graphics printing: all the linefeeds became
doubled! The printer driver codes were therefore expanded so that for
each character the printer was switched into IBM Graphics set, the
character printed, and then switched back to the Epson mode. This sends
seven characters to the printer for every one actually printed. Since
these are only occasional characters, the loss of efficiency is not
important
2.2
•   Printer Driver Generator − John Smith has sent in, not another
printer driver, but a printer driver generator program. He’s given it to
be used as public domain software, so we have put it on Shareware disc
number 2. For best results, copy the PDG program onto a copy of the 1st
Word Plus Utilities disk before running it.
2.2
•   Tabs and underlining − This one is for dum-dums like me, writes
David Crofts, who learn word-processing at the finger tip.
2.2
Underlining − I spent many happy, but frustrating, hours fiddling with
forms to try to sort out under-lining in intervening spaces, till I
discovered that the hated TAB holds the key! (I expect this is obvious
for lots of people, but hold on to the yawns.) I was used to VIEW where
the TAB key worked “prop-erly”. (It inserted a TAB character, whatever
that was, but it meant that a change in ruler meant a change in layout.)
In FWP the Indent key does this job, except that it puts in a special
stretch space which is fixed in spite of further ruler alterations.
Because of this I had ignored TAB as useless.
2.2
TAB inserts a set of normal spaces which have to be deleted individually
− a nuisance if you are experi-menting with documents. But − you can
underline TAB spaces, whereas you can’t underline Indents! And therein
lies the hint!
2.2
By all means use indents to facilitate experi-mentation but, in the end,
TABs are preferable, where you wish subsequently to underline. If you
have used Indents, then all is not lost, though fiddle is the name of
the game. Turn off Insert, and turn on Underline (f2), then fill in the
spaces with Fixed Space (f10). Then use the mouse or keyboard to
underline the words.
2.2
e.g. Say you have a form, the head of which is:
2.2
Name   Address   Telephone
2.2
the above is the result using Indent, but using TAB you will achieve:
2.2
NameÊÊÊÊÊÊAddressÊÊÊÊÊÊTelephoneÊÊÊÊÊ
2.2
Placing a TAB at the appropriate point near the end of the ruler allows
the line to be printed to the same length on each line.
2.2
•   InterWord to FWP via ArcWriter − This is how Ian Barnes achieves the
transfer:
2.2
   1.   Transfer file from IW to AW_DOC directory
2.2
   2.   Run ArcWriter
2.2
   3.   Press <select> for filing menu
2.2
   4.   Highlight file x
2.2
   5.   Press <menu>, select import, flowing, return
2.2
   6.   Press <select> for filing menu
2.2
   7.   Press <menu> and select export plus new name
2.2
   8.   Transfer file to 1WP.doc directory
2.2
   9.   Run 1WP and open file
2.2
   10.   Select WPmode from edit menu
2.2
   11.   Tidy up text by deleting control characters, changing any odd
letters and inserting returns at line ends to leave a presentable result
2.2
•   Files from ArcWriter − The article by Brian Carroll in July’s issue
of Archive under the heading of “First Word Plus Notes” (pages 21-23)
was very useful together with the program ConvertWP (also on that
month’s Magazine disc). Although designed to convert Wordwise Plus
files, the program works quite well with ArcWriter as well. Briefly the
procedure to convert ArcWriter files into First Word Plus is as follows:
2.2
1. From the ‘Filing’ menu in ArcWriter select the ‘Export’ option to
save the file (e.g. under the name “testARC”) and then exit from
ArcWriter.
2.2
2. Load the ConvertWP program and enter the appropriate Source
(“testARC”) and Destination (e.g. “test1WP”) filenames.
2.2
3. Load First Word Plus and then the converted file (“test1WP”).
2.2
4. Select ‘WPmode on’ from the Edit menu.
2.2
5. Reformat the whole text by using the Style menu to ‘Reformat’ the
‘Whole document’.
2.2
Odd words may sometimes get missed out of the converted text, possibly
due to the fact that this data was preceded by “tabs” in ArcWriter.
2.2

•   Fontsize problems? (Ed. got caught out on this one) With Clares’
Sound and Graphics demo, when you start it up, it says it needs 44k of
fontsize, so I tried to re-configure with fontsize 6 on the basis that 6
times 8k = 48k. Now, as I’m sure you will all realise, that didn’t work
because fontsize is specified in 4k chunks, not 8k or 32k.
•   Logotron printer dump − Logotron told one of our readers that there
is no printer dump for their Archimedes Logo. However, our Printkey Dump
program (issue 1.10, page 45) works fine.
•   RX80 dumps for Artisan − Clares originally said that Artisan
wouldn’t dump pictures on an Epson RX-80 and that the FX-80 was the
‘base-line’ printer as far as they were concerned. How-ever, they have
since produced a ‘help-sheet’ of the pokes needed to convert the dump to
an RX-80.
2.3
The gist of the change is as follows;
2.3
If your printer will support CRT mode graphics, (ESC “*”,4) then use it.
If not then use ESC “K” for normal single density bit image mode, but
CRT mode gives a much better image and less distortion.
2.3
*LOAD ART6 10000
2.3
!&10EC5=&042A1B for CRT or =&4B1B00 for single density
2.3
*SAVE ART6 10000 +12FF
2.3
*SETTYPE ART6 &FF8
2.3
The resultant print produces oval circles(!) but can be triggered from
Artisan.
2.3
•   Monochrome displays on the 440 − Brian Cowan writes, I was lucky
enough to have one of the first release of 440’s which I used with one
of the Acorn colour monitors. I know that the resolution of these
monitors is nothing fantastic, but it seemed sensible to purchase them
together; at that stage I was not sure what connection standards were
used.
2.3
About six months later I had reason to use an ordinary mono monitor on
the 440, and imagine my horror when I found it did not work. Ordinarily
I would have sent the computer back to the supplier to have it fixed
under warranty. However, the machine was in constant use so we decided
to live with it, using only a colour monitor.
2.3
I now discover that there is nothing wrong with the 440!! When these
machines leave the factory they are not configured to drive standard
resolution mono monitors, they are set up for high res monitors. Inside
the case, on the PCB are some jumpers that must be set according to what
sort of monochrome monitor you want to drive.
2.3
At the north-west corner of the board is a plug called PL2. I think this
does nothing except carry some pin connector links. A little further
southwards on the board are some pins labeled LK13 and LK14. If you want
to drive a standard resolution monochrome monitor, you must take two
links from PL2 and place one on LK13 and the other on LK14.
2.3
Connection to a monochrome monitor on 440 machines is through two BNC
sockets on the back panel. One socket is marked SYNC and the other is
labeled MONO. For high resolution, both of these are used but for
standard resolution only the SYNC socket is used. Since this is a BNC
socket rather than the phono socket on the 300 series, you will have to
make up or purchase a special lead or a converter.
2.3
For those of you contemplating the purchase of a multisync monitor for
those extra modes etc. you will be happy to hear that the Archimedes
connect-ions are the same as those on PC machines. This means that if
the monitor comes with a lead, it will probably be suitable for the
Archimedes. This is certainly true for the Taxans that I use. Inciden
tally, concerning the Taxans, some have rather dull pictures. Has anyone
tried brightening them up?
2.3
•   Desktop calculator − “The calculator on my desktop doesn’t respond
to the keyboard whereas your review of Arthur 1.2 said it did.” So I
tried to work the calculator with the keyboard keys myself and it didn’t
seem to work. Then I realised that it won’t respond until you enable it
for keyboard input by clicking on it with the mouse. The top bar then
goes red and it’s ready to take input from either the main keyboard or
the numeric pad, delete being the equivalent of clear. Easy when you
know how.
2.3
•   Conditional booting. If you have a boot file in the RFS on battery-
backed RAM, you may want to do some things when you first switch on but
not every time you do <ctrl-break>. You can achieve this by making it
conditional on the monotonic timer, i.e. the timer which is initialised
at switch-on and not reset in any other way. To read this timer, use SYS
&42 TO T% where T% then gives the time in centiseconds so you can say
that IF T%<200 (say) then do the switch-on bits and pieces ELSE do the
<ctrl-break> things.
2.3
•   CharDes fonts − If you have fonts produced by CharDes, you can
convert them for use on the Archimedes as follows. Enter 65Arthur and
type
2.3
*spool thin2
2.3
*thin
2.3
*spool
2.3
where thin is the name of the original font file and thin2 is going to
be the new file. Then use a text editor (such as the Master128’s “Edit”)
and edit out the first and last line (i.e. the *thin and *spool). Then
resave as thin2 and settype it as &FF7 (BBC font). When you need it,
just type *thin2. If you do a *SHOW, you will see that the load and run
actions of a file type &FF7 is to *PRINT it − which is just what you
want.
2.3
•   Command files − In order to disable vdu output during a command file
e.g. the !boot file, try:
2.3
*echo ||U
2.3
...
2.3
...
2.3
*echo ||F
2.3
Two string escape characters are needed (as I’ve explained in a previous
tip) so that the final command executed is *echo |U
2.3
i.e. <ctrl-U>. This issues a VDU 21 which disables vdu output until a
VDU 6 is issued <ctrl-F>.
2.3
This is similar to the ECHO OFF command of MS-DOS. Indeed if the string
used is:
2.3
*echo ||U|H|Hoff
2.3
then all that is visible is “echo off” which explains why nothing else
is visible to the user and also hides the control code sequence used.
The “compiled” string is then *echo |U<8><8>off. One side effect is that
two line feeds will occur so if this is undesirable a couple of reverse
line feeds can be incorporated with
2.3
*echo ||U|H|Hoff|K|K
2.3
Note that the use of single string escape characters means that the
cursor control codes will have immediate effect whereas the <ctrl-U>
will only be issued when the echo command is executed.
2.3
The double string escape characters are only needed for use with *Build,
if a text editor is used then only single characters are needed but the
control codes must be input directly, e.g. so they appear as inverse
video in TWIN, for those cases where the affect is immediate.
2.3
(Sorry if this sounds a bit confusing but the difference between two and
one |’s, and when to use which, is an entire discussion point on its
own. Perhaps this could be a short article − it is important whenever
command files issue messages etc.) Clifford Hoggarth.
2.3
•   Quick *COPYing and *WIPEing − When you enter a wild card *COPY or
*WIPE on a list of files such as TEST1, TEST2, TEST3, etc. you are
presented with a list of options at the end of the copy or wipe
statement
2.3
*COPY :0.TEST* :1.TEST*
2.3
Copy file adfs::0.TEST1 as adfs::1.
2.3
TEST1 (Y/N/Q/A)?
2.3
etc.
2.3
The option Y, N, Q and A mean the following :-
2.3
Y − means copy that file
2.3
N − means don’t copy that file
2.3
Q − means quick copy all file with the wild card specification after and
including that one with no further confirmation prompts
2.3
A − means abort from copying
2.3
The *WIPE option works in a similar manner but deleting.
2.3
•   Stereo Speakers − After reading the hint in Archive 1.2 about adding
a pair of Tandy amplified speakers, I promptly rushed off ‘to town’.
They had just run out of stock, because the £25 price-tag was a special
offer. However Tandy were very helpful and ordered me a pair which
arrived within a week and which at £29.95 are still excellent value.
However, a set of alkaline batteries was quoted as £7.95!! Instead, a
surplus old calculator mains adaptor and two power plugs (30p each from
a local electronics shop) provided a cheaper source of power. If you
don’t have a spare one, a new power supply from Rapid Electronics costs
less than £4. The magic moment arrived and I switched on! The buzz from
the speakers was horrific!, but soon drowned by mayhem and destruction
from Zarch, which in turn was swamped by the dulcet tones of ‘her
ladyship’ complaining from the other end of the house about the volume!
2.3
Back to the drawing board − two capacitors, recovered from an old tape
recorder smoothed the power supply output and banished the buzz. The
solution to the lack of volume control was to add two potentiometers.
Whilst I was at it, I decided to wire the volume controls into a socket,
so that Zarch could be enjoyed at a reasonable volume late at night
through a pair of personal stereo headphones as well as through speakers
at a more civilised hour. An hour’s work, a couple of pounds and I now
have glorious stereo sound, at a reasonable volume!
2.3
The diagrams below show the set up. A twin pot could be used instead of
two single ones, so that both speakers are controlled from one knob. Any
value pot from 100 ohms up to about 4.7k ohms will work, but 100 ohms is
ideal, though 470 ohm pots are easier to obtain. Logarithmic pots are
best, but linear ones work fine and are again are easier to obtain. The
big capacitor can be anywhere in the region shown (2500 microfarads/30V)
− the small one takes out the higher frequencies and again its value
(220 microfarads/16V) is not critical.
2.3
It’s worth noting that the speakers cut off only after a minute or two
if there is no sound being produced. Presumably there is a small
capacitor inside which needs to run down first. Similarly, they need a
certain minimum signal for a very short time in order for them to switch
back on. David Kent
2.3
•   Ultra-cheap sound amplification − Maplin Electronics (0702−554161)
have an amazing offer including a pair of walkman-type headphones AND a
pair of monitor speakers for just £3.95! I don’t know how good they are,
but at that price, you can’t go far wrong. (Oh, there’s a handling
charge of 50p and a postage charge of 50p − still, it’s not bad.)
2.3
•   View “OC” Command − In View B3.0, one of the highlights can be set
to 27 instead of the normal 128 for underline and 129 for emphasise. In
doing this, commands may be made directly to the printer as in the
Wordwise OC command. For example, to set highlight 1 to 27
2.3
<Shift-f8> HT<return> 1 27 <return>
2.3
On pressing <f4> (underline) the next character will be sent to the
printer as a command, i.e. ShFn4x1(-x1) will turn on NLQ mode (on some
Epson compatible printers). This system seems to work for most commands,
but some commands need an ASCII ,1 so to get round this set highlight
key 2 (emphasise) as 1 and type ShFn4wShFn5 (-x*) to turn on double
height for example. This does have the disadvantage that things can’t be
turned on and off in the same line as you have to set highlight 2 back
to 0 to turn it off.
2.3
•   Two ARM Code Assembly Macros − (Richard Averill) − Here are two
useful macros for use in the BASIC V ARM assembler. They both use the
same method of loading 32-bit words into a specified register, which is
detailed below:
2.3
Originally, I had the idea that if I used the following piece of code:
2.3
LDR <reg>, [PC, #-4] !
2.3
EQUD <value>
2.3
then the processor would load the value and jump on to the next
instruction. However, what actually happens is that the value is loaded
and the ARM tries to execute the value as an instruction. If the high-
byte of the value is zero, then this will not cause a problem, but it is
not advisable to use routines that are not totally water-tight.
2.3
Here is the improved code:
2.3
LDR <reg>, [PC]
2.3
MOV PC, PC
2.3
EQUD <value>
2.3
which only takes one more word of code and works all the time. The MOV
PC,PC is there to make sure that the ARM executes the instruction that
is in the pipeline, and not the instruction in <value>.
2.3
Using these ideas, I have developed two useful routines detailed below:
2.3
DEF FNload(reg%, val%)
2.3
[ OPT opt% AND &E
2.3
LDR reg%, [PC]
2.3
MOV PC, PC
2.3
EQUD val%
2.3
] : =opt%
2.3
DEF FNadr(reg%, adr%)
2.3
[ OPT opt% AND &E
2.3
FNload(reg%, adr%-P%-20)
2.3
ADD reg%, PC, reg%
2.3
] : =opt%
2.3
As you can see, the macros can be used as any other instruction in the
assembler as such:
2.3
MOV R0, #123
2.3
FNload(1, &12345678)
2.3
FNadr(2, pointer)
2.3
SWI “OS_Anything”
2.3
A demonstration program is given (on the program disc) to illustrate the
use of these macros.
2.3
•   Running ViewPlot under 65Arthur − Richard Averill − Listed here are
the changes needed to make ViewPlot ‘harness the power of the Archi
medes!’. They will tidy the programs up, allowing ViewPlot to run in any
mode and to print and save screens. A *Exec file of these changes is
provided on the monthly disc.
2.3
To use this file, transfer the ViewPlot disc onto ADFS into a directory
such as ‘ViewPlot’. You can either create a text file of these commands
(with *Build or a text editor) or you can type the commands in yourself.
Either way, you should make sure that you are in the ViewPlot directory
when you try to convert the programs.
2.3
*|Running ViewPlot under 65Arthur.
2.3
 (C) Richard Averill, 1988.
2.3
*BASIC
2.3
LOAD “ViewPlt”
2.3
390
2.3
SAVE “ViewPlt”
2.3
LOAD “V__D”
2.3
730 IF M=248 OSCLI(“Screensave Image”)
2.3
:PROC2(R%)
2.3
SAVE “V__D”
2.3
LOAD “V__M”
2.3
1140 DEF PROC0:VDU 28,0,23,39,5:CLS
2.3
1190 REPEAT
2.3
1200 INPUT “Enter screen mode (not
2.3
 text) ? “ M%
2.3
1210 UNTIL FNcheckmode(M%)=TRUE
2.3
DELETE 1220,1290
2.3
3000 DEF FNcheckmode(mode%)
2.3
3010 LOCAL col$,ok%
2.3
3020 ok%=FALSE
2.3
3030 IF mode%=0 OR mode%=8 OR mode%=12
2.3
 OR mode%=15 OR mode%=18 OR mode%=19 OR mode%=20 THEN C%=16:ok%=TRUE
2.3
3040 IF mode%=1 OR mode%=4 OR mode%=9
2.3
 OR mode%=13 THEN C%=32:ok%=TRUE
2.3
3050 IF mode%=2 OR mode%=5 OR mode%=10
2.3
 THEN C%=64:ok%=TRUE
2.3
3060
2.3
3070 col$=“04”
2.3
3080
2.3
3090 IF mode%=0 OR mode%=4 OR mode%=18
2.3
 THEN col$=“04”
2.3
3100 IF mode%=1 OR mode%=5 OR mode%=8
2.3
 OR mode%=19 THEN col$=“15”
2.3
3110 IF mode%=2 OR mode%=9 OR mode%
2.3
=12 OR mode%=20 OR mode%=10 OR mode%=13 OR mode%=15 THEN col$=“2”
2.3
3120 IF ok%=TRUE THEN OSCLI(“LOAD Col”
2.3
 +col$+“ 2600”)
2.3
3130 =ok%
2.3
SAVE “V__M”
2.3
LOAD “V__P”
2.3
250DATA 0,0,0,0,0,0,2,4,4,4,2,16,8,1
2.3
,16,0,0,0,2,2,16,4,1,16,0,0,0,2,
2.3
1,16,0,0,0,0,0,0,2,8,2,2,4,4,2,
2.3
2,16,2,1,16,2,8,2,2,8,2
2.3
1740DEFPROCJ(b%):e%(b%)=0:ONM%+1GOTO
2.3
1770,1810,1880,1880,1770,1810,1880, 1880,1810,1880,1880,1880,1880,1880
2.3
,1880,1880,1880,1880,1880,1770
2.3
,1810,1880,1880,1770,1770
2.3
2070DEFPROCE:FORb%=1TO8:e%(b%)=b%?
2.3
(&2608+((a%-1)*2+a%-10)*8-1):ONM%+1
2.3
GOTO 2110,2150,2200,2200,2110,2150,
2.3
2200,2200,2150,2200,2200,2200,2200, 2200,2200,2200,2200,2200,2200,
2.3
2110,2150,2200,2200,2150,2150
2.3
SAVE “V__P”
2.3
•   Cheap colour monitors − Peter Sykes bought a Commodore 1084 monitor
which seems to be identical to the Phillips 8833 but cheaper. He got his
from Eazyprint in Staines, Middlesex for £240, around £20 less than the
cheapest he could find the Phillips 8833. (There’s an Acorn one for sale
in the small ad’s, but there must be other folk by now who are up-
grading to multi-syncs and have monitors for sale − send in your small
ad’s folks − no charge.)
2.3
•   Use of Archimedes on Econet − Copying ADFS format discs to NET and
vice-versa, no utility is needed as Archimedes has it all built in:-
2.3
*COPY -adfs-$.* -net-$.whatever.* QRC
2.3
Here ADFS is the source, NET is the destination. The ‘whatever’ is the
chosen destination directory, or directory path (e.g. replace ‘whatever’
with ‘fred.mary.utils’) The * is to indicate all files. The Q indicates
QUICK copying using all available RAM. This damages resident programs
but considerabley speeds the copying process. It is also almost
essential if using early versions of the Econet Software Modules (NETFS,
ECONET) due to bugs in these which cause ‘Not Listening’ messages. Later
versions do not suffer this. The R to indicates recursive copying of
sub-directories. The C turns OFF confirmation so that copying occurs for
all files without question.
2.3
Simple modifications to the command line allow copying in the reverse
direction.
2.3
(This was sent in by Michael Ryan, editor of the Econet User Group
Magazine (NEUS) which carries regular articles on Archimedes on the
network (and many less esoteric matters as well). We have also been
licensed by Acorn to provide free upgrades to Econet software modules
for those unable to obtain them elsewhere. Econet User Group, Balkeerie
Cottage, Eassie by Forfar, Angus, DD8 1SR.)
2.3
FWP Hints & Tips
2.3
compiled by Mike Hobart
2.3
•   Changing default drive − those of you with dual drives may want to
be able to get FWP to default to looking for data on drive 1. To do
this, all you do is load $.library.1wp and change the line that sets up
the documents directory to:
2.3
*set FirstWordPlus$Docs :1.$.
2.3
•   Saving to a fresh disk − If you need to save your work onto a fresh
disk, you may have difficulty in persuading the save to work: you get
silly messages about the disk being write-protected and directories not
being present. This is very frustrating if you have just written the
first chapter of your bestseller. Try “Save as...”, taking special care
either to see that you are in the correct directory as specified in the
directory box at the top of the save window or create a new file in the
root directory by clicking repeatedly on the X icon until you are left
with only a “*”. Thanks to Peter Tettmar, on whose solution is differ
ent, but less convenient as you have to anticipate the problem!
2.3
•   Form feeds in the wrong places − Edit your printer driver (the “hex”
directory one) to inactivate the “vertical tab to line” feature. This is
done by placing a “*” at the beginning of the line (line no 4, which
should now read *4, 1B,42,80,0,B or near). If you have serious troubles
with irrational formfeeds, try setting the CONFIGURE IGNORE of the
battery-backed RAM to prevent the computer ever sending to crucial code
to the printer. (Thanks to David Adamiak and from him to GST Holdings).
2.3
•   Use of IBM fonts − Steve Jones points out that there can be
advantages in using the IBM font set, if your printer supports it. The
monthly disk con-tains his very full instructions and programs. The main
reason for using the IBM fonts is the availability of certain symbols
for maths and graphical characters. These can be especially useful for
designing forms.
2.3
•   Graphics problems (e.g. that white is printed grey etc.) can be
cured by preparing the graphics in 1st Word palette. For Artisan, copy
1stword’s Resources.1wp.!palette as artisan.1wppal (or what takes your
fancy) on the Artisan disk, then boot up Artisan, grab the disk ikon and
finally select the new palette. The result is not artistic, but a quick
roller brush over the background with white, followed by the artwork in
e.g. black produces a picture you can import and have printed correctly.
The reason this works is that the graphics dump routine in 1st Word
assumes the use of the program’s own palette, or at least that it is
trying to produce a paper version of what you see on the screen. It is,
incidentally, quite an intelligent and quick dump, which checks to see
if there are pixels to print before printing a line, and issuing a
linefeed if not.
2.3
•   Conversion from WWPlus − The following hint might be useful to
people still trying to convert WW+ file to 1WP. The convert program
published in Archive does a wonderful job. However, I found it a bit
irksome having to edit out all the ‘US’s and ‘UE’s etc which are left
after the program has dealt with the green and white embedded commands.
(This just goes to show how quickly we start to take things for
granted!!). I also found that it was impossible to reformat the text to
a new line length. The latter problem seemed to be that 1WP ended lines
with &0E, whist converted WW+ files ended with the last letter of the
last word on the line.
2.3
The solution to both problems is as follows:
2.3
1   SPOOL out the WW+ file, using Option 8 (This removes all embedded
commands and centres text and produces indents and TABs)
2.3
2   Reload the spooled file and use Search & Replace to change all
double returns to @@ (or any other unused combination of letters)
2.3
3   Change all of the remaining single returns to <space>-return
2.3
4   Change all of the @@s (or whatever) to <space>-return-return
2.3
5   SAVE the modified file using Option 1
2.3
6   Run the SAVED file through the convert program
2.3
The effect of 2, 3 and 4 is to save the paragraph breaks, but end all of
the lines with a space. The result is a file with no extra ‘remains’ of
embedded commands, and which will reformat correctly in First Word Plus.
2.3

H & T are a bit thin on the ground this month because this issue is
being finished before Christmas so I get some time off and it’s only a
couple of weeks since I closed the December issue, so not much has come
in yet. Most of the H & T that we have got were sent in by Anton Carver.
Thanks Anton!

2.4
•   Using function keys − If you want to get the function keys to
produce ASCII codes, say, 200, 201, 202 etc, you use *FX 225,200 but
this only works for keys <f0> (the print key) to <f9>. If you want to
use <f10> upwards, you need to use *FX 221,200. This also makes <insert>
into the equivalent of <f13> i.e. it generates, in this case, ASCII 213.
2.4
•   Troubles with Mitsubishi Drives? − Yes, there are problems with some
of the new 5.25” Mitsubishi drives with some of the 5.25” disc inter
faces, but they can be solved. The problem is the use of pin 2 on the
interface. It was not used on the BBC micro, but on the new Mitsubishi
drives it is used for DC interrupt. The solution is to put a little bit
of masking tape on the edge connector inside the drive mechanism so that
it doesn’t make contact with the p.c.b. Pin 2 is on the top of the board
at the outside edge.
2.4
•   Programmable reset − A hang-over from the BBC micro is that if you
program function key 10, you will find that if you press <reset>,
function key 10 will be executed! If you don’t know about this, it can
come as something of a shock, but it could be that you would want to
make use of it if you were, say, developing a machine code program which
kept hanging up the machine and forcing you to press <reset>. You could
program it as *KEY 10 *BASIC|MOLD|MEDIT .|M and it would jump you back
into editing the program at the point where you were.
2.4
•   Is it still going? − If you are doing some heavy machine code
programming and want to know if the computer is still working or whether
you have locked it up completely, try pressing the caps lock and/or
scroll lock keys and if they are still responding, your computer’s not
dead yet! The caps and scroll lock LED’s are controlled by the computer
in response to the key presses, so if they are working, it tells you
that the processor is still reponding to interrupts.
2.4
•   Using ARMBE − It is useful to be able to enter ARMBE at the point of
the last error. Here is a program which sets up function key 4 so that
it enters ARMBE at the point where the error occurred or, if no error
then it enters where you were last editing by using “EDIT .”.
2.4
10 *set key$edit IF ERL=0 THEN OSCLI (|“KEY 4 *FIXKEY4||mEDIT . ||m|”)
ELSE OSCLI(|“KEY 4 *FIXKE Y4||mEDIT |” + STR$(ERL) + |“||m |”)|mMISTAKE
|m*FX138,0,132|m
2.4
20 *set alias$fixkey4 set key$4 |<key$edit>
2.4
30 *fixkey4
2.4
•   REM’s − Although the User Guide says that REM statements are ignored
by BASIC, this is not completely true in BASIC V. This is because the
block conditional IFÉTHENÉELSEÉ ENDIF requires the THEN to be the last
statement on the line. Adding a REM to the end of the line will change
the flow of control, thus:
2.4
>LIST
2.4
 10 OK%=TRUE
2.4
 20 IF NOT OK% THEN
2.4
 30   PRINT “Wrong!”
2.4
 40 ELSE
2.4
 50   PRINT “Right”
2.4
 60 ENDIF
2.4
>RUN
2.4
Right
2.4
>LIST
2.4
 10 OK%=TRUE
2.4
 20 IF NOT OK% THEN :REM Danger!
2.4
 30   PRINT “Wrong!”
2.4
 40 ELSE
2.4
 50   PRINT “Right”
2.4
 60 ENDIF
2.4
>RUN
2.4
Wrong!
2.4
•   MODE3/6 gaps − There is an undocumented difference between the way
that the gaps between lines are coloured in the 25-row modes. In modes 3
and 6, the gaps are the border colour and in modes 11, 14 and 17, they
are the background colour.
2.4
By experimenting with SWI“OS_ReadMode Variable”, I discovered that bit 3
of variable 0 (Modeflags) indicates the condition. If the bit is set to
0, the gaps will be background colour and if 1 they are border colour,
thus:
2.4
 10 For mode%=0 TO 17
2.4
 20   MODE mode%
2.4
 30   VDU 10,0,24,128,0|
2.4
 40   SYS“OS_ReadModeVariable”
2.4
,MODE,0 TO ,,modeflag%
2.4
 50   PRINT “Mode= ”;MODE
2.4
 60   IF (modeflag% AND (1<<3))
2.4
<>0 THEN t$=“Border” ELSE t$=“Background”
2.4
 70   IF (modeflag% AND (1<<2))
2.4
<>0 THEN t$=“No”
2.4
 80   PRINT t$;“ gaps”
2.4
 90   wait%=GET
2.4
100 NEXT
2.4
•   Auto linefeed − Some software packages, like First Word Plus for
instance, insist that you set your printer so that it does not generate
auto-matic linefeeds. This means that if you list a BASIC program with
lines that are longer than the carriage length, the line wraps round and
is overprinted. To avoid this and the difficulty of fiddling with dip
switches, use the BASIC command WIDTH before printing. To do this, type
WIDTH <carriage length> (e.g. WIDTH 80) before printing and WIDTH 0 to
reset to the default setting after printing.
2.4


•   How to wipe a disc clean − Having explained in H & T in issue 2.1
how to use *LIB“” and *WIPE * ~C to wipe a disc clean, here is the
really quick way! Take a blank disc and do a *BACKUP onto the disc to be
purged − takes about 10 seconds all together, even with only a single
drive!
2.5
•   Microlink Modem connections − We have at last sorted out the
connections necessary for the Microlink Multispeed modem. The problem is
that it seems to need two different connections depending on whether you
are using ArcTerm or Hearsay. Anyway, here are some connections that
seem to work OK. ArcTerm version first:
2.5
Modem    Computer
2.5
GND   1
2.5
            }Ñ   5   GND
2.5
GND   7
2.5
RXD   2   Ñ   3   TXD
2.5
TXD   3   Ñ   2   RXD
2.5
RTS   4   Ñ   7   RTS
2.5
CTS   5   Ñ   8   CTS
2.5
            6   DSR
2.5
DSR   6   Ñ{2 .5
            1   DCD
2.5
DTR   20   Ñ   4   DTR
2.5
Note that the Archimedes DCD is not connected to the modem DCD but to
the DSR to ensure that it is ON all the time. The modem DCD is only ON
whilst on-line. Here are the Hearsay connections:
2.5
Modem    Computer
2.5
GND   1
2.5
          }Ñ   5   GND
2.5
GND   7
2.5
RXD   2   Ñ   3   TXD
2.5
TXD   3   Ñ   2   RXD
2.5
RTS   4   Ñ   7   RTS
2.5
CTS   5   Ñ   6   DSR
2.5
DSR   6 (NC)
2.5
DTR   20 (NC)
2.5
DCD   8   Ñ   9   RI
2.5
            1   DCD}
2.5
            4   DTR} linked
2.5
            8   CTS}
2.5
•   BBC Hard Discs − If you have BBC hard discs that use the 1 MHz bus,
you can run them on the Archimedes under the new 6502 emulator,
“65host”, that comes with RISC-OS. All you do is enter 65host and load
the BBC 1770 ADFS then, assuming you have an I/O podule, connect the
hard disc to the 2 MHz bus and away you go.
2.5
(Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult, would it(?), to patch it into the
existing operating system to make the hard discs accessible in native
mode instead of limiting it to use with the emulator? Could anyone do
that for us? Ed.)
2.5
•   Naff RTC Month − If you get this error message when running the
desktop, the chances are that it is time to change your batteries. Acorn
suggest changing them once a year.
2.5
•   Repton 3 − first a comment − The characters included are exactly the
same as in the BBC version even though they are mode 9, so it looks like
mode 5 on the BBC. This is disappointing as the extra resolution and
colour are wasted unless you redefine the characters − a mammoth task as
there are 768 altogether! (Phil Armstrong, Doncaster)
2.5
Phil also saysÉ I redesigned the first 48 characters which took quite
some time and I did encounter a few problems, namely my maps occasion
ally were wiped or the start position changed. To get round this
problem, I examined the data files and found:
2.5
&0000 to &10A0   8 Map definitions and colours for each map
2.5
&10A0 to &70A0   48 character definitions
2.5
So if you lose your maps or wish to copy a character set to another set
of maps, follow these operations:
2.5
*Load Newdata 10000    load new char-acters as saved by editor
2.5
*Save Char 110A0 170A0   save character set alone
2.5
*Load Olddata 10000   load file contain-ing required maps
2.5
*Load Char 110A0   overlay new character set
2.5
*Save Newfile 10000 170A0   save maps and characters together
2.5
Newfile can then be loaded into the game. Changing characters does not
seem to affect the competition numbers the game gives you.
2.5
•   Games on the 440 − Many games programs will not run on the 440 if
the screensize is set above 160k, so you should try *Configure Screen
size 5 before running the game.
2.5
•   Pacmania − Two avid “Pacmaniacs”, Harjit Takshak and Linus Twizell,
have provided some Pacmania hints:
2.5
Do a *LOAD PACMANIA 10000 then you can set the number of lives with
?&102C8 = n (but too many slows the games down) and ?&113D4 = n sets the
number of points per pill and ?&10234 = n sets the number of credits and
then CALL &10000 starts off the game.
2.5
•   GammaPlot − It is possible to change the colour of a line on a line
graph by using the command *SG17,n,128 where n is the GCOL number (e.g.
48 = blue). This command can also be used in the Macro mode followed by
a line with GRAPH (just the graph) or CHART (graph and axis). The colour
will be saved, along with the graph, to disc.
2.5
•   Printer problems − there have been one or two problems with spurious
operation of printers, especially with Integrex printers when doing
graphics dumps. These are caused by timing problems on the Archimedes’
parallel port control lines and can be solved by an internal circuit
board modification that Acorn have recognised as a field change, i.e. if
you are having problems, go to your local Archimedes dealer and ask if
he can do field change 2002 for you. (D.I.Y. field changes will void
your warranty, but if you want details anyway, send us an S.A.E.)
2.5
•   Conditional booting (cf Archive 2.3, page 13) Philip Colmer says
that unfortunately *FX200,2 followed by reset is treated as a power-on
reset so the monotonic clock is reset. Probably a better way is
SYS“OS_Byte”,253,0,255 TO break% where break% is 0 for soft break, 1 for
power-on reset and 2 for a hard break − a bit more reliable than
checking a clock value.
2.5
•   BCPL on ADFS − J Laski writesÉ I am a BCPL freak: due to the fact
that ADFS was not available when it was designed, the ROM system causes
files to be read/written with OSBGET/PUT rather than OSFILE/OSGBPB;
also, intermediate files in the compiler and editor use names such as
Backup$ which ADFS abhors.
2.5
To get round this, patch the routine in the ROM (image disk) FSTYPE
(G39) always to return 7 (see manual p117). In both BCPLARG and BCPLCCG,
patch the second static load (LLL) in G1 from “OCODE$$” to “OCODE!!”. In
ED, in G318 patch the static load in G318 about 40 words before the SWL
near the end of the routine; this can best be found by looking for the
long forward jump about 30 Cintcodes from the beginning. (N.B. I use an
extended ED, so have only given rough positions; G318 is the last
routine called from G1.)
2.5
If you feel you cannot make these changes yourself, and send me a disk
with proof that you have a legal copy of BCPL and a stamped self-
addressed mailer, and I will send you a modified version. I would
appreciate, but do not insist on, any utilities that you think might
amuse me.
2.5
I am seeking a version of BCPL in ARM code and, if ACORN cannot be
persuaded to release their version, will do it myself, probably somewhat
‘adhocly’. If you have any views on desirable facilities, I should be
glad to read them. I shall shareware distribute with a licence fee
requested. (Dr J Laski, 18 Ebury Street, London, SW1W 0LU.
2.5
•   “Colour Printouts − The Easy Way”  − I read with considerable
interest the article by W R (Basil) Davis on taking 35mm photographs of
the monitor screen. (Archive 1.9, page 52) I was able to put this to
practical use recently since I wished to design and produce some
graphics screens (using GammaPlot) and use these in a conference
presentation. I did consider using acetates with an overhead projector,
but decided 35mm slides would be more suitable.
2.5
The following additional comments (which should be read in conjunction
with the original article) may assist other Archive readers contemplat
ing taking such pictures:
2.5
1) Before embarking on photographing any screen displays, it is
important to remember that any apparently minor “blemish” will be
magnified considerably if your results are being projected using 35mm
slides. Careful thought should be given to the screen layout and the
choice of colours; provided they don’t clash, brighter foreground
colours are preferable, with black or a dark blue making an ideal
background. The normal Archimedes text is quite visible when projected
using 35mm slides; additionally I used a GammaPlot feature to enlarge
the standard text for titles etc. and, whilst this was quite acceptable
on a monitor screen, when projected it did appear noticeable “chunky”.
Next time I will use the Archimedes special fonts with GammaPlot
instead.
2.5
2) In choosing the 35mm film to use, one important consideration may be
the speed with which you wish the results to be returned to you. Whilst
most colour print films can be developed overnight or even within an
hour or so, this is not the case with colour slide films. Most have to
be sent away for processing and a delay of 10−14 days is not untypical.
If you want colour slide film developed quickly it is best to use (non
“process paid”) Kodak Ektachrome film which good photographic shops
should get returned to them within 2−3 days. There are also a few
specialist laboratories which offer a 2−3 hour service.
2.5
3) When determining the correct ‘peak white’ exposure using an automatic
camera, it is possible for the camera’s metering system to be too
sophisticated! I was using a Minolta 7000 AF camera and the exposure
settings fluctuated quite rapidly as the monitor screen picture was
scanned and refreshed. Checking the exposure using a different camera
confirmed the article’s “if all else fails” assumed exposure settings.
2.5
4) Focusing may well be perfectly feasible when using a camera with
auto-focus. I found it best to set the initial focus with a screen
display visible, rather than a blank screen, and then switch the auto-
focus off − this is because the Minolta 7000 AF system tries to refocus
after every picture is taken. In setting the combination of shutter
speed and aperture, it is probably preferable to err towards the slower
shutter speed/smaller aperture (higher ‘f’ number) setting as this will
increase the ‘depth of field’ and give a greater safety margin if the
focusing is not quite right.
2.5
5) As mentioned in the original article, a sturdy tripod is virtually
essential and a remote shutter release (or possibly the camera’s Delayed
Action feature − if fitted) must be used to avoid camera shake and
consequent blurred pictures. Additionally, switching off the room lights
when taking the photographs should avoid any extraneous reflections off
the monitor screen possibly spoiling the finished results.
2.5
6) If you are using 35mm slides and the results are to be projected
using a professional (rather than domestic) slide projector, it is
definitely worthwhile having the slides ‘glass mounted’ − although this
does increase the cost! This prevents the heat from the projector lamp
“popping” the slide and causing part(s) of it to appear out of focus.
For those who are interested in further reading on the subject, there is
an article in January 1989’s issue of BBC Acorn User (pages 81-83) on
the subject of taking photographs of the computer screen, there is even
advice on taking pictures of commercial games software.    Rob Brown.
2.5

2.5
•   Willie Stott has sent in a very complete set of facilities for
support of the Epson LQ series, including a download font designer. This
will only be of interest to those with the right hardware, but he has
used a neat idea to get control of any extra facilities that your
printer supports, but for which First Word Plus has no category. He
points out that foreign characters can be used as printer definitions.
The characters with ASCII values between &E0 and &EE appear on the
bottom line of the character window and you have to do three things:
2.5
a)   Define the character as a suitable message to the printer in the
character translation table of the hex file, then turn it into a driver.
2.5
b)   Design suitable character definitions (using VDU23,...) to
represent the action of the printer so that it is added to the compu
ter’s character table when FWP is booted up.
2.5
c)   Include your definitions in the FWP boot file before the *key 1 ...
line.
2.5
•   A tip from an unknown writer (maybe Paul knows who to acknowledge −
Sorry, no. Ed.): how would you like to be able to produce a spool file
of your FWP output? What? Not much!? You may be missing something, as
you could then move the file to another machine and get a printout via
that machine, e.g. via an IBM or a mainframe. The trick is to *SET
PrinterType$4 <spoolfilespec> before booting up FWP. Then select
“network port” from the printer box in FWP. The system variable
PrinterType$4 holds the pathname for network printer output. The
<spoolfilespec> needs to include the full adfs:$.filename format.
2.5
•   Someone besides me is the kind of two-fingered typist that hits
<ctrl> at the same time as <A>. What should our correspondent do? File
his fingers down? Stick a piece of rough Velcro on the <ctrl> key? No,
contact the Archive office and have someone write a module to intercept
<ctrl-A> and make a beep. The trouble is that when you are just feeling
bold enough to try to modify a bit of assembler to help a friend, you
should not choose a keyboard buffer intercept. There is no way to try it
out safely, or even to get a decent service from the debugger as every
keypress goes via your duff code. You cannot even type “*rmkill”
successfully. The only key which really works is <reset>. Help!! All
serious programmers out there: where did I go wrong? Why does the IRQ
stack pointer unwind so fast? P.S. If you can include a <ctrl-f12> =
swapcase facility in the module, you will win a large “thank you” and a
small prize for the best solution. You can start with the PrintKey
module program in Archive1.10, page 45.
2.5
•   There is a new version of FWP available from Acorn for those whose
copy does not pause at the ends of each page, even if the flag has been
correctly set in the printer driver. Return your disk to Customer
Support, Acorn Computers Ltd., Fulbourn Rd., Cherry Hinton, Cambridge
CB1 4JN. (Reprinted from BBC Acorn User, Feb ’89, p 10).
2.5
It is rumoured that there is a genuinely new version on its way, perhaps
to coincide with RISC-OS.
2.5
•   Johnathan Young has a cure for the FWP buzz (the one which comes out
of the speaker or down the external audio output, and sounds like the
onset of tinnitus): boot up and then exit EMR’s sound synth package. A
bit expensive for silence, but you get the music program free! Has
anyone an explanation or a better solution?
2.5


•   Dacom modem connections − If you want to connect a Dacom modem to
the Archimedes, try the following connections:
2.6
 Archimedes   Modem
2.6
2   Ñ   3
2.6
3   Ñ   2
2.6
5   Ñ   7
2.6
9   Ñ   6
2.6
Also link 1, 4 and 8 at the Archimedes end and also 6 to 7. If you are
using Hearsay 1.04, use the Tandata modem driver, not the Dacom one.
2.6
•   Easy copying − If you have a single drive, try setting
2.6
*set alias$dcopy %0 :0.%0 PQ
2.6
Then you can use, say,
2.6
*dcopy filetocopy
2.6
and this will copy the file “filetocopy” onto another disc on the same
drive, prompting for disc changes.
2.6
•   Easy compacting − This could apply to a number of commands, but if
you want, for example, to compact a disc several times, you can use
*repeat 6 compact which will do a *compact 6 times if you have previ
ously set an alias for repeat as follows:
2.6
*set alias$repeat if %0>0 then repeat %0-1 %*1|m if %o>0 then %*1
2.6
•   Masked Sprites − The Welcome Disc Sprite Editor was criticised in
November 88 Archive as not working properly. It does work properly, well
almost!
2.6
To create a masked sprite, first draw your sprite as normal, then press
<shift-f9> (create mask) then select the colour that you want to be
transparent and fill in any areas that are to be transparent. The
display will show a hatched effect for that colour.
2.6
To plot a masked sprite, remember that you must use a GCOL 8,0 before
plotting the sprite.
2.6
•   Hard disc Backup program − Paul Hobbs sent in the following
improvement to last month’s hard disc backup programÉ The very useful
hard disk backup program in Archive 2.5 can, I think, be improved very
easily by the addition of the following lines after the line PRINT
CHR$(13);”Scanning:  “;... etc in PROCaction(). It allows a check to be
made for directories not to be backed up. The full path name should be
given as in the example below. Quite a few of the directories on my disk
are backed up on their own floppies and this modification saves a lot of
time.
2.6
1621 RESTORE
2.6
1622 skip=FALSE
2.6
1623 REPEAT
2.6
1624   READ nocop$
2.6
1625   IF LEFT$(dir$,LENnocop$)
2.6
=nocop$ THEN skip=TRUE
2.6
1626 UNTIL nocop$=“*** END ***”
2.6
1627 IF skip=TRUE THEN ENDPROC
2.6
7000DATA :4.$.1WP.cfg,:4.$.1WP.doc
2.6
.BAK,:4.$.TMP,:4.$.BBCTelSoft
2.6
7001DATA :4.$.TMP,:4.$.CPROGGIES,
2.6
:4.$.BACKUP,:4.$.1WP.hex
2.6
7002DATA “*** END ***”
2.6
•   Hard disc squeek − Those who are lucky enough to have hard discs may
be suffering a continuous high pitched squeal from the drive when the
machine is switched on. My dealer assured me that it would eventually go
away, but I lost patience and cured it by lubricating the disc drive
spindle with WD-40 (or similar). If you remove the disc drive and look
into the connector end, between the printed circuit board and the drive
body, you should be able to see a carbon pad mounted on the PCB which
rubs against the end of the spindle (to earth it and avoid static
problems). Using an aerosol can fitted with a long tube, a few drops of
lubricant on this pad will cure the noise. Take care when squirting −
and naturally no responsibility is accepted!
2.6
•   C routines − When using the tmpnam() or tmpfile() routines in the
ANSI C library, a directory &.Tmp needs to be created on the current
drive. This is not present on the master floppy, nor is it created by
the hard disc install procedure (installHD).
2.6
•   ANSI C command line parameters − page 31 of the manual says that
“Arguments to main() are the words of the command line, delimited by
spaces”, but gives no further information. The parameters are actually
passed in the same way as the Unix2 environment does − for those
programmers unfamiliar with Unix, the main procedure is called with two
arguments, which are declared as:
2.6
int main(argc,argv)
2.6
int argc;
2.6
char *argv[];
2.6
{2 .6
     /* argv[1] points to first
2.6
 parameter
2.6
        argv[2] points to second,
2.6
 etc.
2.6
        Program name is at argv[0] */
2.6
where argc is the number of parameters given (which includes the program
name, so this will always be at least 1) and argv is an array of
pointers to the parameters − argv[0] is the command name and argv[1] is
the first parameter. Parameters are normally separated by spaces, but
quoted strings are passed as one unit. Some programmers prefer to
declare argv as:
2.6
   char **argv;
2.6
and use it as a pointer to a list of pointers to the arguments.
2.6
•   BBC Master Edit − If you want to use an image of the Edit ROM (the
Master version) under 65Arthur, you need a *ALPHABET BFONT before
running it up, otherwise the on-screen help display looks very confus
ing. This ROM, by the way, uses CMOS byte 8 (“reserved for Acorn use”)
in which to save the screen mode and help level.
2.6
•   *COPY without the ‘Q’ − omitting the Q option when copying a file
forces Arthur to ignore bad sectors or tracks in a file. This allows you
to recover screens or text files from corrupted discs If you have a
single drive and don’t want to perform umpteen swaps then proceed as
follows:
2.6
*DELETE or *COPY (with Q) the other files until you have room for
another copy of the bad file.
2.6
Then *COPY :0.filenme :0.BADfilenme ~C~PV
2.6
•   Orion loading speed − To speed up the loading, note that there is
what appears to be a non fatal bug in the “$.Orion.Orion_bas” program.
It *sload’s a sprite file seven times!
2.6
   LOAD “$.Orion.Orion_bas”
2.6
now look round about line 3000 and you will find the *sload command that
should be outside the FOR/NEXT loop!
2.6
Edit this and then save the program back onto the disc. (The name at the
top of the program has an extra ‘n’ at the end which has to be deleted
from the filename as displayed by the editor if you try to save it with
<f3>)
2.6
•   Orion − Feel like a laugh? Instead of EDITing “$.Orion.Orion_bas” as
above, try :
2.6
*con. scr. 20
2.6
*con. spr. 20
2.6
<ctrl-break>
2.6
*DIR Orion
2.6
LOAD “Orion_bas”
2.6
701 *UNSET BJS
2.6
RUN
2.6
Then when you press <space> to load the game you get a marvelous
digitised laugh! This is apparently a (very clever) part of the
protection used in the program.
2.6
•   Extended life for Orion − While the instructions are scrolling up
the screen try pressing <U>, <L>, <C> and <space> together but in that
order. It then allows you to select a level at which to start the game
and you will find that you start with 10 lives & 10 smart bombs!
2.6
•   Zarch cheat − you can get into the cheat mode if, when you first
start up and are sitting on the landing pad, you press <Q>, <T> and <U>
together but in that order. You may have to try it a few times. Now <L>
gives you an extra life, <F> refuels (in mid-air) and <D> toggles the
auto-pilot.
2.6
•   Zarch − Some new landscapes make this game much better. (Program
NewWorld on monthly program disc or send S.A.E. for listing.) This
program works with the original protected version of Zarch as long as
you have screen size to 160k and other sizes to zero. It uses a
variation of the PRINTKEY program in one of the earlier Archives.
(PRINTKEY had a bug in it! P%=0:O%=code% OPT 4-7)
2.6
•   Terramex. For endless lives, with Terramex disc in drive, type:
2.6
*LOAD TERRACODE 9000
2.6
!&CF18=&FAFFDC3E
2.6
!&CF20=&FAFFDC3E
2.6
CALL &9000
2.6
•   Quazer − with the Impact software version of Quazer (which appears
to be the same as V1.42) type:
2.6
*SETEVAL Quazer%MeatHead 1 -Immortal
2.6
(also try Quazer%Lives, Quazer%Level)
2.6
Then use *Quazer to Run
2.6
•   OS_FSControl problem − David Scott reckons there is a problem with
the system command for the COUNT operation. The OS_FSControl (&29)
system command for filing system control with R0 set to 28 (page 262 of
the Programmers Reference Manual) has a problem which is not apparent
from the description given.
2.6
If the call is used in a program to obtain values for use by the program
it is not possible to do this without the information also being printed
on the screen. This is because bit 8 of the action mask in R3 must be
set in order to get the correct values returned in R2 and R3.
2.6
The way round this problem is to turn the screen output off using VDU21
before making the system call and then to turn it back on afterwards
with VDU6. If a printer is connected then this will also have to be
temporarily disconnected with VDU3 before and VDU2 after the call.
2.6
•   Potential Electrocution! (Archive 2.5 p19)  − This is a problem with
most colour monitors. The explanation is as follows... When you turn the
power off, a static charge forms on the screen surface, creating a
potential difference of several KV between the monitor chassis and the
screen surface. If you then pick the monitor up with the screen facing
your body, the screen is effectively connected to your body, and so the
potential now exists between you and the monitor chassis, and remains
there due to the insulating properties of the plastic case. If you then
touch the chassis via a mounting screw or the rear connector, the
potential will be discharged, possibly painfully! (I speak from
experience!)  The answer is to make sure you are touching the chassis
(e.g. the RGB connector shell) BEFORE picking it up, and keep hold of it
whilst carrying the monitor. The other answer is to lift and carry it
with the screen away from you.
2.6
•   Pipedream on RISC-OS − As reported last month, the current version
of Pipedream DOES work under RISC-OS. All you have to do is *RMKILL
International to kill the international keyboard. This is because Acorn
have changed the use of the <alt> key under RISC-OS and Pipedream uses
this for its drop-down menus.
2.6
•   PC Emulator problems − You may have problems with the computer
locking up when you are using the PC emulator. This happens sometimes
when you have a modem connected to the RS423 port which is not switched
on. I suspect it may be the “unknown IRQ at &00000000” which Arthur
manages to cope with but perhaps the PC emulator can‘t. Try keeping the
modem switched on.
2.6
•   Stacked bar charts in Gammaplot − In Gammaplot it is not possible to
produce directly “stacked” or segmented bar charts such as:-
2.6

2.6

2.6

2.6
Nor is it possible to create directly bar charts with gaps between the
bars such as-:
2.6

2.6

2.6

2.6
but it is possible to create them indirectly by using a table with (say)
only 1 in 5 of the values as a non-zero number (i.e. make other gaps by
introducing zeros in the spreadsheet).
2.6
Multiple bar charts such as:-
2.6

2.6

2.6

2.6

2.6
Can be created by producing three (or more) separate graphs from three
separate spreadsheets and then overlaying one on the other by using
“Display all graphs” and using the “Window facility to move each (of the
3) separately to the desired position. The diagonal lines and any text
(such as scales or title) is added in “Customise” afterwards.
2.6
I know of NO package which produces segmented bar charts. Presenter will
produce multiple bars directly but without the flexibility of Gamma
Plot.
2.6
If you had the patience then you could make several different bar charts
and use the “Block Move” facility of “Customise” to stack the blocks of
the bars but it would take time and might be a lot easier in, say,
Artisan which has a “transparent” colour for use with its sprites.
2.6
(N.B. Overlaid line graphs and multiple pie charts are very easy in
Gammaplot.)
2.6

2.7
•   BBC winchester on Archimedes!! Alan Glover saysÉ I have got it to
work on the i/o podule under RISC-OS. Here’s what you do: from the
!65Host directory:
2.7
*RMLOAD !RunImage
2.7
*CACHEROM 0 dnfs
2.7
*CACHEROM 1 ARFS
2.7
*CACHEROM 2 <>.ADFS130
2.7
*EMU.
2.7
Note: Must be ADFS 130 − i.e. a B/B+ version  and you must find an image
of this yourself as it is not provided with RISC-OS. To use the
Archimedes’ ADFS type *ARFS.
2.7
The winchester is connected to the 2 MHz bus (theoretically 1 MHz!) on
the I/O podule as it would be on a BBC.
2.7
•   Configuration problems in Art Nouveau − If you select ‘Configure
machine’ from the opening menu when you have already configured the
machine, you lose your old configuration when you quit and you are left
with Art Nouveau’s own configuration. This is because it doesn’t keep
track of whether you have already configured it. I was lucky − I had
written a program long ago that translates a *SPOOLed *STATUS into a
load of *Configure’s and I keep a copy of this spool on my hard disc at
all times. You have been warned. Martyn Lovell.
2.7
•   Graphic Writer with a Star SG-10 − If you can have one complaint
about Graphic Writer (apart from the manual) it’s the printer support. I
own a Star SG-10 and am trying to let Graphic Writer use it to the full.
The Star has an NLQ character set, but this cannot be combined with any
other text style except underlined. So what I want is to adapt the
printer driver so that it would normally print NLQ and for the other
effects resort to draft printing. For this, I used the Printcon program
and gave the following codes:
2.7
Initialisation:
2.7
ESC “@”
2.7
ESC “G”
2.7
ESC “4”
2.7
Which resets the printer, turns on double-strike (gives better bold, but
you may omit it) and NLQ. Make sure the printer is in IBM mode.
2.7
For configuration (leave the rest the same as a FX80):
2.7
Plain:     27,70,27,52
2.7
Bold:      27,53,27,69
2.7
Italic on: ESC “I”,1
2.7
Italic off:ESC “I”,0
2.7
Note that the input routine of the printcon program doesn’t accept two
“ESC” sequences on one line, but it accepts two 27’s. The italic codes
are different from an FX80. In fact, FX80 compatibility turns out to be
somewhere in between the “Star” and “IBM” modes of the Star SG-10. The
trick is the plain and bold codes. When Graphic Writer finds a “Bold”
code it now also sends an NLQ-off code to the printer, which in effect
makes the printer print in draft, emphasized and double-strike, the
latter being already set at initialisation. (Yes, it is confusing, isn’t
it?!) This makes it possible to mix NLQ, bold and italic-bold in the
text. However, you can’t use italics or super/subscript without bold.
These just print in normal NLQ.
2.7
The same method should apply to other printers which can’t do everything
in NLQ.
2.7
Another tip on Graphic Writer is that you should always make any graphic
as big as possible, i.e. use the whole graphic area, however small you
want the picture to be. This makes page composition a lot easier and
also causes less problems with distortion when rescaling.
2.7
•   Interrupt module − The interrupt module by Steve Hoare (Archive 2.6
p44) is very useful especially, as he states in his article, with First
Word Plus for creating directories etc. However there is a problem
associated with *interrupt 0. This is that the pound key also generates
ASCII 0 (a bug in OS1.2 I think) which means that every time you type a
‘pound’, the interrupt module takes over and opens up the OS window.
However, <ctrl-O> is unused by First Word Plus, so I use *interrupt 15
instead.
2.7
The module also comes in handy when using a comms program to check on
filenames, *type logfiles etc, but there is an enhancement that I think
would make it more useful still. While in the OS window, it is possible
to type <ctrl-Z> to open up the text window to the full screen which is
handy, but on exit (in a WIMP program) only the top half of the screen
is restored. If the source code could be modified to issue a redraw
request for the whole screen it would be an improvement. Having looked
at the code, it should be easy to do. Any offers?
2.7
•   Memory shortage on Logistix and First Word Plus − To get round the
‘out of memory’ snag which seems to turn up so often with First Word
Plus and Logistix, if you have the 1.20 PC emulator, use the PC.PC
startup routine first and then, instead of using the MS.DOS disc, insert
Logistix instead and <reset>. <Ctrl-break> will then autoboot Logistix
with a whole 275k of memory free to use.
2.7
•   Mitsubishi Disc Drives − Here are a number of points to bear in
mind, writes Vic Budd, when adding external disc drives. If, after
considering these, you feel competent to carry out the work, go ahead.
If not, it is prudent to entrust the work to an experienced operator to
avoid frustrations and disappointments.
2.7
There are different circuit board layouts, but the basic checks on the
drives are the same.
2.7
1.   Remove link MS if made and change to adjoining position MM.
2.7
2.   Remove link IU if made and discard it. On some drives there is no
removable link. However, there is a circuit board foil link, DI, near
the data cable edge connector, which is connected to pin 2, and this
should be cut in these instances.
2.7
3.   Move drive selector link to position 1, 2 or 3 according to which
command you wish it to respond. (This assumes that the internal drive is
to be 0).
2.7
4.   The resistor pack should be in place. On some drives this consists
of a single plug-in IC type device, whilst on others there is a row of
DIL pins which should have shorting links inserted.
2.7
5.   Make sure the data cable is correctly orientated − it will need to
be at 180 degrees compared to the three and a half inch drive
connectors.
2.7
6.   If, as I do, you wish to run a second three and a half inch
external drive and a five and a quarter inch drive, the connecting cable
will, of course, need to be turned through 180 degrees to connect the
drives together.
2.7
7.   If you decide to use the Archimedes’ power supply, check the
connections carefully before attaching the cable connectors, making
quite sure you do not get the 12v and 5v leads confused.
2.7
If you do all these things correctly, you too should have no problems
with the Beebug lead and will be able to access drives A, B and C under
the PC Emulator, as well as 0,1, and 2 under ‘native’ Archimedes.
2.7
•   Moving the pointer when it is not linked to the mouse can be greatly
simplified by using the POINT TO x%,y% command which does exactly what
is needed (note that you must unlink the pointer from the mouse first
with MOUSE ON 129). Details are in the User Guide and under HELP POINT.
Having looked at the relevant part of the PRM, it appeared to be
impossible to do this, so I decided to have a rummage around in the
BASIC module. This resulted in the discovery of some undocumented calls!
Basically these are extensions of OSWORD &15 whereby putting &05 instead
of &03 at R1+0 causes the pointer position to be set instead of the
mouse position (see PRM p.133). Also, values of &04 and &06 appear to
read the mouse and pointer positions respectively, though the code to
read the mouse position contains a fatal bug in Arthur 1.2 and cannot be
used! In theory it might be possible to patch it with a copy of the
UtilityModule in RAM but this module refuses to be RMKILLed. Martin
Simmons
2.7
•   Problems with *UP − If you are having problems (as expressed in the
Help Section last month) with *UP or the use of ^ in a pathname, it is
probably because of a bug in the ADFS. The problem occurs when a
directory is renamed. The ADFS does not seem to keep track of it
properly. The solution, apparently, is to do a *COMPACT on the disc.
2.7
•   Repton 3 again (Philip Armstrong) − I’ve got a few more comments on
Repton 3. Firstly I hope that no one saved the new characters and maps
onto the original disc. I have found that occasionally, the maps have
been corrupted and thus rendered impossible. If you find a screen that
you can’t do then check it with the original version. For those people
that can’t get to grips with the array of different characters, create a
second disc with all the files using a standard set of characters. This
makes the screens easier to complete. I have included on the monthly
program disc, the new characters that I use. They are not brilliant, but
a distinct improvement on the original set. Superior Software only state
that characters and maps cannot be used for commercial exploitation, so
it is OK for us to distribute in this way. There is also a simple
program to merge maps and my characters. Also, if you cannot stand the
tune that accompanies the loading program of Repton, then change *tune1
to *tune0 in the “config” file.
2.7
Here is a list of Passwords for Repton 3. Sorry it’s not complete, but I
do have other things to do. If anyone can do screen E of WORK
(p=scratch), I’d be pleased to hear from them because it looks imposs
ible and I have checked it against the original. I suspect a transporter
has been defined wrongly.
2.7
A   Prelude   B   Rescind   C   Periwig   D   Mortify      E   Forsake
F   Gratify   G   Thistle   H   Spangle
2.7
A   Toccata   B   Nocturn   C   Liberal   D   Inspect      E   Delight
F   Botanic   G   Vitriol   H   Sacking
2.7
A   Finale   B   Yardarm   C   Zealous   D   Without      E   Aviator
F   Elderly   G   Juniper   H   Crimson
2.7
A   America   B   Herbage   C   Kitchen   D   Outcast      E   Quarter
F   Untwine   G   Tremble   H   Strange
2.7
A   Arctic   B   Kinetic   C   Gondola   D   Lozenge      E   Rotunda
F   Frontal   G   Younger    H
2.7
A   Orient   B   Organic   C   Armhole   D   Visible   E   Neglect   F
Biplane   G   H
2.7
A   Oceans   B   Distain   C   Mundane   D   Eclipse   E   Warning   F
G   H
2.7
A   Africa   B   Quickly   C   Zigzags   D   Closely   E   Panoply   F
Bonfire   G   H
2.7
A   Baby   B   Startle   C   Measles   D   Granite   E   WhimperF
Cushion   G   Alimony   H   Utensil
2.7
A   School   B   Qualify   C   Knicker   D   Dynamic   E   Tendril   F
Lanyard   G   Vinegar   H   Yaskmak
2.7
A   Teenage   B   Eternal   C   Whisper   D   Feather   E   Rhubarb   F
Jasmine   G   H
2.7
A   Work   B   Inverse   C   Parapet   D   Elegant   E   Scratch   F   G
 H
2.7
A   Oap   B   Jackdaw   C   Rupture   D   Archery   E   Figment   F
Natural   G   Tonight   H   Brigade
2.7
A   Prehist   B   Dormant   C   Mineral   D   Varnish   E   Dashpot   F
Lobelia   G   Upright   H
2.7
A   Egypt   B   Lobster   C   Tabloid   D   Achieve   E   Gristle   F
Deceive   G   Scalpel   H
2.7
A   Victori   B   Earnest   C   Pervade   D   Violent   E   Bashful   F
Magnify   G   Wrought   H   Horizon
2.7
A   Now   B   Charity   C   Funeral   D   Justify   E   Naughty   F
Isolate   G   Radical   H
2.7
A   Future   B   Primate   C   Mustang   D   Iterate   E   F   G   H
2.7
•   Shared C Library − Users of release 2 of ANSI C might like to know
how to use the Shared C Library which is included on the disc but which
does not seem to be documented in the User Guide. Normally, the AOF
file, generated by compiling the C source, is linked with the C ANSI
library file, $.ARM.CLib.O.AnsiLib. This produces an image file which
can be executed directly by *RUNning it. This image file tends to be
quite long as large port-ions of the C ANSI library are incorporated in
it.
2.7
On the C disc, is a file called $.Library.CLib which contains the C ANSI
library in the form of a relocatable module. The interface between the
user program and this Shared C Library module is a small file called
$.ARM.CLib.O.Stubs which simply defines each ANSI library function as a
SWI which is then recognised by the library module.
2.7
As an example of the use, try the following. Mount your working copy of
the C disc and enter directory $.ARM.CBench. Now compile the source file
C.HelloW using the -c option so as not to invoke the linker:
2.7
*CC HelloW -c
2.7
Now link the resulting AOF file with the Stubs library:
2.7
*Link -o HelloW O.HelloW $.ARM.CLib.O.Stubs
2.7
Next load the Shared C Library module:
2.7
*RMLoad $.Library.CLib
2.7
And finally run the program:
2.7
*Run HelloW
2.7
Note that an image file generated in this way is not truly stand-alone
as it needs the Shared C Library module to be loaded in order for it to
run (but then again many programs need the Floating Point Emulator to be
loaded in order to run). A big advantage is that the image file is very
much smaller than it would be if it had been linked with the ANSI
library in the normal way. One can envisage several C programs multi
tasking under RISC-OS, sharing the resources of the Shared C Library.
2.7
It should be noted that the Arthur-specific functions declared in the
ArthurLib header file are not incorporated in the Shared C Library. If
your program uses these functions you must include
$.ARM.CLib.O.ArthurLib at the linking stage. So try the following:
2.7
*CC Balls64 -c
2.7
*Link -o Balls64 O.Balls64 $.ARM.CLib.O.Stubs $.ARM.CLib.O.ArthurLib
2.7
*Run Balls64
2.7
Provided the Shared C Library module is loaded, the program should run
normally. John Morley
2.7
•   Sprite Animation − There have been many articles relating to the use
of Sprites on the Archimedes. These have covered the use of PLOT &ED,X,Y
to display a Sprite in its defined colours at point (X,Y) and the use of
a Mask to allow a background to appear through the ‘unused’ parts of a
sprite. They have also shown the use of Exclusive OR plotting using GCOL
11,0 to allow the sprite to be moved over any coloured background.
2.7
The EOR solution to this last problem, of moving a multi-coloured sprite
over a multi-coloured background, does work, but unless a great deal of
thought is given to palette selection, the sprite does not retain its
defined colour during movement.
2.7
Many games will require the facility to define a sprite in specified
colours, with a mask and to move it still retaining those colours rather
than those produced by EOR.
2.7
A solution is to use the standard Move/Display/Erase in a loop but not
to use EOR. The following algorithm does this :
2.7
1   Define the sprite ‘MySprite’ with a mask (using SEDIT on the Welcome
Disk).
2.7
2   Determine the size of ‘MySprite’. This may be known but a SYS call
does it for you.
2.7
LOOP
2.7
3   Determine the position where ‘MySprite’ is to be plotted.
2.7
4   Grab a sprite ‘Temp’ from the screen at this position the same size
as ‘MySprite’.
2.7
5   Plot ‘MySprite’ with the mask.
2.7
6   Plot the grabbed sprite ‘Temp’ to ERASE ‘Mysprite’.
2.7
ENDLOOP
2.7
The following program demonstrates this :
2.7
 10 REM > SpritePlot
2.7
 20 REM Copyright Ian Smith
2.7
 30 REM March 1989
2.7
 40
2.7
 50 REM An example program to show
2.7
 the use of sprites moving
2.7
 60 REM across a multi coloured
2.7
 background by grabbing an area
2.7
 70 REM of screen as a sprite and
2.7
 then using it to overwrite the
2.7
 80 REM moving sprite.
2.7
 90
2.7
100 MODE 15  :REM Works in other
2.7
 modes
2.7
110 T$=“Temp”  : REM Will be the
2.7
 sprite grabbed from screen
2.7
120 M$=“MySprite”  : REM A masked
2.7
 sprite created with SEDIT
2.7
130 *SLOAD !Sprites
2.7
140
2.7
150 SYS &2E,40,,T$ TO ,,,W,H :REM
2.7
 Find size of sprite to grab
2.7
160       : REM W)idth and H)eight
2.7
170 PROCDrawBackground  : REM Draw
2.7
 a Multicoloured background
2.7
180 PROCTitle:REM and put titles on
2.7
190
2.7
200 REPEAT
2.7
210  REM ****** MOVE ******
2.7
220  MOUSE X,Y,B
2.7
230  SYS &2E,16,,T$,1,X,Y,X+W*2,
2.7
Y+H*4  : REM Grab sprite
2.7
 from screen
2.7
240
2.7
250  OSCLI(“SCHOOSE ” + M$ ) :REM
2.7
 Select original sprite
2.7
260
2.7
270  REM ****** DISPLAY ******
2.7
280  GCOL 8,0 :REM Now plot it with
2.7
 its mask
2.7
290  PLOT &ED, X,Y   :REM at the
2.7
 mouse position
2.7
300  PLOT &ED,900,800  : REM and
2.7
 display it in rectangle
2.7
310
2.7
320  WAIT:WAIT  : REM Synchronise
2.7
 output
2.7
330
2.7
340  OSCLI(“SCHOOSE ” + T$) :REM
2.7
 Now plot the grabbed sprite
2.7
350
2.7
360  REM ****** ERASE ******
2.7
370  GCOL 0,0
2.7
380  PLOT &ED,X,Y : REM at the same
2.7
 place
2.7
390  PLOT &ED,1000,800  :REM and in
2.7
 its rectangle
2.7
400 UNTIL B=7      : REM 3 buttons
2.7
 terminates
2.7
410 END
2.7
420
2.7
430 DEF PROCDrawBackground
2.7
440 GCOL 3 : RECTANGLE FILL 0,0,
2.7
300,300 : REM Just a
2.7
 couple of
2.7
450 GCOL 4 : RECTANGLE FILL 50,50,
2.7
50,50 : REM rectangles and
2.7
460 GCOL 12:CIRCLE FILL 800,400,200
2.7
: REM circles
2.7
470 GCOL 5 :CIRCLE FILL 600,300,100
2.7
480 OSCLI(“SCHOOSE ” + M$)
2.7
490 PLOT &ED,75,90 : REM and the
2.7
 sprite
2.7
500 ENDPROC
2.7
510
2.7
520 DEF PROCTitle
2.7
530 GCOL 1
2.7
540 RECTANGLE 900-2,800-4,W*2+4,
2.7
H*4+8 :REM Draw rectangles
2.7
550 RECTANGLE 1000-2,800-4,W*2+4,
2.7
H*4+8 : REM in which sprites
2.7
560 PRINT TAB(53,2);“S P R I T E S”
2.7
  : REM are displayed
2.7
570 PRINT TAB(52,3);“original
2.7
 grabbed“
2.7
580 PRINT TAB(0,1);“SPRITE
2.7
DEMONSTRATION : use mouse
2.7
 to move sprite“
2.7
590 ENDPROC
2.7
Comments on the program
2.7
PROCDrawBackgound sets up a background to move over.
2.7
PROCTitle puts text and a couple of rectangles on the screen
2.7
150   uses a SYS call to find the Width and Height of ‘MySprite’. This
is needed so that the right size ‘Temp’ can be grabbed. (See PRM pp
429,433.)
2.7
230   grabs the sprite from the screen using a SYS call. Note the *2 and
*4 to compensate for screen MODE 15. You’ll need to change this for
other resolution modes.
2.7
250   selects ‘MySprite’
2.7
280   selects the Mask Plot option GCOL 8.
2.7
290   plots the sprite at the Mouse selected point
2.7
300   plots the sprite in a rectangle to show its original colours.
2.7
340   selects ‘Temp’
2.7
380   plots ‘Temp’ effectively erasing ‘MySprite’
2.7
390   plots ‘Temp’ in its rectangle. The effect of 390 has an interest
ing side-effect. When you run the program move the sprite over the
rectangle! See what happens!
2.7
The program ‘SpritePlot’ and the sprite file ‘!Sprites’ are on this
month’s disk but you can use the program by keying it in and also
creating a masked sprite in mode 15 using SEDIT and saved as !SPRITES.
2.7
The program can obviously be modified to run in other modes. The flicker
on the sprite could be removed by modifying the program to plot only if
the mouse has been moved. Ian Smith
2.7
•   Star-Trader Cheats − Here are some ideas and cheats for
‘StarTrader’. It is an excellent game, all the more impressive when you
consider it is written in BASIC!
2.7
Load the main game and enter the EDIT editor. (The main game file is
‘$.Resouces.StarTrader. StarTrader’.) You can alter as many as the
following as you like to make the game a bit easier to get into;
2.7
Line 290 change to: SUN=1 for a SunBurst
2.7
   DEATH=1 for a DeathBlossom
2.7
   CELL=1 for a super energy cell
2.7
   ENG=3 for the most powerful engines (Note ENG=2 & ENG=1 are available
as well)
2.7
   NUMPT=10 for the number of photon torpedoes. Having 10 doesn’t spoil
the display!
2.7
Line 390 change CRD to the number of credits you want (STDA is the
stardate)
2.7
Line 420 change MAXHOL to the size of the hold you want fitted.
2.7
Note: DAMCAP is used in Line 13570 to calculate the remaining hold
capacity.
2.7
PRC() holds the value of each of the tradegoods you are carrying CTOTAL
is the total weight of cargo you are carrying at the moment (also used
in 13570)
2.7
The messages you occassionally get when transporting down to a planet
are held in code. If you want to see them, then type the following
changes in immediate mode.
2.7
LOAD “StarTrader”
2.7
DELETE 0,39349
2.7
DELETE 39560,39580
2.7
DELETE 39640
2.7
DELETE 39650,39690
2.7
39351 DIM CMG$(20)
2.7
39554 FOR T=0 TO  20
2.7
39651 NEXT
2.7
PROCCLUE (If <ctrl-B> is used first, the messages can be sent to a
printer.)
2.7
There is a 50:50 chance of getting a clue on any planet landing. 16
messages have a 95% chance of being called, the other 4 messages only
5%. The rumour sends you to a randomly chosen planet! Some messages are
tradehints, some are adverts for other games(!) and a couple are very
useful clues to the solution of the puzzle.
2.7
The planets on which the segments are found and the code are chosen at
the creation of the universe stage. RUN the game, then immediately save
it. TYPE in CHEAT4 to get a list of planet numbers where the segments
are. CHEAT4 also prints out the code letters. These are held in the
array ZTX()
2.7
 10 REM >CHEAT4
2.7
 20 DIM PKLR(800),GR(800),ANAME$
2.7
(800),TYP(800),SS(800),PO(800)
2.7
,STARSS(120),PX(120),PZ(120), PC(9),SP(9),PRC(13), UNI(120,12),ZTX(8)
2.7
 30 BB=OPENIN(“:1.xxxxx”):REM
2.7
 change xxxxx to name of
2.7
 SaveGame file
2.7
 40 INPUT# BB,SUN,DEATH,CELL,ENG,
2.7
 FS, PS,SS,AS,PTD,PSD,DAMCAP,HD, TE,NUMPT,PE,EPS,STDA,CRD,PN,SY
2.7
 50 FORT=1TO800:INPUT# BB,PKLR(T),
2.7
 GR(T),ANAME$(T),TYP(T), SS(T),PO(T):NEXTT
2.7
 60 FORT=1TO120:INPUT# BB,SARSS(T)
2.7
 ,PX(T),PZ(T):NEXTT
2.7
 70 FORT=1TO9:INPUT# BB,PC(T),SP(T)
2.7
:NEXTT
2.7
 80 FORT=1TO13:INPUT# BB,PRC(T)
2.7
:NEXTT
2.7
 90 FORZ=1TO119
2.7
100 FORT=1TO12:INPUT# BB,UNI(Z,T)
2.7
:NEXTT
2.7
110 NEXTZ
2.7
120 FORT=1TO8:INPUT# BB,ZTX(T)
2.7
:NEXTT
2.7
130 CLOSE# BB
2.7
140 FOR LOOP=1 TO 9:PRINT PC(LOP),
2.7
SP(LOOP)’:NEXT:REM planets
2.7
150 FOR LOOP=1 TO 8:PRINTCHR$(64+
2.7
ZTX(LOOP)):NEXT:REM code
2.7
You get a nice fanfare when you collect a segment. The percentage
chances reported during a scan can be as low as 45% or as high as 90% on
a planet which actually has a segment.
2.7
If you have two drives, it is quite easy to use drive 1 as the GameSave
drive (as in the program above). Just change (input$) in Lines 3770,
4020 and 4050 to (“:1.”+input$). Dave Kent
2.7
•   TV output from Archimedes? − It is possible to connect a TV to an
Archimedes, though only in monochrome and via a video.  Connect a wire
(co-ax) from a phono plug plugged into the Archimedes mono video socket
to pin 20 (centre core of Co-ax) and any one of the many 0V lines (i.e.
connect the braid screen to 0V) on a SCART plug. This means that it only
works on video machines with a SCART socket on them (if no SCART socket,
then connect to VIDEO IN via a phono or BNC plug). This also means that
you can make demo videos and stuff by taping the pictures. Sound can be
connected to pins 2 and 6, I think, never tried it! (See Archive 2.2 p
6)  Does anyone now how to convert the Archie mono out to colour?
Plugging the Archie SCART cable to the video doesn’t work! Oliver
Cornes.
2.7
•   Using First Mail − At first, I regarded First Word Plus as a very
ordinary word processor. The need to keep reformatting with <f12> seemed
to be a step backward. However First Mail changes the picture for me.
Here are one or two ideas on how to use First Mail for handling ordinary
day-to-day cor-respondence.
2.7
I “merge from” a file carrying my letterhead. In fact I have a few
different letterheads for different purposes. In addition to the
letterhead my “from” file has the following First Mail commands:
2.7
longdate
2.7
input “address file?”, address
2.7
input “text file?”, text
2.7
includefile dat.address
2.7
Dear
2.7
includefile doc.text
2.7
includefile dat.address
2.7
(The bits in italic that should be in light type. It is not obvious
which the light bits should be; but see the note on p. 206 of the First
Word Plus manual.)
2.7
The system asks me for an address file and then a file containing the
text of the letter, both of which it merges with the letterhead. The
second printing of the address comes after a hard page break. Since I
specify pauses on page breaks, this allows me to remove the letter from
the printer and replace it with the envelope (or sticker) for the second
address to be printed on that. I can cancel this when I do the draft
copy, which I keep for my own files. I save my letter texts in the doc
directory and addresses in the dat directory. This allows me to use the
same name for both if that is more convenient.
2.7
Incidentally I use a brother daisywheel for most of my letter quality
printing; and I have configured the driver to print my letterhead in
bold red. A nice feature of First Word Plus is that you can have several
drivers for the same printer if you give them different names. Not only
that, but with a daisy-wheel you can have two configurations on the same
driver by making the NLQ configuration different from the draft
configuration, though of course, the terms draft and NLQ will have no
real meaning for a daisywheel.
2.7
There are some errors in the Brother driver supplied, by the way; so
check with the manual, especially if you are Danish or are in the habit
of using some of the more obscure symbols. The First Word Plus manual is
a bit vague about full pathnames, too. For instance, to install a
different default printer you have to type, say,
2.7
*copy 1wp.cfg.epson_fx resources.
2.7
1wp.1wp_print
2.7
I find the First Word Plus file window most useful for exploring discs.
If you click on the window exit symbol you get the parent directory.
Clicking on a directory name in the window lists that directory in the
window as well as selecting it in the directory slot. Glyn Emery.
2.7

2.7
We begin a new section this month to help you get to grips with RISC-OS.
When you buy RISC-OS, you get a disc full of information from software
houses (see list below) about how to get their software running under
RISC-OS, but I suspect that because RISC-OS is so new, there will be
lots for us all to learn − hence this column.We really need a volunteer
to be the editor of this corner − someone to whom I can send all the
info and who will then collate it, check it and regurgitate it to me
(preferably via Eureka II for speed). Anyway, Mike Harrison, Matthew
Treagus, Keith Milner and Ting Kuei start us off.
2.7
•   Flashing screens − I’ve just got hold of the release RISC-OS User
Guide and noticed that it does not seem to mention the fact that in
modes 21, 24 and 28, the screen blanks when accessing floppies, due to
the high DMA rate. I’m sure many dealers will get calls from worried
users who think that fitting RISC-OS has damaged their machine because
of the screen flashing on and off!
2.7
•   Logistix − Logistix users must replace the Floating Point Emulator
in the Library of the Log-istix Disc (version 2.50) with the later one
which is supplied with RISC-OS, i.e. FPE version 2.60. It can also be
found on the ABC Compiler Disc. If this is not done Logistix, will not
run correctly.
2.7
•   TWIN − If, like me, you are annoyed at the delay in loading TWIN
when editing programs, especially with BASIC using TWINO8, make an Obey
file that does the following :
2.7
Set Run$Path Ram:,<Run$Path>
2.7
Copy Twin Ram:Twin f~c
2.7
(Ensure that your configured RamFS size is big enough first!). After
running this, Twin will be instantly loaded from Ram Disk. You can of
course also include in the file a *Key command to define your favourite
function key to call Twin, e.g.
2.7
 Key 1 |UTWINO8|M
2.7
For BASIC. The |U deletes any crud which may have been on the command
line before you hit <f1>.
2.7
•   Virsuses on RISC-OS!!! − I wonder how many people will look at this
in panic. Don’t worry. There is a virus on RISC-OS, even before it is
released, but it is totally harmless. In fact it is quite fun. First, a
brief description of how most viruses work:
2.7
Most business machines load their operating system from disk. So, in
order to ‘virus’ one of these machines, the offending program just
becomes part of the operating system in some way. It copies itself onto
other discs with operating systems on and soon every copy of the OS you
have is “infected”.
2.7
On a sensible computer, such as the Archimedes(!) the operating system
is on ROM, and cannot be altered! Thus if someone decides to write a
virus program, once it is detected, turning the machine off will remove
it. It is, however, possible to install a virus on other files on disc.
This is much more difficult to do, is easier to detect and easier to
remedy. For instance, the !BOOT file is a common file to be found on a
disc, and a virus could conceivably attach onto this, although it would
be very difficult since every !BOOT file is different.
2.7
I will not disclose how the RISC-OS virus installs itself as it will
only encourage people to write viruses. I will say, however, that once
detected, it is ((very simple)) to remove it with no after effects. If
the virus (which actually originates from Acorn!) appears on your disc,
not much actually happensÉ or at least it appears that way. You are
using the desktop as normal and suddenly, a small fish appears on the
screen and swims across, behind all the windows, leaving a trail of
bubbles which rise to the top of the screen and disappear. Several more
fish swim backwards and forwards on the desktop until the machine is
reset. This virus is totally harmless, the only ill effect is to use up
a bit of processor time! In fact, I have installed it deliberately as it
is quite relaxing!
2.7
Another virus we have heard of is the FF8 virus which adds itself to
filetype FF8 files. It displays a message and prevents the affected file
from running on the 13th of the month.This it is a real pain if you are
not careful, i.e. if you forget to turn the computer off before running
a new program!  There is a detector program available (downloadable from
area 2 on Eureka II) but it will only check for the existence of the
virus and will not destroy it.
2.7
•   Manuals − Q: When RISC-OS is available, does it mean that the
manuals I purchased are outdated or will Acorn publish a cheap edition
to add to it?
2.7
A: The bulk of the PRM remains correct, however there is a wealth of
brand new information and a new PRM will be out in due course, probably
in three volumes!
2.7
The following firms have provided help on RISC-OS compatibility. The
information is on the Support Disc that comes with RISC-OS.
2.7
Abacus Training Ltd
2.7
Ace Computing
2.7
Acorn Computers Ltd
2.7
AVP Computing
2.7
Cambridge Micro Systems Ltd
2.7
Clares Micro Supplies Ltd
2.7
Colton Software
2.7
Dabs Press
2.7
Dixon and Dixon
2.7
Emmerich (Berlon) Ltd
2.7
GEM Electronics
2.7
Intelligent Interfaces Ltd
2.7
Institute of Ophthalmologists
2.7
Lendac Data Systems Ltd
2.7
Lingenuity (Lindis International Ltd)
2.7
Magenta Research Ltd
2.7
Maze Technology
2.7
Meadow Computers
2.7
Minerva Systems Ltd
2.7
Mitre Software Ltd
2.7
Oak Professional Software Ltd
2.7
Silicon Vision Ltd
2.7
Watford Electronics Ltd


•   Floppy programs on hard discs − Here’s the best method I’ve come
across of getting floppy programs to run on a HD machine. You need two
FFF type files (or Obey if you want) One called ‘Floppy’ should contain:
2.8
*CON. Drive 0
2.8
*CON. NoBoot
2.8
The other called Hard should be:
2.8
*CON. Drive 4
2.8
*CON. Boot
2.8
If you put these in the library you can then
2.8
*Floppy
2.8
<ctrl-break>
2.8
<shift-break>
2.8
do whatever else
2.8
<ctrl-break>
2.8
*DIR :4
2.8
*hard
2.8
<ctrl-break>
2.8
(This assumes you have a !Boot on your hard disc.) Martyn Lovell
2.8
•   Head alignment problems? − If you are getting disc errors and
suspect that the problem might be head alignment, one way of confirming
this is to use the disc copier program that you will find on Share-ware
N¼2. The program does a check of the whole disc to find bad sectors. If
one of the heads is misal-igned, you will probably find that all the bad
sectors reported are on one or other of the heads. Then it’s time to
take it off to your local dealer for repair.
2.8
•   Hearsay − If you need to change modem baud rates with ATB3 or ATB0
after calling one remote system and before calling another, you can do
so by using a dial prefix in the modem driver edit screen by putting
“ATB3D” or “ATB0D” as appropriate.
2.8
•   Matrix Procedures and Functions − This was prompted by Steve Drain’s
article in Archive 2.1 p.17 where he stated that a numerical method for
the inverse of a square matrix needs a good guess of the inverse and
uses the transposed matrix as a starting point. His excellent program
has been timed to invert a 20 x 20 matrix to 1 part in 10^9 in approx-
imately 10 seconds.
2.8
A good guess or even a desirable result can be ob-tained by a procedure
described below. It calculates an inverse of 20x20 matrix in about 280
centisec-onds giving an error in the non-diagonal elements of the
identity matrix of less than 1 part in 10^6.
2.8
The method used is based on the following. The matrix M to be inverted
is premultiplied by its transposed M‘, giving M’M. The result is
decomposed in a lower triangular matrix L satisfying the identity
LL’=M’M. Then I, which is the inverse of L, can be determined in a
straight forward way. Matrix I’I thus equals the inverse of M’M, and
finally I’IM‘ gives the result wanted. This is correct as can be seen
when premultiplying a vector x by M giving a vector v, and solving for
x.
2.8
Mx=v ==> M’Mx=M’v==> LL’x=M’v ==> I’ILL’x=I’IM’v ==> x=I’IM’v
2.8
In fact, this is the least square solution for vector x, i.e. r
equations with c unknown variables ( r>=c ) are solved using the
criterium that the sum of the squares of the deviations to a solution of
vector x obtains a minimal value.
2.8
The program presented below uses PROC lst_sq_inv to determine the
‘inverse’ Mi of any matrix M. If M is a square matrix then MiM = E and
also MMi = E, E being the identity matrix. As an ‘extra’, the determi
nant of the square matrix M can easily be calculated. To my knowledge
the method is numerically very stable.
2.8
 10 REM >Matrix_Inv
2.8
 20 :
2.8
 30 *********************************
2.8
 40 REM Inverting an arbitrary matrix
2.8
 50 REM E.D. Engelhardt, March 1989
2.8
 60 *********************************
2.8
 70 :
2.8
 80 REM *** Generate random matrix M,
2.8
 col% columns and row% rows
2.8
 90 CLS
2.8
100 PRINT‘“ Inverting an arbitrary
2.8
 matrix“‘
2.8
110 REPEAT:INPUT“ Rows            :
2.8
 “row%:UNTIL row%>0
2.8
120 REPEAT:INPUT“ Columns <= rows :
2.8
 “col%:UNTIL col%<=row% AND col%>0
2.8
130 CLS:PRINT‘“ Rows    : ”STR$row%
2.8
‘“ Columns : ”STR$col%
2.8
140 row%-=1:col%-=1
2.8
150 DIM M(row%,col%)
2.8
160 FOR r%=0TOrow%:FOR c%=0TOcol%:
2.8
M(r%,c%)=RND(1)*SGN(0.5-RND(1)) :NEXT:NEXT
2.8
170 :
2.8
180 start%=TIME
2.8
190 :
2.8
200 REM Determine the ‘least square’
2.8
 inverse Mi of M. Result : Mi.M is equal to the identity matrix E.
2.8
 If rows = cols also M.Mi = E.
2.8
210 :
2.8
220 DIM Mi(col%,row%):PROClst_sq_inv
2.8
(M(),Mi())
2.8
230 end%=TIME
2.8
240 :
2.8
250 PRINT‘“ Time(centisecs) : ”;
2.8
STR$(end%-start%)‘’
2.8
260 :
2.8
270 PROCprint
2.8
280 END
2.8
290 ————————————————-300 DEFPROClst_sq_inv(R(),Ri())
2.8
310 REM Ri is ‘least square’ inverse
2.8
 of R, i.e. Ri.R = E (identity                matrix). If rows = cols
also
2.8
 R.Ri = E.
2.8
320 REM Dimensions R(v%,h%),Ri(h%,v%)
2.8
 ==> v% : rows , h% : columns
2.8
330 REM E.D. Engelhardt, March 1989
2.8
340   :
2.8
350 LOCAL RtR(),L(),I(),v%,h%,c%,r%,t%
2.8
360 v%=DIM(R(),1):h%=DIM(R(),2)
2.8
370 DIM RtR(h%,h%),L(h%,h%),I(h%,h%)
2.8
380 :
2.8
390 REM Determine transpose of R
2.8
400 FOR r%=0 TO v%:FOR c%=0 TO h%:
2.8
Ri(c%,r%)=R(r%,c%):NEXT:NEXT
2.8
410 :
2.8
420 REM Calculate square matrix to be
2.8
 inverted
2.8
430 RtR()=Ri().R()
2.8
440 :
2.8
450 REM Calc lower triangle L of RtR
2.8
460 FOR c%=0 TO h%:FOR r%=c% TO h%
2.8
470   L(r%,c%)=RtR(r%,c%):t%=c%-1
2.8
480   IF t%>=0 FOR t%=t%TO0STEP-1:
2.8
L(r%,c%)=L(r%,c%)-L(r%,t%)*
2.8
L(c%,t%):NEXT
2.8
490   IF r%>c% THEN L(r%,c%)=L(r%,c%)
2.8
/L(c%,c%) ELSE L(r%,c%)=SQR L(r%,c%)
2.8
500 NEXT:NEXT
2.8
510 :
2.8
520 REM If R is square (rows = cols)
2.8
 its determinant equals the product of the diagonal elements of L. The
determinant of RtR equals the
2.8
 square of the determinant of L.
2.8
530 :
2.8
540 REM Invert triang matrix L to I
2.8
550 FOR c%=0 TO h%:FOR r%=c% TO h%
2.8
560   FOR t%=c% TO r%-1:I(r%,c%)=
2.8
I(r%,c%)-L(r%,t%)*I(t%,c%):NEXT
2.8
570   IF r%>c% THEN I(r%,c%)=I(r%,c%)
2.8
/L(r%,r%) ELSE I(r%,c%)=1/L(r%,r%)
2.8
580 NEXT:NEXT
2.8
590 :
2.8
600 REM Determine transpose L of
2.8
 inverse triangle I
2.8
610 FOR r%=0 TO h%:FOR c%=0 TO
2.8
 h%:L(c%,r%)=I(r%,c%):NEXT:NEXT
2.8
620 :
2.8
630 REM Inverse matrix of R is Ri
2.8
640 RtR()=L().I():Ri()=RtR().Ri()
2.8
650 :
2.8
660 ENDPROC
2.8
670 ————————————————-680 DEFPROCprint
2.8
690 VDU 14
2.8
700 PRINT“ ******** Elements Matrix”‘
2.8
710 FOR r%=0 TO row%:FOR c%=0 TO
2.8
 col%:PRINT M(r%,c%):NEXT:PRINT:NEXT
2.8
720 PRINT“ ******** Elements inverse
2.8
 Matrix“‘
2.8
730 FOR r%=0 TO col%:FOR c%=0 TO row%
2.8
:PRINT Mi(r%,c%):NEXT:PRINT:NEXT
2.8
740 DIM E(col%,col%)
2.8
750 E()=Mi().M()
2.8
760 PRINT“ ******** Elements of
2.8
 Inverse_Matrix.Matrix“‘
2.8
770 FOR r%=0 TO col%:FOR c%=0 TO col%
2.8
:PRINT E(r%,c%):NEXT:PRINT :NEXT
2.8
780 VDU 15
2.8
790 ENDPROC
2.8
•   Repton 3 − There is a bug in screen E of WORK, so to get past it,
you will need to know the next password which is COUNTER.
2.8
•   Three floppies under Arthur − Here is a solution to the problem of
three floppies on the desktop (Archive 2.7.12). Enter the following in a
file called ‘Desktop’ in the library directory, use *BUILD or a text
editor such as Twin to enter it.
2.8
*BASIC
2.8
LOAD “DESKFS:DeskTopMgr2”
2.8
11 OSCLI “DESKFS”
2.8
12291 IFfloppies%>2 THEN PROCsys_
2.8
addtoiconbar_left(“floppy2”,
2.8
“disc3.5”,&301A,icon_fgcol,
2.8
icon_bgcol, icon_width%)
2.8
28600 DEFFNselect_floppy2
2.8
28610 =0
2.8
28620 DEFFNmenu_floppy2
2.8
28630 PROCsys_definetextmenu
2.8
(“floppy2”,“floppy :2”,“Format”)
2.8
28640 =0
2.8
28650 DEFFNaction_floppy2
2.8
28660 =FNfilehandler_open_dir
2.8
(“-adfs-:2”,“Floppy :2”,0)
2.8
28670 DEFFNmenuselect_floppy2
2.8
28680 CASEitem0% OF
2.8
28690 WHEN0: PROCfilehandler_
2.8
formatfloppy(“2”)
2.8
28700 ENDCASE
2.8
28710 =0
2.8
RUN
2.8
When you wish to use the three floppy version of the desktop, instead of
typing *DeskTop, enter */DeskTop, this will ensure that the upgrade
program in the library directory is run instead of activating the
desktop in the normal way.
2.8
Unfortunately, there is no way of permanently updating the desktop so
that you can power up into the desktop with three floppies since it is
held in ROM which obviously cannot be changed.
2.8
If you wish to power up in the desktop with three floppies then you
could do the following:
2.8
*Configure Boot
2.8
*Configure Language 0
2.8
and setup a !Boot file as follows:
2.8
*/Desktop
2.8
ensure that when you switch the computer on, your boot disc is in drive
0 (or your default drive as configured with *Configure Drive) and the
desk top will appear after a short delay.
2.8
N.B. No damage will be caused to the disc in powering up with the disc
in the drive since the latch will be across the disc surface and the
disc heads not in contact with the disc surface.
2.8
The other solution is to upgrade to RISC-OS which can support up to four
floppies! Darren Jackson
2.8
•   Zarch − To put Zarch onto a hard disk, use....
2.8
*UNPLUG SoundChannels
2.8
*ZARCH
2.8
When error occurs type the following,
2.8
*RMREINIT SoundChannels
2.8
*SAVE :4.ZARCHcopy 8000+20800
2.8
*BUILD :4.ZARCHgo
2.8
LOAD ZARCHcopy
2.8
MEMORYA E1AC E1A0F00E
2.8
CHANNELVOICE 1 6
2.8
CHANNELVOICE 2 7
2.8
CHANNELVOICE 3 8
2.8
CHANNELVOICE 4 9
2.8
GO 1FF30
2.8
Then press <escape>. Type ZARCHgo to run the copy from hard disk. Tony
Porter
2.8

2.8
First Word Plus Extended Dictionary
2.8
I was asked to review the First Word Plus Extended Dictionary which is
available from Science Frontiers. It seems unfair to review it in only
one paragraph, but Paul’s maxim is, “Space in Archive is at a premium,
so say what is worth saying as briefly as possible, then shut up!”
(Well, that’s the jist of what I say! Ed.)
2.8
First Word Plus Extended Dictionary comprises an 80,000 word dictionary
which replaces that in the Acorn package, and three specialized
supplementary dictionaries covering computer terms, geographical
locations and Christian names. It is an entirely competent package,
though necessarily not the most fascinating in content. If you need more
words in your dictionary, buy it, but if you need to work with large
documents, do not load it, as bigger dictionaries do take up more space.
2.8
FWP Extended Dictionary costs £6.95 (£6.50 from Archive) and is produced
by Science Frontiers.
2.8
From FWP to DTP?
2.8
Although it is not strictly the business of the First Word Plus column,
I took a good look at the Desktop Publishing program when visiting the
Acorn stand at the Which Computer? Show. It should be available a few
weeks after RISC-OS and is reported to be “finished” and about to go
into production. However, it was apparently not the “finished” version
at the show. My informant assures me that the production version will be
even better, which should certainly be good indeed. Even the present
version has a ‘secret’ feature which is quite impressive and even Apple
cannot match it.
2.8
<ctrl−A> Solution?
2.8
I have discovered why my “<ctrl-a> makes a bleep” modules reported in
Archive 2.5 p. 18 absolutely refused to work: the answer is on the top
of page 34 of the Programmer’s Reference Manual: never use OS_WriteC
routines when you have intercepted an interrupt. The solution (but don’t
hold your breath) is to insert a <ctrl-g> into the input buffer. This
works absolutely perfectly − except in FWP, where it is interpreted as a
call to read the ruler!!
2.8
No-one else has produced a solution which actually works, so the small
prize is still unclaimed.
2.8
Shareware disk N¼6
2.8
We get a lot of enquiries about printer drivers. The problem is that we
do not have that many different kinds of printer, so cannot help much.
Besides, printer drivers are (however necessary and satisfactory a
solution they may be) a pain and a bore, except when they are to drive
the printer you use. I am trying to compile a disk of all the contrib
uted “goodies”, especially printer drivers and related information and
ideas. If you have a contribution, please let me have it in the next
couple of weeks. We have printer drivers for: Taxan-Kaga KP810 = Canon
PW 1080; Citizen 120; Epson LX800 and LQ500; Star LC10 and NL10;
Panasonic KXP1080; H-P DeskJet. Quite a few of these have interesting
variants and associated ideas which may be useful for doing the special
things you want to do with your printer.
2.8
Once the shareware disk is available, printer driver enquiries will be
at the bottom of the pile!
2.8
(Mike sent me a pre-release version of this which I published as
Shareware N¼6, thinking it was the finished article. Ooops! We will
continue to supply N¼6 as it is and then offer free up-grades when the
final version is ready. Sorry about that! Ed.)
2.8
Two related matters
2.8
•   If you get the monthly disk, you will probably have installed the
IntModule from Steve Hoare (Archive 2.6, p. 44), and you will agree with
me that it is quite the best thing that has happened to First Word Plus
since its launch! I am sure that my life-expectancy has been increased
by being able to access the “*” commands we all love (and hate). If you
have not installed it, copy the IntModule to your 1st Word startup disk,
then modify !boot by adding lines 23 and 26 as follows:
2.8
23 *rmrun IntModule
2.8
26 *Interrupt 15
2.8
Now if you press <ctrl-o>, the screen goes bright blue and gives you a *
prompt. Create your directories, mount disks or whatever, then just *
<return> and you are back. Wonderful. If you do not get the disks, more
fool you, this one was worth a year’s subscription, but it will be on
the proposed “shareware” disk.
2.8
•   Just who do you think we are? Not very different from you is the
answer, I guess. I suspect that most of the contributors to Archive are
either people who enjoy computers as a hobby which can be useful, people
who use computers as part of their work, but are not professionals in
computing, or students or teachers of computing. I am actually a vet.
who does human genetics and immunology research, approaching fifty, bald
and paunchy! The point is, please do not expect too much from us/me. I
actually took this column on when a broken collar-bone got in the way of
decorating! Sadly, bones healÉ
2.8
Two quickies
2.8
•   If you have more than one sprite in a file, FWP only loads the first
sprite.
2.8
•   There is a funny bug in the spelling list : FABRICATION is flagged
as wrong, but it appears when you browse. To add confusion, when you ask
to guess, it comes up with faArication, which is unbrowsable!! Thanks to
Colin Garlick. A review of letters received earlier reveals that the
problem is more widespread than this: Kenneth Gardner rep-orts that the
same (?) bug affects fable, fabric, -ate, -ated, -ation, fabulous, -ly,
fab, haar, maar, nascelle, oaf, zag. Kenneth provides more data on
making merged supplementary dictionaries, but the problem is obviously a
bug. Over to you Acorn!
2.8
FWP and RISC-OSÉ
2.8
The support disk which comes with RISC-OS has the necessary instructions
for conversion and the files. It is in the Acorn directory.
2.8
It may be easier to have Edit installed and the mode set to 0 before you
start. Then you can have a decent RAMfs space for the copied files
(assuming you do not have two drives). You can keep the instructions in
sight this way.
2.8
Éand the IntModule
2.8
It is all quite smooth, but if you want the splendid IntModule facility
to give you access to the OS, it is a bit more complicated. Edit has no
“load” command. You load things by grabbing their icons and dropping
them on the installed Edit icon. But it is not obvious how to get at the
“Obey” files in the !1stWord+ directory from the desktop. The secret is
to hold down shift while clicking on the !1stWord+ directory. You should
be a bit careful about what you do, so make a backup before mucking
about. Now edit it as follows:
2.8
a)   (This is most important.) Rename the !Run file you got from the
Support Disc as, e.g. !RunAcorn.
2.8
b)   Insert tthree lines before that beginning “run” (next to last) (the
third line is optional − it turns the caps lock off)
2.8
rmload $.intmodule
2.8
interrupt 15
2.8
fx202,48 REM
2.8
c)   Save as !Run
2.8
d)   Check that the file type is obey. If not, get an OS prompt by
pressing f12 on the desktop and “Setfiletype !run obey”.
2.8
e)   Remember to copy IntModule onto the disk in directory $.
2.8
It should work, accessing the OS when <ctrl-O> is pressed, though I get
a white border around the top and right after going to the OS but it
seems to go away, though.
2.8
I suspect there are a few missing twiddly bits about ensuring that the
correct directory names are used, so I still have some reading to do.
More next month!
2.8
It also happens that you can edit obey files in FWP, and further, FWP is
not squeemish about loading the “Obey” files from an application
directory. If you do this you will certainly have to set the filetype.
2.8
First Mail
2.8
Here are a couple more tips on 1st Mail from Glyn Emery:
2.8
Mail merging normally means sending the same, or very slightly differ
ent, letters to a number of recipients. I recently had occasion to turn
this process on its head and send several different letters to the same
recipient; but I found 1st Mail up to the task. The occasion was that I
had to write reports on a batch of candidates, which, for the conveni
ence of his filing system, I prepared in the form of a batch of separate
letters all addressed to the administrator involved. To print them I
prepared a “merge from” file as follows:
2.8
read text
2.8
display “text letter started”
2.8
includefile letterhead
2.8
includefile dat.administrator
2.8
Dear Mr Administrator
2.8
includefile doc.text
2.8
Yours sincerely
2.8
display “letter finished”
2.8
repeat
2.8
“text” here is used as a 1st Mail keyword. The file “letterhead”
incorporates the date. I put a hard page break just before the repeat
command to make the sheet-feeder on my printer pick up the next piece of
A4. The “display” commands were put in during development and proved to
be too confidence-giving to be deleted. The file dat.administrator is
the administrator’s address.
2.8
The reports, together with a covering letter were prepared as separate
files; and a datafile was prepared listing the file names. This was
saved in the dat. directory, not forgetting to switch off WP mode before
saving it. If you don’t switch off WP mode the merge tends to “hang”. I
don’t know why.
2.8
The second point is that I have incorporated Steve Hoare’s IntModule
(Archive 2,6 p44) into the libraries of my letter-writing discs.
Unfortunately Steve’s suggestion to use <ctrl-@> does not quite work for
me, because the £ key seems to return ASCII 0 in the First Word Plus
context, presumably in order that different codes for £ can be included
to satisfy different printers. Steve, being in America, probably had no
occasion to notice this. What I did in the end was to include
2.8
*RMLoad %.IntModule
2.8
*Interrupt 205 1stMail
2.8
into the startup program for First Word Plus, and
2.8
*RMLoad %.IntModule
2.8
*Interrupt 205 1stWord+
2.8
into the startup program for 1stMail. I can then use the “insert” key to
toggle between the two, and save quite a lot of keystrokes in doing so.
Notice that I had to use % in the RMLoad command but not in the
Interrupt command because % appears in my Run$Path but not in my
File$Path.
2.8
An interesting application for FWP
2.8
Dave Livsey
2.8
Those of you who, like me, have to report on the progress of large
numbers of individuals of various levels of ability (i.e. teachers!) and
are the proud possessors of an Archimedes and First Word Plus now have
the means to reduce the increasingly onerous task of reporting, imposed
by the introduction of ‘records of achievement’ (ROA). (If you do not
have First Word Plus, or something better, you deserve all the hard work
you have to do!) Using First Word Plus, it is fairly easy to set up a
‘Mail merge’ which will print out the documents required for the ROA.
2.8
The clue to doing this lies in the example mail-merge letter on the
First Word Plus disk. As with most problems, there are probably many
(or, at least, a few) different solutions − this is one. I hope it will
help reduce your load as much as it has mine!
2.8
In all that follows, the underlined words below are supposed to be in
light type which I am unable to print in Elite type. The page numbers
refer to the First Word Plus handbook.
2.8
In outline, you will need to set up four files: a command file, a data
file, a file containing the com-ment bank and the ‘main’ file (which
corresponds to the letter in the mail-merge example).
2.8
The command file (called ‘command’): This needs to contain the informa
tion which indicates the location of the data file (see below), any
individual input to the ROA document (‘input’ typed in ‘light’ type
p.165 − 169 ) and a reference to the basic form as an ‘includefile’
statement. The WP mode can be left switched on when creating this file
and saving it.
2.8
The data file (‘formdata’) must be created in the dat. directory and
contains only the data you wish to be inserted into the final document
as it is printed and is simply a list of names (firstname, secondname),
sex (He/She), tutor group (or Form, or whatever cockeyed system your
educational establishment has decided to inflict on you), date and any
other required information. As pointed out in the handbook, each item of
data must be separated from the next by a comma. There is also a problem
of commas in an item of data but this is catered for by enclosing them,
as explained on p.165. A specimen layout could be as shown :
Fred,Bloggs,He,4Z,Nov 1988,Swahili
2.8
Note that the data fields are comma separated fields and may include
spaces (p.165). This file must be created in non-WP mode and the mode
left switched off when saving; ignore the pop-up reminder which appears
when you try to save the file.
2.8
The comment bank file (‘ROA’), obviously, contains all the comments
which you may wish to make about any group of students. Each comment is
prefixed by a suitable identifier e.g. K1. In order to be able to use
these comments, each identifier must be set up as a keyword (p.163) by
preceding it with ‘setval’ in light type e.g.
2.8
setval K1, “name1 is a complete idiot when it comes to practical work.
sex is a complete liability as sex has 11 thumbs on two left hands.”
2.8
Note the <,> and the <“>. I found that it was easier to type the comment
with the WP mode switched on and then to switch the WP mode off and move
all the text onto one line. The WP mode was then switched on again as
the document does not print out correctly otherwise.
2.8
The setval definition seems to need all the text on one line but as this
can be 160 characters long, that is not too much of a problem. These
definitions can also contain key words, in light type, for insertions
from the data file into the final document. This is useful as it means
that you can specify he or she along with the name in the data file.
N.B. Changing the ruler turns off the ‘light’ type causing the defini
tions and insertions to be ignored in the final print-out.
2.8
The final file (called ‘form’); the document you are going to print,
contains very little other than keywords spaced out as is appropriate
for your ROA. The first line must be a read statement which, being a
keyword is in light type. Following this is a list of fields in ordinary
type and in the same order as in the data file. The rest of the file is
mainly spaces preceded by a keyword placed where you want your printing
to be done. Eg.
2.8
read name1,name2,sex,date,tutor, subject (reads from ‘formdata’)
2.8
name1, name2 tutor subject date
2.8
includefile ROA (this reads in the comment bank)
2.8
name1 K1 (prints “Fred is an idiot .....”)
2.8
sex C3 (prints in the comment on comprehension)
2.8
sex I1 (prints in the comment on intelligence) etc.
2.8
This file will, of course, need the WP mode swit-ched on in order to
retain all the formatting infor-mation which is necessary for the
automatic form-atter to work when insertions are made in the text.
2.8
The ROA is printed out by clicking on ‘form’ and ‘formdata’ (from the
doc. directory) using the mail-merge facility on the First Word Plus
disc. Full details of this are given in the Handbook.
2.8
Font Fiddling on First Word Plus
2.8
Reg Dalton (& Steve Bass)
2.8
Reg tells us the saga of creating character sets for First Word Plus and
his NEC P2200. A sample printout is shown opposite, and the programs and
printer drivers are on the program disc and downloadable from Eureka II.
2.8
In an earlier edition of Archive (1.12 p 7) was printed a short routine
to convert the extra fonts, supplied on the Master Welcome disc, from
BBC to Archimedes format. On the face of it, this looked as if it would
be a useful little routine but there was a problem; only half of the
character set was defined. i.e. characters 32 to 126. My friend Steve,
in his wisdom, decided that one of the fonts (7by8) looked very good
with First Word Plus and decided to redefine the rest of the characters
to match the ones already done.
2.8
The next step in the story was when I foolishly mentioned that it would
be quite simple to set up First Word Plus to utilise the IBM graphics
available in one of the alternative character sets within the printer we
both had (NEC P2200). We then decided that redesigning the fonts using
the Master was not the way to do this, mainly because the fonts would
then have to be converted to Archimedes, so we converted the CHARDES
program, which was mainly in BASIC, to a form that would save fonts in
the correct format and also run with the Archimedes mouse.
2.8
The problem of modifying the program to work on the Archimedes was not
too difficult by even an amateur programmer’s standards but to make it
save the font in its correct form for the Archimedes proved more
problematical. A number of abortive attempts were made to rewrite the
save font routine but each time nothing was achieved except making the
computer’s character set look like hieroglyphics. Eventually, it all
fell into place and we had a working program.
2.8
We then decided that a program for transposing characters within the
character set itself might not be a bad idea. This was written fairly
speedily, but then the next task was to create the printer driver for
First Word Plus. This marathon is usually achieved by modifying an
existing wordprocessor/printer driver file, which involves changing the
relevant values for the various functions listed within the file, e.g.
superscript, subscript, nlq etc. After this fairly simple part comes the
task of entering all the codes to achieve the extra characters which
cannot enter from the keyboard. For characters 32 to 127 this was
obviously quite simple as all that was needed in this instance was each
character’s number, but it was soon noticed by both of us that the
characters between &80 and &9F (decimal 128 to 159) were not defined by
the existing list. After an abortive attempt to define these characters,
and failing to get them to install, it was decided that we would have to
discard 32 (yes a whole 32) of the characters so lovingly designed by
Steve.
2.8
Notes on the font fiddling programs
2.8
(These refer to programs on the monthly disc.)
2.8
1   !BOOT is the program for interchanging the position of the
characters.
2.8
2   After running the above program, the Acorn Character Designer
Program (modified for use on the Archimedes), Chardes_C, can be entered
and 1 above repeated as many times as necessary.
2.8
3   The modified Printer driver for 1WP is in the CFG directory.
2.8
4   The modified Printer driver hex file for 1wp is in the HEX
directory.
2.8
5   Before booting the disc, the font style to be modified must first be
loaded e.g. by using *NEC_Afont.
2.8

•   External drive hang-ups −  If you have an external 5.25“ drive
configured and it is not kept on-line (i.e. it is switched off) then the
machine hangs up if the ADFS is searching for a named disc which is not
in drive 0 at the time that the command was issued, e.g. when attempting
to copy file(s) from one 3.5” disc to another. The solution appears to
be either always have the external drive switched on, or to configure it
out of the system during periods when it is switched off.
•   GWBASIC to BBC BASIC − I wanted to convert a GWBASIC program to a
BBC BASIC one, but both BASIC’s store programs with the keywords
tokenised. Therefore I needed the equivalent of the *SPOOL command. The
answer seems to be that from GWBASIC either:
SAVE “filename”,A
or
LIST ,“filename”
Both give a version of the listing which, when ported across via
putfile, can be *EXEC-uted.
•   Mouse problems − I had a problem with my mouse. Sometimes when I
moved the mouse down, the pointer moved UP. At other times it worked
perfectly. I tried everything − including measuring the electronics
inside the mouse, and inside the keyboard, adjusting the sensitivity and
cleaning the inside and outside of the mouse. Finally I discovered that
the problem was a broken wire in the cable out from the mouse. Odd
Bakken
2.9
•   NEC multisync modifications − With a NEC multisync II monitor, I
found that the horizontal width of the picture was not optimal. There
was a black border on each side of the picture and, in modes 18-20, the
picture was even smaller, making the letters a little hard to read. I
called the local dealer and got a copy of their service manual. You can
adjust the horizontal size with coil L505. I got some improvement by
removing the core of the coil but not enough. So I shorted the coil
completely (after consulting the dealer, who said it would not harm the
monitor). By doing this I got a 10% wider picture. (I still have the
distortion of the top lines in mode 18-20.) Odd Bakken
2.9
•   OS_PrettyPrint − There has been very little in the literature about
the use of OS_PrettyPrint to avoid word wraparound in, for example, the
preparation of instruction notes at the beginning of a program. (You can
use SYS &44 instead of writing the full command). All that is needed is
a simple BASIC program such as :
2.9
   10 SYS &44,“<Block of words>”
2.9
   20 PRINT;“ ”;:REM Insert space
2.9
or    20 PRINT:REM New Line
2.9
   30 SYS &44,“<Continuation of
2.9
 text>“
2.9
   40 PRINT;“ ”;       etc.
2.9
The text in line 30 continues from the point where it ended in line 10.
Unfortunately the OS command strips the leading and trailing spaces from
the block of text. The PRINT statements are therefore necess-ary to
separate the end of the text in line 10 from the beginning of the text
in line 30 or to force a new line. The word block length has the
standard BASIC line limitation which amounts to roughly three lines of
text in the 80 chars/line modes. The command works in any mode and by
judicious placing of PRINT and COLOUR statements you can have sections
of the text or even single words in colour.
2.9
•   Pipedream and the LC10 − To print in colour on a Star LC 10 colour
printer, if Pipedream is config-ured with a printer driver which
includes the follow-ing codes, the various printing styles available on
the Star LC 10 C can be selected when the printer is switched on, and
printed in colour.
2.9
      On   Off   Description
2.9
   H1   27 114 1   27 114 0   Red Text
2.9
   H2   27 114 2    27 114 0   Blue Text
2.9
   H3   27 114 3   27 114 0    Violet Text
2.9
   H4   27 114 4   27 114 0   Yellow Text
2.9
   H5   27 114 5    27 114 0   Orange Text
2.9
   H6   27 114 6   27 114 0   Green Text
2.9
•   Pipedream line spacing − (Colton Software’s reply to a request for
1.5 line spacing on Pipedream) Pipedream knows only integral line
spacing; single, double etc, but the line spacing on the printer can be
set independently by sending out some codes with the printer-on string
(PON). For example, PON       ESC “2” would give 1.5 line spacing on
Epson compatible printers.
2.9
•   Multi Sync Owners! Out here in New Zealand, the average multisync
monitor costs about £60 more than the standard Acorn monitor. As a
result around 60-80% of Archimedes owners have multisync’s. I haven’t a
clue as to why they are so much dearer in the U.K. but suggest that
someone somewhere is making a great deal of money! Most of the programs
available don’t provide a multisync option which is a real shame as that
extra 256 pixels make all the difference. I’ve tried to convert some
programs but haven’t had much luck except for Render Bender.
2.9
To convert Render Bender proceed as follows:
2.9
Make a new backup of your Render Bender System Disc. Label it “Render
Bender Modes 15 & 21” or somesuch. Enter BASIC and load the main program
“!RENDER.RENDER”. Change or add the following lines.
2.9
   60 DIM loadadd &F100,sb1%32*1023
2.9
:org=loadadd+&A100
2.9
 2550 XRES=640:YRES=256:SC%=100:
2.9
 DES=1000:IND=1.5:SKYCOL=13
2.9
:SKYDEP=600:AVE=1:SHAD=1:SHGR=0
2.9
 2950 IF YRES=256 AND SCRADD%<=
2.9
&1FB0000 YRES=512:PROCbox
2.9
(17,16,14,2,“HIGH*RESOLUTION”
2.9
,14,0):ENDPROC
2.9
 2960 YRES=256:PROCbox(17,16,14,2,
2.9
“LOW*RESOLUTION”,14,0):ENDPROC
2.9
 3981 IF RES=320 THEN XRES=640:
2.9
YRES=256
2.9
13590 vars!xlim=XL:vars!ylim=YL
2.9
:vars!reso=XRES
2.9
14010 A$=LEFT$(name$,8):A$=A$+
2.9
STR$FILFR%:IF YRES=256 ENS%
2.9
=&28000 ELSE ENS%=&50000
2.9
14090 XL=XRES/SIZE%:YL=YRES/SIZE%
2.9
:PROCcoeffin
2.9
14110 IF YRES=256 MODE15 ELSE MODE21
2.9
14190 IF YRES=256 MODE15 ELSE MODE21
2.9
14280 XL=XRES/SIZE%:YL=YRES/SIZE%
2.9
:PROCcoeffin:SCROFF%=1
2.9
:PROCisflooron
2.9
14290 IF YRES=256 MODE15 ELSE MODE21
2.9
15150 IF YRES=256 PROCbox(17,16,14,2,
2.9
“LOW*RESOLUTION”,14,1)ELSE PROCbox
2.9
(17,16,14,2,“HIGH*RESOLUTION”,14,1)
2.9
11320 GCOL63 TINT 255:VDU5:IF
2.9
 YRES=256 PRINTTAB(0,31);“Click
2.9
 Mouse“ ELSE PRINTTAB(0,62);
2.9
“Click Mouse”
2.9
14380 GCOL63 TINT255:IFYRES=256
2.9
 PRINTTAB(0,31);“Time taken ”;
2.9
:PROCtime(TI) :GCOL 25:PRINT;
2.9
“ Click mouse” ELSE PRINTTAB(0,62);“Time taken ”; :PROCtime(TI):GCOL 25:
2.9
PRINT;“ Click mouse”
2.9
SAVE “:0.$.!RE*.RENDER”
2.9
Then to modify the Picture Compressor
2.9
$.!RE*.UTIL*.PICCOMP
2.9
*BASIC
2.9
*LOAD :0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.PICCOMP 8F00
2.9
*ACCESS :0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.PICCOMP WR
2.9
!&90C0=&E3520015
2.9
!&90C4=&03A0B805
2.9
!&92F0=&E3500015
2.9
!&92F4=&03A08805
2.9
*SAVE :0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.PICCOMP 8F00+534
2.9
*SETTYPE :0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.PICCOMP &FFA
2.9
To modify the Animator
2.9
*BASIC
2.9
LOAD“:0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.ANIROUT”
2.9
140DIM buff &50000,DUM 1:anipo%=DUM
2.9
+&6000:PROCboot:!anipo%=0
2.9
1371IF !mode=21 length%=&50000
2.9
2251IF MODE=21 length%=&50000
2.9
SAVE “:0.$.!RE*.UTIL*.ANIROUT”
2.9
Finally to get Render Bender going you need a new startup file
2.9
*BUILD :0.$.Rend21
2.9
*ECHO <22> <21>
2.9
*SET RENDER :0.$.!RENDER
2.9
*set OBEY$DIR adfs::0.$.!RENDER
2.9
*set FROM$DESK 0
2.9
*SET RendHard1 adfs::4.$.GRAPHICS.
2.9
!Render \ or your path here
2.9
*SET HardRoot $
2.9
*RMLOAD <RENDER>.Utilities.FSLOAD
2.9
*RMLOAD <RENDER>.Utilities.PicComp
2.9
*BASIC <RENDER>.START
2.9
<Escape>
2.9
*SETTYPE :0.$.Rend21 &FFE
2.9
Then to run Render Bender using:
2.9
*CO. SCR. 320K
2.9
<ctrl-break>
2.9
*:0.$.Rend21
2.9
All this is supplied on the monthly program disc as a series of exec
files so to modify Render Bender you just do this (where <comment>=just
that!)
2.9
<insert Render Bender Disc>
2.9
LOAD“:0.!RENDER.RENDER”
2.9
<insert program disc and *MOUNT or
2.9
 use winnie>
2.9
*EXEC Rendermods.RendMods
2.9
<insert Render disc and *MOUNT>
2.9
SAVE “:0.$.!RENDER.RENDER”
2.9
LOAD “:0.!RENDER.UTIL*.ANIROUT”
2.9
<insert my disc and *MOUNT or use
2.9
 winnie>
2.9
*EXEC Rendermods.AniMods
2.9
<insert Render disc and *MOUNT>
2.9
SAVE “:0.!RENDER.UTIL*.ANIROUT”
2.9
COPY Rend21 across to $ <On Render
2.9
 Disc!>
2.9
*WIPE $.!RE*.U*.PICCOMP F~C <get rid
2.9
 of old PicComp>
2.9
COPY PicComp across to $.!RENDER.
2.9
UTILITIES <On Render Disc!>
2.9
then you should be ready to go!
2.9
•   Eigenvalues of a matrix − The following program is meant for readers
who are interested in the determination of eigenvalues of a matrix. It
is based on the idea that the eigenvalues of a matrix do not change by a
similarity transformation. Decomposing a square, symmetric matrix S in
its lower and upper triangular forms (L and U respectively satisfying
LU=S) gives a new matrix UL having the same eigenvalues as S, since UL =
(U^−1)ULU. It can be proved that by repeating this process, a matrix is
obtained containing zero elements, except for the eigenvalues residing
on the main diagonal.
2.9
Consider an arbitrary matrix M, having a number of rows equal to or
greater than its number of columns. Then M’M (M‘ standing for transposed
of M) is a square, symmetric matrix having the same eigen-values as M.
Some of these values may equal zero indicating that the dimensionality
of M is smaller than its number of columns. Or in other words, the
matrix spans an x-dimensional space, where x equals the number of non-
zero eigenvalues of M.
2.9
  10 REM >Eig_values
2.9
  20 :
2.9
  30 ********************************
2.9
  40 REM Eigenvalues of an arbitrary
2.9
  50 REM matrix.  E.D. Engelhardt,
2.9
 March 1989
2.9
  60 ********************************
2.9
  70 :
2.9
  80 PROCinit
2.9
  90 :
2.9
 100 PROCmenu
2.9
 110 :
2.9
 120 PROCinput
2.9
 130 :
2.9
 140 start%=TIME
2.9
 150 PROCmain
2.9
 160 end%=TIME
2.9
 170 :
2.9
 180 PROCprint
2.9
 190 END
2.9
 200 ————————————————
2.9
 210 DEFPROCinit
2.9
 220 @%=&0A0A:CLS
2.9
 230 ENDPROC
2.9
 240 ————————————————
2.9
 250 DEFPROCmenu
2.9
 260 OFF
2.9
 270 PRINTTAB(31,12)“EIGENVALUES”‘
2.9
 280 PRINTTAB(27,14)“[1] Random matrix”
2.9
 290 PRINTTAB(27,15)“[2] Fixed demo
2.9
 5x4 matrix“
2.9
 300 PRINTTAB(27,16)“[3] Fixed demo
2.9
 4x4 matrix“
2.9
 310 ENDPROC
2.9
 320 ————————————————
2.9
 330 DEFPROCinput
2.9
 340 while=TRUE
2.9
 350 WHILE while
2.9
 360   CASE GET$ OF
2.9
 370   WHEN “1”:while=FALSE:ON
2.9
 380     REM Generate random matrix M,
2.9
 col% columns and row% rows
2.9
 390     REPEAT:
2.9
INPUT‘“ Rows            : ”
2.9
row%:UNTIL row%>0
2.9
 400     REPEAT:INPUT‘“ Columns
2.9
<= rows : “col%:UNTIL col%
2.9
<=row% AND col%>0
2.9
 410     CLS:
2.9
PRINT‘“ Rows       : ”STR$
2.9
row%‘“ Columns    : ”STR$col%
2.9
 420     row%-=1:col%-=1
2.9
 430     DIM M(row%,col%)
2.9
 440     FORr%=0TOrow%:FORc%=0TOcol%
2.9
 450       M(r%,c%)=RND(1)*SGN(0.5-
2.9
RND(1))
2.9
 460     NEXT:NEXT
2.9
 470     :
2.9
 480   WHEN “2”:while=FALSE:ON
2.9
 490     REM *** Fixed data for demo
2.9
 5x4 matrix having one zero
2.9
 eigenvalue
2.9
 500     CLS:PRINT‘“ Rows       : 5”
2.9
‘“ Columns    : 4”
2.9
 510     row%=4:col%=3:DIM M(4,3)
2.9
 520     M(0,0)=4:M(0,1)=3:M(0,2)=2:
2.9
M(0,3)=1
2.9
 530     M(1,0)=2:M(1,1)=4:M(1,2)=1:
2.9
M(1,3)=3
2.9
 540     M(2,0)=6:M(2,1)=7:M(2,2)=3:
2.9
M(2,3)=4
2.9
 550     M(3,0)=8:M(3,1)=11:M(3,2)=4:
2.9
M(3,3)=7
2.9
 560     M(4,0)=8:M(4,1)=6:M(4,2)=4:
2.9
M(4,3)=7
2.9
 570     :
2.9
 580   WHEN “3”:while=FALSE:ON
2.9
 590     REM Fixed data for demo 4x4
2.9
matrix having four eigenvalues
2.9
 600     CLS:PRINT‘“ Rows       : 4”
2.9
‘“ Columns    : 4”
2.9
 610     row%=3:col%=3:DIM M(3,3)
2.9
 620     M(0,0)=1.00:M(0,1)=0.42:
2.9
M(0,2)=0.54:M(0,3)=0.66
2.9
 630     M(1,0)=0.42:M(1,1)=1.00:
2.9
M(1,2)=0.32:M(1,3)=0.44
2.9
 640     M(2,0)=0.54:M(2,1)=0.32:
2.9
M(2,2)=1.00:M(2,3)=0.22
2.9
 650     M(3,0)=0.66:M(3,1)=0.44:
2.9
M(3,2)=0.22:M(3,3)=1.00
2.9
 660   ENDCASE
2.9
 670 ENDWHILE
2.9
 680 ENDPROC
2.9
 690 ————————————————-
2.9
 700 DEFPROCmain
2.9
 710 DIM Mt(col%,row%),MtM(col%,col%)
2.9
,E(col%)
2.9
 720 PROCtranspose(M(),Mt())
2.9
 730 PROCsquare_sym(M(),Mt(),MtM())
2.9
 740 PROCeigenvalues(MtM(),E())
2.9
 750 ENDPROC
2.9
 760 ————————————————-
2.9
 770 DEFPROCtranspose(R(),Rt())
2.9
 780 LOCAL v%,h%
2.9
 790 v%=DIM(R(),1):h%=DIM(R(),2)
2.9
 800 FOR r%=0 TO v%:FOR c%=0 TO h%:
2.9
Rt(c%,r%)=R(r%,c%):NEXT:NEXT
2.9
 810 ENDPROC
2.9
 820 ————————————————-
2.9
 830 DEFPROCsquare_sym(R(),Rt(),RtR())
2.9
 840 RtR()=Rt().R()
2.9
 850 ENDPROC
2.9
 860 ————————————————-
2.9
 870 DEFPROCeigenvalues(RtR(),EV())
2.9
 880 REM Eigenvalues are determined
2.9
 from R-transposed x R, using the property that eigenvalues do not
change by a similarity
2.9
 890 REM ***  transformation. Rt.R is
2.9
 decomposed in a lower and upper
2.9
 tri-angular matrix, Rt.R=LU. Then
2.9
 UL has the same eigenvalues as LU.
2.9
 900 REM Repeating this process
2.9
 iterates all non-diagonal elements              to 0, and the diagonal
elements
2.9
 to the eigenvalues.
2.9
 910 :
2.9
 920 REM E.D. Engelhardt, March 1989
2.9
 930 :
2.9
 940 LOCAL L(),U(),UL(),h%,c%,r%,t%,
2.9
repeat,max,iterations%
2.9
 950 h%=DIM(EV(),1)
2.9
 960 DIM L(h%,h%),U(h%,h%),UL(h%,h%)
2.9
 970 :
2.9
 980 PRINTTAB(1,30)“Iteration       : ”
2.9
 :REM This info may be left out
2.9
 990 :
2.9
1000 repeat=TRUE
2.9
1010 REPEAT
2.9
1020   iterations%+=1:PRINTTAB(13,30)
2.9
iterations%  :REM may be left out
2.9
1030   REM Calculate lower triangle
2.9
 L of RtR
2.9
1040   FOR c%=0 TO h%:FOR r%=c% TO h%
2.9
1050     L(r%,c%)=RtR(r%,c%):t%=c%-1
2.9
1060     IF t%>=0 FORt%=t%TO0STEP-1:
2.9
L(r%,c%)=L(r%,c%)-L(r%,t%)
2.9
*L(c%,t%):NEXT
2.9
1070     IF r%>c% THEN L(r%,c%)=
2.9
L(r%,c%)/L(c%,c%)
2.9
1080     IF r%=c% IF L(r%,c%)<0 THEN:
2.9
FOR t%=0 TO h%:L(t%,c%)=0:NEXT
2.9
1090     IF r%=c% L(r%,c%)=SQR L(r%,c%)
2.9
1100     IF r%=c% AND L(r%,c%)=0 r%=h%
2.9
1110   NEXT:NEXT
2.9
1120   :
2.9
1130   PROCtranspose(L(),U())
2.9
1140   :
2.9
1150   REM Matrix similar to RtR (ie
2.9
 having same eigenvalues) is UL
2.9
1160   UL()=U().L()
2.9
1170   :
2.9
1180   REM Determine if diagonals of
2.9
 RtR and UL are equivalent
2.9
1190   t%=0
2.9
1200   REPEAT
2.9
1210     IF UL(t%,t%)<>RtR(t%,t%)
2.9
:repeat=FALSE
2.9
1220     t%+=1:IF t%>h% repeat=FALSE
2.9
1230   UNTIL repeat=FALSE
2.9
1240   IF t%<=h% repeat=TRUE:RtR()=
2.9
UL()
2.9
1250 UNTIL repeat=FALSE
2.9
1260 :
2.9
1270 REM Put eigenvalues smaller then
2.9
 non-diagonal elements to zero
2.9
1280 FOR t%=0 TO h%:UL(t%,t%)=0:NEXT
2.9
1290 FOR r%=1 TO h%-1:FOR c%=1 TO r%
2.9
1300   IF ABS UL(r%,c%)>max max=ABS
2.9
 UL(r%,c%)
2.9
1310 NEXT:NEXT
2.9
1320 FOR c%=0 TO h%
2.9
1330   EV(c%)=RtR(c%,c%):IF EV(c%)<=
2.9
max EV(c%)=0
2.9
1340 NEXT
2.9
1360 ENDPROC
2.9
1370 ————————————————
2.9
1380 DEFPROCprint
2.9
1390 VDU 14
2.9
1400 CLS:PRINT‘“ Rows       : ”STR$
2.9
row%‘“ Columns    : ”STR$col%
2.9
1410 PRINT‘“ Time(centisecs) : ”;STR$
2.9
(end%-start%)‘’
2.9
1420 PRINT“ ******** Eigenvalues : ”‘
2.9
1430 FOR c%=0 TO col%
2.9
1440   PRINT E(c%)
2.9
1450 NEXT:PRINT
2.9
1460 VDU 15
2.9
1470 ENDPROC

•   Partitioning hard drives − It is possible to partition hard drives
with less than 10 Mbyte. The answer is in the REM statements in the
Harddisc program on the PC disc. Change the A2080 in line 610 to any
multiple of &8800 (in hex). Details are given in the REMs.
•   Hearsay − We mentioned changing modem baud rates in H & T in May.
Philip Green sends us a way of doing this automatically suggested by
Alfons Tjin. Use a dial prefix in the modem driver edit screen of just
“AT” and then put B3D or B0D, as necessary, in front of the phone number
in the telephone directory.
•   Case sensitive system variables − Some readers have had problems
using the *SETMACRO Alias$ command. This is because system variables are
case sensitive i.e. you need to type: Alias$ not ALIAS$
•   Overload passwords:  A B BROS, CABBAGED, SLIPPERS, PREVIOUS,
PILLAGED, BOVERBOD, LAVATORY, CASSETTE, WHALEÊFM, EXTRACTS, STOPKETS
The following hints were sent in by Lorcan Mongey
•   ‘T’ Option in LDR and STR − Assembly language programmers may have
noticed that the Programmer’s Reference Manual mentions a ‘T’ option in
the description of the LDR and STR com-mands (page 608), but neglects to
say what it does. It is, in fact, used for setting the write-back option
and has exactly the same effect as ‘!’. Note that the *MEMORYI disassem
bler always disassembles pre-indexed write-back with ‘!’ and post-
indexed write-back with ‘T’, although you may use either form when
assembling. Bear in mind that post-indexed write-back always takes
place, regardless of the state of the write-back flag.
2.10
•   Bit patterns for LDR and STR − There is an omission in Appendix C of
the “ARM Assembly Language programming” book published by Com-puter
Concepts. Appendix C gives the bit patterns of the ARM instruction set,
but does not describe the ‘L’ bit of the ‘Single Data transfer’
instruction. This is the Load/Store bit: 0=store (STR), 1=load (LDR).
2.10
This description also applies to the ‘Block data transfer’ instructions
(STM and LDM).
2.10
•   BASIC restrictions − In BASIC II on the BBC B (and IV on the Master)
there were a number of restrictions which no longer apply to BASIC V on
the Archimedes, but have not been specifically mentioned in the
Archimedes User Guide. They are worth noting because they have probably
become ingrained in BBC B users who may not have realised that they have
been lifted.
2.10
1) You can now change MODE inside a procedure or function. This is
because the screen RAM is now completely separate from the program area.
2.10
2) The nesting limits of FOR, REPEAT and GOSUB (10, 20 and 26 respec
tively) no longer apply. Instead of a fixed limit, you can now nest
loops until you run out of RAM. I have successfully nested loops 15,000
deep and run a recursive procedure 30,000 levels deep! Strangely,
nesting GOSUBs too deeply is not trapped and will corrupt your program,
but this situation is unlikely to happen in practice.
2.10
•   BASIC errors − I have found four BASIC errors not listed in the User
Guide (Issue 2). They are:
2.10
11 No room for this dimension − An attempt was made to dimension an
array for which there was insufficient space.
2.10
25 Bad MODE − An attempt was made to select a screen mode for which
there is insufficient memory. More memory can be allocated by *CONFIGURE
SCREENSIZE.
2.10
37 No room for function/procedure call − An attempt was made to ‘nest’
too many function and/or procedure calls.
2.10
44 Too many nested structures − An attempt was made to ‘nest’ too many
FOR...NEXT, REPEAT...UNTIL and/or WHILE... ENDWHILE loops.
2.10
Note that 11 and 44 are covered in the Archimedes 400 series BBC BASIC
Guide.
2.10
•   Using FORTRAN 77 − The article on using FORTRAN 77 in Archive 1.7
included a sample subroutine showing how to access graphics from
FORTRAN. There are a number of problems with this subroutine. It can’t
cope with negative graphics coordinates (needed after an origin shift),
it sends a line feed to the screen when it is used, which can cause your
graphics to scroll upwards, and it uses an output channel which should
be kept free for file access. The following solves all the problems:
2.10
SUBROUTINE PLOT(K,X,Y)
2.10
INTEGER X,Y  I1=IAND(X,?IFF)
2.10
I2=ISHFT(IAND(X,?IFF00),-8)
2.10
J1=IAND(Y,?IFF)
2.10
J2=ISHFT(IAND(Y,?IFF00),-8)
2.10
PRINT 100,CHAR(25),CHAR(K),CHAR(I1),
2.10
CHAR(I2),CHAR(J1),CHAR(J2)
2.10
RETURN
2.10
100 FORMAT (6A1$)
2.10
END
2.10
This method masks out the unwanted bits and shifts the data into the
l.s.b., thus preserving the sign. It uses PRINT instead of WRITE,
avoiding the need for a channel number. The $ at the end of the FORMAT
statement suppresses the line feed. (No criticism of the original
authors is intended; my first attempt looked very similar!)
2.10
Included on this month’s program disc is Graph_ FOR, the FORTRAN source
of a set of graphics subroutines which provide a full set of VDU calls.
Some, like BELL for instance, are trivial, but others are more
complicated.
2.10
•   Printer conventions − Many people seem to have difficulty with
setting up the correct linefeed or non-linefeed for their printers for
different app-lications, so I.J. King has tried to explain it for usÉ
2.10
How the Archimedes deals with varying printer standards − Since there
are two standards for printers, the Archimedes has a mechanism to allow
it to cope with both. The standards in question affect the way the paper
is fed through the mechanism and there are two possible cases:
2.10
 A. Auto Linefeed: every time the printer receives a carriage return
character (code 13), it generates a line feed (code 10) to move the
paper up a line.
2.10
B. Non-Auto Linefeed: the printer does not gener-ate its own linefeed
characters but relies on the com-puter to send a linefeed after every
carriage return.
2.10
Most modern printers will actually have a switch to select either of
these modes, allowing them to be compatible with most computers, but
this is likely to be difficult to reach. The Archimedes will (in the
case of virtually all software) send a line feed after every carriage
return. To allow compatibility with printers in mode (A) above, it is
possible to tell the machine to ignore a particular code when sent to
the printer. By setting this to 10 (the code for line feed), no line
feeds will be sent to the printer and you are compatible with type (A)
printers.
2.10
This code is set up using the *IGNORE command, for example:
2.10
*IGNORE 10
2.10
To disable the trap altogether, simply enter *IGNORE on its own. Either
of these may be preceded by CONFIGURE to make the effect permanent, e.g.
2.10
*CONFIGURE IGNORE 10
2.10
The Archimedes is set up with a factory default ignore code of 10,
making the system compatible with type (A) printers when it arrives.
2.10
Problems arising when the protocol is ignored − The above should make
everything seem fairly simple and indeed it ought to be. However, some
software houses, notably GST and Grafox (i.e. First Word Plus and
Logistix) have chosen to ignore the sensible protocols described above
and override the *IGNORE status in such a way that they are only
compatible with type (B) printers, regardless of the setting of *IGNORE.
2.10
This means that the hapless user will have been forced to configure his
printer to be type (B) but will not have re-configured his Archimedes
since the software will override the settings and work anyway. They then
go out and purchase a correctly written package, such as System
DeltaPlus etc, and the result is a type (B) printer (generating no line
feeds) on a machine configured for a type (A) printer (and so sending no
line feeds) which results in no line feeds at all and the text all comes
out on the same line.
2.10
A subsidiary problem occurs in some cases, when reconfiguring the
Archimedes to work with type (B) printers, as is necessary if you wish
to use both First Word Plus/Logistix and other, correctly written,
software. The correct way to do this is to enter the command *CONFIGURE
IGNORE with no parameters, completely disabling the printer trap. It is
not correct to enter *CONFIGURE IGNORE 0 as this prevents code 0 from
being sent to the printer and may corrupt some graphics/font change
sequences used by certain software.
2.10
Conclusions − If you are using any package which overrides the Acorn
protocols for printer compatibility in the way described above and also
wish to use correctly written software (in my case, I use both Logistix
and System DeltaPlus), you should take the following steps:
2.10
1. Set your printer so that Auto Linefeed is OFF (usually a DIP switch).
2.10
2. Enter *CONFIGURE IGNORE
2.10
3. Press <ctrl-break> to reconfigure your machine.
2.10
This now only leaves us with one question − why are Acornsoft apparently
condoning this system of forcing the user to have a printer type
different from that for which the machine is configured by default?!
2.10
•   PC Emulator Star Commands (Response to query in Archive 2.5 p5) −
There is no need for a *Configure Floppies command from the PC emul-ator
when copying from one 3.5“ disc to another. You must understand the
distinction between log-ical and physical drives: logical drives are
known to the emulator as A, B, C, etc, and are mapped onto the physical
drives 0, 1, etc. It is possible to have more than one logical drive
assigned the same phys-ical drive. This is what happens when you have
your Archimedes configured for one floppy − the emul-ator maps logical
drives A and B onto physical drive 0 and, recognising this when you copy
from A to B, prompts for a disc change. If you have two floppies, the
emulator maps A and B onto 0 and 1 respect-ively. I use an external
5.25” 40/80 track drive on my Archimedes and my config.sys file, listed
below, illustrates the way around the problem.
2.10
device=driver.sys /d:0 /t:80 /f:2
2.10
device=driver.sys /d:1 /t:80 /f:2
2.10
device=driver.sys /d:1 /t:40 /f:0
2.10
device=driver.sys /d:1 /t:40 /f:0
2.10
files=20
2.10
buffers=10
2.10
The first four lines assign more logical drives (which the emulator
gives the letters C, D, E and F) to the physical drives 0 and 1. The
meaning of the parameters is:
2.10
/d: physical drive number
2.10
   (0 for internal, 1 for external)
2.10
/t: number of tracks on disc
2.10
   (80 for 720k and 40 for 360k)
2.10
/f: disc format
2.10
   (2 means 720k, 0 means 360k)
2.10
The first line assigns logical drive C to physical drive 0. You can now
copy from 3.5“ to 3.5” by using ‘copy a:x.dat c:’ and DOS will prompt
for a disc change. The second line maps logical drive D to physical
drive 1, enabling copying between 5.25“ 80-track floppies (copy b:x.dat
d:). The last two lines assign two 40-track drives (E and F) to physical
drive 1, allowing copying between 40-track 5.25” discs (copy e:x.dat f:)
in the same way.
2.10
You should be aware that loading all these device drivers will use up
some application workspace, leaving less for programs, so only install
them when you need them!
2.10
•   Three SWIs which are not mentioned in the Programmer’s Reference
Manual (Issue 1):
2.10
OS_AddToVector &47
2.10
OS_WriteEnv &48
2.10
WaveSynth_Load &40300
2.10
(WaveSynth_Load was mentioned but not ident-ified in Archive 1.8, p9)
2.10
Also, there is one SWI which seems to have been mis-spelled in the
Arthur 1.20 ROMs, namely:
2.10
Sound_QSDispatch &401C4
2.10
The ‘S’ between Q and Dispatch shouldn’t be there. If you refer to SWIs
by name rather than number then you must mis-spell this one in the same
way otherwise it won’t be recognised!
2.10
•   Infinite energy for ThunderMonk − J.R. Donaldson sent in this
program, which will alter your ThunderMonk disk to give you infinite
energy.
2.10
 10 REM > Thun_Cheat
2.10
 20 REM Joe Pineapples − Cool Assassin
2.10
 30
2.10
 40 DIM sector% &400
2.10
 50
2.10
 60 MODE 0
2.10
 70 PRINT “Please insert ThunderMonk
2.10
 disc and press a key.“
2.10
 80 G = GET
2.10
 90
2.10
100 PRINT ‘“Now loading relevant
2.10
 sector“‘
2.10
110
2.10
120 SYS “ADFS_DiscOp”,, 1, &C6400,
2.10
 sector%, &400
2.10
130
2.10
140 PRINT “Do you want to play
2.10
 (C)heat or Normal ?“
2.10
150 G = GET
2.10
160
2.10
170 IF G=ASC(“C”) OR G=ASC(“c”) THEN
2.10
180   sector%!&388 = &E59C0044
2.10
190   sector%!&38C = &E28000FE
2.10
200   sector%!&390 = &E58C0044
2.10
210   ELSE
2.10
220   sector%!&388 = &059C0044
2.10
230   sector%!&38C = &02400001
2.10
240   sector%!&390 = &058C0044
2.10
250 ENDIF
2.10
260
2.10
270 PRINT ‘“Now saving relevant
2.10
 sector“‘
2.10
280
2.10
290 SYS “ADFS_DiscOp”,, 2, &C6400,
2.10
 sector%, &400
2.10
300
2.10
310 PRINT “Change complete. Now use
2.10
 disc as normal.“
2.10
320 END
2.10
•   Thunder Monk passwords − the Thunder Monk passwords change from disc
to disc (or do they change from month to month? Ed), but they can be
found at address &4E400. Just find your level two password in the list
below and next two words will be used for levels three and four e.g. our
level two password is STEVES so the passwords for the next levels are
BIRTHDAY and MIDSUMMER.
2.10
SHIRT JUMPER WELLIES Y-FRONTS LOVERS HEARTS CUPID VALENTINE DANIEL AND
SIMONS BIRTHDAY JOKES SHOWERS FOOL SPRING POLE EXAMS SUNNY STUDY STEVES
BIRTHDAY MIDSUMMER WARMER HOLIDAYS MAJORCA SUNHAT HOTTER RESULTS FAILED
PASSED PISSUP SCORCHER RESTART SUNBURN ARCHIE SPOOK SHIVER HALLOWEEN
COOLING BONFIRE WEEEEEE FIREWORKS CHILLY CHRISTMAS HOLLY PRESENTS MERRY!
2.10
(D’you get the significance of the passwords?? Ed.)
2.10
•   View to FWP − When using the utility provided with First Word Plus
to convert View files, Robert Leon noted that the left margin default
(in the Print File dialogue window) should be changed to 4, otherwise
the file is not printed properly.
2.10
•   Using 1st Mail for multi-column printouts − David Scott − Text which
is to be printed in more than one column is first prepared with First
Word Plus and it is at this stage that preparations must be made for the
print format. The text format must suit the final required column width
otherwise First Mail will ignore the instructions to print out in multi
columns.
2.10
An example will show how to lay out the text. Suppose that you require
two columns each 31 characters wide set side by side on a 65 character
wide sheet. This will be possible as it allows 3 characters for the
central white column since
2.10
 31 + 3 + 31 = 65
2.10
The text must be prepared using a line length of 31 characters. The page
markings in First Word Plus will show final page 1 column 1 as page 1,
final page 1 column 2 as page 2, final page 2 column 1 as page 3 and so
on.
2.10
When the text has been fully prepared enter First Mail and follow the
instructions given on pages 196 and 197 of the manual. The number of
columns must be set to 2 in this example.
2.10
•   Another possible bug in First Mail − David Leckie − When using First
Word Plus with the ruler set to double line spacing, continuous text,
i.e. no returns are double spaced but text followed with a return is not
double spaced as you would expect.
2.10
However when a First Mail mail-merge is done from the file, the mrg file
contains double spaced text where there was single spaced text in the
original doc. Thus if you want, say, your address lines to be double
spaced then they should be a RETURN between each line in the doc file
only if you are not going to do a First Mail mail merge. If you are
doing a mail merge then they should be single spaced i.e. no RETURNS
because after the mail merge double line spacing will be inserted! Very
funny!
2.10
•   “Memalloc” module − John Fidler was playing with the !Lander program
in RISC-OS when he realised that it should not have run with the
configuration settings on his machine. He looked in the !Lander
directory (by clicking on the icon in the directory viewer while holding
the <shift> key) and found the Memalloc module.
2.10
This module provides nine new star commands, which allow you to check
and alter the size of various memory pools i.e. system heap, RMA, screen
area, sprite area and font cache.
2.10
==> Help on keyword MemAlloc
2.10
Module is: MemAlloc util 0.11 (06 Dec 1988)
2.10
Commands provided:
2.10
SystemSize RMASize ScreenSize SpriteSize FontSize
2.10
RAMFSSize RMAFree SpriteFree FontFree
2.10
•   Desktop ScreenSize configuration − When using the desktop, the
memory allocated to the screen area is regulated by the desktop screen
mode and not the configuration setting e.g. if you are in mode 12 then
the screen area will have 80k allocated to it (or 96k for the 400
series).
2.10
•   Desktop startup commands − When starting the desktop using *Desktop,
you can make the Archimedes run a file or perform a star command. This
facility could be used to start the desktop up in a predefined state.
2.10
==> Help on keyword Desktop
2.10
*Desktop starts up any dormant Wimp modules, and also passes an optional
2.10
*command or file of *commands to Wimp_StartTask.
2.10
Syntax: *Desktop [<*command> | -File <filename>]
2.10
•   Converting ArcTerm 6.01 to RISC-OS − Arc-Term 6.01 will work under
RISC-OS if you make a !Run file in the !ArcTerm application directory:
2.10
RMEnsure InternationalKeyboard 0.17
2.10
RMReInit InternationalKeyboard
2.10
DIR <Obey$Dir>.!ArcTerm
2.10
Run ArcTerm
2.10
•   Extra Options for the Copy Command − The new User Guide (page 208)
lists a number of new options for the Copy command which considerably
extend its usefulness. The L and N options are par-ticularly useful for
performing backups from hard disc to floppy disc. Thus the command:
2.10
 *Copy HD::$.A.* FL::$.* ~CFQR
2.10
will make a quick backup, without confirmation, of all the files and
subdirectories in directory A of the hard disc named HD onto the floppy
disc named FL. If however the option N is also added then only the files
which have changed since the last backup will be copied, thus reducing
the backup time consider-ably. If the L option is also added then even
more time is saved as the directories of both source and destination
disks are checked before any attempt is made to load the files
themselves.
2.10
If suitable Copy commands are added to the end of an application !Run
file then an automatic backup of changed files can be made when you have
finished using the application. In this case it is vital to quote the
name of the required backup floppy disc so that a request to load it can
be given if it is not already in the drive.
2.10
•   RISC-OS RS423 − Richard House says that using RISC-OS he can now
communicate with his BBC Model B at 19200 baud, without any errors
(whereas under Arthur 1.2, even with the patch, he was limited to 9600
baud).
2.10
•   Diagram II using RAMdisc − Load the file “Setup” and change the “8”
in lines 10045, 10750, 10765, 10805 and 11325 to “23”. This will cause
it to access the ram-disk (assuming you copied Diagram II over to the
ram-disk) thereby running much faster during scrolling and saving wear
and tear on your floppy or hard disk. (J.Daniels of Pineapple Software)
2.10
•   MIDI !Maestro − One reader says that there is an undocumented
facility in the !Maestro application which can play a MIDI instrument if
the MIDI podule is fitted.
2.10
•   Typing control characters − If you wish to use a “non-keyboard”
character under RISC-OS, just hold down the <ALT> key and type in the
character number on the keypad.
2.10
•   RMReInit SpriteUtils − Many applications unplug modules and
reinitialise them later. Often, under RISC-OS, the SpriteUtils module
does not get reinitialised. If you have any problems loading sprites or
get the “SWI not known” error, you can check whether your modules have
been reinitialised properly by typing *ROMModules.
2.10
One reader says that ‘Pacmania’ can be cured of this by adding the
following line to the !BOOT file:
2.10
935 *RMReInit SpriteUtils
2.10
•   Multi-Tasking − How many tasks can RISC-OS run simultaneously? The
manual doesn’t say, so I decided to find out by loading multiple copies
of the desktop clock. When I tried to load the 29th clock I got an error
message “Too many tasks”, making the upper limit 28.
2.10
•   Leaving the Desktop from a Command File − David Scott − The answer
to my own previous help query is actually quite simple when you know
how! The last command in the file, which must be an obey file, (it does
not work with an exec file) must be:
2.10
*fx138,0,252
2.10
which simulates pressing <control-shift-f12>.
2.10
•   Space for large applications − The methods used by Acorn and other
suppliers of application software to load their applications which
require a lot of space, seem to be both devious and, in many cases,
ineffective since they result in less space being available for the
application than under Arthur 1.2.
2.10
The method illustrated below allows over 300k of data space in Logistix
or over 600k of memory with the PC Emulator on a 1Mbyte machine. The
technique is a three stage process and is illustrated for Logistix.
2.10
Note that the machine will have to be reset after using the application
in order to restore all the normal modules and their facilities.
2.10
Note also that the amount of free space will vary depending on the
configuration settings. In my case, these are 80k for the screen (Mode
12) and 0K for System sprites, font cache and RAM FS.
2.10
If you use Econet then the modules NetFS, NetPrint, BBCEconet, NetFiler
and NetStatus should also be killed in Stage 2. If you do not use Econet
then you will gain marginally more space for all applications by
*Unplugging these modules as I have done.
2.10
Stage 1 − Set up the standard !Run file for the application so that it
sets a function key to execute the stage 2 file after quitting the
desktop.
2.10
| >$.!Logistix.!Run
2.10
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
2.10
Key1 Quit|MDir $|MExec $.!Logistix.Lgx1|M
2.10
Fx138,0,252
2.10
Fx138,0,129
2.10
Stage 2 − This file must be an command file (not Obey). It clears the
temporary modules and then kills all the unwanted modules. A function
key is then set up to execute Stage 3 and the file ends by recovering
the freed space using the RMTidy com-mand which must be the last command
in the file.
2.10
| >$.!Logistix.Lgx1
2.10
RMClear
2.10
RMKill Debugger
2.10
RMKill Desktop
2.10
RMKill WindowManager
2.10
RMKill FontManager
2.10
RMKill InternationalKeyboard
2.10
RMKill SoundScheduler
2.10
RMKill StringLib
2.10
RMKill Percussion
2.10
RMKill SpriteExtend
2.10
RMKill Draw
2.10
RMKill Hourglass
2.10
RMKill Podule
2.10
Key 1 *Obey $.!Logistix.Lgx2|M
2.10
FX138 0 129
2.10
RMTidy
2.10
Stage 3 − This Obey file sets the current directory (it was cleared by
the radical effects of RMtidy) and then loads the Floating point
emulator and Logistix directly. The final line is an optional backup
command which automatically backs the new and changed data files up to a
floppy disc (named S1 in this case).
2.10
| >$.!Logistix.Lgx2
2.10
Dir $.!Logistix
2.10
RMLoad $.!System.Modules.
2.10
FPEmulator
2.10
Lgx
2.10
COPY :DJS.!Logistix.Sheet.* :S1.*
2.10
 ~CFLNQ
2.10
PC Emulator − The method is similar for stages 1 and 2 except the
following additional modules can be killed in stage 2: SystemDevices,
TaskManager, PaletteUtil, Filer, ADFSFiler, RAMFSFiler, ShellCLI and
RamFS. Stage 3 is not required as the line which sets the function key
termination command is:
2.10
Key 1 PC.Emulate|M
2.10
which enters the PC Emulator directly. Note that the PC directory must
be in the root and must be called PC otherwise the Emulator fails during
loading.
2.10
•   Getting First Word Plus started − further to the comments on page
20/21, last month, it is not a good idea to use *MOUNT as First Word
Plus will then not allow you to change discs, *DRIVE should be used and
this works fine. My machine is configured to boot with the external
drive selected, which usually holds a “library disc”, which is how I
discovered the problem. First Word Plus now boots happily under RISC-OS,
including an amended version of the key press module which traps <ctrl-
f12> to provide a command line similar to that on the desk top − i.e.
scrolling up from the bottom of the screen. (We’ll try to get hold of
this for the monthly disc. Ed.)
2.10
•   First Word Plus from the RISC-OS desktop − create the following run
file:
2.10
!Run
2.10
| !Run for !First Word Plus+ version 0.01
2.10
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
2.10
WimpSlot -min 400k
2.10
set FirstWordPlus$Resources $.Resources.1wp.
2.10
set FirstWordPlus$Docs &.1wp.
2.10
echo<5><23><17><7><6><8><0><8><0>
2.10
<0><0><0><0>
2.10
run “<FirstWordPlus$Resources>1wp”
2.10
•   First Mail under RISC-OS − David Leckie − While First Word Plus has
drawn a lot of comment, very little mention has been made First Mail,
the mail merge program that accompanies it.
2.10
When run under RISC-OS the main window will not resize. Now this may not
seem like much of a problem but the trouble is that the printer window
is hidden under the main window and cannot be easily accessed.
2.10
Fortunately the corners of the window are just visible and can be
clicked on. The printer driver window pops up when clicked on ok, but
while the destination printer window can be clicked on, the name of the
selected destination printer is still hidden. This problem is compounded
by the last line of the 1st paragraph on page 154 of the manual being
wrong. “The four options Parallel Port, Serial Port, Network Port and
Disc will appear in rotation.
2.10
They do not rotate in the order above. Parallel Port is the first and
Disk is the third not fourth but which is network and serial? Can
someone with Arthur please tell us?
2.10
Thus, if you want to do a merge to parallel printer it works fine. For
disc, point to the corner of the window and give 2 clicks (not 3). If
you need serial or network, try 1 or 3 clicks.
2.10
Thanks to Mark Burch who helped to crack the problem.
2.10
•   Installing Artisan − Sean Kelly − There are three tips: the first is
on getting Artisan to return control to the desktop without resetting
the system; the second is on putting Artisan in any chosen directory;
the third is not strictly related to RISC-OS, but is on persuading
Artisan to work with compressed screens.
2.10
Returning to the desktop − When Artisan is installed as described on the
RISC-OS support disc, it does not return correctly to the desktop. The
following modification was made to the program on my A440, and works
perfectly:
2.10
1. Load program ART5 and, using the BASIC EDITOR, find the line: “DEF
PROCLAR”
2.10
2. The next line should be a multi-statement line containing in-line
assembly code. If so, you have found the correct routine. Delete
everything on this line except for the first three statements and then
add “:QUIT” so that the new line reads:
2.10
MODE12:OSCLI“FX4”:OSCLI“UP”:QUIT
2.10
3. Rename the old ART5 (in case you have made a mistake) and save the
new version as ART5.
2.10
This new version returns to the desktop, in the same condition as when
Artisan was called, when you quit Artisan.
2.10
Altering the directory structure − When installed using the hard disc
install program, Artisan insists on living in a directory called
:4.$.Artisan. This can be changed − the following details relate to my
chosen directory of :4.$.APPS.!ARTISAN.
2.10
1. !RUN should be altered from the support disc version. The new version
is:
2.10
ECHO <22><&8C>
2.10
WIMPSLOT -MIN 200k
2.10
DIR :4.$.APPS.!ARTISAN *** put your own directory here ***
2.10
URD @ BASIC ART4
2.10
In my case, the pathname of !RUN is “:4.$.APPS. !ARTISAN.!RUN”. Before
changing !RUN, re-name the old one in case of accident.
2.10
2. Alter ART5 using the Basic Editor. Several lines need changing; in
each case the change consists of altering the given directory to point
to your new directory. The lines that need altering can be found by
searching for the following strings using the editor (they are all
unambiguous, but the case of each letter is crucial):
2.10
cLare%=FALSE:
2.10
A%=cLARESMI
2.10
WHEN12:OSCLI
2.10
WHEN1:OSCLI“LOAD
2.10
OSCLI“CDIR
2.10
OSCLI“DIR ”+ClA$+
2.10
Preserve the old ART5 in case of problems.
2.10
•   Adapting Artisan for Compressed Screens − I use a modified version
of the screen compression routine originally published in Personal
Computer World magazine. It uses the commands *CSCREENLOAD and
*CSCREENSAVE to load and save compressed screens, and compressed screens
are given the filetype &010. The adaptation below will work equally well
with other com-pression routines with the proviso that the compressed
screen loading routine must recog-nize and correctly deal with normally
saved screens (filetype &FF9).
2.10
1. Load ART5 and modify it using the BASIC Editor (first rename ART5, in
case of errors). Immediately after the REM statements at the start of
the program, add these two lines (substituting your own compressed
screen save and load commands):
2.10
*SET Alias$SCREENSAVE CSCREENSAVE %0
2.10
*SET Alias$SCREENLOAD CSCREENLOAD %0
2.10
Substitute the names of your own commands for CSCREENSAVE and
CSCREENLOAD.
2.10
2. Find DEFPROCcLaRESM with the editor. Look about 14 lines down and
there will be a line beginning with WHEN&FF9. Four lines further down
should be a line beginning with ENDIF. Add two new lines after this
ENDIF line (substituting your own compressed screen filetype):
2.10
WHEN &010
2.10
RES%=3:mIC%=ReSM%:ReSM%+=1:cLarESM%=7
2.10
3. Find DEFPROCPS with the editor. Look about seventeen lines down and
there will be a line beginning with WHEN&FF9. Six lines further down
should be a line beginning with ENDIF. Add two new lines after this
ENDIF line (substituting your own compressed screen filetype):
2.10
WHEN &010
2.10
PROCGw(laRES%): clArES%=4
2.10
The modified version of ART5 will correctly handle compressed and
uncompressed screens for loading, and will normally save screens in
compressed form.
2.10
•   RISC-OS Postscript Printer Drivers − One of our readers can only use
a laser printer from an Apple Mac, but wanted to obtain good quality
images of the documents that he produced in !Draw and !Edit. In order to
do this he redirected the output of the !PrinterPS to a file and
‘ported’ the file across to the Mac. The reason why this works is
because the output of !PrinterPS application is straight ASCII Post
script text, so in theory, the resulting file could be used by any
Postscript set up.
2.10
•   Configuring !PrinterDM − some readers have had problems outputting
to their dot matrix printers. This might be because the !PrinterDM
application must be configured for the printer you are using. This can
be done by clicking, with <select>, on the printer icon (once installed)
and then clicking on the printer name that appears in a window, until
the name of your printer appears. Then select the “Save Choice” option
on the !PrinterDM menu. The printers that !PrinterDM supports are: Epson
FX, LQ, and LQ-850 compatibles and the NEC Pin-Writer P6 plus.
2.10
•   RISC-OS multisync text scaling solution! − Richard Averill − If you
turn back to Archive 2.9 p14, you will see the problem of text scaling
in multisync modes raised. Having also experienced this problem, I tried
to solve it.
2.10
Firstly, I tried using the output to sprites feature to modify this.
Since this did not alter the size of the font at all, I then tried a
more interesting method. I knew that the standard vdu 5 font size was
8x8 pixels, so I ran the following program to tell me which locations in
the operating system’s workspace (&0000-&7FFF) contained the value 8.
2.10
10 REM > $.TextSize.Find8
2.10
20 REM (C) Richard Averill, 1989.
2.10
30 FOR I%=0 TO &7FFC STEP 4
2.10
40 IF !I%=8 THEN PRINT ~I%;
2.10
50 NEXT
2.10
I then had a list of locations, so I set vdu 5 mode and *Memory’ed each
of the locations to have a closer look. Storing 16 in the second
location (&1360) caused the x text size to be doubled! There were 3 more
8‘s consecutively after this value, so after a little testing I came to
the conclusion shown by the following table:
2.10
Address   Contents
2.10
&1360   x size
2.10
&1364   y size
2.10
&1368   x spacing
2.10
&136C   y spacing
2.10
All values are given in pixels, so by default these are 8,8,8,8. The
WIMP manager changes the x and y values according to the x and y ‘eig’
factors read by swi OS_ReadModeVariable detailed in OS1.2 PRM pages
124−126. Note that the values need not be multiples of 8, but the
characters will look rather odd otherwise!
2.10
The following procedure will enable you to set the text size and
spacing. The syntax is PROCtextsize(x size, y size, x spacing, y
spacing).
2.10
10000 DEF PROCtextsize(x%,y%,sx%
2.10
,sy%)
2.10
10010 !&1360=x%
2.10
10020 !&1364=y%
2.10
10030 !&1368=sx%
2.10
10040 !&136C=sy%
2.10
10050 ENDPROC
2.10
For example, PROCtextsize(16,8,16,8) will give you double width text
when in VDU 5 mode. This will be square in mode 12 etc. and of a
rectangular shape in mode 20 etc. The text spacing will usually be the
same as the text size.
2.10
To set the default text size from the RISC-OS desktop (the answer to the
query,) run the following program (which is in the “$.TextSize”
directory of the monthly disc) from within the desktop, and it will
redraw the whole screen to enable the new size to take effect.
2.10
 10 REM > $.TextSize.SetSize
2.10
 20 REM (C) Richard Averill, 1989.
2.10
 30 REM restores default text size and spacing in the RISC-OS desktop.
2.10
 40
2.10
 50 !&1360=8
2.10
 60 !&1364=8
2.10
 70 !&1368=8
2.10
 80 !&136C=8
2.10
 90 SYS “Wimp_Initialise”,200,
2.10
&4B534154 TO task%
2.10
100 SYS “Wimp_ForceRedraw”,-1,0,0,
2.10
&FFFF,&FFFF
2.10
110 SYS “Wimp_CloseDown”,task%,
2.10
&4B534154
2.10
120 QUIT
2.10
This will set the text size to 8 pixels, the same as under the Arthur
WIMP manager. So if you have a high resolution monochrome, the text will
become four times smaller in each direction than normal!
2.10
Unfortunately, there is a slight problem. The RISC-OS WIMP assumes
scaling will be done to ensure that the size of the text is always 16x32
OS units and uses these values when calculating text widths/heights
instead of finding the sizes from the operating system. So any verti
cally centred text (such as window titles) will not be centred properly
in multisync modes!
2.10
For real compatibility with Arthur 1.2 WIMP applications, you can save
the Arthur 1.2 WindowManager module from ROM to disc and *RMLoad this
into RISC-OS instead. The Arthur 1.2 WIMP module is in the “$.TextSize”
directory of this month’s programs disc.
2.10



•   Limited ADFS memory (RISC-OS/Arthur 1.2) − One reader has written in
saying that his Archimedes will only *MOUNT six discs. On the seventh,
the drive spins continuously until the disc is removed. This happens
because the ADFS only has a limited amount of memory to store the
directory information. The amount of memory allocated for this can
controlled by using *Configure ADFSDirCache.
==> Help on keyword ADFSDirCache
*Configure ADFSDirCache sets the size of the directory cache (in Kbytes)
used by the ADFS. A value of 0 selects a default value which depends on
RAM size.
Syntax: *Configure ADFSDirCache <size>[K]
You can also make the Archimedes forget that it has seen the disc by
using *DISMOUNT.
2.11
==> Help on keyword Dismount
2.11
*Dismount closes files, unsets directories and parks the given disc.
2.11
Syntax: *Dismount [<disc spec.>]
2.11
•   Three floppies for Arthur 1.2 desktop − In Archive 2.8, pages 11/12,
there is a hint which allows you to access three drives from the
desktop. However, the hint states that you must start the desktop up by
typing */Desktop instead of *Desktop. One reader says that you could of
course set up *Set Alias$Desktop Run Desktop which would then allow you
to start up using *Desktop.
2.11
•   In First Word Plus, when printing after opening more than one file,
the first file you opened will be offered for printing, not the last one
you closed!
2.11
•   Configuring your printer under the PC Emulator − In reply to Chris
Walker’s question, you must use the following reserved words when
configuring your printer:
2.11
For serial printers use: AUX or COM1, COM2, COM3É
2.11
For parallel printers use: PRN or LPT1, LPT2É
2.11
•   Sprite Plot comments from Martin Simmons − The article on sprite
plotting was interesting since it is always good to see how other
programmers solve problems. However, the routines are far from being the
fastest possible, a major inefficiency being that the screen pointer is
updated after every pixel is plotted. This could be rectified by
deleting 2410, 2460, 2510, 2580 and changing the following:
2.11
2010 PROCplot_4_pixels(4*
2.11
(gjenta-1))
2.11
2050 ADD screen_pointerR,
2.11
screen_pointerR,#320
2.11
2110 DEF PROCplot_4_pixels(index)
2.11
2400 STRNEB data5R,
2.11
[screen_pointerR,#index+0]
2.11
2450 STRNEB data5R,
2.11
[screen_pointerR,#index+1]
2.11
2500 STRNEB data5R,
2.11
[screen_pointerR,#index+2]
2.11
2570 STRNEB data5R,
2.11
[screen_pointerR,#index+3]
2.11
Now the pointer is only changed at the end of each line. This improves
performance over the published routine by about 10% for a 24x24 pixel
sprite with no black pixels.
2.11
It would be quicker to use word stores instead of byte stores but this
would complicate the routine and may even slow it down overall.
2.11
•   D.I.Y. A3000 serial interface − Mike Harrison (Archive 2.10 p 56)
didn’t know what the chip numbers were for the A3000 serial interface
kit. You need a 6551 (which ought to be one of the ones manufactured by
CMD) and an LT1133.
2.11
•   Evaluation of Algebraic Expressions (E.D. Engelhardt) − Anyone who
is interested in the evaluation of valid algebraic expressions could try
to use PROCexpression in program Evalexpr as given below. The procedure
mentioned has been written using suggestions of Mr de Heus, ECD, Delft,
Holland.
2.11
Variable names in an expression are single, lower-case characters
ranging from ‘a’ to ‘z’. These names are stored in ‘var$’. Each
character in the input expression ‘ex$’ is matched with its presence in
‘var$’. If so, its position in ‘var$’ is detected and it is replaced by
the (arbitrary) character ‘$’. The position is used to assign an
appropriate value to the actual variable by means of array ‘var()’. The
value of the expression is obtained using the EVAL function.
2.11
The reason EVAL(ex$) is preceded by EVAL (“FALSE”) in PROCevalexpression
is as follows: If one enters an expression containing no variables but
numbers only, and the expression cannot be evaluated (e.g. LN0 or 3/0)
an error message appears on the screen. Thereafter, entering the same
type of expression, again not containing variables (e.g. LN9 after LN0
or 6/5 after 3/0), results in the same error message. To prevent this
from happening the instruction EVAL(“<>”) is included. I discovered this
‘feature’ by accident and found the solution by trial and error. I would
appreciate any comments from interested readers.
2.11
 10 REM >Evalexpr
2.11
 20 :
2.11
 30 WHILE TRUE
2.11
 40   PROCevalexpression
2.11
 50 ENDWHILE
2.11
 60 END
2.11
 70 :
2.11
 80:
2.11
 90 DEFPROCevalexpression
2.11
100 k$=“ Press any key to continue !”
2.11
110 LOCAL ERROR
2.11
120 ON ERROR LOCAL IF ERR=17 THEN
2.11
 PRINT‘’“ *** Escaped program !”‘
2.11
:END ELSE PRINT‘“ ”;REPORT$’‘k$;:
2.11
dummy=GET:ENDPROC
2.11
130 :
2.11
140 PROCinput
2.11
150 :
2.11
160 PROCexpression
2.11
170 exval=EVAL(“FALSE”)  :REM
2.11
*** To prevent error message
2.11
 after evaluation of a wrong
2.11
 expression, e.g. LN0. Try to                                   REM this
line !
2.11
180 exval=EVAL(ex$)
2.11
190 :
2.11
200 PROCoutput
2.11
210 ENDPROC
2.11
220 :
2.11
230 DEFPROCinput
2.11
240 CLS:PRINT‘“ Choice of variables
2.11
 from a to z.“‘
2.11
250 LINE INPUT“ Give expression : ”
2.11
ex$
2.11
260 ENDPROC
2.11
270 :
2.11
280 DEFPROCoutput
2.11
290 PRINT‘“ Function value of ”;ex$
2.11
;“ = ”;exval
2.11
300 PRINT’k$;:dummy=GET
2.11
310 ENDPROC
2.11
320 :
2.11
330 DEFPROCexpression
2.11
340 LOCAL var$,var(),t%,i%
2.11
350 var$=“abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw
2.11
xyz“
2.11
360 DIM var(LEN(var$))
2.11
370 :
2.11
380 FOR t%=1 TO LEN(ex$)
2.11
390   i%=INSTR(var$,MID$(ex$,t%,1))
2.11
400   IF i%>0 THEN
2.11
410     var$=LEFT$(var$,i%-1)+“$”
2.11
+MID$(var$,i%+1)
2.11
420     PRINT‘“ Value of  ”;
2.11
MID$(ex$,t%,1);“     : ”;
2.11
430     INPUT“”var(i%)
2.11
440     :
2.11
450     CASE i% OF
2.11
460       WHEN  1:a=var(i%)
2.11
470       WHEN  2:b=var(i%)
2.11
480       WHEN  3:c=var(i%)
2.11
490       WHEN  4:d=var(i%)
2.11
500       WHEN  5:e=var(i%)
2.11
510       WHEN  6:f=var(i%)
2.11
520       WHEN  7:g=var(i%)
2.11
530       WHEN  8:h=var(i%)
2.11
540       WHEN  9:i=var(i%)
2.11
550       WHEN 10:j=var(i%)
2.11
560       WHEN 11:k=var(i%)
2.11
570       WHEN 12:l=var(i%)
2.11
580       WHEN 13:m=var(i%)
2.11
590       WHEN 14:n=var(i%)
2.11
600       WHEN 15:o=var(i%)
2.11
610       WHEN 16:p=var(i%)
2.11
620       WHEN 17:q=var(i%)
2.11
630       WHEN 18:r=var(i%)
2.11
640       WHEN 19:s=var(i%)
2.11
650       WHEN 20:t=var(i%)
2.11
660       WHEN 21:u=var(i%)
2.11
670       WHEN 22:v=var(i%)
2.11
680       WHEN 23:w=var(i%)
2.11
690       WHEN 24:x=var(i%)
2.11
700       WHEN 25:y=var(i%)
2.11
710       WHEN 26:z=var(i%)
2.11
720     ENDCASE
2.11
730   ENDIF
2.11
740 NEXT
2.11
750 :
2.11
760 ENDPROC
2.11

2.11
•   First Word Plus − I am sure that all users of First Word Plus have
found it considerably enhanced by the use of Steve Hoare’s Interrupt
Module (available on Shareware N¼6). The main use for this is in
mounting new discs, formatting and creating directories. I have recently
discovered that it can also be used for *EXECing files into the word
processor. This can be very useful because First Word Plus treats the
standard ASCII space character as a ‘hard’ space. This means that if
straight ASCII text is read into First Word Plus in the regular way it
can not be formatted because each line is treated as an entire word. By
using the interrupt module and *EXECing the file it is as if it were
being typed in from the keyboard. Spaces between words are thus
translated into ‘soft’ spaces so that the resulting document can be
formatted in the usual way. Brian Cowan
2.11
•   Greek characters − (Gerald Fitton) For some time now I have been
considering converting all my old Wordwise files to PipeDream files.
The thing that has been putting me off is that, since I teach (amongst
other things) maths and statistics, I need to be able to print Greek
letters such as CDSYabc defghijklmnopqrstuvwxy. It is relatively easy
from Wordwise to define a new character on the Epson FX printer, but not
so easy to include it in PipeDream’s Printer On string.  I have got
round this by running a BASIC program from within PipeDream’s !Run file
that sends the necessary codes for the Greek characters to the printer.
You can then have What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get Greek characters on
screen by using the sequence <Alt>+E+C.  This is what you do:
2.11
Modify the !Run file to include the command
2.11
BASIC -quit “<PipeDream$Dir>.
2.11
Printers.Greek“
2.11
My !Run file now looks like the one below.
2.11
| > !PipeDream.!Run
2.11
Set PipeDream$Dir <Obey$Dir>
2.11
WimpSlot -min 160k -max 640k
2.11
RMReInit InternationalKeyboard
2.11
RMKill InternationalKeyboard
2.11
BASIC -quit “<PipeDream$Dir>.
2.11
Printers.Greek“
2.11
RMEnsure FPEmulator 2.60 RMLoad
2.11
 <System$Path>Modules.FPEmulator
2.11
Set Alias$@RunType_DDE Run
2.11
 <PipeDream$Dir>.!Run %%*0
2.11
Set File$Type_DDE PDream
2.11
IconSprites <PipeDream$Dir>
2.11
.!Sprites
2.11
Load <Obey$Dir>.piped.pd 8000
2.11
DIR <Obey$Dir>
2.11
Echo <26>
2.11
Pointer 0
2.11
Go 8000 ; %*0
2.11
DIR adfs::HardDisc4.$
2.11
Include the new program ‘Greek’ in a suitable directory; I have chosen
the ‘Printers’ directory.
2.11
100 REM > <PipeDream$Dir>.
2.11
Printers.Greek
2.11
150 :
2.11
160 *Alphabet Greek
2.11
180 VDU 2
2.11
200 RESTORE
2.11
210 REPEAT
2.11
220 READ byte%
2.11
230 IF byte%<>-1 THEN VDU 1,byte%
2.11
240 UNTIL byte%=-1
2.11
250 :
2.11
260 VDU 3
2.11
270 :
2.11
280 END
2.11
300 :
2.11
310 DATA 27,64
2.11
320 DATA 27,58,0,0,0
2.11
330 DATA 27,37,1,0
2.11
340 DATA 27,54
2.11
350 DATA 27,38,0,108,108
2.11
360 DATA 136,0,128,0,252,2,0,2,0,0,0,0
2.11
370 DATA 27,38,0,128,128
2.11
380 DATA 138,8,4,2,4,8,16,32,64,128
2.11
,0,0
2.11
390 DATA 27,38,0,176,176
2.11
400 DATA 168,0,0,64,160,0,160,64,0,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
410 DATA 27,38,0,177,177
2.11
420 DATA 139,18,0,18,0,126,0,18,0,18
2.11
,0,0
2.11
430 DATA 27,38,0,195,196
2.11
440 DATA 137,130,124,130,0,128,0,128,
2.11
64,0,0,0
2.11
450 DATA 139,2,4,10,16,34,64,130,96,
2.11
26,4,2
2.11
460 DATA 27,38,0,211,211
2.11
470 DATA 139,130,0,198,0,170,0,146,0,
2.11
130,0,0
2.11
480 DATA 27,38,0,217,217
2.11
490 DATA 139,58,68,130,0,128,0,130,68
2.11
,58,0,0
2.11
500 DATA 27,38,0,225,249
2.11
510 DATA 138,28,34,0,34,20,8,20,32,2
2.11
,0,0
2.11
520 DATA 138,127,128,18,128,18,128,
2.11
114,12,0,0,0
2.11
530 DATA 11,64,0,64,32,16,11,4,8,16
2.11
,96,0
2.11
540 DATA 138,12,18,64,178,0,146,0,
2.11
146,76,0,0
2.11
550 DATA 137,8,20,8,34,8,34,8,34,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
560 DATA 8,13,144,37,192,5,130,0,0,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
570 DATA 10,64,60,64,0,64,0,64,63,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
580 DATA 138,56,68,16,130,16,130,16,
2.11
68,56,0,0
2.11
590 DATA 71,0,0,124,0,4,0,0,0,0,0,0
2.11
600 DATA 138,62,0,8,0,20,0,34,0,0,0,0
2.11
610 DATA 136,130,68,40,16,8,4,2,0,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
620 DATA 10,127,0,4,0,4,0,4,120,4,0,0
2.11
630 DATA 10,64,32,16,8,4,8,16,96,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
640 DATA 9,128,40,212,0,149,0,149,2,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
650 DATA 139,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
2.11
660 DATA 138,32,0,62,0,32,0,62,0,32
2.11
,0,0
2.11
670 DATA 9,63,64,0,68,0,68,56,0,0,0,0
2.11
680 DATA 139,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
2.11
690 DATA 139,28,34,0,34,0,34,28,32,0
2.11
,32,0
2.11
700 DATA 10,32,64,0,64,60,64,0,64,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
710 DATA 9,64,56,4,0,4,0,120,0,0,0,0
2.11
720 DATA 10,56,68,0,68,187,68,0,68,56
2.11
,0,0
2.11
730 DATA 9,65,34,20,8,20,34,65,0,0
2.11
,0,0
2.11
740 DATA 11,120,4,0,4,251,4,0,4,120
2.11
,0,0
2.11
750 DATA 138,28,34,0,2,12,2,0,34,28
2.11
,0,0
2.11
760 DATA -1
2.11

2.11
Incidently, this shows how you can include a BASIC program within an
Obey file and then come back to RUN the rest of the Obey file.
2.11
You have to remember to remove ESC “@” from the Printer On string
otherwise you will lose all the character definitions you have just
downloaded! G L Fitton.
2.11
This final section of hints and tips has been extracted from the Archive
Bulletin Board Service (BBS) by Richard Forster.
2.11
(N.B. There may be some over-lap with other H & T, but I don’t have time
to edit it out − I’m just off on my Holidays. Ed.)
2.11
•   First Word Plus Margins − It is possible to get First Word Plus to
change its margins permanently, but it is not easy. It may also depend
on your version of the software, and this method may not work on all
versions. Make sure you try it on a backup copy!
2.11
10 wp%=OPENUP(“Resources.1wp.1wp”)
2.11
20 margin%=8 : REM or whatever is
2.11
 required
2.11
30 PTR#wp%=&2EF9C
2.11
40 BPUT#wp%,margin%
2.11
50 CLOSE#wp%
2.11
•   Taxan Multisync juddering − If you have an A400/1 or A3000 machine
and are using it with a Taxan Multisync monitor, you may experience some
juddering which can be overcome thus:
2.11
A400/1: Fit a molex shunt to link 2. If you do not have a spare shunt,
you can request one from Acorn Customer Services.
2.11
A3000 : Take your machine to your local dealer. The modification is
different from the A400/1 machines and you must not open your machine.
2.11
•   Using the Yes/No mouse icon − In order to use the Yes/No mouse icon,
do:
2.11
SWI “OS_Confirm”
2.11
This changes the pointer shape, flushes the mouse buffer, waits until a
key is pressed and then, on exit: R0 = (lowercased) character pressed, C
flag is set if ESCAPE, Z flag set if character is ‘Y’
2.11
•   Saving Rom Sprites − To save rom sprites as a standard file, do:
2.11
SYS“Wimp_BaseOfSprites” TO roms%
2.11
SYS“OS_SpriteOp”,524,roms%,“filename”
2.11
Save this as a BASIC program and double click it from the desktop.
2.11
•   Memory Re-allocation − You can re-allocate memory for spritesize,
screensize etc. by loading a module called MEMALLOC. This can be found
on Application Disc 2 in directory $.!Lander.
2.11
•   Hourglass  − The following SYS calls affect the hourglass. Note that
the hourglass is nested, so if you have turned it on twice it must be
turned off twice.
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_On” − Display Hourglass
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_Off” − Remove Hourglass
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_percentage”,number − Display Hourglass & percentage below.
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_Smash” − Remove all hourglasses
2.11
SYS“HourGlass-LEDs”,%AB − Where A is the top LED, B is the bottom LED
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_On” has a delay of 1/3 sec before actually appearing. To
make the delay the value of r0 use:
2.11
SYS“HourGlass_Start”
2.11
•   Tiny directories − The adjust button on a tiny directory opens the
application and removes that tiny directory.
2.11
•   RISC-OS Speedup − The following calls speed up the machine ROMs from
4Mhz to 8Mhz. Try them at your own risk. (Although under Arthur they
caused crashes, they seem to work OK under RISC-OS) The first switches
to higher speed, the second resets it:
2.11
SYS“OS_UpdateMEMC”,64,64
2.11
SYS“OS_UpdateMEMC”,,64
2.11
•   Terramex Cheat − For infinite lives, when you first load the game,
type in “SUBJECTTOCHANGE” on the loading screen.
2.11
•   RISC-OS Bugs − Yes, already folk have found begun to find bugs in
RISC-OS.
2.11
1) Module files which show up for *cat as modules but are dated 2:27
1901 do not get a module icon in a filer window − this is a property of
unstamped files from AASM/OBJASM.
2.11
2) Edit does not work properly in modes 2,4 or 5. (But who would want to
do so?! Ed.)
2.11
3) You can drag a directory into itself creating an copy within a copy
until disc space runs out. (Could that be the answer to the ‘library
virus’ in the Help!!! section? Ed.)
2.11
4) Resizing the interactive help window can cause the mouse pointer to
move autonomously up the screen. Try it: Hold button down and resize it,
keep holding, and it will go for a certain window size always.
2.11
•   MaxGammon under RISC-OS − If you have a copy of this game, the
author has a version which works in the desktop. Send your original disk
and a S.A.E. to 11 Maryland, Barkham, Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 4PB and
you can have an upgrade to the newer version.
2.11
•   Last line in program  − To find the last line in a BASIC program
which is in memory, hold down <ctrl>+<shift> and then press <escape>
twice.
2.11
•   Hearsay Problems − It is still possible to select a route from the
screen when in a scrolling terminal, but it must be a ‘long’ click. A
short click tries to home the cursor to where the pointer is by sending
a string of control codes. The answer is to hold the button down a bit
longer or use the keyboard.
2.11
If you have problems with Xmodem make sure that Vasscomm is turned off.
2.11
•   Filer_OpenDir − When using Filer_OpenDir, it is important to get the
full pathname correct. For instance, if your hard disc has the name
‘Fred’ and you want to open the directory $.Foo, you should use:
2.11
*Filer_OpenDir adfs::Fred.$.Foo
2.11
and not something like:
2.11
*File_OpenDir adfs::4.Foo
2.11
The reason is that when you click on the drive icon, the Filer checks
the list of open windows to see if the requested pathname is already
visible. Unfortunately it is not too intelligent about this, and if the
names do not match exactly, the Filer will open another window. This
will have the side effect that when Dismount is used only windows with
the first pathname will be closed.
2.11
•   Legal Text Scaling for Multisyncs − Richard Averill’s hint last
month (Archive 2.10 pp 19/20) to help rescale text in multisync modes
could be done more legally using:
2.11
VDU 23,17,7,flags,x;y;0,0
2.11
flags => bit 0 = not implemented
2.11
bit 1 = 1 => set size of VDU 5 characters
2.11
bit 2 = 1 => set size of VDU 5 spacing
2.11
 10 REM > CharSize    Demonstration
2.11
 of changing character size
2.11
 20 REM By Martin Simmons 10/07/89
2.11
 30
2.11
 40 MODE 12
2.11
 50
2.11
 60 VDU 5:CLS:PRINT‘’
2.11
 70 GCOL 1
2.11
 80 PROCprint(8,16,“Double height”)
2.11
 90 PRINT
2.11
100 GCOL 2
2.11
110 PROCprint(16,8,“Double width”)
2.11
120 PRINT
2.11
130 GCOL 3
2.11
140 PROCprint(16,16,“Double size”)
2.11
150 PRINT
2.11
160 GCOL 5
2.11
170 PROCprint2(8,8,16,16,“Double
2.11
 spaced“)
2.11
180 GCOL 7
2.11
190 PROCprint(8,4,“Mangled half
2.11
 height“)
2.11
200 PRINT‘’
2.11
210 GCOL 6
2.11
220 PROCprint(120,120,“BIG”)
2.11
230 VDU 4
2.11
240 END
2.11
250
2.11
260 DEF PROCprint(X%,Y%,text$)
2.11
270 VDU 23,17,7,6,X%;Y%;0,0
2.11
280 PRINT text$
2.11
290 ENDPROC
2.11
300
2.11
310 DEF PROCprint2(X%,Y%,sx%,sy%
2.11
,text$)
2.11
320 VDU 23,17,7,2,X%;Y%;0,0
2.11
330 VDU 23,17,7,4,sx%;sy%;0,0
2.11
340 PRINT text$
2.11
350 ENDPROC
2.11

2.11
•   ARM assembler T option − Martyn Lovell says that although the
assembler sees the T option for the LDR mnemonic the same as the !
option (Archive 2.10 p 9), it is not used in the same way. The ! option
should be used to force write back with pre-indexed addressing while the
T option should be used with post-indexed addressing to cause the -TRAN
pin on the ARM to go low for the duration of the data transfer. This is
used by an OS in non-user modes to allow the OS to generate a user-mode
address.
2.11
•   ALTernative keys − The RISC-OS Inter-nationalKeyboard module
provides the facility for typing control characters by holding down
<alt> and typing the number on the numeric keypad. In addition, the
following keys produce symbols when pressed with <alt> held down:
2.11
1 gives 1   2 gives 2   3 gives 3   ~ gives Â
2.11
9 gives ±   0 gives û   , gives x    . gives Ö
2.11
R gives ¨   Y gives ´   S gives ¤   Z gives Ç
2.11
X gives È   C gives ¢   M gives µ
2.11
shifted C gives ©
2.11
Other keys return nothing. The old Arthur effect of using
<ctrl><shift><alt> to add 128 to the code can be produced by RMKILLing
this module. Doing this will also allow the use of <alt> plus a cursor
key in the BASIC Editor which does not work with this module installed.
2.11
•   Colour cursor for the BASIC Editor − Here is a little program which
will alter the ArmBE module so that you can change the colour of the
cursor.
2.11
 10 REM > ColourEdit Make a colour
2.11
 cursor for the BASIC Editor
2.11
 20 REM By Martin Simmons 11/07/89
2.11
 30 REM I use yellow background,
2.11
 blue foreground, red cursor
2.11
 (1=6 EOR 7)
2.11
 40
2.11
 50 colour%=6  :REM **** CHANGE
2.11
 THIS LINE TO CHANGE THE
2.11
 COLOUR (EOR 7) ****
2.11
 60 DIM buf% &10000
2.11
 70 OSCLI “Load :App2.Modules.
2.11
BasicEdit “+STR$~buf%
2.11
 80 P%=buf%+&81E4
2.11
 90 [ SWI  &100+colour%   ;Change
2.11
 background palette
2.11
100 ]
2.11
110 zi%=buf%+&8320:zi%+=8+4*
2.11
((!zi%<<8)>>8)
2.11
120 wind%=buf%+&8310:wind%+=8+4*
2.11
((!wind%<<8)>>8)
2.11
130 P%=buf%+&8310
2.11
140 [ SWI  “OS_WriteS”
2.11
150   EQUB 17 : EQUB 128+colour%
2.11
    ;Set background colour
2.11
160   EQUB 12  ;Clear screen
2.11
170   EQUB 23 : EQUB 16 : EQUB 1
2.11
;Set cursor movement
2.11
180   EQUS STRING$(4-(P% AND 3)
2.11
,CHR$0)
2.11
190   BL zi%
2.11
200   BL wind%
2.11
210 ]
2.11
220 INPUT‘“Enter new file name for
2.11
 the editor: “file$
2.11
230 OSCLI “Save ”+file$+“ ”+STR$
2.11
~buf%+“ +94B4”
2.11
240 OSCLI “SetType ”+file$+“ FFA”
2.11

2.11
•   Wild card copy for RISC-OS − The destination parameter of the *Copy
command now has greater freedom regarding wild cards i.e. wildcards in
the destination can be used even though they were not used for the
source
2.11
 e.g. *COPY :0.Text :1.* is now valid.
2.11
•   RISC-OS disc names − It is possible to set a system variable which
will behave like a disc name. If you *Set <discname>$Path <filepath> you
can then access you files by :<discname>.<filename>. For example:
2.11
*Set W App1:$.
2.11
*Run W:!Edit
2.11
You can even define several paths, just like File$Path and Run$Path:
2.11
*Set W App1:$.,App2:$.
2.11
*RMLoad W:Modules.BasicEdit
2.11
*Run W:!Edit
2.11
•   Memory Usage − Gerald Fitton − Of course, the ‘best’ machine has
both hard disc and 4Mb of memory, but some hard disc machines have less
memory. If you have the ‘best’ then you will probably put all the
!(application) directories that you use in your root ($) directory for
instant access. When you click on the :4 icon in the icon bar, all your
application !Boot files will be RUN and memory will be allocated to each
application (so that it is instantly available). This is true even when
the applications are not installed on the icon bar. If you have less
memory, say 1Mb, then you may find that your dormant applications are
using up too much memory for some of the more sophisticated appli
cations. The solution is to put your applications not in the root
directory but in a (non-!) sub-directory. For example, !Patience can be
put together with !Zarch in a games directory, where Games is in the
root directory. This way, only when you open the Games directory (by
double clicking on it) will you use up memory on the dormant appli
cations !Patience and !Zarch.
2.11
•   1st Mail solution − When using 1st Mail in RISC-OS, the printer
options are hidden underneath another window. Mr Burrows has solved the
problem by altering the template file:
2.11
*Load $.Resources.1wp.
2.11
1ml_templa 9000
2.11
!&9AA8=155
2.11
!&9AB0=1023
2.11
*Save $.Resources.1wp.
2.11
1ml_templa 9000+AEA
2.11
*SetType $.Resources.1wp
2.11
.1ml_templa FFF
2.11
•   RISC-OS Hints and Tips − S C Costin − When using !PrinterDM on the
Desktop to print a text file, if the printer and Archimedes are set up
where there are no ignore characters configured, i.e. can be checked as
follows:
2.11
F12    ;Press function key 12 from desktop
2.11
*status ignore   ;Enter command
2.11
No ignore   ;Returned after entering command
2.11
The problem is that the line feed is suppressed and therefore over-
printing occurs. This is easily overcome by clicking on the !PrinterDM
icon on the icon bar, which produces a window, and selecting CR or LF
conversion.
2.11
A more permanent solution is to edit the file PrData. To do this hold
shift key while clicking on the application directory !PrinterDM, then
drag PrData icon over Edit icon on the icon bar and release the mouse
button. At the end of the printer driver data change line: from 0 to 1
i.e. change line:
2.11
0;0/1 1=>convert CR or LF to CR,LF
2.11
to:
2.11
1;0/1 1=>convert CR or LF to CR,LF
2.11
•   Pipedream conversion to ADFS E type floppy disc by S C Costin
2.11
1)   Format new disc using the new E format.
2.11
2)   Name the new disc NewPd.
2.11
3)   Backup your original copy to the disc NewPd, using *COPY to retain
E format.
2.11
4)   Copy the !PipeDream application from the support disc to the root
directory of disc NewPd.
2.11
5)   Copy the Floating Point Emulator module from directory
!System.Modules on Application Disc 1 into directory $.!PipeDream on
disc NewPd.
2.11
6)   Delete $.!boot
2.11
7)   Delete $.piped.fpe2
2.11
8)   Delete $.rs423drive
2.11
9)   Add the following obey file called $.!boot
2.11
| > $.!boot
2.11
*quit
2.11
RUN $.!pipedream.!run
2.11
10)   Leave the !PipeDream.!boot file as copied from the support disc.
2.11
| > !PipeDream.!Boot
2.11
Set PipeDream$Dir <Obey$Dir>
2.11
Set Alias$@RunType_DDE Run <PipeDream$Dir>.!Run %%*0
2.11
Set File$Type_DDE PDream
2.11
IconSprites <PipeDream$Dir>
2.11
.!Sprites
2.11
11)   If mouse cursor control is required insert lines 7 & 8 in the !Run
Obey file as follows:
2.11
| > !PipeDream.!Run
2.11
Set PipeDream$Dir <Obey$Dir>
2.11
WimpSlot -min 450k
2.11
||RMReInit InternationalKeyboard
2.11
RMKill InternationalKeyboard
2.11
RMEnsure FPEmulator 2.60
2.11
RMLoad <Obey$Dir>.FPEmulator
2.11
$.piped.cursorrm
2.11
mousecursor on 13 &c5 131
2.11
Set Alias$@RunType_DDE Run <PipeDream$Dir>.!Run %%*0
2.11
Set File$Type_DDE PDream
2.11
IconSprites <PipeDream$Dir>
2.11
.!Sprites
2.11
Load $.Library.pd 8000
2.11
Echo <26>
2.11
Pointer 0
2.11
Go 8000 ; %*0
2.11
•   Update for Artisan and ProArtisan − Clares have now produced an
application which will up-date your Artisan and ProArtisan discs for
RISC-OS. It has been put on both this month’s and last month’s program
discs. Many thanks to Duncan Burbridge, Kimba, Australia (age 12) who
also sent us information on updating Artisan for RISC-OS.
2.11
•   Not enough screen memory? − If a program expects to run in a
specific screen mode and not enough screen memory is available, it will
usually report a ‘Bad Mode’ error when run from the desktop, as the
screen memory can’t be expanded dynamically once the application has
started. This can be fixed by either dragging the screen memory bar in
the task window, or by entering the appro-priate mode first.  A much
more elegant way is to add the following line to the Obey file that
starts the program:  Echo <22><n>  Where <n> is the mode. This ensures
that the screen memory is allocated before the application starts and
should appear before the *WimpSlot command.
2.11
•   Uncluttered cataloging − RISC-OS has a neat way of searching a disc
without cluttering the screen. Use <adjust> to open a directory and it
closes the one you were in, leaving only the new dir-ectory on the
screen. To move back up the tree, click <adjust> on the close icon, and
the next directory up will appear, closing the current directory (unless
you are in the root directory, of course!).
2.11
•   Bye bye hard disk! − The RAM disc is fantastic but not much use on 1
Mbyte machines. Also, note that when RAMFS is selected *bye does not
park the head of the Winchester − so beware!!!
2.11

•   Archive Bulletin Board − This month’s password is “ARCAM” − which is
apparently the name of Alan Glover’s hi-fi system!
2.12
•   Arthur 1.2 desktop − Nick Furniss has converted the Arthur 1.2
desktop so that it works under RISC-OS. If you are interested, you
should contact him at 87 Moordale Avenue, Bracknell, RG12 1TG.
2.12
•   Datachat Modem connections − These connect-ions were sent in by P
Carlson who is happily using the Datachat to connect to Prestel.
2.12
   Archimedes   Datachat
2.12
   2   5
2.12
   3   1
2.12
   5   3
2.12
Pins 2 & 3 on the Datachat are linked together and pins 1, 6 and 8 are
linked on the Archimedes.
2.12
•   First Word Plus − Volker Eloesser of West Germany, in response to
Help needed 2.11, p.15, concerning First Word Plus:
2.12
1) This sounds as if the printer is configured to a shorter paper length
than the computer. If the computer sends a page which is one line longer
than the configured length, the printer will feed the next full page
after receiving a form-feed command. If the reconfiguration of the
printer does not work, change the FormFeed command in the printer driver
(HEX-file) to a no-operation code, such as ‘00’ or ‘*’ and compile a new
CFG-file.
2.12
2) Simply close the window by clicking on the close-symbol on the top-
left corner of the text window before printing.
2.12
•   First Word Plus word-count − The word count in First Word Plus does
not work properly! It counts a word which contains an apostrophe as two
words e.g. I’m or it’s. This was very embarrassing for one Archive
reader, who insisted to his publisher, that he had written a certain
number of words.
2.12
•   Graphic Writer bug − If you insert a block marker at the end of a
document, it is possible to scroll past the ‘End’ point. This is usually
remedied by scrolling back but if you continue editing it is possible to
crash the application by pressing <ctrl><down arrow> followed by <page
down> or <page up>. So be careful.
2.12
•   Home Accounts − Just a quick comment on Alan Highet’s Home Accounts
review in 2.10 − one of his criticisms is that the reporting is limited
to a whole year’s transactions thus possibly taking up lots of paper;
whilst this is true, report output can, under RISC-OS, be dragged
directly into !EDIT and then you can print bits needed.  Not ideal, but
a solution.
2.12
Also he says that transactions are deleted after a year − this is not
completely true − only the last 12 months transactions can be graphed
and edited, but all transactions are kept for viewing in the account/
header windows. Brian Debenham
2.12
•   Prolog X − We have a hint & tip on “Retaining facts, rules and lists
produced in Prolog X” written by C.G.Williamson. It was fairly long and
rather technical, so we did not print it. If anyone would like a copy of
this, please send an SAE to Adrian Look at the Archive office. (We have
just received a letter from Jim Davis who says that he would like to
commend Chris for his “brilliantly simple use of the Prolog built-in
predicates ‘tell’ and ‘told’.” He quotes several learned texts and says
that they all miss Chris’ simple combination of ‘tell’, ‘listing(X,Y)’,
‘told’ as a method of avoiding the very contrived, but hitherto common,
use of ‘tell’ and ‘told’. He believes that Chris’ expedient will become
standard.) Should we therefore publish Chris’ comments? Are there many
Prolog users out there? Ed.)
2.12
•   QL Reader − Brian Oliver points out that there is a problem with
QLreader (Shareware 12) in its drive select. Otherwise it is excellent
and it now works fine with my 5.25“ drive connected to slot :2 after the
following modification. The SYS ”ADFS_DiscOp“ command on line 2750 is
wrong. It should be:-
2.12
SYS “XADFS_DiscOp”,,(1+List%<<6),
2.12
Start%+(drive%<<29),bf%,512 TO flags%
2.12
It is then necessary to set the default drive on line 240 and those for
selection on lines 19740 & 1950.
2.12
•   RS423 Archimedes to Beeb − J.O.Linton: I have been having trouble
with my RS423 port. My Beeb would listen to my Archimedes but my
Archimedes would not receive data correctly from my Beeb. I have a
fairly early Archimedes so I went to some trouble to get the field
modification done to the serial chip only to find that the fault was
exactly as before. Then my dealer sent me a leaflet from Acorn (Part No.
0476.033) called ‘Using the serial port’ in which I found this vital
paragraph:
2.12
‘The Acorn BBC model B uses one stop bit by default, whereas the default
configuration of an Archimedes computer is two stop bits. You are
advised to change the DATA configuration of your Archimedes computer to
5 if you are using your serial port to pass data to or from a BBC model
B.’
2.12
*Configure DATA 5 and Hey Presto − it worked!
2.12
•   Systemdevs − When using the System Devices to send characters to the
printer, the printer ignore character feature is not ‘used’, and all
characters are sent to the printer − including the printer ignore
character. This is very useful for sending an alternative character set
to the printer (if it has a user-defined graphics option) as no
characters will be ‘stripped’ − rather like using VDU 1,char with the
VDU drivers. All that needs to be done is give a command similar to:
*COPY UserChars printer: ~C~V. Michael Ben-Gershon
2.12
•   Teletext Adaptors − Richard House has written some software which
allows the Archimedes to “grab” teletext pages using the Acorn Teletext
adaptor. If any one is interested, we can put you in touch with him.
2.12
Herman Stevens from Belgium, says that in order to get the Morley
teletext adaptor to work with RISC-OS, you require: I/O podule, Soft’s
“Support” and “ATS” saved on ADFS disc, !65Host copied on the same disc
and !boot file as follows:
2.12
CLS
2.12
*DIR !65Host
2.12
*RMLoad !RunImage
2.12
*CACHEROM 1 ADFS
2.12
*CACHEROM 3 SUPPORT
2.12
*CACHEROM 4 ATS
2.12
*EMU.
2.12
By typing “TTEXT” you can start the Support ROM and TELETEXT will start
the ATS ROM.
2.12
•   Taxan Multisync wobbles − The hint last month was expressed in
rather too technical language. I’ll try again.
2.12
Look at the p.c.b. from the front of the computer and near the serial
port socket you will see a couple of metal pins sticking up and on the
board alongside it, the inscription “LK2”. Then over to the left of
that, about in line with the headphone socket is a set of five pairs of
pins inscribed as “PL2”. It should have a couple of black plastic/metal
sleeves on it. These are spare metal shorting links. Slide one of these
links off (upwards) and put it instead on LK2. That should do the trick.
2.12
•   Compressing Text with OS_PrettyPrint − Under RISC-OS, the
‘OS_PrettyPrint’ SWI (c.f. Archive 2.9 p9) has been extended to include
a ‘dictionary’ facility. When an ASCII <27> code is encountered, the
next byte will be used to find (and print) a dictionary entry. For
example:
2.12
Consider the following dictionary:
2.12
1)   Hello
2.12
2)   this
2.12
3)   is
2.12
4)   Archie
2.12
If you send the codes <27><4> to the OS_Pretty Print SWI, tthe text
‘Archie’ will be printed.
2.12
The two bytes <27><4> replace the 5 bytes <65> <114><99><104><101> which
we actually want printed. The operating system uses this feature to
compress any strings it might need to print.
2.12
The structure of a dictionary is shown below:
2.12
<entry length> }
2.12
<string>       } repeat
2.12
<0>            }
2.12
.
2.12
.
2.12
<0>            ; end of of dictionary
2.12
Therefore to print an OS_PrettyPrint SWI, you must use the following
entry parameters:
2.12
r0 -> pointer string
2.12
r1 -> pointer dictionary (0 -> system dictionary)
2.12
r2 -> special string (printed if dictionary entry zero is accessed)
2.12
 10 REM >PrettyPrt
2.12
 20
2.12
 30 REM ****************************
2.12
 40 REM * Using the OS_PrettyPrint *
2.12
 50 REM *   Dictionary Facility    *
2.12
 60 REM *  by Adrian Philip Look   *
2.12
 70 REM *    21st August 1989      *
2.12
 80 REM ****************************
2.12
 90
2.12
100 DIM dictionary% &400:REM allocate
2.12
some space for the dictionary
2.12
110 DIM buffer% 3 : REM allocate some
2.12
 space for the string
2.12
120
2.12
130 PROCsetupdictionary :REM make a
2.12
 user dictionary
2.12
140
2.12
150 buffer%?0=27 : REM a dictionary
2.12
 entry follows
2.12
160 buffer%?2=0  : REM terminate
2.12
 OS_PrettyPrint string
2.12
170 FOR x%=0 TO 5
2.12
180   buffer%?1=x% : REM dictionary
2.12
 entry x%
2.12
190   PRINT’x%;“ : ”;
2.12
200   SYS “OS_PrettyPrint”,buffer%,
2.12
dictionary%,“<special string>” +CHR$(0)
2.12
210 NEXT x%
2.12
220 PRINT‘
2.12
230 END
2.12
240
2.12
250 DEFPROCsetupdictionary
2.12
260 x%=dictionary%
2.12
270 READ s$
2.12
280 WHILE s$<>“***”
2.12
290   x%?0=LEN(s$)+2:REM entry length
2.12
300   $(x%+1)=s$+CHR$(0) :REM null
2.12
 terminated string
2.12
310   x%+=LEN(s$)+2
2.12
320   READ s$
2.12
330 ENDWHILE
2.12
340 ?x%=0 : REM zero length string to
2.12
 terminate dictionary
2.12
350 ENDPROC
2.12
360
2.12
370 DATA Hello,this,is,Archie,“***”
2.12

2.12
•   Copy Options − In Archive 2.10 page 15 we said that there were two
new copy options L and N. In fact there are five new options, the other
three being:
2.12
A − Force destination access to same as source
2.12
S − Restamp datestamped files after coping
2.12
T − Only copy the directory structure
2.12
•   Filer_OpenDir and Filer_CloseDir (cont’d) − Gary Atkinson says that
these commands do not use system variables and so the full directory
name must be used every time. This makes life difficult for RISC-OS
applications which want to open a Filer window relative to their present
position on the disc (which may change e.g. hard disc users).
2.12
Therefore, with this context in mind, Gary has sent in the following
hint which will read the value of a system variable:
2.12
DIM buffer% 255, temp% 255
2.12
SYS “OS_CLI”,“Filer_OpenDir ” + FNread_system_variable(“Obey$Dir”)
2.12
END
2.12
:
2.12
DEFFNread_system_variable(v$)
2.12
LOCAL len%,x%
2.12
$buffer%=v$
2.12
SYS “OS_ReadVarVal”,buffer%,temp%
2.12
,255,0,3 TO ,,len%
2.12
v$=“”
2.12
FOR x%=0 TO len%-1
2.12
v$+=CHR$(buffer%?x%)
2.12
NEXT x%
2.12
=v$
2.12
•   Mode 16, 17 and 24 co-ordinates − Under RISC-OS modes 16 and 17 now
support graphics. This means that a resolution of 1056x256 can now be
obtained on a normal monitor. However, it should be noted that the
screen size, in OS co-ordinates, is not 1280x1024 (or even 2048x1024 as
Richard Averill suggested last month) but 2111x1024. In order to convert
between the two sizes you should use the following function:
2.12
DEFFNconvert2111to1280(x%)
2.12
=INT(33*(x%+0.5)/20)
2.12
•   Modifying !Calc to accept keyboard input − In order to modify the
calculator on the Applications Disc 2 to accept keyboard input you must:
2.12
1) Leave the desktop and type *BASIC.
2.12
2) Mount Applications Disc 2 in drive 0.
2.12
3) LOAD “!Calc.!RunImage” and make the follow-ing modifications:
2.12
   Add the following lines:
2.12
315 WHEN 8 : PROCwndkeyprssd(!q%,
2.12
q%!24)
2.12
750 DEFPROCwndkeyprssd(handle%
2.12
,key%) : IF key%>47 AND key%<5 THEN PROCdigit(CHR$(key%))
2.12
751 CASE key% OF
2.12
752 WHEN 42: PROCoperator(“*”)
2.12
753 WHEN 43: PROCoperator(“+”)
2.12
754 WHEN 47: PROCoperator(“/”)
2.12
755 WHEN 46: PROCpoint
2.12
756 WHEN 45: PROCoperator(“-”)
2.12
757 WHEN 95: PROCoperator(“-”)
2.12
758 WHEN 61: PROCoperator(“=”)
2.12
759 ENDCASE
2.12
   Now renumber the program (just type RENUMBER <return>), and then
type:
2.12
855 PROCupdate(calc%,12,-28-32,10
2.12
*16+12,24):PROCcalc:ENDPROC
2.12
105 q%!60=15<<12
2.12
4) SAVE “!Calc.!RunImage”
2.12
   To use text with the modified calculator just click in the calculator
window (not on an icon) and type away. Note that a caret will not
appear.
2.12
•   New CMOS RAM settings for outline fonts − When using the outline
font manager (which is supplied with the Acorn DTP) you can set various
font cache thresholds. These thresholds govern which mode of caching is
used i.e. vertical & horizontal subpixeled, cached outlines, anti-
aliased outlines, non-exact font from x90y45, and ‘auto-grow’ cache.
2.12
The various thresholds can be set up as follows:
2.12
*Configure FontSize <n>k ; min size of cache
2.12
*Configure FontMax  <n>k ; max size of ‘auto-grow’ cache
2.12
*Configure FontMax1 <h>  ; max size of non-exact font x90y45
2.12
*Configure FontMax2 <h>  ; max size of anti-aliased outlines
2.12
*Configure FontMax3 <h>  ; max size of cached outlines
2.12
*Configure FontMax4 <w>  ; max size of horizontally-subpixeled font
2.12
*Configure FontMax5 <h>  ; max size of vertically-subpixeled font
2.12
where <h> refers to maximum font pixel height (pixel height = point
height * dpi / 72), and <w> to the maximum font pixel width.
2.12
Some programs may corrupt the CMOS RAM and soil the font cache
thresholds. This may dramatically reduce the efficiency of cached fonts.
Use the *STATUS command to view your currents threshold settings (and
make a note of them just in case the CMOS RAM gets corrupted).
2.12
•   New FPE − There is a new version of the floating pointer emulator
provided on the Applications Disc 2. If any of your programs use older
versions of the FPE, you should update the module. This is because the
pre 2.60 release versions of the FPE have a bug (a badly formed module
header) which happens to work under Arthur 1.2.
2.12
•   New system variable − There is a new system variable, called
Font$Path, which tells the Archimedes where anti-aliased fonts can be
found. It has the same syntax as Load$Path and Run$Path. This means that
fonts can be accessed from several different directories e.g. *Set
Font$Path $.Fonts1, $.Fonts2,$.Fonts3 will allow the fonts manager to
access anti-aliased fonts from three directories $.Font1, $.Font2 and
$.Font3. To remain compatible with the earlier versions of the font
manager you can *Set Font$Path <Font$Prefix>.
2.12
•   OS_ChangedBox − RISC-OS now offers a facility which will keep track
of the areas on the ‘screen’ which have been altered by calls to the VDU
drivers. When enabled, this feature will pro-vide a rectangle (co-
ordinates in pixels from the bottom left-hand corner) of the area on the
‘screen’ which has been changed. The parameters are:
2.12
Entry:
2.12
R0 = 0  -> disable changed box calculations
2.12
   = 1  -> enable changed box calculations
2.12
   = 2  -> reset changed box to null rectangle
2.12
   = -1 -> read changed box info
2.12
Exit:
2.12
R0 = old enable state
2.12
R1 points to a fixed block of 5 words
2.12
   [R1, #0]  = disable/enable flag
2.12
   [R1, #4]  = x-coordinate of left edge of box
2.12
   [R1, #8]  = y-coordinate of bottom edge of box
2.12
   [R1, #12] = x-coordinate of right edge of box
2.12
   [R1, #16] = y-coordinate of top edge of box
2.12
An example program:
2.12
 10 REM >Changed
2.12
 20
2.12
 30 REM *************************
2.12
 40 REM *  Using OS_ChangedBox  *
2.12
 50 REM * by Adrian Philip Look *
2.12
 60 REM *   22nd August 1989    *
2.12
 70 REM *************************
2.12
 80
2.12
 90 MODE 12 : OFF
2.12
100
2.12
110 PROCenablecalulations
2.12
120 PROCresetrectangle
2.12
130
2.12
140 LINE 400,400,600,600
2.12
150 PROCreadbox
2.12
160 RECTANGLE FILL 300,300,10,10
2.12
170 PROCreadbox
2.12
180 RECTANGLE FILL 700,700,30,30
2.12
190 PROCreadbox
2.12
200 CIRCLE 250,250,200
2.12
210 PROCreadbox
2.12
220 RECTANGLE 550,450,500,300
2.12
230 PROCreadbox
2.12
240
2.12
250 PROCdisablecalulations : ON
2.12
260 PRINT
2.12
270 END
2.12
280
2.12
290 DEFPROCresetrectangle
2.12
300 SYS “OS_ChangedBox”,2
2.12
310 ENDPROC
2.12
320
2.12
330 DEFPROCenablecalulations
2.12
340 SYS “OS_ChangedBox”,1
2.12
350 ENDPROC
2.12
360
2.12
370 DEFPROCdisablecalulations
2.12
380 SYS “OS_ChangedBox”,0
2.12
390 ENDPROC
2.12
400
2.12
410 DEFPROCreadbox
2.12
420 PROCdisablecalulations
2.12
430 SYS “OS_ChangedBox”,-1 TO ,data%
2.12
440 x0%=data%!4: y0%=data%!8
2.12
450 x1%=data%!12 : y1%=data%!16
2.12
460
2.12
470 PRINTTAB(0,0);“Changed Box
2.12
Rectangle (in pixels not
2.12
 OS coords)“
2.12
480 PRINT“left x:   ”;x0%;“     ”
2.12
490 PRINT“bottom y: ”;y0%;“     ”
2.12
500 PRINT“right x:  ”;x1%;“     ”
2.12
510 PRINT“top y:    ”;y1%;“     ”
2.12
520
2.12
530 PRINT‘“press any key to step
2.12
through demo“
2.12
540 QQ=GET
2.12
550 PROCenablecalulations
2.12
560 ENDPROC
2.12
•   ProArtisan & Artisan upgrades to RISC-OS − ProArtisan discs need to
be changed so that they work under RISC-OS. This upgrade avoids the
dreaded “Filecore in use” error, and is available from Clares Micros if
you send them a blank D-formatted disc.
2.12
•   RISC-OS printer drivers and Line Feeds − If your printer does not
automatically generate line feeds when it receives a carriage return you
can make the RISC printer drivers generate one for you. Once the printer
drive is installed on you must click on the printer icon with the SELECT
button. This will reveal a window which contains an option to convert
single line feeds or carriage returns into a single line feed and
carriage return i.e. CR or LF => CR,LF.
2.12
If you wish to make this option permanent just select the ‘Save Choices’
option on the printer driver menu.
2.12
•   RISC-OS will run old WIMP programs (i.e. it emulates the Arthur 1.2
Window Manager) but because the emulation is not complete there are some
anomalies with the sprite handling. (a) selected sprites are rendered
incorrectly (b) sprite are scaled according to the screen mode (this did
not happen before). In practice, however, this affects very few
applications.
2.12
•   The *CDIR command for the ADFS, RAMFS, and NETFS now creates
unlocked directories. This means that directories can be renamed, moved
and deleted from the desktop. However, the contents of a directory must
be deleted before the directory itself can be deleted.
2.12
•   The Window Manager (RISC-OS) no longer reserves 32k permanent memory
for window definitions, etc but acquires memory from the RMA as it is
needed. This means that some Arthur 1.2 wimp programs may fail to start,
giving a ‘No room to create window’ error. This can usually be solved by
increasing the memory allocated to the RMA (by dragging the RMA bar in
the Task Manager) before starting the application.
2.12
The following hints and tips were sent in by Paul Witheridge
2.12
•   Cancelling tasks from the “Task Display” − If you call up the Task
Display by clicking the mouse menu button on the Task Manager Icon at
the right-hand end of the icon bar and then selecting Task Display from
the resulting menu, you will get, among other things, a one line display
for each active task, showing the name of the task and how much memory
it uses.
2.12
If you position the pointer on that display line and click menu again,
you will see a very similar menu, but this time there is a menu item for
the task in question. This menu item has a sub-menu arrow. If you move
the pointer onto it, you will be rewarded with a sub-menu with a just a
single item, “Quit”. Clicking on this will usually, but not always,
cause the task to terminate.
2.12
From the programmer’s point of view, the next time the task in question
issues a Wimp_Poll request, it will receive a reason code 18 with a
subordinate code of 8 in the fifth word of the parameter block. It
should interpret this as a directive to terminate.
2.12
•   Command files from within an Obey file − One of the main differences
between Command files and Obey files is that input from a Command file
can be passed to the OS Command Line Interpreter or to an application,
while input from an Obey file is only passed to the Command Line
Interpreter. This means that when an application program is started up
by a RUN command in an Obey file, the following line of the Obey file
will always be treated as a command and never as input to the appli
cation program. For example if the following is an Obey file:
2.12
Dir ADFS:$.BasPgms
2.12
BASIC
2.12
Dir ADFS:$
2.12
Then the second DIR command will be executed after quitting from BASIC.
If, instead, the file is a Command file, then as soon as BASIC starts up
it will read the “Dir ADFS:$” as input (and since it does not begin with
an asterisk, it will not understand it and treat it as a mistake).
2.12
You can use a combination of Obey and Command files to start up an
application program and provide it with an initial set of input data.
This can be very useful, but to be successful, you must know a little
more about what happens when a Command file is executed from within an
Obey file. Consider the following example:
2.12
| > ObeyFile
2.12
Echo Output 1 from ObeyFile
2.12
Exec CmndFile
2.12
Echo Output 2 from ObeyFile
2.12
| > CmndFile
2.12
Echo Output from CmndFile
2.12
When the Obey file is run, the following output is produced:
2.12
Output 1 from ObeyFile
2.12
Output 2 from ObeyFile
2.12
* | > CmndFile
2.12
* Echo Output from CmndFile
2.12
Output from CmndFile
2.12
From this output, you can see that despite the fact that the “Exec
CmndFile” command came between the two “Echo” commands in the Obey file,
the contents of the Command file were not actually executed until the
Obey file was finished with. The Command Line Interpreter obviously
gives precedence to Obey files over Command files. All that the EXEC
command did was to open the Command file for input and assign the system
input stream to it. It did not actually read anything from it. This was
left to the Command Line Interpreter, but it did not resume reading from
the system input stream until it had exhausted the Obey file.
2.12
Since application programs can take input from a Command file, but not
from an Obey file, an EXEC command can be used within an Obey file to
“stack” input ready for an application program. The following example of
an Obey file and a Command file can be used to create a RISC-OS
application for the Basic Editor:
2.12
| > !BasicEdit.!Run
2.12
If “<System$Path>” = “” then Error 0 System resources cannot be found
RMensure ARMBasicEditor 1.00 RMload System:Modules.BasicEdit
2.12
Key 2 EDIT .|M
2.12
Key 4 *QUIT|M
2.12
Wimpslot -min 100k
2.12
Exec <Obey$Dir>.!Init
2.12
Basic -load %*0
2.12
*| > !BasicEdit.!Init
2.12
EDIT
2.12
Both files should reside in a application directory called “!BasicEdit”.
An accompanying “!sprites” file would be nice, but is not essential
since in its absence, RISC-OS will use the default sprite for an
application.
2.12
The “Exec <Obey$Dir>.!Init” command in the Obey file opens the Command
file and when the following “Basic -load %*0” command executes, BASIC
reads the contents of the Command file as if it were being entered from
the keyboard.
2.12
If you double-click on the icon for “!BasicEdit” in a directory viewer,
the Basic Editor is started up ready to create a new program. If you
install “!BasicEdit” on the icon bar using TinyDirs, you can drag the
icon for a BASIC program from a directory viewer to the “!BasicEdit”
icon on the icon bar, which will start up the Basic Editor and load the
program into it ready to edit.
2.12
The following example consists of an Obey file and a Command file to
start up Twin as an application and to change the default colours used
by twin from white on black to blue on cyan. The contents of the Obey
file, which is the !Run file in the !Twin application directory, are:
2.12
| > !Twin.!Run
2.12
WimpSlot -min 100k
2.12
Load ADFS:%%.Twin 8000
2.12
Exec <Obey$Dir>.!Init
2.12
Go 8000 ; %*0
2.12
and the contents of the Command file, which is named “!Init” and also
resides in the !Twin directory, are (in the notation used for *BUILD
etc):
2.12
|!|A|S|@|F|@|@|@|S|A|D|@|@|@
2.12
The Obey file assumes that Twin resides in the current ADFS library,
refering to it as “ADFS:%%”. “ADFS” must be specified in case the ADFS
is not the current filing system and “%%” will be replaced by a single
percentage sign by the argument substitution process for Obey files.
Twin is loaded at &8000 because in a RISC-OS multi-tasking environment,
the amount of storage available to start up TWIN is often not enough to
load it at its “normal” load address of &80000 (leading to the dreaded
error message: “No writeable memory at this address”). Note that loading
Twin at &8000 leaves no memory for starting up applications from within
Twin. Such applications would normally run at &8000 and utilise the
memory between &8000 and Twin’s normal load address at &80000).
2.12
The Command file seems to consist of unintelligible hieroglyphics. The
first character (shown as “|!|A”) is actually &81 and has the same
effect on Twin as pressing function key one. The remaining eight
characters (shown as “|S|@|F|@|@|@|S|A|D|@|@|@”) are equivalent to:
2.12
   ctrl-S ctrl-@ ctrl-F ctrl-@ ctrl-@ ctrl-@
2.12
   ctrl-S ctrl-A ctrl-D ctrl-@ ctrl-@ ctrl-@
2.12
which will have the same effect when read by Twin as the BASIC
statements:
2.12
   VDU 19,0,5,0,0,0
2.12
   VDU 19,1,4,0,0,0
2.12
mapping logical colour zero to physical colour five (cyan) and logical
colour one to physical colour four (blue).
2.12
As in the case of !BasicEdit, double clicking on the !Twin icon in a
directory viewer will start up Twin without any file loaded, while
installing !Twin on the icon bar via TinyDirs will allow dragging file
icons to the !Twin icon on the icon bar, starting up Twin and loading
the file.
2.12
•   Error signalling from within a machine code subroutine called from
BASIC −Under BASIC V version 1.04, it is simple to signal an error
condition from a machine code subroutine by setting the over-flow flag
and loading register zero with a pointer to an error block before
returning to BASIC.
2.12
Consider these two, almost identical examples:
2.12
The first assembles and calls a machine code subroutine that points
register zero to an error block (see line 70) and then returns to BASIC
with the overflow flag cleared (see line 80). This program terminates
normally without an error:
2.12
 10 REM > Example1
2.12
 20
2.12
 30 DIM code% 100
2.12
 40 FOR pass% = 0 TO 3 STEP 3
2.12
 50 P%=code%
2.12
 60 [OPT pass%
2.12
 70 ADR R0,errblk
2.12
 80 BICS PC,R14,#&10000000
2.12
 90 .errblk EQUD 99
2.12
100 EQUS “I am an error message”
2.12
110 EQUB 0
2.12
120 ]:NEXT
2.12
130 ON ERROR PROCerror
2.12
140 CALL code%
2.12
150 END
2.12
160 :
2.12
170 DEF PROCerror
2.12
180 PRINT “Nmbr=”; ERR
2.12
190 PRINT “Text=”; REPORT$
2.12
200 PRINT “Line=”; ERL
2.12
210 END
2.12
220 ENDPROC
2.12
The second example is exactly the same except that it sets the overflow
flag (see line 80) before returning to BASIC:
2.12
 10 REM > Example2
2.12
 20
2.12
 30 DIM code% 100
2.12
 40 FOR pass% = 0 TO 3 STEP 3
2.12
 50 P%=code%
2.12
 60 [OPT pass%
2.12
 70 ADR R0,errblk
2.12
 80 ORRS PC,R14,#&10000000
2.12
 90 .errblk EQUD 99
2.12
100 EQUS “I am an error message”
2.12
110 EQUB 0
2.12
120 ]:NEXT
2.12
130 ON ERROR PROCerror
2.12
140 CALL code%
2.12
150 END
2.12
160 :
2.12
170 DEF PROCerror
2.12
180 PRINT “Nmbr=”; ERR
2.12
190 PRINT “Text=”; REPORT$
2.12
200 PRINT “Line=”; ERL
2.12
210 END
2.12
220 ENDPROC
2.12
In this second case, an error occurs, which is trapped by the ON ERROR
statement (see line 130) and results in the following lines being
printed by PROCerror:
2.12
Nmbr=99
2.12
Text=I am an error message
2.12
Line=140
2.12
This use of the overflow flag can result in unexpected behaviour from
some programs. For example, if the last SWI call in a machine code
subroutine returns with the overflow flag set, indicating an error
occurred during the execution of the SWI, and this flag is not reset
before the subroutine returns to BASIC, then BASIC will take this as an
error condition. Exactly what happens depends on the contents of
register zero. If it points to a valid error block, then BASIC’s error
trapping mechanism will function properly. Otherwise unpredictable
errors (such as an address exception) will happen.
2.12
•   New SWI calls in RISC-OS − The following program can be used to list
all the SWI calls available in OS. It basically works by calling the
“OS_SWINumberToString” SWI for all possible SWI numbers and displaying
the returned string. To speed things up it checks to see if the first
SWI in a each chunk of 64 is valid. If not, it ignores the rest of the
chunk. “Valid” in this case means that the SWI name is neither
“OS_Undefined” nor “User”. SWI names beginning with “X” are also ignored
as duplicates.
2.12
 10 REM > SWIlist
2.12
 20 :
2.12
 30 buflen%=100
2.12
 40 DIM buffer% buflen%
2.12
 50 :
2.12
 60 SYS “OS_SWINumberFromString”,,
2.12
“XOS_SWINumberToString” TO S%
2.12
 70 :
2.12
 80 VDU 14
2.12
 90 :
2.12
100 FOR chunk% = 0 TO &80000 STEP 64
2.12
110 SYS S%,chunk%,buffer%,buflen%
2.12
 TO ,swi$;V%
2.12
120 IF V%AND1 ELSE IF LEFT$(swi$,1)
2.12
=“X” ELSE IF swi$ =“User” ELSE IF swi$<>“OS_Undefined” PROCchunk
2.12
130 NEXT
2.12
140 :
2.12
150 VDU15
2.12
160 :
2.12
170 END
2.12
180
2.12
190 DEFPROCchunk
2.12
200 FOR swi% = chunk% TO chunk%+63
2.12
210 SYS S%,swi%,buffer%,buflen% TO
2.12
 ,swi$;V%
2.12
220 IF V%AND1 ELSE IF LEFT$(swi$,1)
2.12
=“X” ELSE IF swi$=“User” ELSE IF swi$<>“OS_Undefined” PRINT “SWI number
”;RIGHT$(“0000”+
2.12
STR$~swi%,5);“ is ”;swi$
2.12
230 NEXT
2.12
240 ENDPROC
2.12
If this program is run, a list of SWIs is generated. Those for the
FPemulator and ColourTrans will only be listed if the relevant Relocat
able Module is loaded when SWIlist is run. Those for RamFS will only be
listed if the RAM disc is configured.
2.12
The program was also run against Arthur 1.2 and by comparing the two
listings, it was possible to identify those SWIs which appeared in the
RISC-OS listing but not in that for Arthur. These are presumably new
SWIs and are listed below.
2.12
00049   OS_ReadArgs
2.12
0004A   OS_ReadRAMFsLimits
2.12
0004B   OS_ClaimDeviceVector
2.12
0004C   OS_ReleaseDeviceVector
2.12
0004D   OS_DelinkApplication
2.12
0004E   OS_RelinkApplication
2.12
0004F   OS_HeapSort
2.12
00050   OS_ExitAndDie
2.12
00051   OS_ReadMemMapInfo
2.12
00052   OS_ReadMemMapEntries
2.12
00053   OS_SetMemMapEntries
2.12
00054   OS_AddCallBack
2.12
00055   OS_ReadDefaultHandler
2.12
00056   OS_SetECFOrigin
2.12
00057   OS_SerialOp
2.12
00058   OS_ReadSysInfo
2.12
00059   OS_Confirm
2.12
0005A   OS_ChangedBox
2.12
0005B   OS_CRC
2.12
0005C   OS_ReadDynamicArea
2.12
0005D   OS_PrintChar
2.12
000EB   OS_ConvertFixedFileSize
2.12
000EC   OS_ConvertFileSize
2.12
00240   IIC_Control
2.12
40098   Font_ReadColourTable
2.12
400DE   Wimp_StartTask
2.12
400DF   Wimp_ReportError
2.12
400E0   Wimp_GetWindowOutline
2.12
400E1   Wimp_PollIdle
2.12
400E2   Wimp_PlotIcon
2.12
400E3   Wimp_SetMode
2.12
400E4   Wimp_SetPalette
2.12
400E5   Wimp_ReadPalette
2.12
400E6   Wimp_SetColour
2.12
400E7   Wimp_SendMessage
2.12
400E8   Wimp_CreateSubMenu
2.12
400E9   Wimp_SpriteOp
2.12
400EA   Wimp_BaseOfSprites
2.12
400EB   Wimp_BlockCopy
2.12
400EC   Wimp_SlotSize
2.12
400ED   Wimp_ReadPixTrans
2.12
400EE   Wimp_ClaimFreeMemory
2.12
400EF   Wimp_CommandWindow
2.12
400F0   Wimp_TextColour
2.12
400F1   Wimp_TransferBlock
2.12
400F2   Wimp_ReadSysInfo
2.12
400F3   Wimp_SetFontColours
2.12
401C7   Sound_QInterface
2.12
40244   ADFS_Retries
2.12
40245   ADFS_DescribeDisc
2.12
40289   Podule_HardwareAddress
2.12
40540   FileCore_DiscOp
2.12
40541   FileCore_Create
2.12
40542   FileCore_Drives
2.12
40543   FileCore_FreeSpace
2.12
40544   FileCore_FloppyStructure
2.12
40545   FileCore_DescribeDisc
2.12
405C0   Shell_Create
2.12
405C1   Shell_Destroy
2.12
406C0   Hourglass_On
2.12
406C1   Hourglass_Off
2.12
406C2   Hourglass_Smash
2.12
406C3   Hourglass_Start
2.12
406C4   Hourglass_Percentage
2.12
406C5   Hourglass_LEDs
2.12
40700   Draw_ProcessPath
2.12
40701   Draw_ProcessPathFP
2.12
40702   Draw_Fill
2.12
40703   Draw_FillFP
2.12
40704   Draw_Stroke
2.12
40705   Draw_StrokeFP
2.12
40706   Draw_StrokePath
2.12
40707   Draw_StrokePathFP
2.12
40708   Draw_FlattenPath
2.12
40709   Draw_FlattenPathFP
2.12
4070A   Draw_TransformPath
2.12
4070B   Draw_TransformPathFP
2.12
40780   RamFS_DiscOp
2.12
40781   RamFS_NOP
2.12
40782   RamFS_Drives
2.12
40783   RamFS_FreeSpace
2.12
40784   RamFS_NOP
2.12
40785   RamFS_DescribeDisc
2.12
40740   ColourTrans_SelectTable
2.12
40741   ColourTrans_SelectGCOLTable
2.12
40742   ColourTrans_ReturnGCOL
2.12
40743   ColourTrans_SetGCOL
2.12
40744   ColourTrans_ReturnColourNumber
2.12
40745   ColourTrans_ReturnGCOLForMode
2.12
40746   ColourTrans_ReturnColourNumber
2.12
ForMode
2.12
40747   ColourTrans_ReturnOppGCOL
2.12
40748   ColourTrans_SetOppGCOL
2.12
40749   ColourTrans_ReturnOppColour
2.12
Number
2.12
4074A   ColourTrans_ReturnOppGCOLFor
2.12
Mode
2.12
4074B   ColourTrans_ReturnOppColour
2.12
NumberForMode
2.12
4074C   ColourTrans_GCOLToColourNumber
2.12
4074D   ColourTrans_ColourNumberToGCOL
2.12
4074E   ColourTrans_ReturnFontColours
2.12
4074F   ColourTrans_SetFontColours
2.12
40750   ColourTrans_InvalidateCache
2.12
•   Starting up TinyDirs automatically via the Desktop initialisation
file − Archive 2.10  p 15, refers to the facility whereby the Desktop
can be caused to run a file of initialisation commands at start-up time.
One command that can be included in this file is a command to start up
TinyDirs and automatically install high-use directories or applications
on the icon bar.
2.12
TinyDirs accepts multiple arguments on the command, separated by blanks.
So, if you created two application directories for, say, the Basic
Editor and Twin, you could include the following command in the Desktop
startup file (assuming that the name of the disc where !TinyDirs,
!BasicEdit and !Twin all reside is “SysDisc”):
2.12
Run ADFS::SysDisc.$.!TinyDirs ADFS::SysDisc.$.!BasicEdit
ADFS::SysDisc.$.!Twin
2.12
Although two icons will be installed on the icon bar, only one copy of
the TinyDirs application is started up. If two separate commands had
been used:
2.12
Run ADFS::SysDisc.$.!TinyDirs ADFS::SysDisc.$.!BasicEdit
2.12
Run ADFS::SysDisc.$.!TinyDirs ADFS::SysDisc.$.!Twin
2.12
then, although the icon bar would look exactly the same, with the same
two icons installed, two copies of TinyDirs would have been started up,
using twice the memory.
2.12
It also seems safe to reduce the memory required by TinyDirs from 32k to
24k by altering the WimpSlot command in the !Run file for TinyDirs to
2.12
WimpSlot -min 24k -max 24k
2.12

•   Acorn DTP fonts and print outs − P.J.Burn says that in order to
print out Acorn DTP documents on an A310 you should select mode 11 as
this releases 40k of memory. He also says that in order to increase the
speed of the DTP screen update you should ensure that the font cache is
24k or larger.
3.1
•   Acorn DTP double spacing − Some readers have complained that when
starting a new paragraph the Acorn DTP will always produce a double
space. This can be solved by altering the space above setting of the
paragraph’s style.
3.1
•   BASIC listings for !Edit − Mark Taylor says that it is easy to
create an ASCII copy of a BASIC program. Just install !Edit in the
normal way and then create a task window (this can be done by clicking
the MENU button on the !Edit icon and selecting the ‘New task window’
item from the ‘Create’ sub-menu). In this window start BASIC by typing
*BASIC, then just LOAD the required program and LIST it. You can now
save the contents of the window  as a normal ASCII file.
3.1
•   C operating system calls (issue 2.12 p 36 cont) − Ray Loades-Bannon
says that to access OSCLI commands from C you should use either:
3.1
system (“screensave <pathname>””)
3.1
or:
3.1
{3 .1
   char *cptr;
3.1
   strcpy (cptr,“screensave ”);
3.1
   strcat(cptr,pathnameptr);
3.1
   system(cptr);
3.1
}
3.1
See the ‘Calling other programs from C’ chapter in the C manual for
further details.
3.1
•   Debugger BreakPoints − When stepping though code, it is useful to
run the code up to a breakpoint, and then remove the breakpoint and
reposition it further ahead. Here are three function keys defin-itions
suggested by Robin Terry to help you do this:
3.1
*Key1 “BreakClr PC|MBreakSet ”
3.1
*Key2 “Continue|M”
3.1
*Key3 “MemoryI PC|M”
3.1
The first breakpoint is set by using *BreakSet, but subsequent break
points can be set by pressing <f1> and typing in the address. Then press
<f2> should be pressed to execute the code , and <f3> should be pressed
to look at where you’ve got to.
3.1
•   Droom under RISC-OS − A.H.Eagle says that when using Droom under
RISC-OS the $.Data.Map program just caused the computer to freeze at
line 820. This line reads 820 ?&CFF=L, and doesn’t seem to serve any
purpose (perhaps it is a hang-over from the BBC version). He removed
this line and the program now seems to work OK ( ... so far!).
3.1
•   Econet and the Desktop − A warning to all people using the desktop
on the network: *commands are truncated to about 80 characters by the
NetFiler, so for example, if you are several directories down and you
rename a file, it could be renamed to something that you didn’t quite
expect. More dangerous is the *Delete, in that you could want to *delete
net#254:<pathname>.FredOld  but your good copy is deleted when the
command is truncated to *delete net#254:<pathname>.Fred. Truncation
occurs due to the Acorn fileservers only being able to cope with data
packets of around 80 characters (although the SJ Research fileserver can
handle packets up to 128 characters). Another interesting feature is
that if the *command is over 128 characters, no truncation occurs and a
Net error is generated.
3.1
•   Filer_OpenDir revisited (issue 2.12 p 6 cont) − A simpler way of
using system variables with the *Filer_OpenDir command has been
suggested by one of the Archive BBS callers:
3.1
*Set Alias$temp Filer_OpenDir <system variable>|MUnset Alias$temp|M
3.1
*temp
3.1
This sets up a system variable, called Alias$temp, which is used to
expand the system variable and then delete itself once called.
3.1
•   Hard Disc Backup program on Careware 3 − Terry Bromilow says: “The
program was originally written to run under Arthur OS using the D or L
format discs. I put a new front end on it to make an application for
RISC-OS and put in some lines to accommodate E format discs. It is now
evident that the latter did not get tested.
3.1
The BASIC program !Hdb_v200 in the !HDBackup directory should be amended
as follows:-
3.1
Interchange the adjacent lines 2140 and 2150 and put a new line between
them: 2141 *DISMOUNT
3.1
•   Hard disc parking (2.11 p 13 cont) − Martyn Lovell says that
although *bye from a non-adfs filing system won’t park an adfs hard disc
*adfs:bye will (SCSI hard drive owners should use *scsi:bye).
3.1
•   Keyboard condensation − One reader has noted that there is no
lacquer on the top surface of the keyboard PCB. It is not unusual for
people to blow dust, etc away from the keyboard, however, this will
cause condensation onto the PCB and cause some minor corrosion. This can
easily be wiped away.
3.1
•   Limited ADFS memory error − The ADFS module will remember the
catalogues of any discs it sees (e.g. those that it *mounts). However,
it is limited to the amount of memory it can allocate to ‘remembering’
these catalogues. This is governed by the *Configure ADFSDirCache
command. When the ADFS directory cache is full, the oldest catalogues
should be discarded as new ones are encountered. Unfortunately, the
module has a bug, which prevents it from doing this properly. What makes
this bug so serious is that it can cause the dreaded ‘Filecore in use’
error, which cannot be rectified, thereby making it impossible for you
to save any data, etc that you might have been working on. (If Phil
Colmer at Acorn, or whoever, could give us a clue on this one, that
would be useful. Ed.)
3.1
•   Naming discs − You may already realise that you should not give
discs the same name (using the *NameDisc command) as RISC-OS will only
access one of the discs i.e. the one most recently *MOUNTed. David
Leckie found that this also holds up for fileservers discs. He had two
separate fileservers 254 and 245 both with hard disks called FS, as you
can imagine this cause much confusion!
3.1
•   Obey module bug − “Speak and I shall obey ... or maybe not.” There
is a bug in the obey module supplied in the ROMS (v0.07). If an
environment variable is set to a string ending with the tilde character
(~) then the string will magically acquire a few extra characters, or
worse.
3.1
Using Edit, create a new obey file containing the command:
3.1
Set testvariable abcdef~
3.1
or similar, ensuring that the <return> key is pressed immediately after
the tilde (~). Save the file to a directory window and then double click
on the file icon to run the file. This will create the variable
“testvariable”. Press <f12> to get a system prompt and type
3.1
Show testvariable
3.1
to display the variable’s value. It will show some-thing like
3.1
testvariable : abcdef~~&’
3.1
i.e. it has acquired a few extra characters. (N.B. I’ve been unable to
repeat (see below) this so the characters may be wrong − but I do know
where they originate from so this is an educated guess)
3.1
Worse is that depending on the exact situation when the file is run an
“Abort on Data Transfer” error may occur (!!) and the variable will not
have been created.
3.1
The problem is easily solved − don’t try and create a string ending with
~ in an obey file. If necessary a space can be placed after the tilde
(~) and this will be enough to prevent the error. Clifford Hoggarth
3.1
•   RAM disc size − To read the size of a RAM disc, not *configured but
set from within the desktop task manager you should use:
3.1
SYS “OS_ReadRAMFsLimits” TO A,B
3.1
(B-A)/1024 gives the size of the the RAM disc in kbytes.
3.1
To check if a *configured ram disc exists then try:
3.1
SYS “OS_Byte”,161,144 To ,,ramdiscsize%
3.1
The variable ramdiscsize% indicates the number of RAM pages to be
allocated to the RAM disc e.g. 8k blocks for a 300 series.
3.1
•   Recursive directory copying − If you copy a directory into itself
(as Clive Payne did with his library directory in issue 2.11 p 15) the
computer will get into an infinite loop of copying directories inside of
themselves. To stop the computer from using all your disc space up, you
can press the escape key. The error can then be rectified by going into
the parent directory and deleting its children i.e. you don’t have to
reformat your disc!
3.1
•   ROM Speed Up − In several Archive issues (e.g. issue 2.11 p 8) we
have pointed out that the speed at which the Archimedes runs its ROMs
can be increased. Martyn Lovell advises us that this can cause RISC-OS
to crash and so is not very reliable.
3.1
•   Squish − I am very pleased with Mike Harrison’s “SQUISH” program (on
Careware disc 2). It enables me to write meaningful, well laid out
programs and then to gain processing speed following compression.
Brilliant!
3.1
I have, however, discovered a bug. This occurs whenever you use a
statement such as:
3.1
IF a=b c=d
3.1
What actually happens is that it compresses to:
3.1
IF a=bc=d
3.1
The program then fails “Unknown or missing variable”. To circumvent
this, the full construct IF ... THEN ... should be used. B.R.Wilson,
Solihull
3.1
•   Uncluttering catalogues (2.11 p 13 cont) − If you close down an
application using the ADJUST button the filer will (re)open the viewer
containing the file you last accessed.
3.1
•   Using Sys$DateFormat (issue 2.12 p 19 cont) − Mark Taylor (along
with several others) has answered a question which appeared in last
month’s Help!!! column.
3.1
The system variable Sys$DateFormat is only used by the SWI call
OS_ConvertStandardDate AndTime and not by the BASIC pseudo variable
TIME$ (see pp 400-402 of the old PRM for further details).
3.1
 10 REM >$.Convert
3.1
 20 REM a program to convert TIME &
3.1
 DATE in to a string,
3.1
 30 REM in the format of the system
3.1
variable Sys$DateFormat
3.1
 40 :
3.1
 50 REM some workspace for the time
3.1
 & date SYS call
3.1
 60 DIM block% 100
3.1
 70 :
3.1
 80 *Set Sys$DateFormat
3.1
%yr%mn%dy%24%mi%se
3.1
 90 string$=FNtime_date
3.1
100 PRINT “The time is
3.1
(YYMMDDHHMMSS) = “;string$
3.1
110 END
3.1
120 :
3.1
130 DEFFNtime_date
3.1
140 REM first get 5 byte time code
3.1
150 REM using OS_Word &0E,3
3.1
160 SYS “OS_Word”,&0E,3 TO r0,r1
3.1
170 :
3.1
180 REM get date & time string
3.1
190 SYS “OS_ConvertStandardDate
3.1
AndTime“,block%,block%+50,49
3.1
 TO r0,r1,r2
3.1
200 :
3.1
210 REM extract string from data
3.1
 block
3.1
220 date$=“”
3.1
230 FOR x%=0 TO (12-r2)
3.1
240 data$+=CHR$(r0?x%)
3.1
250 NEXT x%
3.1
260 =date$
3.1

3.1
•   VIDC warning − Someone (Philip Green, I think) sent in a warning to
say that you should NEVER connect and disconnect video and monitor
connections with the computer switched on for fear of damaging the VIDC.
3.1
I have been doing just that for two years now on several different
Archimedes computers and have NEVER had any problems, so I wasn’t going
to bother printing the warning − it seemed a little over cautious. This
morning I connected up a brand new monitor, live as usual, and got a
funny picture. “Drat”, says I, “It’s a DOA and will have to go back to
the distributor from whence it came!” However, further fiddling and
switching of monitors (live) between computers revealed that the
computer was at fault − there were funny dark vertical lines down the
display and the sound was a bit croaky (sound comes through VIDC). This
is what you call learning the hard way or “Pride comes before a fall” or
something. Anyway, don’t say we didn’t warn you! Ed.
3.1
•   Hints & Tips printing error, Archive 2.12 p 7. The IF statement at
line 750 is incorrect − a 7 has been cut off by the editor − ‘key% < 5’
should read ‘key% <57’.

•   *RMTidy and ADFS − If you perform a *RMTidy any discs will be
dismounted and any directory settings (*DIR) will be lost. This is
because this function re-initialises all the modules including the
FileCore%ADFS and ADFS modules.
3.2
•   Acorn DTP − if you want to import text that has a return at the end
of each line e.g. spooled BASIC programs, poetry, songs, etc then if you
import them directly Acorn DTP will ignore the returns and give you a
continuous block of text. There is a way around this problem:
3.2
1) In Acorn DTP define a new style say PROGRAM or SONG, etc
3.2
2) Set the space above parameter to 0
3.2
3) Load your text into !Edit
3.2
4) Select the find window of the !Edit menu i.e. press <f4>
3.2
5) Select the ‘magic characters’ option
3.2
6) Type: \x0A into the find box and /x0a/x0a in the replace box
3.2
7) Select the GO option and then select the ‘replace end of file’ option
3.2
The effect is that each line is treated as a new paragraph with its
style defined as PROGRAM.
3.2
•   Alphabase RISC-OS compatible? I read Gerald Fitton’s tale of woe
(Archive 2.12 p43) just two days after encountering exactly the same
problem myself with Alphabase. The ‘Readme’ file on the program disc
states that hard disc installation can be done in ‘the usual RISC-OS
manner’ rather that using the ‘Install’ file. It seems to me that it
must be done in the former way! Apart from messing up the configure
settings as Gerald describes, ‘Install’ fails to copy the !Alphabase
application directory to drive 4 (it can’t, since the *COPY command
issued at line 160 has no R option). Remedying this doesn’t help: the
program still crashes with a ‘can’t find’ message when you attempt to
boot via the Library. After wasting many hours in debugging attempts, I
scrubbed the lot and simply copied !Alphabase to :4.$, whence the
program is run without problems by clicking on the desktop. Inciden
tally, again contrary to what is said on the ‘Readme’ file, the floppy
disc stubbornly refused to boot on Shift-Break. Bill Templeton.
3.2
•   Archimedes Fans − Ray Maidstone of Norwich has been investigating
Archimedes fans (the cooling kind). He says that if you plug in any
extensions on to your Archimedes e.g. backplanes, RAM upgrades, etc then
you really should be using a fan. This keeps the temperature of the
Archimedes at an acceptable level, thereby extending the life of the
components.
3.2
•   Binary-Chop − Michael Sawle sent in this routine which can be used
for locating an item in an array − one of the beauties of this routine
being that it only needs enough characters to uniquely identify the
string being searched for. The routine requires data to be stored
alphabetically in a matrix M$(1),M$(2),...,M(NR%) where NR% is the
number of records currently stored. The routine returns the matrix
element number of the desired record (or nearest available).
3.2
DEFFNbinarychop(find$)
3.2
LOCAL A%,B%,R%
3.2
where=0 : A%=0 : B%=NR%
3.2
REPEAT
3.2
R%=INT((A%+B%)/2)
3.2
IF M$(R%)>find$ THEN
3.2
B%=R%
3.2
ELSE
3.2
IF M$(R%)<find$ THEN A%=R%
3.2
ELSE
3.2
where=R%
3.2
ENDIF
3.2
ENDIF
3.2
UNTIL where>0 OR B%-A%=1
3.2
IF where=0 THEN where=A%+1
3.2
=where
3.2
In fact this routine should be called a binary search routine. It chops
the list of records in two and then checks which half of the data set
the search string should appear. It then chops this half in two and so
on until finds the string or it realises the string does not exist. This
means that the computer can significantly reduce the number of checks it
has to make before reaching a result e.g. if you have 32768 (i.e. 2^15)
records then the computer will make a maximum of 15 checks. The price
that must be paid for this efficiency is that the data set must be
sorted in some recognisable order e.g. alphabetically, numerically,
ASCII, etc. The best versions of this technique are usually recursive.
(Perhaps someone might like to have a go at writing one?)
3.2
•   Colour TV’s as monitors − Several times in Hints & Tips, connection
of the Archimedes to colour TV’s has been mentioned. I have succeeded in
doing just this. In Archive 2.7 p11, Oliver Cornes says that plugging
the Archimedes’ SCART into a video recorder doesn’t work − this is
because a VCR only deals with composite signals, not RGB. However, if
your TV has a SCART socket, and many new ones do, then connection may
well be possible direct to the TV. You will have to tell the TV to use
RGB input, not the composite (it only uses composite then for timing).
There may be (indeed, it would be odd if there wasn’t) a way of doing
this with the TV controls. My TV has two sockets and if you tell it to
use socket 0 it uses socket one with RGB.
3.2
However, I didn’t find this out until I found out that one of the pins
on the SCART standard is for just this type of use − pin 16 must be
between +1V and +3V with respect to pin 18 (i.e. connect a 1.5V battery
between them − the −ve end to pin 18, the +ve end to pin 16). The TV
then automatically switches to SCART RGB input. Note that this overrides
any channel selection made, so you should put a switch in line so you
can switch the signal off, otherwise you can’t watch TV. Connection to
the SCART plug is often maligned as difficult, but it is only a case of
knowing how to do it. The proper way is to remove the pin you wish to
make connection to, connect it up and then put it back. The pins have
barbs to prevent them from falling out, so use a pair of narrow pliers
to squeeze the barb back and push the pin out through the rear of the
plug. Also make sure that you re-insert the pin the right way round −
just copy the other pins. They only go in properly one way round anyway.
Kevin Quinn
3.2
•   FileCore in use remedy − If the Archimedes ‘sees’ too many ADFS
directories then a ‘Filecore in use’ error may occur and you will be
unable to save any data in your machine. You can overcome this by typing
the following four lines after the error has occurred:
3.2
*RmReInit FileCore (this will fail giving a Bad number error)
3.2
*RmReInit FileCore
3.2
*RmReInit ADFS
3.2
*RmReInit HardDisc (A300’s and A3000’s only)
3.2
•   MaxGammon update − The MaxGammon game on Careware 2 cannot be played
in mode 15. In order to over come this you should:
3.2
1) Load in the BASIC !RunImage file in the !MaxGammon directory.
3.2
2) Type the following:
3.2
10840colour%=FNmg_Colour(mg_red
3.2
_player%)
3.2
11230tc%=mgc_grey_point%
3.2
3) Save the program.
3.2
•   Oak MS-DOS SCSI as Drive D − I use the PC emulator occasionally for
my work. It therefore did not take very long to use up all 10M of the
MS-DOS drive C partition on my 47M SCSI drive. The obvious thing to do
would be to create another MS-DOS partition for drive D. However on the
version of the PC emulator that I am using (Emulate121) the Archimedes
hard discs 4 and 5 are mapped to MS-DOS discs C and D. Therefore drive C
and D cannot both exist on the same hard disc (on the emulator) and two
hard disc drives are required for two partitions.
3.2
On the OAK SCSIFS each winchester drive has the following information:-
3.2
a) filing system drive number (e.g. :4 or :5)
3.2
b) SCSI hardware address (each device on the SCSI bus has a unique
address)
3.2
c) logical unit number (SCSI ‘software’ address)
3.2
If you are lucky enough to have an OAK SCSI (::SCSIDisk4) with an MS-DOS
partition (Drive _C) then here’s how to create MS-DOS drive D.
3.2
1. Run ‘SCSIForm’
3.2
2. Note that drive :4 is SCSI ID = 0, LUN = 0
3.2
3. Add drive 5 with SCSI with SCSI ID = 0, LUN = 0 (same as drive :4)
3.2
4. Exit SCSIForm and enter the desktop. There should be an additional
hard disc icon ‘SCSI 5’
3.2
5. Start up the PC emulator (version 1.20 or greater?)
3.2
6. Type FDISK. An extra option should appear (5 − select next fixed disc
drive). Select this and the disc drive should now become number 2. Then
select option 1 ‘Create DOS Partition’
3.2
7. Type Format D:
3.2
8. Type CHKDSK D: (this checks partition is OK)
3.2
9. When using the desktop always us SCSIFS::SCSIDisc4. Ignore disc 5
3.2
Ralph Barrett
3.2
(We have not had a chance to try this out yet, so you follow these
suggestions at your own peril. Ed)
3.2
•   Recursive directory move bug − one reader noted that while in the
desktop, if you moved a directory into itself (by holding the shift
button down while copying) the files in the directory will be moved
further and further down a directory tree until your whole disc has been
filled with directories! The problem with this bug is that you can’t
move your files back to their original position because the disc is
already full. You must copy the other files onto another disc and then
remove the offending directory.
3.2
•   To scroll or not to scroll? The strange behaviour mentioned in the
BASIC V Forum (Archive 3.1 p36) is actually caused by the *Configure
Scroll or *Configure NoScroll setting. This setting allows us to control
the behaviour of the ends of lines. *Configure Scroll should be used for
compatibility with earlier machines. The RISC-OS desktop, however, has a
habit of countermanding the configured values and in this case it
decides that it prefers NoScroll. If you have a program which relies on
the behaviour of the ends of lines, then you can execute VDU 23,16,&FE,1
|| to temporarily obtain the Scroll option, or VDU 23,16,&FE,0 || to
obtain NoScroll behaviour.
3.2

•   AutoCAD to !Draw conversion − The RISC-OS application !Draw can
accept input from a DXF (Drawing Interchange Format) file. These files
can be produced by packages such as ‘AutoSketch’ and ‘AutoCAD’. To get a
file from a IBM PC running the ‘AutoCAD’ package to !Draw the following
procedure should be used.
On the IBM PC:
1.   Do a ‘DXFOUT’ command from within Auto-CAD to output the current
file in DXF format.
2.   This file should be copied to a IBM format 5.25“ or 3.5” disc.
On the Archimedes:
3.   Start the PC emulator on the Archimedes.
3.3
4.   Perform a ‘putfile MS_DOS_Name.dxf ADFS_Name’ from within the
emulator to transfer the file from MS-DOS to RISC-OS.
3.3
5.   From within RISC-OS set the file type of your file to &DEA
(*SETTYPE ADFSName DEA).
3.3
6.   Start !Draw and drag the DXF file to its icon or into a !Draw
window.
3.3
!Draw will ask you a question about the ‘units’ (scale) before redrawing
the image in the window. This may require some thought to get the
required effect. !Draw appears to get confused with some entries in DXF
files and refuse to load the file. Deleting the text in the original
picture may cure the problem. AutoSketch on the Archimedes can also
produce DXF type files for input into !Draw.
3.3
•   ‘C’ Operating System calls (cont’d) − The following example program
shows how system commands can be invoked from a C-program. It was tested
under Acorn ANSI C version 2. The use of the function ‘system’ is part
of the proposed ANSI standard for C, although its exact implement-ation
is left up to the individual versions of C. The Acorn ‘ANSI C’ library
function ‘system’ returns a zero value if the command executes success
fully and non-zero if it fails. Problems will occur if the command being
executed over-writes the C-prog-ram (for example if the command starts
up a second C-program), but in the example both commands are ‘built-in’
and therefore do not overwrite the invok-ing program. In theory, the
*RMLoad command fails if there is not enough RMA, but in testing the
example, it worked even when the free RMA was configured to 0k.
3.3
/* > c.systest */
3.3
#include <stdlib.h>   /* General
3.3
 utilities  */
3.3
#include <stdio.h>   /* Input/output
3.3
*/
3.3
int main ()
3.3
{3 .3
static char rmload[]=“rmload
3.3
system:modules.memalloc“;
3.3
static char screensave[]=
3.3
 “screensave screenfile”;
3.3
int result1,result2;
3.3
result1=system(rmload);
3.3
result2=system(screensave);
3.3
printf(“Result1=%d, Result2=%d\n”
3.3
,result1,result2);
3.3
return(0);
3.3
}
3.3
•   Dead modules − If you install a module which claims a vector and
then press the reset button, something very strange happens when you
want to *RMKill the module. Because the vector can’t be released, the
module isn’t killed properly. To let you know about this, RISC-OS puts
the dummy address DEADDEAD where you would expect the workspace address:
3.3
*rmkill printkill
3.3
Bad vector release
3.3
*modules
3.3
No   Position   Workspace Name
3.3
1   0380873C   00000000   UtilityModule
3.3
2   0381FB94   01800014   FileSwitch
3.3
...
3.3
27   0387EA48   00000000   SpriteUtils
3.3
28   01813BC4   DEADDEAD   PrintKey
3.3
etc
3.3
•   Definitive modem connections? The following connections work with
ArcTerm601, Hearsay and the Archive BBS for the WS3000 and SM2400
modems:
3.3
Arc RX (2) to Modem TX (3)
3.3
Arc TX (3) to Modem RX (2)
3.3
Arc GND (5) to Modem GND (7, not 1)
3.3
Arc RI (9) to Modem DCD (8)
3.3
Arc CTS (8), DCD (1), and DTR(4) to Modem DTR (20)
3.3
Arc RTS (7) to Modem RTS (4)
3.3
Arc DSR (6) to Modem CTS (5)
3.3
•   Digitisers? Who needs one, anyway ? We recently faced the problem of
how to get the company logo into a DRAW file, and came up with a
solution which may be useful to other people. It is most applicable to
images bounded largely by straight lines.
3.3
First take the image and enlarge it repeatedly using a photocopier until
it fills more than a third of the screen of the monitor you are using.
Then make one more enlargement, onto the transparent acetate sheets used
for overhead projector foils. If you do not have a copier you will find
most high street copier services can do all this for you, probably for
less than a pound. Our copier will enlarge to 145% at a time.
3.3
Now cut out the piece of acetate showing the image, and put it on your
monitor screen. You will find it sticks most satisfyingly. Enter DRAW
and register the coordinates of the corners of the image. You may want
to have a grid on the screen to ensure you line up the acetate image
with the edges of the screen. You can also check alignment by reading
the coordinates of points which should be the same distance from an edge
of the screen and adjusting them as necessary.
3.3
We found this was much easier than transcribing even simple shapes by
eye, as it was hard to get the proportions right that way. It was also
much quicker than drawing a grid and transcribing coordinates from that.
Laurie van Someren, Aleph One Ltd
3.3
•   Interdictor Flight Recorder! − It is possible to fly the plane on
your own, run or even record a demo flight. This can be done by altering
the !Run file in the !Interdictor directory. On the bottom line of this
directory is the ‘fly’ command. Its permutations are as follows:
3.3
fly       (just fly the plane as usual)
3.3
fly playback <filename>   (replay a demo flight from a file)
3.3
fly record <filename>      (record the flight to a file)
3.3
If you want an example of how this works, you can look at the !RunDemo
file in the Interdictor direct-ory. This file runs the demo file call
DemoFlight.
3.3
•   Low Batteries? One reader noticed that after 15 months, his
Archimedes’ configuration settings began to change inexplicably e.g. the
loss of all disc drive icons in the desktop. Eventually, after various
problems (e.g. the Beebug Serial Link buffer setting kept changing) the
whole system finally froze. However, the problem was fully resolved by
replac-ing the batteries. So be warned. (Acorn recommend replacement
every 12 months.)
3.3
•   MS-DOS Hard Disc Partitions − The easiest way of getting two hard
disc partitions for the PC Emulator is to get version 1.33, which can be
downloaded from the Archive BBS or SID. Alternatively send us a donation
to our charity pot along with an 800k formatted 3.5“ disc.
3.3
•   Multi-tasking First Word Plus? If you rename the !Run file in the
!1stWord+ directory to !Boot then First Word Plus becomes multitasking.
Unfortunately, you cannot reach the disc, palette or task icons.
3.3
•   Noisy Fans 1 − If you have a fan in your Archim-edes, you should not
disconnect it. The reason for this is that the fan will then be blocking
up the air vent and so the computer’s PSU will operate at too high a
temperature. If you want to reduce the noise of the fan, you should
either completely remove the fan or refer to the following hint.
3.3
•   Noisy Fans 2 − I have looked at the physical design of the Archi
medes PSU and done a few temperature measurements and it is my belief
that you ought to have a fan fitted and working. So, what can you do to
reduce the annoying noise of the fans? Well, we have several Archimidi
here and the noise drove us to distraction so, being hardware oriented,
I looked at the infernal (sic) fan. Yes, I have found a way of shutting
it up, but before you get too excited, allow me to explain a little
more.
3.3
These fans are most certainly not your average Scalectrix car 12volt
motor with a set of plastic blades stuck on the front! In fact, we
couldn’t have wished for a better headache − these fans (of which we’ve
even found two different manufacturers so far) consist of a transistor
circuit driving a coil assembly that is alternately fluxing a permanent
magnet within the plastic rotor. At the same time, the rotor is having
its rotational speed monitored by a hall effect switch, busily counting
the revolutions! How are we going to slow that down? The answer we came
up with was a small transistor circuit of our own that takes the 12v
D.C. input and feeds to the fan a suitably pulsed supply that allows the
fan to start but not reach full speed. Cunning, eh?!
3.3
Yes, we had to make two slightly different versions of our circuit, as
the fans were not the same electrically. We’ll let you know how they get
on as we’re still testing them, but there no problems so far. Ray
Maidstone.
3.3
If you want more technical info, drop Ray a line via the Archive office.
Ed.
3.3
•   Presenter II Stacked Bar option − If one of the data sets (columns)
contains several NULL (0 or zero) entries then on the display, some of
the stack-ed bar may be displaced vertically downwards. This is easily
corrected by replacing the NULL entry with a very small value. E.g., if
the data maximum is 100 then a value of 0.1 or 0.05 will do the trick.
3.3
•   Second floppy disk drive − If you want a second disc drive and don’t
need the a new front fascia for two drives, you can install an NEC 1036A
into the Archimedes, which can be obtained for around £50.
3.3
You will also need to buy some ribbon cable, power leads and extra plugs
for the leads. Don’t forget to set the drive to operate as drive 1 and
to *Configure Floppies 2 on the Archimedes.
3.3

• 80k of RMA and rising!  RMA stands for Relocatable Module Area.  In
English, this is the area of memory which some parts of the operating
system (modules) use as work space.  This is why when you first
initialise your computer you will find that your RMA takes over 80k of
memory.  For those of you who are curious, here is a guide to the memory
each module claims on power up:
3.04
   Module      Workspace (bytes)
3.04
   FileSwitch      2400
3.04
   Desktop      528
3.04
   SystemDevices   288
3.04
   BBCEconet      80
3.04
   InternationalKeyboard   528
3.04
   Debugger      448
3.04
   SoundChannels   8464
3.04
   Sound Scheduler   8208
3.04
   WaveSynth      1760
3.04
   StringLib      8576
3.04
   Perussion      8800
3.04
   SpriteExtend   1296
3.04
   Draw      272
3.04
   FontManager   2832
3.04
   WindowManager   7920
3.04
   NetStatus      16
3.04
   Podule      208
3.04
   ADFS      656
3.04
   FileCore%ADFS   12,464
3.04
   HourGlass      1952
3.04
   TaskManager   3760
3.04
   PaletteUtil      3632
3.04
   Filer      4993
3.04
   ADFSFiler      2336
3.04
   ShellCLI      1872
3.04
   Total      84308
3.04
RMA is also used to contain WIMP sprites (especially application icons
stored in their !Sprite files) and relocatable modules, which add extra
facilities to the ROM based operating system e.g. 65Tube provides BBC
emulation.  This means that as the Archimedes ‘sees’ and loads more
applications/modules the memory acquired by the RMA grows and can quite
easily reach 300k plus!
3.04
Since there are several uses for the RMA, there are several ways of
reducing the memory it requires:
3.04
a) Remove individual modules using the *RMKill command e.g. *RMKill
Percussion − this will only temporarily remove the facilities provided
by a module.
3.04
b) Unplug unwanted modules using the *RMUnplug command e.g. *RMUnplug
BBCEconet − this will permanently remove the facilities provided by an
operating system ROM module − so if you don’t have Econet or don’t use
the Debugger then you can unplug the relevant modules and release their
workspace.  Note, you can reinvoke the facilities of a module by using
the *RMReInit command.
3.04
c) Use the following BASIC V program to clear the RMA sprite area:
3.04
   program segment missing
3.04
d) If you have finished processing and saved all your work you could
press <ctrl-break> but this is rather drastic.
3.04
• ArcTerm update − Hugo Fiennes has updated ArcTerm v6.01 so that it
works properly with the CET and CET+ standards.  An upgrade can be
obtained direct from Hugo Fiennes free of charge.
3.04
• Arthur desktop − If any of you have changed over to RISC-OS but are
pining for the old Arthur desktop (!) then see if you can get hold of a
copy of Brainsoft’s Disk Transfer program.  This provides a modified ram
copy of the desktop with extra features added.  You will then be able to
access your old desktop diaries, etc.  Dave Woods.
3.04
• ASCII BASIC programs − BASIC V can load and renumber an untokenised
text file with the *BASIC -load <filename> command (the same applies
with the -chain option).  Thus you don’t really need a BASIC to ASCII
convertor; you could just keep all your BASIC programs in ASCII, at
least while you develop them, and still be able to edit them using a
text editor, e.g. TWIN or !Edit.
3.04
• Auto-booting applications − If you want a RISC-OS application to load
or run as soon as the disc is inserted then you should modify the !Boot
file in the application to execute the !Run file i.e. add the command
*Run <Obey$Dir>.!Run in the !Boot file.  This technique could be used,
for example, to automatically load the BASIC Editor when a development
disc is inserted.
3.04
• Break key action − You can set the action of the <break> key using the
*FX 247,<n> command.  The value byte <n> alters <break> and modifiers of
it as follows:
3.04
   Bits   Key Combination
3.04
   0.1   <break>
3.04
   2.3   <shift-break>
3.04
   4.5   <ctrl-break>
3.04
   6.7   <ctrl-shift-break>
3.04
Each two bit number may take on one of these values:
3.04
   Value   Effect
3.04
   00   Act as <reset> key
3.04
   01   Act as <escape> key
3.04
   10   No effect
3.04
   11   Undefined
3.04
The default is *FX 247,1 which makes <break> act as if it were <escape>
and all other combinations cause a reset.
3.04
• Desktop grey scale?  If you modify colours 0 or 7 (white or black)
using the desktop palette utility then the palette application will
attempt to interpolate the colours in between i.e. colours 1-6.  Try it
and see!
3.04
• Don’t move your mouse!  Whilst waiting for a program to complete a
lengthy process (e.g. when the hourglass is on) it is best not to move
the mouse as keeping track of the mouse movements takes up processor
time.
3.04
• Faster BASIC SWI’s − When using the SYS command within a BASIC V
program, it is quicker to use a number instead of a string.  e.g. SYS6
instead of SYS “OS_Byte”.  However, the best way to obtain the number
values is to use a BASIC variable and “OS_SWINumberFromString”.  This
increases speed while maintaining machine independence and readability.
For example:
3.04
   program segment missing
3.04
• Insert/overwrite with !Edit − It is possible to toggle between insert
and overwrite mode in Edit by pressing <shift-f1>.
3.04
• Mouse step − you can set the sensitivity of your mouse by using the
BASIC V MOUSE STEP command e.g. MOUSE STEP 4 means that the pointer will
move 4 O.S. pixels for every mouse pulse.  The ‘sensitivity parameter’
can take a zero or even a negative value, so that you can freeze the
mouse or even invert it!
3.04
• Multiple entry PROC’s and FNs − You can have multiple entries to
procedures and functions, although it may not be good programming style.
This is because lines beginning with DEF are not executed, so you can
have further DEFs within the body of a procedure/function, and enter at
these points with an appropriate call − this might be particularly
useful to have a first entry, set up some default parameters, and then
have entry to override them:
3.04
   program segment missing
3.04
• O.S. case sensitivity − Contrary to what has been said in the past,
the operating system is almost entirely case-insensitive, unlike BASIC,
and although the case of filenames and variable names is preserved it is
not significant.  Quotes are also generally unnecessary except when
including a space in a parameter.
3.04
• Removing recursive directories (cont’d) − If you accidentally copy a
directory into itself then the best way to tidy the disc up is to create
a RAM disc and move the unwanted files into it (you can move a file by
dragging it into the filer window while holding the <shift> button
down).
3.04
• Time for function keys − Function key strings are just treated as OS
variables called Key$<n>, where <n> is the key number.  This means that
all the commands relate to system variables can be used with function
keys e.g. *ShowKey$ will display key definitions.  *SetMacro Key$0
<Sys$Time> will make <f0> display the time and so on.
3.04
• Using *GOS − You can use the *GOS command from the desktop to prevent
returning if you accidentally hit the <return> key.  Once you have
finished typing your *commands you can use the •Quit command to go back
to the desktop.
3.04

•   Window resizing bugs/errors − The bug in Interactive help Archive
2.11 page 8 is not a bug but a result of !Help setting a window work
area extent in less than a multiple of four. The program is in C so I
can’t edit it. I discovered this when writing my own software. When a
window was stretched to its full extent it would not grow smaller in the
y direction until you moved in to the left. R.D.

•   *WIPE with mouse − In BASIC, (or at the operating system prompt for
that matter. Ed.) if you have the pointer ON (*POINTER) and do *WIPE *,
a mouse pointer appears enabling you to use <se-lect> to delete the file
and <menu> or <adjust> to keep the file.
3.5
•   Alerion cheat  − For those who have the RISC-OS version of Alerion,
you can select the wave you wish to play by pressing the letters <A> to
<O> while on the title screen.
3.5
•   BASIC Editor bugs − There is a bug or two in the Basic Editor v1.00
that comes on the Applications Disc 2. If you exactly fill the first
line so that the cursor jumps to the next line, and then press return,
the screen looks something like this:
3.5
10 REM This is meant to be right over to the edge
3.5
11 C
3.5
20 xxxxxxxxxxxx
3.5
30 xxxx
3.5
If you then press the <page down> key, the comp-uter will freeze.
3.5
Another bug, whose circumstances cannot be so readily repeated, occurs
when pressing the <cursor down> key causing the program to shoot off the
top of the screen, and nothing will bring it back again.
3.5
Both of these are ‘mild’ bugs because pressing <reset> followed by
typing *BASIC and OLD and EDIT restores everything back to it original
state.
3.5
•   BASIC first please − If you want your computer to start up in BASIC
instead of the desktop, use *CON. LAN. 4 and then do a <ctrl-break>.
This also means that the full computer memory is available to your
program. If you go to BASIC with <f12> to get a star command and then
typing BASIC, you only get the memory available that has been allocated
to the next application under the task display (651516 bytes). The
reason for this is that BASIC is being run as the next task within the
desktop environment. This can be seen by typing QUIT which will drop you
back into the desktop with everything as it was before.
3.5
The other way to get the full memory available is to press <shift-ctrl-
f12> which will drop you out of the desktop completely, closing all
tasks. This drops you into the operating system, so typing BASIC and
then QUIT brings you back to the operating system prompt, not into the
desktop.
3.5
(This is one of those things which, according to Adrian is “obvious”,
but to those of us who never reads manuals, it is news! So, the next
time you discover something which someone else thinks is “obvious”, send
it in to us as an H&T. Ed.)
3.5
•   CTRLing VDU scrolling − You can use the <scroll lock> key on the
Archimedes to stop the computer printing (either to the screen or
printer). Another method of doing this is to hold down the <shift> and
<ctrl> keys. However, if you just hold the <ctrl> key down then you can
slow down the speed of printing to about a 20th of it original speed.
3.5
•   Database routine − If you’ve written a database in BASIC e.g. an
address book, it can be difficult to find a name unless you stick to a
format where all entries are in upper case, or lower case apart from the
initial letters. This little routine which uses 104 bytes is the
solution. As well as accepting upper or lower case it also will accept
the character “#” as a single character wildcard .
3.5
It is identical to the BASIC command.
3.5
INSTR(string,substring,start of search)
3.5
Except the variables A%, $B% and $C% are declared before X=USR(code) is
called, i.e.
3.5
$B%=“main string”
3.5
$C%=“substring”
3.5
A%=start of search
3.5
X=USR(code)
3.5
There is an example program with the listing.
3.5
160 DEFPROCass
3.5
170 FORopt=0TO3 STEP3
3.5
180    P%=code
3.5
190   [ OPT opt
3.5
200   STMFD R13!,{r1-r12 ,R14} ;store
3.5
 registers. not R0
3.5
210   MOV R5,R0      ;start of search
3.5
220   MOV R0,#0    ;reset R0 (A%) for
3.5
 return
3.5
230   LDRB R7,[R2,#0] ;load R7 with
3.5
 first byte of $C%
3.5
240   CMP R7,#13   ;is it a CR?
3.5
250   BEQ end      ;i.e. null sub-
3.5
string. exit to BASIC
3.5
260
3.5
270   .nomatch
3.5
280   MOV R4,#0  ;initialise counters
3.5
290   MOV R3,#0
3.5
300   .nextchar
3.5
310   LDRB R6,[R1,R5]  ;get byte of
3.5
 string
3.5
320   CMP R6,#13   ;is it CR ie end
3.5
 of string
3.5
330   BEQ end      ;if yes, substring
3.5
 not found. exit
3.5
340   AND R6,R6,#95   ;AND to ignore
3.5
 case
3.5
350   LDRB R7,[R2,R4] ;first byte of
3.5
 substring
3.5
360   CMP R7,#13      ;is it a CR?
3.5
370   SUBEQ R0,R5,R3  ;yes i.e. end
3.5
 of substring
3.5
380                   ;R5-R3 gives
3.5
 position in string
3.5
390   ADDEQ R0,R0,#1  ;plus 1. First
3.5
 char=0
3.5
400   BEQ end         ; and exit
3.5
410
3.5
420   AND R7,R7,#95   ;AND to ignore
3.5
 case
3.5
430   ADD R5,R5,#1    ;increment
3.5
 counters for next chars
3.5
440   ADD R4,R4,#1
3.5
450   CMP R7,#3       ;is it a hash?
3.5
 If so make equal
3.5
460   MOVEQ R6,R7
3.5
470   CMP R6,R7      ;ARE bytes equal
3.5
480   ADDEQ R3,R3,#1  ;yes − get next
3.5
 sub string char
3.5
490   BEQ nextchar
3.5
500   BNE nomatch     ;no try next
3.5
 string char
3.5
510   .end
3.5
520   LDMFD R13!,{r1-r12 ,R15};restore
3.5
registers. R0 has INSTR
3.5
530   ]
3.5
540 NEXT
3.5
550 ENDPROC
3.5
•   Disappearing menus − After selecting an option on a menu, the menu
disappears. To prevent this: instead of using <select> to select option,
use <adjust>, and the menu will then stay on the screen.
3.5
•   Drawing with Outline fonts - If you possess Acorn DTP, you can use
the !FontEd public domain program to create !Draw paths of the
individual letters. This is done by dragging the character in the main
!FontEd window into the !Draw document window. Once transferred, the
letter can be manip-ulated just like any other drawing e.g. rotated,
stret-ched, filled, etc. With a little patience, some very effective
titles can be created.
3.5
•   DTP memory − A couple of hints to give extra memory when using Acorn
DTP with a 1M machine: load the printer driver first and then quit
before entering DTP. Only the modules are used for printing, which are
left installed after you quit. Secondly, the use of screen mode 1 uses
only 24k of memory and since it is a four colour mode, it gives a better
grey scale than Mode 0.
3.5
•   E-Type bug − There is a bug in ‘All Tracks’ option of E-Type. If you
press hard on the brakes when the time reaches 0:01 the program
sometimes goes bonkers and when you are placed on the new track, your
Trip Score increases.
3.5
•   External ST506 drives − If you add an external hard drive to an old
440 or 310, you may find that the whole system dies completely for no
apparent reason. The problem is that if the external drive is powered up
before the computer, a small voltage can be produced within the computer
so when the power suplly on the computer tries to power up, it sees this
voltage, panics and shuts down again! The simple solution is to power up
the computer first and then the external drive.
3.5
When switching off, work on the “last in, first out” principle and
switch off the drive first. This is good practice since, if the drive is
left switched on, as the computer powers down, extraneous signals on the
drive’s data and control lines could conceivably be interpreted as
something nasty like, “ Please wipe track 0, sector 0” and you end up
with a “Bad Free Space Map”! (I’m sure that is Somebody’s Law.)
3.5
•   Interdictor Cheat − It is possible to alter your landing pad in
Interdictor. Edit StateSave via !Edit. Go down to the 10th number and
alter it. Note that Landing pad 2 is actually Landing pad 1 and so alter
the 10th number to a 1 and so on. Also note that there are 7 runways,
the 7th being known as the number 6. This might sound confusing but
really it’s not!
3.5
•   Large hard drives on A410/1? − Someone asked us to find out whether
it was possible to put hard drives with more than 8 heads onto an A410/
1. All we have been able to find out is that, to get the extra head
select line, you need to change links LK12 and LK13. Whether the
software will cope, we do not know. If anyone has any success with it,
perhaps they would let us know.
3.5
•   Virus protection − If you are passing discs around, especially PD
discs, guard yourself against the virus. When you receive or pass on a
disc, you run the risk of your machine picking or up a virus or logic
bomb.
3.5
Passing on files: Format an unused disc and copy only the files you wish
to send. Alternatively, wipe the disc (*Wipe * FR~C), copy the files and
run my disc wiping program (see below). This is needed because deleting
a file does not erase the data on the disc; it just causes the computer
to forget about it. The data can be retrieved by anyone with a disc
sector editor, so run the program if you want to thoroughly scrub the
unused parts of the disc.
3.5
Receiving files: Copy across only those files which you need. Try not to
use the desktop as some logic bombs can sit in an application’s !Boot
file and spring out at you when you open their directory viewer.* After
copying, the original disc should be cleared by reformatting.
3.5
 10 REM >Eradicate
3.5
 20 REM Guards against the Virus and
3.5
 accidental giveaways of data
3.5
 30 REM Erases totally the unused parts
3.5
 of a disc
3.5
 40 REM PUBLIC DOMAIN by Sandie Goh
3.5
 50 REM Version 1.21 (20-Sep-1989)
3.5
 60 :
3.5
 70 MODE 3:OFF:DIM blankspace 409600
3.5
 80 PRINT“Disc Eradicator”
3.5
 90 PRINT“===============”‘
3.5
100 PRINT“PUBLIC DOMAIN by Sandie Goh,
3.5
Version 1.21 (20-Sep-1989)“‘
3.5
110 PRINT“Erases totally the unused
3.5
 parts of a disc.“
3.5
120 PRINT“HELPS guard against viruses,
3.5
 logic bombs etc.“‘
3.5
130 PRINT“Insert disc to be cleaned in
3.5
 drive 0 and press a key.“‘
3.5
140 *FX 15,1
3.5
150 IF GET
3.5
160 PRINT“Compacting, to collect free
3.5
 space into a single block.“
3.5
170 REPEAT
3.5
180   *COMPACT 0
3.5
190   SYS“ADFS_FreeSpace”,“0” TO total,
3.5
 biggest
3.5
200 UNTIL biggest=total
3.5
210 PRINT“Saving dummy files into the
3.5
 free space to wipe anything there.“
3.5
220 REM Use unlikely filenames to avoid
3.5
 clashes
3.5
230 IF biggest>409600 THEN
3.5
240   OSCLI (“SAVE ZZDelONN12 ”+STR$~
3.5
blankspace+“ +64000”)
3.5
250   biggest=biggest-409600
3.5
260 ENDIF
3.5
270 OSCLI (“SAVE XXDelONN12 ”+STR$~
3.5
blankspace+“ +”+STR$~biggest)
3.5
280 PRINT“Deleting the dummy files to
3.5
 release the space.“‘
3.5
290 *REMOVE ZZDelONN12
3.5
300 *DELETE XXDelONN12
3.5
310 PRINT“I now pronounce this disc
3.5
 clean.“
3.5
*If you don’t believe me, I was myself the victim of a booby-trapped
disc. After mounting a disc I picked up from a friend, I copied its
contents across to my hard disc, only to find that it (the winchester)
was now blank! Believing the problem to be a bug in the desktop or
chance disc failure, I restored the hard disc and tried again − the same
thing happened again, but this time when I did a *Compact 4.
3.5
I tried everything and was just about to give up and complain to Acorn
when a friend phoned me with the same problem. It turns out that he too
had a copy of the disc I had picked up and I immediately became
suspicious. Further research showed that the disc contained an invisible
program which sat in the machine waiting for an opportune moment, then
zapped the Winchester with a *Wipe :4.* FR~C.
3.5
The subtlety of the program makes it even more deadly − the “error”
occurs when you write to the hard disc using the desktop, so you are
lead to think (as I was) that a bug or disc error is responsible. So be
warned. Guard against the virus.
3.5

•   !chars − which is available as !1stchars with FWPlus version 2 and
is also available on SID + Archive BBS + various PD discs, can be used
for “mousing” text into !Draw applications.
3.6
•   !Draw − You can use the cursor keys for fine positioning when
drawing Bezier curves or lines.
3.6
•   !Madness − I was always very disappointed with this Demo − until I
looked at the !RunImage file and found a variable called madspeed% −
guess what changing it to 1 does? Rob Davison
3.6
•   !system on floppies − Those of you without hard discs will have
!system on various of your floppies. The trouble is that when you change
to other discs, even if they have !system on them, you will be asked to
insert the disc containing !system that the com-puter saw first of all.
To get round this, double click on !system on the current disc before
trying to launch applications from the disc.
3.6
•   Art Nouveau − Fills approximating to graduated, logarithmic,
circular etc can easily be ‘designed’ and saved to disc. For example:
3.6
Approx circle fill − Set a small grid size and switch it on. Draw
several concentric filled circles, selecting each shade as you go. Smear
the edges with ‘colour merge’ if you don’t want the bands of colour to
show. Pick it up as a brush and use with: brush, effects1, distort x (or
y). Some of the effect that Pro-Artisan and Atelier have as features can
be cobbled together with a little effort using Art Nouveau (at half the
price!). D P Allen.
3.6
•   Beware the SUM! − If you rely on indentation in your programs to
keep a check on the structure of the various loops, beware that SUM(A())
will cause an extra indent. Is there any way round this? Fred Hartley,
Hayes.
3.6
•   Booting − When booting the Archimedes up it is tempting to just
refer to applications assuming their path starts at the root ($). e.g.
!Edit − can be installed on the desktop using just !Edit in a boot file.
3.6
However, this will not ensure the appropriate system variable is set up
with the full pathname. Again using !Edit as example, you would get just
− Edit$Dir = !Edit
3.6
To avoid this put the full name in the desktop boot file, e.g.
3.6
*Run adfs:HardDisc.$.!Edit
3.6
Only of much use if, like me, you decide to set the directory yourself
while using Desktop (despite what Acorn advise!). Ian Pollock
3.6
•   Graph-Box − superb program but I find it very annoying that it
‘dies’ when you close the window. The following changes will give
Graphbox an icon on the iconbar. It will only ‘die’ when you click
<menu> followed by ‘quit’ as Edit and Draw etc. This lets you clear some
valuable desktop space to write a letter or whatever. while still having
Graphbox available on the icon bar.
3.6
*BASIC
3.6
LOAD “!GraphBox.!RunImage”
3.6
 220 WHEN 3:PROCclosew(!q%):IF!q%=
3.6
w_graphbox% THEN mainclosed%=TRUE
3.6
 560 quit%=FALSE:mainclosed%=FALSE
3.6
4590 WHEN0:PROCclosew(w_graphbox%)
3.6
:quit%=TRUE
3.6
5291 Icon%=sprites%:!Icon%=TRUE:
3.6
DIM Spritename% 14:$Spritename%=
3.6
“!graphbox”:Icon%!4=0:Icon%!8=0:
3.6
Icon%!12=64:Icon%!16=68:Icon%!20=
3.6
(&311A OR (7<<28))
3.6
5292 Icon%!24=Spritename%:Icon%!28=1:
3.6
Icon%!32=12:SYS “Wimp_CreateIcon”
3.6
,,Icon% TO graph_iconbar%
3.6
5445 READ t$:m_iconbar%=FNcrmenu(t$)
3.6
5447 DATA “#Graphbox,Info>w_pinfo%,
3.6
Quit“
3.6
5710 REM quit%=TRUE
3.6
6395 IF mh%=-2 AND mb%=4 OR mb%=1024
3.6
 AND mi%=graph_icnbar% THEN PROCgetw
3.6
(w_graphbox%):PROCfront(w_graphbox%
3.6
,420,150):mainclosed%=FALSE
3.6
7375 WHEN-2:IFmi%=graph_icnbar% THEN
3.6
 PROCpop(m_iconbar%,-1)
3.6
8219 IF menu%=m_iconbar% my%+=64
3.6
8545 WHEN m_iconbar%:IF !mlist%=1
3.6
 THEN quit%=TRUE
3.6
16505 IFmainclosed%=TRUE PROCfront
3.6
(w_graphbox%,420,150):
3.6
mainclosed%=FALSE
3.6
SAVE “!GraphBox.!RunImage”
3.6
NOTE: Graphbox claims what you have in your next slot up to a max of
640k but as the program needs only a minimum of around 200k to run,
there’s space for a very big graph! Before loading Graphbox, drag the
‘next’ slot down to about 330k to free some more space. You can edit the
!run file and change the -max to reconfigure it more permanently. Rob
Davison
3.6
•   Installing Alerion − Here are the steps you must take in order to
install RISC-OS Alerion onto your hard disc:
3.6
(i) create a RAM disc with at least 432k
3.6
(ii) copy the !Alerion directory into the RAM disc
3.6
(iii) alter the RAM disc !Boot file in the !Alerion directory so that it
reads:
3.6
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
3.6
(iv) also alter the !Run file so that reads:
3.6
Set Alerion$Dir <Obey$Dir>
3.6
RMClear
3.6
RMLoad MemAlloc
3.6
RMSize 320k
3.6
ScreenSize 160k
3.6
RMKill MemAlloc
3.6
Run <Alerion$Dir>.!RunImage
3.6
(v) copy the !Alerion directory from the RAM disc to your hard disc.
3.6
•   Rounding Errors − Try typing P.STR$(0.6) in BASIC. If you are
putting the string of a variable into a writeable menu option when
programming a wimp system and this rounding error comes up, the
resulting string can overwrite some of the data structure for your menu.
The result is often an “Abort on data transfer”! This can be quite hard
to track down so be careful. DIMming the block to 5 bytes will stop a
crash but will leave the user with a 0.6666666669 to edit instead of
0.6. This can be a bit disconcerting. To solve it, set @% to round to
e.g. 2 decimal places before doing the STR$ and reset @% afterwards −
see 400 series BASIC Guide pp277-278 for details. Rob Davison
3.6
•   Screen modes & memory claiming − If your program has a proper RISC-
OS front end, it can change modes without worrying about screen memory.
If there is enough in ‘free’ and ‘next’ it will be shunted to screen
memory and the mode selected. Rob Davison
3.6
•   Synthesiser MIDI modes − The answer to Gerald Fitton’s problem
(issue 2.12 p 18) that his Korg synthesiser plays all channels no matter
what he does, is that his synthesiser is not in the correct MIDI mode.
3.6
All MIDI devices operate under modes. These are as below:
3.6
   MIDI mode 1:   OMNI On/Poly
3.6
   MIDI mode 2:   OMNI On/Mono
3.6
   MIDI mode 3:   OMNI Off/Poly
3.6
   MIDI mode 4:   OMNI Off/Mono
3.6
OMNI On/Off selects whether the device receives on all MIDI channels
(OMNI On) or only on one MIDI channel (OMNI Off). Poly means that the
device will be able to play two or more notes at the same time and Mono
means that it will only be able to play one at a time. The Korg will
almost certainly be in MIDI mode 1, which is how most synthesisers are
set up when they are sent from the shop. The answer is to change the
MIDI mode to 3 or 4 and to set the Korg to receive on the same MIDI
channel as Maestro is sending.
3.6
•   Wimp Resizing − I have written a program which needs a large area of
memory as store for data. The program works in the desktop and claims
memory via SYS “Wimp_SlotSize”. Initially, I used the BASIC statement
“END=HIMEM + value%” but this also changes the address of HIMEM. Loops,
procedures and local variables are stored just below HIMEM so my data
was being overwritten. I tried lowering HIMEM immediately afterwards but
things still went wrong so I use “Wimp_SlotSize” directly. BASIC is
ignorant of the new memory area and it can therefore be safely used as a
store. Use a variable “Claimer%’ and exit the Wimp_Poll loop if it’s not
zero then call Wimp_SlotSize. R.D.
3.6

•   !Draw − I used to find it difficult to get to grips with !Draw
because I couldn’t visualise the final layout. However, if you use the
‘new view’ option together with ‘zoom’ you can get a WYSIWYG view. Not
only this, but it is possible to manipulate the major view from the
minor view. L Kennedy.
•   Acorn DTP − This may seem obvious but I only just figured it out!
When printing documents from Acorn DTP, I found that footers (in
particular) wouldn’t print.  I spent ages looking through the DTP manual
trying to figure out why. I suddenly occurred to me that it might be the
printer driver and sure enough, it was.  The page size for A4 paper has
margins set all round, in particular a bottom margin of 20 mm is set,
and it is this which is ‘clipping’ out the footers.  Set this to 0 (say)
and the problem is solved. Kevin Quinn
3.7
•   BASIC programs from !Edit − When in !Edit you can actually run BASIC
programs etc from within the desktop without pressing <f12>. I happened
to come across this accidentally. Press <menu> on the Edit icon and
click on New Task Window. This will produce a task window on the screen
and will allow you to execute the BASIC environment without leaving the
desktop and allow you to format disks also allowing you to nearly multi-
task formatting disks, you can suspend the task get on with something
then resume the task and the formatter will continue where it left off!
Press-ing <menu> from within the task window will give a list of
commands (anyone know what link/unlink does??) Graham Bisset
3.7
•   Changing your batteries and keeping your CMOS RAM settings intact.
If you connect a 100 microfarads capacitor in series with a 100 ohm
resistor and clip them across the battery connec-tions, (+ve of the
capacitor to +ve of the battery) you will have about 70-100 seconds to
change your batteries without losing your CMOS settings. The computer
should be kept switched off throughout the operation. J W E Jones
3.7
•   Current directory path − With reference to Richard Skemp’s query in
Archive 3.5 p43 about getting the full pathname of the current direc
tory, the ‘easiest on your fingers’ method uses system variables. It was
difficult to implement and required a fair amount of digging in the
manuals but it does demonstrate the use of *Set, *SetMacro and *SetEval,
so here it is:
3.7
Place the following two lines into an Obey file, either via *Build or by
using !Edit. Save it in the library directory of your current disc as
“Path” and set the filetype to be an Obey file (*SetType %.Path Obey).
Execute it with *Path. Subsequent use of *Path will have other effects −
see later.
3.7
Set Path$ $
3.7
SetMacro Alias$Path Dir %%0||mIf “%%0” = “” Then Set Path$ $ Else If
“%%0”LEFT1 = “$” Then Set Path$ %%0 Else SetEval Path$ Path$ + “.%%0”
3.7
How it works: “Set Path$ $” sets up a system variable called “Path$” and
assigns to it the string value “$”, which you will recognise as being
the name of the root directory.
3.7
“SetMacro Alias$Path É” creates a macro system variable called “Path”.
3.7
When “*Path [<directory path>]” is executed, the macro first selects the
directory specified in <dir-ectory path> by way of the old *Dir command.
3.7
If no directory path is specified, the old *Dir selects the root
directory. The macro examines <directory path> and, if it is a null
string (“”), it sets Path$ to “$”.
3.7
If the leftmost character of <directory path> is “$”, the macro replaces
Path$ with <directory path>.
3.7
If <directory path> is not null and does not have “$” as its leftmost
character, the macro appends a full stop and the string specified in
<directory path> to whatever Path$ contains.
3.7
Path$ thus always contains the full pathname of the currently selected
directory (CSD).
3.7
You can actually redefine *Dir itself to do this, so that you don’t have
to remember to use *Path ins-tead of *Dir. In other words, it becomes
transparent.
3.7
All you do is to change the first occurrence of Path (in “Alias$Path”)
to Dir (i.e. “Alias$Dir”) and change the “Dir %%0” to “%Dir %%0”. The
extra % sign in front of Dir is to enable the original version of Dir to
be used (FORTH programmers will recognise this as smudging). I have not
actually tried this, but it should work!!
3.7
How to use it:
3.7
Use “Path” wherever you would use “Dir”. In fact, do not use “Dir” at
all (more on this later). Also use full pathnames, as opposed to
wildcarded path-names. This is not really necessary, but it looks
neater.
3.7
The command “*Path Basic.Games.Adventure”, executed from the root
directory, would set sub-directory “Adventure” as the CSD, exactly in
the same way as “*Dir Basic.Games.Adventure” would do.
3.7
Notes:
3.7
1. No leading asterisks. You may enter them, but they are superfluous,
as these lines are sent direct to the CLI.
3.7
2. The use of two double bar characters in ||m. This is so that Obey
will insert it in the macro variable as |m, instead of as ASCII 13.
3.7
   Alias$Path is a multi-line (well, a 2-line) com-mand. This is quite
acceptable, provided each line is separated by a carriage return (ASCII
13, or |m).
3.7
   Note that the (*)Dir command is at the start of the macro. Putting it
at the end causes errors related to the (*)IfÉThenÉElse construct.
3.7
3. Double percentage character in %%0. This is so that Obey will insert
it in the macro variable as %0, instead of attempting to evaluate a
(non-existent) parameter when the command *SetMacro is executed.
3.7
4. Double quote marks where the parameter is to be evaluated as a
string. This is so that string evaluation will proceed correctly.
3.7
5. Use of upper and lower case. In general they are interchangeable at
will.
3.7
(*)Eval supports a number of operators (see p.394 in the Archimedes User
Guide). Some are in the form of ordinary words, such as LEFT, MOD, AND,
OR, etc, and others are symbols, such as *, +, >>, etc. The ordinary
words must be in UPPER CASE, otherwise they are not recognised.
3.7
Disc-related commands seem to be quite happy when offered system
variables as pathnames. If an application sets up its own pathname as,
say, “Application$Dir”, you can make the first line of a BASIC program.
3.7
10 REM > <Application$Dir>.Program
3.7
and be confident that the BASIC command SAVE will put it in the right
place, as the Filer (I think) evaluates <Application$Dir> correctly.
Also *Eval Application$Dir (without the <>) also returns the value of
the variable.
3.7
You can get the value of the system variable into a BASIC variable with
the following FN:
3.7
buffer_length%=255
3.7
DIM buffer% buffer_length%
3.7
PRINT FNevalOS(“Application$Dir”) : REM NB!! no < >
3.7
END
3.7

3.7
DEF FNevalOS(A$) LOCAL T%,L%
3.7
SYS “OS_EvaluateExpression”, A$,buffer%,buffer_length% TO ,T%,L%
3.7
IF T%=0 THEN = L% : REM integer result
3.7
buffer%?L%=13
3.7
=$buffer%     : REM string result
3.7
Anton Mans, Durban
3.7
•   Double height in Fortran − The following short FORTRAN routine can
be used for the Archimedes to ‘tart up’ screen output. It is a routine
for printing text in double height on the screen and uses OS_Word call
10 to read the system font bit pattern. A VDU23 call is used to define a
pair of characters consisting of the upper and lower halves of the input
character. These two characters are then printed, one above the other,
giving a double-height character. It’s very useful for printing headings
in screen output and doesn’t require messing about with special fonts
(I’m going to go on to that next!).
3.7
I claim no originality for the overall method. A routine in BBC BASIC to
do this was published in Beebug some years ago (I forget who the author
was), but I thought it was worth publicising a FORTRAN version of it in
Archive because I don’t think the translation is immediately obvious and
readers may not have been aware of the technique anyway. It should be
easily extendible to double width, quadruple height, etc.
3.7
Rather than just give the bare routine, I have produced a short program
incorporating it, that writes out a couple of strings. Much use is made
of the ‘$’ format to suppress CRLF when characters are being sent to the
VDU driver. The routine is more complex than the BASIC equivalent for
two reasons. Firstly, although there is a word ‘LEN’ in FORTRAN, it only
seems to give the maximum length of any given string, i.e. the length
that it is originally declared to be (e.g. CHARACTER*78 TXT; LEN(TXT)
gives 78). So in SUBROUTINE DOUBLE, there are a few lines to find the
length of the string passed to it by counting backwards from the maximum
length until a non-space character is reached. N.B. this will fail if
the string is put into the argument list, e.g. CALL DOUBLE(10,20,‘Hi
there’). Secondly, since individual bytes in memory are not accessible
to FORTRAN, you have to get the result back as three (4-byte) integers,
and use IAND with ISHFT to gain access to the bytes.
3.7
     PROGRAM DHTEST
3.7
C    *******************************
3.7
C    A DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM FOR
3.7
 PRINTING DOUBLE HEIGHT
3.7
C    TEXT IN ANY MODE (NOT 7) ON THE
3.7
 ACORN ARCHIMEDES,
3.7
C    IN ACORNSOFT FORTRAN. USES ACORN
3.7
 EXTENSIONS: OSWORD, ISHFT, IAND
3.7
C    BY R.D.WRIGHT
3.7
C    *******************************
3.7
     CHARACTER*78 TXT
3.7
     WRITE(6,’($,2A)’)CHAR(22)
3.7
,CHAR(12)
3.7
     WRITE(6,*)’DOUBLE HEIGHT TEST’
3.7
     TXT=’THIS IS A VERY LONG TEST
3.7
 STRING’
3.7
     CALL DOUBLE(10,20,TXT)
3.7
     TXT=‘AND MORE’
3.7
     CALL DOUBLE(10,23,TXT)
3.7
     STOP ‘END OF DEMO’
3.7
     END
3.7
     SUBROUTINE DOUBLE(ICOL,IROW,TXT)
3.7
     CHARACTER*78 TXT
3.7
     INTEGER BLOCK(0:2)
3.7
     INTEGER B(0:8)
3.7
     N=79
3.7
  10 N=N-1
3.7
     IF (TXT(N:N).EQ.‘ ’) GO TO 10
3.7
     DO 20 I=1,N
3.7
     BLOCK(0)=ICHAR(TXT(I:I))
3.7
     CALL OSWORD(10,BLOCK)
3.7
     DO 2010 J=1,3
3.7
     BLOCK(0)=ISHFT(BLOCK(0),-8)
3.7
     B(J)=IAND(BLOCK(0),?IFF)
3.7
2010 CONTINUE
3.7
     B(4)=IAND(BLOCK(1),?IFF)
3.7
     DO 2020 J=5,7
3.7
     BLOCK(1)=ISHFT(BLOCK(1),-8)
3.7
     B(J)=IAND(BLOCK(1),?IFF)
3.7
2020 CONTINUE
3.7
     B(8)=IAND(BLOCK(2),?IFF)
3.7
     WRITE(6,‘($,10A)’)CHAR(23),CHAR(
3.7
240),CHAR(B(1)),CHAR(B(1))
3.7
     +,CHAR(B(2)),CHAR(B(2)),CHAR(B(3
3.7
)),CHAR(B(3)),
3.7
     +CHAR(B(4)),CHAR(B(4))
3.7
     WRITE(6,‘($,10A)’)CHAR(23),CHAR(
3.7
241),CHAR(B(5)),CHAR(B(5))
3.7
     +,CHAR(B(6)),CHAR(B(6)),CHAR(B(7
3.7
)),CHAR(B(7))
3.7
     +,CHAR(B(8)),CHAR(B(8))
3.7
     IX=ICOL+I-1
3.7
     IYU=IROW
3.7
     IYL=IROW+1
3.7
     WRITE(6,‘($,8A)’)CHAR(31),CHAR(
3.7
IX),CHAR(IYU),CHAR(240)
3.7
     +,CHAR(31),CHAR(IX),CHAR(IYL)
3.7
,CHAR(241)
3.7
  20 CONTINUE
3.7
     RETURN
3.7
     END
3.7
R.D.Wright
3.7
•   Easy ‘C’ Compilation I − While working on a C program it can become
quite tedious to type in the same parameters every time you want to
compile the latest version of your program. One way to get around this
is to use something like “C-Front” from Mitre which allows you to
compile directly from the desktop. A simpler and cheaper way is to use
an ‘Obey’ file which will do the job for you. Below is an example that
has been written to make the compilation of C (Release 3) programs
easier. Using this method, you can still work from the desktop editing
your text in !Edit, saving it, then pressing <f12>. You can then use the
following command:
3.7
*c <inputname> [outputname]
3.7
It will then automatically Compile and Link your new masterpiece!
3.7
The program has been fully commented to aid understanding. It should be
saved as an ‘Obey’ file in the ‘Library’ directory under the name “C”.
Obviously it should be customised to suit your own directory layout and
preferred compiler options.
3.7
| ‘C’ Obey file, Compiler & Linker -
3.7
 16/02/90 Mark Taylor
3.7
| Syntax : “*C <inputname> [output
3.7
name]“
3.7
| Where ‘inputname’ is the name of
3.7
 the file to be compiled
3.7
| and ‘outputname’ is the name of the
3.7
 output file, e.g. !RunImage, etc.
3.7
|
3.7
| Check for parameters. If none
3.7
 present then error and output
3.7
 a message.
3.7
if “%0” = “” then error 0 Error in
3.7
 ‘C’ Compiler & Linker. Syntax : *C |<inputname|> [outputname]
3.7
|
3.7
| Set system variable ‘ipname$’ to
3.7
 first parameter after the “c”.
3.7
Set ipname$ %0
3.7
|
3.7
| Check for a second and if there is
3.7
 one set ‘opname$’ to that
3.7
 variable,
3.7
| else set ‘opname$’ equal ‘ipname$’.
3.7
If “%1” > “” then Set opname$ %1 else
3.7
 Set opname$ %0
3.7
|
3.7
| Compile with ‘ipname$’, do NOT Link
3.7
 (-c). ANSI 3 Standard method.
3.7
cc -c <ipname$> -I$.RISC-OSLib
3.7
|
3.7
| Link ‘ipname$’ with standard lib-
3.7
raries and output as ‘opname$’.
3.7
link -o <opname$> o.<ipname$> $.RISC
3.7
-OSLib.o.RISC-OSLib $.CLib.o.Stubs
3.7
|
3.7
| Echo finishing message.
3.7
Echo File ‘<ipname$>’ successfully
3.7
 compiled as ‘<opname$>’.
3.7
| Unset the temporary variables.
3.7
Unset ipname$
3.7
Unset opname$
3.7
Below is a cut down version that is not quite as sophisticated but is
easier to understand.
3.7
| ‘C’ Obey file, Compiler & Linker -
3.7
 16/02/90 Mark Taylor
3.7
| Syntax : “*C name” Where ‘name’ is
3.7
 the name of the file to be
3.7
 compiled.
3.7
cc -c %0 -I$.RISC-OSLib
3.7
link -o %0 o.%0 $.RISC-OSLib.o.RISC
3.7
-OSLib $.CLib.o.Stubs
3.7
Echo File ‘%0’ successfully compiled.
3.7

3.7
•   Easy ‘C’ Compilation II − This is not a new idea but it is still
worth mentioning. To speed up the compilation of ‘C’ programs it is a
good idea to copy the necessary files to a RAM disc. I have written an
Obey file to achieve this. It is best saved into the Library directory
so that it may be called from the star (*) prompt any time. The way the
file is set up at the moment means that it will copy files from the hard
disc to a RAM disc of some 1.5M. The RAM disc is set up using the
“MemAlloc” module (this can be found in the !Lander directory on the
Apps2 disc of RISC-OS). It should be copied in the mod-ules directory of
the !System folder. The directory layout reflects a fairly standard
system under release 3 of Acorn’s ANSI C.
3.7
Important!
3.7
You must remember to copy the files you have changed during your session
back to disc before switching off!
3.7
| Obey file to set up RAM disc as the
3.7
 working disc for ‘C’ 18/1/90
3.7
|
3.7
| First create large RAM disc: 1.5MB!
3.7
RMensure MemAlloc 0.11 RMload :4.$.
3.7
!System.modules.memalloc
3.7
RAMFSSize 1500
3.7
RMensure SharedClibrary 3.50 RMload
3.7
:4.$.!System.modules.clib
3.7
RMensure FPEmulator 2.80 RMload :4.$.
3.7
!System.modules.FPE280
3.7
|
3.7
CDir RAM:$.RISC-OSlib
3.7
CDir RAM:$.Clib
3.7
CDir RAM:$.User
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.RISC-OSlib.* RAM:$.RISC-
3.7
OSlib.* ~cr~v
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.CLib.* RAM:$.Clib.* ~cr~v
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.User.* RAM:$.User.* ~cr~v
3.7
CDir RAM:$.Library
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.Library.link RAM:$.Library.* ~c~v
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.Library.cc RAM:$.Library.* ~c~v
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.Library.squeeze RAM:$.Library.* ~c~v
3.7
| Copy my single letter Obey file ‘C’.
3.7
Copy ADFS:$.Library.c RAM:$.Library
3.7
.* ~c~v
3.7
|
3.7
|Define function keys.
3.7
k.1c
3.7
k.2cc -c
3.7
k.3-I$.RISC-OSLib
3.7
k.4link -o
3.7
k.5$.RISC-OSLib.o.RISC-OSLib
3.7
k.6$.CLib.o.Stubs
3.7
k.7Squeeze -v
3.7
| Delete all unwanted object files!
3.7
k.12wipe o.* ~c
3.7
|Perform *RAM at the end!
3.7
RAM
3.7
|Select $.User directory!
3.7
Dir $.User
3.7
Echo RAM Disc now setup correctly
3.7
 (DIR=$.User)
3.7
Echo
3.7
free
3.7
Filer_OpenDir RAM:$.User.c
3.7
•   Music Maestro please! − The !Maestro applic-ation provided by Acorn
is very powerful, if very complex. However, it still has a number of
short-comings relative to the old Island Logic’s “Music System” for the
BBC micro. These include the inability to delete whole bars or several
bars; the inability to handle triplets; the inability to change Tempo
within a passage. Also, entering scores by dragging icons is extremely
slow and laborious and finally, “Music System” counted notes in a bar
and, when the right time had been used, automatically entered a bar-
line. This not only saved an operation, it also provided a cross-check
on typing accuracy: the unexpected appearance of a bar-line indicated a
mistake somewhere.
3.7
!Maestro’s !RunImage file has been modified to permit changing of the
Tempo during a passage. This required a new sprite, placed in the space
in the top right corner, next to the hemi-demi-semi-quaver rest; ‘M’ for
Metronome seemed to be a reasonable choice. This sprite can be picked
up, just like the others, and placed above the appropriate bar-line.
When it is ‘clicked’ to fix it in position, it changes into the crotchet
symbol followed by “=<num>”, where <num> is a number from 40 to 210,
representing the Tempo as selected by the Tempo sub-menu from the main
Maestro menu. The numbers (of beats per minute) are given on page 1810
of the Programmer’s Reference Manual.
3.7
During these investigations, a few small errors were noticed in the
Programmer’s Reference Manual (RISC-OS Edition). In Vol.4, under Music
Files:
3.7
p.1809 “Maestro” is followed by “Line-feed”, &0A (not &0D)
3.7
Music Data: Not “4*8 length of queue of notesÉ” but “5*8” because the
length is written to file as an integer variable, FINE%(C%) (as in DC al
fine!), so it consists of one byte (&40:integer) followed by 4 bytes
(value).
3.7
p.1811 Attributes: Clef Bit 5 is unused Bits 6 & 7 are (Stave−1), range
0−3. The attributes as defined in !Maestro. !RunImage lines 28900−29020
agree with those obtained by a *DUMP of a Music file. Alan Quayle
3.7
•   Shift Caps Lock will give you capitals normally but will enable
lower case characters to be typed by holding down the shift key − very
useful when writing BASIC programs. Fred Lee
3.7
•   SID − There is a mail-server on the SID database and so if you can
use E-MAIL (e.g. if you are a student at University, like me) then you
can mail it at [e-mail] with a message contain-ing the word
‘help’ and it will mail you a file telling you how to download stuff.
It only has the free PD stuff though (obviously). The advantages of this
service work both ways − the SID machine can schedule the replies in
non-peak times and you are not using lots of on-line time down-loading.
Kevin F. Quinn
3.7
•   TinyDirs − it may be obvious to most of you butÉ The TinyDirs
program not only allows directories to be installed on the icon bar but
allows applications to be as well. After all they are only directories
really. The application can then be run by clicking on the icon on the
icon bar in just the same way as any other application. This means you
can have your favourite programs on the icon bar without having to worry
about how to install them there. The TinyDirs program will also cope
with more than one directory. (A friend was running a new copy of
TinyDirs each time he wanted a new directory installed.) If you just
drag the icon for the directory you want installed onto one of those
already there it will be added to the list. Andrew Ling.
3.7
•   Turkish ‘i’ − There is a minute error in the char-acter set supplied
as “Latin3” on the Archimedes which, according to Acorn’s manual,
corresponds to ISO 8859/3 covering German, Spanish, Turkish etc.
Character 185 is supposed to be the Turkish lower case ‘i’, i.e. like
the English ‘i’ but without the dot. (The Mac has let me down for once −
no Turkish ‘i’! Ed.) Instead, it replicates the standard Latin ‘i’.
3.7
To overcome this, insert the following in a boot file:
3.7
*echo <23><185><0><0><56><24><24>
3.7
<24><60><0>
3.7
John Morgan
3.7
•   Working on a 1Mbyte machine − When loading applications within the
desktop especially on a 1Mb machine, always call up the task display and
reduce the size of the next slot to as low as the machine will allow,
some applications will allow you to set it to 8k and they will just grab
as much memory as they need, however some will report ‘App need XXXk to
start’ so change the slot to about XXX+20k for workspace. If you do this
then the application can only grab as much memory as it needs. However,
if you leave say 640k in the next and you click on an application then
its likely that the application will grab about 600k or so leaving
precious little for other programs, data etc Users of 2Mb+ machines
don’t have the problem, but they still need to be careful of memory
grabbing applications!  Graham Bisset
3.7

•   Auto-Booting on Startup − The following tip is of particular use to
users of hard disks.
3.8
With so many extensions to RISC-OS being avail-able, most notably the
Outline Font Manager, it can be inconvenient if your applications can’t
find them and even worse if the first !System directory that is seen is
on a floppy.
3.8
The simplest solution to this is to put !Fonts and !System in the root
directory of your hard disk and then open the root directory as your
first action.
3.8
However, if the same action has to be performed repeatedly, then the
computer must be able to do it for you and it can.
3.8
First you should create a command file called !Boot in Edit. This should
contain something like:
3.8
adfs::4.$.!System
3.8
adfs::4.$.!Fonts
3.8
DESKTOP
3.8
This will then initialise the system and font paths before starting the
desktop. To make it run on startup, you must configure the system to
execute the !boot file, this is done from an operating system * prompt
by:
3.8
*configure boot
3.8
*configure drive 4
3.8
*opt 4,3
3.8
The last option sets the current drive to execute the !boot file, rather
than attempting to run it as a BASIC program.
3.8
This is not the end of the startup. When you invoke the desktop, it is
possible have one or more applications run automatically. To run a
single application, just append the application path on the end of the
DESKTOP command, for example:
3.8
DESKTOP adfs::4.$.!Edit
3.8
This will startup the desktop with Edit on the menu bar. To initialise
more than one application, you specify a text file which lists all the
applications that you wish to start.
3.8
DESKTOP -File adfs::4.$.Startup
3.8
The file Startup might contain the following list of files:
3.8
adfs::4.$.!Draw
3.8
adfs::4.$.!Edit
3.8
adfs::4.$.!Paint
3.8
This will then enter the desktop and start Draw, Edit and Paint
automatically. One word of warning, if you are limited to 1 Mb, be
careful as it would be very easy to use up all the available memory.
3.8
Further customisation could be had by adding RMload commands to the !Run
file of !System to automatically load modules (such as NewModes) and
Filer_OpenDir pathname to the !Run files of applications in the startup
file to automatically open directory viewers. Phil Kitching
3.8
•   BasicEdit − For users of the Data Store !Basic-Edit application:
Because this application uses the DSUtil module to alter the operation
of the mouse pointer it is not possible to run desktop programs
successfully from Edit without returning to the desktop first. This,
however, has the disadvantage that programs are more difficult to debug:
when a program ends it returns to the desktop and all the variables are
lost. A few simple changes to the !BasicEdit.!RunImage program, however,
seem to provide a satisfactory remedy. Insert near the start of the
program the following function key definitions:
3.8
*KEY 2 *BEUtilOff|M*BASIC|MOLD|M
3.8
RUN|M
3.8
*KEY 3 *BEUtilOn|MEDIT .|M
3.8
Then to run any program from the Edit screen simply press <f1> once and
<f2> once. If the prog-ram uses the Wimp, the desktop will reappear as
it was before you ran !BasicEdit with the new program running as well.
After the program ends, a “command window” will appear where you can use
LVAR or any other BASIC commands. To return to the Edit screen where you
left it, simply press <f3>. Hugh Eagle
3.8
•   Battery changing − You don’t have to bother with adding capacitors
etc as mentioned last month. All you need to do is leave the computer
switched on while changing the batteries (but mind your fingers on the
fan!). There is no danger involved, as the mains is totally enclosed,
and it will not harm the machine. Mike Harrison.
3.8
•   C programming − When writing desktop applications, put —DATE— in the
version string. So, if you forget to update the version number when
modifying the source files, it doesn’t really matter because when the
info is given from the menu, you can then find out what date the file
was compiled. R Bunnett.
3.8
•   Closing the Edit window using <adjust> (instead of <select>) the
source directory is opened after the window has been closed. Holding the
<shift> key down simultaneously, will cause the directory viewer to be
opened without closing the Edit window (this allows you to drag-save the
file into the same directory, but with a different name). This is also
true for Draw and Paint.
3.8
•   Double clicking problems − Double clicking on an application
installed on the icon bar by !TinyDirs can result in the application
running twice. This can have the confusing result that when you quit the
application a second copy of it immediately appears in its place.
3.8
I have found a somewhat cumbersome solution to this problem which is to
include the following code in the WimpPoll loop:
3.8
WHEN 17 : IF block%!4<>TaskId% AND block%!16=&400C2 THEN
3.8
PROCInsertCR(block%+28)
3.8
dummy$=$(block%+28)
3.8
IF dummy$=TaskName$ THEN
3.8
quit%=TRUE
3.8
ENDIF
3.8
ENDIF
3.8
   .
3.8
   .
3.8
DEF PROCInsertCR(mem%)
3.8
LOCAL I%
3.8
I%=mem%
3.8
REPEAT
3.8
I%+=1
3.8
UNTIL ?I%=0
3.8
?I%=13
3.8
ENDPROC
3.8
When the first application receives the message that is broadcast when a
new application starts (i.e. it receives reason code 17 with
block%!16=&400C2) and it finds that the new task has the same name
(TaskName$) as itself, it sets quit%=TRUE which makes the application
quit at the end of the poll loop.
3.8
Note that when each application starts, it receives the message
broadcast by itself, hence the com-parison of block%!4 (which holds the
handle of the sender of the message) with TaskId% to prevent the task
from shutting itself down!
3.8
Note also that the little procedure PROCInsertCR seems to be necessary
to convert the string at block%+28 from a zero terminated string to a
normal &0D terminated one. (Can anyone explain please RISC-OS’s
infatuation with these wretched zero-terminated strings ... and to say
that it’s because C or Unix, or whatever, uses them is no answer!) Hugh
Eagle
3.8
•   Filer_OpenDir − The command ‘Filer_Open Dir’ may be used for any
file path. This includes ‘filing systems’ created using a system
variable (e.g. System$Path) may be referred to as the filing system
‘system:’. Some ‘filing systems’ are one direction only (e.g. printer:).
The command can also use SystemDevices’ own ‘filing systems’:
3.8
   kbd: / rawkd:   the keyboard
3.8
   null:   the ‘null device’
3.8
   printer:   the printer
3.8
   serial:   the serial port
3.8
   vdu: / rawvdu:   the screen
3.8
   netprint:   the network printer
3.8
Examples: dragging a file onto the view opened by:
3.8
*Filer_OpenDir printer: will spool it to the printer
3.8
*Filer_OpenDir vdu: will send it to the vdu driver (try it with a text
file)
3.8
*Filer_OpenDir null: <shift> dragging will ‘move’ a file to null: i.e.
delete it
3.8
•   FormEd Update − Users who have downloaded the !FormEd template
editor from Acorn’s SID board (also available on shareware disc 20)
might like to know how to put back the ‘sprite routines’.
3.8
The version of !FormEd refered to has a !Help file stating a date of 16-
May-89, and a ReadMe file stating version 1.00, but shows version 1.01
and date of 23-May-89 in its Info window. The ReadMe file shows that
this is an unsupported Acorn application.
3.8
The !Help file states ‘Some previous versions of FormEd used to provide
facilities for editing sprites. These are now provided only in the
!Paint application’, also that when a sprite file is dragged onto the
FormEd icon on the iconbar, a window will display the sprites. In the
supplied state, no window is opened and you do not know what your sprite
names are, or even if you have loaded the correct file, until you define
an icon as a named sprite which you hope is in the file!
3.8
I was having problems with not enough memory on a 1Meg machine for
!Paint, !FormEd, the sprite files and the templates being built. (It IS
possible with very careful setting of the ’Free’ and ‘Next’ bars in the
Task Manager, but you can’t have any printer drivers etc). An examina
tion of the !FormEd reveal-ed that by removing the REM statements from
just 2 lines the sprite routines were again available.
3.8
Load the !RunImage for !FormEd and LIST lines 2270 and 3080. Edit those
lines to remove the REM before PROCspriteinfo in each, so that the lines
are as shown below:
3.8
2270 WHEN &FF9:PROCloadsprites (f$)
3.8
 :PROCspriteinfo
3.8
3080 PROCloadsprites(FNstring0(q%
3.8
+44)):PROCspriteinfo
3.8
Save the file back to the disk. When a sprite file is dragged to the
FormEd icon, a sprite window is shown and the sprite editing routines
appear to work OK (although !Paint is more powerful). Douglas Potter
3.8
•   GraphBox − Maybe this is an obvious point to some users but it took
me a while to discover. Graphs imported into !Draw can be disassembled
to a remarkable degree (using ungroup) right down to facets of
individual 3D bars. This allows extensive re-orienting, re-colouring
options which can avoid some of the problems with dark colours and
overlaps when colour printing on a dot matrix printer. John Wann
3.8
•   Hardware developer’s tool − On the monthly program disk is a utility
(‘SVCBAS’) which is very useful for hardware developers. It patches
BASIC so that memory indirection operators (? and !) operate in
supervisor mode. This allows quick ‘tweaking’ of hardware devices while
testing. Documentation is minimal, since those who are likely to need it
should not need any! Mike Harrison.
3.8
•   Maestro − There are (I think!) several errors in the description of
the !Maestro file format on pages 1809 to 1813 of the PRM:
3.8
a)   in the ‘Music data’ the number of bytes of gate data is given, not
the number of gates as the PRM says
3.8
b)   the number of bytes of gate data is preceded by &40
3.8
c)   each of the next eight words (which give the length in bytes of the
queues of note/rest data for the eight channels) is also preceded by &40
3.8
d)   in the ‘Stave data’, the number of music staves is reduced by 1
(i.e. if there are 4 music staves this is recorded as 3)
3.8
e)   in the descriptions of the ‘Gate Attributes’, the binary represen
tations of the bottom few bits of each byte are given with the least
significant bit first. Thus where the ‘Clef’ description says “Bits 0 −
2 : 001 binary” it means that bits 0 and 1 are 0 and bit 2 is 1.
3.8
f)   within the ‘Clef’ attribute data, the stave number (minus 1) is
given in bits 6 and 7, not bits 5 and 6. Hugh Eagle
3.8
•   Problems with an Epson LQ1050? When printing from Impression, !Draw,
etc using the !PrinterDM application, the 360 x 360 dpi mode may cause
spurious characters to be printed, which results in a poor quality
printout. The reason for this is that the firmware in the Epson printer
does not support the [Esc]+ control sequence which is nec-essary to set
a line feed of 1/360th of an inch. In order to get this option working
you will need a new version of the printer’s ROM. This can be purch-ased
from Applied Technology Ltd. David Crofts
3.8
•   Re-inking your ink-cartridge − It is possible to re-ink an ink-
cartridge for an HP-Deskjet Plus printer and probably other inkjet
printers by buying one of the inks listed below and then using a syringe
to insert the ink through a hole on the top of the cartridge. (a)
Fountain pen ink (Pelikan), (b) Diadye ink (photo-shop), (c) Rotring
air-brush ink. Tony Hopstaken
3.8
•   Rotor passwords − Lee Thake has sent in the passwords for Rotor, but
in case you would rather not know, here they are in very simple coded
form so that once you have the first password, you will be able to work
out the others. QJU, HBH, MJQ, TMZ, NFX, BXF, UOU, FOE.
3.8
•   Sparkplug − We have a lot of questions about how to decompress
programs such as PCDir which appear on our program and Shareware discs.
Let me try to explain in more detail.
3.8
The reason the programs are compacted is that there would not be enough
room on the disc for the uncompacted version. Thus, if you are to uncom-
pact them, you need to do so onto another (prefer-ably blank) disc. If
you have two drives or a hard disc on your computer, the job is easier
then if you are trying to do it on a single drive, so I will do it the
hard way first.
3.8
Insert a blank disc in the drive and open its filer window. Remove this
disc and insert the Program Disc (or Shareware disc, or whatever) in the
drive and open its filer window. If you have not already done so,
install !sparkplug onto the icon bar by double-clicking on it. Drag the
icon of the program to be decompacted onto the !sparkplug icon on the
icon bar. A pseudo-filer window opens. Drag the icon or icons from there
into the filer window of the blank disc. You will be prompted to insert
that disc into the drive and will probably then have to keep swapping
the discs over as prompted until all of the compacted files and folders
have been uncom-pacted and copied across onto the other disc. This may
actually require quite a number of repetitions, so it may be better to
create as large a ram disc as possible and drag the files from the
!Sparkplug filer window onto the ram disc then change discs and copy
back from the ram disc to the blank disc. This, of course, will not work
if you cannot make a ram disc big enough to accommodate the uncompacted
files.
3.8
If you have two discs, simply put the program disc in one drive and the
blank disc in the other. Proceed as above, except that you will not be
prompted to change discs since both are accessible to the computer at
the same time.
3.8
•   Too many fonts − If you have too many anti-aliased fonts, !Edit will
crash with a ‘Fatal internal error type=5’. So those of you who are
purchasing the new onslaught of outline fonts should not put them all
into one !Fonts directory.
3.8
•   VIDC parameters − On the monthly program disk is a text file of all
the VIDC and VDU para-meters for the standard screen modes. This makes
life a lot easier when defining your own modes, especially without the
aid of an oscilloscope to monitor the video waveform, and a VIDC data-
sheet. It’s much easier to tweak the existing num-bers than to work them
out from scratch! Mike Harrison.
3.8
•   Wimp programming − If you get unexpected messages such as “Too many
nested structures” when running a BASIC program in a Desktop application
it may be simply because you have failed to allocate a large enough
Wimpslot. Hugh Eagle
3.8
•   Z88 file transfer − The Z88 can save files to disc. Ranger sell a
battery powered disc drive which reads and writes 3.5“ discs in 720k
MSDOS format. The trouble is it costs as much as the Z88.
3.8
The Z88 does not insist on sending a line feed, see Printered.
3.8
Since the Z88 serial port uses XOn/XOff by default, a three wire serial
lead will suffice if the Archim-edes is using similar software. Be sure
to short other handshaking lines. The simplest method of sending data to
the Archimedes is to use:
3.8
*SPOOL file
3.8
*FX21,1
3.8
*FX2,1
3.8
and just print from the Z88. Make sure the last lines in the file being
printed have *SPOOL *FX 2,0.
3.8
The next stage up is to use a communications pack-age such as Hearsay
and the Filer to send or receive files. There is a nice routine on the
Data Store utilities disc which does the job using the Filer.
3.8
Lastly the best way of transferring data is to use the PCLink ROM and
the Z88 filer that comes with Pipedream. Unfortunately PCLink comes with
a Z88 to PC cable so some soldering is still required. Data transfer
with PCLink is unnecessarily slow, a version of Kermit would have been
more use and faster. Bruce Edelsten
3.8
(How about using the Archimedes-Z88 link that we supply for £35? Ed.)
3.8

3.9
•   Clear a line − To clear a text input in an editable field, press
<ctrl-U>. For example, you can use this to clear the filename before
typing a new entry. Philip Armstrong
3.9
•   !Draw − Someone mentioned converting sprite images to object
orientated !Draw images. I have used a graph program and converted the
sprite it created to a !Draw file by zooming up and drawing over the
sprite. If you keep to, say, the bottom left of each pixel, it works OK
and gives a much better printed image.
3.9
To get vertical and horizontal lines, use the edit coordinated facility.
Get one end correct then note its x or y location and then edit the
other end to match it.
3.9
If you have typed some incorrect text into a draw file, for example ‘Fig
4.5’ needs to be changed to ‘Fig 4.6’, then you would normally have to
re-type the line and be careful to locate it in the same place. If
characters are changed leaving the string length the same then you could
use !Edit to search and replace the text, once the draw file has been
dragged onto the !Edit icon. Strings could also be padded out with
spaces if a shorter replace string is required, but for a longer string
it is usually easier to re-type in !Draw. Philip Armstrong
3.9
•   DXF files − Inclusion of a 41 group in TEXT entities permits
characters with varying aspect ratios. A value of 0.5 matches the system
fonts. Jim Markland.
3.9
•   Elektor sound sampler − In December’s issue of the Netherlands
edition of Elektor (November in the U.K. edition) they published a
D.I.Y. sound sampler podule. This podule has been built freq-uently but
there is one small problem. There are no commands provided to use the
sampler so it is difficult to use it in your own software. I decided
therefore to write a module.
3.9
The module makes use of a timer within the 6522 on the board. This
results in a very accurate sample-time. To make use of the module, you
need to set a jumper on the podule which connects the 6522-IRQ-line to
the FIQ-line of the Archimedes.
3.9
Holding the podule with the 64-way-connector towards you and the print
header at the right, you can place the jumper vertically at the right
bottom of the print header.
3.9
Now you can use the module. There is a SWI included:
3.9
ElektorSampler_Sample (&500)
3.9
R0 = Start address of the sample buffer
3.9
R1 = End address of the sample buffer
3.9
R2 = Sample time in µs
3.9
R3 = Minimum level to start sampling
3.9
R4 : bit 0: This bit defines the quality of the sample. Low quality
sampling must be used unless you are prepared to allow the screen to be
disabled. 0 = high quality sampling, 1 = low quality sampling.
3.9
   bit 1: This bit defines whether the low order byte of the address
where the sample is written to, must be placed on the userport or not.
This enables you to take multi-channel samples (e.g. stereo) using an
analogue multiplexer (e.g. HEF 4051). When you’re not using this option,
leave the bit ‘0’. 0 = no output to the userport, 1 = output to the
userport
3.9
   Leave unused bits ‘0’ for upward compatibility
3.9
After calling this SWI, the screen will be disabled during the sampling.
While waiting for the minimum level, the border will be coloured yellow
− whilst sampling, the border will be red. As long as the border is
yellow, you can quit by pressing <escape>. The buffer will be filled
with linear 8-bit signed numbers.
3.9
The minimum sample-time that can be used on a normal Archimedes is about
9 µs. The minimum sample-time that can be used with the ZN427 (the ADC)
is approx. 12 µs.
3.9
The module could be used with the Armadeus sampler if Armadeus software
were suitably modified. Since Armadeus is written in BASIC this should
be possible.
3.9
As far as I’m concerned this module may be copied freely provided that
my name, as author, remains within the software.
3.9
Questions or suggestions? You can contact me via Archive.
3.9
To conserve space, we have stripped the comments out of this listing.
The full commented listing is available on the monthly program disc.
3.9
 10 REM >SamplerSrc
3.9
 20 REM Written by J.P.Hendrix
3.9
 30 start=4:end=10:speed=9:ioc=8
3.9
:rd427=5:wr427=6:bs6522=7:level=11
3.9
:flags=12
3.9
 40 DIM Code 1000
3.9
 50 FOR Pass=4 TO 7 STEP 3
3.9
 60 P%=0
3.9
 70 O%=Code
3.9
 80 [   OPT   Pass
3.9
 90     EQUD  0
3.9
100     EQUD  0
3.9
110     EQUD  0
3.9
120     EQUD  0
3.9
130     EQUD  Title
3.9
140     EQUD  Help
3.9
150     EQUD  0
3.9
160     EQUD  &500
3.9
170     EQUD  Handler
3.9
180     EQUD  Table
3.9
190     EQUD  0
3.9
200
3.9
210     EQUS  “Elektor Sampler
3.9
 Module 1.03  (c) copyright
3.9
22 Apr 1990 by J.P. Hendrix“
3.9
220
3.9
230 .YelBorder
3.9
240     EQUB  0
3.9
250     EQUB  24
3.9
260     EQUB  255
3.9
270     EQUB  255
3.9
280     EQUB  0
3.9
290     ALIGN
3.9
300
3.9
310
3.9
320 .Handler
3.9
330     STMFD R13!,{r0-r12 ,R14}
3.9
340     CMP   R11,#&00
3.9
350     BNE   UnknownSWI
3.9
360     MOV   flags,R4
3.9
370     MOV   start,R0
3.9
380     MOV   end,R1
3.9
390     MOV   speed,R2,LSL #1
3.9
 400     SUB   speed,speed,#2
3.9
 410     AND   level,R3,#&7F
3.9
 420     STMFD R13!,*{t ,end,speed}
3.9
 430     SWI   “I/O_Podule_Hardware”
3.9
 440     BIC   R0,R1,#&00FF0000
3.9
 450     ORR   wr427,R0,#%000<<11
3.9
 460     ORR   rd427,R0,#%010<<11
3.9
 470     ORR   bs6522,R1,#%101<<11
3.9
 480     MOV   ioc,#&3200000
3.9
 490     STMFD R13!,{wr427 ,rd427,
3.9
bs6522,ioc}
3.9
 500
3.9
 510     MOV   R0,#0
3.9
 520     MOV   R1,#3072
3.9
 530     TST   flags,#1
3.9
 540     SWIEQ “XOS_UpdateMEMC”
3.9
 550
3.9
 560     MOV   R0,#0
3.9
 570     MOV   R1,#24
3.9
 580     SWI   “OS_ReadPalette”
3.9
 590     ADR   R0,OrgColour
3.9
 600     MOV   R2,R2,LSR #8
3.9
 610     STRB  R2,[R0,#2]!
3.9
 620     MOV   R2,R2,LSR #8
3.9
 630     STRB  R2,[R0,#1]!
3.9
 640     MOV   R2,R2,LSR #8
3.9
 650     STRB  R2,[R0,#1]!
3.9
 660
3.9
 670     MOV   R0,#12
3.9
 680     ADR   R1,YelBorder
3.9
 690     SWIEQ “OS_Word”
3.9
 700
3.9
 710     MOV   R1,#&0C
3.9
 720     SWI   “OS_ServiceCall”
3.9
 730
3.9
 740     LDMFD R13!,{wr427 ,rd427,
3.9
bs6522,ioc}
3.9
 750
3.9
 760     MOV   R0,#&00
3.9
 770     STRB  R0,[ioc,#&38]
3.9
 780
3.9
 790
3.9
 800     MOV   R0,#SamplerEnd-
3.9
SamplerBegin
3.9
 810     MOV   R1,#&1C
3.9
 820     ADR   R2,SamplerBegin
3.9
 830 .PokeLoop
3.9
 840     LDR   R3,[R2,R0]
3.9
 850     STR   R3,[R1,R0]
3.9
 860     SUBS  R0,R0,#4
3.9
 870     BPL   PokeLoop
3.9
 880
3.9
 890     LDMFD R13!,*{t ,end,speed}
3.9
 900
3.9
 910
3.9
 920     TST   flags,#2
3.9
 930     MOV   R0,#255
3.9
 940     MOVEQ R0,#0
3.9
 950     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#02*4]
3.9
 960     AND   R0,speed,#&FF
3.9
 970     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#06*4]
3.9
 980     MOV   R0,speed,LSR #8
3.9
 990     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#07*4]
3.9
1000     MOV   R0,#&40
3.9
1010     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#11*4]
3.9
1020     MOV   R0,#&00
3.9
1030     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#13*4]
3.9
1040     MOV   R0,#&C0
3.9
1050     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#14*4]
3.9
1060     AND   R0,speed,#&FF
3.9
1070     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#04*4]
3.9
1080
3.9
1090     STRB  R0,[wr427]
3.9
1100 .WaitLevel
3.9
1110     SWI   “OS_ReadEscapeState”
3.9
1120     BCS   Exit
3.9
1130
3.9
1140     LDRB  R0,[rd427]
3.9
1150     STRB  R0,[wr427]
3.9
1160     TST   R0,#&80
3.9
1170     RSBEQ R0,R0,#&100
3.9
1180     AND   R0,R0,#&7F
3.9
1190     CMP   level,R0
3.9
1200     BHI   WaitLevel
3.9
1210     STRB  R0,[wr427]
3.9
1220
3.9
1230     SWI   “OS_IntOff”
3.9
1240
3.9
1250     TST   flags,#1
3.9
1260     MOV   R0,#12
3.9
1270     ADR   R1,RedBorder
3.9
1280     SWIEQ “OS_Word”
3.9
1290
3.9
1300     MOV   R0,speed,LSR #8
3.9
1310     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#05*4]
3.9
1320
3.9
1330     MOV   R0,#&40
3.9
1340     STRB  R0,[ioc,#&38]
3.9
1350 .SampleLoop
3.9
1360     CMP   end,start
3.9
1370     BPL   SampleLoop
3.9
1380
3.9
1390     MOV   R0,#&00
3.9
1400     STRB  R0,[ioc,#&38]
3.9
1410 .Exit
3.9
1420     MOV   R0,#&7F
3.9
1430     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#14*4]
3.9
1440     MOV   R0,#&00
3.9
1450     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#13*4]
3.9
1460
3.9
1470     MOV   R1,#&0B
3.9
1480     SWI   “OS_ServiceCall”
3.9
1490     SWI   “OS_IntOn”
3.9
1500
3.9
1510     MOV   R0,#0
3.9
1520     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#02*4]
3.9
1530
3.9
1540     MOV   R0,#3072
3.9
1550     MOV   R1,#3072
3.9
1560     TST   flags,#1
3.9
1570     SWIEQ “OS_UpdateMEMC”
3.9
1580
3.9
1590     MOV   R0,#12
3.9
1600     ADR   R1,OrgColour
3.9
1610     SWIEQ “OS_Word”
3.9
1620
3.9
1630     MOV   R0,#124
3.9
1640     SWI   “OS_Byte”
3.9
1650
3.9
1660     LDMFD R13!,{r0-r12 ,PC}^
3.9
1670
3.9
1680 .UnknownSWI
3.9
1690     LDMFD R13!,{r0-r12 ,R14}
3.9
1700     ADR   R0,Error
3.9
1710     ORRS  PC,R14,#2^28
3.9
1720
3.9
1730 .SamplerBegin
3.9
1740     STRB  start,[bs6522,#00*4]
3.9
1750     LDRB  R0,[rd427]
3.9
1760     EOR   R0,R0,#&80
3.9
1770     STRB  R0,[start],#1
3.9
1780     MOV   R0,#&C0
3.9
1790     STRB  R0,[bs6522,#13*4]
3.9
1800     STRB  R0,[wr427]
3.9
1810     SUBS  PC,R14,#4
3.9
1820 .SamplerEnd
3.9
1830
3.9
1840 .OrgColour
3.9
1850     EQUB  0
3.9
1860     EQUB  24
3.9
1870     EQUB  0
3.9
1880     EQUB  0
3.9
1890     EQUB  0
3.9
1900 .RedBorder
3.9
1910     EQUB  0
3.9
1920     EQUB  24
3.9
1930     EQUB  255
3.9
1940     EQUB  0
3.9
1950     EQUB  0
3.9
1960
3.9
1970 .Table
3.9
1980 .Title   EQUS  “ElektorSampler”
3.9
+CHR$(0)
3.9
1990     EQUS  “Sample”+CHR$(0)
3.9
+CHR$(0)
3.9
2000 .Help
3.9
2010     EQUS  “Elektor Sampler”+CHR$
3.9
(9)+“1.03 (22 Apr 1990)”+CHR$(0)
3.9
2020 .Error
3.9
2030     EQUD  1
3.9
2040     EQUS  “Unknown Sampler SWI”
3.9
+CHR$(0)
3.9
2050 ]
3.9
2060 NEXT
3.9
2070
3.9
2080 SYS “OS_File”,10,“ElektorSam”
3.9
,&FFA,,Code,O%
3.9
•   Extra Speed in high res modes − You can use SWI “OS_UpdateMEMC” to
deny VIDC DMA access to the video RAM, which returns to the processor
the bus bandwidth that was being used by the video system. Turning off
VIDC’s access to the memory blanks the screen but makes the machine go
faster even than in MODE 0. To kill VIDC’s access to memory: SYS
“OS_UpdateMEMC”,0, 1024 To re-enable access use SYS “OS_Update
MEMC”,1024,1024.
3.9
While the screen is thus disabled, you can still write to it as normal
and the results will be there when it is switched back on. This short
program shows the enormous speed gains possible (49% in MODE 15, 120% in
MODE 24) − it can reduce by a third, the time taken for a MODE 15 ray
trace. Sean Kelly
3.9
 10 mode=MODE
3.9
 20 MODE 0
3.9
 30 I%=0: T%=TIME
3.9
 40 REPEAT: I%+=1: UNTIL TIME>=T%+100
3.9
 50 MODE mode
3.9
 60 J%=0: T%=TIME
3.9
 70 REPEAT: J%+=1: UNTIL TIME>=T%+100
3.9
 80 SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,0,1<<10
3.9
 90 K%=0: T%=TIME
3.9
100 REPEAT: K%+=1: UNTIL TIME>=T%+100
3.9
110 SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,1<<10,1<<10
3.9
120 PRINT‘“Loops per second:”’
3.9
130 PRINT“Normal mode 0 ”;I%
3.9
140 PRINT“Normal mode ”;mode;“ ”;J%
3.9
150 PRINT“Blanked mode ”;mode;“ ”;K%
3.9
160 PRINT“Speed up ”;(K%-J%)/J%*100
3.9
;“%”
3.9
•   FormEd − I was very interested to see the tip on !FormEd in the May
issue of Archive which really does make it easier to use. However, there
is a slight snag with it as published as it is possible to close the
sprite viewing window which cannot then be re-opened. Also, it is
possible to activate the ‘Tool’ window which allows editing of the
sprites if the following changes are made to the !RunImage file.
3.9
1890   DATA “Load templates>m_templates%
3.9
,Save templates>m_Savetemp%, Show Sprites, Show Toolbox#, Quit“
3.9
3090   ELSE PROCmergesprites (FNstring0
3.9
(q%+44)):PROCspriteinfo
3.9
9781   WHEN 4 : PROCspriteinfo
3.9
9782   WHEN 5 : PROCencodepal (0,15) :
3.9
 PROCfront (palette%) : PROChtpal
3.9
9790   WHEN 6 : PROCfinish : END
3.9
Line 1890 adds two new options to the iconbar menu (‘Show Sprites’ and
‘Show Toolbox’). Line 3090 has the REM removed which allows merging of
sprite files. Lines 9781 and 9782 are new and implement the opening of
the sprite and tool win-dows. Line 9790 needs changing as ‘Quit’ is now
the sixth item on the menu.
3.9
Some of the sprite editing routines seem to be miss-ing from the
!RunImage file (such as the ‘spray can’) so I just created a new blank
sprite and altered the template file so that the non-working options
don’t appear!
3.9
As noted in the magazine, !Paint is better for creating sprites but
these simple changes make !FormEd much more useful. One benefit is that
the sprites edited in !FormEd are displayed in the windows where they
will actually appear when the application runs. Paul Hobbs
3.9
•   Function key strips − In the past, many have tried to write a
program which generates one or more function key-strips. In most cases,
the graph-ics were not quite satisfying. When using MS-DOS software, the
problem arises that you really need four rows (instead of the standard
three) to cater for all possibilities: F-key, <shift-F-key>, <ctrl-F-
key> and <alt-F-key>. To solve this problem I have made two draw-files,
one for a 3-row function key-strip and one for a 4-row function key-
strip.
3.9
Both files require the presence of the font ‘Hom-erton.Medium’.
3.9
As an example, I have made a function key-strip for the MS-DOS program
WordPerfect version 4.2. This file also requires the presence of the
font ‘Cor-pus.Medium’.
3.9
From where I stand, I find the result of the Drawfiles better than what
I’ve seen so far. (Available on the monthly program disc.) Maurice
Hendrix
3.9
•   Hard disc and memory usage − I was interested to read about module
killing in your First Word Plus column. I have a 1Mb machine and need
all the memory I can get, so I have already experimented with simple
module killing routines.
3.9
Firstly, I altered all my !run files to keep track of Clib, FPE and the
other common modules and kill them if they are no longer needed. This
used a sys-tem variable for each module that stored the number of
applications using it. This worked but had several drawbacks. The
changing of all !run files did take a lot of work and each application
left open its !run file until it was quit. As a result, I decided that
man-ual module killing or Resetting is a better solution. One interest
ing point highlighted by this, is that !Edit suffers a fatal error and
all work is lost if the FPE is killed even though it does not need it!
3.9
The one thing that I have found extremely useful is the setting up of a
good hard disc structure and a !boot file. This has saved memory both on
the disc due to duplication and when loading applications due to fewer
icons needed to be loaded. It has also given me quicker and easier
access to programs via the new task option.
3.9
One thing that should be noted by hard disc users is that although
directories allow a nice structure, they do use memory and also slow the
access to certain parts of the disc, so don’t go overboard creating
directories for everything.
3.9
I will try to explain the structure of my hard disc. I have in my root
directory the following directories and a !boot file.
3.9
!fonts   Outline Fonts
3.9
!system   System Modules
3.9
Art   Artisan, !Paint etc
3.9
Cad   !Draw etc
3.9
Games   !Triv etc
3.9
Library   Command line programs
3.9
Misc   My working directory
3.9
Text/DTP   !Edit, !Impress, !PrinterDM etc
3.9
Utilities   !FormEd, !Hand, !Configure etc
3.9
Others could include Sound, spreadsheets and lang-uages etc. Try to keep
associated programs together but don’t have directories with lots of
applications as all the icons are loaded and waste memory. Keep commonly
used programs one level down and others in sub directories. This is
especially true for the utilities directory.
3.9
The next stage is to move all the commonly used modules into the
!system.modules directory. This avoids duplication, ensures a module
update is used by all programs and also simplifies things. The most
common modules found are FPEmulator and Clib. Well-written programs will
already use !System but some don’t and they will need their !run files
mod-ified. The rmload commands need to load from :4.$. !system.modules.
If the !run file does not contain the rmload commands it is probably
best to leave its modules where they are unless you know what you are
doing. Finding modules can be done using simple utilities such as !hand
(helping hand) from the Data Store to search for the file type &FFA.
3.9
Probably the most important part of a good hard disc setup is its !boot
file. This gives the user an ideal chance to customise their system. My
!boot file shown below sets up various system variables that perform a
range of functions.
3.9
| !Boot file for hard disc
3.9
| Set variables for directory abbrevs
3.9
Set r adfs::BigHardNo1.$.
3.9
SetMacro u <r>Utilities.
3.9
SetMacro a <r>ART.
3.9
SetMacro d <r>Text/DTP.
3.9
SetMacro g <r>GAMES.
3.9
SetMacro System$Path <r>!System.
3.9
SetMacro sm <r>!System.Modules
3.9
| Set Alias to emulate two common
3.9
 Unix commands
3.9
Set Alias$LS Cat %0
3.9
Set Alias$CD Dir %0
3.9
| Setup directories to be searched
3.9
 for a run command (using abbreviations to keep line
3.9
 to <255 chars )
3.9
SetMacro Run$Path ,%.,<sm>.,<r>L*.,
3.9
<d>1*.,<r>CA*.,<a>,<d>,<r>M*.,
3.9
<d>PI*.,<r>PC.,<u>,<u>CT*.,<u>F*.,
3.9
<u>A*.,<u>B*.,<u>C*.,<u>D*.,
3.9
<u>FO*.,<u>L*.,<u>T*.,<u>M*.,<r>T*.,
3.9
<r>S*.,<g>I*.,<g>B*.,<g>A*.,<d>!i*.
3.9
| Setup directories to be searched
3.9
 for a load command (using abbreviations to keep line
3.9
 to <255 chars )
3.9
Setmacro File$Path ,%.,<sm>.,
3.9
<r>Library.,<u>L*.,<d>!i*.
3.9
| run common applications !boot files
3.9
 to emulate the system seeing the application without cluttering
3.9
 the $ dir.
3.9
<a>!Draw.!Boot
3.9
<a>!Paint.!Boot
3.9
<d>!Edit.!Boot
3.9
<d>!Impress.!Boot
3.9
<u>FILES.!SPARK.!BOOT
3.9
| set any commonly used key strings
3.9
Key 1 *DESKTOP|M
3.9
Key 2 EDIT|M
3.9
| run desktop and display root directory
3.9
Desktop Filer_OpenDir adfs::BigHardNo1.$
3.9
The !boot file starts by defining a series of system variables that are
to be used throughout the file. They include abbreviated variables to
represent commonly used pathnames. System$Path is also defined here.
3.9
The next section defines two alias’s that emulate common Unix system
commands. This is only of use if you switch operating systems commonly
and tend to accidentally type in the wrong commands. A similar set could
also be set up for PC users although a clash of the “dir” command would
occur.
3.9
The next two sections are similar and set up the vari-ables Run$Path and
File$Path. Firstly, Run$Path can be used to define all the directories
that you wish to be searched when a run program command is issued.
Similarly File$Path does the same for loading files. They both include
the first path which refers to the current directory.
3.9
The system variables defined at the start have been used extensively and
the * wildcard to keep the line shorter than the 255 character maximum.
Be careful when using wildcards because a new directory could also match
the search instead of the intended directory. As an alternative to this,
a series of paths could be placed into system variables i.e. Run1$ Path,
Run2$Path etc and then added together to give the complete Run$Path. Be
careful when using sys-tem variables to get the correct punctuation.
Each path must end with a full stop “.” although this can been included
at the end of the system variables.
3.9
The main reason for doing this is to allow the user to use the “New
Task” option of the task menu. If all the directories are correctly
listed in this section, you will be able to enter “!Edit” into the “New
Task” option and the program will install itself onto the icon bar. This
eliminates the need to know where in the directory structure it is. The
same goes for loading a program or module. You can now tuck away those
little used programs and still call them up as long as you know their
name. The general effect is the same as if everything is in the library
although loading commands can also be used.
3.9
I have found it useful to emulate the system seeing commonly used
applications such as !Draw, !Paint and !Edit. To do this all you must do
is run each application’s !boot file. This will setup all the icons and
system variables. This means that, for example, a draw file can be
loaded without the application having being seen.
3.9
A Hard disc !boot file is also the ideal place to set up any commonly
used key strings as well as loading any important modules.
3.9
Finally, the desktop can be called and I find it useful to open up the
root directory. This can be done by the Filer_OpenDir command. Alterna
tively, another obey file can be run after the desktop has been entered
by the use of the -file option. If this is the case, it may be useful to
create an application called !boot and rename the !boot file to !run.
The second obey file can then be hidden inside this directory.
3.9
To create and set up the !boot fileÉ (1) Run !Edit (2) Create obey file
(icon menu) (3) Type in !boot data (See above) (4) Save as !boot (in
root directory) (5) Press <f12> and type
3.9
OPT4,2
3.9
Configure drive 4
3.9
Configure boot
3.9
Philip Armstrong
3.9
•   Hourglass − A quick hint for those writing a BASIC program using the
Hourglass. Often, if an error is generated from BASIC when the hourglass
is being used, it stays on the screen. This can be cured by
SYS“Hourglass_Smash” or, if you have already done your error checking,
SYS“” causes a system error which has the same effect. Philip Armstrong
3.9
•   INKEY problems − If you have a loop which executes continuously and
rapidly, you might want to use:
3.9
key%=INKEY(0):IF key%=64
3.9
PROC_Fred ELSE IF
3.9
key%=65 PROC_Edith
3.9
to detect a keypress. However, remember that you should have only one
such INKEY statement in the loop even if you want to cater for many
different key presses because a single keypress can only be det-ected by
one INKEY(0) instruction. Steve Kirkby.
3.9
•   Keyboard cleaning (A300/400 series) − The keyboard that is supplied
with the computer is of the open Printed Circuit Board type. That is, a
conduc-tive film on the base of each key makes contact with large solder
plated areas called lands on the main PCB. This makes for a cheap and
reliable keyboard but it does have its problems because of its exposure
to the air in that dust can and does get in.
3.9
I’ve had my Archimedes A310 for over 2 years now and my wife lets it
live in the living room with us. I suppose I should keep the keyboard
covered with something when not in use but I’ve never got round to doing
this. Consequently, the keyboard has had to put up with me eating
biscuits, sandwiches and other unmentionables while typing. I suppose
the inevitable had to happen and one day the keyboard rebelled! I had
began to noticed over a period of several days that the space bar and
left cursor key where playing up until they refused to work at all. Of
course, this happened a week after the guarantee had run out!
3.9
Visions of massive bills loomed before me so I decided to undertake the
task of opening the keyboard case and having a look! I first switched
off the Archimedes and unplugged the keyboard cord from the computer. I
removed the mouse and turned the keyboard face down with the Reset
button towards me. I noted that eight large, long hex screws held the
back section of the keyboard case on. After removing these I just lifted
the back section away and placed it somewhere safe. The Reset button
looked slight delicate so I removed it by simply pulling it off. I made
a mental note of which way round it came off.
3.9
I had a good look and there were seven large, short hex screws holding
the top keyboard casing to the main PCB frame. I removed these screws
and lifted the PCB off, putting the top casing away to another safe
place. I was half expecting the key tops and switches to try and escape
at this point but they are firmly attached to a metal frame!
3.9
Biscuit supply − Turning the PCB over and looking at the top surface
between the key tops I was amazed to see a surprising amount of dust and
what looked like a secret supply of Burtons biscuits! I duly removed
this with a dry paper towel and again placed the board face down after I
had a good look at the electronics on the board, but I resisted the
temptation to touch (I suggest you do the same).
3.9
All that now remained to do was remove the twenty small hex screws
holding the PCB to the switches. I started with the black screw at S94
position (this is written on the PCB) and noted that this was the only
small screw not actually threaded on to a switch. I removed the other
nineteen screws and gently lifted the PCB off the metal frame holding
the keys on.
3.9
The contact plates of all the key switches where now exposed and they
consisted of thin silver discs which when pressed make contact with the
PCB lands and therefore closed the contacts. These plates looked
extremely fragile but clean so I left them well alone!
3.9
Cleaning − The PCB lands were dirty, especially around the Space and
Left Cursor key positions and, being very careful not to put any grease
from my paws onto the board, I wiped the entire PCB with a dry paper
towel. Reassembling the keyboard was easy. I just placed the PCB face
down on to the metal frame holding the keys and lined up the small
screws positions. A good tip in reassembling something like this is to
begin placing the screws in from opposite ends and not to tighten up any
of the screws until they are all in place.
3.9
Once that was done, making sure that the black screw was in the correct
position, I placed the top section face down on the work table and
positioned the assembly down onto it, again fitting the seven large
short hex screws in place. I refitted the Reset moulding into place with
a resounding click and finished off by screwing down the last eight
large long hex screws into place. I turned the complete keyboard over
and plugged it back into the Archimedes and I’m glad to say it works a
treat! Stuart Halliday
3.9
•   OsSys module − Shortly after the release of the OsSys module, I was
told that one couldn’t use SWI’s that needed a pointer to a buffer
because no such facilities where made available. I argued that this was
very easily implemented and changed the module accordingly. When doing
this, I also noticed a minor bug in the module. When a string longer
than 300 characters is passed, the module is supposed to generate an
error. This works fine but, due to a problem during the development, I
mistakenly thought that the pipeline was playing up when generating this
error. (Not all of the error text was displayed: the first 4 characters
were missing). I solved this by adding 4 to the PC when generating the
error. Quite wrong of course. I discovered that not the pipeline but I
was to blame. I had forgotten to put the error number (4 bytes) in
before the error message.
3.9
To upgrade the OsSys module to version 1.8, load the source code into
BASIC V and change/add the following lines:
3.9
10 REM >OsSysSrc18
3.9
350 EQUS “1.80 (05 Apr 1990)”
3.9
600 MOV R3,#500
3.9
610 SWI “OS_Module”
3.9
611 ;By claiming a larger workarea than required by the
3.9
612 ;the module, you can use the top of the work area to
3.9
613 ;create workspace for SWI calls that require pointers to
3.9
614 ;such a workspace. Eg. calls to WIMP or VDU.
3.9
650 EQUS “OsSWICalls v1.80 by M. Hendrix => Installed”
3.9
2510 REM remove this line. It’s incorrect
3.9
3180 EQUD &01 ;Error number
3.9
Save and run the program.
3.9
The new module will claim more workspace than it actually needs. The top
200 bytes can thus be used for SWI buffers. You can use *MEMORYA to edit
the buffer(s). If you need more space for a buffer just change the value
#500 in line 600 to your desired amount of memory. (Don’t forget to add
300 bytes for the module itself!) Maurice Hendrix
3.9
•   Random number generator − If you use the use the random number
generator (RND in BASIC), it must be initialised with something really
random, such as the current time. Otherwise, the same num-bers will be
produced every time the program is run. The otherwise excellent game
!Yahtzee on Care-ware 4 suffers from this problem but it can easily be
solved: insert the line 123 Junk = RND(-TIME) and then every game is
different. Jonathan Puttock
3.9
•   The Dreaded CLI! − One of the nicest aspects about the Archimedes is
the Configure command. This command is often forgotten about as it lies
in that terrible place called the Command Line Interpreter (CLI)
accessed by pressing the dreaded function 12 key. One of the many things
that the Configure command does and seems to get lain aside is the
WimpFlags options. This very useful command determines the action of all
the windows used by RISC-OS in as far as it controls the two types of
window movement, resizing and scrolling. What two types?, I hear you
ask.
3.9
Status − Well if you’ve never used the WimpFlags command before then you
have probably put up with the kind of windows which, when you change
their size or move them, all you get is a large dotted outline which
turns into a solid window when you release <select> or <adjust>. Now you
have an alternative. If you first press F12 from the Desktop and type in
*STATUS <return> you’ll get a large list of items and near the end is a
line Wimpflags x, this x number (it may be 0) is actually the decimal
representative of a binary pattern of this number which switches on or
off the various options under this command.
3.9
If you type in *HELP WimpFlags <return> then the following should
appear:
3.9
*HELP WimpFlags
3.9
==> Help on keyword WimpFlags
3.9
*Configure WimpFlags sets the
3.9
 default actions when dragging
3.9
windows, as follows:
3.9
bit 0 set: continuous window movement
3.9
bit 1 set: continuous window resizing
3.9
bit 2 set: continuous horizontal scroll
3.9
bit 3 set: continuous vertical scroll
3.9
bit 4 set: don’t beep when error box
3.9
 appears
3.9
Syntax: *Configure WimpFlags <number>
3.9
Simply put, if you where to type in say:
3.9
*CONFIGURE WimpFlags 1 <return>
3.9
and press <ctrl-break> (you need to do this each time you enter new
values to actually change the values!) you’ll see that if you move any
window it will be instant! If you want to try some more ‘configuring’
try changing the WimpFlags to 2 to see only instant window resizing or 3
for both. (Don’t forget to press <ctrl-break> afterwards!) If you do not
like this new look, simply change Wimpflags back to 0. The next two
options concern the scroll bars and these are really useful. If you
change WimpFlags to 8 you’ll see that by dragging the pointer up and
down the vertical bar you’ll get a smooth scroll effect, much better
than constantly clicking the arrow icons! Try WimpFlags set to 4 for
horizontal scroll or even 12 for them both at the same time.
3.9
Error − The last option just stops the error box beeping at you. Try
WimpFlags set to 16 and then Select an empty disc drive. Remember you
can combine any of these together by simply adding their numbers
together and configuring the WimpFlags. Try WimpFlags set to 31, this is
my favourite! Stuart Halliday
3.9

• Arthur Fonts − when using the FontDes program supplied with Arthur
operating system, it is possible to vary the thickness of one or both
ends of the line.  This is achieved by using the adjust button when the
mouse is positioned over a line in a “char full” window (this then
highlights the line) and then pressing the menu button at either end of
the line.  This will bring up a ‘pen ratio’ window which allows you to
alter the percentage ratio of the pen at that point, the ratio is set by
clicking on the percentage window’s quit box.
3.10

3.10
• Extra Brushes for !Paint − you can add your own brushes to the !Paint
package by including the desired shapes in the ‘Sprites’ file i.e.
3.10
(i) Open up the !Paint directory by double clicking on !Paint while
holding the shift button down
3.10
(ii) Load the ‘Sprites’ file into !Paint
3.10
(iii) Create the brush shapes you want in this file
3.10
(iv) Save the ‘Sprites’ file
3.10
Don’t forget to make a note of the names of the brushes you created so
that you can access them from the tools menu.  David Parker
3.10

3.10
• Hard Spaces can be entered using the <alt> key and typing <1><6><0> on
the numeric keypad but a much quicker way is just to type <alt><space>.
Charles Moire
3.10

3.10
• Lightning strikes − Be warned!  Don’t leave your modem connected to
the phone line when there is an electrical storm.  I did and the spikes
that came up the phone line killed a new V22bis modem and the RS423 port
on the Archimedes!  David Leckie.
3.10

3.10
• Memory Saving − It is worth remembering that sprites with masks take
up twice as much room as those without.  If all sprites are altered with
!Paint to remove the mask, a considerable amount of memory can be saved.
Ian Hamilton.
3.10

3.10
• Printing with 1M − when using Draw, Paint, Impression, Acorn DTP, etc
you can quit !PrinterDM (or  whatever printer driver you use) to reclaim
about 80k of RAM.  It would appear that these applications only need the
modules that remain in the RMA area after the !PrinterDM application has
been quit so all the print options are still available.  R J Denison
3.10

3.10
• Wimp Window Drawing − The usual construction for defining a graphic
window and drawing into it would look something like this:
3.10
   DEFPROCgraphic_window
3.10
   VDU26,5,24,graphicsbx%;graphicsby%;graphicstx%;graphicsty%
3.10
   ORIGIN reportbx%-scrollx%,reportty%-scrolly%
3.10
   ENDPROC
3.10

3.10
   DEFPROCdraw_text (x%,y%,text$)
3.10
   MOVE x%,y% : PRINT text$
3.10
   ENDPROC
3.10

3.10
This will work okay until the values in the origin statement exceed
32767.  I found that I had blank screens in the middle of large reports.
The following changes cured the problem:
3.10
   DEFPROCgraphic_window
3.10
   VDU26,5,24,graphicsbx%;graphicsby%;graphicstx%;graphicsty%
3.10
   y%=reportty%-scrolly% : compensationy%=0
3.10
   REPEAT
3.10
   IF y%>32000 THEN y%-=32000 : compensationy%+=32000
3.10
   UNTIL y%<=32000
3.10
   ORIGIN reportbx%-scrollx%,y%
3.10
   ENDPROC
3.10

3.10
   DEFPROCdraw_text (x%,y%,text$)
3.10
   MOVE x%, y%+compensationy%: PRINT text$
3.10
   ENDPROC
3.10
Although you would have a problem in the x-direction, it is unlikely
that a window would be that wide.  A similar change could be applied if
this was necessary.  Ian Hamilton.
3.10

• Blanking discs − (I’m sure we’ve had this before, but not everyong has
picked it up and I couldn’t find a reference to it in the Archive
database.)  If you have a disc that has lots of files on it and you try
to clear them all off by deleting them, it can take ages − it would be
quicker to reformat the disc.  Even quicker though is to get an existing
blank disc and do a backup from that to the disc to be blanked − it
takes just a couple of seconds.
3.11
• ChkSpr − In answer to Ray Dawson’s plea for help about !ChkSpr
supplied on shareware disc 19:  if you open up the !ChkSpr directory,
amongst the files you will find one called ‘chkspr’ and one called
!Boot‘.  If these two files are copied into any Impression document
directory and if you then rename the document directory, instead of the
Impression sprite not appearing because the name no longer corresponds
to the document name (as normally happens) it will appear correctly.
This is because the chkspr utility, when run by the new !Boot file,
checks the name of the first sprite in the sprite file and changes it if
the name is not the same as that of the document.  This utility can also
be used to keep the correct sprites for applications.  For example, when
developing an application, different versions may be kept, all with the
right sprite file.  Simon Burrows and Emmet Spier.
3.11
• ColourTrans module − I have noticed that each of the printer drivers
on the RISC OS extras disc contain their own copy of the Colours module!
This is at odds with the policy of storing all shared modules in the
!System directory (you will probably already have a copy of the Colours
module there − many applications use it).
3.11
To avoid wasting disc space (though Colours uses little) you can remove
this module from within each printer drivers’ directory and edit the
!Run file for each driver to call Colours from the !System folder.
3.11
i.e. in each !Run file the line
3.11
   RMEnsure ColourTrans 0.52 RMLoad <PDriver$Dir>.Colours
3.11
should be replaced with
3.11
   RMEnsure ColourTrans 0.52 System:Modules.Colours
3.11
To be even more correct two extra lines should also be added (e.g. like
the !Spark and !Draw applications).  The above on its own relies on the
desktop having already seen your !System directory, you should therefore
put the line
3.11
   If“<System$Path>” = “” Then Error 0 System resources cannot be found
3.11
before the changed line above to check that this is the case.  You
should also put the line
3.11
   RMEnsure ColourTrans 0.52 Error You need ColourTrans 0.52 or later
3.11
after the changed line − this will check that the module has been loaded
satisfactorily.
3.11
The Printer Drivers on the original RISC-OS Application Disc I did not
load the Colours module when they were installed and so do not have this
problem.  Simon Butler.
3.11
• Debugger/Dissassemble returns an incorrect length for SWI instructions
− it returns the length as one too many − you get an extra null
character on these instructions.  As all returned strings are null
terminated, I found it easier to scan for the null in order to find the
length.  The zero makes no difference to screen or printing, but if
written to a text file looks ugly in !Edit.  Kevin Quinn.
3.11
• Desktop bug − There appears to be a fatal bug in the Window Manager of
RISC-OS 2.00.  It occurs when you drag a menu, and whilst you are
dragging it, press the <escape> key to remove it.  If you then stop
dragging the menu, the system will report an ‘Address exception at
&386BCIC’, the application which created the menu will die fatally and
most often, all the other applications will die as well, resulting in
the computer ‘bombing out’ of the desktop into the CLI.  Tom Lakofski.
3.11
• DXF files − Users of DXF files which are comprised only of BLOCKS and
ENTITIES (or maybe just ENTITIES alone) will find that !Draw does not
enable the use of its facility for specifying font types when the DXF
file is just loaded.
3.11
The inclusion of the code below (i.e. a TABLES section) appears to solve
this problem.  Of course !Draw must have previously ‘seen’ the relevant
!Fonts directory.  The full sequences for the sections, if all are
present is HEADER followed by TABLES, then BLOCKS + ENTITIES.  Jim
Markland.
3.11
   0
3.11
   SECTION
3.11
   2
3.11
   TABLES
3.11
   0
3.11
   TABLE
3.11
   2
3.11
   STYLE
3.11
   70
3.11
   20
3.11
   40
3.11
   0
3.11
   41
3.11
   1
3.11
   50
3.11
   0
3.11
   71
3.11
   0
3.11
   3
3.11
   STANDARD
3.11
   0
3.11
   ENDTAB
3.11
   0
3.11
   ENDSEC
3.11
• Greek3 re-caching − To stop the Greek3 outline font supplied with
Impression from recaching itself too often all you have to do is rename
it from ‘Greek3’ to ‘Greek’.  Michael Ben-Gershon.
3.11
• On/Off icons, for example option icons in windows, are implemented by
using the ‘S’ command in the validation string of an icon with
indirected text and sprites on.  FormEd will allow you to set these up −
switch on indirected stuff, put text (if any) into the text item, and
select sprite − don’t put anything in the sprite sub-menu writeable icon
and put the sprite name(s) in the indirected validation string, e.g.
‘sopton,optoff’.  Then by inverting the icon’s inverted bit it will swap
over the icons − see the calls Wimp_SetIconState and Wimp_GetIconState
(pages 1211-1213 of PRM).  Details of validation strings are on pages
1184-1187 of the PRM.  Kevin Quinn.
3.11
• OS_Heap − While trying to use the Heap facility in RISC-OS, we found
that OS_Heap 6, which returns the size of a heap block, returns the size
including the word at the start containing length.  This is unexpected
given the Abstract Data Type philosophy that appears to have been used
for the rest of the system and means that the user knows where the
length of a block is stored and can read it without using OS_Heap 6 −
and incidentally, means Acorn can’t rewrite their Heap manager unless
this word is left in the same place.  James Chong.
3.11
• RenderBender on SCSI hard disc drives.  As you will know, you cannot
access the hard drive, by using the HARD 4 icon.  Some of you may have
already tried unsuccessfully to alter the program, by altering the
variable HD% to 1, to try to force the program into recognising the hard
drive.  The following alterations should be made to the !Runfile, Render
and Anirout in the utilities directory.  The code will save all pictures
to the specified directory if you have not put the Render Bender
directory in $...
3.11
For the Render program :
3.11
   15 *SET RendHard1 SCSIFS::4.$.!Render
3.11
   40 curd$=“4”:moder%=FALSE
3.11
   15890 A%=32
3.11
   15940 IF A%=32 AND HA%>0 GOTO 15920
3.11
   16020 IF A%=32 THEN curd$=“4”:*SET REdrive SCSIFS::4.$.!Render
3.11
For the Anirout program:
3.11
   6800 IF A%=BE% THEN *SET REdrive SCSIFS::4.$.!Render
3.11
You should then use the edit program to alter the !Run file as follows:
3.11
The line that begins *IF obey$dir... should be changed to...
3.11
   *IFobey$dir=“adfs::Render.$.!Render” THEN *SET RendHard1 SCSIFS::4.
3.11
   $.!Render ELSE *SET RendHard1<Obey$Dir>
3.11
The previous code may seem a bit long winded but I have unfortunately
not been able to get the *KILLADFS command to work with my version.
Neil Berry.
3.11
• Screen size − The screen size in O.S. co-ordinates may be found using
OS_ReadVduVariables and variable numbers 4 (XEigFactor),5(YEigFactor),11
(XWindLimit) and 12 (YWindLimit).  The last two are hidden over the page
and for a while I missed them (pages 345-348 and 350-352).  There is
also a message that the Wimp broadcasts when the user changes mode,
enabling your task to keep uptodate on screen sizes − important for drag
boxes amongst other things.  See page 1259.  Kevin Quinn.
3.11
• System Variables for Filer Module − This little routine enables you to
use RISC-OS variables with the Filer_OpenDir and Filer_CloseDir
commands.  This means that you can do commands such as “Filer_OpenDir
<Obey$Dir>.DataFiles” and make programs totally independent of where
they are on the disc.  The module requires about 14k of free memory in
the RMA.  The program has been written in such a way that it should work
with all future versions of the Filer.
3.11
REM >Filer
3.11
*RMKill Filer
3.11
*RMReInit Filer
3.11
*RMFaster Filer
3.11
SYS “XOS_Module”,18,“Filer%Base” TO ,,,CodeBase%
3.11
TableBase%=CodeBase%+CodeBase%!¤18
3.11
Info%=FN_LookupInfo(“Filer_OpenDir”)
3.11
TableBase%!Info%=TableBase%!Info% OR &00000100
3.11
Info%=FN_LookupInfo(“Filer_CloseDir”)
3.11
TableBase%!Info%=TableBase%!Info% OR &00000100
3.11
END
3.11
:
3.11
DEF FN_LookInfo(Text$)
3.11
LOCAL Offset%,Command$
3.11
Offset%=0
3.11
REPEAT
3.11
Command$=“”
3.11
REPEAT
3.11
Command$+=CHR$(TableBase%?Offset%)
3.11
Offset%+=1
3.11
UNTIL TableBase%?Offset%=0
3.11
Offset%=(Offset%+16+3) AND NOT 3
3.11
UNTIL Command$=Text$ OR TableBase%? Offset%=0
3.11
IF Command$=Text$ THEN =Offset-12 ERROR 0, “I can’t find ”+Text$
3.11
There is one slight problem with this routine due to the way that RISC-
OS implements the *RMFaster command by re-initialising the module.  This
means that the Filer icon disappears from the Desktop and cannot be
recovered without restarting the desktop so the routine is probably best
placed in a boot routine that subsequently starts up the desktop.  Simon
Callan.
3.11
• TWIN 8000 − If you load TWIN at an address other than hex 8000 the
<f10> key functions (goto, newtime, etc) do not work.  It caused me no
end of problems and phone calls to Acorn before I realised this.
3.11

• Greek3 outline font problem − I was very interested to read, in
Archive 3.11, about solving the problem of the slowness of the Computer
Concepts Greek3 font.  The root of the problem was that the internal and
external names should be the same, and the article suggests that you can
simply rename the !Fonts.Greek3 directory to !Fonts.Greek, which is very
quick and easy.  However, if you do this then any existing !Draw files,
etc containing the Greek3 font will not display with ordinary system
font characters.  It seems desirable to retain the external name Greek3.
3.12
I think that the best course of action is to change the internal name
from Greek to Greek3, using the Acorn !FontEd application.  The article
mentions this without saying HOW to do it; it was all GREEK to me!  So
after I found out the hard way, here is an idiots guide...
3.12
Install !FontEd on the iconbar, open up the !Fonts.Greek3 directory, and
you will see the IntMetrics and Outlines files.  Drag the Outlines file
onto the !FontEd icon on the iconbar.  A window will then open showing
all the Greek characters.  After a pause, you will hear a beep to show
that the operation is complete.  Now click <menu> over this window and
use the Alter->Font name option to change it from Greek to Greek3.  Now
choose the Save->Outlines and Save->Metrics options in turn; just click
on the OK boxes, as the file and path names are fine as they are.  Be
very careful not to change anything else!  Richard Stery (Wakefield BBC
Micro User Group)
3.12
Make sure you take a backup before you try this as you risk losing the
font if you get it wrong.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!  Ed.
3.12
• Recovering deleted files − If you accidentally delete a file you can
still recover it so long as you take the following steps:
3.12
(i) Do NOT write any data on the disk.
3.12
(ii) Use the !DiscEdit program on Careware 2 and look for your file on
the disc and note the address (in hex) of the start and end of the file.
3.12
(iii) Now you can use these addresses with the file recoverer program on
Shareware 9 to extract the file from the disc.  Dirk Schafer.
3.12
• RenderBender on SCSI − In the hint last month, Neil Berry was
obviously using an early version of Oak’s SCSI interface software in
which the filing system was referred to as SCSIFS, so all references to
“SCSIFS::” should be replaced by “SCSI::”.
3.12
• SWI“OS_PrettyPrint” works in VDU 5 mode (print text at graphics
cursor) as well as VDU 4 mode (print text at text cursor).  It formats
the text according to the current graphics clipping window (set by VDU
24).  For more details on OS_PrettyPrint see Archive 1.7 p9.  Paul
Witheridge.
3.12
• System variables for the Filer Module (revisited) − Here is a simpler
solution to the problem of not being able to use system variables with
the *Filer_OpenDir and *Filer_CloseDir commands than was suggested in
Archive 3.11 p7.
3.12
   *SetMacro Alias$Filer_OpenDir Set Alias%Foo %Filer_OpenDir
%0|Mfoo|MUnset Alias%foo|M
3.12
*SetMacro Alias$Filer_CloseDir Set
Alias$foo%Filer_CloseDir%0|Mfoo|Munset Alias%foo|M
3.12
Once these two lines have been typed, *Filer_OpenDir and *Filer_CloseDir
can then be used with system variables.  Michael Ben-Gershon.
3.12
• !Edit functions keys − Two more undocumented function key actions for
EDIT (in addition to <shift><f1> as described in Archive 3.4 p5).  These
are: <Ctrl><f2> which is equivalent to clicking on the window close icon
and <ctrl><f7> which toggles between the current caret position and the
beginning of a marked block.  Paul Witheridge.
3.12

• 160k ADFS discs for the Archimedes?  If you have upgraded to the
Archimedes from a Master, or even a Beeb with ADFS, you might have some
5.25“ discs you want to transfer.  According to the manuals, the
Archimedes will only read and write to 640k (L) format, Arthur 800k (D)
format, or the RISC-OS 800k (E) format using either 3.5” or 5.25“ discs
(80T).  However, the Master could read and write 40T 160k (S) format,
80T 320k (M) format, or 80T 640k (L) format discs.  I discovered by
accident that the Archimedes will quite happily read 5.25” 160k (S)
discs in 40T mode, and in fact save them − I have not been able to try
out 320k discs since I do not have any.  You cannot, however, format
discs at either 160k or 320k on the Archimedes but then why would you
want to anyway? Chris Hughes (Wakefield BBC Micro User Group).
4.01
• Apocalypse Tips − Progressing from planet to planet is really simple.
At the start of the game, a map of your selected planet is displayed.
All the objects on the planet’s surface are represented by coloured
dots, about 80% of which must be destroyed for your craft to be
withdrawn and for you to be allocated another planet.
4.01
As you progress through the game and return to the ‘Guild of Spacings’
you will be given various add-ons for your ship.  These include a super-
cooler for your laser-canon and better shielding.  It is vital that you
have these if you intend to progress at a reasonable pace, so it is
advisable to get them as soon as possible.  Remember, you can only
return a maximum of five times before being rejected by the Guild.  When
you have destroyed your 80% or so, you will automatically be withdrawn
by the Guild − this may take some time so don’t give up too quickly!
4.01
If you prefer rather more action and less running away, the following
lines of the BASIC file ‘!Apocalyps.Apocalypse’ can be changed.
4.01
Line 290 is your starting score.
4.01
Replace line 330 with:  330 !shieldcharge=16 :
!rapidturnF=1:!guntempcooler=0
4.01
Now delete lines 340 to 380 inclusive for all the extra features and
(very) strong shields.
4.01
Replace line 770 with: UNTIL 0 for infinite lives.  At line 1970
!impcounter is the number of objects you have shot, which determines how
many you have to go before advancing to the next planet.  For instant
withdrawal, replace 1970 with: 1970 !impcounter=10000.
4.01
Line 6910 is how many times you can return to the guild before rejection
(this is normally 5).
4.01
• HFORM v1.72 bug or feature?  If you try to format an ST506 hard disc
that has had a different profile (e.g. it was used on  a PC beforehand)
with the Acorn HFORM program supplied on the RISC-OS Supplement Disc,
the new disc shape option will not be acknowledged and so the full
capacity of the drive may not be realised.  This can be overcome by
removing the line that reads:
4.01
   2130 IF cyl%=0 IF head%=0 IF Formatted% GOTO 2180
4.01
Brian Oliver.
4.01
• Hostages cheat mode − If you hold down the <R>, <U>, <T> and <H> keys
once the title screen has loaded and press <return>, you will enter into
the cheat mode.  This allows you to jump to either section two or three
of the game with three hostages and seven terrorists.
4.01
• RAM discs for the PC Emulator − It is possible to create a hard disc
partition in any filing system.  For example, by altering the !PC.!Run2
file so that the path for Drive D is ‘RAM:$.RamDisc’ and using the FDISK
program to create a RAMFS hard disc partition, you can obtain any size
RAM disc you require _ memory and pages sizes permitting.  Michael Ben-
Gershon.
4.01
• Reading a system variable from BASIC − The question was, “I’ve got a
system variable being set in the !Run obey file:
4.01
   Set MaxNumberOfFonts 32
4.01
and I want to be able to read this value into a BASIC variable but when
I use:
4.01
   value% = VAL (“<MaxNumberOfFonts>”)
4.01
it produces the error ‘Variable not found’, because it takes the ‘<’
character as meaning ‘less than’ rather than ‘start of system variable’.
Using the BASIC keyword EVAL has the same effect.
4.01
The first thing we need to do is to extract the value of the system
variable into a string that we can manipulate.  After searching through
the PRM volume II, I eventually found OS_ReadVarVal (SWI&23) on page
750.  On entry, R0 points to the name of the system variable to be read,
R1 points to a suitable buffer to store the string in, R2 is the maximum
length of this buffer, R3 is set to 0 to use the first occurance of the
named system variable, and R4 is set to 3 so that an expanded string is
returned in the buffer.
4.01
On exit, we should now have the value of the system variable in the form
of a string.  The next task is to convert this string into an integer,
and this is easily performed by using OS_ReadUnsigned (SWI &21) on page
585.  On entry, R0 is set to 0 so that the base number used is assumed
to be 10 unless the string indicates otherwise, R1 is the pointer to the
string (note that this is the same as R1 for OS_ReadVarVal, which is
preserved on exit).  On exit R2 contains the value of the system
variable as an integer, using only two SWI calls.
4.01
This is easily implemented in both BASIC and ARM assembler.
4.01
In BASIC this can be achieved with 4 instructions:
4.01
   MaxBufferLength = 16
4.01
   DIM BufferPtr MaxBufferLength
4.01
   SYS “OS_ReadVarVal”, “MaxNumberOfFonts”, BufferPtr,
MaxBufferLength,0,3
4.01
   SYS “OS_ReadUnsigned”,0,BufferPtr TO ,,value%
4.01
and if you want to do in Arm assembler, then only eight instructions are
necessary:
4.01
   ...
4.01
   ADR R0, SystemVariablePtr ; point to system variable
4.01
   ADR R1, BufferPtr; point to buffer
4.01
   MOV R2, #MaxBufferLength ; length of buffer
4.01
   MOV R3, #0 ; use first one found
4.01
   MOV R4, #3 ; expand fully
4.01
   SWI XOS_ReadVarVal ; R1 preserved
4.01
   MOV R0, #0 ; use default base
4.01
   SWI XOS_ReadUnsigned ; R2 = value%
4.01
   SystemVariablePTr = “MaxNumberOfFonts”, 0 ; note no ‘<’ or ‘>’ are
used
4.01
   ALIGN
4.01
   MaxBufferLength * 16
4.01
   BufferPtr % MaxBufferLength ; reserve MaxBufferLength
4.01
   ALIGN ; bytes of workspace
4.01
To give a quick example of its use.  ‘SetMaxNumberOfFonts 16’ gives
value% = 16.  ‘SetMaxNumberOfFonts &20 gives value% = 32.
4.01
This may be of use to programmers, as it allows constants to be set up
in the !Run obey file and users can modify them to fit their require
ments, without having to modify the program itself.  John ‘Lofty’
Wallace.
4.01
• System Variables for the Filer Module (Archive 3.11 p7) − The problem
with the Filer module not allowing you to include system variables can
be solved a lot easier (and without taking up any valuable RMA space).
4.01
I like to use icons for the directories which contain the third party
applications, demos, utilities, etc.  This meant using an application
directory and I wanted a general purpose !Run obey file to open the
directory viewer (using Filer_OpenDir).  However, I came across the same
problem as Simon Callan.  The solution I present here was passed on to
me by Paul Fellows (who wrote ‘Archimedes Basic Compiler’ amongst other
things) and so I don’t wish to take the credit for such a neat idea.
4.01
So that I don’t have the !Run, !Sprites, etc with the actual programs I
want to view, I create a directory ‘_’ inside that application directory
to hold them.  Thus my !Run obey file reads as follows:
4.01
   |!Run obey file
4.01
   |
4.01
   IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
4.01
   Set Alias$OpenDir Filer_OpenDir <Obey$Dir>._
4.01
   OpenDir
4.01
Setting a command string as an ‘Alias’ will expand any system variables
within that command string.  This gets around the problem which Simon
describes, and also means that you don’t need to run a program every
time you switch the machine on.  John ‘Lofty’ Wallace.
4.01

• 160k ADFS Discs (continued from Archive 4.1 p9) − It is certainly true
that the Archimedes can be made to read and write 160k or 320k ADFS
discs correctly.  I think, however, that the Archimedes ‘sees’ these as
640k L format discs and if a read or write operation directs it to a
track beyond 39 (160k) it will try to push the disc head off the edge of
the disc searching for tracks that aren’t there.  Fine if you know what
you’re doing.  Lorcan Mongey.
4.02
• Am I in the desktop?  You can use the Wimp_ReadSysInfo SWI command to
see if your program is running in the desktop or not.  The command
returns the number of active tasks, which will be zero if the program is
running outside of the desktop environment.  The example program below
will sense whether it has been run from the desktop environment and if
not, it will start up the desktop before running another application (in
this case !Edit).
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Adrian Look.
4.02
• Apocalypse hints & tips − If you shoot the green T-shaped buildings
with a triangular roof using a mega photon your shield will be replen
ished.  If you shoot a purple and green mushroom, your shield will go
into override but your points are decreased for anything you hit with
the photons you are allocated.  If you shoot a rectangular brown
building they leave a shallow pyramid and if you shoot this, a Rakon
Gomjabba will appear and you will get a few more points for destroying
this.  If you shoot a Snail Rider with a mega photon, your energy banks
are recharged.  If you shoot a green mushroom, your score will decrease
for everything you hit with the mega photons allocated.
4.02
If you type in and run the following program with disc two in drive 0
you will then be able to access all of Apocalypse’s nine worlds.
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Paul Bedford.
4.02
• Bug in the Debugger Module − Some of you may be aware of a problem
with the Debugger module failing to disassemble certain instructions
correctly if they contain an immediate constant.  An immediate constant
is stored as an eight-bit value with a 4-bit shift applied, and the
debugger normally expands this format to its correct value, but
occasionally fails, e.g.
4.02
   E28F0C01 ADD R0,PC, #&0100 correctly expanded
4.02
   E28F0D01 ADD R0,PC, #&01,26 failed to expand (should be #&40)
4.02
I have disassembled the debugger module and found the offending piece of
code.  It doesn’t seem to be a bug, rather a deliberate move to expand
constants differently under certain circumstances but for no obvious
reason.  Anyway, the fix is to change the word at offset &920 in the
module from &1A000028 to &FA000028, effectively changing a BNE to a BNV.
This seems to solve the problem, although I haven’t tested this fix
exhaustively, so proceed with caution.  Lorcan Mongey.
4.02
• BUILDing !Run files − If you write a !Run file using *BUILD and want
to include a line such as:
4.02
   Run <Obey$Dir> .!RunImage
4.02
then, instead, you should type:
4.02
   Run |<Obey$Dir>.!RunImage
4.02
to prevent RISC-OS from inserting the value of Obey$Dir into the file.
It may be obvious but until now I have been using !Edit to write a two
line Obey file!  Elliott Hughes.
4.02
• Copy Options − “Confirm” and “Verbose” − I think this is probably one
of those hints which would be classed as “obvious” by those who know it:
The Archimedes User Guide and the PRM both describe, at some length, the
use of the system variable Copy$Options which sets default options for
the *Copy command.  However, neither make if clear that the desktop
filer has its own “Confirm” and “Verbose” options which are quite
independent of those which are stored in the system variable.  Thus no
amount of modification of Copy$Options in boot files or elsewhere will
affect the way the desktop behaves.
4.02
The filer options can be read and changed by clicking the menu button
over any directory window and choosing the Options option.  The options
selected by this route differ in one significant way from the
Copy$Options in that they are stored in battery-backed RAM and thus are
preserved when the machine is switched off or reset.  They are stored in
byte 198 of the CMOS RAM (not byte 195 as my copy of the PRM says) along
with various other desktop options:
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Having these options stored in CMOS RAM can sometimes be an advantage
but on the whole I find it rather inconvenient.  For instance, I often
change temporarily from an icon display to “Full Info” and would like
icons to be restored after a reset.  Luckily this sort of preference can
easily be dealt with by a few lines in the boot routine.  For instance,
the following lines of BASIC will reset the Display mode to small icons
while preserving the other options:
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Hugh Eagle.
4.02
• Cut and paste clip board − Many RISC-OS applications have a ‘cut and
paste’ option.  If these applications can also edit more than one
document at a time then you can use the ‘cut and paste’ option as a clip
board to transfer data from one document to another.  For example, you
can select a block of text in one !Edit document, move to another
document and then use the <ctrl><c> option to copy the block into that
document.  This method will also work with applications such as
PipeDream but not Ovation or Impression, etc as they use the ‘clip
board’ method.  Steve Drain.
4.02
• Deskjet Plus Ink Cartridges, Recharging − You may have discovered the
same problem as me when trying to recharge these cartridges, namely that
the ink won’t go in the hole!
4.02
A bit of reverse engineering, with the aid of a hacksaw, has revealed
the cause.  The container is filled with a dense spongy material which
holds the ink, but this does not enter the cavity formed by the raised
green portion with the central vent hole.  If a syringe needle is
entered through this hole it must be long enough to reach into the
sponge.  At least 20mm is required.  If this is not the case then the
inserted ink charge is held on top of the sponge by surface tension, and
quickly overflows through the charge hole.
4.02
The only syringes which I can get hold of are intended for diabetics and
have a needle which is too short to reach the sponge through the top
hole.  The solution is to fill the sponge through the top hole.  The
solution is to fill through a second hole, drilled as small as possible,
on the 3mm wide land to the side of the raised portion.  In this
location there is a small internal cavity not filled with sponge.  This
prevents capillary leakage after recharging.
4.02
Archive readers may be interested in the following program which will
draw a sketch showing the location of the hole.  It should be made as
close to the vertical wall of the raised portion as is possible.
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
With regard to inks I have excellent results with Rotring Art Pen Ink
which comes in many colours.  Bill Graham.
4.02
• MEMC DMA control register − With reference to Sean Kelly’s tip in June
‘90 for gaining extra speed from the Archimedes by disabling the VIDC’s
DMA access.  Although the technique normally works without any trouble,
occasionally the machine crashes or has its memory contents corrupted.
As Sean correctly stated, bit 10 of the MEMC register controls VIDC DMA,
however, as the dynamic RAM (DRAM) in the machine is no longer being
read by the VIDC it is also no longer being refreshed properly.  Bits 8
& 9 of the MEMC come to the rescue, they are the DRAM refresh control
bits.
4.02
There are three available modes of refresh:-
4.02
            bit 8   bit 9
4.02
a) no refresh         1   0
4.02
    (not used by the Archimedes)
4.02
b) refresh during video flyback      0   1
4.02
c) continuous refresh         1   1
4.02
Flyback time during standard modes (0-16 & 24) is greater than the DRAM
holding time and as such requires refresh during flyback.  In multi-sync
modes the flyback time is much faster and the memory does not need to be
refreshed by the MEMC.
4.02
The codes for the various modes are:-SYS“OS_UpdateMEMC‘,768,1792 to turn
off the VIDC DMA and invoke continuous refresh and
SYS“OS_UpdateMEMC‘,1536,1792 to return to normal for standard modes.
4.02
It should be pointed out that the continuous refresh mode uses the DMA
video pointer as the refresh address source, incrementing the pointer
after use.  As such this should be used with care if the pointer is used
as an active part of your program whilst the screen is blanked.  (But
why would you want to move the pointer if you can’t see it??)
4.02
There is also a sound DMA control bit in the MEMC but as this does not
affect memory refresh bits 8 and 9 which do not need to be altered.
4.02
Bit 11 − 0 Sound DMA disable
4.02
              1 Sound DMA enable
4.02
Rob Swain.
4.02
• Modifying the RISC-OS dot matrix printer driver − To add a new dot
matrix printer configuration to the RISC-OS printer driver you will need
to alter the ‘PrData’ file in the ‘!PrinterDM’ directory (on you
Applications Disc One or RISC-OS Extras Disc = Shareware 17):
4.02
1)  Make sure you have made a back up copy
4.02
2)  Run the !Edit program on Applications Disc One
4.02
3)  Double click on the copy of !PrinterDM that you wish to alter,
whilst holding the <shift> key down − a filer window will then open with
the contents of the !PrinterDM application inside
4.02
4)  Double click on the ‘PrData’ file in the !PrinterDM filer window − a
text window will then open
4.02
5)  Use the arrow keys to position the caret (red vertical text cursor)
just before the ‘Configured options’ heading and after the row of full
stops
4.02
6)  Add the following text changing the information to match your
printer (the example below adds a Shinwa CP80/Lucas LX80 option to the
RISC-OS printer driver):
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Alan Dawes
4.02
• Nevryon hints & tips − Nevryon passwords for level three, five and
seven are given at the foot of this column, the letters being reversed
for the benefit of those who prefer to ignore them.
4.02
The following Nevryon cheat allows the ship to be upgraded to have any
weapons desired and energy/credits/lives may also be altered.
4.02
Load the ‘!Nevryon.Multi’ file on the Nevryon disc 1 and insert the
following at line 211.
4.02
   211 Dump=PAGE-&3F800:Dump?n=value
4.02
where n is:
4.02
n=27:   Ship speed, 4 recommended
4.02
n=28:   Shield orb (top), 1=ON 0=Off
4.02
n=29:   Shield orb (bottom), 1=ON 0=OFF
4.02
n=30:   RAM, 1=ON, 0=OFF
4.02
n=32:   Gun droids, 0-2
4.02
n=33   Lasers, 0-2
4.02
n=35:   Number of credits (default 3)
4.02
n=36:   Number of lives (default 4)
4.02
n=37:   Starting secondary weapons status, 0=Off, 1=flamer, etc
4.02
n=38:   Gold bar status, 0=OFF, 1=flamer, 2=mines, etc
4.02
n=43:   Amount of energy (default 12)
4.02
Change as many of these values as you want and save altered program and
repeat the process for the $.Multi file on the Nevryon 2 disc.  Jeremy
Mears.
4.02
   upside down words missing!
4.02
• Printing a full path name − This is a reply to the cry of help in
February 1990 from Richard Skemp about how to get the printer driver to
include the full pathname.  If you add the following line to the Library
program in the !PrinterDM directory, the printer driver will print the
full file pathname of any text file you print.
4.02
   3281 BPUT#outfile%, CHR$13+CHR$10 +“Printing file ”+filenam$
+CHR$13+CHR10+CHR$10
4.02
Lorcan Mongey.
4.02
• Reinstating the filer module − An item on system variables mentions
that if you *RMFaster the filer module from the desktop, you lose the
filer icons and can’t get them back (Archive 3.11 p7).  To retrieve
them, try:
4.02
   <F12>
4.02
   Desktop
4.02
   <Return>
4.02
this doesn’t interfere with anything already in the desktop but re-
starts any of the default tasks that have been lost, namely Filer,
PaletteUtil an TaskManager.  Note, however, that if you *RMKill or
*RMFaster the Task Manager, you can’t get a *prompt by pressing F12!  To
get around this, make up an Obey file containing the command
4.02
   *Desktop
4.02
and this will do the trick.  It’s quite interesting to see the Task and
Palette icons in the “wrong” place on the icon bar!  However, I feel
that you should not deliberately interfere with desktop modules and this
method should really be regarded as a ‘get-you-home’ technique in case
of problems.  Lorcan Mongey.
4.02
•REMming your programs − When writing a program, in any language, it is
good practice to put plenty of comments in to remind oneself what each
particular section of code does.  However, in BASIC, there are two
things which tend to deter one from following this practice.  The first
is that the interpreter has to recognise a REM statement before it knows
to ignore it.  This takes time, which may be undesirable in procedures
and loops.  The second deterrent is the amount of space taken by the
text of the comment, which is stored verbatim in the program.
4.02
I have a practice, when commenting procedures and functions, of placing
explanatory comments outside the procedure/function block.  For
instance:
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Clearly, the above practice prevents the REM statements from impacting
the performance of the procedure/function, as they are in section of the
code which the interpreter will never see.
4.02
This last observation leads to an additional possibility for interpreted
code (but not for compiled BASIC).  Since the interpreter never sees
these lines between procedure/function blocks, the normal syntax rules
can be broken without an error being generated.  Thus, we can save some
space, as well as execution time, by omitting the REM key words.  Note
that this will only work if the comments are where the interpreter
cannot see them.  If you are in the habit of using GOTO statements
(sometimes a handy way of removing umpteen layers of IF... THEN... ELSE
statements if you are checking for exceptions and, despite common
‘wisdom’, still used frequently by professional programmers), this
placing of syntactically incorrect code beyond the bounds of a procedure
block might allow the trapping of such errors as omitting the ENDPROC or
= statements.  David Hazel.
4.02
• Star LC10 − An undocumented feature on a Star LC10 Colour Printer, is
that if you open out a file to the printer and try and print characters
27 and 102 to it, it prints out the current dip switch setting:
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
Jason Ede.
4.02
• System Variables (continued from 4.1 p9 & 4.1 p10) − I had had similar
problems and came up with a different solution which can solve both
problems, i.e. reading system variables to BASIC and passing system
variables to the Filer module.  I use a call to OS_EvaluateExpression,
which can return a numeric or string value, as follows:
4.02
   program segment missing
4.02
This is an artificial example; in practice you would know whether you
were expecting a numeric value or a string, such as Obey$Dir.  Lorcan
Mongey.
4.02

• Basic Text File Type − Acorn have specified field type &FD1 for BASIC
ASCII text.  This is very useful for BASIC programs which are kept in
!Edit format as it allows the user to define a RunType for them.  For
example, the following command will cause a BASIC text file to be run
just like a normal BASIC file:
4.03
   *Set Alias$@RunType_FD1 Basic-quit |“%0|” %*1
4.03
Jim Markland, Cirencester.
4.03
• Converting old Arthur programs to RISC OS − Before the days of RISC-
OS, programs running under the old Arthur used a form of reconfigure
system to adjust the CMOS RAM settings.  Now that RISC-OS is available,
those programs are out of date, and are a pain, as in most cases they
don’t “Boot-Up” from the desktop.
4.03
RISC-OS uses a different form of reconfiguring.  Two in fact − one is
the WimpSlot command, which tells the computer the minimum and maximum
amount of memory the program is going to need and the other uses the
module MemAlloc, found in the !Lander directory on Application disc 2.
4.03
These two things are quite easy to use.  The only problem is how to find
out how much room the program is going to use.  This can be discovered
fairly easily.
4.03
Load up the !Boot file and examine it using the BASIC Editor.  What you
are looking for are a set of commands/variables, which tell the computer
the amount of SpriteSize/Screensize, etc it is going to need to run.  To
convert this, all you need is the MemAlloc module, and in a run file,
use MemAlloc to allocate the memory needed for the application.
4.03
Here are some examples:
4.03
Holed Out
4.03
1. Format a fresh new disc
4.03
2. Create a new directory called !HoledOut
4.03
3. Copy all the files on the original Holed Out disc, except the !Boot
file into the new directory.
4.03
4. Copy MemAlloc into the !HoledOut directory.
4.03
5. Use !Edit to create the following Obey file:
4.03
   program segment missing
4.03
6. Load HoledOut 2 into the BASIC Editor and, where the program loads a
particular file, change it to
4.03
   (LoadCommand) <HoledOut$Dir>. (File to be loaded)
4.03
for example
4.03
   70 *RMLOAD BELL
4.03
change to
4.03
   70 *RMLOAD <HoledOut$Dir>.Bell
4.03
and
4.03
   610 CHAIN “HOLEDOUT3”
4.03
change to
4.03
   610 CHAIN  “<HoledOut$Dir>.HOLEDOUT3”
4.03
etc, etc.
4.03
7. Do the same as above to the file HOLEDOUT3, wherever the program
loads a particular file, put the command<HoledOut$Dir>. in front of the
filename.
4.03
8. Create a !Sprite file for the application icon and away you go!
4.03
Then HoledOut should run as a RISC-OS application, and will also run off
a Hard Drive (N.B. I used Holed Out Extra Courses 1)
4.03
Explanation of !Run File:
4.03
Line 1:  Tells the computer to set a directory, and to enter it without
changing the root directory whenever the <HoledOut$Dir> command is used.
4.03
Line 2:  Allocates the minimum and maximum amount of memory needed to
run the application.
4.03
Line 3:  Tells the computer to look for the module MemAlloc in memory,
if it isn’t found then it tells the computer where to find it and loads
it.
4.03
Lines 4-9:  Tell the computer the memory settings the program needs.
4.03
Line 10:  Kills the module MemAlloc for more memory.
4.03
Line 11:  Runs the actual program.
4.03
Pacmania:
4.03
In this case, things are a little different.  So do the following:
4.03
1.  Format a new disc.
4.03
2.  Create a new directory called !PacMania.
4.03
3.  Copy all the files except !Boot into the new directory.
4.03
4.  Use !Edit to create an Obey file containing the following...
4.03
   Set PacMania$Dir <Obey$Dir>
4.03
   Run <PacMania$Dir>.!RunLoad
4.03
5.  Use the BASIC Editor to create a file called !RunLoad...
4.03
   10 *Load <PacMania$Dir>.PacMania 10000
4.03
   20 CALL &100000
4.03
6.  Create an application !Sprite file.
4.03
PacMania should then run as a RISC-OS application.
4.03
So there we are, I’ve also used another command to help with the loading
process.  <Obey$Dir> and <(Application name)$Dir>.  These two commands
tell the computer where to find certain files, no matter where they are.
(Hidden in directories on a hard drive for example.)  Duncan Burbidge.
4.03
• Getting Taxan 795 to work with Archimedes.  The Taxan 795 is an
excellent multi-sync colour monitor, but it was a bit unnerving, on
unpacking and assembling my new A440 with VIDC Enhancer and 795 monitor,
to be confronted with a screen which just would not synchronize!  But,
with help from Paul and from Atomwide, and with a lot of exploration, I
think that I now know what screen modes it will support and how to get
them.
4.03
Initially, the trick is to set *CONFIGURE MONITORTYPE 1 and *CONFIGURE
WIMPMODE20.  Then the machine wakes up in the desktop in mode 20 whether
or not the VIDC enhancer software (VIDCmodes for the 795) is installed,
provided that (if it is not installed) the VIDC switch is ‘off’.
However, if VIDCmodes is not installed, loading an application which
changes the mode to one of the basic Archimedes modes (0-17) plunges you
back into an unsynchronized screen.  Therefore, my initial explorations
were done with an ordinary monchrome monitor connected to the sync BNC
socket, after changing two links on the circuit board − as explained on
page 434 of the RISC-OS user guide.  Options for all Acorn and Atomwide
modes (except the high-resolution mono mode 23) are listed in the
accompanying table.  (See opposite.)  Bill Mapleson.
4.03
• Keywords in BASIC − I have found that PRINT ‘SHIFT F1’ showed a lower
case underline ‘a’.  From BASIC on pressing return to ‘PRINT’ the result
I found a number that looked just like TIME.  It was.  SHIFT F2 gives
HIMEM and SHIFT F3 = LOWMEM.  No other Fkey gives a number, but they all
act as quick entry keys for use in BASIC program writing within ARMB
edit.  They must be programmed with BASIC keyword token values.
4.03
I expect this is widely known but here is the list for completeness.
4.03
   program segment missing
4.03
Simon Anthony, Nottingham.
4.03
• Locating screen coordinates − When writing wimp programs (out of
desktop) it’s often hard to plot things because you’re not sure what the
coordinates of the screen are.  Using the program below, it is possible
to do this.
4.03
   program segment missing
4.03
I hope the program is of some use to wimp programmers.  Duncan Burbidge.
4.03
• MSDOS installation on hard disc − Here is a summary of the steps for
getting an MSDOS partition installed onto a hard disc.
4.03
1. (This step applies only if you have an old PCEmulator, e.g. V1.20,
and a V1.33 upgrade disc)
4.03
(a) Read ‘ReadMe2’ on the V1.33 disc.
4.03
(b) Run ‘MakePC’ on the V1.33 disc.  (This copies the file !PC.Rom from
the 1.20 disc to the 1.33 disc.  Although the desktop displays this as a
‘text’ file, I reckon that in fact it is the emulator itself and that
all the other files are concerned with preparing the Archimedes to run
the Emulator.)
4.03
2.  Read ‘ReadMe’ on V1.33 but don’t take too much notice of it − it
confused me a lot!
4.03
3.  Examine the files !PC.GenBoot.! Config and !PC.GenBoot.!Modules.  If
you have more than 1M of RAM, it may be worth changing some of the ‘Y’s
to ’N’s in !Config.  When I first tried it, without any changes, my
screen went blank because my Taxan 795 monitor requires the VIDC
Enhancer and the VIDCmodes software installed in order to synchronize
when not in modes 18-21.  With a 4M machines, I decided to make all the
response ‘N’ and everything seemed OK.
4.03
4.  If you have a SCSI hard disc (as I have), run !SCSIDisk.  This
renames !PC.SCSIRun2 to !PC.!Run2 and !PC.!Run2 to !PC.!ADSF[sic]Run2.
That is, it makes !Run2 the file that defines where the MSDOS partition
is to be placed − on a SCSI hard disc not on an ADFS one.  !SCSIDisk
then creates a file ‘PC.Drive_C’ on the SCSI disc of the size you
request (1 to 32M).  This file can be *TYPEd from the Archimedes command
line − but don’t do it until everything is complete because its contents
misled me!  The screen then displays information for running two MSDOS
commands:  FDISK and HDINSTAL.  It also displays the injunction ‘Press
ESC’ to stop:  Press RETURN to continue‘.
4.03
5.  If you press <return>, the instructions are cleared from the screen;
the PC Emulator is loaded, and you are invited to put the MSDOS boot
disk into ‘DriveA’ (Drive0).  Doing so, and pressing <return>, loads
MSDOS which asks for date and time − but pressing <return> in response
to each request supplies the information from the system clock.  When
the ‘A>’ prompt appears, you need to carry out the instructions that
were recently wiped off the screen:  Type ‘FDISK’, then ‘1’ to create a
DOS partition, then ‘Y’ to assign all of file Drive_C to DOS: then
‘HDINSTAL’ which formats the hard disc and transfers the MSDOS system
files from the floppy MSDOS boot disc to the hard disc.
4.03
6.  If you press ESC (at the ‘ESC to stop, <return> to continue’
injunction) and need to run !SCSIDisk again, beware that this will re-
rename the !Run2 files.  I avoided this by ‘Remming’ the *rename
statements in !SCSIDisk.!RunImage.  (This is a BASIC program from which
it would appear that the procedure for installing MSDOS on an ADFS hard
disc would be the same without the complication of renaming the !Run2
files.)
4.03
7.  Once MSDOS is safely on the hard disc, the !PC application can be
transferred from the V1.33 disk to the PC directory on the hard disk.
4.03
8.  One last complication fo me was that when I type ‘HDINSTAL’ I go the
quaint message ‘insert new diskette in drive C’ and, on pressing
<return>, ‘drive not read − format failure’.  Eventually, after many
hours and several phone calls, the explanation turned out to be that I
have two external 5.1/4“ drives and MSDOS was seeing the second of these
as Drive C and the SCSI hard disc as Drive D.  To avoid amending
HDINSTAL (which is a simple batch file) I told RISC-OS that it had only
two floppy drives (*CONFIGURE FLOPPIES 2, followed by <ctrl-break>) and
all went smoothly.  Subsequently I reconfigured to three floppies and
now MSDOS wakes up with a ‘D>’ prompt ready to run from the hard disc.
The most useful tool for finding out what MSDOS thinks it has is to type
CHKDSKA:.CHKDSKB: etc,
4.03
9.  Finally, in RISC-OS, lock the ‘Drive_C’ file.  I’m astonished that
this is not done by the PCEmulator programs.  Without it, a careless
click in RISC-OS might destroy all your MSDOS files!  Bill Mapleson.
4.03
• Saving your configuration settings − I recently needed to change the
batteries in my Archimedes but this meant that I would lose the
configuration settings stored in the CMOS RAM.  I managed to solve the
problem by writing two small programs that saved and then restored the
CMOS RAM settings to and from a file.
4.03
   program segment missing
4.03
Sham Gardner, Karlsruhe (Germany).
4.03
(The other way of doing it is to open the computer, switch the computer
on, change the batteries, switch off and then put the computer back
together again − but I dare not suggest that you should do that because
someone might stick a screwdriver into the heavily protected p.s.u. and
I’d get blames − so I didn’t suggest it, OK? Ed.)
4.03
• Wimpslotting warning.  Always give the maximum amount of memory your
program is going to use.  Otherwise, the computer will eat up all the
available memory and use it for the program and you can’t get the memory
back unless you quit the application!  This happens in FormEd (All
versions, I would assume).  The FormEd !Run file contains the line:
4.03
   WimpSlot -min 288k
4.03
Using !Edit, change this line to...
4.03
   WimpSlot -min 288k -max 288k
4.03
The program will then run, using up less memory, meaning that both
!FormEd and !Paint can run at the same time on a 1M machine.  You have
been warned.  Duncan Burbidge.
4.03

• Cheats − Here are some cheats for various games.  (I suggest that if
you do any of these, you do not use the original disc, but rather work
on a copy.  Ed.)
4.04
Cheat for Minerva’s BattleTank  If you run the following program you
will have however many lives you specified at line 20:
4.04
   program segment missing
4.04
Cheat for 4th Dimension’s Inertia - Type in the following and then each
time you lose a life, you won’t!
4.04
   program segment missing
4.04
Cheat for 4th Dimension’s Man-At-Arms − The passwords for the 3 stages
are: INCUBUS, STRANGE and PULSARS
4.04
   progam segment missing
4.04
When you run this program, it will allow you loads of lives, punches and
lots of energy.  Be careful not to set any of the variables at &FF
because it does tend to make the program crash!
4.04
Cheat for Minerva’s RedShift − Once the game has loaded, type the
following:
4.04
   PHASING GERALD
4.04
Note:  When you pressed <11>, the screen will change to the Help screen.
Take no notice of this and keep typing the rest of the words in.
Remember that there is a space between the two words!
4.04
If you have entered this correctly, you will hear a bleep.  Then just
press <1> or <2> to play the game and when your Energy is low just press
<E> and you’ll see the energy level is full again!  Also, when your
TurboEnergy is low press <T> and you will be back to full strength!
4.04
Cheat for 4th Dimension’s E-Type − The following will give you as many
minutes as you like to get round each track:
4.04
   program segment missing
4.04
Type in the above and you’ll have all the time you want to round each
track!  Mark Faulkner.
4.04
• DOS RAM Disc − In DOS, it is possible to set up a RAM disc and indeed,
for many applications, it is vital to do so if one does not have the
luxury of a hard disc.  Regular DOS supports a maximum of 640 kbytes of
RAM, although we did learn about Extended Memory in last month’s
Archive.  The problem with a DOS RAM disc is that the memory is actually
taken from the 640k system RAM.  At least it certainly is with current
versions of the PC Emulator.
4.04
A few months ago, an application appeared on the magazine disc called
!PCRamDisc.  This made use of the fact that the PC emulator can support
up to two “hard disc” partitions and that one of these could be in the
Archimedes RAM disc filing system.  (In fact one of these can be on an
ADFS floppy!).  In this way, a large RAM disc can be used within DOS
which does not take anything from the regulation DOS 640k.  This seemed
a really good idea and I was eager to try it out.
4.04
The program which produced the DOS partition is a variation of the Acorn
program to construct a hard disc partition but with the filing system
and paths changed and with the allowed partition sizes also changed to
more convenient values.  Having created such a partition, the !Run2 file
must be modified to tell the machine where the partitions are.
4.04
Then, when the emulator is run, the new “drive” must be initialised
using FDISK and then formatted using FORMAT.  This part really annoyed
me as I had to do it each time I used the emulator, and I kept for
getting what to do.
4.04
It seemed a good idea to create a ready-formatted and initialised
partition before entering the emulator.  I am sure someone could write a
program to do this, but not me.  Obviously, it would be silly to store,
say, a 2 megabyte partition in readiness; this is just a waste of space.
However, I discovered that an initialised, formatted, but otherwise
empty DOS partition of one megabyte capacity could be compressed to just
over a kilobyte using Archimedes ARC, a Public Domain file compression/
decompression program written by David Pilling.
4.04
On the magazine disc there is an application called !PCRamDisk (note the
different spelling).  This contains a compressed but empty DOS partition
which is decompressed into the RAMFS before invoking the PC emulator.
Please read the !Help file before using it as the !Run2 file of the
emulator is overwritten when the application is run.  Brian Cowan.
4.04

Hints and Tips
4.5
•   ANSI C v3 on a SCSI Hard  Disc – After some trial an error, I finally
managed to install ANSI C v3 correctly on my new Oak SCSI card with 45Mb
hard disc drive.  Here’s what I had to do:
4.5
First change line 3390 in the ‘InstallNet’ program which is on all three
of the ANSI C discs so that it reads:
4.5
3390 DATA “ADFS::0.$”,“NET:$”,“SCSI::SCSIDisc4.$”
4.5
Then run the “InstallHD” program from each disc and always answer ‘Y’ on
the overwrite options (otherwise, the back up program would stop).
4.5
If you use the included !Cstart obey file, you should not ‘*Set
Run$Path’ in your !boot file and you should remember to modify the
!Cstart file to work with SCSI and not ADFS i.e. c$loc SCSI::4.$
4.5
Atle Baardholt, Norway
4.5
•   Deskjet Plus ink cartridges, recharging − Further to Bill Graham’s
note in Archive 4.2 p8, I’ve found that Quinx Permanent Black works well
and is probably cheaper than Art Pen Ink. You do need to be careful that
you don’t inject more ink than the sponge will absorb, otherwise the
mess is dreadful!  Stuart Bell, Brighton.
4.5
•   DropShip passwords − Passwords for DropShip are Dahlia, Gaggle, Kaunda
and Nautch.
4.5
•   ExAllPlus − This is a non-Wimp program which was written in an attempt
to catalogue my discs. It was designed for use with a single ADFS Floppy
drive and a SCSI Hard disc together with a Star LC10 printer using
continuous paper. Other printers may require some alteration to the
coding.
4.5
Most existing “ExAll” and “CatAll” programs invoke the *EX and *CAT
calls (!) which produce a lot of unnecessary and confusing duplication
of libraries, directories etc. (I have memories of the reams of paper
produced by an  “ExAll” print-out of the original Archimedes Welcome
disc.) To avoid this, these calls have been re-written so that, in
addition to other changes, the directory headings have been reduced to
path descriptions.
4.5
The program will produce both screen and printed listings of either the
full disc or the root directory. The various options are selected by a
series of key-strokes and a default screen “ExAll” routine has been set-
up which can be easily customised.
4.5
Use can be made of the condensed print option to produce catalogue
listings eight entries wide as against the usual five. This rather
spoils the screen display in this mode but it was thought useful to
maintain a check on the output to the printer. When using this option to
produce “EX” listings the screen display is OK and the reverse feed
facility of the Star LC10 enables double column print-outs to be
obtained.
4.5
The “GetType” program is loaded in by the main “ExAllPlus” code and
contains all the FileType codes I have been able to find but it can
easily be updated.
4.5
(The listing is far too long to put in the magazine. I have put it on
the monthly program disc. Ed.)
4.5
Doug Tuddenham
4.5
•   First Word Plus embedded commands − If you switch off the Word
Processor mode of FWP you can enter printer commands directly into the
text.  Double bracket command codes e.g. ((n))n1 can be entered to
change the printer font and style. For example, with a Star LC24-200 in
the following effects can be achieved:
4.5
Font   ((F))0   Times Roman
4.5
      ((F))1   Sans Serif
4.5
      ((F))2   Courier
4.5
      ((F))3   Prestige
4.5
      ((F))4   Script
4.5
      ((F))5   Draft
4.5
Size   ((S))0   Standard
4.5
      ((S))1   Double Width
4.5
      ((S))2   Double Height
4.5
      ((S))3   Double Width and Height
4.5
Colour   ((C))0   Black
4.5
      ((C))1   Red
4.5
      ((C))2   Blue
4.5
      ((C))3   Violet
4.5
      ((C))4   Yellow
4.5
      ((C))5   Orange
4.5
      ((C))6   Green
4.5
Peter Thomas, Leics
4.5
•   FWP Cut and Paste − It is possible to cut a marked block of text in a
First Word Plus document and then paste it into another document.  Both
documents must be loaded first.  This may be obvious but I have only
just found out – the hard way.  Dave Livsey, Devon
4.5
•   Impression hints & tips − Now that I am using Impression for the
magazine, there are likely to be a number of hints & tips forthcoming.
Some of these may be obvious to the more experienced Impression users,
but bear with me because some of us are only just beginning and, in
fact, the experiences of someone just starting to use an application can
often be very helpful to others going through the same hoop. Also, when
you have been using an application for a while, you build up the feeling
that you know how it works and there may be facilities which you never
realised were available which new users pick up. Anyway, here are the
first few...
4.5
Adding styles to titles − If you want to add a style to a title, be sure
to select the whole line including the carriage return. In other words
either put the cursor by the left hand margin and drag down to the next
line or triple-click somewhere on the line. (I’m sure you all know that
double-click selects a word, triple-click selects a line and quadruple-
click (or <ctrl-@>) selects a whole paragraph.) The reason for selecting
in this way is that if you only select by dragging across the line, you
omit the carriage return which remains in the base style. The problem
with this is that if, as in the title lines in Archive, the added style
says “reduce the space after the paragraph to zero”, the carriage return
still has the full space-after-paragraph so the paragraph spacing
remains unchanged.
4.5
Entering point sizes − If you want to change the size of some text, you
mark it and press <shift-ctrl-S>. If the dialogue box is empty, you can
type in a number, say 18, and it will assume you mean 18 point. If you
decide that you want it a bit bigger and press <shift-ctrl-S> again, it
comes up with “18pt” in the box. If you then type in, say, 2 <return> it
will interpret the “18pt2” as (18+2)pt and will give you 20pt! (Well, it
works in version 2.05.) Unfortunately, if you press <-> to try to put,
say, -2, it seems to interpret it as an escape and closes the box.
4.5
Marking, deleting and re-typing − (This is something that is obvious to
people coming to Impression via the Mac but may have been missed by
people brought up through RISC-OS.) If some text is marked, by any
means, and you want to replace it by some text you are about to type in,
there is no need to delete the marked text first. As soon as you start
to type, the marked text is deleted and transferred to the scrap-pad and
your typing appears in place of it. The deleted text can be used
elsewhere by pasting it in with <ctrl-V>.
4.5
Quick searching − If you want to find something quickly, find/replace is
a good way to do it. Call it up with <ctrl-f4> and then, to delete the
text already in the dialogue box, press <ctrl-U>, then type in the word
you are looking for and press <return>. (This use of <ctrl-U> applies to
all dialogue boxes − useful when saving a document under a new name.)
Remember though that it searches from the cursor downwards, so add a
<ctrl-uparrow> before calling up the find/replace box. (In the version I
have, 2.05, the cursor is sometimes not re-displayed in its new position
after a find/replace has been executed. In other words, it appears to be
still where you left it but it may actually be further down the document
so it’s worth getting into the habit of using <ctrl-uparrow> anyway.)
Also, don’t get tripped up, as I just did. If you set the “case
sensitive” option, it stays set until you switch it off again. So, if
you can’t find a word that you know is in there somewhere, check that
you have not left it in the case-sensitive mode from the last time you
used it.
4.5
Replacing double spaces − I was trying to do a selective search and
replace to remove double spaces and replace them with single spaces.
When I told it to find the next one, it sometimes didn’t appear to mark
anything. Most peculiar!  Eventually, I realised what was happening. The
text was fully justified and the double spaces (the same would apply to
finding single spaces) were between the last word on one line and the
first on the next line. Thus Impression was marking the infinitesimally
small space at the end of the line, i.e. was marking nothing at all.
There’s nothing you can do about it (apart from removing the full
justification) but at least if you are aware of the problem, you won’t
be so baffled when it happens.
4.5
Searching for hyphens − In some versions of Impression, it is not
possible to search and replace hyphens. I discovered this because, for
ease of typing, I was using a double hyphen where I wanted a dash in the
text, the idea being to replace them later. Impression refused to find
any occurrences of hyphen-hyphen. Consultation with CC revealed that
improvements in automatic hyphenation have resulted in this problem. The
way round it is to search for — and replace it with −. Note the spaces
after the backslash and before the 45.
4.5
Smart quotes − If you want smart quotes in a text, i.e. the curly ones
instead of the straight ones on the key next to the return key, you can
type them in using <ctrl-]> and <ctrl-\> for single quotes and <shift-
ctrl-]> and <shift-ctrl-\> for double quotes. However, if you think
that’s a bit of a fag to remember, use the normal quotes and then,
before printing, save the file (just in case of operator error!), save
the text with styles (perhaps to a ram disc as it’s only temporary),
select the whole text (<ctrl-T>), delete it and finally drop the saved
text back into the document. As the text is re-loaded, quotes are
automatically ‘smartened’.
4.5
Switching styles on and off − Those of you brought up in the Mac world
may not have realised, as I didn’t until today(!) that if you want
something in, say, bold, all you have to do is press <f4> to switch it
on, type in the bit that is to be in bold and then press <f4> again.
Obvious? Yes, it may be to those who come new to Impression but for
those of us steeped in Mac techniques, it comes as a welcome surprise.
4.5
If there are things about using Impression that ‘came as a surprise’ to
you, send them in to us (preferably on disc) and we’ll share them with
other Impression users. We may even need an Impression Column.
4.5
•   Rotor and other games’ passwords − One way to obtain the Rotor
passwords (and possibly other games) is to load each of the game’s files
into !Edit and use the ‘Find’ option to look for the first password.
When the password is found, the remaining passwords should be in the
next couple of lines.  Andrew Campbell, Devon
4.5
•   Sony TV / Monitor − I was told by Beebug that I couldn’t use my Sony
TV as a monitor with the A3000, but in fact this is quite easy to do.
The sony TV requires a signal on pin 16 (blanking input) of the Scart
plug, which can simply be connected to pin 20 (video input).  Keith
Raven, Slough
4.5
•   Z88 file transfer − Here is a little utility for people who wish to
transfer files from the Archimedes straight into suspended memory on the
Z88.  It saves having to break a file into smaller sections first and,
of course, there is always a memory overhead in having at least part of
the file held in the Z88 Filer.  With this BASIC program, the filer is
by-passed altogether.
4.5
 10 REM >Suspender
4.5
 20 REM Transfer file from Arc to Z88 suspended memory
4.5
 30 REM ** IMPORTANT: Set z88 receive baud rate at 2400 (in panel) **
4.5
 40 *CAT
4.5
 50 *FX 8,5
4.5
 60 INPUT “Send file? ”file$
4.5
 70 *FX 3,119
4.5
 80 OSCLI(“Type ”+file$)
4.5
 90 FOR i%=1 TO 350
4.5
100 PRINT “#”
4.5
110 NEXT i% : REM these pad chars are need for certain types of file
4.5
120 *FX 3,0
4.5
To load a file into PipeDream, enter “:COM” as the “Name of file to
load” in the files menu.  Then run “Suspender” and immediately press
<return> on the Z88.  Finally, when the BASIC prompt reappears on the
Archimedes screen, press <esc> on the Z88.
4.5
It is kinder to your disc drive to copy the target file into the
Archimedes’ RAM filing system first.
4.5
Jonathan Barnes, Watford
4.5
The following Hints and Tips come from Hugh Eagle of the West Sussex
Archimedes User Group.
4.5
•   Disappearing paragraph spaces in FWP – If, at the end of a paragraph,
you type a space immediately before the carriage return, the carriage
return will be deleted when you subsequently reformat the paragraph.
Believe it or not, this is a “feature” of First Word Plus (documented in
the version 1 manual on page 110)!
4.5
•   Loading sprite files – When you double click on a sprite file icon,
sometimes it is displayed at the bottom left-hand corner of a blank
screen and sometimes in a !Paint window.  This is because the action the
computer takes when you try to “run” a sprite file depends on the
contents of the system variable Alias$@RunType_FF9.  This variable is
defined by default, when the Archimedes is switched on, as “ScreenLoad
%0”.  The effect of this is that when you double click on a sprite file
(type &FF9) icon, the operating system executes the instruction
*ScreenLoad [filename]; this clears the screen and then displays the
first sprite in the file at the graphics origin. However, when the
Desktop Filer “sees” the !Paint application (i.e. when a directory
window is opened in which !Paint is included) it runs the !Paint.!Boot
file which, amongst other things, redefines Alias$@RunType_FF9  in such
a way that when a sprite file is “run” the !Paint application is started
up (that is if it is not already running) and the file is loaded in.
4.5
•   Listing the contents of your (hard) disk – The operating system
command “*Count :4.$.* RV” will catalogue the contents of the root
directory and every sub-directory.  As explained on pages 279/280 of the
User Guide, the output from this command can be redirected to the
printer by adapting the command to “*Count :4.$.* RV {printer: } ”
4.5
Note: the spaces around the curly brackets and the > sign are important.
4.5
This method will redirect the output to the printer without displaying
it on the screen. An alternative method will send all text that is
displayed on the screen to the printer as well: first press <ctrl-B>
(i.e. hold down the ctrl key and simultaneously type B), then issue the
command “*Count :4.$.* RV” then, when the listing has finished, press
<ctrl-C>.
4.5
•   Removing PC Access –  The menu which appears when you click the menu
button over any of the PC Access icons on the icon bar has no Quit
option and the application doesn’t seem to appear in the Task Manager
window.  In fact, the application does appear in the Task Manager window
... in the “Module Tasks” section. Clicking the menu button over the
application’s name there and moving to the Task ‘PC Access’ sub-menu
gives a “Quit” option.
4.5
•   Printing via a PC – For some time I have been perplexed to find that
when I try to print a file created by the Archimedes !PrinterLJ printer
driver to a LaserJet printer attached to a PC, the printout stops part
way down the page. At first I thought it must be because of  limited
memory in the printer so I tried creating the file at a lower print
density but this made no difference to how much of the page was printed.
4.5
I think I have now hit on the answer, namely that, when using the MS-DOS
Copy command to print a file which includes control codes, it is a good
idea to use the /b “switch”, using the syntax:
4.5
copy [filename]/b LPT1
4.5
The insertion of /b after the filename causes MS-DOS to copy in “binary”
mode: i.e. it copies as many bytes as there are in the file. Otherwise,
in text mode, copying will continue only until the first end-of-file
marker (Ctrl-Z or ASCII character 26) is reached whereupon it will stop.
It is of course highly likely that a graphic printfile of many thousands
of bytes will contain this character several times, so it is not
surprising that only part of the page is printed!
4.5
•   Viewing !Draw files – The standard way to view a draw file is to load
it into !Draw. However, this has an irritating tendency to place the
part of the picture you want to see outside the visible window. There
are (at least) two convenient ways of avoiding this problem:
4.5
One is to load the file into the !Display application from Shareware 26.
The other is to load it into an Impression frame (or, presumably, a
frame in one of the other DTP applications). In either case, the drawing
is scaled to fit the frame (the aspect ratio is preserved, so the
picture fills either the height of the frame or the width). One
advantage of Impression is that the frame can very easily be resized and
the drawing thereby magnified; another is that it makes it very simple
to display a number of drawings on a page and create an illustrated
catalogue.
4.5
•   Floppy disc E format – So far as I know, the detailed format of ADFS
discs has not been published either in any of the manuals or in Archive.
Having recently deleted some files by mistake and been forced into some
detective work in order to recover them, I thought it might be helpful
to write down what I have found out about “E” format floppy discs:–
4.5
With two sides, 80 tracks on each side, 5 sectors on each track, the
disc has 800 sectors of 1024 (&400) bytes each. The sectors can be
thought of as being numbered from 0 to 799 in the following order:
4.5
   Track   Head   Sector
4.5
       0       0       0
4.5
       0       0       1
4.5
       0       0       2
4.5
       0       0       3
4.5
       0       0       4
4.5
       0       1       0
4.5
       .       .       .
4.5
       0       1       4
4.5
       1       0       0
4.5
       .       .       .
4.5
       .       .       .
4.5
      79       1       4
4.5
Each byte on the disc has a “disc address” equal to the sector number,
as defined above, times &400 plus the number of bytes into the sector.
Put it another way:
4.5
the disc address    =   (((( track * 2 ) + head ) * 5 ) + sector ) *
&400 + bytes into sector
4.5
Map format − The first two sectors on the disc contain duplicate copies
of the disc map. The first 64 bytes of the map contain the following
information:
4.5
byte  0   a checksum byte
4.5
bytes 1/2   the number of bits to the place in the map which marks the
first free space on the disc, counting from the beginning of byte 1 (if
there is no free space this number will be zero); the top bit of the 16
is always set, so, for instance, the value &8310 in these two bytes
would indicate that the first free space in the map could be found &310
bits or &310 DIV 8 bytes from byte 1, i.e. at byte &63
4.5
byte  3   &FF
4.5
bytes 4-35   the “disc record” as described on pages 1012/3 of the PRM
containing various details about the disc size, etc. which are the same
on all “E” format discs, ending with the Disc ID at bytes 24/5 and the
disc name from byte 26 to byte 35.
4.5
bytes 36-63   reserved (all zero)
4.5
bytes 64-863 (800 bytes) – the actual disc map.
4.5
Each byte in the map represents one disc sector and the contents of the
map indicate how the disc is divided up between the various objects
(directories and files) on it. Each portion of the map is at least 2
bytes long, it begins with an identifying number (max. 15 bits), ends
with a 1 in the top bit of the last byte and all the bits in between are
zero. Thus, for instance, if the file with the identifying number 7
occupies 3 sectors the relevant portion of the map reads as follows:
4.5
first byte   &07
4.5
next byte   &00
4.5
last byte   &80  (1 in the top bit)
4.5
The lowest identifying number is 2 and is reserved for the four sectors
which are initialised when the disc is formatted and which comprise the
two map sectors followed by the two sectors containing the root
directory. Identifying numbers are then allocated, in order, as new
objects are created.
4.5
A file may be fragmented into several pieces, in which case several
portions of the map will contain the same identifying number.
4.5
The portions of the map indicating free space on the disc are linked
together by a chain of pointers. As mentioned above, bytes 1 and 2, at
the start of the map sector, point to the first free space in the map.
At that point there is a similar pointer to the next free space (if any)
and so on until the last free space is reached, where the pointer is
zero.
4.5
A defective sector on the disc is identified in the map by number 1.
4.5
Directory structure − Each directory takes up two sectors. As mentioned
above, the root directory occupies the third and fourth sectors on the
disc (from disc address &800 to &FFF). Any sub-directory can be located
by looking up the relevant entry in its parent directory, finding the
identifying number (in the manner described below) and looking up the
number in the disc map.
4.5
The first five bytes in a directory contain a checksum byte followed by
the string “Nick”. Then there are up to 77 entries of 26 bytes each
representing the various objects (files and sub-directories) in the
directory.
4.5
The format of each of these entries is:
4.5
bytes  0-9   name of file or sub-directory
4.5
bytes 10-13   load address
4.5
bytes 14-17   execution address
4.5
bytes 18-21   file length
4.5
byte  22   sector offset (see below)
4.5
bytes 23-24   identifying number as used in the map
4.5
byte  25   file attributes.
4.5
If the top 12 bits of the load address are all set (i.e. are &FFF) this
means that the file is “stamped” and the remainder of the load and
execution address fields are used to record the file type and date stamp
as follows:
4.5
load address      FFFtttdd
4.5
execution addressdddddddd
4.5
(the bottom byte of the load address field being used for the top byte
of the 5-byte format date and time record).
4.5
Note: in a disc sector editor which shows the bytes in order with the
lowest byte of each word first, these 8 bytes will appear as   “dd tt Ft
FF dd dd dd dd”.
4.5
If not all the top 12 bits are set, the load and execution addresses
will (as their names suggest) determine what the computer does when the
file is *LOADed or *RUN (or double-clicked from the Desktop).
4.5
The sector offset in byte 22 is used where two files are mapped into the
same portion of the disc. In such a case the files share the same
identifying number (in bytes 23/4) but byte 22 indicates how many
sectors into the portion each file starts.
4.5
A typical example of this would involve two small files each fitting
into one disc sector (they might for instance be !Boot, !Run or !Sprites
files within an application directory). Because the minimum size of a
map entry is 2 bytes representing 2 sectors on the disc, it would be
inefficient to give each file a separate map entry, so the two files
would be made to share. In this case, assuming the shared identifying
number is say 8, bytes 23 and 24 of the directory entries for both files
would be &08 and &00 but byte 22 would be &01 for the file that occupies
the first sector and &02 for the second.
4.5
In the usual situation where a file has a map entry to itself, byte 22
is zero.
4.5
The bits of byte 25 (the file attributes byte) are used as follows:
4.5
bit  0   object has read access for you
4.5
bit  1   object has write access for you
4.5
bit  2   undefined
4.5
bit  3   object is locked against deletion
4.5
bit  4   object has read access for others
4.5
bit  5   object has write access for others
4.5
bit  6   undefined
4.5
bit  7   undefined
4.5
Bits 4 and 5 only have meaning to the network filing system. Bits 2, 6
and 7 should be set to zero.
4.5
General note: If you want to explore disc maps and directories it is
very handy to have a disc sector editor such as the !DiscEdit appli
cation on Careware 2. Failing that it is reasonably easy to construct a
program to read from a disc sector by sector (rather than file by file)
and to display the contents. The key to such a program is the SWI call
“ADFS_DiscOp”. For instance, the BASIC instruction:
4.5
SYS “ADFS_DiscOp”,0,1,address%,buffer%,length%
4.5
will read starting at the “disc address” (as defined above) given in the
variable address%, the number of bytes given in length% (1024 for one
sector) into the address in RAM stored in buffer%. Obviously, a certain
amount of caution is advisable since a very similar command (replacing 1
with 2 for instance) could result in writing to and corrupting the
contents of a disc.
4.5

4.5

4.5
{4 .5
•   Caverns − A simple map and the passwords are given at the end of the
magazine on page 60. Neil Berry

Impression Hints and Tips
4.6
Here are a few more hints and tips mostly from the editor’s dabblings in
preparing the magazine...
4.6
•   Dashes − If you, like me, don’t like to see hyphens used where dashes
should be used − i.e. in places like this − you will probably be sick
and fed up of typing <alt-153>. (Note that the character in “alt-153” is
a hyphen, just in case you weren’t aware of the difference.) If you are
importing text into Impression, occurrences of ‘hyphen hyphen’ will be
converted automatically by Impression into a long dash — see what I
mean. Personally, I prefer the shorter one so what I have done is set up
the abbreviation dictionary with ‘expand as you type’ and used an
underline character to be turned into a dash. The only drawback is that
it’s OK for things like the dashes earlier in this paragraph, but if,
for example, you use dashes in phone numbers, as 0603−766592, the
abbreviation technique does not work and you are back to  <alt-153>.
Anyone any other ideas?
4.6
•   Find styles − If you want to find a style, get up the find/replace box
with <ctrl-f4> and then click in the menu box to the right of the Find
box and select the style you are looking for. This will come up as, say,
“”. Type an “@” after this − which stands for “any text” − and then
press <return>. This will highlight the whole of the first piece of text
with that style or effect. Unfortunately, the facility to replace that
style with another style is not yet working. If you do want to do any
search and replace on the style names, export the text, with styles, and
then use another WP such as !Edit to do the searching and replacing
before returning it to Impression.
4.6
•   Rogue effects − Someone sent me a file in which they had used a
particular font which I did not have so when I loaded the file,
Impression told me it was changing it to Trinity.medium. I did an edit-
style and looked at all the style definitions to no avail. Eventually, I
realised that it must have been used as an effect, so how was I to find
it and eliminate it or change it to some font I did possess? Because the
font had been changed to Trinity.medium (i.e. the BaseStyle font) I
could not pick it out with a visual scan so the first idea was to change
the BaseStyle to, say, Zapf.Dingbats so that anything which was in a
different font was obviously an effect or a style. Unfortunately, this
didn’t reveal the offending effect. At this point, I became convinced
that I had a non-existent, un-removable effect, i.e. a bug in Impres
sion. So I sent the offending file to CC who informed me that the
particular effect WAS in the text and they also showed me how to locate
it... as follows...
4.6
(Actually, the reason that I couldn’t find the effect was that I had
already gone through the document adding extra styles and had covered
this rogue font-change effect with a font-change style of my own. In
other words, the style, because it was applied later than the effect,
took precedence.)
4.6
•   Finding effects − In the same way that you can find styles (see above)
you can also find effects as long as you tell Impression that you want
effects to be shown on the style menu. To do this, locate the file “UK”
in the Impression “Resources” directory. Load it into !Edit and find
“Cnf1:” and change it to “Cnf1:E” − that’s a one, not a letter “l”. Save
the file and shut down and re-start Impression. You then will have
effects on your style menus and search on {“effectname” }@, as explained
above.
4.6
•   Fast search and replace − There are a couple of very useful keyboard
short-cuts not documented in the manual which speed up the search and
replace. When the “text found” box is on screen, <ctrl-R> does a
“Replace” and <ctrl-N> moves to the “Next”.
4.6
•   Keyboard short-cuts − Apart from the ones listed on pages 119ff of the
Impression manual, here are a few more: (some are mentioned on the menu,
but not in manual)
4.6
<ctrl-shift-D> go to chapter
4.6
<ctrl-shift-H> produces a bullet i.e. a “•”.
4.6
<ctrl-shift-I> also produces a bullet i.e. a “•”!
4.6
<ctrl-shift-J> produces superscript
4.6
<ctrl-shift-K> produces subscript
4.6
<ctrl-shift-T> save text story
4.6
•   Page number justification problems − Some of you may have had
difficulty getting correct centring or right justification of page
numbers on footers. This is corrected in version 2.09 − well, almost!
The footers on right hand pages were wrong last month, when I was using
version 2.05, (in fact I didn’t even notice!) and the footers on the
left hand pages would have been wrong this month (with 2.09) if I had
not found a way round it. If you try to have left aligned page number
with a right tabbed piece of text, the text suffers a left shift. I’ve
solved it for now by splitting the footer text into two separate frames,
one left aligned and the other right aligned. It’s messy, but it works.
A
4.6

Hints and Tips
4.7
•   Ballarena − I would advise using the mouse to control your ‘bat’
because the keyboard is not very responsive. Also, note that the ‘Auto’
bat does not always respond fast enough to catch the ball, and there is
nothing you can do about it! I was very disappointed in the final
message which just congratulates you, and ends your game. The passwords
are: PUNKANDJUMP, MONTPELLIER, SEA SEX SUN, VL 86 C 010, MOUNTAINEERS,
GRENOUILLE, BLUBEDILOMAR, BRAIN KILLER, RHYTHM BOX, BOUBOULOID, MENFOU,
32 BIT POWER, MARTINI, SEE YOU SOON, ETERNA. Mike Gregory (& Russell
Lamb).
4.7
•   Changing !Edit’s default file types − Answering my own Help!!! plea in
Archive here’s how to change the default filetypes for !Edit:
4.7
*DIR ADFS::4.$.RISC-OS.!Edit
4.7
 (or your path here)
4.7
*GOS
4.7
*L. !RUNIMAGE 8000
4.7
*BREAKSET 8004
4.7
*GO 8000
4.7
*SAVE “!RUNIMAGE” 8000+1F2C0
4.7
 8008 8000
4.7
*BASIC
4.7
*L. !RUNIMAGE 8F00
4.7
$&1B208=“ReadMe” These can be changed
4.7
$&1B214=“DataFile” to suit your needs
4.7
$&1B220=“ExecFile” with any string up
4.7
$&1B22C=“EditFile” to 10chars in
4.7
$&1B238=“!Run”        length.
4.7
*SAVE !RUNIMAGE 8F00+1F2C0 8008 8000
4.7
Rob Davison, Southland, New Zealand
4.7
•   ‘Cheapo’ dialog boxes − You can make use of Wimp_ReportError instead
of writing code for a dialog box when programming wimps. The following
code fragment is an example:
4.7
DEFPROCsave_file(name$)
4.7
IF FNfile_there(name$) THEN IF
4.7
 FNdialog(“A file of that
4.7
name exists. Overwrite it?“)=FALSE THEN ENDPROC
4.7
REM save file
4.7
ENDPROC
4.7

4.7
DEFFNdialog(str1$):!block%=1
4.7
:$(block%+4)=str1$
4.7
SYS“Wimp_ReportError”,block%,
4.7
19,“Message from
4.7
applic“ TO ,resp%
4.7
=resp%=1
4.7
where the string “Message From Application” is <20 characters in length.
4.7
The only disadvantages are that all other desktop activity is suspended,
the machine beeps (if wimpflags bit 4 is not set) and that the user has
to answer “OK” or “CANCEL” instead of the more logical “YES” or “NO”.
However, this saves a great deal of programming and can be very useful
at times (This is why FWP2 stops printing − See Archive 3.10 p 25). Rob
Davison, New Zealand.
4.7
•   Cleaning A310 keyboard contacts − I recently had a very nasty
intermittent fault on my A310. It began as a line of 222222222’s being
printed at the cursor, for no apparent reason. Also the ‘2’ key of the
numbers keypad wouldn’t function occasionally. This was accompanied by a
more worrying symptom where the screen display would suddenly go hay-
wire and only occasionally would right itself after switching the
machine off and then on.
4.7
Eventually, it was cured by cleaning the key-contact of the ‘2’ (keypad)
and on the basis of “If it works, don’t fix it”, I didn’t clean any
other keys. After having the machine checked at a local dealer (£17.50)
and some discussion with Archives’ Technical Help, it was assumed that
the screen break-up was due to CMOS *Configuration settings somehow
being changed to Monitor-Multisync, by the spurious keyboard input. The
problem has not occurred since.
4.7
For anyone else with keyboard problems, here’s how I cleaned mine: Lay
the keyboard upside-down and remove all 8 screws under the keyboard base
and gently lift off the base. Remove the 6 larger screws, securing the
PCB to the keyboard top-cover. Lift out the complete PCB and keys unit.
The keytops are all secured in a frame which is, in turn, secured by 20-
odd small screws from the PCB underside. Take them all out (and put them
somewhere safe) and, keeping the whole kaboodle together with a firm
grip, turn it over and set it down right-side up. The complete set of
keys can now be lifted slowly off the PCB, exposing the rubber contact/
covers. These are glued with a weak glue. I found that all the rubber
bits stayed stuck to the PCB. I gently peeled away the rubber contact/
cover at the offending key position and marvelled at how the dirt had
managed to penetrate so far, considering that the cover was stuck down.
The keyboard key contacts (A310) are just gold plated discs of PCB
copper, easily cleaned with switch cleaner and a non-hairy paper-towel
or cloth. If you have to blow away any bits, use a camera ‘puffer
brush’. If you have to use your mouth to blow away grit, crumbs etc,
wait for any teeny drops of condensation to evaporate. Spit doesn’t make
a good contact cleaner and some spirit-based cleaners may tend to
dissolve the pcb-surface varnish which will be smeared over the
contacts’ surface. Your local electronics hobby shop (e.g. Tandy) should
have cans of switch-cleaner at £2 − £3 (which is a lot cheaper than £120
for a new keyboard(!) and well worth the extra effort of DIY).
4.7
D.P.Allen, Surrey
4.7
•   Data cartridges for tape streamers revisited − Further to the hint in
3.6 p2, the metal variety of DAT can become unreliable after three or
four writes and so it is better to use the non-metal variety e.g.
Memorex tapes. Mr Chapman, London
4.7
•   RISC-OS printing hints − Printing out with the RISC-OS printer drivers
is very easy. However I found several areas which are not well explained
and one or two things which are down right misleading!
4.7
•   PRM pages 1526-1528 sprite plotting commands must be with reference to
the address of the sprite not the name, so if you use
4.7
SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,&122,
4.7
spriteaddr%,“name”,0
4.7
,xpos%,ypos%
4.7
then, when printing, the error “Sprite Not known” will be returned. The
solution is to use &222 and an address instead of the sprite name.
Addresses for a named sprite can be found with
4.7
SYS“OS_SpriteOp”,&118
4.7
addr is in R2 on exit − see PRM page 406.
4.7
•   PRM page 1532. Always use −1 (for current) as the destination mode
with “ColourTrans_Select-Table” if you specify a mode (even the current
one) ColourTrans will not set up the table correctly resulting in
strange looking sprites on printout.
4.7
•   When rendering Draw objects remember to decrease ‘flatness’ to a lower
value. A useful way of calculating it is to divide the default (512) by
the print resolution divided by 90 eg. flat= 512/(printxres%/90) where
printxres% might be 300 − as read from
4.7
SYS “PDriver_Info” TO,printxres%
4.7
printyres% the 90 comes from a normal approximately 90 dots per inch on
screen. Rob Davison, Southland, New Zealand
4.7
•   Saving the CMOS RAM settings − In recent editions of Archive (e.g.
4.3, p.10 and 4.5, p. 21) there have been repeated mentions of the
problem which arises when a battery failure deletes all the information
in the CMOS RAM.
4.7
There is one very simple way of solving this problem: On Careware Nº 6
you will find the application !SysUtil by Jon Marten; one of the choices
it offers is “Save Configuration”!
4.7
All you have to do is copy the Utility and the “ConfigFile” it produces
to some disc where they are easily accessible − not the hard disk!
4.7
After the dreaded memory loss you simply load !SysUtil and drag the
ConfigFile icon onto the !SysUtil icon and confirm that you want to
change the configuration. Jochen Konietzko, Koeln, Germany
4.7
•   Shutdown of hard drives − During the recent experience I have had due
to the volume of hardware I’ve been setting up and testing, the
following items have come to light.
4.7
MR45’s seemed to be suffering from corruption but, when reformatted, the
problem went away, so where did the corruption come from?
4.7
A little further investigation revealed that a verify scan caused the
Closedown procedure of the drive not to occur.
4.7
It was found that, in order to close the drive down properly, a *bye and
two ªShutdowns were required! At first, this was thought to only relate
to MR45’s but, in fact, it has been found that this is not so, and even
my own machine (A440/1 with standard Acorn hardware) does similar
things.
4.7
So, how do you know whether your hard drive is shut down properly? If an
<f12> is followed by a *bye, a staccato blip from the drive LED should
occur and a short sharp click noise should emit from the drive itself.
This is not the closedown condition.
4.7
A *shutdown will now give a flickering performance from the drive LED
and a multiple clicking from the drive lasting about half a second.This
is the shutdown condition with the heads parked and isolated from the
discs and closedown of the system can now occur. Ray Maidstone, Norwich.
4.7
•   !UIM_Hack update (cf Archive 3.10 p 9) − This utility allows you to
edit characters in The 4th Dimension’s U.I.M. game. It has now been
updated and improved by the author, David Sheperdson, and has been put
on this month’s program disc.
4.7
Impression Hints and Tips
4.7
•   Beware thin lines − It seems that Impression can’t cope with the very
thinnest lines that Draw can produce. It does not display them properly
on the screen and sometimes doesn’t print them properly. The answer is
to use 1 mm lines instead. This came to light when Brian Cowan was using
graphs generated by the graph plotting utility (on Shareware Nº 31)
which apparently uses these thin lines. (This has only been tested in
version 2.05.)
4.7
•   Double-clicking on a graphic opens the “alter graphic” window, (For
those who don’t read manuals.)
4.7
•   Help! − Does anyone know how to create a new Master Page based on an
existing master page? It’s a real pain to have to change the margins
every time you create a new master page. Why can’t you have a new master
page just slightly different from an existing one? The particular
application was where I wanted to try two, three, four, five columns
etc. for a document and every time I wanted to change the number of
columns, I had to create a new master page, changing the margins from to
the 5 mm I wanted before changing the number of columns and the inter-
column gap. (Mind you, I did find one short-cut as a result of having to
do this over and over again. If you click in the first margin box, you
can use <ctrl-U> to remove the “12.7mm”, then press <5> and then <down>
will move you to the next box and you can repeat the <ctrl-U>, <5>,
<down> for each box. This applies to most of the dialogue boxes − <down>
moves you to the next box requiring input. Yes, I know it says this in
the manual, but I didn’t see it.)
4.7
Anyway, can I put my plea another way? Is there any way of editing a
master page other than sliding the boxes around? Can you edit, by
entering numbers, the sizes of the margins, for example?
4.7
•   Search & replace again − We mentioned last month that, when doing a
find and replace, <ctrl-N> finds the Next occurrence, <ctrl-R> does a
Replace of the marked text. Be warned though that, if the find box is
on-screen, <ctrl-A> no longer deletes the character at the cursor (as
<copy> does) it forces All the replaces to occur from the cursor
downwards to the very end of the document. I found this the hard way
while attempting to do a selective search and replace at the top of a
large document. I was changing a column of words into a list by
replacing
4.7
 with a comma and a space. You can just imagine the havoc that the
“replace all” command reeked on my (unsaved!!!) document. You have been
warned! By the way, <ctrl-E>, presumably relating to Every or End, has
exactly the same effect as <ctrl-A>. (This has only been tested on
2.09.)
4.7
•   Transferring text between documents − In Archive 4.2 p.8, there was a
hint about the transfer of text between two documents. The implication
was that this was not possible with Impression. This is not true − it is
just done differently. You select the text in question, press <ctrl-C>,
move to the appropriate spot in the other document, click once and
insert the text with <ctrl-V>! Jochen Konietzko, Koeln, Germany  A
4.7

Hints and Tips
4.8
•   ARM code errata − The following is for all those who have an unshak
able faith in the integrity of Acorn’s code:
4.8
The code given to return from SWI “OS_ BreakPt” on page 736 of the PRMs
is incorrect. The following works.
4.8
.backtobreak%
4.8
   SWI “OS_EnterOS”
4.8
   ADR R14,breaksave
4.8
   LDMIA R14,{r0-r14 }^
4.8
   LDR R14,[R14,#15*4]
4.8
   ADD R14,R14,#4
4.8
   MOVS PC,R14
4.8
The code given on page 231 of the old BASIC User Guide (under CALL) is
incorrect. For example, to use MATCH, the line tokenisation routine, the
following code will work. This has been corrected in the new BASIC User
Guide.
4.8
.tokenise
4.8
   STMFD R13!,{r14 }
4.8
   ADD R0,R14,#18*4
4.8
   ADR R1,source
4.8
   ADR R2,dest
4.8
   MOV R3,#1
4.8
   MOV R4,#0
4.8
   ADR R14,cominghome
4.8
   MOV PC,R0
4.8
.cominghome
4.8
   LDMFD R13!,{pc }
4.8
.source
4.8
   EQUS STRING$(90,CHR$(0))  ALIGN
4.8
.dest
4.8
   EQUS STRING$(90,CHR$(0))  ALIGN
4.8
J Heher, South Africa
4.8
•   BASIC printing to a DeskJet Plus − The April issue of Archive
contained a Help!!! plea about printing from Archimedes BASIC to a
DeskJet 500. I have a DeskJet Plus and have successfully printed from
BASIC. For reference, my printer is normally set with the function
switches 6 and 8 in bank A and 2 in bank B up, all others are down.
4.8
To print, I use the command VDU 2,1,27,1,38, 1,107,1,49,1,71 (see Line
Termination in Appendix 8.19 of the Owner’s Manual). Here is an example
of how it can be used:
4.8
 10 REM >PrintTest
4.8
 20 VDU 2,1,27,1,38,1,107,1,49,1,71
4.8
 30 PRINT “TEST OF NORMAL PRINTING”
4.8
 40 VDU 1,27,1,38,1,100,1,49,1,68
4.8
 50 PRINT “This is underlined”
4.8
 60 VDU 1,27,1,38,100,1,64
4.8
 70 VDU 1,27,1,40,1,115,1,51,1,66
4.8
 80 PRINT “This is BOLD printing”
4.8
 90 VDU 1,27,1,40,1,115,1,48,1,66
4.8
100 VDU 1,27,1,40,1,115,1,50,1,48, 1,72
4.8
110 PRINT “This is 20 PITCH”
4.8
120 VDU 1,27,1,69 :REM reset printer
4.8
130 VDU 3
4.8
140 END
4.8
A Kitchenside, Weybridge
4.8
•   Big memory tips − As a footnote to my own article in last month’s
Archive on making best use of machines with more than 1M memory, I’d
like to add one more tip. I was reminded by a review of Protext, which
noted that the current version does not multi-task, that my eleventh tip
might have been, “boycott non multi-tasking packages”. Since, with 1M,
you couldn’t really multi-task two significant applications, this was
not a problem. Now, it’s a real pain in the neck not to be able to have
several applications with simultaneously active windows, much of the
power and ease-of-use of RISC-OS is being un-used and it’s annoying
knowing that 3M of your upgrade is being wasted!
4.8
So, unless there’s a really good reason such as a time-critical sound
sampler or video screen grabber, I suggest that we boycott such
packages. Then, software producers would have to bring them up to date
and not try to palm us off with “Arthur programs with !Run and !Boot
files”. In an ideal world, software sellers would refuse to stock them
but at least they could be marked as such, perhaps indicating their
antiquity by listing them in a suitable script? Stuart Bell, Brighton.
4.8
•   C book − I was recommended a good C book which I used on a C short
course I attended: The Waite Group’s “New C Primer Plus”, First Edition
1990, editor Howard W Sams & Co, ISBN 0−672−22687−1. It covers ANSI C,
UNIX, Microsoft C and Turbo C.   S. Stel, Netherlands.
4.8
•   ChangeFSI update − A new version of ChangeFSI v0.79 is available from
Acorn Direct for £19.95. This will handle more image formats than would
v0.69: Degas PI1, PI2 & PI3, !Translator Clear, MacPaint 579x720x1 bit/
pixel, ZSoft .PCX, Windows3 .BMP, Pineapple 16 bit/pixel, UNIX rle, PC
TGA. Unfortunately it will not run from the desktop under !ChangeFSI
(Shareware Disc 21) as is. This is because version 0.79 is 94 Kbytes
long, compared with 74K for v0.69. The solution is to edit the !Run file
of !ChangeFSI and increase the WimpSlot from 128K to 160K. All is then
well. A Quayle, Chester
4.8
•   C txt library − This idea was inspired by the article ‘Introduction to
C’ – Part 5, in Archive 3.6. This gave a complete RISC-OS application
using the libraries supplied with Release 3 of Acorn C. In particular,
it used the ‘txt’ library to provide a window to display text generated
by the sample program. This requires a minimum of effort by the
programmer since the library looks after most of the problems.
4.8
Although it works as described, it has two major disadvantages. The
first is the slow speed during text generation. The second is the
operation of the window controls. In particular, the cursor control keys
cannot be used to move the text through the window, the close icon has
no effect and the vertical scroll bars can only be dragged. Here are
some techniques which overcome these problems.
4.8
Improved text generation speed turns out to be a very simple modifi
cation since the cause of the slow operation is the redrawing of the
window for every item added to the text buffer using, for example, the
txt_insertstring function. Two extra lines are required; the first turns
off the display updates when text generation starts and the second turns
it back on when the operation is complete. The lines shown below should
be inserted immediately after the visdelay_begin() statement and
immediately before the visdelay_ end() statement in the original program
function sysvars_to_text().
4.8
/* turn off display update */
4.8
txt_setcharoptions(t, txt_DISPLAY, FALSE);
4.8

4.8
/* turn on display update */
4.8
txt_setcharoptions(t, txt_DISPLAY, TRUE);
4.8
Improving text window control requires rather more code but again the
principle is fairly straightforward. Firstly an event handler has to be
registered for the text window following its successful creation by the
txt_new() function using the following statement:
4.8
/* register the text window event handler */
4.8
txt_eventhandler(t, user_txevent, NULL);
4.8
This registers the function user_txevent which will be called to process
text window events.
4.8
The function itself has to process all the events which the user
requires. A sample function is given below which is commented to show
which events are being processed. The keyboard key macro definitions
given in ‘akbd.h’ are used for consistency but, in addition, the ‘Home’
key must also be defined using a macro as this is omitted from ‘akbd.h’.
The actual key values required are defined in the PRM, page 1198 and the
macro definitions are given in file ‘akbd.h’. Note, however, that the
definitions given for both akbd_ PageUpK and akbd_PageDownK are wrong so
I have not used these but used their correct definition in the following
code. The value txt_ EXTRACODE is added to the key value to represent
the equivalent window operation. A full list of these is given on page
325 of the ANSI C Release 3.
4.8

4.8
#include “akbd.h”
4.8

4.8
#define HOME        (30)
4.8

4.8
/***********************************
4.8
user_txevent    text window event handler
4.8
        t            text object
4.8
        h            event handle
4.8
***********************************/
4.8
void user_txevent(txt t, void *h)
4.8
{lines ; /* number of lines in window */
4.8

4.8
 h = h;
4.8
 while (txt_queue(t) > 0)
4.8
 {number of lines visible in window */
4.8
  lines = txt_visiblelinecount(t);
4.8

4.8
  /* process the next user event code */
4.8
  switch (txt_get(t))
4.8
  {+ akbd_Fn+127:
4.8
    /* close window icon */
4.8
    txt_hide(t);
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   case akbd_UpK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_UpK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_Sh + akbd_Ctl + akbd_UpK:
4.8
    /* scroll up one line */
4.8
    txt_movevertical(t, –1, TRUE);
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   case akbd_DownK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_DownK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_Sh + akbd_Ctl + akbd_DownK:
4.8
    /* scroll down one line */
4.8
    txt_movevertical(t, 1, TRUE);
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   case akbd_Sh + akbd_UpK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_Sh + akbd_UpK:
4.8
    /* scroll up one page */
4.8
    txt_movevertical(t, -lines, FALSE);
4.8
    break;
4.8
   case akbd_Sh + akbd_DownK:
4.8
   case txt_EXTRACODE + akbd_Sh + akbd_DownK:
4.8
    /* scroll down one page */
4.8
    txt_movevertical(t, lines, FALSE);
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   case akbd_Ctl + akbd_UpK:
4.8
   case HOME:
4.8
    /* move to start of text */
4.8
    txt_setdot(t, 0);
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   case akbd_Ctl + akbd_DownK:
4.8
   case akbd_Sh + akbd_CopyK:
4.8
    /* move to end of text */
4.8
    txt_setdot(t, txt_size(t));
4.8
    break;
4.8

4.8
   default:
4.8
    break;
4.8
  }
4.8
 }
4.8
 return;
4.8
}
4.8
David Scott, Stockport
4.8
•   Connection problems − If you are having connection problems with RS423
connectors, or video or printer − or a dongle, it may be because the
plugs are not ‘going home’ properly into the sockets on the back of the
computer. I have noticed this particularly on A540’s, but it could also
occur on other Archimedes computers. This may be because the fixing
pillars either side of the socket are too high. The solution it to take
a pair of pliers (or a box spanner if you have a suitable sized one) and
remove each of the pillars in turn, take off the washer and screw the
pillar back in. That extra millimetre can make all the difference.
4.8
•   CPC monitor − When my multisync died on me suddenly and I was forced
to make do with what I had − a well worn Amstrad CPC green screen
monitor. In practice it was fairly easy to connect the six-pin CPC
connector to the nine-pin connector on the A3000:
4.8
   Archimedes      CPC
4.8
   1, 2 & 3   −   6
4.8
   6, 7, 8 & 9   −   5
4.8
   5   −   4
4.8
Naturally, it is impossible to use the multisync modes but it certainly
is almost as sharp a picture on the tube as on my multisync and much
cheaper. If your main interest is games I wouldn’t recommend it but for
most business uses it is perfectly all right. I guess you could get a
second hand green CPC monitor for next to nothing in the UK as many
owners have exchanged them for the new CPC monitors. Ask your local
dealer! A spare monitor could come in handy any day! Tord Eriksson,
Sweden.
4.8
•   !Edit − For what seems like an eternity I have been wrestling with the
problem of importing text from a wordprocessor (in my case View). What I
wanted to do was free the text from newline characters in order that, on
loading it into Ovation, it could be formatted to new column width, in
whatever point size, without the newline control code producing extra
linefeeds. At the same time, it should retain the carriage returns
marking the paragraphs and multi-line spacing. This way I did not lose
all the style. What follows is how I do it . It might seem obvious but
it could help someone who is as thick as me. If I have missed the point
would some kind person tell me before I go mad.
4.8
After loading your text into !Edit, go through the text ensuring that
there are double returns at the end of each paragraph and on multiple
line text like program listings or poetry.
4.8
My technique is firstly to change double returns into something which is
unlikely to appear elsewhere in the text, thus:
4.8
Press <F4> to select Find
4.8
In the Find dialogue box enter  \n\n <return>
4.8
In the Replace dialogue box enter  ZCZC<return>
4.8
Click on the Magic Character box
4.8
Click on the Go box
4.8
Click on End of File Replace
4.8
Click on Stop
4.8
Press <ctrl-up> to move the cursor to the top
4.8
Now, to replace the single returns:
4.8
Press <F4> to select Find
4.8
In the Find dialogue box enter  \n <return>
4.8
In the Replace dialogue box press <space>
4.8
Click on Go
4.8
Click on End of File Replace
4.8
Click on Stop
4.8
Press <ctrl-up>
4.8
Then, to restore the double returns to single ones:
4.8
Press <F4> to select Find
4.8
In the Find dialogue box enter  ZCZC<return>
4.8
In the Replace dialogue box enter \n <return>
4.8
Click on Go
4.8
Click on End of File replace
4.8
Click on Stop
4.8
You should have your text with the paragraph and multi-line spacing
intact. (Simplified from a hint sent in by R Follett, Winnersh, Berks.)
4.8
•   Improving sound quality − Further to the comments by Jeremy Mears
(Archive 4.7 p 21) there is no need, on the A3000, to actually solder to
the motherboard. You can make contact to the appropriate resistors using
micro test clips (Tandy − £1.50 for four). This would, I suppose, still
invalidate the warranty but is less obvious than blobs of solder on the
p.c.b.! To get access to the resistors, you have to remove the disc
drive by unscrewing it from underneath. R86 is under the keyboard side
of the drive whereas R99 is under the middle of the drive. Pin 1 of the
expansion port is the furthest right (looking from the keyboard side of
the computer). Gerald Williams, Aldershot.
4.8
•   Multiple height and width text printing − I know that the emphasis
these days is on programs which multi-task and use mode 12 on the
desktop but not every program is suitable for this and some of these
programs require larger than usual height characters.
4.8
I am (slowly) developing a word game for the Archimedes, from one I
wrote last year on my Model B. The “B” version uses mode 2, with double
height routines written in machine code for speed. The original version
of this code was quite “illegal” and would not work on a Master but it
was fast! With it, I could also have text printed 3 or even 4 times
normal height just as quickly. However, I am new to the Archimedes and
ARM code is currently beyond me, so after trying various routines in
BASIC I came across VDU23,17,7. This gives characters at any height and
any width and is very fast! I can even get half width which gives the
impression of mode 1 characters in mode 2. Also, it works in most Screen
modes (except 3, 6 & 7).
4.8
I’ve put together a short routine which demonstrates how easy and fast
this routine is. To use it, all you have to do is append the PROCedure
to your program and call it with the colour you wish it to appear in,
the X & Y positions, the height and width of the characters and the
Text$ − the routine will do the rest! One point to bear in mind,
however, is that text is printed using the graphic cursor, i.e. under
VDU 5 and MOVE or PLOT, rather than the text cursor and VDU 31, X%,Y%.
4.8
Even though this demonstration program is about 20 lines long, the only
bits you need are in PROCtext(colour, X_co_ord, Y_co_ord, Height, Width,
Text$). The function FNvdu simply returns the text width of the screen
mode window in use and this is used to check if lines are too long in
the first line of PROCtext. The second line in PROCtext is personal as I
like being able to centralise text without effort! To do so, just set X%
to -1. The %110 sets bits 1 and 2 so that both characters and spacing
are altered at the same time. %100 sets spacing, while %010 will alter
just character sizes. It is also possible to use 0.5 as Height or Width
but that works better in “chunky” modes, like 2 rather than 12. When the
width is set to an odd number, the “auto-centralising” is sometimes a
little off so you may prefer to set up the X co-ord manually.
4.8
REM >$.Height/Wid.!RunImage
4.8
:
4.8
DIM block% 12, output% 12
4.8
MODE12:COLOUR3
4.8
:
4.8
PROCtext(1,-1,1,2,3,“Multi Height & Width!”)
4.8
PROCtext(2,-1,4,2,1,“Double Height, Normal Width”)
4.8
PROCtext(3,-1,7,1,2,“Normal Height, Double Width”)
4.8
PROCtext(4,-1,10,3,3,“3 * 3 Format”)
4.8
PROCtext(5,-1,15,4,1,“Ridiculous! 4 X 1 !!”)
4.8
PROCtext(6,-1,20,1,1,“You should reset the height & width
4.8
 before finishing”)
4.8
PROCtext(6,-1,21,1,1,“but as it stands the PROCedure will
4.8
do this anyway”)
4.8
END
4.8
:
4.8
DEFPROCtext(C%,X%,Y%,H,W,T$)
4.8
F%=FNvdu
4.8
IF F%-(LENT$*W)<=0 THEN ERROR 300,“Line too long”
4.8
GCOL C%
4.8
Y%=1000-(Y%*32)
4.8
IF X%=-1 THEN X%=(F%-LENT$*2)/(W*2)
4.8
IF W=1 THEN X%=(F%-LENT$)/4
4.8
X%=X%*32
4.8
VDU 23,17,7,%110,W*8;H*8;0;
4.8
VDU 5,25,4,X%;Y%;
4.8
PRINT T$
4.8
VDU 4,23,17,7,%110,8;8;0;
4.8
ENDPROC
4.8
:
4.8
DEF FNvdu
4.8
!block%=256
4.8
block%!4=-1
4.8
SYS“OS_ReadVduVariables”,block%,
4.8
output%
4.8
=!output%
4.8
•   Off screen desktop windows − Normally, the filer and switcher windows
are forced to stay within the confines of the screen but, by altering
their template files, it is possible to make them move ‘off screen’ and
thus help to reduce window ‘clutter’.
4.8
To do this, you have to copy the window templates from the DeskFS to a
directory called Templates. First, create a directory called Templates
in the root directory of your harddisc or ‘workdisc’ and then type the
following:
4.8
*deskfs
4.8
*copy templates.filer  scsifs::scsidisc4.$.templates.filer
4.8
*copy templates.switcher  scsifs::scsidisc4.$.templates.filer
4.8
(You can also copy netfiler, palette and wimp windows across if
required.)
4.8
Load the window template data into !FormEd (Shareware Disc 20) and set
the ‘no bounds’ option for each window. Then, edit your disc !boot file
to include the following line:
4.8
Set Wimp$Path scsifs::scsidisc4.
4.8
(or whatever your system is!) Don’t forget the full stop at the end.
This points Wimp$Path in the direction of the updated windows.
4.8
Finally re-boot your machine to see the result!  M Roscoe, Ealing
4.8
•   PrinterDM with the Star LC24−10 − I was interested to see the note on
!PrinterDM and the LC24-10 in March’s edition of Archive. May I draw
your attention to the “Hint and Tip” which I had published in the March
edition of Risc User on the same subject but concerning a different
problem. I was initially disappointed in the results I obtained with
Impression Junior (and from the Ovation test disc and, to a lesser
extent, !Draw printouts). This was due to some lines of text having a
marked “slewed” effect. After speaking to Star, and much sleuthing, I
tracked down the problem to the very same line in the PrData file of
!PrinterDM (version 1.12). There is apparently some incompatibility
between the Star and the Epson LQ800. The former does not like the “zero
absolute tab” command used to obtain the CR without LF. The solution was
to substitute the commands used in the FX80 module, although modified to
use the correct line feed command for 24 pin printers. With my version
of !PrinterDM I have not experienced any squashed text with the 24/180
inch feed (could the writer have been in IBM mode where the command
gives n/216 inches rather than n/180 inches?) but the bigger feed
suggested in March’s tip could equally well be used. The modified line
is as follows:
4.8
line_epilogue “<27>A<0><13><27>2<27>J<24>”
4.8
I’m surprised that this matter has not previously been commented on,
especially as I think it also applies to the XB24-10.  A.F. Taylor,
Poole
4.8
•   Quattro to Schema transfer − To move data files from Quattro, first
save the file with a WKI extension. Then you can use Schema’s !sch123 to
translate the file into Schema format. This method leaves all sorts of
spurious bits and pieces which have to be edited out by hand but it does
work.  M Green, Devon
4.8
•   Quitting First Word Plus − If you quit First Word Plus (release 2)
from the task manager while a text file is loaded, you will be thrown
out of the desktop. If other applications are running that may object
e.g. Draw, Paint, etc, they will announce what is about to happen and
give you a chance to prevent it. Otherwise you will lose any files that
you may have been working on in First Word Plus.     R Bunnett,
Swanley
4.8
•   Reading disc names − For those software writers who need to check that
the user has inserted an appropriate disc in the disc drive the
following function returns the name if the disc currently inserted:
4.8
DIM block% 5
4.8
:
4.8
DEF FNdiscname
4.8
SYS “OS_GBPB”,5,,block%
4.8
?(block%+?block% +1)=13
4.8
=$(block%+1)
4.8
M Sawle, Hampshire
4.8
•   !Schema VAT rate − New spreadsheets are created with various user
names available, one of which is “Vat”. To change this from 0.15 to
0.175, look in the !Schema directory and then in the Menu directory and
you should find a file called StartUp. This has a write-lock on it so
you will have to use ‘Access’ off the filer menu to enable it to be
changed. At the end of this file are a number of lines that start with
‘putusn’, the first of which is the Vat rate which simply needs to be
changed before the file is again saved and the write-lock access
restored. Ian Hamilton, Harrow.
4.8
•   Spaced filenames − If you want a <space> in a disc or file name, use a
hard space. This is available by pressing either <alt><1><6><0> or
<alt><space>. You should note that if you do use it then you can’t use
the copy key on a catalogue because the Archimedes thinks that the
character is a normal space (which is illegal in a filename). E Hughes,
Derbyshire
4.8
•   Twin World cheats − The file SavedGame can be edited using !Edit to
cheat. Byte values of interest include:
4.8
Byte 1 = Level (Maximum = 22 = &16)
4.8
Byte 4 = Red Spells (Maximum 99 = &63)
4.8
Byte 5 = Blue Spells (Maximum 99 = &63)
4.8
Byte 6 = Green Spells (Maximum 99 = &63)
4.8
Bytes 8-11 = Score, low byte first. (Maximum = 999999 = &F423F )
4.8
Byte 12 = Lives (Maximum = 9 or 10 = &9 or &0A)
4.8
Remember all value are in hex, so use the magic character option in
!Edit’s Find.  Stuart Turgis
4.8
•   TwinWorld hints
4.8
− Owls in the forest can be killed by jumping up and firing.
4.8
− Similarly, on some occasions you will have to jump, but fire on the
way down to hit denizens close to you.
4.8
− Jump between worlds whenever possible − if you loose a life, you’re
taken back to the last time you changed worlds.
4.8
− Stamping your feet can reveal objects − either treasure or keys.
4.8
− Beware of calling the genie when you are already carrying two other
sorts of objects (remember the horn is one), because you won’t be able
to buy an object which you don’t already hold.
4.8
− Beware when shooting the three-headed dragon. If you don’t shoot the
head furthest away from you, it flies away from you and fires an almost
continuous salvo.
4.8
− Watch out for extended jump − you can sometimes use it when you don’t
realise − on some screens it’s essential and you may only have a limited
amount.
4.8
− Watch out for the parachute − in the last few levels I found I
couldn’t get rid of it and it limited my objects to just two types.
4.8
− When firing at the bird − if you duck, it flies lower to avoid your
fire. Stand until the bird is fairly close, then crouch and fire.
4.8
− When the giant clam fires at you, or the Big eye, if you run so the
‘bullet’ is off the screen it will disappear.
4.8
Impression
4.8
Hints & Tips
4.8
Bruce Goatly (BG), who is busy writing a book about using Impression,
very kindly sent us some hints & tips (in return for permission to use
our H&T in his book!). Most of the rest of the H&T are from the editor’s
experiences with the unreleased version 2.09. (Version 2.10 is not ready
for release so 2.05 is still the latest officially available version.)
4.8
•   Abbreviation expansion − Use it to correct common spelling errors or
to enforce house style (I often type ‘ans’ for ‘and’ and ‘thw’ for
‘the’, and the house style for my book is ‘disk’ whereas I almost always
spell it ‘disc’). BG.
4.8
•   Date and time format − As I continually forget what day it is, I use
the Insert date option quite a lot. If you want to change the format of
the date (the default is in the form 6th April 1991), load the !Run file
into Edit and alter the definition of the variable Impression$DateFormat
(see pp. 337-339 of the User Guide, on using system variables).
Similarly, you can alter the time format by editing
Impression$TimeFormat. BG.
4.8
•   Dongle connection problems − If you are having problems with a dongle
that keeps saying it is not present and you find that you need to wiggle
it (just a little bit!) to recognise its presence, go back and read the
hint above about ‘Connection problems’. Alternatively, CC themselves
offer a hint about it. They say that it is important to quit properly
from Impression and not just do a <ctrl-break>, otherwise the dongle
might need to be left for a couple of hours for a capacitor to discharge
before Impression can be loaded again.
4.8
•   Line spacing and font changes − If a line in the middle of a paragraph
starts with a different font from the lines around it, the line spacing
may be upset for that one line because of the way Impression does its
calculations. The way round it is to put the cursor at the start of the
offending line, cancel the font change at that point and insert a ‘null’
character (such as Alt-131). This will be invisible but will correct the
line spacing. BG.
4.8
•   Loading text files − If you want to load a text file into Impression,
there is no need to create a new document first − just drag the Edit
file onto the Impression icon and it will set up an untitled document
and load the text into a null frame.
4.8
•   Marking a single character − If you are doing DTP in a lower resolu
tion screen mode, you may be finding it difficult to use the mouse to
drag-mark a single character e.g. the ‘l’ in ‘will’. One way of doing it
is to move the cursor between two of the characters, click <select> but
firmly hold the mouse in place. Then you use the cursor left or right,
as appropriate, to move the cursor to the other side of the character to
be marked and finally press <adjust>. George Foot, Oxted.
4.8
My method of doing any of this kind of detailed work is to have two
windows open on the same document − which is extremely easy to do
(another advantage over PageMaker!) − one shows the full page and one
just an enlarged section of the text. Then you can flick backwards and
forwards between the two views enlarging and contracting the windows or
simply pushing them to the back when they are not wanted.
4.8
(However, have you noticed that Impression sometimes insists on going
back to the beginning of the document when you expand and contract the
window using the size switch icon in the top right hand corner of the
window? Has anyone worked out why it happens and, more importantly, how
to stop it?)
4.8
•   Special characters − The list in Appendix 5 of the Impression II
manual gives a printout of all the characters. This is useful, but there
is some variation from one typeface to another, so it would be useful to
have an Impression file of it so that you could print it out in your
particular typeface. I’ll put a file of it on the monthly program disc,
but if you want to do it yourself, you can run the following program and
put the text into a multi-column Impression document.
4.8
10 REM > CHARLISTER
4.8
20 *SPOOL CHARS
4.8
30 @%=2
4.8
40 FOR N% = 32 TO 255
4.8
50 PRINT N%;CHR$(9);
4.8
“{”“heading”“on }{” ;CHR$(N%); “}”
4.8
60 NEXT
4.8
70 *SPOOL
4.8
•   Spell-checking − Not really a hint, but I was using the spelling
checker and it offered me the word “faltness” and told me that
“flatness” was wrongly spelled. Also, while spell-checking, someone had
written “Beebugs’ policy”. The spelling checker knows Beebug but can you
guess what it offered me as an alternative for the accidental plural?
Yes, that’s right, “Bedbugs”! On the same theme, I spell-checked my
Factfile and came up with Motley Electronics, Mike Leecher of EMU Ltd,
ARM3’s from Aloof One and IDLE drives from Ian Copycats. Then I tried
some of our contributors and found Brain Cowman, Dim Parkland and last,
but not least, Pall Beggarly.
4.8
•   Tickets please! − (The following saga gives, firstly, an unnecessarily
long method of doing a job but one which illustrates techniques which
might prove useful in other circumstances. It is followed by the easier,
smarter method!) I wanted to make some numbered tickets at A6 size so I
made up an A4 page with four copies of the ticket. I used a two column
master page so that I could just take a copy of the text on the page and
paste it 14 times to make my 60 tickets. Near the bottom of each ticket,
it said, “Ticket number: ” with an appropriate blank space. Then I
created four guide frames on the master page at about the right place to
put in the ticket numbers and inserted four new frames on each page. I
then went through linking all the frames together. To create the text
for the numbers, I used PipeDream using the “row” command and copying it
down 60 rows. I then “saved” this in tab format straight into the first
ticket number frame and, instantly, all the tickets were numbered.
Brilliant! The only real hassle was lining up the ticket number boxes
with the words on the ticket. The problem is that although you can have
both the text and the master page on screen at the same time and at the
same magnification (which helps), the main page is not updated until the
master page is closed so I changed the “preferences” to make the master
page come up at the right magnification.
4.8
(A similar technique of linked frames is used for the running heads on
the magazine − i.e. the articles’ names at top outside corners of the
pages. The dummy Archive, before articles are inserted, has a whole
string of 60 “X”s, one on each page, alternately left and right aligned.
Then, when an article has been inserted, the running heads are altered
using selective search and replace to change, for example, “X” into
“Hints & Tips”. This is easier than using copy and paste because it
preserves the left and right alignment. But I digress... let me get back
to the tickets...)
4.8
Then I suddenly realised the easy way of doing it.... Create the ticket
at full A4 size on the master page using “Ticket number: ” and then
inserting the page number. (Use <menu> − Misc − Insert − Current page
number − Numeric.) Then, all you do is to add 59 pages (click on “Insert
new page” with <adjust>, not <select> so that the menu option stays on
the screen) and use “Fit lots” on the “Print” dialogue box reducing the
scale to 50%. If you find that it still says, “Fit lots (1)” at 50% and
you have to go down to about 48% before it goes to (4), click on
“Setup...” and select the option to “Ignore page boundary”. If you don’t
do this but print out at 48%, you will find that the margins are
unequal. This is a much quicker way of doing it than the previous method
and also gives the possibility of deciding that you want the tickets
smaller after all so you just reduce the scale and, perhaps, change to
sideways printing.
4.8
•   Widows & orphans − This is the technical term for where you get a
paragraph split so that a single line is on one page (or column) and the
rest is on the previous or next. If the first line is split off from the
rest, the solution is fairly obvious − use <ctrl-G> at the beginning of
the paragraph to push the line onto the next column. The odd line at the
end of a paragraph is less easy. If the text is left justified, you can
again use <ctrl-G> to push one more line to the next column to join the
lonely orphan. However, if you subsequently edit the paragraph so that
the layout of the lines changes, you have to edit out the <ctrl-G>.
Also, this doesn’t work at all if you are using full justification
because the <ctrl-G> causes the justification on the last line of the
column to be lost and it looks like the end of a paragraph without a
full stop. The only solution I can find is to create a new frame with
<ctrl-I> and lay it over the last line of the column. This forces that
line over to the next column without losing the justification.
4.8
SCSI Hints & Tips
4.8
•   Removable drive problems − We are beginning to understand more about
the problems with removable drives. Let me explain... SCSI drives are
intelligent and they keep their own record of any duff sectors. However,
this record is not available to the user. If you tell the computer to
“format” the disc, it deliberately ignores any sectors it already knows
are duff. If you get a “soft error” i.e. where the data gets corrupted
so that the CRC check shows up an error, reformatting will clear the
problem. However, if the disc surface is actually damaged, it may be
that reformatting clears the problem temporarily but, with time, the
problem may reappear and you will get the dreaded “Disc error 10 at... ”
or whatever. The solution to this is to use the *DEFECT command provided
by RISC-OS. If you get an error, *VERIFY the disc, note the addresses
which are thrown up as either suspect or actually having a disc error,
say, 7CEC00, 7CEE00 and 7CF000 and then type in
4.8
*DEFECT SCSI::5 7CEC00
4.8
*DEFECT SCSI::5 7CEE00
4.8
*DEFECT SCSI::5 7CF000
4.8
where SCSI::5 is the drive definition. It is worth recording these
addresses in case you need to format the disc again in the future. You
then need to enter the *DEFECT commands again. If *DEFECT finds that you
are trying to map out a sector that is allocated to a file or directory,
it will tell you so, in which case, you will have to copy the file or
directory and delete the one which it says is in the way.
4.8
Obviously, it is better if you can avoid getting hard errors in the
first place so, just as a reminder, (1) always dismount the drive
properly before switching off the power and (2) keep your drive cool by
not packing other hardware around it.
4.8
•   Removable drive problems (Part 2) − Surely there can’t be any MORE
problems with the removable drives − they really won’t be worth selling.
Yes, there are more problems but, yes, I still think they are worth
selling. If you try to use the MR45’s or the Atomwide equivalent on an
Acorn SCSI podule or on a TechnoSCSI (I have not tried any others), you
will find that occasionally they just hang up − usually when copying a
sequence of files. It is a timing problem which Acorn say they will look
into but they are not too optimistic. They say that Syquest, who make
the drive mechanisms, have interpreted the SCSI standards in a different
way from other drive manufacturers. The Acorn engineers have tried to
modify their software to accommodate Syquest’s idiosyncrasies but
although they have managed to make a version of their software that will
work when copying lots of files, they find that it does not format the
cartridges properly! It is not beyond the bounds of possibility to get
SCSI software to work on the Syquest drives − both Oak and Lingenuity
have done it successfully but, as yet, there is no satisfactory way of
running them on Acorn or TechnoSCSI cards.
4.8
I should say to A540 owners, that, although I am using a Syquest
removable drive on my A540, I am doing so on an Oak podule. I made the
change (before I realised there was any problem) purely on the basis
that (1) the Oak software is the easiest to use on the MR45’s because of
the ease of dismounting and re-mounting discs and (2) it is the fastest
that I have tried. (I have not yet tried the offerings from HCCS or The
Serial Port but unless they have specifically tailored their software
for the Syquest mechanisms, I doubt that they will work.)
4.8
•   SCSI land speed record − Oak are claiming an Archimedes drive speed
record. Their 300M HS drive, on an A440 with a 20MHz ARM3, runs at 1939
/ 1761 / 1043  Kbytes/sec in modes 0, 15 and 21 respectively. Can anyone
beat that?  A
4.8

Hints and Tips
4.9
•   Beware spaces − There is a problem with spaces at the end of OS
variables:
4.9
If you include in a !Run file code such as the following:
4.9
Set ThisApp$Dir <Obey$Dir>
4.9
Run <ThisApp$Dir>.!RunImage
4.9
then beware that you don’t include a space at the end of the first line!
If you do, the space will be included in the definition of ThisApp$Dir
and the second line will cause a “Bad File Name” error. Hugh Eagle.
4.9
•   PC emulator with an ARM3 − The default boot-up process for the ARM3
performs an RMClear command, killing all RAM resident modules including,
in particular, the module that drives the ARM3. So, in order, to get the
PC emulator to take advantage of the ARM3‘s extra speed you need to
alter the line in !PC.Genboot.!Config immediately after the one that
reads “Perform RMClear?” from “Y” to “N”! (Thanks to Martin Coulson of
Atomwide for this advice.) Hugh Eagle
4.9
•   Printer tips − You can alter the halftone density by editing the
PrData file within your printer driver (see Archive 4.6 for an example
of how to find this). For instance, PrinterLJ has lines such as:
4.9
pxres_halftone:300/8
4.9
pyres_halftone:300/8
4.9
so each halftone dot is actually formed of a matrix of 8x8 dots, giving
a halftone density of 300/8=37.5 dpi. This gives a very coarse effect
but can produce 65 different grey levels. Altering the lines to:
4.9
pxres_halftone:300/6
4.9
pyres_halftone:300/6
4.9
gives “only” 37 grey levels and a dot pitch of 50 dpi. Experiment to see
what suits your printer best.
4.9
A word of caution. I used !Draw to produce some PCB artwork, printed it
out using !PrinterLJ on a DeskJet Plus and sent it off... Disaster! The
size was OK across the width but was 1.5% too small along the length of
the paper, as was discovered when the finished circuit boards came back.
I’d previously had no trouble using an Epson-compatible printer, so it
may be something to do with the friction feed on the HP slipping, or
perhaps a slightly thicker paper would have helped. Anyway, if your hard
copy must be accurate, then check it! Jonathan Oakley, Cambridge.
4.9
•   Printing * command output − Ever since I got my LaserDirect I have
been laboriously printing the results of *Status, *Dump, etc. by
directing the output to a file and then printing the file (while
bemoaning the loss of the <Ctrl-B>, etc. facility à la BBC). However, I
have just realised that it is easier (and much more in keeping with
Acorn’s RISC-OS standards, I am sure) to open a Task Window in !Edit,
enter the * command (which puts its output in the window) and then print
the contents of the window by “saving” to the printer driver icon. In
other words, click <menu> on the !Edit icon on the icon bar and use
Create − New Task window. This presents you with a new window with a *
ready for a command. Type in the command whose output you want listing,
say, *STATUS. When the listing has finished, click on the window with
<menu> and go Edit − Save and drop the text file produced onto your
printer icon. Easy! (Then close the window, answering ‘Yes’ to ‘Kill and
close’.) Hugh Eagle
4.9
•   Printing via a RISC-OS printer driver from a BASIC program − Have you
ever wondered why your computer has a button called “Print” that doesn’t
seem to do anything of the sort?
4.9
At last, applications seem to be appearing that recognise that pressing
the <Print> key is rather an intuitive way of printing (Impression and
Poster are two examples). Also, I have discovered that RISC-OS printer
drivers are not nearly as fearsome as the PRM makes them seem and it is
actually quite easy to incorporate into your own program’s printing
routines which are activated by ... wait for it ... the <Print> key.
Amazing!
4.9
Take the Painting application from the original Arthurian Welcome disc,
for instance. We still use this in my family because it is so simple,
but it has always (incredibly) lacked a printing facility. To rectify
this, proceed as follows:
4.9
Put this line near the beginning of the program (e.g. immediately after
PROCdesktop (at about line 200):
4.9
 PROCPrintSetup(110000)
4.9
Note: 110,000 bytes is big enough to allow the program to run in mode
20. 55,000 would be enough for mode 12.
4.9
Put this line in the WimpPoll loop (e.g. immediately after the ENDCASE
statement at around line 400):
4.9
IF INKEY-33 THEN PROCPrint(162,232,1274,972)
4.9
Note: INKEY-33 is the crucial function that recognises whether the
<Print> key is being pressed.
4.9
Finally, put these procedures at the end of the program:
4.9
DEF PROCPrintSetup(SpriteAreaSize%)
4.9
DIM SpriteArea% SpriteAreaSize%
4.9
!SpriteArea%=SpriteAreaSize%
4.9
SpriteArea%!8=16
4.9
SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,9+256,SpriteArea%
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9

4.9
DEF PROCPrint(X1%,Y1%,X2%,Y2%)
4.9
SYS “Hourglass_On”
4.9
PrintHandle%=OPENOUT(“printer:”)
4.9
SYS “PDriver_SelectJob”,PrintHandle% ,0 TO Old%
4.9
ON ERROR LOCAL PROCPrintError
4.9

4.9
MOVE X1%,Y1%:MOVE X2%,Y2%
4.9
SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,14+256, SpriteArea%,“TempSprite”,1 : REM Get sprite
4.9

4.9
DIM RectBlock% 15,Transform% 15,PrintPosition% 7
4.9
RectID%=1
4.9
BackCol%=&FFFFFF00:REM set background colour to white
4.9

4.9
REM X1%, Y1%, etc. are the screen coordinates of the area
4.9
to be printed
4.9
!RectBlock%=X1%:RectBlock%!4=Y1%
4.9
RectBlock%!8=X2%:RectBlock%!12=Y2%
4.9

4.9
REM No scaling or rotation required
4.9
!Transform%=&10000:Transform%!4=0
4.9
Transform%!8=0:Transform%!12=&10000
4.9

4.9
REM Put the bottom LH corner 1.5“ REM from the left AND 5” from the
4.9
REM bottom of the page
4.9
!PrintPosition%=1.5*72000
4.9
PrintPosition%!4=5*72000
4.9

4.9
SYS “PDriver_GiveRectangle”,RectID%, RectBlock%,Transform%,
PrintPosition%,BackCol%
4.9
SYS “PDriver_DrawPage”,1,RectBlock%, 0,0 TO More%,,RectID%
4.9
WHILE More%
4.9
  SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,34+256
4.9
,SpriteArea%,“TempSprite”
4.9
,X1%,Y1%,0
4.9
  SYS “PDriver_GetRectangle”,, RectBlock% TO More%,,RectID%
4.9
ENDWHILE
4.9
SYS “PDriver_EndJob”,PrintHandle%
4.9
SYS “Hourglass_Smash”
4.9
CLOSE#(PrintHandle%)
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9

4.9
DEF PROCPrintError
4.9
SYS “PDriver_Abort”,PrintHandle%
4.9
SYS “Hourglass_Smash”
4.9
CLOSE#(PrintHandle%)
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9
Hugh Eagle
4.9
•   Running one application from inside another If you’ve ever been
puzzled by odd behaviour when you try to run one application from inside
another, the following advice from Mark Neves of Computer Concepts’
Technical Support Department may help.
4.9
My particular problem arose when I tried to make sure that a printer
driver was loaded by running !PrinterXX from within application A’s !Run
file. The result was that application A failed to run and when I quit
!PrinterXX, an error was reported.
4.9
The answer is that when you run a “sibling task” from another appli
cation’s run file the sibling “takes over the current environment” until
it terminates and only then does it return control to the parent task
(in a manner analogous to a subroutine call).
4.9
The solution is to use the command
4.9
* Desktop <sibling task name>
4.9
rather than *Run.  Hugh Eagle
4.9
•   “Saving” data from one application to another − (This is another of
those “obvious to those who know it” hints.) If you want to transfer
data (e.g. text or a sprite or a drawn object) from one RISC-OS
application to another you don’t have to save it on a disc from
application A and then load it into application B; all you have to do is
drag the icon from application A’s “Save” box (i.e. the window that
appears when you choose a Save menu option) into application B’s window.
4.9
This works with all well behaved (“RISC-OS compliant”) applications,
e.g. !Edit, !Draw, Impression, !Paint, !Poster, etc. and generally works
for either the whole contents of a window or for selected items. Hugh
Eagle
4.9
•   Sprite plotting and colour translation − The ColourTrans section of
the PRM (pages 1399 to 1424) includes references to a number of SWI’s
(including, in particular, ColourTrans_SelectTable) which have to be
called with R1 pointing to the “source palette”. Since, according to PRM
pages 390−391, a sprite’s palette data starts 44 bytes after the
beginning of the sprite, it seems clear that, in order to translate a
sprite’s palette you simply call the ColourTrans SWI with
SpritePointer%+44 in R1, doesn’t it? Wrong!!!
4.9
In fact, the palette data in a sprite appears to include 8 bytes for
each colour with the second 4 bytes duplicating the first 4 (does anyone
know why this is?) whereas ColourTrans expects only 4 bytes per colour.
4.9
So, before you can translate a sprite’s colours, you need to include
some code on the following lines:−
4.9
PaletteLength%=SpritePointer%!32−44
4.9
IF PaletteLength%=0 THEN
4.9
 PalettePointer%=0
4.9
ELSE
4.9
 FOR I%=0 TO PaletteLength%-8 STEP 8
4.9
  Palette%!(I%/2) = SpritePointer%!(I%+44)
4.9
 NEXT
4.9
 PalettePointer%=Palette%
4.9
ENDIF
4.9
Note: The palette data, if any, starts 44 bytes after the beginning of
the sprite. SpritePointer%!32 contains the number of bytes from the
beginning of the sprite to the start of the actual sprite pixel data. If
this equals 44, there is no palette.
4.9
The point of setting PalettePointer% to 0 if there is no palette data,
is that if the sprite has no palette then, in many cases, (especially if
the sprite is defined in a 256 colour mode) it makes sense to call
ColourTrans with R1 set to 0 since ColourTrans will then translate the
default palette for the sprite’s mode. However ...
4.9
•   Strange sprite colours − Ever since RISC-OS arrived, I’ve been puzzled
by the odd colours which have appeared when some sprites have been
plotted by various applications (including Impression, no less). I think
that, at last, I’m beginning to understand why. Consider the following
curious state of affairs:
4.9
Palette details are an optional part of the sprite data format. A lot of
sprites are created by !Paint. !Paint, by default, creates sprites
without a palette (presumably on the assumption that, having been
designed in the Desktop colour scheme, they will be used on the
Desktop.)
4.9
The PRM (page 1278) recommends that you should use the ColourTrans
module for best results when plotting or printing a sprite. However,
although ColourTrans knows how to translate from any given palette and
from the default palette for any mode, it doesn’t seem to be equipped
with any means of translating the standard desktop palette of a mode
other than the current one.
4.9
Therefore, the best that applications can do when faced with a palette-
less sprite is to tell ColourTrans to assume that the sprite was defined
in the default palette for its mode. The trouble with this is that it is
about the worst possible thing that can be done with a sprite defined to
be used on the Desktop since, for instance, colour 0 which is intended
to be white, will be translated by ColourTrans, working from the default
palette, into black! For example, even Impression reverses the colours
of its standard document icon.
4.9
So, what’s to be done? As far as I can tell:
4.9
The best advice is to make sure that every sprite has a palette. If this
isn’t possible then, for plotting sprites on the Desktop, use
Wimp_ReadPixTrans if a sprite doesn’t have a palette (this is the
routine that the Wimp manager uses for plotting sprites as icons and
seems to produce quite acceptable results on the whole) and save
ColourTrans calls for sprites that do have palettes. For example, follow
the above palette conversion routine with code something like this:
4.9
SYS “ColourTrans_SelectTable”,Mode%, PalettePointer%,-1,-1,ColTable%
4.9
IF PaletteLength%<>0 THEN
4.9
  SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,52+512,Sprites% ,SpritePointer%,200,200,
Mask%*8,Scale%,ColTable%
4.9
ELSE
4.9
  IF NumberOfColoursInSprite%<63 THEN SYS “Wimp_ReadPixTrans”, 512,
Sprites%,SpritePointer% ,,,,,ColTable%
4.9
  SYS “OS_SpriteOp”,52+512,Sprites%, SpritePointer%,200,200,
4.9
Mask%*8,Scale%,ColTable%
4.9
ENDIF
4.9
If you’re plotting to a printer, “Wimp_ReadPixTrans” doesn’t help and I
don’t think there is any straightforward, foolproof method. (It would be
possible, I think, to create a block of palette data with the RGB values
for the colours of the Desktop palette in the relevant mode and then
feed this into ColourTrans, but this would be a rather tedious process.)
Hugh Eagle
4.9
Impression Hints and Tips
4.9
•   Adding fonts by using search & replace − As a mathematics and physics
teacher, I use a lot of Greek letters and it is rather bothersome to
have to work through all those menus to reach the effect “Greek” every
time. Therefore, I use search & replace in a way which (at least in the
Impression Junior handbook) is not documented:
4.9
I type the text, using the Latin equivalents of the Greek letters (“g-
Quant” instead of “g-Quant”) then, when I have finished the text, I use
the following:
4.9
   Find: g-Quant
4.9
   Replace: g-Quant
4.9
Impression does the rest. (Many thanks to Computer Concepts for the
information!)
4.9
By the way, if you wish to find out how all the other effects are saved
in an Impression document, there is an easy way to find out: Just take a
document with lots of effects and save only the text story (“with
effects”). If you then drag the icon of the saved text story onto the
!Edit icon, the text will appear with all the effects in plain language.
 Jochen Konietzko, Koeln, Germany
4.9
(Wouldn’t it be easier to use <ctrl-F6> and edit the “Greek” style, go
down to the bottom where it says “Key short-cut”, click in the box and
press, say, <ctrl-shift-F9>, then OK it? Then when you want, say, “g-
Quant”, you type “<ctrl-shift-F9>g<ctrl-shift-F9>-Quant”.... Oh, I see,
Impression Junior doesn’t have styles. Oh well, nice try!)
4.9
•   Cutting invisible text − If you have more text in a frame than will
fit, you get the little red arrow which indicates that some of the text
is invisible. You could obviously create a new frame, click on the over-
full frame and then click <adjust> on the new frame but there may still
be too much for that frame. So, is there any way of marking the
invisible text so that you can cut it or copy it? The answer is that you
simply use <ctrl-down> to move the cursor to the (invisible) bottom of
the text the click <adjust> to indicate the upper limit of the area to
be marked. Ed.
4.9
•   Handy hint − If you use the ‘hand’ to move up or down through a long
document, you are not limited in your movements to the visible page. In
other words, if you keep moving the mouse up and up (by repeatedly
lifting the mouse off the table) or down and down, you just keep moving
through the document in the desired direction. (This is particularly
useful if you are a trackerball user!) Ed.
4.9
•   Importing text files into Impression − In the new version of Impres
sion which CC have just sent me (version 2.11), I have discovered an
exciting new concept in the Archimedes world − “the Return Stripper”!!
4.9
In the Extensions directory is a new loader module called “LoadReturn”
which at last seems to deal satisfactorily with the importing of text
files. Using this, I no longer have to load the file into !Edit then
change linefeeds into carriage returns before importing. Nor do I have
to suffer fixed line lengths in the imported text.
4.9
However, I do have two quibbles (some people are never satisfied!):
4.9
Double carriage returns are reduced to single returns, so spaces between
paragraphs are eliminated (unless you change the style so that it leaves
such a space − which I think is good practice. Ed). I feel it would be
helpful to be able to set a “preference” to decide whether or not double
returns are preserved.
4.9
Importing a text file now involves a somewhat tiresome sequence of
message windows whereby I am asked to accept or reject each of the
available loader modules in turn. I feel it would be helpful to be able
to use the “preference” facility either to define which loader is used
for which filetype or, at the very least, to determine the order in
which the various loader options are offered to me. Hugh Eagle.
4.9
(All I did was to put the LoadReturn extension into the Auto directory
in the Impression directory and now when I want files stripping, I use
!Settype (Shareware 19 or 23) to change them to Acorn data file type
(&FFD) and they are stripped automatically. Ed.)
4.9
•   Labels & Tickets − Another way of doing tickets and labels is to
define a new master page which is the right size for what you want to
create (pretty radical, eh?). “Fit lots” still works, giving you
multiple tickets per sheet, but you’re not restricted to 1% size
increments which can cause you to miss the boundaries on sticky labels,
especially where there are three or four across the page width.
(Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that? Ed. − see below.)
4.9
A similar technique works for cassette inlays. One way is to define a
single master page 101mm deep and 288mm wide, divided into columns of
16, 12, 65, 65, 65 and 65mm; this format will fit two inlays to an A4
page (assuming zero border width, which will vary between printers), but
you need to fiddle around with !FontDraw and !Draw (Or use Draw1½ − see
below. Ed) to get text on the spine of the cassette. Starting with a
page 288mm deep and 101mm wide gives you the spine text a sensible way
round, but the four “body” pages are then landscape, which you may not
want.
4.9
Another way is to split the inlay into two chapters; the spine has a
101mm wide, 28mm high master page, and the body pages are 65mm by 101mm,
or vice versa if you want landscape. Then you need to do a bit of
cutting and pasting by hand, as Impression won’t print individual pages
sideways. This is the technique I ended up by using, printing at 141%
then reducing the pasted-up result from two up on A3 back down by 70% to
A4, thus enhancing the graphics halftones from 37.5 dpi to 53.6 dpi.
I’ve included an example ... (Which we have put on the Monthly Program
Disc. Ed) Jonathan Oakley, Cambridge.
4.9
•   Labels & tickets − Ed’s version − I have played a bit with Jonathan’s
ideas and developed them a little. I tried to create some labels (like
the ones on our Shareware Discs etc which come as 24 to an A4 page) and
found that his method worked very well. I created a master page that was
70mm x 37.125mm (which is 210mm divided by 3 horizontally and 297mm
divided by 8 vertically). I set a border 3mm wide on all four sides
because the Laser Direct HiRes can print up to about 2.5mm of the edge
of the page and I wanted to have a simple line border around my labels.
I put all my text on the master page including a page number so that I
could have a serial number on the labels. I then closed the master page
and created another 23 pages for my document by using <menu> Edit −
Insert new page. I clicked 22 times with <adjust> so that the menu
stayed on screen and once with <select>. I then pressed <print> and
clicked on “Fit lots” and then “Setup...” and then “Ignore page border”.
The printout which appeared was almost right but was 1mm too far to the
right, 1mm too low at the top and the last label was even lower. (Thinks
hard.... tries various things and then....) The printout was slightly
too long so I created a slightly shorter master page − 70mm x 37.11mm. I
tried to see if there was any adjustment on the laser printer but
couldn’t find any so I went to the (new, shorter) master page, clicked
on the frame and pressed <ctrl-F10> to alter the frame. In the position
section, I simply increased X from 5 to 6 and reduced Y from 5 to 4 in
order to move the text on the page 1 mm right and 1 mm up. Bingo! Every
border on every label was almost exactly 5mm.
4.9
I also had a quick try with Jonathan’s cassette inlay printing and it is
really very easy with his first method − I cheated though by using
Draw1½ (Shareware 34). For the spine, all you do is create a new Draw1½
document, type in the text you want, change it to whatever font you are
using, press <menu> − Special − Text to path and then <menu> − Save −
Selection and drop the Draw file produced into the relevant graphics
frame in your Impression document. Then use <adjust> to drag the picture
round until it is near enough at right angles to the rest of the text
(having decided which way you want it to face) and finally press <ctrl-
F11> (Alter graphic) and set the Angle to exactly 90° or 270°. (If you
can remember which way round 90° or 270° puts it, then there’s no need
to swing it round with <adjust>.) Here is a bit of text that I have just
inserted. It must have taken me all of 45 seconds to create the frame,
type in the text, convert it and add it in! (Software to enable me to do
that on the Mac cost me hundreds of pounds a couple of years ago!)
4.9
•   “Running” an Impression document − In Alan Highet’s review of !Menon
on Shareware 38 (Archive 4.8 page 48) he mentions that it did not work
well with Impression documents since an attempt to “run” one of these
caused a second copy of Impression to appear on the icon bar.
4.9
I have observed a similar phenomenon in trying to create a front-end for
Impression which, amongst other things, opens a template document chosen
by the user. Simply *Running the document results in the loading of a
new copy of Impression regardless of whether one is already running.
4.9
So, why is it that double-clicking on an Impression document in a Filer
window will load it into an existing copy of Impression whereas
“running” it doesn’t?
4.9
Mark Neves of Computer Concepts’ Technical Support Department has kindly
explained why this happens and has pointed to a solution.
4.9
The reason is that what happens when you double click on an icon in a
Filer window is not simply that the document is “run”. First, the Filer
broadcasts a Message_DataOpen message inviting other applications to
open the document, and only if this message is returned unacknowledged
does it instigate a *Run.
4.9
The solution is a fairly simple program on the following lines:
4.9
REM >!RunImage
4.9
TaskName$=“RunImpDoc”
4.9
:
4.9
PROCSetUpWimp
4.9
DocToOpen$=FNReadOSVarVal
4.9
(“Doc$ToOpen”)
4.9
PROCPollLoop
4.9
SYS “Wimp_CloseDown”,Taskid% ,&4B534154
4.9
IF NotAcknowledged% THEN OSCLI(“Run ”+DocToOpen$)
4.9
END
4.9
:
4.9
DEF PROCPollLoop
4.9
LOCAL mask%,quit%
4.9
NotAcknowledged%=FALSE
4.9
PROCSendDataOpenMessage
4.9
mask%=0
4.9
quit%=FALSE
4.9
REPEAT
4.9
SYS “Wimp_Poll”,mask%,block% TO reason%
4.9
CASE reason% OF
4.9
WHEN 17,18 : IF block%!16=4 THEN quit%=TRUE
4.9
 REM Another task (presumably
4.9
 REM Impression) has acknowledged
4.9
 REM our request to load a file.
4.9
WHEN 19  : NotAcknowledged%=TRUE:quit%=TRUE
4.9
 REM Our request has not been acknowledged.
4.9
ENDCASE
4.9
UNTIL quit%
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9
:
4.9
DEF PROCSendDataOpenMessage
4.9
!block%=256
4.9
block%!12=0:block%!16=5:block%!20=0
4.9
block%!28=0:block%!32=0:block%!36=0
4.9
block%!40=&2000
4.9
$(block%+44)=DocToOpen$
4.9
?(block%+44+LEN(DocToOpen$))=0
4.9
SYS “Wimp_SendMessage”,18,block%,0
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9
:
4.9
DEF PROCSetUpWimp
4.9
DIM block% &1000,errblk% 256
4.9
REM Taskid%=FNWimpInit(200,TaskName$)
4.9
SYS “Wimp_Initialise”,200, &4B534154,TaskName$ TO Version%,Taskid%
4.9
ON ERROR PROCError(TaskName$)
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9
:
4.9
DEF FNReadOSVarVal(varname$)
4.9
LOCAL temp1%,temp2%,length%
4.9
DIM temp1% 100,temp2% 100
4.9
$temp2%=varname$
4.9
SYS “OS_ReadVarVal”,temp2%,temp1%, 100,0,3 TO ,,length%
4.9
temp1%?length%=13
4.9
var$=$temp1%
4.9
=var$
4.9
:
4.9
DEF PROCError(TaskName$)
4.9
!errblk%=ERR
4.9
$(errblk%+4)=REPORT$+“ at line ”+ STR$ERL
4.9
errblk%?(4+LEN$(errblk%+4))=0
4.9
SYS “Wimp_ReportError”,errblk%,1, TaskName$
4.9
SYS “Wimp_CloseDown”,Taskid%, &4B534154:END
4.9
ENDPROC
4.9
To use this program, simply set up the OS variable Doc$ToOpen with the
full pathname of the document and run the program. Hugh Eagle
4.9
•   Setting a style in an Impression frame − Question: how do I set up a
blank frame containing a predetermined style (for instance, to hold the
address of the person I am writing to, where I would like to use a
different font from the one in the body of the letter)? If I put the
cursor in the frame, then apply the style, then move the cursor
elsewhere (or save and reload the document) before bringing it back to
the address frame, and then start typing, the text comes up in the
Basestyle.
4.9
Answer: If after applying the style, I type anything (for instance a
couple of carriage returns) in the address frame then the applied style
seems to be remembered and the address frame works as intended.
4.9
Caution: if I delete the entire contents of the frame the applied style
is deleted too. So, if I want to blank the frame for reuse I have to
remember to leave a carriage return or two to preserve the style. Hugh
Eagle.
4.9
•   Typesetting − We said we would try to find companies willing to do
typesetting from Impression output. Here are two that we have found. If
you discover others, ask them to send us details of their services and
we will publish them. We are particularly interested in those that will
take Impression files as such rather than PostScript files on MS-DOS
discs.
4.9
The Type Station in Cardiff offers a full bureau service for bromide or
film. You create PostScript files and either send them by post on an MS-
DOS disc or send them c/o BT using a modem. For details, contact Elgan
Davis on 0222−229977.
4.9
Focus Print in Aberdeen can do bromides (PMT’s) from your Impression
files. Phone Alexander Bisset on 0224−592571 ext 211 (or 0224−593956
evenings).  A
4.9

Hints and Tips
4.10
•   *Count command − In Archive 4.6 p8 the hint about *Count, is only
partly right. The *Count command only counts data. This means that
directories indeed don’t contribute, but also that only the amount of
data in a file is counted. However, all files must be an integer
multiple of the block-size (1k for D and E format), and for short files
this makes a huge difference. My 46Mb hard disc has about 8Mb difference
between space used from *Free and from *Count for these reasons!
4.10
One implication of this is that when you archive a large number of small
files with !Spark you can save much more disc space than you might
expect. One thing I would suggest for hard disc users is to copy the
directory tree using *Copy :4.$ :0 T R, and then archive it, which will
compress it down to almost nothing. Think of all the time you spend
setting up the directory structure; this may be more important than
losing files, most of which you will (should?), after all, have on
floppies. As an added bonus this also gives you the location of all
applications, as these are just directories. If (perish the thought) you
have a disc crash, you can just drag the tree out of the archive and
onto a new hard disc.  Stephen Burke, Liverpool.
4.10
•   DataLoad problems? − The PRM says that if a DataLoad message isn’t
acknowledged, the sending task should delete <Wimp$Scrap> and give an
error. However, I think this is wrong. You aren’t guaranteed that the
scrap file used is, in fact, <Wimp$Scrap>. One case where this must
happen is with an application which can both load and save files of the
same type at the same time; it must not use <Wimp$Scrap> for both, or it
might get very confused! However, there might be other reasons. I
therefore think you should remember the name of the file you saved, and
delete that − you get told that it wasn’t a secure file, so this should
be safe.  Stephen Burke, Liverpool.
4.10
•   Hard Drive problems − BEWARE!!! If you have a fairly old computer − a
310 or a 440 or even a vintage 410/1 or if you are working in a dusty
environment and you are putting in a new hard drive, check/replace the
fan filter. Why? Well, drive suppliers tell us that on more than one
occasion they have had a computer where the fan filter was blocked up
with dust, the customer has installed a new drive and not changed the
filter and, as a result of the lack of airflow, the drive has suffered a
fatal head crash. So, you have been warned. (Fan filters should be
available “from your local Acorn dealer” or they can be bought from
N.C.S. as part of an “Annual Service Kit” − including a new pair of
batteries − priced £3.)
4.10
•   How long is a line? − While editing an old program which I was
converting from the BBC Master to run on the Archimedes, I came across
some features of Basic line lengths which may be of interest. The
program was originally written for the BBC-B with the longest possible
lines to save space.
4.10
On Page 16 of the ‘Basic User Guide’ issue 1 dated 1988, it says ‘A line
of Basic can contain up to 238 characters...’ but on page 386 it says
that ‘As in a Basic program, the length of a line is limited (by the
Basic Editor) to 251 characters..’. This implies that the system has two
different ideas of what the maximum line length should be, instead of
one. Unfortunately, the one it uses seems to depend on what you are
doing.
4.10
My module ARMBasicEdit (version 1 21 August 87) allows the insertion of
many more than 238 characters in a line. I can get up to 369 before
there is a warning bell, but then neither <Escape> nor <Return> nor SAVE
work until there are only the 251 characters left. Programs containing
lines of length between 239 and 251 apparently run without problems.
However, if you try editing the lines with Basic loaded, just using the
Copy key, you find that there is a warning bell after 239 characters,
(excluding the line number), not after 251.
4.10
Programs with lines longer than 239 characters can be converted to ASCII
using *SPOOL. However, when you attempt to read them back into a Basic
program using *EXEC, the lines are truncated to 239, so that the program
no longer runs. There is a warning bell but the *EXEC process does not
stop, so not allowing me to find which lines are at fault. I find this
very frustrating. The file Btest, on the monthly disc, is an example of
such a program. The file ‘CHECK240’ is a small program which reads a
file made using *SPOOL which cannot be successfully read back using
*EXEC. It lists the line numbers which are too long, allowing me to edit
them with the Basic Editor.
4.10
CHAIN“Btest” to see that it runs. Then try
4.10
*SPOOL TEMP
4.10
LIST
4.10
*SPOOL
4.10
*EXEC TEMP
4.10
CHAIN “CHECK240”
4.10
and reply “TEMP” at the prompt. Kate Crennell, Didcot.
4.10
•   Printer drivers − Further to recent tips about altering the PrData
file within the printer driver, you can also alter the title of your
preferred driver and make it the default driver on loading. For example,
the amendments to !PrinterDM in Archive 4.8 could be made to read “Star
LC24-10” by altering the line before the line “printer number:2”. The
default loading is achieved by amending the line “printer:01” to
“printer:02”. This line is found towards the end of the data file
immediately before the line “location:1”. Note that the printer number
must be padded out with a zero (0). Pressing <select> after loading the
driver will confirm if your amendments have been correctly made.  Ted
Lacey, Southampton.
4.10
•   Printing A5 on an A4 printer − If you ask the manufacturers, they say
it is not possible to put A5 paper through either the Qume (300 d.p.i.)
or the Canon (600 d.p.i.) Laser Directs − or the LBP4’s for that matter
− but it is possible. All you need is a pile of A5 sheets of scrap paper
sellotaped up into a solid block about ½“ thick (or ¾” thick for the
Canons). You put them at the back of the A4 paper tray and put the A5
paper, sideways, of course, at the front. The paper usually goes through
OK but does occasionally stick. All you have to be careful of, presum
ably, is that you don’t print on the lower half of the (A4) paper that
is not actually there. Having said that, I have been using A5 paper on
Qume’s, Canons and Mac Laserwriters for years and have occasionally left
the “A5” tray in when printing A4 without any obvious damage to the
printers.
4.10
We can now get hold of spare paper trays for Qume (£66) and Canon LBP4
(£57) and Canon LBP8 (£54)
4.10
(A possible alternative to the paper is a block of wood the same size
and thickness but I haven’t actually tried it.)
4.10
•   Psychedelic sound-to-light − Whilst playing a Tracker module, it is
possible to obtain some interesting effects on your monitor by typing
the following Basic command:
4.10
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,768,1792
4.10
The screen can be returned to normal with either a MODE command or with:
4.10
SYS “OS_UpdateMEMC”,1536,1792
4.10
Rob Swain, Kent
4.10
•   Render Bender on SCSI hard disc drives revisited − In Archive 3.11 p6,
Neil Berry explains how to use Render Bender on SCSI hard disc drives
but leaves us with the problem of how to use *KILLADFS. This can be
achieved by changing all references made to SWI ADFS_Drives (&40242) to
SWI SCSI_Drives (&403C6). i.e.
4.10
In the ‘Render’ Basic listing: change the SWI &40242 to &403C6 in line
15810
4.10
In ‘Aniroute’ Basic listing: change the SWI &40242 to &403C6 in line
6670
4.10
Atle Mjelde Bårdholt, Norway
4.10
•   Running one application inside another − The comment in Archive 4.9
page 6 seems to need some amplification. As explained on page 11 of the
May/June 1991 issue of “The Archimedean” from Computer Concepts, if you
want to run one application from inside the !Run file of another, you
should first enter the command
4.10
*Desktop Run <sibling task name>
4.10
and then repeat the *Wimpslot command from earlier in the !Run file to
ensure that there is enough memory available for the main application
before you run it.
4.10
Thus, for example, to make Impression automatically load a printer
driver whenever it is run you should edit the !Impress.!Run file by
inserting two extra lines immediately before the last so that the last
three lines read:
4.10
Desktop Run [...path...].!PrinterXX
4.10
Wimpslot −min xxxK −max xxxK
4.10
Run “<Impression$Dir>.!RunImage” %*0
4.10
The xxxK in the Wimpslot command should be exactly the same as used
earlier in the !Run file − the precise amount of memory needed will vary
from one version of Impression to another. Hugh Eagle, Horsham.
4.10
•   Sound improvements − A much improved sound, which is also more
controllable, can be obtained using the standard colour monitor supplied
with the Archimedes. A 3.5mm jack (Archimedes) to phono (monitor) cable
is required, and the speaker on the Archimedes should be turned off
using *SPEAKER OFF.  Sean Kelly, London
4.10
•   Sound voice changes − Among the (many) things that annoy me are those
professional programmers who alter your Sound Voice for their games
which otherwise claim to be “RISC-OS Compatible”. They return you to the
desktop with their Sound Modules set up as ChannelVoice 1. Not everyone
likes the WaveSynth-Beep as default voice, and as for some of the sound
modules or digitised Voice Modules which are then sounded when an error
occurs, YUK!
4.10
It is quite a simple matter to find out what ChannelVoice the user has
set up and the program could very easily, before exiting to the desktop,
restore it using the following code which is available for all program
mers to use, professional or amateur (please!).
4.10
REM Find the User’s ChannelVoice 1
4.10
SYS “Sound_AttachVoice”,1,0 to ,user_voice%
4.10

4.10
REM Because ChannelVoice 1 now equal to 0, reset
4.10
SYS “Sound_AttachVoice”,1,user_voice%
4.10
REM Rest of program, Wimp Interface, whatever
4.10
*ChannelVoice 1 Totally Fantastic Voice
4.10

4.10
REM Program at end, restore user voice
4.10
SYS“Sound_AttachVoice”,1,user_voice%
4.10
David Shepherdson
4.10
•   Toolkit Plus update − Clares’ Toolkit Plus usually produces a ‘Bad
disc address’ error when you try to edit E format floppy discs. This can
be rectified by performing the following:
4.10
1   RMLoad the Toolkit Plus module.
4.10
2   Type: *Modules <return> and take note of the ‘position’ address of the
Toolkit Plus module.
4.10
3   Use *WFIND &EF060240 <return> and ignore the first occurrence (i.e.
press <ctrl-tab> to go on to the next occurrence).
4.10
4   Locate the instruction seventeen lines down which reads BCC xxxxx.
4.10
5   Select ‘word mode’ and zero this instruction.
4.10
You should now be able to edit E format discs.
4.10
S Edwards, Wordsley
4.10
•   Toolkit Plus with SCSI − Clares’ Toolkit Plus provides a disc sector
editor, which refused to work on my SCSI hard disc. A modified Toolkit
Plus may be produced by using !Edit on the Toolkit Plus module to
replace all occurrences of ‘ADFS’ with ‘SCSI’ before saving the module
with a new name e.g. SCSITools.
4.10
A drawback is that the modified version will not cope with ADFS
floppies. Changing the module name (e.g. from ‘Toolkit+’ to ‘SCSITools’)
using !Edit allows the modified and original modules to be present at
the same time, and changing the disc edit command names allows both ADFS
and SCSI discs to be edited − for instance, !Edit could be used to
replace ‘AEDIT’ in Toolkit+ with ‘WEDIT’ in SCSITools.
4.10
Sean Kelly, London
4.10
Impression Hints and Tips
4.10
•   Abbreviations − I use abbreviations quite a lot such as “imp” for
Impression and just “r” for Archimedes but I often want to say, for
example “ ...using DrawPlus (Careware 13)...” and although “ca” and “Ca”
are both set up to expand to “Careware”, using “(ca” doesn’t work. There
is no easy way round it as far as I know − you just have to put “(ca”
into the abbreviations dictionary to expand to “(Careware”.
4.10
•   Bullets − We’ve mentioned that <ctrl-shift-H> produces a bullet but
since <backspace> (immediately below <F12> and above <\>) produces the
same ASCII code as <ctrl-H>, you will find that <shift-backspace>
produces a bullet. Touch typists may well find it somewhat more natural
than <ctrl-shift-H>.
4.10
•   Creating tables − The release notes issued with Impression II describe
the new features of version 2.12 but they do less than justice to one of
those features, namely the capacity to create tables. It is possible to
vary the width of individual columns and individual rows in a table as
well as the thickness of the vertical and horizontal lines which form
the table.
4.10
In addition, the many editing facilities of Impression can be used to
modify text which has been entered into the table so that the style and
size of the characters in any “cell” of the table can be varied as
desired.
4.10
Moreover, in the manner usual with Impression II, another frame can be
superimposed on any selected part of the table with the effect that
lines of the table can be covered and will “disappear” permitting text
of any size and nature to be introduced and adjusted to appear to be a
part of the structure of the table.
4.10
In addition to text, any of the superimposed frames can be made graphics
frames permitting illustrations to be introduced. You can use left hand
tabulation in the some columns, right hand tabulation in others and
decimal point tabulation in others.
4.10
Practical matters: First construct the empty table. Then determine which
cells will be visible in the completed table and enter text into those
cells, Finally, superimpose other frames as required. Proceeding in this
order prevents interference with tabulation.
4.10
The usual procedure will be to construct a table of this kind within a
frame of its own so that it can be moved as a whole to any desired
position within the document of which it will form a part. Therefore, on
completion of the table, the various frames of which it is composed
should be Grouped so that the table occupies a single frame. George
Foot, Oxted.  A
4.10

4.10

4.10

4.10
Oak
4.10
From 4.9 page 12
4.10

4.10
Lindis International
4.10
From 4.8 page 16
4.10

4.10
Computer Concepts
4.10
New artwork
4.10
Coming direct to you, hopefully!
4.10
If not, use old one.
4.10

4.10
Computer Concepts
4.10
New artwork
4.10
Coming direct to you, hopefully!
4.10
If not, use old one.
4.10

4.10
Graphics Galore on the Cheap!
4.10
Tord Eriksson
4.10
Reading with amazement about the latest version of Ventura Publisher Mac
that costs a cool £695 (exclusive VAT!) and so-called ‘budget’ DTP
programs for IBMs weighing in at £70 to £160, I wonder if we Archimedes
users really know how fortunate we are when it comes to good, cheap
software.
4.10
The “budget” DTP programs for IBMs can’t even word-process − you have to
use a separate editor, just as you have to do if you do some DTP with
!Draw....
4.10
Of course, the latest version of Ventura Publisher Mac can print fonts
in 23½ size instead of just 23 or 24 point size − a revolution no doubt
but one that almost all DTP and word-processors for our Archimedes
machines manage easily!
4.10
Archimedes − no master of colours!
4.10
There is a difference between modern IBMs and Mac II’s that puts all
Acorn computers at a disadvantage, even if it was once hailed as an
advance over said computers: Colours!
4.10
In terms of colour, both Mac II computers and IBMs with VGA are better
than Archimedes and the sky is the limit as there are hundreds of
graphics cards that can be bought that improve things further − 24-bit
colours are available.
4.10
RISC-OS has an upper limit of 8 bits per pixel, 256 colours − 24 bits
per pixel gives 16,777,216 different colours, quite a lot more!.
4.10
For the Archimedes range, the limitations are built-in, through RISC-OS
and the fixed hardware. (There are some improvements possible with
hardware add-ons, but nothing major).
4.10
Serious DTP is black & white!
4.10
Fortunately, colour printers are very rare in everyday printing, mainly
due to the fact that such printers are very costly and/or requires
skilled staff to attend to them.
4.10
So, for practical purposes, DTP will continue to be a mainly black &
white affair, maybe with some colour thrown in for good measure on
covers etc.
4.10
The woes of illustrating....
4.10
Being a former technical illustrator, I am painfully aware of the amount
of work needed to set text in a circular fashion as on a coin or an
official seal or make the logo on a fluttering flag look like the real
thing. Hours and hours of work, or in the case of the flag, take a photo
of the real thing and trace that with tracing paper....
4.10
If the logo is new, you can’t print it first on a flag, so you try to
make do with crinkling a piece of paper upon which you put your text or
logo and take a photo of that....
4.10
All this is now of the past, as long as your logo or text can be
transformed into a !Draw file.
4.10
First − !FontFX
4.10
Let us try an example: There used to be an oil company around this part
of the world called Caltex. Let us say we are going to do a drawing with
a flag fluttering with that name on it.
4.10
First we have the text, set in Pembroke:
4.10
To make it more interesting let’s add a shadow, with the shadow in the
north-east, and make the text itself a black outline filled with a light
grey and behind it, the dark grey shadow:
4.10

4.10

4.10

4.10
Both these operations are very easy to do with !FontFX as you just click
on the buttons needed, no previous know-how needed!
4.10
To make this flutter we have to use a couple of other utilities:
!DrawPlus (or !Draw) and DrawBender.
4.10
Warped universe
4.10
A normal picture is plotted in our brain according to the angle we watch
the picture from: If we fly above a square field the corners are right
angle corners (a so-called bird’s-eye view) and if we stand just outside
the field the angles get very odd indeed − their sum is still 360,
though!
4.10
If a square is wrapped around a cylinder things get much more compli
cated, especially when seen at an angle − an illustrator’s nightmare!
Not even all CAD programs seems to be able to solve it correctly....
4.10
Secondly − make a mould!
4.10
DrawBender manipulates !Draw files by plotting them inside each other:
Any text that is going to be manipulated has to be in !Draw format. The
coordinate system “inside” a square is still square but inside a circle
it takes on the characteristics of a text printed on a balloon like
this:
4.10

4.10

4.10

4.10

4.10
The first (the circle) is called the mould and the second (the square
inside a frame) is called the object.
4.10
Due to the way DrawBender works, a real circle couldn’t be used − it had
to be substituted it with a 32-sided polygon and it had to be flipped
over because paths have to be clockwise to work as moulds in DrawBender
whereas !Draw and !DrawPlus draw counter-clockwise − it’s all very well
explained in the DrawBender manual!
4.10
Wonderful results!
4.10
Taking the text, we put it on rectangular background, to make the
outline of the flag as the outline of the mould doesn’t show up on the
finished result:
4.10
This is now our object! A “flapping flag” is our mould:
4.10
Conclusion
4.10
As the end result shows the effect is quite stunning. This amount of
manipulation is available to IBM users of course − I could recommend
Express Publisher (£159.95) as the “low-cost” alternative!
4.10
For Archimedes users the cost is just £21, including two manuals and
lots of sample files (available from Ian Copestake Software).  A
4.10

Hints and Tips
4.11
•   Running applications − Carrying on from Hugh Eagle’s tip about running
one application from inside another, on a A310, if you only have
floppies and have, say, a DTP !Impression disc with !PrinterDM ,
!FontDraw and !DrawPlus all at the same level, you can tailor the !run
file of, say, !Impression to load other applications at the same
directory level, dependant on memory, by using the command
4.11
*desktop <obey$dir>.^.!second_
4.11
application_name
4.11
the <obey$dir> sets the filing system into the first selected appli
cation (!Impression.) and the .^. takes it back up to the level you were
at first! The next application then loads on the desktop ready for use.
Repeat the line with “!third_ application_name” and so on.  Ned Abell
4.11
•   Colour separations − Last month, there was a question from John
Oversby about a colour separation program for !Draw or sprite files. One
solution is to use DrawPlus (Careware 13), actually drawing different
colours on different “layers”. Another possible solution revolves around
the Impression Business Supplement which provides colour separation for
PostScript files. However, the ideal solution is a simple “filter”
program which takes in a !Draw file and selects all objects of a
particular colour and puts them into a new !Draw file. Does anyone know
of such a program? I would be interested in using this for producing
double-sided printed circuit boards using !Draw. It is easy to write a
Basic program to do this starting from the !Draw format as specified in
the PRM − I could even do this myself − but making it RISC-OS-ified is
another matter. Brian Cowan
4.11
Impression H & T
4.11
•   Business Supplement − Like many of you I was excited about the release
of more software for serious users of Impression II. The addition of the
mail-merge facility is particularly useful. However, I have noticed that
it suffers from a problem that early versions of Impression had. Namely,
using the * print facility causes the print to crash after the first
document with “Invalid number of output bits” in multiscan mode. The
problem is resolved by switching to mode 15. Also, beware of forgetting
to load your RISC-OS printer driver before requesting a print from
!Importer. This is because it won’t warn you that you will receive a
draft copy − and worse, you have to close everything down and start
again.
4.11
Another word of warning to those of you planning to buy the supplement
thinking that the WordStar loader will solve all your translation
problems − it doesn’t (not on my version, anyway)! If I had thought
about it, the result one gets is obvious. All the ASCII spaces that mess
up justification are stripped − but this is at the cost of losing a
space at the end of a line. Consequently, numerous words are joined
together. If you are prepared to use the spellchecker to separate the
words again the utility is fine and it does stop those messy spaces
appearing whenever you make an alteration to the text. However, it’s
still hard work!  John Brocks
4.11
•   Font usage − Is there a product or would someone like to write an
application which takes an Impression document and tells you what
fonts are required? The reason for this is that some PD software
includes documentation prepared in Impression format. This is a great
idea but sometimes strange fonts are used. If you are using Adrian
Look’s !FontDir (Shareware 36) then you need to know which fonts are
needed before Impression is booted up. Brian Cowan
4.11
That should be easy enough. If you want to do it manually, you can save
the text of an Impression document with styles and look at it in Edit.
You can search for “font  ” and look through all the references to
particular fonts as they occur in the style definitions and as effects
within the text. Mind you, that will give you the fonts that appear
within the style definitions regardless of whether those styles have
actually been used in the document. Anyone want to have a go at writing
such an application?
4.11
Is anyone interested in / able to convert between the Impression
Document Description File format and TeX? I think it should be possible
since both contain the same sort of information. This would be useful
for scientific applications where many journals accept material on disc
or by wire in TeX format. Brian Cowan
4.11
•   Labels and tickets − When I was printing video cassette labels onto a
roll of adhesive labels they were printing too far to the right. I
failed to understand that !Impression is smart and says, “right, you are
printing a document 165mm wide. I will print it 82.5mm to the right and
left of the centre line of the printer”. I have a mark on the case of my
Citizen 120D printer to align the left hand side of A4 paper, when
putting in individual sheets but I can’t centre different rolls of
labels accurately without putting several marks on the case which would
be confusing so I got round the problem by designing new master pages
that are always A4 width (210 mm) and creating a frame on that page that
is the right width for the labels and off centred to the left. I
continue to put the label roll edge to the mark.
4.11
I then had to change the !Printer DM page size to one 102mm by 210mm
wide which gives me the the right “greying” on the screen as I have
“Preferences”, “Show page borders”, switched on. This prints two perfect
sets of labels but I still get unwanted form feeds at the end of the
page! (Example supplied on monthly program disc.)  Ned Abell
4.11
•   Retaining styles − Hugh Eagles’s question about setting a style in a
blank Impression frame (Archive 4.9 p11) can be answered in terms of
‘Place holding’ in the same way as my hint on re-aligning lines starting
with a different font (Archive 4.8 page 11). Just set the style and type
a ‘null’ character in the frame (i.e. one which is not defined in the
font you are using) by using Alt and the keypad numbers. (EFF fonts are
rapidly filling up, making null characters harder to find, but try 136
or 139.) Bruce Goatly
4.11
•   Un-deleting − As you probably know, you can highlight a passage, type
over it and thereby replace it. Well, if you have second thoughts
immediately afterwards, you can restore the original by highlighting the
replacement passage and typing <ctrl-V>. This deletes the replacement
altogether rather than cutting it to the clipboard; the clipboard still
contains the original version. Bruce Goatly  A
4.11

4.11
Help!!!!
4.11
•   Mac Scanner − Does anybody know of software to use a Mac AppleScanner
with a SCSI interface on an Archimedes? Brian Cowan
4.11
•   Podule expansion − Does anyone know of an expansion box which allows
more than 4 podules to be attached to an Archimedes computer at any one
time? A G Duckett, Telford.  A
4.11

4.11



ProTips
4.11
Peter Jennings
4.11
This is a column of hints and tips for users of Protext 5. It is not
intended as a regular feature to rival PipeLine as there are probably
not yet enough users of the Archimedes version of Protext to support it.
Arnor have promised to keep me informed of developments to Protext,
particularly the eagerly awaited RISC-OS version, and I will pass the
details on in future issues of Archive, along with any hints or tips
that pioneering users of this exciting new word processor may care to
send by way of Paul Beverley.
4.11
In the meantime, here are a few hints of my own plus advice on an
irritating bug that has emerged from the software since I completed the
review in last month’s Archive.
4.11
First the bug, which has suddenly appeared after lying dormant during
three months’ constant use of Protext. It shows itself during attempts
to save a file, either manually or automatically, with two messages, one
saying that the file “PROTEXT!X” or “PROTEXT!T” cannot be found and the
other: “Error creating file”. More alarmingly, the text sometimes
disappears from the screen. Any further attempt to save brings a “File
open” message. My description of this as “irritating” may seem rather
inadequate but, in fact, it is not disastrous and can be dealt with
quite easily. When the message about PROTEXT!X appears just type “close”
at the command line, followed by “s” (for save). Your original file name
will then be offered and pressing <return> will duly save it.
4.11
Arnor have not given me any fix for this fault but have just said,
rather uncertainly: “We think we may have solved the problem in the next
version of Protext.” Let us hope they have.
4.11
Omissions
4.11
Two strange omissions from Protext, so far, are a function key strip and
an icon. If you dislike the boring default applications icon, or the
blank squares representing files, you can always design your own icons,
using !Paint. First create a directory for them, called !Sprites, inside
the main !Protext directory. Then design an application icon named
!protext and a files icon called file_cdf, with additional small
versions if wanted. Finally, add an initial line to the !Boot file:
“IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites”. If you are not sure how to create
icons there are instructions in the chapter on “Paint” in the User Guide
or you can find a set of ready-made sprites in a !Sprites directory on
this month’s program disc. You can just copy !Sprites into the !Protext
directory but do not forget to add the IconSprites line to the !Boot
file. The ready-mades have a simple “P5” design, with a border round the
files sprite, but are colourful enough to be readily identified in a
desktop directory.
4.11
A do-it-yourself function key strip is also easily made, either using a
program which provides a template or by starting from scratch with
Protext’s excellent line drawing facility. One made this way is also on
this month’s disc. It has to be printed in two sections, one below the
other, as Protext can not print down the paper in landscape form. Anyone
who has a wide-carriage printer can copy the second section beside the
first by using the Protext “box” marking facility.
4.11
Line drawing
4.11
When making a grid by line drawing, the natural way is to begin by
drawing either the horizontal lines or the outside box shape and then
adding the verticals afterwards. If you do it this way, however, you may
find the vertical lines going slightly beyond the outside boundaries. To
correct this, draw the uprights with the up or down arrow key, as
normal, but use one of the horizontal, left or right, arrow keys for the
final stroke before reaching the horizontal boundary. The line will then
turn the corner to make a neat join instead of an intersection. Corners
are drawn in the same way.
4.11
Although Protext comes with 48 printer drivers, there isn’t one for the
very popular Panasonic KX-P1081 printer, which I use. The FX80 printer
driver is suitable for it but will not print line drawings. So the
function key strip needs to have the IBM9 printer driver loaded and one
of the printer’s tiny DIP switches changed. These can be found below and
immediately to the right of the printer head when it is in its “home”
position on the extreme left. Lift up the thin strip of clear plastic
covering them and use a small screwdriver or similar implement to push
switch number one, on the extreme left, down (for off). The other
switches can probably be left as set but if you still have a problem try
putting either switch six or seven up (for on).
4.11
Hopefully, Arnor will produce a key strip and their own official icons
when the RISC-OS version of Protext finally appears.
4.11
Obvious when you know
4.11
Finally, a few brief tips of the “it’s obvious when you know” variety.
You can find your version number of Protext by pressing <escape> and
reading the bar above the command line. This also shows you the current
directory and the selected printer driver.
4.11
The “Swap” line at the top of the colour configuration menu puzzled me
for a time as it does not seem to be explained anywhere. I eventually
discovered that selecting it and pressing <return> shows the colours
used for alternate documents when more than one is loaded.
4.11
It is a good idea to lock the files of templates, such as letter
headings, to prevent them being overwritten if a document you are
working on is automatically saved with the template’s name. If, for any
reason, you cannot lock the template, load it with the command “m” for
merge instead of “l” for load. The bar at the top of the screen will
show “No file” and you will be asked for a name before the document is
saved.  A
4.11

Hints and Tips
4.12
•   Basic line lengths revisited (Archive 4.10 p7) − The Basic line input
buffer is 238 characters and so this is the most you can type in from
the Basic prompt. Once entered, this line is tokenised before being
stored as part of a program. Most of the keywords are reduced to only
one byte, so the line ends up taking up much less room in a program. The
maximum length for a line in a program is 255 bytes, but four of these
bytes have special purposes (one is a line terminator, one the line
length and two the line number). This leaves 251 bytes for the rest of
the line. So what’s the point in allowing bigger lines in the program if
you can’t type them in? Well, you can by being devious. Try typing the
following at the Basic prompt:
4.12
10E.:E.:E.: etc
4.12
until you hit the line limit and then press Return. Listing your program
now should reveal:
4.12
10ENDPROC:ENDPROC:ENDPROC: etc
4.12
up to a length of about 790 characters! This line is perfectly valid and
would run OK (although I can’t think of a program where 79 ENDPROCs in a
row would be useful!) but is much too long to edit at the Basic prompt
or in the Basic Editor. It wouldn’t be sensible for the Basic Editor to
limit you to 251 characters since, once tokenised, your line would be
much shorter, so it allows you to type up to 369 characters hoping that
tokenising will bring it back to 251. It objects if you try to type in
more than 369 characters; it also objects if you type a shorter line
which would be longer than 251 characters once tokenised (try REM
followed by 300 letters). As for solving the problem, if you have a copy
of Twin, you could try loading your Basic program into it. Twin has no
line length limit and will cope with anything. Returning to Basic will
always work provided the resulting tokenised lines would be no longer
than 251 characters. Lorcan Mongey
4.12
•   Citizen printer spare parts − You may be interested to know that you
can get spare parts for Citizen printers from XMA Ltd, Ruddington Lane,
Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7EP. (0602 −818222) Rob Brown, Tadworth,
Surrey.
4.12
•   Fatal error type = 5 − !Edit will report this error if you have too
many outline fonts in your !Fonts folder. This will prevent you from
editing any documents within !Edit. The following Basic program will
solve this problem by hiding the !Fonts folder before running !Edit and
then restoring it once !Edit has been run.
4.12
1. Rename the ‘!RunImage’ file inside the ‘!Edit’ folder as ‘EditImage’.
4.12
2. Type the following program in and then save it as ‘!RunImage’ in the
‘!Edit’ folder.
4.12
REM ><Edit$Dir>.!RunImage
4.12
SYS “Wimp_Initialise”,200,&4B534154, “EditStart” TO ,taskid%
4.12
*Set temp <Font$Prefix>
4.12
*UnSet Font$Prefix
4.12
*WimpSlot -min 160k -max 160k
4.12
*WimpSlot -min 160k
4.12
SYS “Wimp_StartTask”,“Run <Edit$Dir> .EditImage ”+FNenv_string
4.12
*Set Font$Prefix <temp>
4.12
*Unset temp
4.12
SYS “Wimp_CloseDown”,,taskid% ,&4B534154
4.12
END
4.12

4.12
DEFFNenv_string
4.12
LOCAL env$,x%
4.12
SYS “OS_GetEnv” TO env$
4.12
IF LEN(env$)<6 THEN =“”
4.12
WHILE INSTR(env$,“ ”,x%)>0
4.12
x%=INSTR(env$,“ ”,x%)+1
4.12
ENDWHILE
4.12
=RIGHT$(env$,LEN(env$)-x%+1)
4.12
•    Locating the I/O podule (a SWI number change) − Those writing code
for the I/O podule for use on different machines should note that Acorn
made a SWI number change between version 1.04 and 1.06 of the software
(use *Help Modules to find what version you have). Earlier issues of the
podule use &4043F for SWI “I/O _Podule_Hardware” whereas the later
versions use &40500. ARM code assembled on a machine with one version of
the software will not work on another machine with a different version
without changing this SWI number. Richard House, Surrey.
4.12
•   PC screen fonts − If you are not overly fond of the chunky IBM
character set in the PC emulator, the following few lines of Basic will
modify the emulator ROM file with the BBC font of your choice.
4.12
REM >PCFONT
4.12
REM Merge BBC FONT file into !PC ROM file
4.12
REM N.B. *** COPY ORIGINAL ROM FILE BEFORE RUNNING THIS ***
4.12
:
4.12
DIM rom% &2000 : offset%=&166E
4.12
R$=“:4.$.!PC.ROM”
4.12
OSCLI(“Load ”+R$+“ ”+STR$~rom%)
4.12
A%=OPENIN(R$) : r1%=EXT#A% : CLOSE#A%
4.12
:
4.12
F%=OPENIN(“4:.BBCFONTS.NEWFONT”) : REM file of type &FF7
4.12
REPEAT
4.12
A%=BGET#F%
4.12
IF A%<>23 THEN PRINT “This is not a BBC font file!” : END
4.12
C%=BGET%F%
4.12
FOR I%=0 TO 7
4.12
rom%?(offset%+((C%+128) MOD 256) *8+ I%)=BGET#F%
4.12
NEXT I%
4.12
UNTIL EOF#F%
4.12
CLOSE#F%
4.12
:
4.12
OSCLI(“Save ”+R$+“ ”STR$~rom%+ “ + ”+STR$~r1%)
4.12
END
4.12
This program has been used successfully on the ROM files supplied with
version 1.33 and the latest 1.60 (large and small) − each version stores
its VDU 23 character definitions from offset &166E onwards. Pete Bready,
Glasgow.
4.12
•   Impression Junior styles? − In the June 1991 edition of Archive, it
was pointed out that Impression Junior does not have styles. Although it
does not have styles, it does have rulers. These are intended to define
margins and tab-stops, but they can be used for other things.
4.12
If you save a text story with effects, you will see the definition of a
ruler, which looks like:
4.12

4.12
There will also be the definition of the BaseStyle, which contains a
number of additional commands. By copying some of these to the ruler
definition, you can create the equivalent of a style. As an example, a
‘style’ that changes the font of the text subject to the ruler to greek,
could be, for example:
4.12

4.12
As Impression Junior does not have the facility to create rulers with
these extensions, they must be written using an ordinary text editor
(such as !Edit) and imported into Impression where they become rulers.
4.12
The commands that I know work are:
4.12
font <font name>   − e.g. Greek, Trinity.Medium, etc
4.12
fontsize <size>pt   − 8 to 20 is reasonable
4.12
fontaspect <size>%      −
100 normal, 200 stretches to twice size
4.12
fontcolour rgb = (<n>,<n>,<n>)  − n is from 0 to 1 or 0 to 100 (both
appear to work)
4.12
linecolour rgb = (<n>,<n>,<n>)  − as above
4.12
justify [left, right, centre, full]  − full is to both margins
4.12
underline [0,1]      − other
values also work but give strange underline
4.12
strikeout [on, off]      −
writes ‘-’ over characters
4.12
script [off, sub, super]      −
sub and super-scripts
4.12
leader “<text>”      − overwrites
tab character
4.12
By using these additional commands, it is possible to generate some very
useful rulers.
4.12
Simon Callan, Borehamwood.  A
4.12

Hints and Tips
5.1
•   FileUtils − Anyone using Ben Summers’ FileUtils should note that
<ctrl-shift-F2>, <ctrl-shift-F3> and <ctrl-shift-F4> will still call up
the FileUtils routines even when, say, working in Impression. This can
give a nasty shock if you are, for example, trying to insert preset
styles using <ctrl-shift-F4> and a “change filetype” dialogue window
pops up. Mike Hobart, Cambridge.
5.1
•   Installing Desktop C − If you have recently upgraded from C to Desktop
C, you may have a little difficulty installing Desktop C onto your hard
disc. When you first try to run the ‘Install’ program, it will stop
abruptly half way through the second of the four discs, with no clues as
to what has happened. This is because the ‘Install’ program tries to
create a directory called $.User. Cmodule, which already exists from
your previous installation of C and so the program crashes. The solution
is simple, just delete the old $.User.Cmodule directory before attempt
ing to install Desktop C.   D R Kennard, London.
5.1
•   LBP-4 CaSPL − Switching between Video output (for the CC Hi-Res board)
and CaSPL output of the LBP-4 doesn’t appear to be documented in the
manual. Here is how it can be done:
5.1
From Video to CaSPL mode:
5.1
1.   Hold down “Menu” for 3 seconds until “Mode=Video” is displayed.
5.1
2.   Tap the “Menu” key once to display “Mode=CaSPL”
5.1
3.   Tap “Enter”. The LCD will read “01 Ex Exit” then “00 Ready A4”
5.1
4.   Tap the “Off-line” key to take the machine off-line (if the green
on-line indicator is lit).
5.1
5.   Tap “Feeder Select”.
5.1
6.   Tap “Menu”. The menu as described in the manual is now displayed.
5.1
From CaSPL to Video:
5.1
1.   Take the printer off-line.
5.1
2.   Hold down the “Menu” for 3 seconds − “Mode=CaSPL” is displayed.
5.1
3.   Tap “Menu” again − “Mode=Video” is displayed.
5.1
4.   Tap “Enter”.
5.1
5.   You are now back in Video mode.
5.1
Mike, Bainbridge, Derby.
5.1
Impression Hints & Tips
5.1
•   Adding a frame at beginning of a story − It is not immediately obvious
(well, it wasn’t to me!) how to add extra frames into a story that runs
through a number of frames. Suppose you have two frames, B and C (I’ll
get to A in a minute) − perhaps they are two main columns on this page −
and you want to split column B into two frames leaving a gap in the
middle. What you do is firstly shorten frame B using the frame handle at
the middle of the bottom of the frame. Then you use <ctrl-I> and create
a new frame wherever you want it under frame B (let’s call it frame B2).
Now click on frame B with <select> and then on frame B2 with <adjust>
and the text will flow into it so that it runs B−B2−C.
5.1
Now suppose you want the text to start in a frame before frame B. (Let’s
call it frame A.) The technique is to create the new frame, A, wherever
you want it using <ctrl-I>. Then click on frame B with <select> and then
on frame A with <adjust>. The text will now flow into it so that it runs
B−A−B2−C−etc. (N.B. This won’t work unless frames A and B are on the
same page because you cannot flow text backwards across a page bound
ary.) Then click on B and use <ctrl-X> to delete it. The flow is now
just A−B2−C−etc. Finally, you create a new copy of frame B by using
<ctrl-V>, click on frame A with <select> and the new B with <adjust> and
the flow will be A−B−B2−C−etc.
5.1
•   Dual window problems solved? − A few issues ago, I mentioned the
problem that if you open a second window on a document and then expand
and contract that window (so that you can alternately use two different
scale views) each time you shrink view 2 using the icon at the top right
of the window, it doesn’t stay at the place in the document that you
have just been working on. It always seemed (in my case) to go back to
somewhere earlier in the document. No one has offered any solution but
it seems to me that it goes back to wherever you last added a frame into
that window. So if you want to “keep your place” in the second window,
use <ctrl-I> to create a new frame at that place in the document and
then use <ctrl-X> to delete it again. Crude, but it seems to work. (No,
it doesn’t, not always. Drat, I thought I had solved it! Come on,
someone must be able to solve this one − I’ll give a free Archive mug to
the first person to solve it. Ed.)
5.1
• Equasor and matrices − The biggest drawback Equasor has for me as a
mathematics teacher is its inability − at least in version 1.00 − to
handle vectors and matrices.
5.1
There is, however, a way in which a very credible matrix can be created
− with a small amount of extra work:
5.1
I build the columns as multiple fractions, and then enclose everything
in brackets; I drop the file into Draw, remove the fraction bars and
then align the brackets with the numbers.
5.1
Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.1
•   Special characters − Now I’m sure you ALL knew this, but I didn’t
until I read this month’s PipeLine article. The Alt key is extremely
useful for inserting special characters in the text. I had discovered
that <Alt-space> (that’s holding the Alt key down and tapping on the
space bar) gave a ‘hard’ space where you don’t what the words (e.g. the
halves of a postcode) to be split across the end of one line and the
beginning of the next, and I had discovered the idea of using Alt
together with the numbers on the numeric keypad to produce special
characters, but how about this...
5.1
     a² + b² = c³
5.1
I produced that in seconds without using superscript. The ² is produced
with <Alt-2> and the ³ with (yes, you’ve guessed) <Alt-3>. In other
words, you hold down the Alt key, as if it were the shift key, and type
2 or 3. Here is a table of the ones I have found but note that this only
applies to Trinity font which I am using. Other fonts may be different
but, generally, they tend to stick to using the same symbols for the
same ASCII numbers which the Alt key produces. The third column is the
ASCII number produced.
5.1
<Alt-1>   ¹   185
5.1
<Alt-2>   ²   178
5.1
<Alt-3>   ³   179
5.1
<Alt-9>   ±   177
5.1
<Alt-0>   °    176
5.1
<Alt-C>   ¢   162
5.1
<Shift-Alt-C>   ©   169
5.1
<Alt-M>   µ   181
5.1
<Alt-R>   ®   174
5.1
<Alt-S>   §   167
5.1
<Alt-X>   »   187
5.1
<Alt-Y>   ¥   165
5.1
<Alt-Z>   «   171
5.1
<Alt-`>   ¬   172
5.1
(top left key under <esc>)
5.1
<Alt-,>   ×   215
5.1
<Alt-.>   ÷   247
5.1
<Alt-space>      160 (hard space)
5.1
If you have found any that I have missed, perhaps in other fonts, let us
know. Ed.
5.1
• Spell checking Edit documents − Whenever I typed a longish Edit text
file, I used to regret the absence of a spell checker. For Impression
users, this poses no problem:
5.1
Simply drop the Edit file in question into an empty Impression frame,
have Impression check the spelling, then export the text back into Edit
by saving just the text story without styles. You can drag the text
story onto the Edit icon to have another look at it or save it in the
usual way directly to a disk. The import/export takes just a few
seconds, so this is nearly as good as a spell checker built into Edit
itself. Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany  A
5.1

5.1
Silicon Vision
5.1
New
5.1

5.1
Colton
5.1

5.1
4.12 p21
5.1

5.1
Matters Arising
5.1
•   Archimedes’ Tutor − Simon Anthony has produced a Beginner’s D.I.Y.
Introduction to the Archimedes using the !Hyper application on Shareware
Disc 19. If anyone is interested they should contact him directly at 62
Rutland Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 5DG.
5.1
•   ArmSort − Fast Array Sorts − The author replies... The reviewer
(Ashley Bowden in Archive 4.12 p53) seems to have created a problem with
the flag values. The ArmSort documentation DID clearly state that for
the CALL sort “The parameters must all be variables, but may be of any
name”. If CALL sort,test%() ,128 is used, then it is Basic that objects
with “Syntax Error”, ERR=16, because it is a Basic requirement that all
CALL parameters are variables not constants. Thus it is rather unfair
for the reviewer to claim that to have to use variables is “.. very
unorthodox, and mention should be made in the documentation.” ArmSort
errors are comprehensive and are very clearly documented.
5.1
This ‘problem’ wasted about a third of the review, which could have been
better used to mention the PROCsort and SWI interfaces or the ability to
sort on absolute numeric values, or with null strings low or high.
5.1
May I also suggest that all software reviews should clearly state what
version is being reviewed: the ArmSort review copy was Version 2.12,
sent to Archive in February. The current Version is 2.51, which has the
following improvements: sort time reductions of between 30% and nearly
50%; the ability to sort strings from any position, or by length; the
ability to specify a key sequence; new procedures for a fast binary
search of sorted arrays; and all programs now do run easily from the
desktop. All users have had free upgrades and seem happy with the
product. Martin Avison, Avisoft.
5.1
(Sorry if we seem to have reviewed an out-of-date product but when
someone sends software to us for review, we have to assume it is a
“stable” version. If the software has gone from version 2.12 to version
2.51 since February, this indicates continuous development. This is fine
but, if significant changes are made, the onus is on the software
supplier to send us the latest version. This product was still on the
“software to be reviewed” list in the May edition of Archive. If Martin
had noticed this and sent us the latest version at that stage, the
difficulty might have been avoided. Ed.)
5.1
•   MidiVision Update − Koen Lefever has sent us an updated version the
MidiVision program on Shareware Disc 33. It is now compatible with the
new Acorn MIDI Podule ROM and capable of detecting real time messages.
The new version has been put on this month’s program disc.
5.1
•   PRES Disc Interface & DFS − In the review in Archive 4.11 p27 we
referred to difficulties in reading 40 track BBC discs. PRES suggested
that the problem may be due to “residual data” on the discs. In other
words, they are suggesting that the problem may lie with discs that have
been written onto by different 40 track drives, some with narrow heads,
as in 40/80 drives, and some with wider tracks as in true 40 track
drives. It would be interesting to hear other people’s experiences on
this. We have also found that it is sometimes necessary to slow the head
stepping time right down as low as it will go in order to read 40 track
discs. (We also used a rather old address for PRES. It is currently P.O.
Box 319, Lightwater, Surrey, GU18 5PW. 0276−72046, fax 51427.)
5.1
•   RISC-OS Dreaming − I would like to reply to Oliver Gunasekara’s
letter, RISC-OS Dreaming, published in Archive 4.12 p15. Many of
Oliver’s suggestions have been extensively discussed in the USENET news-
group dedicated to Acorn machines. Well-informed contributions from
Acorn staff (in a private capacity) and experienced programmers (RISC-OS
and otherwise) allow fairly definite predictions to be made as to the
likelihood of some of these suggestions being realised in later version
of RISC-OS.
5.1
Firstly, there is almost no chance of proper demand paged virtual memory
being implemented under RISC-OS on current generation ARM processors.
The problem is that much (if not all) of RISC-OS runs with the ARM
processor in its supervisor mode. In this mode, the ARM-2 and ARM-3 are
unable to implement virtual memory. Not enough information is saved to
enable execution to be resumed after an attempt to access memory not
physically present causes the MEMC memory controller to interrupt
execution. Thus, virtual memory would require a drastic rewrite of RISC-
OS so that any code that might access virtual memory runs in user mode
or avoids memory not physically present. Acorn almost certainly do not
have the resources to do the necessary rewrite. Simpler, less effective
forms of virtual memory such as swapping out non-running programs are
possible, but would still be very complicated.
5.1
Pre-emptive multi-tasking is, on the other hand, quite possible. It is
just that doing it without introducing subtle bugs into software written
under the assumption that multi-tasking is co-operative is fiddly. As
with virtual memory, the fact that RISC-OS did not allow for pre-emptive
multi-tasking, when originally written, makes it messy to implement
later on. Even running other tasks when the current task is blocked,
waiting for i/o, is rather tricky to implement though, according to the
grape-vine, this does indeed happen to some extent in RISC-OS 3.
5.1
As to nicer system fonts, better design, TCP/IP file-sharing and hot-
linking − let’s hope it happens. There’s no technical obstacle and these
are definitely things necessary for Acorn to keep up with the state of
the art. A new file-system allowing more files in a directory and longer
filenames would also go down well. It would be a real boon to people
like myself who have to use RISC-OS machines in conjunction with UNIX or
MesS-DOS boxes.  Andrew Stevens, Overton.
5.1
•   RISC-OS Dreaming − I would agree with many of the points about RISC-OS
2.0 put forward (in Archive 4.12 p15), by Oliver Gunasekara. However,
I’m not sure that making RISC-OS look more like other graphical
interfaces will necessarily bring us much benefit.
5.1
I am responsible for several different computer systems (micros and
minis) each of which has its own user interface from the quirkiness of
the Apple and Atari systems, to the smooth, powerful X-Windows systems.
Some of the staff prefer one system, some prefer another. It’s a bit
like choosing your favourite car, you get the one that suits you.
5.1
Strangely enough, considering its sales, the least popular GUI in our
department is Windows 3.0. Even allowing for its deficiencies, RISC-OS
seems to have become the preferred choice for more than half our
department. Whether this is due to RISC-OS itself, applications like
Impression or the speed of the ARM3 powered machines, I’m not sure. What
I am sure of is that RISC-OS is quite capable of winning converts from
other systems.
5.1
Even so, let’s hope that RISC-OS 3 contains a lot of those improvements
mentioned by Oliver. D Hutchinson, Sheffield.  A
5.1



The Engineer Speaks...
5.1
Ray Maidstone
5.1
For the last few months, Ray Maidstone has been, effectively, the N.C.S.
Service Centre. He has done a great job fixing dead or dying Archimedes
computers for us and upgrading the memory of A310s. In doing so, he has
come across various recurring problems which could be avoided if a few
precautions were followed.
5.1
Here are some hints & tips which should help to keep your Archimedes in
tip-top condition. A word of warning though, some of the things I am
suggesting should not be attempted unless you really feel competent to
do so. The general rule is, if in doubt, ask for help!
5.1
•   300 and early 400 series keyboards − (See also the article on page 37)
These keyboards do not have sprung contacts coming together, but foil
closing over multiple contact points on sprung pads. Various people have
informed me that they have sprayed their keyboards with switch cleaner
to improve things when they have had intermittent contacts on one or
more keys. They may have got away with it, but it is my view that these
keyboards should never be sprayed with switch cleaner. The only
recommended method of servicing this item is to dismantle (but ONLY if
you feel competent to do so!) and remove foreign particles with a soft
brush and a vacuum cleaner. Anything sticky or difficult to remove is
best left to your Service Centre. WARNING: Using switch cleaner which
contains an organic solvent can destroy components within the keyboard
and slowly but surely render it useless. Be warned! (We have a dead
keyboard available for inspection if you are in any doubt! It was killed
by using Tandy’s Tix Electronic Switch Cleaner. Ed)
5.1
•   Mouse − If you unplug your mouse, the recommended procedure for
reconnection is to first disconnect the keyboard from the computer, plug
the mouse into the keyboard then reconnect to the computer. The reason
for this is that the mouse contains one solitary chip, which has no
protection from spikes at switch-on from the outside world, whereas the
keyboard has circuitry that is slightly better equipped to cope with any
misadventures. Plugging the mouse into the keyboard and then plugging
the keyboard into the computer is the safest method and could well save
you money.
5.1
•   Monitor smear − On the 400 series computers, it is possible to get a
composite video signal out of the sync socket which you can use for a
mono monitor. This is done by making links LK5 and LK6. However, if
these links are made, it can cause problems with certain high resolution
monitors. You get a certain amount of smearing on the ends of horizontal
lines. This effect is caused by the electronics of the Archimedes and
can only be cured by removing the links. (I have a confession to make.
Until we discovered this problem, we always tested our 400 series
computers using a mono monitor. We added links 5 and 6 but did not
remove them before sending out the computers. If you have had a 400
series computer from us, I suggest you check for this effect and remove
the links if necessary. Ed)
5.1
•   Video RGB outlet − On the 310 and early 400 series, it is possible to
destroy the VIDC chip by plugging in the video lead to either the
computer or the monitor if one or both of these items are switched on.
The electronics of this socket do not accept the slightest static
variation and any deviation will damage the VIDC chip. Whoops! − there
goes another £30! I have designed a multiple diode module as a service
modification which upgrades these old machines to the new static-
protected specification. Whilst Acorn confirm that my modification is
“Archimedes-legal”, they will not put their name to it as yet. This
modification has been particularly well received by schools, as it stops
pupils being able to blow up their computers!
5.1
•   Fan filters − With the fan driving air into the filter (lower half of
the diagram below) it is possible for the filter, in its blocked state,
to completely eliminate all airflow within the computer. However, with
the fan sucking air through the filter (upper half of the diagram
below), even if the filter becomes totally blocked, residual air
currents will still flow within the computer, providing some “last
resort” cooling. Also, with the filter on the outside of the fan,
cleaning couldn’t be easier. All that is needed is to slide the lid back
10 cm (or 4 inches for those of us still in Imperial!) and suck the dust
off the filter with a vacuum cleaner.
5.1
•   Hard drive parking − After much debate and the dismantling of two
unserviceable hard drives, I have found that, in order to give your data
maximum protection at closedown, *BYE must be followed by *SHUTDOWN.
These two commands, although slightly similar, do not seem to perform
the same task and, to my satisfaction, have been proven to be necessary
in the order stated. The effects of closing the drive down can be
verified acoustically and visually, e.g. *BYE will produce one staccato
tick noise and a short flash on the hard drive LED, but this does not
mean the drive is fully parked. Typing *SHUTDOWN will produce a multiple
wink of the hard drive LED and a triple tick noise from the drive. Take
my word that this guarantees total shutdown of the drive. If *SHUTDOWN
is typed without having typed *BYE, a single tick will be heard and the
drive will simply have moved the head to a different track, but it will
not be fully parked. (Different effects happen on different drives under
this condition.)
5.1
(Some may call this a “belt & braces” method, but when it comes to
protecting several hundred pounds worth of hard drive, I prefer to err
on the side of caution. Ed)
5.1
•   Removable hard drive parking − The command DISMOUNT brought up by
clicking <menu> on the SCSI icon, does not mean your drive is parked. It
simply means that the drive has shut its motor down and that the
software has “forgotten” about the drive in question. At this point, if
you switch the power off, the heads have been left out over the disc at
the last track you were using and will be in the same position next time
you switch on the power. In order to eliminate the possibility of power-
on destroying any data bits, the centre button on the removable drive
must be pressed and the drive fully disengaged with the lever. This
operation mechanically parks the heads off the disc and is the only way
to guarantee this.
5.1
•   Stray metalware − When removing the motherboard on the 300/400 series,
it is very possible to dislodge one or more of the spring speed nuts
(for the two rear self tapping screws that “get in the way” when
removing the board). Make sure these are firmly in place when reassem
bling − better still, remove them, clamp them slightly more closed and
refit. This will prevent any further mishap which could cause shorting
under the main PCB.
5.1
•   Stuck floppy discs − It is unfortunately possible, now and again, for
a floppy disc to become stuck in the drive. This will be due to one of
the following causes, and if you wish to keep costs to a minimum, NEVER
tug at, or forcibly remove, the stuck item.
5.1
(Again, we have u/s floppy drives available for inspection if you need
proof. Ed.)
5.1
1. The metal sliding cover on the disc can become widened, perhaps due
to being bent in the post, or being sat on or whatever. As the metalwork
of the slider opens, it will act like a ratchet allowing the disc to go
in but not to come out without difficulty.
5.1
2. The spring that returns the metal cover can become unlaced and behave
like a fish hook, snagging the unlocking post within the drive.
5.1
3. The metal screening plate on the upper disc reading head within the
drive can become dislodged and catching the plastic work of the disc
(particularly on the older Sony drives).
5.1
In ALL cases, if the drive is removed by somebody competent to do so,
you should find that delicate easing will allow the disc to come out
again without damaging the drive and, 9 times out of 10, the disc can
also be saved.
5.1
In the case of the metal head shield of the Sony drive, simply throw it
away as it was later found to be unnecessary. Where the metal gate of
the drive is distorted, it is quite acceptable to remove this item by
unfolding it and removing the spring. The disc will operate without the
metal cover but keep little fingers out − remember the 5¼“ floppies?  A
5.1

Hints and Tips
5.2
•   Fatal error type = 5 revisited (Archive 4.12 p9) − It’s not only !Edit
that reports this error, !Draw and some other Applications abort with a
similar error, but you might want to use !Edit, for example, with fonts.
The version in Archive 4.12 p9 simply hides the !Font-folder, so the
idea is to have the Applications just to see part of the !Fonts folder.
The easiest thing to do is simply to split up the fonts-directory into
directories − i.e. create two directories within !Fonts − in the first
directory (maybe SmallFonts within your !Fonts Folder) just put the
really necessary fonts in (just Trinity, Homerton, Corpus or so), but
remember that there may only be up to 50 fonts (approximately) −
including styles (say Italic, Medium, Bold etc). In the second directory
(maybe LargeFonts) put every font that is not already included in the
first directory.
5.2
The next thing to change is your !Boot and !Run-File from the !Fonts
application.
5.2
The !Boot file should read as follows:
5.2
| !Boot file for !Fonts
5.2
| *********************
5.2
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
5.2
RMEnsure FontManager 2.42 RMLoad <Obey$Dir>.Fonts
5.2
RMEnsure SuperSample 0.04 RMLoad <Obey$Dir>.Super
5.2
Set Small$Fonts <Obey$Dir>. SmallFonts.
5.2
Set Large$Fonts <Small$Fonts> ,<Obey$Dir>.LargeFonts.
5.2
If “<Font$Prefix>”=“” Then SetMacro Font$Path <Font$Prefix>
5.2
If “<Font$Prefix>”=“” Then Set Font$Prefix <Large$Fonts>
5.2
SET Alias$@RunType_745 RUN <Obey$Dir>.FontHelp -Obey %%*0
5.2
SET File$Type_745 FontObey
5.2

5.2
The !Run file should read as follows:
5.2
| !Run file for !Fonts
5.2
| ********************
5.2
Obey <Obey$Dir>.!Boot
5.2
Echo Outline Font Manager 2.42 installed.
5.2
Echo Fonts now available:
5.2
Echo
5.2
FontCat
5.2

5.2
In addition, you have to create a Basic program called Fonthelp, which
should be situated in the !Font folder and should read like this:
5.2
REM >FontHelp  Version 1.00 20.1.91
5.2
REM *******************************
5.2
REM Written by: Martin Sperl
5.2
REM             Nattergasse 12/32
5.2
REM             A-1170 Vienna (Wien)
5.2
REM             AUSTRIA
5.2

5.2
END=&A000
5.2
DIM Data 255
5.2
SYS“OS_GetEnv” TO ENV$
5.2
ENV$=MID$(ENV$,INSTR(ENV$,“-Obey ”) +6)
5.2
*SET Font$Prefix <Small$Fonts>
5.2
SYS “Hourglass_On”
5.2
SYS “Wimp_Initialise”,200, &4B534154,“**LoadMore**”
5.2
 TO ,TaskHandle%
5.2
SYS “Wimp_StartTask”,“OBEY ”+ENV$
5.2
REPEAT
5.2
SYS “Wimp_Poll”,0,Data TO R%
5.2
UNTIL R%=0
5.2
SYS “Wimp_CloseDown”,TaskHandle%
5.2
*SET Font$Prefix <Large$Fonts>
5.2
SYS “Hourglass_Off”
5.2
END
5.2
Then create a sprite called “file_745” (maybe the same sprite as for an
Obey-file, but another colour) and include it in the !Sprites file of
!Fonts.
5.2
To start an application which can only handle some fonts without errors
just change the Filetype of the !Run-file with “Settype !Run FontObey”
to FontObey. Then you can start the application as normal without having
to worry about fonts at all.
5.2
Martin Sperl, Austria
5.2
•   Formatting PC disks − If, like me, you do not have a PC Filer on your
Archimedes you will have to format DOS diskettes (for use with the PC
Emulator) on a PC. If your PC has a 1.44M drive the standard FORMAT
command needs modifying. The command to use is
5.2
FORMAT  A:  /N:9  /T:80
5.2
This certainly works on the PS/2 55SX I have at work.  Richard Wheeler,
Wokingham  A
5.2

5.2
Impression H & T
5.2
•   Function key changes − Computer Concepts have chosen to use <ctrl-F3>
and <ctrl-F4> for ‘save’ and ‘search and replace’ instead of the more
standard <F3> and <F4>. If you prefer to use the latter, simply go into
the edit styles dialogue (<ctrl-F6>), select first italic and then bold
and, on each, change the keyboard shortcut (or delete it altogether), as
follows... You could, for example, change from <F3> to <shift-ctrl-F3>
by clicking in the shortcut box, pressing <ctrl-U> to delete the
existing text and pressing <shift-ctrl-F3>, at which point the words
“<shift-ctrl-F3>” will appear in the box. Click OK and <F3> will now
produce the desired “save” effect.
5.2
If you already have a lot of documents, this could prove a frustration
since you would have to do this with every document individually. Also,
you would need to go into Impression’s Auto directory and edit the
default document. Michael Ben-Gershon, Israel.
5.2
•   Only 77 graphics frames allowed in a chapter − Impression won’t allow
more than 77 graphics frames in a single chapter. This is due to the
ADFS limitation of 77 files per directory − earlier versions of
Impression (2.03) normally crashed after loading the offending file when
displaying. Impression 2.1 does not allow to save a file with more than
77 graphics-frames per chapter. I mentioned it to CC but they told me
“This is something that would be extremely difficult to overcome. It
should only affect a very small percentage of users”. So beware of too
many frames in one chapter !!! Martin Sperl, Austria
5.2
Couldn’t you get round this by putting several draw objects together in
a single file and then show different parts of the same file in
different frames? I haven’t tried it, but it should work. Ed.
5.2
•   Running Impression documents from !TinyDirs − If you use !TinyDirs to
install an Impression document on the icon bar and then click on it to
run it, a new copy of !Impress will be fired up even if one is already
running.
5.2
This seems to be because of a small mistake in the !TinyDirs.!RunImage
programme. In the PROCdataopen procedure are two lines which read as
follows:
5.2
900 q%?(44+LEN$(q%+44))=0
5.2
910 q%!0=(48+LEN$(q%+44))ANDNOT3
5.2
If you reverse the order of these two lines the program runs correctly.
Hugh Eagle, Horsham
5.2
•   Special Characters − The full list of ISO 8859 characters is included
in the Archimedes User Guide, e.g. page 455 for the Latin 1 alphabet.
However, it’s not too helpful in that it is listed in hexadecimal. If
you want to enter characters using <Alt> and the numeric keypad, you
need to know the decimal numbers. Those of you with EFF fonts will have
a manual that shows various of the character sets by decimal number.
This is particularly useful for Zapf Dingbats and MathGreek fonts. Jim
Nottingham, York.
5.2
(For those without EFF fonts, I have put an Impression file on the
monthly program disc so that you can print out your own lists of
characters just by changing the font in the style definition. Ed.)
5.2
• Wrong sprite colours in Impression − If, when you drag a sprite into
an Impression frame, the colours come out all wrong, it’s probably
because the sprite has not got a palette. If so, the answer is to give
it a palette, which can be done as follows:
5.2
1.   Load the sprite file containing your sprite into !Paint.
5.2
2.   Double click on the thumbnail picture of the sprite you want to
alter.
5.2
3.   Click <menu> over the sprite window that now appears, then move to
the Edit submenu and click on the Palette item at the bottom.
5.2
4.   Save the amended sprite file.
5.2
5.   Load the amended sprite back into Impression.
5.2
(Note: if you don’t want to keep the amended sprite, you can, if you
like, shortcut steps 4 and 5 and save the sprite direct from !Paint into
Impression.) Hugh Eagle, Horsham  A
5.2



Finally, Andrew Scott...
5.2
The following comments and hints are based on my first week of using the
machine which, from the outset, I must say is brilliant, especially
compared with my old Archimedes A310.
5.2
During the time I have had the machine, I have tried quite a number of
applications. Now, whilst most of them have worked perfectly, I have had
problems with the following:  Atomwide Hi-Res. modes, Jinxter and
Corruption adventures (CIS Adventure pack), Beebug Toolbox disc sector
editor, Data Store’s FontFX (version 4.04), Mitre Software’s DiscTree
(version 2.16) and !DSEdit, PD sound sample player.
5.2
The Atomwide mode designer comes with a number of sets of modes for
various monitors, but none of these is completely suitable for the A5000
and Acorn’s multisync monitor. The mode designer application, however,
works fine, provided you remember to select monitor type 1, and machine
A540/A5000. Using this, it is quite straightforward to modify the hi-
res. modes (SVGA, 102 etc.) to produce working versions of these.
However, make sure that you work in mode 27 while defining the new
modes, as some of the other modes (12, 15 etc.) are redefined by the
standard mode module (MegaModes), and this can produce some strange
effects − they appear as two letter box shaped screens one above the
other!!
5.2
The adventures Jinxter and Corruption do not work with version 3.87 of
the SharedCLibrary which is in RISC-OS 3. However, they are supplied
with a very old version (1.01) which will work if you *RMKill the
version in RISC-OS 3 first. Better still, alter the !Run files to
automate this, and restore the RISC-OS 3 version afterwards. I have
included two suitable !Run files on the disc. On the monthly program
disc. Ed.)
5.2
The disc sector editor in Beebug’s Toolbox (version 1.00) does not work
at all on the A5000, and hangs the machine!!
5.2
FontFX from the Data Store (version 4.04) does not like the default
setting for the system macro Font$Path. However, if you edit out the
reference to Font$Prefix it works OK − not a perfect solution, but it
works. e.g.
5.2
*SetMacro Font$Path adfs::IDEDis c4.$.!Fonts.,Resources:$.Fonts.
5.2
DiscTree (version 2.16) from Mitre Software will load, but all attempts
to access a disc (hard or floppy) produce a fatal internal error.
5.2
!DSEdit, the excellent PD sound sample player will not play samples.
This is because the author has been ‘naughty’ and used an abbreviation
for the ChannelVoice command. RISC-OS 3 wrongly interprets the abbrevia
tion as the new command *ChangeDynamicArea and hence causes an error.
This is easily corrected by changing the abbreviation to the full
command. Acorn have issued a warning with RISC-OS 3 that a number of
commands have different minimum abbreviations, and have provided a file
on the RISC-OS 3 Support Disc to change them all back to what they were
in RISC-OS 2.
5.2
Something else that I have observed is that if you use the !Configure
application to auto-start any of the ROM based applications then this
will cease to work if you have a !Boot file on the hard disc which
includes a line like :
5.2
*Desktop -file <Obey$Dir>.DeskS tart
5.2
Instead you must include a line in the DeskStart file to run each of the
applications which you want to auto-start. e.g.
5.2
Run Resources:$.Apps.!Alarm
5.2
Hardware problems − (I have left this in to see if anyone has any ideas!
Ed.) I have discovered a fault with my machine, that concerns the real
time clock. Every time the machine is reset with either <ctrl-break>, or
turning it off and on again, the real time clock is reset back to the
last time that it was explicitly set too, e.g. using *Set Sys$Time or
the Set clock option on !alarm. The rest of the time, the clock appears
to function correctly.
5.2
My first thought was a loose battery connection. However, on opening the
case, I found that the machine doesn’t even have a battery! While the
case was off, I checked for any loose connections, but could not find
any.
5.2
Next, I thought that it might be a software fault and not a hardware
one, because the fault only occurs when the machine is reset, which is a
software function. I noticed that in the list of modules in RISC-OS 3
there is a new module called RTCAdjust which presumably stands for Real
Time Clock Adjust. Could this be causing the problem? The module
provides no star commands or software interrupts, only a service code
handler. I have not been able to confirm if this module is causing the
problem or not. Any ideas?  A
5.2

The Engineer Speaks (again)
5.2
Ray Maidstone
5.2
As there were several comments of appreciation received regarding the
hardware care section labelled “The Engineer speaks” last month, further
points of interest have been forwarded and are listed here.
5.2
Headphone sockets
5.2
These stereo sockets are mechanically very delicate and several machines
have been in for repair. (This is presumably because these sockets are
getting used more now that there seems to be a little more notice being
taken of the fact that the Archimedes is capable of matching other makes
of computer, when it comes to music and sound effects.) The replacement
of these sockets is fairly simple but involves completely dismantling
your machine and getting the motherboard out.
5.2
More serious is the fact that we’ve had some machines in for repair with
the sound output chip blown. Although this is a very cheap repair, I can
only think that this was caused by people using the socket whilst music
was actually playing! Looking at the circuit diagram, I find it
difficult to see how shorting the contacts in the socket by plugging in
headphones, or whatever, whilst it is playing should be able to blow
anything up, but there it is. I suggest it would be for sensible to
cause your machine to be silent while plugging things into this socket.
5.2
RGB video output failure
5.2
Further to the question “Does disconnection or connection to the RGB
socket while things are switched on blow the VIDC (Video Output) chip?”
The answer is most definitely yes, even though several people have
expressed surprise, saying “Well, I’ve plugged and unplugged mine for
years and years, and I’ve never had any problems.”
5.2
The fact is that eventually it will blow up, as there simply isn’t any
static protection in the early machines. The modification I mentioned
last month has sparked a lot of interest. (Bad choice of words there,
Ray! Ed.) We can fit this for you and we can offer this item, fitted for
£15, but you will have to sort out the carriage.
5.2
This protection feature is already incorporated into the 400/1 series,
the 3000 and everything since, and will only be needed in the 300 series
and the early 440’s. To my certain knowledge, this modification has put
an end to the grief being caused by pupils “in the know” at a couple of
schools, deliberately plugging and unplugging monitors and Arabellas
(that’s what VIDCs are called) are not cheap.
5.2
A3000 crashes and aborts
5.2
My findings on this subject are a bit distressing and, to make matters
worse, I own one of these troublesome machines and can speak from
experience. We have had a slowly increasing number of people losing work
because their 3000 occasionally crashes with the “Abort on transfer”, or
“Address exception” captions coming up. These problems have been traced
to impedance peculiarities on the pin and socket connections of the
expansion ram cards. At first, the ram expansion itself was suspected
but we have finally discovered that these connections sometimes go high
impedance at the high frequencies of the ram access speeds. The
“sometimes” is what’s giving the problem, as the bulk of these expan
sions run trouble free.
5.2
My own belt and braces solution to this has been to remove the pins and
sockets, and replace them with gold plated counterparts − No more
problems! This, of course, is “open heart” surgery and, if not done by
an Acorn Service Centre, will invalidate any guarantee and, if it is not
performed using the correct equipment, it can destroy the machine as
well. (Solder suckers are completely incapable of performing this task
and the 4 layer board is too delicate to risk damaging.)
5.2
I have helped several people out with a temporary DIY tip that consider
ably improves the reliability of these connections. However, you should
only attempt this if you are familiar with opening your machine and
fiddling inside it. Locate the ram board, lift it off the P.C.B.
expansion pins and lay the board to one side. Take a can of WD40, or
Contek 9, but nothing else, and find a clean bottle top or small dish.
Spray some of this into the cup and, using a cotton bud, carefully rub
around all the expansion pins, taking care not to distort any. Do not
spray anything directly into the machine.
5.2
This should be done in a well lighted area and at the end, the pins
should be slightly moist (not too much and not too little!). Take the
ram card, and offer it onto the pins, checking that all pins align
properly into their relevant socket, and press it down. (Check that the
speaker wires do not get in the way.) Once the board has “bottomed”,
pull it back up again about ¼“ (6mm), and then ease it down until it
still about 1/32” (1mm) away from the bottom. Don’t push it all the way
down this time so that it leaves the connectors on “fresh” metal. This
procedure should temporarily relieve the crash situation but the
following test will reveal whether your problem is corrosive or
mechanical.
5.2
Leaving the lid off, (beware of the high voltages in the power supply if
your machine has a cardboard p.s.u. cover) connect your machine up to
monitor and mains − no other connections are needed − and switch on. You
should now have the desktop visible on your monitor. If your expansion
is Atomwide then very slightly rocking it from front to back (Do not
exceed ¼“ movement) will not disturb the display if the fault was
corrosion. If the fault was mechanical, you will see the Address
Exception or Abort error flag, in which case the problem is mechanical
and you need to rush to your nearest Acorn Service Centre.
5.2
If you have the Morley board, this is a little more difficult, as you
will have to carefully hinge up the keyboard and find a way of holding
it up (get someone to help you, as if you drop it you could short
something, or break the flexible connector strips) and now take hold of
the front edge of the board and raise and lower it about 3/8“ and watch
for the same effects as already mentioned.
5.2
(This problem would probably have been averted if the pin and socket
components used at time of manufacture had been the gold flashed type,
but this obviously would have increased the product cost.)
5.2
STOP PRESS
5.2
After talking to another dealer at the recent Acorn User Show, I have
been able to find out from a couple of their personnel (unofficially)
that Acorn did indeed have a couple of batches of A3000’s that came with
oxidized expansion pins. So I suggest that either you offer your machine
to your dealer for him to sort out, or heed the above instructions, and
also try a light rub with a very small piece of “Scotchbrite” or pan
scourer. Do not use anything metallic because that will leave a
residue.  A
5.2

Hints and Tips
5.3
•   AMX mouse − To replace the Archimedes mouse with an AMX mouse from a
BBC computer, all that is necessary is to change the plug on the AMX
mouse for a miniature 9 pin DIN plug. The correct plug can be obtained
from Maplin Electronics (0702−554161). It is stock number JX19V (price
82p +p&p). Cut the original 20 way IDC connector off the mouse cable and
then solder the wires onto the new plug. The pins are very close
together, so a fair amount of care is required. It is easiest to start
with the middle pins and work outwards. I found that the plastic housing
supplied with the plug was just too wide to fit into my A3000 but it can
easily be cut smaller with a sharp knife.
5.3
Paul Marshall, Loughborough.
5.3
(Has anyone got the connections to do the same sort of thing but with a
BBC Trackerball? Ed)
5.3
•   Cops and Plague Planet − I should like to pass on the following advice
received from Alpine.
5.3
Both Cops and Plague Planet re-configure the character set used to their
own. If you have a copy of Alpine Software’s ALPS (Adventure Language
Programming System) this contains a copy of the default Archimedes
character set e.g. $.!ALPS. Resources.defaultchr.
5.3
Copy this file to the appropriate games directory (e.g.
$.COPS.defaultchr), and add the following line at the very end of the
appropriate !Run file (e.g. for Cops):
5.3
Print <Cops$Dir>.defaultchr
5.3
This will then automatically reset the computer to the default system
font upon returning to the Desktop.      Rob Brown, Tadworth
5.3
•   Corruption and Jinxter − I have recently transferred a number of the
earlier Magnetic Scrolls adventure games from floppy to hard disc and
have encountered certain problems with their usage of the Shared C
Library !System module.
5.3
Fish! does not use the Shared C Library at all. Both The Guild of
Thieves and The Pawn came with version 3.50 of the Shared C Library and
they function with more recent versions without any difficulty. However,
my copies of Corruption (version 1.12) and Jinxter (version 1.30) came
with version 1.01 of the Shared C Library and they will not function at
all with any of the more recent versions.
5.3
What I wanted to achieve was an easy means of starting either program
straight from the Desktop and automatically loading the “old” version of
the Shared C Library. After some trial and error I have found one way
round this by modifying the !Run files for both applications.
5.3
Firstly, version 1.01 of the Shared C Library needs to be copied to a
suitable directory within the !System application on the hard disc (e.g.
$.!System.oldModules.CLib_v101).
5.3
Unfortunately the command RMEnsure will not only check for a particular
version of a module but it will also accept more recent versions. In the
!Run file I have therefore used this command to check whether a
subsequent version (e.g. 1.02) of the Shared C Library is already loaded
and, if not, the most up to date version is loaded from the !System
application. The command RMKill is then used to delete this module
before loading the “old” version 1.01 of the Shared C Library. Finally,
after exiting the program, the “old” Shared C Library is deleted, the
latest version (currently 3.75) is re-loaded, and the !Run file finally
returns control direct to the Desktop.
5.3
| !Run file for Corruption
5.3
| (or Jinxter − change references from “Corruption” to “Jinxter”)
5.3
| (requires Shared C library version 1.01 dated 13-Jun-88)
5.3
|
5.3
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
5.3
WimpSlot -min 512K -max 512K
5.3
|
5.3
Set Corruption$CLibLoaded 1
5.3
RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 1.02 Set Corruption$CLibLoaded 0
5.3
If Corruption$CLibLoaded=0 then If “<System$Path>” = “” then Error
System resources cannot be found
5.3
If Corruption$CLibLoaded=0 then RMLoad System:Modules.Clib
5.3
RMKill SharedCLibrary
5.3
RMLoad System:oldModules.CLib_v101 .Clib
5.3
RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 1.01 Error You need SharedCLibrary
5.3
version 1.01 ONLY
5.3
Unset Corruption$CLibLoaded
5.3
|
5.3
Set Corruption$Dir <Obey$Dir>
5.3
Run <Corruption$Dir>.Corruption.f1 <Corruption$Dir>.Corruption.f2
5.3
|
5.3
|
5.3
RMKill SharedCLibrary
5.3
RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 3.75 RMLoad System:Modules.Clib
5.3
RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 3.75 Error You need SharedCLibrary
5.3
version 3.75 or later
5.3
Desktop
5.3
WARNING − any other programs active within the Desktop should be closed
down and any files saved before starting either Corruption or Jinxter −
especially those programs which use the Shared C Library! Perhaps
another reader can find a way round this?
5.3
Rob Brown, Tadworth
5.3
•   Elite − When you start Archimedes Elite, it prompts you to enter a
word from the manual, as an anti-piracy precaution. When it says “type
the word exactly as shown” it means the input is case sensitive. You
have to remember to take the Caps Lock off. This falls into the category
of “obvious to most people” but hopefully this hint will save somebody
the frustrating quarter of an hour which I spent trying to get the thing
to work when it first arrived.
5.3
People who are used to the 8 bit version of the game should watch out
for little things which have changed. For example, furs are now illicit
cargo in the same way that narcotics and firearms are. You are told this
in the manual but you have to look for it pretty carefully!
5.3
Neil Hoggarth, Winchester  A
5.3

5.3
Impression Hints & Tips
5.3
•   Position holding − My repeated plea for a way of holding the current
position in a document when you expand and contract the window has been
answered! A box of four Archive mugs is winging its way to Bob Potter of
Bath. He gave me the basic idea which I have amplified slightly.
5.3
Basically, as Bob pointed out, when you expand and contract the window,
Impression returns to the position that was current when the window was
small. (Surely, CC, this isn’t very sensible, is it? You are more likely
to change the current position when working in the full size window. Why
not change it whenever you move about within the document?) Anyway,
given that this is how it works at present, all you have to do to
maintain your position is, as soon as you have shrunk the window, press
<cursor-left> (and then <cursor-right> if you want to) so that the
current position will be displayed and remembered within the small
window. The only slight disadvantage with this is that if the small
window is very small, you will find the cursor near to the top of the
window when you expand it, not near the middle. Thanks, Bob!  A
5.3


The Engineer Speaks
5.3
Ray Maidstone
5.3
•   Hard drive mounts − Several customers have had cause to ship their
Archimedi to me for repair, and a hardware problem has come to light.
Some of you have purchased hard drives that have been mounted on thin
aluminium brackets. These rather flimsy brackets easily distort under
small amounts of G stress and, unfortunately, a few harddrives have gone
to the great hard disc graveyard in the sky. Aluminium was used by the
Airforce because of its tensile properties, and should (due to this very
fact) not be used to anchor a hard drive. These small brackets deform
under stress and leave the drive “flapping” about.
5.3
Another comment about brackets − a lot of them are fine for their
supporting properties but not very good when it comes to air circula
tion. This can be improved by either punching some 3/8“ holes in the
sides, or by buying a pair of Paul’s new nifty side brackets at £4 a
pair. We have had a few instances of over-heating causing premature
decease of drives, particularly with back planes full of podules and a
partly blocked filter. It is possible that, by reducing the bracket
size, this could have been avoided.
5.3
•   *Shut and *bye − The last word! I have not, at any time in my
comments, stated that the suggestions I have made are law, I have merely
offered the result of my findings to those who hadn’t a clue of what was
going on. There are a few small, old drives that need both, but most
only need one command to park. The removables, however, most certainly
do not park, and only the operating lever finally parks the heads. These
findings came about from observations of partially dismantled units
operating under standard command use.
5.3
•   LBP4 laser printers − I have been asked about switch on/off procedures
for these, and I reckon that, to minimise “spikes”, the order should
be... when switching on, either do so all together or the printer last,
and turning off, either do it all altogether or switch off the printer
first.
5.3
•   Cooling − Following the success of quietening the fans on Archimedes,
external hard drives have now been added to the list, and no heat
problems have arisen (mainly because of 14 months of actual proving
before releasing). Whilst assessing the quietening for these drives, it
was surprising to find just how mechanically noisy some makes of fan
were, as nearly 50% of the noise from the unit was being conducted
through the chassis assembly.
5.3
I have also been asked “If I don’t like Acorn’s cooling method, what
would I like instead?” My reply is that, in my opinion, the current fan
with or without a quietener (that never lets the fan speed drop below
75%) is not quite enough in the real world. Particularly if the filter
is on the inside, hardly anyone appears to pay much attention to keeping
the filter clean. Therefore, I have found a rather nice miniature fan
(currently being used by Morley in their external hard drives) that,
when introduced into the opposite side of the case to the present
arrangement, and being set to push air out of the case as the other
sucks it in, really gets some cooling done.
5.3
A cautionary note about airflow is not to stand external floppy and hard
drive units too close to the sides of the Archimedes, or soft surfaces
under the A3000, as “what goes in must come out” and I have seen several
instances of hot machines being caused by the proximity of external
surfaces. The A3000 has a power supply that runs quite hot and, being
encased in fireproof cardboard, (on the earlier machines, anyway) made
things even more heated. I am using the miniature fan, aimed at the end
of the P.S.U., to assist temperature differences in this rather enclosed
environment. If anyone is interested in more details, let me know. This
small fan gives off very little sound and certainly improves longevity.
The lack of space inside the A3000 generally adds to the poor cooling in
the P.S.U. and any air movement is better than none.
5.3
I made the comment above about fan quieteners not slowing the fan more
than 75% because, in the course of my development, I also tried systems
that reduced the fan speed to 40%, and also did one trial where I
stopped it all together for the first quarter hour, as no heat would
build up until after this. The fan would then thermostatically cut in
and then run in a varied way subject to temperature requirements. These
were all dropped due to the fact that, as the Archimedes box is not at
all aerodynamic, once the temperature began to build up, certain items
within it started to experience particularly large temperature rises
i.e. hard drive, P.S.U. and floppy drive. The final unit chosen simply
took the fan below the noise of air flare speed and, together with the
chassis decoupling grommets, removed so much noise that only the sound
of the hard drive rang in the ears. I would caution people against using
controllers that slow the fan excessively.
5.3
•   IDE cabling − I notice that IDE drive cables have been quoted as long
as 20“. I have it on very good authority that in some cases, even 12” is
pushing it. This is because IDE signals tend to be far more easily
corrupted than those on SCSI lines. So please be warned and keep them as
short as possible.  A
5.3

Hints and Tips
5.4
•   A5000 monitor problem − One problem which various people seem to have
had with the Acorn A5000 monitors is intermittent contact on the mains
cable but the solution is simple. When you plug the power cable into the
monitor, it seems to go in but actually, to get it fully home, you have
to push it very firmly.
5.4
•   Draw files in Impression − Did you know that when using Draw files in
Impression frames, it is possible to “zoom” in on a part you want to
concentrate on and bring it up to “fill the frame”? This means you can,
for example, call up a file of, say, a fruit filled bowl and then choose
the apple to fill the space available in your document or show a group
of cartoon figures and, in the next frame, have a “close up” of one
face. Since Draw files are capable of incredible scaling, their should
be no real loss of detail involved.
5.4
The procedure is simple. Create a frame for the draw file. Open the
directory containing the Draw file. Drag it into the frame in the usual
way. Changing the shape of the frame with its handles using <select>
will “crop” the picture until only the part you require is visible. Then
enlarge the frame using the adjust button on the corner handles. The
cropped picture will “grow” with your mouse movements. (Well, stone me!
I didn’t know that! Please keep sending these “obvious” hints − they are
not obvious to everyone. Ed.)
5.4
Incidentally, don’t try moving a frame containing a Draw file around the
page using the usual method of pointing inside it, holding down <select>
and waiting for the blue lines to appear. If you don’t wait quite long
enough, the graphic moves inside the frame and bang goes your careful
alignment! Instead, hold down <ctrl> when you press <select> and the
frame can be moved safely and immediately. Kevin Beales, Shropshire.
(The latter hint was also sent in by Johannes Thordarson of  Ice
land.)  A
5.4

Hints and Tips
5.5
•   A5000 PC delete danger – I found out the hard way that deleting the PC
directory (and probably Drive_C as well) gives a disc error over the
area of the deleted partition. The only solution is to reformat the hard
disc and restore the last backup. J.R.McLachlan, Hertford.
5.5
Yes, there does appear to be a problem here. The same thing happened to
us. In theory, the idea is that Drive_C is a filetype that is not
deleteable. The trouble is that on the A5000, it seems to get confused
and half delete it, leaving a blank entry in the file table (seen as a
blank line in the filer window if you use “full info”). The answer is to
change the filetype to, say, FFF with
5.5
*SETTYPE $.<pathname>.Drive_C FFF
5.5
before you try to delete it. Ed.
5.5
•   BBC Tracker Ball − In December’s Archive, Paul asked for a wiring
diagram to convert a BBC tracker ball to an Archimedes one. I have
converted an old Marconi tracker ball for use on the Archimedes using
the following diagram.
5.5
The nine wires come out of the bottom of the tracker ball socket as I
have drawn it. Socket 1 is marked, or it is on mine.
5.5
The connections are as follows...
5.5
   9-pin   Trackerball
5.5
   mini DIN   Socket
5.5
   1   3   yellow
5.5
   2   6   black
5.5
   3   7   brown
5.5
   4   9   grey
5.5
   5   2   orange
5.5
   6   1   red
5.5
   7   4   green
5.5
   8   8   white
5.5
   9   5   blue
5.5
The colours are the colours on mine. They may differ between various
tracker balls. A mark 1 Archimedes mouse lead will also fit this
particular tracker ball but two leads need swapping round.
5.5
Connectors 6 and 7, in my case red and brown, need to be changed over.
This can be accomplished with a needle by gently lifting the black
plastic clip above the connector with the needle whilst pulling gently
on the wire to be removed.
5.5
December’s article was, I think, for a mark 1 AMX mouse. I have a later
AMX mouse which is the same design as the early Archimedes mouse and the
lead is a straight swap.
5.5
Dave Morrell, Middlesbrough
5.5
•   Elite Cheat − Here is program that will create a commander file for
use with Elite. It gives you the most needed items to get around a
little better than before, especially the docking computer, (most
welcome). When you have successfully loaded it in, use galaxy map to see
where to go, a little bonus is waiting: Front beam laser, rear beam
laser, large cargo bay (35 tons), docking computer, E.C.M. system, four
missiles.
5.5
REM>:0.$.Elite_com
5.5
REM Program by Scott Edwards
5.5
REM 3-1-92
5.5
REM It is important that you have
5.5
REM the correct checksums on the
5.5
REM right line, the program will
5.5
REM inform you if you have a wrong line.
5.5
MODE0:OFF
5.5
DIM store% &1000
5.5
checkcode%=38901:code$=“”
5.5
line%=390:inc%=0
5.5
FOR l%=0 TO 17
5.5
FOR blk%=0 TO 15
5.5
READ code$
5.5
dat%=EVAL(“&”+code$)
5.5
checksum%=checksum%+dat%
5.5
?(store%+inc%)=dat%
5.5
PRINT dat%,~dat%
5.5
inc%+=1
5.5
NEXT
5.5
READ checkcode%
5.5
IF checksum%<>checkcode% THEN
5.5
PRINT “You have a data byte incorrect at ”;line%
5.5
STOP
5.5
ENDIF
5.5
line%+=10:finalcheck%=checksum%
5.5
checksum%=0
5.5
NEXT
5.5
IF finalcheck%=checkcode% THEN
5.5
PRINT“You have a correct file for saving”
5.5
REPEAT
5.5
INPUT“Enter the commander name for your file  ”;A$
5.5
UNTIL A$<>“”
5.5
SYS“OS_File”,10,A$,&C87,,store%, store%+&11C
5.5
ENDIF
5.5
PRINT“Program is Finished,now run ELITE and use your new commander”
5.5
END
5.5
:
5.5
REM Commander file for ELITE
5.5
:
5.5
DATA 16,B5,DC,72,DF,DD,20,C9,F2,3C, 54, EB,32,6F,EF,09,2244
5.5
DATA E5,F9,61,E3,31,12,B8,70,85,F3, FE,A9,EB,11,02,DD,2439
5.5
DATA 31,43,F2,80,D5,F6,81,FA,70,92, 9A, 72,B9,EB,FC,B9,2707
5.5
DATA C9,B1,42,CE,85,DD,F6,7F,5D,00, D2,9A,92,D2,6F,FC,2553
5.5
DATA B9,2F,F9,62,CF,B5,62,B8,7B,5E, 98,7E,AF,68,DC,AA,2413
5.5
DATA DD,39,30,CD,40,D6,B5,EF,53,70, 9E,91,E9,99,EC,DB,2568
5.5
DATA F1,2C,B1,50,C1,F5,4D,F7,EE,72, 97,52,A1,59,FC,A7,2558
5.5
DATA FD,78,B2,CD,22,CA,AD,FF,54,7F, 3D,52,67,0A,66,D7,2204
5.5
DATA F8,23,39,20,A2,B4,86,B4,6C,7D, 0B,1D,09,4A,D3,44,1663
5.5
DATA D3,37,3F,07,0F,06,A6,63,23,E3, 1D,18,84,80,84,D4,1541
5.5
DATA AA,8A,6B,10,8D,3B,39,43,EB,56, C6,B6,81,48,9F,1E,1846
5.5
DATA 9A,77,2C,64,DC,BA,A5,49,10,CE, BD,17,33,EF,5E,D4,2091
5.5
DATA A5,01,E8,E0,8D,12,71,30,6B,53, F9,F5,E9,47,02,B2,2110
5.5
DATA 91,37,22,7D,F1,F6,A4,7A,DC,C2, 9C,8A,B5,FE,7C,CB,2602
5.5
DATA 38,E2,DA,CF,49,E0,80,BF,CF,20, 6A,6E,E7,24,69,39,2207
5.5
DATA 7E,74,89,36,A6,69,0B,36,B7,A9, 33,46,99,DD,35,07,1676
5.5
DATA 34,D0,D6,93,1D,CF,F0,9B,03,0F, 61,EC,D6,13,E8,71,2181
5.5
DATA 48,83,01,29,F7,5A,82,75,32,A8, BA,41,00,00,00,00,1298
5.5
S Edwards, Stourbridge
5.5
•   First Word Plus 2 − In Archive 3.12 someone was bemoaning the lack of
a key that would toggle insert mode on and off. In fact the <insert> key
itself will do just that.
5.5
Robert Fuller, Basingstoke.
5.5
•   Lemmings Passwords − For all you bald headed insomniacs....
5.5
Taxing Level
5.5
02 Justforyou   03 Runandflee   04
Doortodoor
5.5
05 Stillalive   06 Fixedmyfix   07
Anurebevan
5.5
08 Helpmemate   09 Drinknwine   10
Tenpercent
5.5
11 Stickuptwo   12 DiginDelve    13
Hisbadluck
5.5
14 Teensforth   15 Teensfifth   16
Notsosweet
5.5
17 Driveukcar   18 Votesforme   19
Tenstonine
5.5
20 Doublesten   21 Lockandkey   22
Twoelevens
5.5
23 Justforme   24 Lemmingmore   25
Jiveanjive
5.5
26 Lemsinafix   27 Lemsheavon   28
Gardengate
5.5
29 Startowine   30 Fivexsixis
5.5
Mayhem Level
5.5
02 Nearlygone   03 Spendspree   04
Onthefloor
5.5
05 Uncleclive   06 Clogclicks   07
Difference
5.5
08 Waitanwait   09 Eatanddine   10
Tentontess
5.5
11 Binisthree   12 Twotimesix   13
Returntome
5.5
14 Twicelucky   15 Nineandsix   16
Charitynum
5.5
17 Stillyoung   18 Comesofage   19
Olderstill
5.5
20 Numbtwenty   21 Olderlemms   22
Lemminduck
5.5
23 Soonbefree   24 Lemmsstore   25
Lemmsdrive
5.5
26 Yourinafix   27 Lemtodevon   28Twostoplay
5.5
29 Oneafterme   30 Lemmgfinal
5.5
Robin Jefferies,  West Sussex.
5.5
•   Improving Logistix (v0.01) RISC-OS compatibility − As anyone who has a
copy of Logistix will be aware, the RISC-OS support files to “upgrade”
the package to run from the desktop do nothing except allow the
application to be launched from the desktop! (I do not know if there was
ever a subsequent release of Logistix since v0.01 − I assume not, as I
was a registered owner and was never informed of any update.)
5.5
In the case of old programs upgraded through the support disk, it’s
likely that some of the software houses did not have any real experience
of RISC-OS before the deadline date for the disk, so they may be excused
for the minimal level of compliance. (Acorn could not be considered to
have had any such excuse, but Logistix wasn’t actually written by them,
they only marketed it for Grafox.)
5.5
The directory structure of the “upgraded” !Logistix was rather messy,
and all pathnames were specific to the directory structure, therefore
not transportable from drive 0 and the $ directory. This makes it
impossible to install on a hard disk without some editing. The major
annoyance in using the application is that clicking on Logistix data
files does nothing except give an error message! Files can only be
loaded by first loading Logistix, then keyboarding through the menu
system.
5.5
The application directory can be arranged far better for RISC-OS by the
movement of a few files, and a little editing with !Edit. Dealing with
the directory structure first...
5.5
All that the user wants to see of Logistix is the !Logistix application
icon which can be double clicked on to start it. Your !System directory
should contain a directory called Modules which contains the latest
version of the FPE, Clib, Colours etc. As upgraded after using the
support disk, a Logistix floppy disk contains the following directories:
5.5
!System − A system folder which still requires updating with the RISC-OS
extras disk for the newer versions of Clib etc. (The latest Floating
Point Emulator (2.80) should also be placed in the Modules directory
inside this.)
5.5
!Logistix − The RISC-OS startup directory containing the !Boot,!Run and
!Sprites files.
5.5
Logistix − The actual Logistix program files and a (now outdated)
Floating Point Emulator.
5.5
MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR DISK then, using the backup copy...
5.5
Move the Logistix directory into the !Logistix directory.
5.5
Copy the latest FPEmulator you have into the !System.Modules directory.
5.5
(You may then delete the copy in the Logistix directory.)
5.5
Using !Edit, edit the !Logistix.!Boot file to contain the following
lines:
5.5
| !Boot for !Logistix version 0.01
5.5
| Updated to allow autoload
5.5
| (This is an OBEY file)
5.5
Set Logi$Dir <Obey$Dir>
5.5
IconSprites <Logi$Dir>.!Sprites
5.5
Set File$Type_DFF Logistix
5.5
Set Alias$@RunType_DFF Obey <Logi$Dir>.InitFile %%*0
5.5
Edit the !Run file so that it becomes:
5.5
| !Run for !Logistix version 0.01
5.5
| with better RISC-OS compatability
5.5
| (This is an OBEY file)
5.5
IconSprites <Logi$Dir>.!Sprites
5.5
WimpSlot -min 500k
5.5
RMEnsure FPEmulator RMLoad <System$Path>Modules.FPEmulator
5.5
Dir <Logi$Dir>.Logistix
5.5
LGX
5.5
The use of “<System$Path>Modules.” to reach the FPEmulator and setting
up the system variable <Logi$Dir> allow proper transportability of the
application, and it can now quite happily be installed anywhere in the
directory structure on a hard disk. Clicking on a data file causes RISC-
OS to check if a command has been matched to that file type. The system
variable Alias$@RunType _xxx has to be set up for files of the type in
question. If it has not been set up then you will get the error message
“No run action specified for this file type”. This is exactly what
happens with Logistix and similar applications written before (and even
since!) RISC-OS made its appearance. The addition of the line Set
Alias$@RunType_ DFF Obey <Logi$Dir>.InitFile %%*0 in the !Boot file
corrects the original omission, along with the following Obey file.
5.5
The file described here can be used with most applications which require
keyboard input to load files, the exceptions being those which clear the
keyboard buffer on start up. In principle, the method is simple. An Exec
file is used containing the commands or keystrokes to be executed as
though they had been entered at the keyboard. Due to the fact that only
Obey files can process the Obey$Dir system variable, it could get a
little bit confusing.
5.5
One way around this is from an Obey file:
5.5
1. Collect the startup pathname from RISC-OS and put it in a system
variable.
5.5
2. Using an Obey file, create an Exec file (by using Spool and Echo)
containing all the commands which require to be carried out to start the
application and set it up for a load operation.
5.5
3. Echo the system variable containing the full pathname into the Exec
file.
5.5
4. Exec the file which has just been created.
5.5
There is one small problem. When trying to write to the FIRST file being
created by a *Spool operation, extraneous data flows into it before the
data! A dummy file is spooled first to get rid of this before the real
file is created.
5.5
Using !Edit, create a new Obey file as follows, (You may miss out the
comment lines, but please leave in the fact that it is public domain and
attributed to me.)
5.5
| “InitFile” − Public Domain by
5.5
| D.Potter 26/6/90
5.5
| Allows keyboard emulated loading
5.5
| by double-clicking on a data file
5.5
| in the RISC-OS desktop.
5.5
| Intended in this version for
5.5
| Logistix, but the principal will
5.5
| work for other programs which do
5.5
| not clear the keyboard buffer at
5.5
| startup.
5.5
| This is an Obey File. (Exec files
5.5
| do not allow passing of system
5.5
| parameters.) To pass actual
5.5
| commands to Logistix, (or any
5.5
| similar application), an Exec file
5.5
| must be used.
5.5
| The Exec file is built by this
5.5
| file, including the full path for
5.5
| the startup file that was clicked
5.5
| on.
5.5
| The !Boot file for app. must be an
5.5
| Obey file containing the commands
5.5
|      Set Logi$Dir <Obey$Dir>
5.5
|      Set Alias$@RunType_xxx Obey <Logi$Dir>.InitFile %%*0
5.5
| (As well as any other commands
5.5
| already there)
5.5
| Where xxx is the filetype for the
5.5
| data file (DFF for Logistix).
5.5
| Logi$Dir will be the directory
5.5
| where the application resides, and
5.5
| is automatically set up when the
5.5
| application’s !Boot is first seen.
5.5
| Note : the | characters at the
5.5
| start of the above lines should
5.5
| NOT be in the !Boot file!
5.5
|
5.5
| Put the pathname information in
5.5
| temporary system variable Lload$
5.5
Set Lload$ %*0
5.5
| Clear extraneous data which
5.5
| appears when a file is written to
5.5
| at this stage by dummy spooling.
5.5
| This data is not needed here any
5.5
| more!
5.5
Spool <Logi$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Echo <Lload$>
5.5
spool
5.5
| Now create the actual Exec file
5.5
| which will run LGX and issue the
5.5
| commands.
5.5
Spool <Logi$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Echo || !LoadFile − Transient program built by InitFile
5.5
 (PD) by D.Potter 1990
5.5
Echo *Run <Logi$Dir>.!Run
5.5
|
5.5
| Send the Logistix load sequence −
5.5
| Note : NO SPACES in the sequence!
5.5
| /L = load, L= Logistix data file,
5.5
| <Lload$>= Full filename,
5.5
| A= All to be loaded  (You might
5.5
| want to use a different load
5.5
| sequence)
5.5
| (Where a return is required such
5.5
| as after the filename here,
5.5
| simply start a new Echo statement
5.5
| for the next command.)
5.5
|
5.5
Echo /LL<Lload$>
5.5
Echo A
5.5
|
5.5
| Close the file
5.5
Spool
5.5
|
5.5
| Set its file type
5.5
SetType <Logi$Dir>.!LoadFile Command
5.5
|
5.5
| Lose the temporary system variable
5.5
UnSet Lload$
5.5
|
5.5
| And run the file just created!
5.5
Exec <Logi$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Save the above file as InitFile in the !Logistix directory.
5.5
Now click on the !Boot file in the !Logistix directory to set the system
variables. (You won’t always have to do this, as the !Boot file will be
run the first time you open the directory containing !Logistix. You only
need to do it at this time because you have been messing about with the
files, and the !Boot file may be different now than when it was last
run.) Clicking on any Logistix data file will now load Logistix and the
data file ready for use. You will still have to set up any default
prefixes etc.
5.5
It is not possible to do this automatically with a simple file such as
the above, because the full pathname would require to be split up to
provide the path to your file directory minus the filename. i.e. you
would require string handling facilities such as in Basic.
5.5
Note: The Logistix application itself still sets the CSD to the Logistix
directory within the !Logistix application directory. Implementing a
fully RISC-OS compatible version would require rewriting of the actual
coded LGX file, which is not possible without both the source code file
and the full approval of both Acorn and Grafox.
5.5
Other applications requiring a parameter block in memory − Other
programs (in Basic) written before RISC-OS, which will autoload a data
file at startup if a parameter block is set up in memory, could be made
to auto load using a version of the following routine. Again, this
builds an exec file which is run in Basic, using simple string handling
to split off the filename from the full pathname.
5.5
This example file was built to implement auto loading under RISC-OS on
an old BBC program which was written for DFS, and without re-writing
could not handle full pathnames, therefore it includes a line to set the
current directory to the application directory.
5.5
Note: This particular version works due to Basic being selected during
the execution of the Exec file and the memory accessible to both the
file and the program is that assigned by the selection of Basic. Any
other programs (e.g. integrated packages) which are to use the shared
parameter block must (obviously) use the same memory, so must not move
out of Basic (return to the desktop) in between the programs, but simply
chain each other.
5.5
This actual file will be irrelevant to most users, but it does show a
method of getting around the conversion of system variables to actual
data therefore easing the amount of work involved in conversion of BBC B
and Master programs to Archimedes. I know that re-writing the appli
cations might be more sensible, but this is aimed at people who know how
an application works, but didn’t write it in the first place!
5.5
|    “Autoload”
5.5
| A Customised version of “InitFile”
5.5
| −  Public Domain by D.Potter
5.5
|                             7/7/90
5.5
|       —— Information ——-
5.5
| Allows parameter block loading by
5.5
| double-clicking on a data file
5.5
| in the RISC-OS desktop.
5.5
| Intended in this version for the
5.5
| upgrade of an old BBC/Master
5.5
| program called Datbase, but the
5.5
| principal should work for other
5.5
| Basic programs which when started
5.5
| up check a parameter block in
5.5
| memory, and if found to be valid,
5.5
| will load the file referred to in
5.5
| the block.
5.5
| eg. Old “Integrated” suites of
5.5
| programs which allow files to be
5.5
| left as active or current for each
5.5
| program in the suite.
5.5
|
5.5
| This is an Obey File.
5.5
| An Exec file is built by this file
5.5
| including the filename for the
5.5
| startup file that was double
5.5
| clicked on.
5.5
| The !Boot file for app. must be an
5.5
| Obey file containing the commands
5.5
|       Set DatBa$Dir <Obey$Dir>
5.5
|       Set Alias$@RunType_xxx Obey <DatBa$Dir>.AutoLoad %%*0
5.5
| (As well as any other commands
5.5
| already there)
5.5
| Where xxx is the filetype for the
5.5
| data file. (DatBa$Dir will be set
5.5
| to the directory where the program
5.5
| & this file reside when the !Boot
5.5
| file is run)
5.5
|
5.5
| Put the full pathname information
5.5
| in system variable DBload$
5.5
Set DBload$ %*0
5.5
| Clear extraneous data which
5.5
| appears when a file is written to
5.5
| at this stage by dummy spooling.
5.5
| This data is not needed here
5.5
| anymore!
5.5
Spool <DatBa$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Echo <DBload$>
5.5
spool
5.5
|
5.5
| Now create the actual Exec file
5.5
| which will run the program and
5.5
| load file.
5.5
Spool <DatBa$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Echo || !LoadFile − Transient program built by AutoLoad
5.5
 (PD) by D.Potter 1990
5.5
Echo *Basic
5.5
Echo REM this particular application requires the CSD to be it -
5.5
Echo *Dir <DatBa$Dir>
5.5
Echo REM The startup parameter block for this application
5.5
 is at &F000, with
5.5
Echo REM the filename held at &F100, any conditions for
5.5
 printing at &F110,
5.5
Echo REM the record number to display at start up held in R%,
5.5
Echo REM and HIMEM held in H%
5.5
Echo HIMEM=&F000
5.5
Echo H%=&F000
5.5
|    Echoing a system variable
5.5
|    causes it to be converted to
5.5
|    the real data.
5.5
Echo F$=“<DBload$>”
5.5
Echo REM Split off the actual filename itself (This
5.5
 particular example is
5.5
Echo REM for conversion of a BBC B/
5.5
Master program which
5.5
 has restricted
5.5
Echo REM filename length, and therefore can’t handle
5.5
 full pathnames)
5.5
Echo REPEAT:F$=MID$(F$,INSTR(F$,“.”)+1):UNTIL INSTR(F$,“.”)=0
5.5
Echo $&F100=F$ : $&F110=“”:R%=1
5.5
Echo MO.12
5.5
Echo CHAIN“DATBASE”
5.5
|
5.5
| Where a return is required after a
5.5
| command such as L for load, simply
5.5
| start a new Echo statement for the
5.5
| next command − a return will be
5.5
| put in.
5.5
|
5.5
| Close the file
5.5
Spool
5.5
|
5.5
| Set its file type
5.5
SetType <DatBa$Dir>.!LoadFile Command
5.5
|
5.5
| And do it!
5.5
Exec <DatBa$Dir>.!LoadFile
5.5
Douglas Potter, Glasgow
5.5
•   Oak SCSI on A5000 − Using the ‘free’ menu option on a SCSI disc on the
iconbar doesn’t make use of the new Free module in the RISC-OS 3 ROM. To
correct this, include the following line in your hard disc boot file :
5.5
Set Alias$Free ShowFree -FS scsi %0
5.5
That’s all there is to it. Now, whenever you select ‘free’ from the SCSI
menu, a Free window pops up. The ‘%0’ picks up the device (disc drive)
name. Should you then subsequently wish to use Free from the command
line, use :
5.5
%Free [<disc spec>]
5.5
Typing ShowFree at the command line (with no parameters) reports the
command syntax.
5.5
David Lenthall, London
5.5
•   Refilling ink cartridges − We have, in past issues, published comments
about refilling inkjet cartridges with various types of ink. Tord
Eriksson sent in another such comment a while ago but I didn’t publish
it. He now writes....
5.5
Remember my recommending using water or fountain pen ink to keep your
printer going when your ink supply is gone? You didn’t publish it
(sensibly enough!) and I ran into deep trouble with it. I thought the
printhead was a goner (and messed it up further...), as the printer
didn’t work properly. After buying a new £100 head, with no improvement,
I found out that the reason you shouldn’t refill the cartridges is that
air easily leaks into the paint container if you disconnect it many
times (as when injecting ink) because the membrane gets worn. This means
that suction isn’t up to specification and you get uneven paint
delivery.
5.5
You may publish this as a warning − water does not harm a Canon BJ-what-
ever printer − but the side-effects can be very troublesome! I could
have spent the £100 on something more sensible!!!    Tord Eriksson,
Sweden  A
5.5
Impression Hints & Tips
5.5
•   Function key changes (cont’d) − In addition to Michael Ben-Gershon’s
excellent hint in Archive 5.2, p.12: Why not go the whole way and put
all those styles (like those fonts you use regularly to enhance your
texts) into your Impression default document, after you have assigned a
function key to each of them?
5.5
There are quite a lot of possibilities; in addition to those fields on
the function key strip that are quite empty, you can remove the default
styles you may not need (like hanging indent) and if there are some of
those ten scales offered which you never use, you can simply take over
those keys for your own styles.
5.5
You will find that the editable field which allows you to define a
keyboard short cut is slightly unusual: It accepts only certain entries
(function keys, <Shift>, <Return>,..), and it is not necessary to delete
the existing content with <Ctrl-U> − just click in the box, enter the
new combination and click on OK. (Don’t press <Return>, because that
simply means that the short cut for your style is the Return key!)
5.5
Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.5
• Sprite files in Impression − Kevin Beales told us (Archive 5.4 p5)
about Impression’s ability to scale pictures in Draw format. In this
context, he forgot to mention something even more remarkable: Impression
can also scale sprites! This works in exactly the same way as he
described.
5.5
Of course, due to the well known problems of jagged edges/loss of
detail, you shouldn’t scale up or down too much; but if you have a
sprite that is just slightly too big or too small for its intended
place, then this feature of Impression is certainly extremely useful!
5.5
Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.5
•   Illustrated Impression documents − I often include sprite and draw
files in my Impression documents (for test papers and the like).
5.5
One minor problem is that one can’t really edit those graphic frames in
an Impression document. Therefore, to have the corresponding files
always on hand, I save them into the document’s directory (after opening
a window on this directory by <shift>-double clicking).
5.5
This is one more reason for buying Compression: A typical sketch I make
with DrawPlus is reduced from about 6k to about 2 kbytes. A screen shot
made of an oscilloscope application I use takes up 100 kbytes; Compres
sion reduces this to just about 5k bytes (!). This means that even
pictures that appear in several documents don’t clog up the hard disk
too much, if you always save them together with the documents they
appear in.
5.5
(Surely, though, the Draw files are already in the Impression document
directory? Why not edit them directly from there? Two drawbacks, I
suppose... you don’t know which file is which because they have names
like Story2 and Story4 (but you could identify them if you have full
info set in the filer window because of their size) and secondly the
changes to the Drawfiles are only displayed then next time you load the
Impression document. Ed.)
5.5
(By the way: Can anyone tell me whether this hint will become obsolete
once Computer Concepts’ much vaunted Impulse II will be available, that
is, whether you will then be able to open a graphic file saved somewhere
by clicking on a graphic frame in an Impression document?)
5.5
Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.5
•   Tiny left hand margin − I often wondered why the default document on
the Impression disc has a left hand margin set on the base style of a
couple of millimetres. Because of my sense of symmetry, I reduced that
to zero as soon as I started using Impression. Surely, if you create a
new master page with, say, 10cm margins, you don’t want the lefthand
margin to be 10.2cm?
5.5
Suddenly it dawned on me... yes, I know I’m slow... the reason for the
small lefthand margin is to make it easier to position the cursor to the
left of the first character on a line. If, as I do, you have zero margin
in the base style, you’ve got to judge the mouse cursor fairly accu
rately otherwise it goes onto the paper margin and turns into a hand.
Well, yer pays yer money... but I think I’ll stay as I am. I have too
many documents to change them all. Ed.
5.5
•   Impression speed users’ tips − I find that if you can get into the
habit of using <adjust> reverse scrolling, it really does save time,
especially when I am laying out the magazine and the screen is cluttered
with windows. Just press <select> to scroll down and switch quickly to
<adjust> to go back up again without having to move the mouse and locate
the other end of the scroll bar − which could be under another window
anyway.
5.5
Also, <adjust> can be extremely useful, again with a cluttered screen,
for moving windows whilst keeping them where they are relative to the
other documents. It takes practice, but it speeds things up in the long
run. Ed.  A
5.5

Hints and Tips
5.6
•   Alt key problems − (I think I’ll have to write this in six-foot high
letters. We’ve said it several times, but people keep missing out on
it.) If your <alt>-keypad numbers don’t give the special characters you
think they should, type *UNPLUG and you’ll probably find that someone or
something has unplugged the InternationalKeyboard module. If so, do an
RMREINIT InternationalKeyboard and all will be well. Ed.
5.6
•   Copy key use − I had not realised until recently that the copy key has
the function of “delete right” (as it does in Impression) in most RISC-
OS applications.
5.6
•   Floppy backup – (I know it’s obvious but...) On a single floppy disc
machine, if you want to backup up floppy discs in one chunk, i.e.
instead of having to take the discs in and out twice, call up the task
manager and increase the “Next” memory allocation to 800k or more. If
you don’t, it loads 640k into memory and copies that and then copies the
last 160k separately.
5.6
•   External floppy drives on A5000 − There seems to be some concern and
confusion over connecting extra floppy drives to the A5000 and over the
fact that ADFS treats the drives in a different way from previous
Archimedes computers. Let me try to explain.
5.6
The A5000 motherboard can access two internal floppy drives and two
external drives. However, many modern 3½“ drives can only be configured
as drive 0 or 1. Thus to allow a full complement of four drives, drive
selections 2 and 3 are transformed into 0 and 1 but on a separate ribbon
cable (as in a PC).
5.6
Here is the problem: If one internal drive is fitted (physical drive 0/
1) and an external drive is added (addressed as drive 3), then to access
the external drive you must ‘*configure floppies 4’, with the result
that you have two useless floppy drive icons!
5.6
The solution that Acorn has is: Logical to physical drive mapping,
whereby ADFS can be configured with two floppies but would access
physical drive 3 when requested to read from logical drive 1. In order
to achieve this, ADFS must determine which physical drives are present.
This is achieved after reset (or rmreinit) by performing a ‘restore’
operation on each physical drive and then testing for a track 0
indication from a functional drive. The following table depicts a
typical example:
5.6
     Physical Drive   Present    ADFS drive Nº
5.6
   0   −   −
5.6
   1   Y   :0
5.6
   2   −   −
5.6
   3   Y   :1
5.6
This has a benefit for production by permitting the single internal
drive to be physical drive 1, which is the default for the PC world, and
hence not requiring link changes. Note that the 82C710 controller fitted
to the A5000 has 48mA sink capability and therefore does not require a
buffer board to operate with 5¼“ drives fitted with 150R pullup
resistors.
5.6
Drive mapping was the main reason for accessing the floppy after a
reset, but once this approach was adopted, several other features were
possible.
5.6
(1) 40 track drive detection. MultiFS allows 40 track discs to be read
in 80 track drives but, if a real 40 track drive is fitted, the double
stepping mode is inhibited. This test is performed on all physical
drives detected and works by first seeking to track 44 (a 40 track drive
will block at track 40, 41 or 42) and then seeking to track 2 (42 step
pulses). A 40 track drive will indicate track 0 at completion. Thus, if
you have a 40/80 switchable drive, you should type ‘*rmreinit ADFS’
after changing mode to ensure ADFS knows about the change.
5.6
(2) During shipping, some floppy drives can have their heads shocked
beyond track 0 (negative track number). The 40 track drive detection
scheme ensures these drives will be recalibrated correctly.
5.6
(3) If you ‘*configure’ too many floppies, ADFS will only install the
number detected. Conversely if you ‘*configure’ too few drives, ADFS
will not use the excess physical drives (the physically greater drive
numbers will be ignored). Lastly, if the configured floppies is 0 then
ADFS will not attempt to select any floppies.
5.6
If you have configured the correct number of floppies, the extra time
spent ‘booting’ should normally be less than 250ms, that is 80 x 3ms
step pulses to detect a 40 track drive plus the time to initially
restore the head. Note that a configured 12ms step time is now trans
lated on an A5000 to 25ms to allow for very old/slow 40 track 5¼“ drives
sometimes found on prehistoric Beebs.
5.6
I think this should explain the different behaviour of ADFS on A5000.
(Could this also explain why the A5000 floppies seem slow compared to my
A540? Ed) However, if you are trying to connect 5¼“ drives to the A5000,
one other factor needs to be taken into account. Unless they are
modified, 5¼” drives cannot be mixed with 3½“ drives on the same ribbon
cable because of differences in pin out of the ‘disc changed’ and
‘ready’ signals. To work correctly on the internal drive connector, pin
34 must present the ‘disc changed’ signal (or be disabled) and pin 2
carries the density select from the FDC.
5.6
Therefore connect the 5¼“ drive on the external (middle) socket and make
the following link changes to the A5000:
5.6
LK18 (north and west of socket) in the West position (viewed from front
of m/c); LK19 (north and east of socket) should be removed (park the
jumper on the centre pin only); LK21 (south and west of socket) should
be removed (park the jumper on either pin).
5.6
These links only affect the external socket. To give the full informa
tion on it.
5.6
LK18 selects logic hi (west) or logic lo (east) for the high density
signal from the FDC
5.6
LK19 selects ‘density’ to drive (west) or ‘disk changed’ from drive
(east) or neither (removed) on pin 2 of drive interface
5.6
LK21 enables (jumper fitted) the disc changed signal from pin 34 of the
drive interface.
5.6
Your drive should then be configured as drive 0 or 1, remembering to
*configure floppies 2
5.6
The above information was culled from a bulletin board by Brian Debenham
of Chelmsford. One of our other subscribers got some help from Steve
Picton at IFEL who referred him to pages 1-23 and 1-26 in the A5000
Technical Reference Manual and included a useful table for link changes
as follows:
5.6
Drive type   link 18   link 19
link 21
5.6
PC-AT 1M / 2M   1-2   2-3   1-2
5.6
PS/2 1M / 2M   2-3   2-3   1-2
5.6
older 1M types   *   1-2   2-
3
5.6
most 5¼ drives   *   don’t fit   2-
3
5.6
   * = either position or don’t fit at all
5.6
It’s difficult to get at these links, so a pair of long nosed pliers is
extremely useful.  Bob Potter, Bath.
5.6
•   Lemmings − Did you know that a ‘blocker’ can be released by hitting it
in the right place with a ‘digger’ and also by burrowing very closely
underneath with a ‘basher’?
5.6
•   MS-DOS users − Even in CGA emulation, the latest emulator screen
updates can be very slow. However, some of the new utilities (like EDIT)
have a ‘switch’ to allow faster CGA updates so...
5.6
EDIT MYFILE.TXT /G
5.6
will edit the file with quicker screen updates (/G means “switch G”). In
true Archimedes style, HELP <command> now gives the syntax and meaning
of commands (about time, too!).  Paul Bamberger, Hinckley.
5.6
•   !MultiFS bug (with PCEmulator 1.70)? − Those of your readers using the
latest version (1.70) of the PCEmulator on RISC-OS 2 may be interested
in the following problem which I found recently. I have reported it to
Acorn, but have not had response yet. I understand that users of RISC-OS
3 need not use !MultiFS with the PCEmulator because of their different
disc handler, so they need not read further into this hint.
5.6
Following the correspondence in Archive about how to shut down a hard
disc reliably (See Archive 5.1 p26 ‘The Engineer Speaks’.) I now type
*SHUTDOWN just before turning off the power on my A540. After loading
!MultiFS on the icon bar, and then quitting it again, I found that when
I typed *SHUTDOWN, sometimes it just hung, sometimes I got an error
message, something like “Address exception at &01889 CE0”, and then I
could do nothing until after resetting the Archimedes, (<ctrl-break>
would not work). After the reset, *SHUTDOWN normally worked as usual,
occasionally, I had to turn off the power to reset it.
5.6
After a little research I found that when !MultiFS quits, it removes the
MultiFS module, but leaves MultiFS in the list of filing systems held by
‘FileSwitch’. Thus when *SHUTDOWN is trying to shut down all filing
systems, it cannot cope with MultiFS as the module is no longer loaded.
5.6
You can check which filing systems are known to ‘FileSwitch’ with the
following BASIC program:
5.6
 10 REM >FScheck  test which filing
5.6
 systems exist
5.6
 20 PRINT“Number Name”
5.6
 30 @%=6:DIM fsname% 20
5.6
 40 FOR F%=3TO255
5.6
 50 SYS “OS_FSControl”,33,F%,fsname% ,21
5.6
 60 L%=−1:REPEAT:L%+=1
5.6
 70 UNTIL fsname%?L%=0
5.6
 80 IFL%>0 fsname%?L%=13:PRINTF%“ ” $fsname%
5.6
 90 NEXT
5.6
To make ‘FileSwitch’ forget about MultiFS use the program below:
5.6
  10 REM >DelMultiFS  delete multifs filing system
5.6
  90 REM  see whether MultiFS is still loaded, if not, exit
5.6
 100 SYS “OS_FSControl”,13,“MultiFS” ,0 TO ,F%,T%
5.6
 110 IF T%=0 END
5.6
 120 REM  next line removes MultiFS
5.6
 130 SYS “OS_FSControl”,16,“MultiFS”
5.6
 140 END
5.6
While reporting this problem to Acorn, they gave me a very helpful
statement of the essential differences between the various ways of
closing down a hard disc system, which I feel sure they will not mind my
passing on.
5.6
*SHUTDOWN closes all open files on all filing systems, logs off all file
servers, causes hard discs to be parked.
5.6
*DISMOUNT closes all files, unsets directories and parks the given disk
(The currently selected drive on the current filing system is assumed if
this command is given without specifying the disc.)
5.6
*BYE closes all the files, unsets directories and parks the hard discs
on the currently selected filing system.
5.6
So you see the engineer was quite right, they are different. It depends
what your current disc is, and only the *SHUTDOWN parks the disks on ALL
the filing systems.   Kate Crennell, Didcot.
5.6
•   Mysterious error message from Hard Disc Companion II − In Archive Vol
5.4 page 3 you described the new version of the program from Risc
Developments. I upgraded from my old version recently and found that the
new version does not allow comments in the ‘Ignore’ part of the file
used to specify which directories and files are not to be backed up. I
found this a very useful feature of the previous version, and I should
like any other users who regret its passing to join me in asking Risk
Developments to put this feature back as soon as possible.
5.6
This is mildly annoying, but I found a more serious problem. The first
time I used the ‘Hard Disc Companion II’ it worked beautifully, but the
second time, it would not load onto the icon bar, instead I got the
usual ‘traffic sign’ warning window and a message “File not found at
line 49”. Neither the !Boot nor the !Run files had 49 lines in them. The
program is not written in Basic, so it has no line numbers. I eventually
found that since making my first full backup and trying to do the next
incremental backup, I had deleted one of the files which I had previ
ously said I wanted to ‘ignore’ in the ‘Choices’ file. Luckily, it is
possible to edit the ‘Choices’ file with !Edit, so I just took out that
line. I have reported this error to RISC Developments and they said they
hope to make the error message more informative and tell you the name of
the file which is missing.  Kate Crennell, Didcot.
5.6
•   Paper for inkjets − I have a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 500 inkjet
printer. I have had great trouble finding good paper − the main problem
seems to be how absorbent the paper is; too absorbent and you will get
white patches in your black areas, but not absorbent and it will smudge
across the paper! If you go into most paper suppliers or printers, they
will be happy to give you various samples that you can try. Make sure
when you test the paper that you include very small text, thin and thick
straight lines at various angles, fine and thick curves, shading, large
black areas and bit mapped graphics. I have ended up using “Mustang
Copier − Long grain 80gsm” for my draft printing (as it is cheap − about
0·5 pence per sheet) and Croxley Script 100gsm for quality work (this
works out at about 3 pence per sheet but is water marked and has a nice
feel to it). There is probably better paper available − I have only
tried about twenty types.  Paul Bamberger, Hinckley.
5.6
•   Pandora’s Box problems? − There seems to be an incompatibility between
Pandora’s Box and Acorn’s AKA16 MIDI card (v3.14). Therefore, to load
the game, simply type: *RMKill Midi <return> before attempting to run
it.  Rob Brown, Surrey.
5.6
•   Psion Organiser and the Archimedes − The PD program !Download, written
by Emmet Spier, works very well with the Psion Organiser. To upload from
an Archimedes to an Organiser, I created an application called !Upload,
consisting of a suitable sprite and a !Run file as follows:
5.6
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
5.6
Filer_OpenDir serial:
5.6
C. Parker, Hong Kong.
5.6
•   Second internal 3½“ drive on the A5000 − I have fitted a second 3½”
drive internally on my A5000 with no problems at all.
5.6
The 3½“ drive fitted to the A5000 is a Citizen model OSDA20C. These do
not seem to be generally available in the UK. The Citizen OSDA39C is
easy to get and the ONLY difference (according to my experience and
Citizen UK) is that the drive light is a different colour. They are
generally available for about £75 + VAT but I got mine for £35 + £10
overnight delivery + VAT = £52.88 from:
5.6
CD2000, PO Box 1061, London Road, Slough, Berks SL3 8RE (0753−553366)
(fax 0753− 554661) who were super efficient and helpful.
5.6
There is a power plug already inside the A5000, so all you need is a 9“
drive cable. I have altered NO links or switches on the A5000. All I did
was set the tiny slider switch on the drive (next to the socket for the
data cable) to the opposite position on the drive already in the
machine. (Actually, this wouldn’t make any difference, as explained in
the section above about external floppies on the A5000. Ed)
5.6
You need 4 off 18mm spacers and 4 off screws (6BA I think) to fit the
drive to the bottom of the A5000 case. I used various spacers and nuts
to make up the 18mm and the drive has worked faultlessly. With RISC-OS 3
being so slow at any disc backing up or copying, the second drive is
essential.  Colin Thompson
5.6
•   Shrinking windows − A rare bug has just ‘bitten’ me while using
Impression. It’s not a bug in Impression, in fact, but a bug in RISC-OS
2. I was trying to change the size of the window on a large Impression
file by using the sizing icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the
window. The window jumped to about an inch high and would not go any
longer unless I clicked to open the window to full screen size − that
worked fine but as soon as I touched the sizing icon, the window
contracted! I tried various other Impression files but they were OK. I
restarted Impression, I cut and pasted the text, I saved the text and
created a new document but the window kept jumping back to this reduced
size! A phone call to CC revealed the reason. In RISC-OS 2, if the
window size is exactly 65,535 OS units in size, it gets confused and
loses the top bit of the window size number and thinks it’s a somewhat
shorter window. All I had to do was to create a new page in the document
and all was well. Alternatively, I could have changed the magnification
− even 1% change solves the problem. Presumably, the chances of it
happening are small (1 in 65,535?) and it has to be a large document −
mine was 28 pages displayed at 140% magnification.  A
5.6



•   Virus Kit v1.17 − Some people have had a few problems running version
1.17 of the virus killer, which is supplied on Shareware 17 and on the
Archive 5.5 program disc. Here are a few hints that might help you to
solve them:
5.6
(i) You should let your Archimedes see either a !System folder or !Scrap
file before running the !Killer application.
5.6
(ii) Some sticky backdrops clash with the !Killer application and so
should not be used at the same time.
5.6
(iii) If you have caught the module virus, it is possible for the
VProtect module in the !Killer application to become infected and so
prevent the program from being run.
5.6
• Acorn Virus Kit (latest) − Acorn have decided to make the latest
version of The Virus Kit (currently 1.26) available through Pineapple
Software rather than Acorn Dealers. This will allow them to keep tighter
control over the version being distributed and any updates. Contact
Pineapple Software for availability though distribution isn’t due to
start until May.
5.6
•   Wimp programming oddities? In the process of developing a wimp utility
in 100% machine code, I’ve come across a few things that other program
mers might like to look out for...
5.6
Menus − You can click the mouse in a menu one pixel above the first menu
item (and also one pixel below the last item). The result is that
Wimp_Poll returns a menu tree of zero length to your program i.e. the
first word is returned as −1. Once I had found this (it crashed my
program completely on random mouse clicks!) I tried it out on all the
programs I could find. The easiest test is to click the menu button and
then the adjust button without moving the mouse. Most commercial
programs weather it OK, just redrawing the menu. Some that don’t are
Menon 1.86 (which gives a “bad string” error), Ian Copestake’s IDEFS
(which comes up with “File ‘:4’ not found”), and the Cross-32 assembler
(which corrupts its menu title to “Crosr 32”).
5.6
Zooms − I’ve seen <adjust> reverse-scrolling mentioned several times,
but this applies (or should apply, anyway!) to just about anything with
arrow icons on it; notably the zoom-windows in Paint/Draw and all the
nudge arrows in Impression.
5.6
Variable Filetype Variables − Regarding David Lenthall’s article in
Archive 5.5 p 63, I’m using a user file type and have found that the way
round file type clashes is, in fact, already built into RISC-OS! You
don’t need to create extra system variables to shift file type numbers
about:
5.6
SYS “OS_FSControl”,31, “FileTypeName” TO ,,FileTypeNumber%
5.6
works equally well (now we just have to persuade everyone to do this
rather than using absolute file types in their programs). Fred Williams,
Cannock Wood  A
5.6



Impression Hints & Tips
5.6
This month’s hints and tips have been submitted by the following people:
Computer Concepts (CC), Richard Hallas (RH), Paul Beverley (PB), Patrick
Dowling (PD), Rob Sherratt (RS) and Steve Kirkby (SK). Many thanks to
all.
5.6
•   Hyphenation − If you want to be able to switch hyphenation on and off
easily, create a new style with <ctrl-F5>, give it a name such as
“hyphenated”, go down to the section where it deals with hyphenation,
switch hyphenation ON, go to the bottom and select an unused key short-
cut, say <ctrl-shift-F1> and save the new style. Now, to switch
hyphenation on for a given paragraph, select the paragraph (using <ctrl-
@> or quad-click with <select>) and press <ctrl-shift-F1>. Alterna
tively, if you want hyphenation on for most of the document, edit the
definition of the basestyle to have hyphenation ON and create a new
style, in the same way, whose only attribute is that hyphenation is OFF.
(As an aside, I have always found it difficult to find the line dealing
with hyphenation in the edit style window but I now know why. If you
click in the scroll bar three times, half of the word “hyphenation” is
visible at the bottom of the window. Click again and half is visible at
the top of the window − very easy to miss. So, either slide the scroll
bar or simply remember that it is only just visible at the edge of the
window.) − PB.
5.6
•   Ligatures − The word ‘ligature’ actually means ‘tie’ or ‘bandage’ and,
in typesetting, it refers to groups of two or more letters which are
joined together. In professional typesetting, several exist but the
Archimedes’ font system has just two: fi and fl.
5.6
Impression provides no handy short cut to access them, so if you wish to
use them, you need to do two separate searches through the entire text
as follows: bring up the find text box and enter fi into the first slot,
ensuring the Case sensitive switch is on. Then move the caret into the
second box, hold down <alt> and type 158 on the numeric keypad. A single
character will be entered which, when viewed in an outline font which
supports it, will appear as fi. For fl, repeat the process, but replace
all occurrences of fl (obviously) with character 159. Remember to do a
case sensitive search, since replacing Fi and Fl with the ligatures will
make them lose their capital letters.
5.6
Not all fonts (especially the PD ones) contain the ligatures, and some
PD fonts have them in the wrong places. You should replace the normal
letters with the ligatures after you have finished your document because
Impression’s spell-checker does not take them into account and will
query any words containing them. This month’s disc should contain a
system font file which I have created; it is identical to the standard
one, except that the previously undefined characters have been created
to look like the outline font characters they produce, so you can see
things like smart quotes and ligatures in Edit. It’s useful to load this
in the boot-up sequence. − RH.
5.6
•   Rotated text in Impression − Those lucky enough to own an A5000 will,
of course, have the new versions of Draw and Font Manager. Charles Moir,
director of Computer Concepts, suggests the following tip: since the new
Font Manager can rotate text by itself, create some text in Draw, and
import it into an Impression graphic frame. Dragging in the frame with
<adjust> should now rotate the text or you can set the angle precisely
in the ‘Alter graphics’ dialogue box. − RH
5.6
•   Hyphens and minus signs − Character 153 is very useful as a hyphen −
as you can see! In fact, it is really the minus sign (compare it with
the plus and you will find they are both the same width and their
crossbars are at the same horizontal position − see for yourself −+−+−);
the minus sign on the keyboard actually produces a short hyphen of the
sort which should be used to break words at the ends of lines. Anyway,
Impression provides handy access to this character: simply press <ctrl-
shift> in conjunction with the minus key. Characters 151 and 152 are the
en (–) and em (—) dashes respectively but, unfortunately, these have no
handy short cuts. − RS & RH.
5.6
•   Finding effects − If you want to be able to look through a document
and find where a particular effect occurs (as opposed to a style) all
you need to do is modify one line in the ‘UK’ file in the Resources
directory inside the !Impression application. As supplied, there is a
line that says “Cnf1:” − all you have to do is add an E making it
“Cnf1:E”. Next time you start up Impression, you will find that, when
you click on the arrow at the right of the search string box, it will
list not only the styles but also the effects. (In case you have
forgotten, I published a hint a year ago to explain that, to find a
particular effect or style, you should select it from the menu on the
search string box and follow it by an “@”. In other words, look for any
string following the place where that effect / style is first switched
on.) − PB.
5.6
•   Double scale − on later versions of Impression (about 2.14g onwards)
you will find that <shift-F12> no longer doubles the scale of the
current view. This is because <shift-F12> is used on RISC-OS 3 to toggle
the icon bar forwards and backwards. Double scale has now been moved to
<ctrl-shift-F11>. − PB.
5.6
•   Reverse characters − From 2.15 onwards, there is a keyboard short-cut
that I have been asking for since I started using Impression in earnest
− swap characters. If you press <ctrl-shift-Q>, the two characters
either side of the cursor swap places. This is very helpful because it
allows you to correct, very quickly, one of the most common tpying
errors! − PB
5.6
•   Single word spelling check − If you want to check the spelling of a
single word, you don’t need to select the whole word − just place the
cursor somewhere in the word and use <ctrl-W>. (I suppose everyone
except me knew that anyway!) I find that this speeds things up
especially if, as you are typing, you get to a word that you don’t know
how to spell; all you do is to have a go at typing the word and then,
before you press space or full-stop, press <ctrl-W>. If it is incor
rectly spelt, it is selected and the spelling box appears with,
hopefully, a guess at the right spelling. Click on “Replace” and away
you go.
5.6
Also, if, while you are typing, you get a spelling error bleep then, as
long as you haven’t started to type the next word, you can press <ctrl-
W> and correct the erroneous word. − PB.
5.6
•   Avoiding smart quotes − In the magazine, I like to use “smart quotes”
rather than plain quotes but they look a little funny on program
listings. If I want to paste in an article which contains programs as
well as straight text, I have a problem. Either I can switch smart
quotes OFF on the Preferences list and then edit them into the text or I
can leave it ON but edit them out of the listing. Then I had a brain-
wave (-storm?). I realised that the only time I use the Corpus font is
for program listings, so I never need to have smart quotes in that font.
All I did, therefore, (well, Adrian did for me) was to load Corpus into
FontEd (Careware 7) and edit the smart quotes so that they are the same
as the normal quotes. This can be done by editing each smart quote in
turn and copying the plain quote into its place. − PB.
5.6
• Rotating sprites − Draw-files can be rotated within Impression but, in
the normal course of things, not sprites, scanned pictures or bit-image
clip-art etc, unless Enhanced Graphics is switched on. This is hidden
away in Preferences, the one in the icon-bar menu, not the one in the
Document sub-menu. It is effective immediately and does not need to be
saved as a preference option. (When switched on it also automatically
switches on Greyscale Dithering but that can be switched off again if
not wanted.) Scanned images etc can then be rotated inside Impression by
entering an angle in the Alter Frame box. Remember also, when subse
quently reloading the file, to switch on the Enhanced Graphics again,
(if it’s not saved as a preference) as this won’t happen automatically.
− PD. You can also rotate the image by dragging within the graphic frame
using <adjust>. − RS.
5.6
• Spurious form-feeds − Using dot matrix printers (e.g. FX80) you may
get an extra form-feed between pages when printing a multi-page
document. The solution, (thanks to Alan Williams of Acorn, Melbourne,
for this one) is to set Scale in the ‘Print’ box to 97 or 98%. No
further problem! − PD.
5.6
• The underline trap − If you set up underline when creating a Style,
maybe for a sub-heading, do not try later to remove the underline with
<shift-ctrl-U>. Probably nothing at all happens but, sometimes, the
screen goes inverse and panic reigns until Reset is pressed! − PD. I
tried without success to repeat this problem with release 2.16, but
<shift-ctrl-U> caused no ill effect. It did not cancel the underlined
style either, which I guess is correct. − RS.
5.6
• ¼ ½ ¾ characters − These are available on <alt-188>, <alt-189> and
<alt-190> respectively in the main fonts − Trinity, Pembroke, Homerton
etc and several others but by no means all. Many fonts conform in
general, but with omissions, to the character set laid out in Appendix 5
of the manual. Most contain a bullet (•) on <alt-143>, (or <shift-ctrl-
H>) and a decimal point (·) on <alt-183>. The ones that don’t, Optima
and Hull for instance, have their bullet on <alt-183> and a different
set of characters in the row 128 to 159 including, for instance, TM. In
general, there seem to be two main variations for this row while System
is completely on its own. The characters in 160 to 255 appear more or
less standard across the board where they are present, though most fonts
omit some and some (PD and magazine fonts particularly) omit most if not
all the top-bit-set characters, save for the £ symbol. With <alt-215>
and <alt­247> it’s a toss-up whether you get × and ÷, or Œ and œ, or
nothing at all. (!Chars in Impression’s Utils directory is a useful
reference but much better is Beebug’s !CharSel which looks identical but
has a pointer showing the character number.) − PD.
5.6
• Fit lots − If you want to know or have forgotten what it means, it
does not appear in the index. You will find it on p.144 on the last, and
easily missed, page of ‘Print’. − PD.
5.6
• Frames − How to put a frame around an existing chunk of text? You
can’t! The only way is to move the chunk to the clipboard, create the
frame and then copy it back in. − PD. You can also create a number of
new frames which fill the area occupied by the old frame, click in the
old frame area and then press <adjust> in the new frames. Text will then
flow from the old frame into the new one and, if you stretch the new
frames so that there is no printable area left in the original frame,
the desired effect can be achieved. − RS.
5.6
• Master pages − It seemed perfectly logical to me to press ‘New
Chapter’ on the key-strip when I wanted to start a fresh document with
other than the default master page. I got the new master page all right
− as well as the default page I didn’t want and found no way to get rid
of it. (You need to move to the unwanted chapter, then use <menu>
<Edit><Delete Chapter>. − RS) You can alter the current chapter to use a
different master page by using ‘Alter Chapter’ which is not on the key-
strip. The key short cut is <shift-ctrl-A>. Be aware that if you are
viewing the master pages when trying to do this, you will find ‘Alter
Chapter’ greyed-out on the Edit sub-menu. The answer is to go back to
the document page, remembering which number master page is wanted and
try again there. Also note that if you want to use one of the three-
column master pages, (numbers 7 or 8) remember the default frames are
only Guides and you must create new frames before anything can be typed
in. − PD.
5.6
• Guide frames − It is really most provoking, having carefully followed
the manual to find the screen blandly refusing to operate as stated. Can
anyone suggest why my guide frames do not remain visible? I create them,
(sub-menu New Frame) on the document page or on the master page, click
elsewhere and they just vanish. They are not a lot of use if I can’t see
them, so which little hidden detail in the manual have I failed to
register, please? − PD. Guide frames are always positioned as the
rearmost (back) frame on the page. If you make sure all text /graphic
frames on the page are local frames (<menu><frame> <alter frame><make
local>) and then reduce these in size, you will see the yellow guide
frames that you had created. Guide frames are mainly of use when setting
up a master page, though. − RS. Am I missing something here? Can’t you
just make it visible by using <ctrl-F10> to alter the frame and changing
from a white background to transparent? − PB.
5.6
(By the way, I hadn’t come across the idea of turning a master frame
into a local frame. If you hadn’t either, read up in the Impression
manual on page 84 then have a play with it − it could prove a useful
facility. − PB)
5.6
• Font cache full error − Even with the cache set to a ridiculous size,
750k or more, this error recurred and anyway, isn’t the cache itself
supposed to clear enough space for a new font if necessary? I found that
some silly PD game had unplugged SpriteUtils module and restoring it
seemed to resolve the difficulty. It’s not only PD games that do this −
the demo version of Cataclysm sent out by Archimedes World unplugs
virtually everything including the Font Manager. Even a power off /on
will not restore unplugged modules. If you aren’t sure whether anything
has been unplugged, type *UNPLUG and it will list any unplugged modules.
− RS.
5.6
• Rule off errors − The Impression manual is a bit short on advice when
the package refuses to do what it should and it is totally silent on the
subject of errors. What do you do for instance when the machine throws
at you: “Overflow while transforming point, print aborted” ? I had been
trying to print a landscape document containing a few vertical rules.
Later, I noticed one of the rules slightly projecting beyond the edge of
the frame. I went to the Style Edit box and switched ‘Rule-off’ on, and
set it to 0pt. I must have done something right − the next time I tried,
it produced a perfect print-out! − PD
5.6
• Shift and control symbols − Patrick sent a detailed account of using
!FontDraw to generate a graphical representation of the <shift> and
<control> keys − as they appear in Impression menus − and then continued
to incorporate these into embedded frames at 30 or so points in his
text. He also asked if there was an easier way? − PD. Yes there is. Use
the Acorn Font Editor and David Pilling’s D2Font Drawfile to font
converter which is on the same disk as his Trace program (now available
through Archive for £6). You will end up with a new outline font which
can be used within Impression just like any other font and which can be
used within a style and assigned to a function key to turn it on and
off. If anyone has the time to do this, please would they send Archive a
copy of the resulting font for the magazine disk? − RS.
5.6
• Find within a group of frames − If the currently selected frame is a
group of frames then the <find text> menu option is unavailable. To make
it available, select a frame that does not contain a group and which
contains at least one letter, (or create such a frame and text character
if necessary). Then, to find or replace throughout the document
(including all grouped frames), turn on the <whole document> button in
the <find> dialogue box, and use find or replace as normal. − SK.

Hints and Tips
5.7
•   A5000 floppy drive problems − There have been a number of comments in
Archive about the slowness of the A5000’s floppy drive. Could this be
due to a bug which RISC-OS 3 has with the ADFS buffers. There was a note
with my machine when it was delivered saying that the ADFS Buffers
should be configured to zero due to a bug which causes occasional data
errors. Configuring thus makes the floppy drive incredibly slow during
copy operations with a track access taking more than 2 seconds. I
preferred to have the speed and I spoke to Peter Dunn of Acorn at an
Open Day in Glasgow recently who told me that the adfs buffers problem
had only appeared with the Acorn DTP and that it shouldn’t be a problem
with other programs like Impression. Indeed they had their A5000s
configured with ADFS Buffers set to 16k so I copied them.
5.7
Then just the other day, Impression 2.16 dropped through my letter box.
A couple of days later, I had two relatively complex newsletters to
typeset. The first crashed during a save operation, losing most of the
text. I thought ‘That will teach me to make back-up copies in future.’ I
remade the document successfully. The next job was done with two copies
on the hard disk, a main and a back-up. The main would auto-save and I
would make a back-up by adding a ‘b’ to the filename. Well into this
job, it crashed. Both copies were corrupted, so I gave up and returned
to version 2.14f. No further problems. A word with Computer Concepts and
they suggested that I return the ADFSbuffers to zero.
5.7
I’d be interested to hear if other A5000 and Impression users have had
similar or other experiences with their setup.  David Woods, Glasgow
5.7
•   ArcDFS and !65Host − If you try to use ArcDFS with the 6502 emulator,
you may get a “Bad DFS emulation” error. John Fletcher of Dabs Press
says: “This is because the manual does not fully explain how to use
ArcDFS with the emulator. The way to access a DFS disc, is not to type
*DISC, but to type: *Dir dfs::<drive number>. You should also change
drive using the above command instead of *Drive.”  P Northing, Sheffield
5.7
•   Bringing windows to the front − To move a window to the front, you
must click on its title bar. This often involves moving other windows to
get to it. However, I have just discovered that clicking on the window’s
adjust size icon (bottom right) also brings the window to the front.
This ‘obvious’ hint may help prevent too much window shuffling!  R
House, Andover
5.7
•   Canon Bubblejets BJ300 & BJ330 − There are some undocumented features
on these machines that make cleaning and changing ink cartridges a bit
easier. The normal cleaning cycle is started by pressing the shift then
the cleaning keys. An extended cycle is started by pressing shift then
pressing and holding cleaning and then pressing shift again.
5.7
There is a function called reference aging which sprays ink all over the
printed area of the paper. Be warned though that this uses a lot of ink
and the ink is very difficult to remove from hands, etc so have a poly-
bag handy to pop the sheet in!! The sequence can be stopped by turning
the printer mains off. Press shift then press and hold cleaning and then
press card and paper together and release cleaning.
5.7
I’ve been using “Report” photocopier paper in my BJ300 and the print
quality is superb.  Ned Abell, Kidderminster
5.7
• Changing the file allocation of a hard Disk − My A410/1 is equipped
with an internal 40M ST506 hard disk (NEC). Recently I added an external
SCSI hard disk (cached Morley “Cheetah”, 100M, fitted with a Rodime
R3000 disk). When I compared those two drives, I made some very
unexpected discoveries.
5.7
I copied the entire content of the internal disk (39M) to the new drive,
because I wanted to soak test the old disk. To my amazement the SCSI
“free” window showed that I had already used up no less than 62M of
space! I phoned the (very friendly and competent) Morley help line, and
they told me that larger drives usually were formatted differently from
small ones (with larger blocks), because this improved their speed
performance.
5.7
They advised me that if the extra space was more important to me than
speed, I should use the formatter on the Morley support disk to alter
the size of allocated blocks. I fiddled around with this application and
found that it is indeed possible to change the space needed for a file
quite considerably; in the configuration that I finally chose, the 39M
from my old disk actually occupied slightly less space − below 38M!
5.7
What is more, the speed tester showed a slightly worse performance, but
any improvised speed tests I did myself (like copying 3M of files from
RAM disk to hard disk and back) showed these differences to be quite
negligible.
5.7
So: If you buy a new (second) hard disk, it might be a good idea to
check how it administrates data, before you do any serious work with
it!  Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.7
•   DFS reader and A5000 − When the DFS reader (Shareware 31) is run on
the A5000, it fails with “Unknown or missing variable at or about line
260”. This can be cured by adding the following line:
5.7
215 large% = TRUE : full% = TRUE
5.7
M Pullin, Cheltenham.
5.7
•   Econet interface faults − We had a big mains spike that ‘took out’
twelve BBC B Econet interfaces. At first, the Masters and Archimedes
machines seemed OK but further investigation proved otherwise. The
findings may prove useful to others.
5.7
There are two types of Acorn Econet cards, (plus the XOB one) an old one
and a newer one. All the machines with the old type of cards seemed fine
after the spike but none of the newer ones worked! Our first thought was
that they were zapped by the spike. However, on closer examination, when
we disconnected the old type machines from the network, the ones with
the newer type card started to work. Looks like some of the old type
cards are faulty but still working. The old style cards definitely seem
more fault tolerant than the new ones! A faulty old style card can still
work but it will stop other machines with the new style cards from
working!  Dave Leckie, Fort William.
5.7
•   HP Deskjet 500 & RISC-OS 3 − Here is a tip about the RISC-OS3 printer
drivers and the HP Deskjet 500. The graphics margins given in the HP
configuration for the A4 (Generic Deskjet) are a bit conservative.
5.7
   Top − 12.5mm
5.7
   Bottom − 19.9mm
5.7
   Left − 5.0mm
5.7
   Right − 7.0mm
5.7
From the manual and from my own experiences of using the printer and
seeing where it can print to, I have come up with new values which are:-
5.7
   Top − 1.5mm
5.7
   Bottom − 10.5mm
5.7
   Left − 3.2mm
5.7
   Right − 3.2mm
5.7
I have used these values very successfully ever since I got the machine.
The RISC-OS 2 printer driver for the Laserjet/Deskjet has problems when
it has different values for top and bottom margins because it prints out
in landscape mode in the opposite direction to the way the margins have
been set. i.e. it prints out last, the part of the sheet which is shown
by the print borders to be the top! RISC-OS 3 has sorted this out
allowing the maximum printing area to be available. It can be very
important when using Impression’s ‘fit lots’ facility to reduce pages to
have as much room as possible as margins are reduced as well.  David
Woods, Glasgow
5.7
•   Paper for inkjets − I too have had much trouble obtaining good paper
for my HP Deskjet 500. The manual recommends photocopy paper and that
you should use the paper’s correct side (as marked by the arrow on the
end of the packet). I have found photocopy paper to be poor no matter
what side I try. The results usually come out ‘furry’ where the
absorbency of the paper has caused the ink to creep by capillary action.
Prior to the type of ink sold by Hewlett Packard being changed to a more
permanent one, some photocopy paper gave white patches within areas of
black which I think was due to a degree of waxiness repelling the ink
from spots but this phenomenon happens no more.
5.7
(Acorn Inkjet owners can also benefit by using the HP DJ 500 cartridges
as they are the same fitting. Ed.)
5.7
The new ink seems to give good results with some types of paper but
rather ‘furry’ with others. Interestingly, I found that Croxley Script
80gsm, similar to that mentioned by Paul Bamberger in Archive to be very
poor. I have settled on two paper types for ‘cheap and good’ and
‘expensive and excellent’ printouts. The cheaper paper is ‘Plus Fabric
70gsm’ from Empire Fine Papers at about £7.50 for 500 sheets. This gives
consistently sharp, even results although it does wrinkle if there are
large printed dark areas.
5.7
For printouts intended for further copying by a photocopier or at a
printing company (or for making letterheads for small businesses) I have
found that a type of paper generally described as ‘laid’ paper,
available in various brands, is excellent, costing about £15 a box. It
is smooth on one side and has a fine, ribbed pattern on the other. Both
sides accept ink very well and you often see the paper used for
prestigious company printed letterheads. I have used both ‘GB Classic,
White Laid, 100gsm’ and ‘Conqueror, High White Laid, 100 gsm’.  David
Woods, Glasgow
5.7
• Printing on labels or A3 paper − Most RISC-OS printer drivers have
difficulty with anything other than A4 paper. Although they have a page
length setting, they do not tell the printer the page length to expect,
so the printer still assumes that it has 11“ or A4 size paper (usually
determined by a DIP switch). This is fine when printing on individual
sheets or when using a sheet feeder to feed labels or envelopes but it
causes serious problems with tractor feed labels or with A3 paper.
Imagine printing on 1” tractor feed labels from Impression. The
Impression master page must be defined to be 1“ length and, similarly,
the printer driver’s page length must be set to 1”. The first label is
printed and the printer driver sends a form feed character telling the
printer to advance to the next form (page). Unfortunately, the printer
driver assumes that it is using 11“ paper and feeds over the next 10
labels, simply because the printer driver did not define the printer’s
page length. Similarly, printing on A3 paper (using a Canon BJ330 for
example) fails because the printer thinks it is using A4 paper. The
solution is for the printer driver to pass on the page length setting to
the printer and this is a very simple change for Acorn to make.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to modify the page start and end strings
manually. With RISC-OS 2 drivers this can be difficult, but with RISC-OS
3 the printer driver editor allows it.
5.7
With an Epson compatible printer, the page length can be defined by
putting ESC,“C”,n in the page start string, where n is the page length
in lines (1/6“ per line). With an IBM compatible printer, an extra
ESC,“2” is needed on the end. Furthermore, it is sometimes necessary to
change the page end string which is often set to perform a printer reset
(ESC,“@” on Epson printers) after every page − this should be removed
completely. Note that these changes must be applied for each resolution
setting that is to be used and that a new printer driver file should be
saved with its name and type set appropriately to indicate that it is a
different version for a special page size.   Paul Skirrow, Ipswich
5.7
(Acorn are aware of the problem and have found at least a partial
solution − see the comments below, page 9. Ed.)
5.7
•   Mandelbrot bakeware − I have written a short PROC to improve Basil’s
Mandelbrot program (Archive 5.6 p57):
5.7
DEFPROCdebug
5.7
WHILE flour=flour+weevils
5.7
  REPEAT
5.7
    GETweevil
5.7
    BPUT# weevil ON blockA%
5.7
    BEAT blockB%
5.7
  UNTIL dead%=TRUE
5.7
  weevils-=1
5.7
ENDWHILE
5.7
ENDPROC
5.7
The variable declaration: Mouth_Open=FALSE is the best I’ve seen so far!
I have another for anyone who typed the program in:
5.7
Egg_on_face=TRUE.
5.7
Joseph Seelig, Harrow.
5.7
•   Ten tips for larger memories − The article on better use of available
memory (Archive 4.6 p52) set me thinking and here’s a tip for those of
us who don’t have a hard disc. I have 4M in a 310, two 3½“ internal
floppies and an external 5¼” drive.
5.7
If you look at what you use your computer for, it breaks down into a few
task areas as well as playing games. I create a Task disk for each
activity and that sits in the 5¼“ drive and I have one each for DTP,
business and drawing. Each disc has !System, different !Fonts and the
appropriate applications that I can cram on using !Compression.
5.7
Each task disc has two Obey type files called !boot and startlist to get
everything up and running and here I put in a plug for the excellent
!DeskEdit utility from Beebug which allows even me to get this working
quickly.
5.7
Let’s look at the business Task disc which is called “LrgeBus1”.
5.7
The !boot obey file consists of one line...
5.7
Desktop-File adfs::LrgeBus1.$ .startlist
5.7
and clicking on this runs the second file called startlist. As you
probably know, if this Task disc were in drive 0 it could be set to auto
start each time the computer was turned on, by setting the disc to *OPT
4,3 and the computer to *Configure Boot.
5.7
The second obey file called startlist sets up the essential tasks that
you will need but some of these are squeezed on the disc under the
!Compression filing system. If you specify “cfs#adfs” as a filing system
to get them to load, the computer throws a wobbly so I set up two
aliases as the first lines of startlist.
5.7
Set Neds$Dir adfs::LrgeBus1.$
5.7
and
5.7
Set NedsCFS$Dir cfs#adfs:: LrgeBus1.$
5.7
you can then get the computer to find the bits you want by using:
5.7
<Neds$Dir>.!System
5.7
and to load various fixes found in the system modules directory into
memory like..
5.7
RMLoad<Neds$Dir>.!System.
5.7
modules.WimpUtils
5.7
and then to get !Compression up and running
5.7
<Ned$Dir>.!CFS
5.7
Now a word about !Fonts. I use Swiss as my main business font. You need
to edit the run file of !Fonts and put in a “desktop” command at the end
after “FontCat”or it will stop and ask you to press space. I also tailor
the run file after the line “Echo Font Manager 2.42 installed.” with the
lines
5.7
Echo Neds Business Fonts now available:
5.7
Echo
5.7
because I like to personalise things!!
5.7
Back in startlist, we can now run...
5.7
<NedsCFS$Dir>.!Fonts
5.7
which are compressed and then in a compressed directory called resources
5.7
<NedsCFS$Dir>.resources.
5.7
!PrinterDM
5.7
<NedsCFS$Dir>.resources.!Alarm
5.7
and anything else you need and the last line is
5.7
desktop
5.7
The whole process is very easy to achieve and each task disc can be
tailored. The drawback is that its a bit on the slow side and all my
fonts have to be uncompressed before I use them but I do set a large
Fontsize.  Ned Abell, Kidderminster
5.7
• Transferring PC files with the Emulator − It is true that the multi-
tasking PC Emulator does prevent access to the PC hard disc partition
while it is running and it is therefore necessary to quit the emulator
before a file created by a PC program can be read in RISC-OS. This is
because RISC-OS does not know whether the PC hard disc partition is in a
valid state or not (i.e. a PC program may be writing to an open file).
However, it is possible to transfer files between RISC-OS and the PC
emulator by using floppy discs. After the PC has written a file to the
floppy it may be necessary to dismount the floppy disc (using the menu
item) and re-open it by clicking on the floppy icon to make RISC-OS read
the directory again (otherwise it may not realise that it has been
changed). This works with RISC-OS 3, but should also work with any of
the various PC disc readers.  Paul Skirrow, Ipswich
5.7
•   Watford mouse − If you need to replace the plug on a Watford mouse
(old version) my experience may be useful. The original plug is moulded
onto the cable, and it took careful dismantling with a sharp knife to
discover where each wire went.
5.7
I purchased the replacement plug from Maplin Electronics (code JX19V
0.82p, page 177). This plug has three disadvantages; firstly it has no
cable strain relief, so you must be sure of your wiring, secondly, it is
extremely difficult to disassemble and thirdly you need to shave a small
amount from the front to fit it into the socket of an A310. (I don’t
think it would fit too well on an A3000!) The wire colours are as
follows (functions as on p469 of the A310 User Guide):
5.7
 Pin   Function   Colour
5.7
1   X Reference      white
5.7
2   Switch 1      yellow
5.7
3   Switch 2      red
5.7
4   0V return      brown
5.7
5   X Direction      green
5.7
6   5V supply      black
5.7
7   Y Reference      blue
5.7
8   Switch 3      orange
5.7
9   Y Direction      purple
5.7
M Angove, Caerphilly
5.7
•   Wonderland on SCSI − I’ve managed to get Wonderland to work on SCSI.
What you do is:-
5.7
Obtain the SCSI “fix”, which Archive will supply if you send them a
charity donation (minimum £2). However, it’s also on this month’s
program disc.
5.7
Run the INSTALL program on the “fix” disk, using the “fix” disk when
asked for disk “ONE”, then the original disk “TWO”, “THREE” and “FOUR”.
5.7
When the installation is complete, use !Edit to modify the “win”
application code. Look for the second occurrence of the text “adfs” and
replace it with “scsi”. (If you replace the first one, it all seems to
work until you save or restore a game position.)
5.7
To get it to work on SCSI with 1M memory you need to unplug more modules
than you would with ADFS, because SCSI, SCSIFiler and SCSIDirCache take
up some space. I find that I need to unplug:− Debugger, Draw, EcoNet,
FontManager, IIC, NetFS, NetPrint, NetStatus, PaletteUtil, Percussion,
RAMFS, RAMFSFiler, ShellCLI, SoundChannels, SoundDMA, SoundScheduler,
StringLib, SystemDevices, WaveSynth.
5.7
Mike Williams, London N16.
5.7
The following hints and tips are taken from the February Acorn Customer
Services Newsletter.
5.7
•   RISC-OS 2 printer drivers
5.7
1) We have had reports of the release 2 printer drivers producing the
following error message:
5.7
   “Invalid number of output bits”
5.7
This error is produced when you attempt to print a sprite that was
created in a 256 colour screen mode such as MODE 15 in a 16 colour mode
such as MODE 12. The solution to the problem is to print in MODE 15 if
this error occurs, or to print the sprite in the mode in which it was
created.
5.7
2) When attempting to load any of the many RISC-OS 2 desktop printer
drivers the following error message may be displayed:    “Filing
System or path ‘Printer:’ not present internal error xxxx”
5.7
The error is caused by one of the printer driver support modules
becoming unplugged from the operating system. To resolve the problem,
the first action to take is to find out which modules are unplugged.
This information can be found by typing the following command from the
command line:
5.7
*UNPLUG
5.7
It is then necessary to re-insert the modules that *UNPLUG has shown as
being unplugged with the following command:
5.7
*RMREINIT <ModuleName>
5.7
Once you have used *RMREINIT to re-initialise all the modules, you
should then perform a <ctrl-break> to ensure all the modules have
started correctly.
5.7
3) Printing labels on small page lengths can sometimes cause problems.
5.7
a) !PrinterDM (2.46) reads a system variable called PDriver$DMExtra at
the start of each print job and sends it to the printer before the
actual data stream. PDriver$DMExtra has to be set using GSTrans format
so, to set a page length of nine lines, you would use:
5.7
*SET PDriver$DMExtra |[C|I
5.7
You would use |[C|J for ten lines and |[C|K for eleven lines and so on.
This command can be executed explicitly from the command line (after
!PrinterDM has been loaded) or incorporated in the !Run file.
5.7
b) Set the (Graphics) clip window to the appropriate size from
!PrinterDM’s icon bar menu. If the stationery is continuous, you can
leave the top and bottom graphics margins set to zero.
5.7
c) Finally, you need to tell the Wordprocessor you are using, the page
size of each label.
5.7
•   RISC-OS 3 printer drivers − Loading RISC-OS 2 printer drivers into
Acorn A5000s with RISC-OS 3 can cause problems if an attempt is then
made to load the RISC-OS 3 !Printers application from the Applications 1
disc or directory if stored on the hard disc.
5.7
!Printers will report the error “!Printers requires PDriver 3.16 or
later”.
5.7
The error occurs because the RISC-OS 2 printer driver loads an older
PDriver module than 3.16. The solution to the problem is to type from
the command line.
5.7
*RMKILL PDriver
5.7
*RMREINIT PDriver
5.7
This will allow you to load the new !Printer application supplied with
RISC-OS 3 on the A5000.
5.7
•   Maestro − Version 1.75 has a problem where notes are displayed at
double-height in certain modes. This may be fixed in the field by
deleting or renaming the sprites22 and !sprites 22 files.
5.7
•   PC Emulator hints & tips
5.7
1) Deleting an unformatted or non-system PC Emulator hard disc partition
on an A5000.
5.7
RISC-OS 3 looks at the PC hard disc partition (DOSDisc, &FC8) as if it
were a filing system and therefore before it will delete the partition,
it must look inside to find out what files are there. To be able to
delete an unformatted partition it is necessary to fool the operating
system into believing that it is not a PC partition, by changing its
filetype. However, it is not possible to change its filetype from within
the desktop and the following information gives details of how to change
the filetype from outside the desktop. The file can then either be
deleted from the command line as shown below or from the desktop.
5.7
a) Press <F12> from the desktop to get the command line (*Prompt)
5.7
b) Type:
5.7
*SETTYPE ADFS::4.$.PC.Drive_C TEXT <return>
5.7
*DELETE ADFS::4.$.PC.DRIVE_C <return>
5.7
2) The Archimedes keyboard has a U.S. style PC layout. You should not
therefore use KEYBUK or KEYB UK in the Autoexec batch file. Also, the £
sign on an Archimedes keyboard doesn’t exist on a PC keyboard, so to get
a £ sign you will need to enter its ASCII code 156:
5.7
Under the emulator, hold down the ALT key and type 1 5 6 on the numeric
keypad. (Remember to have Num Lock on).
5.7
3) Configuration − ‘Startup Text’ − The startup text is only intended
for use with a hard disc partition, not for floppy based systems. The
problem is that the first characters of the startup text are lost
because they are taken as a reply to the ‘Insert DOS Boot Disc and press
any key’ message which you get when running the emulator from floppy
discs.
5.7
The startup text should also not be used unless you have an Autoexec.Bat
and Config.Sys file. If you do not have these, the startup text is taken
as a reply to confirming the date.
5.7
4) PC Software compatibility − there are some screen redraw problems
with WordStar 4 using the !PCEmS emulator. However, no problems have yet
been reported using the large !PCEm emulator.  A
5.7
5.7



Impression Hints & Tips
5.7
There’s no shortage of hints and tips this month and there is a special
emphasis on mail merging, printing and uses of Impression’s “save
graphics” facility.
5.7
•    Mailmerge (1) − There have been some queries about mail merging
with Impression, so Rob Sherratt contacted Computer Concepts to outline
the problems. Rob wrote, “I have tried to use the Business Supplement
(Importer) and Impression to mailmerge a set of addresses to generate a
sheet of laser labels where each label contains successive fields from
the database. I have come to the conclusion that it can’t be done at
present − unless you tell me otherwise! I can print, say, a sheet of 24
labels for the same addressee (using a variety of methods) − but I
cannot print 24 labels for different addressees unless I enter the data
manually. Isn’t this a normal requirement for mailmerge programs?
5.7
“It seems to me that Impulse’s ‘Merge’ command causes Impression to do a
‘Delete then merge’ operation, coupled with a small change to Importer’s
user interface to toggle the ‘Delete vs Duplicate’ option on and off. As
well as, or instead of this, you might like to consider adding a new
pair of methods to Importer – :Importer Next record and :Importer
PrevRecord – which would allow the user to build a composite ‘24-up’
merge template where each frame in the template might contain the
following merge commands;
5.7
   :Importer Getfield 1
5.7
   :Importer Getfield 2 etc
5.7
   :Importer Next Record
5.7
On receiving the Next Record message, the Importer application would
reset its field counter to 1 and would scan forward for the start of the
next record.”
5.7
Charles Moir agreed that !Importer would not allow different names and
addresses to be imported into different frames and thought that Rob’s
new command to move onto the next record would work, but again that’s
another improvement that will have to wait for Impression 3 (if that is
the correct title!).
5.7
However, Charles did have this useful suggestion, “whenever we have had
a requirement to produce labels in this fashion (e.g. for mailing the
Archimedean magazine) we have gone about it in a different, and I would
suggest, a simpler way. First we create a master page that has separate
frames for each label. These are then linked together so they all form
part of one flowing story, so text will flow from one frame to another.
Presuming you have the name and address list in ASCII form with some
identifier between records − all you do is drop the file into the first
frame. All the names and addresses then flow into successive frames,
creating new pages as required. If the names and address are fixed
length records it is only a matter of making sure the label is the
correct size to hold exactly one record and it should all format
correctly. Even if the records are not the same length all that is
required is a single search and replace operation to replace the record
separator with a
5.7
 command to make sure each new record starts in a new label.
5.7
(If you use label sheets that have no selvedge, i.e. the whole A4 page
is divided into exactly 24 equal spaces, you just create one simple
master page whose size is just 70mm × 37.1mm. Then all you do is ensure
you have “ignore page borders” set and “fit lots” and it prints
beautifully. Ed.)
5.7
“The only disadvantage of this system is that it loads all the names and
addresses in one go. However, we use this system for mailing 10,000
names and addresses on a standard 4M machine and so space is not a
problem. In fact, I don’t think something like !Importer would cope with
anything like that number of records satisfactorily. This method has the
advantage that you can see and edit each record individually if
required, and you can print any required range of pages or multiple
copies, etc.”
5.7
•    Mailmerge (2) − Stuart Bell had more modest needs. He wanted to
send a basic letter with a customized “Dear ...” beginning, and an
address in a box at the bottom of each letter. His solution to create
the skeleton letter as a master page <ctrl-F2 − Edit − New Master Page>.
In this master page type everything, except the names for the salutation
(the “Dear . . .” bit). Then create two frames on the master page, one
for the name, the other for the address box, and make text flow from one
to the other.
5.7
Now, leave the editing of the master page and return to your document.
Alter the chapter so that your newly created master page is the one for
that chapter and you will see your letter appear, with boxes for the
name and address. Type in the name of the first person, and their
address, using <ctrl-G> to advance to the next frame, as required.
Impression will generate new pages as necessary, each containing the
same letter.
5.7
In order to make the salutation look neat, you may need to move the
‘name’ frame on the master page, to line up “Dear” with the name. Check
this with a large scale view of your document.
5.7
Now, the whole point of a mailing list is not to send one letter, but to
make it easier the next time you write to the same people. To change
your letter, save the original document under another name – e.g. if
originally “Letter1”, save it now as “Letter2” to avoid losing the
original letter. Then simply change the letter on the master page of
Letter2 to produce your new letter. Alternatively, create another new
master page and alter your chapter to use it.
5.7
To produce a simple listing of your mailing list, create a master page
with many frames stacked in a vertical line (or any other close pattern
for that matter). You will then have a simple list of the names and
addresses in a tabular form.
5.7
I know that most mailmerge packages offer more complex facilities than
this penny-pinching approach, such as selecting certain names out of a
list. However, if your needs are as basic as mine, then it certainly
beats the laborious task of producing twenty (or two hundred) virtually
identical letters manually!
5.7
• A merge program? − On a related note, identical pleas from Peter
Blenkinsop and P Closier: “has anyone written a merge program for
Impression?” Peter has several two page documents he would like to merge
into one (longer) document, mainly for ease of printing, although he
admits that a printer queue system might do just as well. No doubt other
users would also find this useful, so has anyone cracked this particular
nut? Batch printing would undoubtedly be useful for the next release of
Impression (with perhaps the incoming document forming a new chapter),
but we do also need a proper printer queueing system for Acorn printer
drivers. (Laser Direct owners already have one. Ed)
5.7
• Viewing clip art – Impression’s ease of manipulating and printing
Sprite and Draw files has been touched on by others but the following
may be of interest. Just as with fonts, one really needs to see a print-
out of one’s collection of clip-art files in order to pick out the one
that’s just right for a particular job. I have done this by setting up
my collection on a set of standard Impression pages laid out with 5 rows
of 4 frames, each frame filled with a clip-art object. The sheets when
printed out then provide a ready reference and can be saved economically
as Impression documents using ArcFS/Spark/Compression.
5.7
The beauty of this is that in future you can ignore the individual clip-
art files and work from the saved Impression document. You choose the
frame you want and save it as a graphic to the RAM disc. Then drag the
icon from RAMFS to the Impression frame you have set up to receive it.
Note that you have to use the RAM disc as an intermediate stage for the
transfer. If you drag the icon directly across to the new Impression
frame you get a message to the effect that Impression cannot save a file
to itself. (Jack Evans)
5.7
Don’t forget though that there are a number of commercial programs that
allow you to view clip art and these might be more useful if you are
constantly adding new images to your collection. Incidentally, an
earlier version of Glimpse (Sherston Software) used to hang up the
computer if presented with a DrawPlus file. I am glad to report that
this was fixed (v1.02 and later) and, although the program ignores
unknown file types, it will not cause any other problems. If you have an
early issue of Glimpse, Sherston advise you to call them for advice and
they tell me that they are further developing the program.
5.7
• Taking graphics from documents – Paul Skirrow writes in response to
the Impression Hints & Tips by Jochen Konietzko (Archive 5.5 page 41)
and also makes use of the save graphics facility. It is true that
graphics cannot be edited within Impression, but it is a simple matter
to click on the graphic frame to select it and then use the <save
graphic> option on the document menu (or use <shift-ctrl-T>). I rarely
bother keeping separate copies of graphics files now, I just save them
from Impression directly into Draw, modify them and then save them back
again. (With PipeDream, things are different as it does not take its own
copy of the graphics file, but simply stores the filename, so modifying
the file on disc will change the image in the PipeDream document.)
5.7
It is true that the draw files are stored within the document directory
(called story1, story2, etc), but they should not be edited because
Impression stores information about them elsewhere (in the !DocData
file). It is possible to crash the entire system by modifying a graphics
file within an Impression document. I have always regarded Impression
documents as no-go areas − they belong to Impression and use Computer
Concepts’ own format which is not published and which could be changed
between Impression versions.
5.7
The only disadvantage with using the <save graphic> option is that it
always saves the graphic as a draw file, even if it is a sprite. If you
want to edit a sprite, you must therefore drag the draw file from
Impression to Draw, select the object and then use the <save sprite>
option on the save menu to save into Paint. This is clumsy, especially
if memory is short, in which case you will have to save the intermediate
files to disc before loading into Paint. Computer Concepts do this
mainly to simplify the inner working of Impression (it means everything
can be regarded as a Draw file which may contain sprites). Another
argument for using Draw files to hold sprites is that they contain
absolute size information, whereas the sprite format does not. It
therefore makes a lot of sense for scanners to produce Draw files
containing the scanned sprite together with absolute size information
describing the resolution of the scanned image. The <save graphic> menu
item only appears when a graphic frame is selected (whereas the RISC-OS
guidelines suggest that unavailable menu items should be shaded so that
the user knows they are there).
5.7
Could Impression be made to pass graphics files to Draw and Paint when
they are double clicked? Perhaps Computer Concepts would be prepared to
implement this. I also think that there should be an easy way of
transferring data between applications generally without bringing up a
save menu. I know that we are all used to it now, but it is not really a
“save” operation that you are doing when transferring things between
applications, and the filename is certainly irrelevant when you are not
saving to a filer window. One approach, adopted by Squirrel, is to make
a click-drag from a Squirrel window to another application transfer the
data by doing a save automatically. This is extremely useful in Squirrel
and means that an address can be transferred to a letter very quickly
without using a menu. I have also adopted this technique in some of my
programs where <click-drag> is not used for something else, but
unfortunately, many programs use <click-drag> for their own operation.
What do other people think? Could we standardise on a <shift-drag> or
<alt-drag> to do a save. (This would also work with filer windows using
the default or last filename).
5.7
•   Styles used and unused − When I am preparing the magazine, I use one
big file that contains all the things like hints & tips, comments, small
ads, products, etc, so I am forever importing new bits of text into it
and then exporting them back out into the magazine. This means that the
style list grows longer each month so, every now and then, I remove
unwanted styles. To do this, I select the whole text with <ctrl-T> and
pull up the edit styles window with <ctrl-F6>. I click on the style
selection menu button and there is a list showing which styles, in the
whole story, are used and which are unused. I can then select and delete
the ones that aren’t needed (remembering to click the delete button with
<adjust> so that the window stays on-screen).
5.7
Sometimes, I want to remove a style completely even though it is being
used. If so, I select all the text, pull up the style menu and click on
the style to be removed. That will remove all occurrences of it. Don’t
forget though that a style may also be used on a master page, in which
case it will not delete. This can actually be put to good advantage
because I don’t want to accidentally delete, say, “bold” just because it
is not used in the file as it stands. To prevent accidental deletion,
create a new dummy master page, create a text frame and type in a few
choice words and give them the styles that you want to maintain
permanently within the document. They cannot now be deleted acciden
tally. − PB
5.7
•   Kerning − On Impression, kerning is extremely easy to achieve,
especially with the keyboard short-cuts. If you want to (R)educe the
space between adjacent characters, simply put the cursor between the two
characters and type <ctrl-R> a number of times. If you over do it,
simply (E)xpand the space a bit using <ctrl-E>. If you can’t make a fine
enough adjustment with <ctrl-R> and <ctrl-E>, go through the menu
options to call up the kerning menu and adjust the number. Remember that
if you want to try a particular number without losing the kerning
window, click on Set with <adjust>, not <select>. For vertical kerning,
use <ctrl-U> to move the text (U)p and <ctrl-J> to er... (J)ump
downwards?! (Can anyone think of a better mnemonic?)
5.7
The trouble with kerning being so easily available is that it’s easy to
hit <ctrl-R, E, U or J> by accident. I have tried to use search and
replace to locate any spurious kerning in a document but cannot find any
way to do it. You can, of course, export the text with styles and load
the text into Edit and search for “{but I would have liked a simpler
way. Any ideas? Still, if you can see roughly where the spurious kerning
appears, simply go through the menu to get the kerning window up on
screen and use cursor left and cursor right to move the cursor around
through the suspect areas. If you move past a kerning statement, the
numbers will flick up in the kerning window. To remove the kerning,
click <adjust> on the Clear button and go back to using the cursor keys
to search for other kerning statements, finally clicking <select> on
Clear. − PB
5.7
•   Impression speed users’ tips − (Reprinted from Archive 5.5 where the
last two lines were accidentally omitted!) I find that having got into
the habit of using <adjust> for reverse scrolling, it really does save
time, especially when I am laying out the magazine and the screen is
cluttered with windows. Just press <select> to scroll down and switch
quickly to <adjust> to go back up again without having to move the mouse
and locate the other end of the scroll bar − which could be under
another window anyway.
5.7
Also, <adjust> can be extremely useful, again with a cluttered screen,
for moving windows whilst keeping them where they are relative to the
other documents. It takes practice, but it speeds things up in the long
run. − PB
5.7
•   Search & replace on styles − Impression appears to have the facility
to search and replace on styles. Indeed, you can search for a style
using {name” }@, where @ is the wildcard for “any text” but, sadly, you
cannot replace with another style name, despite the fact that there is a
menu button on the Search & Replace window to allow you to put a style
name into the Replace box. I don’t know why CC haven’t implemented this
facility. They obviously intended to do so because the menu button on
the Replace box has no other purpose − as it stands, it is totally
redundant. Perhaps it could be implemented in Impression III but, in the
meantime, you can do it in Edit, though it’s a bit cumbersome.
5.7
Suppose, for example, that you have a document with various headings all
using “Heading” (marked on <F2> as Sub-heading) and that you want to
change some of them to a sub-sub-heading, let’s call it “SubHead”. What
you will have to do is to click somewhere in the text and use <shift-
ctrl-T> to save the text. Save it with styles, perhaps into a ram disc.
Then load that into !Edit and use search & replace to, selectively,
change  into . (The reason for using  is to catch, in one go,  ON} and
OFF} and } all of which can occur in the document.)
5.7
To get it back into the original document, click back in the main text
in the Impression document, select the whole text with <ctrl-T>, set it
all back to base text with <ctrl-B>, delete it and then go back to the
Edit document and save the text into the Impression document. Remember
though to save the document before you start messing about with it in
this way. You can get in an awful mess if you edit the text file
incorrectly.
5.7
If CC can’t add the style search & replace feature into Impression,
perhaps someone could produce a simple editing application for us. As
the Impression text is loaded into it, it would create a list of the
styles available then it would allow you to search and replace using a
menu to provide you with a list of the styles it knows about. Could
someone write that for us, please? If you’d like to have a go, get in
touch with me at Archive. − PB
5.7
•   Style problems − When I am preparing the magazine, I save the text of
each of the articles, with styles, as edit files in one directory. I
then have a dummy Archive magazine document into which I insert the
various edit files. If I have a particular space to fill, say about a
page and a half, I link together the title frame and the text frames
that are to make up the article. I know roughly how long each article
is, so I drop one of the edit files into the title frame. Sometimes, it
turns out to be just too short or too long and I want to delete it, but
if I just mark it with <ctrl-T> and delete it and then drop in another
edit file, I find that the whole text ends up in the same style as the
main heading − then it really is too long! As far as I am concerned,
this is a bug in Impression. Anyway, the “work-around” is to mark the
whole text and press <ctrl-B> first, to change it all back to base
style, before deleting the text. On a long file, especially if a lot of
it is displayed on screen, this can take quite a time. Does anyone know
a quicker work-around?
5.7
Also, I find that, fairly often, the title is left justified instead of
centred as its style specifies. If I click on the title, type a single
character and delete it, it springs back to the centre − another bug,
but one that’s easy to get round. − PB
5.7
•   RTF loader − To transfer WP files from the Mac (or PC versions of
Microsoft Word, I guess) you can use the RTF (rich text format) loader
that comes with the Impression Business Supplement. The RTF loader is
fairly intelligent and knows to swap things like ë into ’ because the
fonts on Mac and Archimedes use some different ASCII numbers. However,
unless it has been fixed, it sometimes hangs up with some of these “top-
bit-set” characters. For example, I was trying to transfer a cook book
and it hung up (the whole machine!) every time it came across a degree
symbol as in 100°C. The answer was to search and replace the degree
symbol into, say, an equal sign or some other character not used in the
text, transfer with the RTF loader and then search and replace back
again. (Some of you may have noticed the repeated occurrence of ë
instead of ’ in one of Risc User’s articles last month − I guess they
are still using Macs for their magazine and the Archimedes to Mac
conversion is not as intelligent.) − PB
5.7
• Blank pages printed − If your printer sometimes prints blank pages (as
Patrick Dowling explained in Archive 5.6) it is probably because the
printer driver’s bottom margin is set too small. The printer drivers
send all the data they are told to send for the page and then send a
form feed character. If they send so much that the printer just goes on
to its next page and the driver then sends a form feed character the
printer will eject a sheet. Make sure that the printer’s DIP switches
are set to disable perforation skip and check any others which determine
the page size. When entering the bottom margin into the printer driver’s
paper size entry, it is important to be on the conservative side and
make this a fraction larger than you think it ought to be (by a couple
of mm). The only disadvantage to this is that you will lose the ability
to print in this borderline area, but at least you will avoid the
mysterious blank pages which can otherwise occur. Unfortunately, printer
manuals are notoriously awkward, especially when you are looking for the
top and bottom margins, and most of the printer drivers are supplied
with the incorrect default settings (to be fair, some drivers are
written for a range of printers which each have their own unique paper
margins).  Paul Skirrow.
5.7
(I passed this hint on to one of our Technical Help Service members a
couple of weeks ago and she confirmed that it worked. All she did was to
increase the paper size from 297.00 mm to 299.00 mm and she got no more
blank pages. Ed.)
5.7
• Entering special characters into Impression − There is an updated
version of !Chars on this month’s disc which can enter special charac
ters into Impression without needing to tell Impression which font they
came from. It works just like Chars (or NewChars2 to be precise) and
provides quick selection of common fonts (Dingbats, Symbol, System and
Trinity) as well as passing the font information to Impression in DDF
form. Note that RISC-OS 3 defines the system font to be the same as the
Latin 1 fonts, complete with the “ and ” characters, but RISC-OS 2
doesn’t, so it will help if you use the new System font provided on the
Archive 5.6 program disc if you are using RISC-OS 2.  Paul Skirrow.
5.7
•   PC file transfer − Impression saves text files with an LF-CR termina
tor rather than the CR-LF terminator which is used by most PC programs.
This can confuse a lot of PC programs which automatically ignore the
first character after a LF (which they expect to be a CR), and Computer
Concepts have agreed to fix this some time.  Paul Skirrow.
5.7
In the meantime, you can presumably use !Edit’s search & replace
facility to change \x0A\x0D into \x0D\x0A remembering to set the magic
characters to ON. Ed
5.7
Ovation Hints and Tips
5.7
• Master documents – Hilary Ferns has sent details of master documents
she has created for use with Ovation. Her design for A4 and A5 letters
will be particularly useful for newcomers to either DTP or Ovation, and
her templates for an A5 four sided leaflet, an A5 booklet, A6 leaflet
and a greetings card or notelet are valuable time savers. With Hilary’s
permission they are on this month’s program disc in Ovation format, but
here is just one example of how Hilary used Ovation to produce an A5
four sided leaflet.
5.7

5.7
This is the format of our weekly church news-sheet, which displays news
about all the events in bordered frames − rather like the ads page of
the local newspaper. It is printed on A4 paper, photocopied and folded
neatly in half.
5.7
I use an HP Deskjet 500 printer, so all the margin settings are based on
this. Printer paper size is A4.
5.7
1. Set up a new document with the following settings:
5.7
      A4
5.7
      Landscape
5.7
      Single-sided
5.7
      2 columns
5.7
      Gutter 24mm
5.7
Margins – Top 12mm, Left & Right 12mm, Bottom 8mm
5.7
2. Open up the Master page for your document and include on this any
regular heading, logo, etc. that you may require. We always have our
church logo at the top of the front page, together with a “welcome”
greeting. These are placed in picture frames at the top of the right-
hand column, i.e. the front of the leaflet when it is eventually folded.
5.7
3. Obviously, page two will not want these headings, so you will now
need to create a new chapter (“New Chapter − After current Chapter”) and
specify chapter two starting at page two (“Modify chapter”). Delete your
frames from page two. Remember too to think about any paragraph styles
that you are likely to use.
5.7
4. Go back to your document and delete the existing pages one and two.
You will now have a simple document with two A4 sheets, each with 2
columns and a wide gutter. Within this framework you can create text and
picture frames, making sure they do not overlap the central guidelines.
I tend to display most of my text in individual text frames with
borders, often with a nested picture frame for a picture or “FontFX”
generated heading. Only rarely do I type directly into the principal
text frame.
5.7

5.7
5. You may want to have text which flows from one page to the next.
However, using the principal text frame, the text will not flow back up
to the “back” page of the leaflet. To do this you will need to create a
text frame to fit within each column and use the “link” tool to flow the
text from the front, to the middle and onto the back. This is quite
simple to work out. (see diagram).
5.7
6. Save your stylesheet. Printing out such a document is straightfor
ward. Change to “landscape” on the “Print setup” before saving
stylesheet.
5.7

Hints and Tips
5.8
•   A5000 filing system problems − There have been more comments about
problems with losing files on the A5000. We suggested last month that
you take Acorn’s advice and configure the ADFSbuffers to zero. In the
light of further experience, we would suggest it even more strongly.
This problem occurred with Impression but we have had reports that it
also happens with other software. You have been warned. Ed.
5.8
David Pilling adds... In the last Archive, you had a piece from someone
saying that it is necessary to *configure ADFSBuffers 0 to make Acorn
DTP and Impression work properly. The official line according to Beebug,
is that unless A5000’s are configured like this, they will corrupt their
hard discs sooner or later. There are well documented cases of this
occurring. In addition, many programs, ArcFS and the Beebug hard disc
backup for example, won’t work unless ADFSbuffers are set to zero.
5.8
It is also common advice to load the SerialUtils module before attempt
ing to use comms programs. The naive point of view is that SerialUtils
does something clever that allows buffers to work. That is not so,
SerialUtils actually prevents buffers from doing anything. It is
therefore much more efficient to stop your comms program from loading
any buffer and not bother with SerialUtils. SerialUtils will apparently
also prevent things like printer buffers from working.
5.8
New versions of Hearsay cope with all this automatically and there is a
version that uses the buffer manager built into RISC-OS 3. However, we
are still having discussions with Acorn over whether this works properly
in RISC-OS 3 as fitted to the A5000.  David Pilling, Blackpool.
5.8
•   A5000 second floppy drive − In Archive 5.6 p12, it said that if you
were putting an external 5¼“ drive onto an A5000 it should be connected
into the middle socket of the three. That is not correct. It should go
into the one farthest East. The internal drive goes in the middle one.
The other point to note is that it said the external drive can be set to
ID zero or one. That it true but it should perhaps should have been
spelt out more clearly that it should NOT be set to either two or three.
If it is, it will not work properly. Ed.
5.8
•   Adjust clicking (RISC-OS 3) − Most people will, by now, have cottoned
on to the idea that clicking open a directory with <adjust> closes the
parent directory viewer and that clicking the close button with <adjust>
opens up the parent. One extension of this on RISC-OS 3 is that clicking
the close button with <adjust> while holding down <shift> doesn’t
actually close the window but does open up the parent directory.
5.8
•   Directory date stamps − When copying a directory and its contents, the
destination directory is created with the current date stamp, as opposed
to being created and then stamped with the date of the source object.
(Looking through the PRM I haven’t been able to find a way of stamping a
file to a date other than that held in the real time clock.)
5.8
In the case of application directories, the application directory’s date
stamp appears to be copied through, but on closer inspection this is not
so. The application directory is created with the current date stamp (as
for normal directories) however, the date which the filer presents the
user (for the date of the application directory) is actually the date
stamp of the !RunImage file.
5.8
RISC-OS 3 automatically detects an attempt to move from one directory to
another on the same media, and performs a Rename operation instead of a
copy, whereby the date is retained. (Possibly, RISC-OS 3 also has a
facility for stamping a filer object with a specified date, although I
will not know about this until the RISC-OS PRM is released!)  D
Lenthall, London.
5.8
•   Exiting the desktop (RISC-OS 3) − With RISC-OS 2, you could set up an
obey that would exit the desktop by making the last line:
5.8
FX 138,0,252
5.8
and as long as no text was output by the obey file, the desktop would be
exited. The same can be done with RISC-OS 3 by placing the above line in
the obey file twice. It also works with the keys, press <shift−ctrl−F12>
twice and the desktop is exited. Also when <shift−ctrl−F12> has been
pressed F12 (*Commands) and <ctrl−F12> (Task Window) still work!
Warning: If you do use this then the ADFS will be reset, losing the
current directory.  P Bedford, Peterborough.
5.8
•   Extra validation flags − With RISC-OS 3, a number of new validation
flags are available for when you are designing window templates. So far
I have found the following:
5.8
Border Flags − these require the border flag to be set on and give an
icon a 3D border similar to Impression’s, they all begin with a B (or b)
and are followed by a number to give the border type:
5.8
0   Single raised border.
5.8
1   Double border for grouping.
5.8
2   Triple border for default action icons.
5.8
3   Triple border for writable icons.
5.8
4   Single recessed border.
5.8
5   Standard single line border.
5.8
6   Triple recessed border similar to type 3.
5.8
Border type 0 and 3 can be followed by a comma and then a number between
0 and 15 to define the colour to slab to.
5.8
Pointer definition − you can define an icon so that the pointer changes
shape when over the icon. This is done by placing a P (or p) in the
validation string followed by the name of the sprite containing the
pointer shape. Try sprite ptr_double.
5.8
Many others may be available with other parameters for the above options
but until the RISC-OS 3 Programmers’ Reference Manual is available we
won’t really know. Most of the above is available in RISC-OS 2 by using
the Interface module by Simon Huntington.  P Bedford, Peterborough.
5.8
•   Iconised windows with Impression (RISC-OS 3) − If you want to
distinguish Impression documents that have had their windows iconised,
generate an icon called ‘ic_impressio’ and place it in the !Sprites file
in the !Impress directory. Mine is the Impression quill & pot in a
window (ic_?).  P Bedford, Peterborough.
5.8
•   Menon hotkey − If you use Menon’s hotkey facility, a problem can arise
in that it may not work if you have a window open that contains the
caret (e.g. Impression). However, it will work if you hold the alt key
down at the same time as the hotkey i.e. <alt-ctrl-H>. P Bedford,
Peterborough.
5.8
•   Oak drives with Acorn SCSI card − If you are using an Oak drive with
an Acorn SCSI card (e.g. if you own an A540), you may find that you are
unable to dismount the drive and that you get a ‘Bad parameters’ error.
5.8
Hard drives that are formatted using an Oak SCSI card include additional
information in the boot block which the Acorn card objects to. To solve
these problems (especially annoying with removable hard drives!), you
will have to format the disc with Acorn’s SCSIDM.
5.8
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. When the desktop is started up,
the Acorn card looks at all of the drives that are available. Once it
sees an ‘incorrectly’ formatted Oak disc, it will not allow SCSIDM to
access the drive. This means that you will have to start up outside of
the desktop in order to format the disc. This can be done by typing
*Configure Language 0 <return> from the command line and then pressing
<ctrl-break>.
5.8
Once this has been done, you can format your drive in the usual way −
see pages 11-12 of the SCSI Expansion Card User Guide.
5.8
To start up in the desktop again, simply type *Configure Language 4
<return> from the command line and then press <ctrl-break>.  Adrian
Look, N.C.S.
5.8
•   PC file transfer revisited − When transferring text files from PC to
the Archimedes (or vice versa), it is necessary to convert the carriage
returns (CRs) to line feeds (LFs) and vice versa. This can be done using
the search and replace facility of Edit, but it is much quicker just to
use the in-built transfer ‘CR<->LF’ which is available from the ‘Edit’
submenu or to press <F8>.  G Riley, Cheshire.
5.8
•   PC screen fonts revisited − In Archive 4.12 p10 there was a hint that
explained how to change the screen font of the PC Emulator to any BBC
screen font. Since then, the program has been updated to include EGA+
and ECD definitions.
5.8
The EGAROM looks to contain two sets of character definitions: EGA+ 16×8
cells and ECD 14×8 cells, as opposed to the ROM file which (amongst
other things) contains the 8×8 cells used in the other modes. The
following program will convert these character sets for EGA+ and ECD
modes in a similar manner to my previous program:
5.8
REM >EGAFONT
5.8
REM Merge BBC FONT file into !PC EGAROM file
5.8
REM NB. *** COPY ORIGINAL EGAROM FILE BEFORE RUNNING THIS ***
5.8
:
5.8
ON ERROR REPORT:PRINT“ at line ”;ERL :CLOSE#0:END
5.8
DIM rom% &2000,C%(7)
5.8
R$=“:4.!PCEM.EGAROM”
5.8
OSCLI(“*LOAD ”+R$+“ ”+STR$~rom%)
5.8
:
5.8
F%=OPENIN(“:4.BBCFONTS.NEWFONT”):REM File of type &FF7
5.8
:
5.8
REPEAT
5.8
A%=BGET#F%
5.8
IFA%<>23THENPRINT“This is not a BBC font file!”:END
5.8
O%=BGET#F%:PRINT“Char &”;~O%;“ ”;: VDU23,255
5.8
REM  EGA+ chars 16x8 − double horiz. thickness
5.8
P%=O%*16
5.8
FORI%=0TO7
5.8
C%(I%)=BGET#F%:C%=C%(I%):VDUC%
5.8
REM − assemble 8x8 char array
5.8
rom%?(P%+2*I%)=C%
5.8
rom%?(P%+2*I%+1)=C%
5.8
NEXT
5.8
VDU255:PRINT
5.8
REM  ECD chars 14x8 − blank first and last three rows
5.8
P%=&1000+O%*14
5.8
rom%?(P%+0)=0:rom%?(P%+1)=0
5.8
rom%?(P%+2)=0
5.8
FOR I%=0TO7:rom%?(P%+3+I%)=C%(I%): NEXT
5.8
rom%?(P%+11)=0:rom%?(P%+12)=0
5.8
rom%?(P%+13)=0
5.8
UNTIL EOF#F%
5.8
CLOSE#0
5.8
:
5.8
OSCLI(“*SAVE ”+R$+“ ”+STR$~rom%+
5.8
“ + 2000”)
5.8
END
5.8
This program has been tested in both modes by squeezing every last byte
out of my A3000 and through the use of the PD multisync ‘emulator’ − I
could just about stand the flickering! The ECD characters are a little
smaller due to the difficulty in mapping the default 8 onto 14 rows,
however, it does result in greater line spacing and arguably improves
readability.
5.8
Finally, I suppose that if anyone needs to redefine the MDA1 outline
font (has anyone found anything which uses the MDA mode?), they could
use !FontEd or a similar application to change the font name of their
preferred outline font to MDA1. The MDA0 font would appear to contain
definitions for the ‘additional’ IBM character set and, as such, is less
likely to require redefinition.  P Bready, Glasgow.
5.8
•   Printer buffers − RISC-OS 3 provides a configurable printer buffer.
Use the command:
5.8
*Configure PrinterBufferSize <n>K
5.8
to set the buffer size to <n> K in length. This does not seem to be used
by the RISC-OS 3 printer drivers but is used outside the desktop
environment. To check the buffer has been configured, perform a <ctrl-
reset> after the configure command, go into Basic and type:
5.8
PRINT ADVAL(-4)
5.8
the result will be the size of your printer buffer.  P Bedford,
Peterborough.
5.8
•   Translator tips − Translator can easily be used to convert a sprite
from one screen mode to another. From the Translator menu, simply
deselect the ‘Pop up > Auto mode’ option, and then select the ‘Process >
Sprite output > Output mode > Current’. Select the desktop mode for the
output sprite and drag the sprite to be converted onto the Translator
icon. Finally, save the converted sprite from ‘Misc > Save > Full’
option.
5.8
When printing foreign graphics files on a monochrome printer, better
results can be obtained by selecting the ‘Black and white’ option from
the Translator menu i.e. the sprite is converted into 256 grey scales.
(I think this is because there is less distortion of the colours than
when fitting the sprite to the 256 desktop colours available and then
the printer driver using ColourTrans to convert them to monochrome
information.) C Paul, Manchester.
5.8
•   Waiter and MultiFS clash − You can’t run The Data Store’s Waiter with
the version of MultiFS that comes with the new PC Emulator. You must
quit Waiter before running MultiFS.  J Thompson.
5.8
•   Window bug (RISC-OS 3) − There is a bug in the windows redraw routine.
If you use !FormEd to define a window with a vertical scroll bar, no
horizontal scroll bar and no size icon, then turn on the horizontal
scroll bar, being careful not to cover where the size icon would be with
the menu, you will see that no box is redrawn in the area where the size
icon should be. If you drag other windows over this window the result is
a mess in the area where the size icon should be. As this example shows,
the result is not as expected.  P Bedford, Peterborough.
5.8
•   Window movement (RISC-OS 3) − If you use <adjust> in the scroll bar
areas to provide reverse movement, you may find useful the facility for
complete window scrolling. If you click adjust and hold on either slider
bar, the pointer vanishes and if you move the mouse, the window is
scrolled in the same direction. This only works if both scroll bars are
on a window.  P Bedford, Peterborough.  A
5.8
5.8



Image-setting
5.8
Hints & Tips
5.8
•   Make sure you ask the image-setting bureau to produce films in a form
that your printer can use. e.g. Can he use ‘right reading positive’?
5.8
•   Only use high quality PostScript fonts such as the range from EFF –
mistakes can be expensive.
5.8
•   Ensure that the client ‘accepts’ a bromide ‘proof’ before having the
work printed.
5.8
•   Scanning − if you do your own scanning, rather than having it done via
a bureau, use the lowest possible scanning resolution that is consistent
with the screen resolution being used by the printer − i.e. a 150 l.p.i.
screen (a typical value for high quality magazines) requires no more
than 150 dots per inch scan, assuming a reproduction ratio of 1:1.  A
5.8

Hints and Tips
5.9
•   Auto-destruct! − There are applications, like Impression, that have an
auto-save facility. Auto-save is a very helpful facility and I use it
myself but, with Impression (and perhaps other applications), there is
an option to auto-save without prompt. In other words, every few
minutes, without you being able to stop it, it will save the current
document on top of the original document on disc. If you can’t already
see the danger of this, an anecdote might help...
5.9
Tord Eriksson sent an article (over 400k long including various draw
files) all the way from Sweden on a single floppy disc and there was no
space on the disc for a duplicate copy of the document. I loaded the
article and was playing around with it prior to editing it for the
magazine. I was trying to see if the text was all one story and so had
cut and pasted various bits when suddenly I got the message “The file
has just been saved”. Fortunately, I hadn’t actually deleted anything
important just prior to the auto-save, but it does go to show that you
should never send a file to someone else having left the preferences set
to auto-destruct, sorry, I mean auto-save. Ed.
5.9
•   Compression − Contrary to the review of Compression in Archive 5.2
(page 57) it is possible to initiate cfs directory displays from script
files. This might prove useful for those who want to use cfs as the
default filing system and who want to automatically display the root
directory on switching on the Archimedes. The problem is that the line,
5.9
Filer_OpenDir CFS#SCSI::Work.$
5.9
will not work unless the CFSmodule is active and it is inadequate to
simply run the !CFS application before this line in the script file. The
trick is to set up a !Boot application (as always) and to use this
application’s !boot (or !run) file to load the CFSmodule and activate it
before calling the script file. Assuming the !CFS application is hidden
away on the hard disc in the directory $.Utils. Filehndlng, this can be
achieved using the following commands:
5.9
|Load CFS
5.9
RMEnsure CFSModule 1.10 RMLoad $.Utils.Filehndlng.!Cfs .CFSModule
5.9
RMEnsure CFSModule 1.10 Error CFSModule not loaded
5.9

5.9
|Initialise CFS and set the
5.9
|scratch dir for it to use
5.9
|in handling files
5.9
NewCFS SCSI:4
5.9
CFStemp SCSI::Work.$.!System
5.9
|The !cfs !boot file should be
5.9
| run to allow the correct icons
5.9
| to be “seen” by the system:
5.9
$.Utils.Filehndlng.!Cfs.!Boot
5.9

5.9
| run desktop, load applications
5.9
| and display root directory
5.9
Desktop -file <HardBoot$Dir> DeskBoot
5.9
The script file, in this case called DeskBoot, used to load the
applications and open the root directory should be something like this:
5.9
Run <r>!System
5.9
Run <r>!Scrap
5.9
Run <r>!FontsPlus
5.9
Run <us>!StickyBD
5.9
Run <um>!Alarm
5.9
Run <uf>!Dustbin
5.9
Filer_OpenDir CFS#SCSI::Work.$
5.9
The commands “*Newcfs” and “*CFStemp” are not documented in the
Compression manual but are explained in sufficient detail in the *Help
feature of the CFSmodule itself. (Type *help cfsmodule for a list of the
commands, then do a *help for each individual command for more details.)
5.9
There is an example !boot application on the monthly program disc.  Rob
Wears, Birmingham.
5.9
•   Speeding up SQuirreL − If, like me, you often have lengthy queries and
reports for the SQuirreL database to perform, you may have wondered why
it makes no difference at all when you drag the table in question onto a
RAM disc.
5.9
The reason for this is that SQuirreL makes extensive use of the !Scrap
application; if you copy this, too, to the RAM disc and double click on
it, the hard disc will be silent.
5.9
Just don’t forget to double click onto the version of !Scrap on your
hard disc when you remove the RAM disc!
5.9
Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany.  A
5.9
5.9

Ovation Hints & Tips
5.9
The following was submitted by Hilary Ferns, for which we are very
grateful. She adds that the Ovation manual is full of hints and tips
like these (and identical to some we have already published − oops!).
5.9
•   Selecting tools − Using <select> to choose from the toolbox will
automatically return you to the text insertion icon after you have
performed one action with that tool. Using <adjust>, however, will allow
you to remain with your chosen tool until you decide to select the next
tool again yourself. This is useful when you want to draw several lines
or frames, or link a number of successive boxes.
5.9
•   Using picture frames − The default ‘inset’ for a picture frame is 0
mm. (For a text frame it is 1 mm.) Ovation will scale your imported
picture with the bottom and left sides aligned to the frame. I have
discovered on many occasions these sides of a picture (Draw or Sprite
format) to have been slightly cropped. This is not always obvious on
screen but is quite noticeable when printed. I now offer various answers
to this problem.
5.9
1. Set inset to 1mm before importing the picture.
5.9
2. If you want to move the picture within the frame, whatever the inset
you are ln danger of losing a fragment on any edge. You can give
yourself more space by either increasing the frame size (often not
suitable) or by decreasing the size of the picture by 1% in each
direction.
5.9
3. Remember too that holding down shift while moving the picture will
restrict movement to horizontal and vertical directions only, thus
enabling you to move the picture more accurately.
5.9
I find the keyboard short-cuts for scaling a picture within a frame
particularly useful <shift-ctrl-G> to scale and <shift-ctrl-H> to fill
the frame.
5.9
•   Text to Draw path object − The character selection application
(!CharSel) supplied with Ovation, apart from offering access to
alternative characters, also allows a single character to be changed to
Drawfile format. To do this, you select the character with <adjust>. The
resulting Drawfile icon can then be dropped into an Ovation picture
frame. Various interesting effects can be obtained by using these
characters in headings (together with a bit of imagination!).
5.9
•   Default style-sheet − In the !Ovation application directory is a
style-sheet called ‘Default’. This is the one used each time you load
Ovation and click on the icon to open up a document. This can be
replaced with a style-sheet of your own choice, e.g. one you use
regularly, but it must be called ‘Default’. This would mean that you
will always have your own particular choice of paragraph styles defined
when Ovation is run. This is a very useful facility not to be missed.
5.9
The next few hints and tips were sent by Aneurin Griffiths from Trefin,
Dyfed. Again we are most grateful and are glad to see a number of
readers redressing the Impression/Ovation balance by sending in some
really useful Ovation tips.
5.9
• To draw short lines using the “line-tool” − Draw a long line, even
passing through text, and press <select>. Now shorten the line by
placing the pointer on the red box at the ‘long end’ of the line, and,
using <select>, shorten the line to the required length.
5.9
• Printing labels using computer sheets with 2 or 3 rows of labels − If
the sheets are not A4 size, adjust the page size on the printer menu.
Carefully measure the distance from the top of the sheet to a point half
way between the first label and the second label. Use ‘View 200%’ and
mark a horizontal guide line by placing the pointer on the side ruler
and pressing <select>. (Fine adjustment is possible using <adjust>.)
Measure the distance from the mid point previously taken to one mid-way
between label 2 and 3. Carefully draw a guide line as before. Other
guide lines can now be drawn with the same spacing.
5.9
Vertical guide lines can now be drawn in the same way. Now draw a text-
frame in the first of the rectangular spaces, allowing space for the
margins around the label. At this stage it is a good idea to save the
layout as “Blnk_xy”, where values for the label size could be coded.
5.9
Enter the text in the text frame. Then select Object − Duplicate Frame,
and enter the appropriate number (‘requirement’ − 1!). Without changing
the instructions further, a stack of labels will be shown. These are now
easily moved to their positions on the grid using <adjust>. Obviously,
the labels on one printed sheet may be all the same or assorted. It is
sensible to make the first printout on an A4 sheet and then the A4 and
the sheet of labels may be matched from the top and left margins. Any
necessary adjustments can be easily made. Using this method the sheet
feed system is used. This works very well with a Canon BJ130e printer.
5.9
• Using Ovation’s spelling checker − It is important to realise that the
checker must be started at the beginning of each Chapter when checking a
document composed of more than one Chapter. After Ch.1, select the first
page of Ch.2 and start the spell check again.
5.9
This from Albert Kitchenside, Addlestone, Surrey:
5.9
• Importing Text from PipeDream − The Ovation manual recommends
importing PipeDream text by holding down <ctrl> while dragging the
PipeDream text file into an Ovation frame. This has the effect of
converting single line terminators into spaces to allow Ovation to
reformat text within a frame. However, Albert finds that lines between
paragraphs and headings are erroneously removed using this method. He
has sent a Basic program which processes files correctly prior to import
into Ovation. They are in the directory PD/OV on the monthly program
disc.
5.9
Impression
5.9
Hints & Tips
5.9
•   More than 76 graphics per chapter − If you really want to have more
than 76 graphics per Impression chapter, then use David Pilling’s ArcFS
to store your document. You will then be able to store an unlimited
number of graphic files, but you may find the access times a bit slow!
Also, RISC-OS 2 users should be aware that a bug manifests itself after
the 9358th file and filenames become confused. − Martin Sperl, Austria.
5.9
•   More than 76 fonts available at once − Continuing the ‘trick’ above,
it is also possible to have an unlimited number of fonts available
simultaneously by copying all files from your !Fonts directory into an
ARCFS archive (plus all the extra fonts that you have always wanted to
use), and then insert the following line (for example, assuming the new
archive is called “Font”) into your !Boot file within the new archived
font directory:
5.9
Set Font$Path ARCFS#Font:$
5.9
You can then cause the new set of fonts to be loaded automatically by
inserting the following line within your system startup sequence (after
ArcFS has been run!):
5.9
OpenArchive SCSIdisc4::ARCFS#Font
5.9
(You need to substitute the name for your own hard disc in place of
SCSIdisc4.) Also, please note that to avoid a speed penalty in system
startup, you do not have to use compression when creating the font
archive and you will still save approximately 2k of disc storage per
font. − MS
5.9
•   Viewing the screen without moving the cursor − Hold down <Shift> and
<Ctrl> and then use the arrow keys. It changes your view on the
document, left, right, up and down, without moving the cursor position.
This is useful if you don’t want to have to change the magnification to
something smaller, and thus lose the legibility of the screen font. −
David Crofts, Bury St Edmunds
5.9
• Large capitals in normal text − If you like having a large letter to
add emphasis to the start of a paragraph but have found that the
subsequent line is spaced too far beneath, there is a solution:
5.9
Edit the Main Heading style (or create a new style), clicking on the
120% button, and then changing the Line Spacing box to the same as the
Font Size box e.g. 24pt as default. The problem, as you can see above,
is solved! − DC
5.9
•   Substitute for colour in documents − Try a little variety in Black and
White. For a poster I did recently, I redefined some of the font colours
in styles to grey palettes. This gives an interesting variety to the
print density if you have a decent printer driver. − DC
5.9
•   Bullet point − <shift−backspace> is a short-cut to enter a • bullet in
the text. − DC
5.9
•   Deleting styles from the menu − another of those hints that everyone
else probably knew about all along...
5.9
When you merge pieces from several old documents into one new text, this
often means that your style menu becomes unnecessarily long.
5.9
You can delete those unwanted styles in the “edit style” window, with
one snag:
5.9
If you click first onto a style in the style list, then on “edit style”,
any attempt to delete that style will bring up an error message.
5.9
This is because clicking into the style list automatically selects a
style at the cursor position.
5.9
Therefore, after you open the edit window, you must first deselect the
style before it can be deleted!  − Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany
5.9
•   Installing Impression on the A5000 − While helping a relative to setup
his A5000/Impression system, we discovered that the installation program
for the DTP installs the old Font Manager (v2.44) onto the !Fonts
directory and all the old files associated with it. The ability of the
new Font Manager (v2.49) to address multiple font directories is lost
and Impression only ‘sees’ either the ROM fonts or the hard disc fonts.
I suggest that anyone installing Impression is urged to remove the
support files in the fonts directory after the installation process
(leaving the actual fonts themselves behind) and reload the files within
the fonts directory on the Apps 1 disc. Hopefully, Computer Concepts
will alter the !Install program to take account of the changes in RISC-
OS 3. − David Woods, Glasgow
5.9
• More on Impression styles − Various readers have written with queries
on styles called ‘table’ and ‘default’ that appear on the style menu
with Impression version 2.16. These are not (in themselves) new program
features or bugs − they are just extra styles stored as part of the
!Default document stored in !Impress.Auto. The facilities provided by
the ‘table’ style are all as documented in the very first Impression-2
User Guide and are automatically set up for you if you import spread
sheet data using the LoadCSV+ loader which comes with the business
supplement. If the extra styles cause you problems or conflict with any
of your own style names, all you have to do is open a blank document,
edit the offending styles and click on the delete button to remove them
and save the document with the name !Default in one of your own
directories. Now quit Impression, open !Impress.Auto and move the
“original” !Default document elsewhere and replace it with the one you
just created. Now when you start Impression, the offending styles will
not appear. You may like also to set up your most frequently used master
pages and other styles using the same method. − Rob Sherratt,
Felixstowe.
5.9
•   !Impression with !Compression − The message from Impression
“Incompatible document version” means you are trying to load the adfs
icon into the application rather than the compressed icon!!  − Ned
Abell, Kidderminster

Hints and Tips
5.10
•   RISC-OS 3 & DOS filenames − DOS filenames (including extensions) are,
in general, longer than the maximum length of a valid ADFS filename (10
characters). It is not always possible to copy or move DOS files from
hard disc partition or floppy discs directly to the ADFS.
5.10
The !MultiFS utility, as supplied with the PC Emulator, solves this by
allowing you to truncate the DOS filename while the translation process
takes place. Another very useful option (which I often use when copying
files from C programs) is to force !MultiFS to handle DOS extensions as
directories (hierarchical).
5.10
However, when the filetype of a DOS partition on your ADFS hard disc is
set to ‘DOSdisc’, RISC-OS 3 will display a filer window for the
partition when you try to open the folder, while !MultiFS just ignores
it (i.e. no :C drive on the iconbar). This is all very nice but RISC-OS
3 doesn’t offer the nice name translation options mentioned above. To
enable !MultiFS to display your DOS partitions just set their filetype
to ‘data’ before you start !MultiFS. Remember to use the command line
and not the filer menu, because the latter doesn’t allow you to change
the filetype of DOSdiscs. I inserted three lines for each DOS partition
in the !MultiFS !Run file to swap between ‘DOSdisc’ and ‘data’ type
partitions when !MultiFS is started:
5.10
*Filer_CloseDir <PCe$Drive_X>
5.10
*SetType <PCe$Drive_X> Data
5.10
directly after setting the system variable <PCe$ Drive_X>, and
5.10
*SetType <PCe$Drive_X> DOSDisc
5.10
at the end of the !Run file (although the comment tells us not to do
so).
5.10
Unfortunately, there are some bugs in !MultiFS: When you copy to a
MultiFS filer window, you must ensure name translation is not set to
hierarchical, otherwise you will end up with wildcards (‘?’) in
filenames. When this happens, you must use DOS itself to delete the file
because RISC-OS fails to wipe those objects. Another bug appears if you
shut down your system after using !MultiFS. This results in an error
report and a task manager crash.  Paul Groot, Holland.
5.10
•   Sprite does not exist error − In answer to last month’s query in the
Help! section, the ‘Sprite does not exist’ error only occurs with the
old version of the printer drivers. It can be solved by simply using a
later version of the printer driver e.g. v2.44 or later (as per
Shareware Disc 17).
5.10
Progammers take note: The error is cause by programs that print sprites
using their names and not their pointers.
5.10
Many thanks to all those who called − too numerous to mention!
5.10
•   High resolution PostScript? When printing sprites to !PrinterPS, the
resulting output may be lower quality than, for example, a 600 dpi
LaserDirect (using !ShowPage), even when printing at 300 dpi. A solution
is to change the configuration file of !PrinterPS to make it think the
resolution is higher e.g. change the ‘pxres’ and ‘pyres’ parameters to
600.  J Thorn, Cardiff.
5.10
•   Problem with Font$Path − I recently experienced a problem with
Impression 2.16 that took a long time to solve. The problem manifests
itself by Impression, on starting, reporting an error ‘Not Found’. If
you select OK to continue, the following error is reported ‘Illegal
window handle’ and at this point you have to quit, because continuing
results in the second error message. After about two hours of trying to
find the problem − as the error messages are not particularly helpful −
I discovered that the problem lay with Font$Path.
5.10
I have two !Fonts directory, one with a small number of outline fonts
and one with a large number. Also, my second font directory pulls in the
fonts in my first directory by use of the Font$Path variable. I had
moved the locations of these directories from an Apps folder to the root
folder of my hard disc and this was causing the problems. The ‘Not
Found’ error is caused by Impression not finding the first directory in
the Font$Path and the second error is caused by the fact that a Font
Menu can’t be created, as the specified directory does not exist.
Indeed, most applications that support outline fonts will also give
similar error messages.
5.10
I have written a small program (on this month’s program disc) that will
test the validity of Font$Path and a call to this program should be
placed as the last line in any !Fonts.!Run file. A copy of FontTest will
need to be copied into all !Fonts directories i.e.
5.10
| !Run file for !Fonts (version 0.11, 10-May-89)
5.10
|
5.10
Iconsprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
5.10
|
5.10
| Kill newer versions of Font Manager
5.10
|
5.10
RMKill FontManager
5.10
RMKill SuperSample
5.10
|
5.10
RMEnsure FontManager 2.42 RMLoad <Obey$Dir>.Fonts
5.10
RMEnsure SuperSample 0.04 RMLoad <Obey$Dir>.Super
5.10
|
5.10
SetMacro Font$Path adfs::
5.10
HardDisc.$.!Fonts., <Font$Prefix>.
5.10
Set Font$Prefix <Obey$Dir>
5.10
|
5.10
<Obey$Dir>.FontTest
5.10
The program firstly checks that Font$Path exists and then reads the
environment variable and checks its size. The length of this variable
has to be greater than zero for it to point to a valid !Fonts directory.
5.10
It then checks that every reference in Font$Path points to a valid
directory. This is done by an OS_File call (line 680) which will return
2 if the filename given is a directory. If the file reference does not
exist, an error will be generated and the Fonts directory !Run file
needs to be modified.
5.10
I have included an example of the problem on the program disc in the
‘Example’ directory. If you click on !Fonts2 an error will be generated
as the Font$Path contains a reference to a file !Fonts3 (not a direc
tory). Andrew Ferguson, London.
5.10
•   ArcFS and sticky backdrops − I have a backdrop application on my
machine with all the sprites for the various applications held in an
archive in order to save disc space. In order that the sprites can be
seen, in theory they should be de-archived first. Thanks to my son,
Neil, I have the following set of ArcFS commands in the !Run file of my
!Boot application on the hard disc.
5.10
RMEnsure ArcFS 0 RMLoad System: Modules.ArcFSMod
5.10
RMEnsure ArcFS 0 Error I cannot find the module
5.10
OpenArchive <Boot$Dir>.SpriteLib Sprites
5.10
IconSprites ArcFS#Sprites:$. !Sprites
5.10
CloseArchive Sprites
5.10
C Walker, Wymondham.
5.10
•   Elite Commanders − On this month’s program disc, there is a program
which allows you to edit Elite commander files. There are also three
commander files with missions to accomplish. S Edwards, Stourbridge  A
5.10
5.10

Vector Hints − not in the manual!
5.10
If the paths rotate the wrong way, you get...
5.10
5.10
If the paths rotate the “right” way, you get...
5.10
5.10
If the paths originate at the same point, you get...
5.10
5.10
Remember, always have the same number of points in the paths. The
interpolation in the first example was without reversing or flipping
either of the paths.
5.10
5.10
The paper margins are shown on the main window and the printer setup
menu is used to deselect those pages you don’t need.
5.10
The Eppler profile was “plotted” on an A0 page. The paper margins shown
are A4 size.
5.10

5.10
5.10



Impression Hints & Tips
5.10
•   Mailmerge in Impression: So it seems that there are no tips like old
tips (Archive 3.9 p20). I claim that Charles Moir learned the trick he
uses from me! Just one point to add, though. You have a choice between
linking frames on a master page and not linking. If you link, the text
flows through the frames on a page and then on to the first frame of the
next page. This is probably convenient for small mailing lists without
use of a database. If you do not link frames, text flows from page to
page within the homologous frame. I recently helped to run a biggish
scientific meeting which involved mail shots to about a thousand
potential delegates and a full feedback of booking information to about
450. The database resided on a Mac, the most widely-used computer in the
lab, and an output file was generated in <Tab> separated format, ported
to a DOS disk, then to PipeDream. Individual columns (fields) or groups
of columns were then extracted, linefeeds replaced by
5.10
s, and the fields dropped into the right frames of the first page.
Perfect registration was retained: the last person’s details did belong
to him! All I had to do was to edit some of the less wise entries in the
“comments” field of the database, which might have been taken as casting
aspersions on the intelligence, rationality and financial or moral
rectitude of some the participants! This method obviates the need to
generate a report format for your database. You just extract the data
you want for each of your frames and drop it in. Some fields get used
twice, such as parts of names, once for the address (lined up with an
envelope window), and once for the Dear... line.
5.10
We also produced sheets of individualised meal tickets. The purpose here
was to ensure that none of the three eating places got all the dele
gates. We operated a “swap-shop” but needed to know who was swopping
with whom. Named tickets solved this. In this case, I extracted the
names once and dropped then into the first (unlinked) frame. To make a
copy in the next frame (×450), <Ctrl-T> to mark all the text in the
frame, 450 pages deep, <Ctrl-C> to copy it and then <Ctrl-V> to paste it
into each frame. The printer who perforated the sheets was quite
impressed by the product: he had never seen the like. He certainly had
no idea how easy it was (save for feeding 450 sheets of card into the
laser printer).  Mike Hobart, Cambridge.
5.10
Image setting − Another firm which does image setting is Stylus
Publications Bureau of 98 Wilberforce Road, Finsbury Park, London N4
2SR. They also do colour slides and CibaChrom prints and overheads from
Draw and Impression. However, they covered so much of their literature
with gold leaf that I wonder if they are still trading!  Mike Hobart,
Cambridge.
5.10

Hints and Tips
5.11
•   A5000 hard disc replacement − One drawback with the A5000 is that the
40M hard disc quickly fills up. Being in this position, I decided to
replace mine with a larger one.
5.11
Researching prices, I found that IDE drives bought direct from suppliers
advertising in magazines such as Personal Computer World are much
cheaper than the same drives advertised in the specialist Acorn
magazines. Would any IDE drive work? A friend told me that Seagate IDE
drives did not work correctly on A5000s but Connor (as already fitted to
my A5000) and Maxtor (as fitted to another A5000 I know of) should be
OK, as well as Quantum. Another friend recently bought and fitted an NEC
drive to his A5000.
5.11
I bought a 120M cached Quantum drive (the GM120AT). The drive, from SMC
who advertise in PCW, arrived the day after I ordered it.
5.11
The fitting was extremely simple. After a backup and power off I removed
the cables, undid the four screws under the old drive (it is necessary
to remove all the drive cables and lift out the metal bracket to which
the drives are fastened) to release it and slotted in the new one − no
problems! The drive was already low-level formatted and, although the
hard disc formatter supplied with RISC-OS 3 didn’t recognise the disc
shape, I just selected ‘Initialise’ and that was it. The drive worked a
few seconds after switching on.
5.11
In use, the drive feels very fast. I have measured a data transfer rate
of 1060k/sec, compared to 800k/sec for the original drive and an average
access time of 7ms(!) as compared to 18ms.
5.11
Similar drives advertised specifically for the A5000 in the Acorn press
are £50­£100 more. Some of these include splitter cables, allowing the
old drive to remain (there are already mounting holes for a second drive
on the A5000, drilled in the case below the floppy disc drive). I intend
to make my own in the next few days − it will cost about £10.
5.11
So I would recommend anyone wishing to upgrade their A5000’s internal
disc drive to do it themselves. Just obey the following rules:
5.11
−  Shop around for the best deal in the general computer and PC press.
5.11
−  Buy a low profile 3½“ AT IDE drive made by Quantum, Conner, Maxtor or
NEC.
5.11
−  Make a backup of your old hard disc before commencing the changeover.
5.11
−  Use the RISC-OS 3 hard disc formatter to initialise the new disc, no
need to format.
5.11
−  If you want to use both drives, Maplin Electronics sell everything
you need to make the splitter cables.
5.11
Perhaps a list of known A5000-friendly IDE drives could be compiled?
Seán Kelly, Leighton Buzzard
5.11
•   Acorn SCSI card − If you buy the CDFS/FSCSI upgrade for the Acorn SCSI
card, there is a link change to be made on the AKA31 version of the card
but if you have one of the older AKA30 cards, it is slightly more
complicated.
5.11
The upgrade consists of putting a 27512 EPROM in place of the existing
27256 EPROM. To enable the extra address lines, hardware modifications
are needed. Links 1, 3, 4 and 5 remain unchanged but link LK2 was open
and has to be closed and link LK12 was closed and has to be opened. On
the AKA31 boards, these changes can be made by moving a link but on the
AKA31, this will involve cutting a track on LK12 and soldering a link on
LK2. This should not be attempted unless you are competent to make such
a modification and it will, in any case, invalidate the warranty on the
board. Acorn dealers should do the modification for you although there
may be a charge unless you buy the upgrade from them. Tudor Jones,
Barnet.
5.11
•   Automatic kerning and RISC-OS 3 − The font manager has this facility.
Currently it is only available with the standard ROM fonts (Trinity,
etc.). Presumably, EFF will update their fonts to include kerning pairs.
To use auto-kerning, simply set bit 9 of R2 in all calls to SYS
“Font_Paint”.
5.11
10 REM >KernDemo
5.11
20 REM Example of automatic kerning
5.11
30 REM For RISC-OS 3 ROM fonts only
5.11
40 MODE 15:OFF
5.11
50 SYS “ColourTrans_SetFontColours”,0,0,
5.11
&F0F00000,14
5.11
60 SYS “Font_FindFont”,,“Trinity. Medium”,50*16,50*16 TO hdl%
5.11
70 SYS “Font_SetFont”,hdl%
5.11
80 REM Kerning off first
5.11
90 SYS “Font_Paint”,,“WAWA no
5.11
kerning here!“,%0000010000,10,500
5.11
100 REM Kerning on now
5.11
110 REM Set bit 9 in R2
5.11
120 SYS “Font_Paint”,,“WAWA this is kerned.”,%1000010000,10,300
5.11
130 SYS“Font_LoseFont”,hdl%
5.11
The ease with which this can be done leads me to wonder why CC haven’t
provided it as an option in Impression.
5.11
To rotate fonts, set bit seven of R2 in “Font_ Paint” and pass the (draw
style) transformation matrix in R7. Note that old style calls to
“Font_StringWidth”, etc don’t take account of kerning or transformation.
A new SWI “Font_ ScanString” is used to do this. Rob Davison, New
Zealand
5.11
•   Basic 1.05 Bug − A really annoying bug exists in all versions of Basic
except the floating point version supplied on the RISC-OS 3 application
discs.
5.11
Consider the following two statements (type them in if you feel like
it.)
5.11
a=210
5.11
b=2.10*100
5.11
These two variables should hold the same value. They seem to be the
same, as you can check with:
5.11
PRINT a,b
5.11
IF a=b PRINT “SAME”
5.11
etc.
5.11
If you have RISC-OS 2 then both the above checks will say that they are
the same. RISC-OS 3 Basic 1.05 will not print ‘SAME’ in the second test.
The reason for this can be revealed by trying the following:
5.11
PRINT INT(a),INT(b)
5.11
PRINT STR$(a),STR$(b)
5.11
These problems seem to occur because of the limited accuracy of floating
point numbers in Basic. My program stored times at centisecond resolu
tion internally and I wanted to scale these times to seconds for the
user. I did a usertime=centitime/100 but ran into problems when I tried
converting the usertime variable back into a string with STR$(usertime)
5.11
My solution (and I’m not saying it’s a good one) is as follows:
5.11
A short ARM code routine intercepts the WRCHV vector and stores
characters printed in a buffer. The routine is linked in just before a
PRINT realvar statement and killed off just afterwards. You can then
extract the string from the buffer via normal means. An example program
follows:
5.11
10 REM >string
5.11
20 REM provides a STR$( function
5.11
25 REM that avoids some floating
5.11
30 REM point problems in Basic
5.11
40 REM By Rob Davison, May 1992
5.11
50 REM Public Domain
5.11
60 REM
5.11
70 PROCassy
5.11
80 PRINT “First the old way -”
5.11
90 PRINT STR$(2.10*100)
5.11
100 PRINT “Should be ”;FNstr(2.10 *100)
5.11
110 PRINT’“Another example”
5.11
120 PRINT STR$(0.6)
5.11
130 PRINT “Should be ”;FNstr(0.6)
5.11
140 PRINT’“Bye now.”
5.11
150 END
5.11
160 DEFPROCassy
5.11
170 DIM code% &100
5.11
180 REM ’possy’ is a buffer. Can be scratch space but MUST
5.11
 be big enough.
5.11
190 DIM possy &100
5.11
200 FOR opt=0 TO 2 STEP2
5.11
210 P%=code%
5.11
220 [OPT opt
5.11
230 .intercept
5.11
240 STMFD R13!,{r0-r3 }
5.11
250 LDR R1,posaddr
5.11
260 STRB R0,[R1]
5.11
270 ADD R1,R1,#1
5.11
280 STR R1,posaddr
5.11
290 LDMFD R13!,{r0-r3 ,PC}
5.11
300 .posaddr EQUD possy
5.11
310 ]
5.11
320 NEXT
5.11
330 ENDPROC
5.11
340 REM this is the string function
5.11
350 DEFFNstr(number)
5.11
360 LOCAL ERROR
5.11
370 ON ERROR LOCAL SYS “XOS_Release” ,3,intercept,0:REPORT:PRINT ERL:END
5.11
380 !posaddr=possy:REM reset pointer to start of buffer
5.11
390 SYS “XOS_Claim”,3,intercept,0 :REM claim the vector
5.11
400  PRINT number
5.11
410 SYS “XOS_Release”,3,intercept,0 :REM and release it immediately
5.11
420 REM Extract the string and get rid of leading/trailing rubbish
5.11
430 str$=$possy:WHILE LEFT$(str$,1)= CHR$32:str$=RIGHT$(str$,
5.11
LEN(str$)-1):ENDWHILE
5.11
440 WHILE ASC(RIGHT$(str$,1))<32: str$=LEFT$(str$,LEN(str$)-1)
5.11
:ENDWHILE
5.11
450 =str$
5.11
Rob Davison, New Zealand
5.11
•   Basic V rounding errors − Last month, (Archive 5.10 p19) Mr E. Hollox
asked for help with the STR$ rounding. I hope that the following will
help solve his problem. No actual specifics were given on his problem,
so I’ve assumed that he’s working with monetary units (i.e. two decimal
places). This may not be correct in this instance, but will probably be
relevant to a large number of users and should provide Mr Hollox with a
starting point for the solution he wants.
5.11
In simple terms, the solution is to avoid decimals; to work only with
integer variables. At first glance this may sound like an odd solution
when a number of decimal places are required, but it’s not as strange as
you may think.
5.11
Firstly, the use of integer variables does not restrict you to the use
of integer numbers − not when you are making use of STR$, anyway.
5.11
Secondly, integers make for faster programs, as I’m sure everyone
realises (unless they program an Atari ST in GFA or Atari Basic!)
5.11
Thirdly, and more importantly, integers are far more accurate than real
numbers due to the way in which they are stored. The method of storage
does have a negative effect, however, in that your range of numbers is
restricted − though the range available should be enough for most
people’s needs. Page 21 of the Archimedes’ BBC Basic Guide details this.
Remember that the more decimal places you require, the lower the range
becomes.
5.11
So, onto the solution to the problem...
5.11
Your ‘real’ number must be stored as an integer 100 (for 2 dp users)
times as big. Whenever any output is required, a routine must be used to
convert it to a string and insert a decimal point at the correct place.
For inputting, the reverse is required; the decimal point must be
removed.
5.11
The function FN_Int_To_Str carries out the decimalisation of your
integer number:
5.11
DEF FN_Int_To_Str(Int%)
5.11
LOCAL Real$
5.11
Int%=ABS(Int%)
5.11
IF Int%<10 THEN Real$=
5.11
“      00”+STR$(Int%)
5.11
IF Int%>=10 AND Int%<100 THEN Real$=“      0”+STR$(Int%)
5.11
IF Int%>=100 THEN Real$=RIGHT$
5.11
(“        ”+STR$(Int%),9)
5.11
Real$=LEFT$(Real$,7)+“.”+
5.11
RIGHT$(Real$,2)
5.11
=Real$
5.11
You must call the function with string$=FN_Int_ To_Str(number%) where
string$ is your variable to hold the decimalised string and number% is
your variable holding the stored number. The routine returns the number
as a string with two decimal places, and right justified (in a ten
character field).
5.11
The minus symbol ruins the simplicity of the routine, so an absolute
value is taken of the number. Minus numbers aren’t difficult to cope
with but, as they weren’t part of the problem....
5.11
The function works by converting the integer number to a string and then
adding spaces to the left in order to right align it. This is done by
the three IF statements and, possibly, is the more complex part of the
routine.
5.11
In the first case, the number is lower than ten (i.e. 0 to 9) so the
final figure will be of the form “      0.0x” − hence six spaces and two
zeros are added.
5.11
In the second case, the number is in the range 10 to 99, so the figure
will be “      0.xx” − six spaces and one zero are added.
5.11
In the third case, the number is over 100 (over 1.00). In this case,
rather than add the correct number of spaces for its size (6 for 100 to
999, 5 for 1000 to 9999, etc.) we add the maximum required and truncate
the resulting string to its rightmost nine characters.
5.11
The result, in all three cases, is a right aligned integer number in a
nine character string.
5.11
Then we have the easy bit. The first seven characters of the string are
taken, a decimal point added, then the last two digits − problem solved.
5.11
The reverse function is even simpler:
5.11
DEF FN_Str_To_Int(Real$)
5.11
LOCAL Int%
5.11
Real$=FN_FormatNumber(Real$)
5.11
Int%=VAL(LEFT$(Real$,7))*100+
5.11
VAL(RIGHT$(Real$,2))
5.11
=Int%
5.11
This function is called with number%=FN_Str_ To_Int(string$) where
string$ is your variable containing the string and number% is the
variable that will contain the integer number.
5.11
The first thing the function does is to pass the string to another
function in order to ensure it is of the correct format before convert
ing it to a number. This is dealt with below.
5.11
The function then calculates the integer part of the number (positions 1
to 7 within the string), multiplies this by 100, and adds the fractional
part of the number (positions 9 to 10 − after the decimal point.) The
result, an integer number 100 times the real number, is returned to the
calling routine.
5.11
I could have simply used Int%=VAL(Real$)*100, making the routine much
simpler. Then the inaccuracy of real numbers is risked once more. In
between Real$ and Int%, the number is stored as real until it is
multiplied by 100 and put in the integer variable. The method I’ve used
circumvents this risk, but introduces another factor. The format of the
number within the string must be correct. For the above conversion to
work, this must be a two decimal place number, with the decimal point as
the eighth character of the string. This is where the third formula
comes in:-
5.11
DEF FN_FormatNumber(Number$)
5.11
LOCAL Length%,Point%
5.11
Length%=LEN(Number$)
5.11
Point%=INSTR(Number$,“.”)
5.11
IF (Point%=Length%-1) AND
5.11
(Point%>0) THEN Number$=Number$+“0”
5.11
IF (Point%=Length%) AND (Point%>0) THEN Number$=Number$+“00”
5.11
IF Length%=0 THEN Number$=“0”
5.11
IF Point%=0 THEN Number$=Number$+ “.00”
5.11
IF Point%=1 THEN Number$=“0”+ Number$
5.11
Number$=RIGHT$(“       ”+Number$ ,10)
5.11
=Number$
5.11
This routine looks far more complicated than it actually is. The second
routine, above, passes its Real$ to this function which formats it to
two decimal places and ensures that the final string is 10 characters
long.
5.11
In this sense, it is a routine that can be used independently of the
other two; by calling it with New$=FN_FormatNumber(Old$) where Old$ is
the unformatted number and New$ is the result.
5.11
It works by determining first the length of the string, then the
position of the decimal point within the string. With a two decimal
place number, the position of the point would be 2 less than the length
of the string.
5.11
The first IF statement adds a single zero if the position of the point
is 1 less than the string’s length but only if the decimal point’s
position is larger than zero − in which case the number is an integer
and would have been accidentally multiplied by ten.
5.11
The second IF adds a double zero if the point is at the end of the
string. This is not done if the position of the point is zero, in which
case the string is null and represents nothing.
5.11
The third makes the string equal to “0” if it is found to be null.
5.11
The fourth adds “.00” to the end of the string if there is no decimal
point − i.e. if the number is an integer.
5.11
The combination of the third and fourth IF’s result in the null string
(“”) becoming “0.00”
5.11
The fifth IF adds a zero to the string if the decimal point is at the
very beginning − if the number is lower than one and is lacking the
leading zero.
5.11
Finally, before returning the result, a number of spaces are added to
the left of the number which is then truncated to the rightmost ten
characters. Hey presto, a nicely formatted number.
5.11
The three routines are on the enclosed disk, in the form of a procedure
library − details of how to use such are on page 92 of the BBC Basic
Guide.
5.11
Though the routines, as given, are for numbers with two decimal places −
and with a field width of ten − it shouldn’t be too difficult to alter
them for other requirements. Unfortunately, the higher the number of
decimal places, the more (and more complicated) IF’s are required. It
shouldn’t be too difficult to write routines that accept the number for
conversion, together with the number of decimal places and the field
width but, as I said before, this was just intended to provide Mr Hollox
with a starting point for his solution. Vince Hudd, Soft Rock Software.
5.11
•   Bible Master with RISC-OS 3 − Having found a list of verses or cross
references, it is possible to import the text into an Archimedes word
processing (or DTP) package.
5.11
(i) Load the PC text into !Edit and then
5.11
(ii) Use the wildcard search and replace option searching for %[ $x76-
xFF] (note that the square brackets start with a space) and replacing
with a space.
5.11
This will remove all the screen control characters and multiple spaces.
The resulting text can then be saved and/or loaded into most word
processors.  S Wright, Basingstoke
5.11
•   Deskjet 500C and RISC-OS 3 − Recent contributors on the subject of the
HP Deskjet 500C have tended to concentrate on the best type of paper to
use. I will not attempt to further that debate, but rather recount my
efforts to produce envelopes to match the quality of their contents.
This turned out to be less straightforward than I had expected but I
eventually succeeded. Most of my printing is from Impression Junior, so
the following will apply to Impression II users and, although I am using
an A5000,  the RISC-OS 2  drivers are not crucially different.
5.11
Using the Alter Pages sub-menu in Junior, create a custom page the same
size as the envelope. A standard A4 envelope seems to be 218mm by 110mm.
Create a suitable frame for the name and address and save the file as
‘envelope’. Load the !Printers application and create a custom page of
the same size, also called ‘envelope’. I have used margins of 10mm all
round which show up unambiguously in the Junior window. Click on <Save
Settings> in the page set-up menu and <Save Choices> from the main menu.
Go to the ‘configure’ option from the printer control menu, select the
new ‘envelope’ option and click on OK. The printer margins will now be
visible in the Junior window. Insert an envelope face down in the out-
tray of the printer, sliding it into the guide slots provided and
keeping the right hand edge against the edge of the tray. At this point,
the HP manual is misleading. Do NOT press the envelope button on the
printer. Simply press <Print> on the computer and then <Return>. The
envelope will now be properly printed. If the envelope button on the
printer has been pressed, the envelope will be passed disdainfully
through the printer and the address will appear on the next sheet of
paper from the in-tray.
5.11
In the prison where I work, I have recently been involved in running an
Anger Control Programme which required a couple of dozen overhead
projector transparencies. These can be produced to a high standard on
the 500C and, of course, in full colour. The transparencies used must be
designed for use with inkjet printers since they require a special
material to absorb the ink. There is, however, one major problem − the
appropriate material is rather expensive. Hewlett Packard’s own
transparencies cost about £75 inc. VAT for a box of 100. For me, this is
too many and far too much money. Eventually, I found that NOBO produce a
box of 50 for a slightly lower price per transparency and these should
be available from a good office supplies firm. The inadequate black
produced by the colour cartridge on the 500C is particularly noticeable
on an OHP and I found that a more satisfactory result could be obtained
by printing each transparency twice; once for black and once for the
coloured areas. Registration seems not to be a problem for the bold text
and graphics which are the norm for this kind of presentation. This
technique also saved an awful lot of expensive, coloured ink.
5.11
Incidentally, the UNDO facility on RISC-OS3 !Draw(or in !DrawPlus) was a
considerable help in creating the colour ‘separations’ for this process.
I could delete either the black or the coloured areas of the image
before printing and restore them by pressing <F8>.  A Trout, Lancs.
5.11
•   Deskjet 500 DIP switches − For those just buying Deskjet 500 printers,
it may be worth knowing that the default setting of the DIP switches is
not too helpful. Try the following settings instead...
5.11
           Bank A                         Bank B
5.11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8   1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5.11
¯  ¯  ­  ­  ¯  ­  ¯  ­        ¯  ­  ¯  ¯  ¯  ¯  ¯
5.11
This seems to work OK − it sets things like skip-over-perforation OFF
and A4 paper instead of some US size.  Steve Hutchinson, Gloucester.
5.11
•   Dragging solid sprites − RISC-OS 3 has, built in, the ability to solid
drag sprites from save dialog boxes. The solid drag option is stored in
CMOS in a ‘hidden’ location on bit 1 of byte 28. The following commands
will set bit 1 without disturbing anything else in this byte.
5.11
*Basic
5.11
SYS “OS_Byte”,161,28 TO ,,v%
5.11
v%=v% OR %10
5.11
SYS “OS_Byte”,162,28,v%
5.11
Now try saving a file from Draw/Edit/Paint, etc.
5.11
(Comparing the A5000 to an A440/1+30Mhz ARM3, the 440 runs at about the
same speed as the A5000 in mode 12, but at about 1/3 of the speed in
mode 28.)  Rob Davison, New Zealand
5.11
•   Personalised application templates − Many users may not have realised
that it is often possible to alter the windows and templates used by an
application. Most programmers use the FormEd application or one of its
derivatives to create a Template file which contains the window
definitions used by the program and this can often be seen in the
application directory normally called, not surprisingly, Templates.
5.11
If you have a copy of FormEd, which is supplied with all Acorn’s
compilers but is also available from most PD libraries (Shareware Disc
20, Ed), you can load these templates and alter them to suit your own
ideas and preferences. What you must not do is change the number of any
of the icons or the program won’t behave properly. You must also be
careful if you create any extra icons that they don’t overlay any
existing button icons since the Wimp doesn’t report clicks on icons
which are hidden behind others with a higher number.
5.11
As an illustration, I have included a set of modified windows for Edit.
Since some of these now use sprites there is also a sprite file and you
must insert a line to load these in the !Run file or the windows will
look rather bare. For simplicity, I have included a !Run file with the
extra line in it.
5.11
Rename your existing !Run and Templates files something else (in case
you don’t like mine) and copy the files !Run, Templates and sprites2
into the !Edit application directory. Now when you run Edit the new
windows will be used.
5.11
Note that the main text window is also changed. When Edit opens a new
file the main text window opens in whatever form the template was
created. Just load the Templates file into FormEd and drag the text
window around the screen and resize it until you are satisfied. Then
save the templates. Next time you open an Edit window, that is the size
and position it will assume.
5.11
I don’t claim that these examples are particularly brilliant but they
are certainly an improvement on the original and will help to show how
you can customise standard programs. David Holden, Sydenham.
5.11
•   Pinboard problems − Several people (well, at least two anyway!) appear
to have had problems with Pinboard running under RISC-OS 3. It would
seem that the Pinboard module is automatically UNPLUGged following an
exit from the desktop. One solution involves using an alias to re-
initialise the Pinboard. If you have a desktop !Boot file then, before
the Pinboard command (if there is one), insert something like the
following:
5.11
Set Alias$NewDesktop %RMreinit Pinboard |m %Desktop |m
5.11
Obviously, in place of NewDesktop you can use any name that you like
(note that abbreviations still work so, in this case, you could use New.
to carry this out.)  If you wish to re-run the !Boot file on exiting
from command line mode, add -F !Boot after the %Desktop command.  If you
do not have a desktop !Boot file, use the Desktop Boot function from the
Acorn menu on the iconbar.
5.11
From now on, to get back from the command line (after using the Exit
option), type New.  (or your appropriate alias) rather than Desktop.
5.11
Simon Moy, Norwich Computer Services.
5.11
•   Truncated filenames and RISC-OS 3 − It took me a long time to discover
that you type *Configure Truncate off  to stop the O.S. automatically
truncating filenames when saving and therefore (possibly) overwriting an
old version of a file which I wanted to keep!  A
5.11

Hints and Tips
5.12
•   Free Space − (Ref to Archive 5.11 p21) − The call to check the amount
of free space on a disc is ADFS_FreeSpace. On entry, R0 points to the
disc specifier and on exit R0 contains the free space and R1 contains
the size of the largest object that can be created. E.g.
5.12
SYS“ADFS_FreeSpace”,“:0” to free%,largest%
5.12
Change the ADFS to RamFS, SCSIFS or whatever you’re using.
5.12
•   Free space on hard discs − For some time I had been concerned by the
apparent discrepancy between the figures returned by COUNT and FREE for
the space used by files on my SCSI discs. I was aware that COUNT only
counts the actual files and that FREE counts all the space used but I
still felt uneasy and my discs seemed to fill up alarmingly quickly.
5.12
ADFS floppies use 2k for every directory and there is an initial 4k
overhead for the map on E format discs. My impression was that the same
amount of space would be used for each directory in all Filecore
systems, including SCSI, but that the map would take more space
depending on the size of the disc.
5.12
So the first thing I did was to estimate the number of directories on my
120M disc. I make full use of the directory structure to organise my
data, not to any great depth but with some width. RISC-OS encourages
this and, of course, applications are directories too. I reckoned there
were well over 1000 directories on the disc, but at 2k per directory,
this did not account for the difference.
5.12
With a little experiment of adding a directory and looking for the
change in free space, I found that a directory was taking a staggering
28k! This was where the space was going, but why?
5.12
My Oak SCSI card is managed by their SCSIForm program which allows some
flexibility in defining the format of the disc. Having backed-up, I did
some experimenting with the parameters.
5.12
I changed the sector size, but the minimum value for the 120M disc was
512 bytes and, for a 42M removable was 256 bytes. I imagine the lowest
possible value of 128 bytes is only for small discs. Anyway, the changes
I made had only very small effects on space or disc transfer times. The
default is 512 bytes per sector, so I left it at that.
5.12
Next I changed the file allocation size. This defaults to 2k on the
large disc and 1k on the other. The minimum is 256 bytes. The larger
values are chosen, I believe, to speed up transfer times to large files
on larger discs. I did not think this parameter would have an effect on
the structure, but look at the table below. The results were impressive.
For a loss of transfer time of less than 5% I was gaining a saving on
structure of 7 times! There were similar results for the smaller disc.
5.12
   File Alloc’n  (bytes)   2048
   1024   512   256
5.12
   Map Space (k)   57   47
   68.5   124
5.12
   Dir’y Space  (k each)   28   15
   7.5   4
5.12
   Mode 0   (k/sec)   1959   1864
   1864   1864
5.12
   Mode 21  (k/sec)   994   955
   955   955
5.12
I have not delved any further into why more than 2k per directory is
taken in SCSI but the figures suggest 14 blocks are used: 13 are <256
bytes and the other is 512-768 bytes.
5.12
When I settled on a file allocation size of 256 bytes, I recovered about
30M of extra space on the larger disc − about £200 worth, perhaps. Some
of this saving comes from taking much less space for the multitude of
small !Run,!Boot and !Sprites files.
5.12
The only other make of SCSI of card I have access to is a Cumana one in
school, running in a fileserver for 600 users. This too has 1000+
directories. The Cumana SCSIManager program only offers formatting with
default values, so I changed the format using my Oak card and made
similar impressive savings. The disc runs happily with the Cumana card,
as you would expect, but will not dismount. This is no penalty with
self-parking heads.
5.12
I then found an old ADFS hard drive and did the same check, finding that
a new directory takes 12k. RAMFS takes a straight 2k. I would be
interested to know if the same problem applies to IDE discs and what
formatting is possible with other SCSI cards.  Steve Drain, Portland.  A
5.12




Impression Hints & Tips
5.12
Ŷ•   Problems with version 2.17 − If you are having problems with version
2.17 − such as the machine hanging up when you select large areas of
text − don’t blame Impression! Basically, what is happening is that CC
have implemented message-passing via the Wimp for their thesaurus and
these messages are rather large. This is a perfectly valid thing to do
under Acorn’s RISC-OS programming guidelines but not all filing systems
have been written to allow for such large messages and they end up over-
writing areas of memory − hence the crashes. Filing system versions
known to be a problem are:
5.12
   Oak SCSI version 1.11
5.12
   Ian Copestake IDE version 1.13,
5.12
   Serial Port IDE version 1.01, March ’91
5.12
CC say... “If your Archimedes gives problems, contact your Acorn
supplier or the appropriate company. Please do not contact Computer
Concepts − these problems are not caused by Impression but by the filing
system.”
5.12
The Oak SCSI filer 1.11 has been replaced by version 1.16 but this ‘new’
version (actually two years old!) is available through Archive as an
upgrade for £12 inc VAT.
5.12
The ICS filer 1.13 can be swapped for version 1.14 as a free EPROM
exchange from ICS. They also have a completely re-written IDE filer
(version 2) which is available from them for £15 +VAT. The customer
returns the old EPROM afterwards.
5.12
The Serial Port filer 1.01 can be replaced with 1.02 as a free upgrade −
in this case, just send the floppy disc back to The Serial Port and they
will replace it.
5.12
• Using borders − From David Wooldridge comes one of those tips that is
obvious to the initiated but might be new to some users. When choosing a
border in the Alter Frame window (view mode), don’t forget you can see
the various borders by pointing at the white border in the window and
pressing menu. A border picker window opens, allowing you to select from
all the available borders. This tip is in the manual but, as we all
know, not everyone reads manuals − own up, please, if this is new to
you! (Me for one! Ed.)
5.12



The Readers Write!
5.12
• Laser Jet printing with RISC-OS3 − Gerald Fitton (of Pipeline fame!)
has experienced a problem when using RISC-OS 3, !Printers, Laser Jet II
and Impression. He has found that documents in the portrait format print
7 mm out of position on the vertical axis and are offset 5mm to the
right. This occurs even when the page borders are set to 0 mm. If he
increases the latter figure, the print out is further out of position.
As Gerald says, ‘What I need is a minus value for my borders. Help!’ Has
anyone else come across this particular problem?
5.12
• Keeping track of Draw and Sprite files − In Archive 5.9 p37 Steve
Hutchinson was asking advice on keeping track of his Draw and sprite
files and was recommended two viewing applications. There is also an
easy hardcopy method namely !PicList which was on the Acorn User October
1991 disc after being upgraded from the May version. The application
makes a set of sprite “pages” containing any Draw or sprite pictures
that are dropped into it. The pictures are displayed in a grid and are
labelled with their name/path above them. The application is easy to use
from the iconbar having options to:
5.12
•   Set up the size of the “page” (defaults to print size if a driver is
loaded),
5.12
•   Set the number of columns and rows required − depending on the
required detail of each picture,
5.12
•   Set the screen mode for the resultant “pages”,
5.12
•   Choose the path/name format to name each picture.
5.12
You can drop directories onto the icon and several pages are generated.
The pages can be stepped through to view and saved to make a hardcopy of
each page. Alan Wilburn, Hartlepool.
5.12
• Auto destruct! − In the Hints and Tips section of the June edition of
Archive, there was a mention of possible problems with the auto-save
facility of Impression under the title “Auto-destruct!”. Version 2.16
(and 2.17) of Impression does not appear to be as dangerous in this
respect. If the auto-save facility is turned on but with the “With
prompt” switch left off, a prompt will still appear on-screen before the
first time the document is auto-saved.
5.12
This also occurs the first time the document is auto-saved after it has
been reloaded. It is mentioned in the Impression 2.15 release notes on
pages 1 and 3.
5.12
Still on the subject of Impression, I have two problems that readers of
Archive may be interested in:
5.12
Spelling checker − If you check and replace a misspelled word by using
<Ctrl-W> to invoke the spelling checker, this appears to work correctly
except that if you have typed nothing after the word, it also has the
effect of <Ctrl-B> and returns you to basestyle. Obviously the solution
is to always type at least a space after the word before using <Ctrl-W>.
5.12
PrintBJ (the extension module to print draft text) − This makes a
reasonable attempt at interpreting styles as far as different fonts and
font sizes are concerned but seems unable to cope with rulers or effects
that control the position of the text on the page. Tabs it gets
completely wrong, right aligned text is centred, centred text is centred
but using a page width about three quarters of the actual width. This is
using the Canon BJ-10e. I have phoned Computer Concepts who suggested I
wrote enclosing example documents both printed and on disc. This I did
several months ago and have not received a reply. Has anyone else
experienced these problems or indeed found a solution? Nick Edgar,
Doncaster.
5.12
I can understand Nick’s problems and only print out in graphics format.
My method of working for proofing documents is always to print at a
lower resolution − and hence achieve a quicker print out. Users of the
Deskjet 500 have the option of using the draft mode on the printer for
this purpose and leaving the resolution set on the driver unchanged.

Hints and Tips
6.1
•   Alt characters − On upgrading from RISC-OS 2 to RISC-OS 3.1, I thought
I had lost my ‘×’ character. I eventually found that it had moved from
<alt-,> to <shift-alt-,>. (Even on RISC-OS 3.0 on the A5000 it is still
<alt-,>.) So I investigated all the possible ALTernatives(!). Here are
all the ALT characters I found. They are laid out in QWERTY order but
where no special character appeared, the key is not included in the
list.
6.1
key   ALT   shift ALT
`   ¬   °
1   ¹   ¡
2   ²
3   ³
4   ¼
5   ½
6   ¾
9      ±
r   ¶   ®
y      ¥
o   ø   Ø
p   þ   Þ
\      ¦
a   æ   Æ
s   ß   §
d   ð   Ð
f      ª
z   «
x   »
c   ¢   ©
m   µ   º
,      ×
.      ÷
/      ¿
6.1
I think that is all there is, but if anyone finds any more, let us know.
Ed.
6.1
•   Annual service kit − In answer to Paul’s comment about hard drives in
Archive 5.12, p.8, I’d like to sing the praises of the Alarm application
(on one of the support disks or in ROM on RISC-OS 3). (You will see the
link if you read on! Ed)
6.1
I, too, would have forgotten completely about the annual replacement of
filter and batteries, but for this application (which, thanks to my Boot
file, always resides on the iconbar): When my machine was a year old,
Alarm reminded me of this fact in no uncertain terms, (‘urgent’ alarm,
repeating every hour), so there was very little chance of overlooking
this necessary bit of maintenance. Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany.
6.1
•   Apple Laser Writer II NT − Here is some information for anyone wanting
to make a cable link from an Archimedes to an Apple Laser Writer II NT.
The connections are as follows...
6.1
   Archimedes   LaserWriter II NT
   Pin         Pin
   2   (RXD)   −−−−   3   (TXD)
   3   (TXD)   −−−−   2   (RXD)
   5   (0V)   −−−−   7   (0V)
   6   (DSR)   −−−−   20   (DTR)
The Archimedes pins DCD (1), DTR (4) and CTS (8) are all linked
together.
6.1
When using a RISC-OS printer driver you should choose the Serial
connection with 9600 baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit.
XOn/XOff protocol should also be used.
6.1
•   DDE Pascal − Some would-be users of DDE !Pascal (on Careware 17) will
have discovered that it won’t function in Computer Concepts’ Compressed
Filing System (CFS), where it generates the error ‘Special field not
allowed in filesystem prefix to OS_CLI’. This means that the command
line interpreter, which is invoked to run the Pascal tool, objects to
some pathname which begins with the prefix ‘CFS#’. The offending
pathname turns out to be the <Pascal$Dir>.Pascal, as assigned into
Alias$Pascal by the !Run file with the apparent function of enabling the
compiler to be located in the application directory. The remedy is to
comment out the line which assigns Alias$Pascal and move the compiler
(i.e. <Pascal$Dir>.Pascal) to your library. This brings the configura
tion into line with that of the C compiler and other DDE tools and
causes ‘*Pascal’ commands to be serviced by default from the current
library without any explicit reference to a filesystem.  Mike Kinghan,
Oxford
6.1
•   DDE Pascal (Careware 17) − The release of the public-domain Norcroft
Pascal compiler for the Archimedes is potentially extremely useful,
since, although ISO-Pascal is very good, it does not interface well with
the operating system. More seriously, programs compiled with ISO-Pascal
do not interface well either.
6.1
The Norcroft system is easy to use and install and does everything that
is claimed of it. Unfortunately, users should be aware of some problems,
especially since Acorn obviously does not wish to maintain the product.
6.1
I have some extra severe tests for Pascal, which I have used to test the
compiler. This shows that the compiler has some errors in the evaluation
of set expressions: the following program failed (printing True rather
than False):
6.1
{4 5 6 4 0 3    3000 }
{the parameters from the full test which failed. }
program test (output);
const
   ten = 10;
var
   i: 1..ten;
begin
i := 11; (compilation error here?)
i := ten + 1; (compilation error here?)
writeln(‘Error not detected‘) ;
end.
6.1
The first error is caught at compile-time by almost all Pascal com
pilers, including ISO-Pascal. The second error is caught by almost all
compilers at run-time, and a few at compile-time.
6.1
When using the quit option in the Pascal menu, the system still allows
command line usage of Norcroft Pascal, although the icon is removed.
6.1
The final significant problem is that programs written in ISO-Pascal do
not necessarily compile without the ISO option being set. This is
annoying, since many programs will wish to use some extensions. I don’t
know of any other Pascal compiler for which the extension option means
less (in some cases).  Brian Wichmann, NPL.
6.1
•   Directory size − Regarding the issue on directory sizes, etc in the
hints & tips section, there are a few other points...
6.1
RISC-OS 2 has some problems with certain combinations of disk size and
allocation unit, so beware. The problem usually causes the machine to
hang when entering a directory. I have only experienced this using large
allocation units on small disks.
6.1
The fact that a new dir appears to take 38Kb isn’t the whole story, as I
believe that there is a facility for small files within a directory to
use some of the ‘wasted’ space. However, if you tend to have lots of
directories with few files, space does tend to get wasted.
6.1
The best solution as far as both disk, space and speed is concerned is
to use D format, which uses the ‘correct’ amount of space for direc
tories and hardly anything for the map. (Remember that there are two
copies of the map in E format.) D format disks are also MUCH easier to
recover files from if the root directory or map gets corrupted and files
can never be fragmented (which slows down access). The only disadvantage
is the occasional need to compact but I find this a small price to pay.
I would only recommend E format for non-technical users.
6.1
The same issues will apply to all FireCore based filling systems such as
IDE, etc.  Mike Harrison
6.1
•   Impression/Squirrel − CC’s !Importer (also in their Business Supple
ment) is supplied by Digital Services with Squirrel. Here is some
experience that might help other people.
6.1
Using Squirrel, I created a database with 22 fields. I then tried to
mail merge the resultant report CSV file using !Importer. I got an error
message saying ‘Subscript out of range (Code 6150).’ After some hours of
fiddling, I eventually found that if I reduced the number of fields in
the CSV file to 16, !Importer worked OK. Nick Horn, Thetford.
6.1
•   Second internal hard drive in an A410/1 − I fitted a 40Mb ST506 hard
drive to my A410, thinking it would be more than adequate. However, with
the acquisition of the PC Emulator and the formation of a 10Mb DOS
partition, I was rapidly running out of room. I subsequently purchased a
second hand 20Mb ST506 drive, which I decided to fit internally rather
than buy a p.s.u., case and fan. I thought of making some mounting
brackets but, having seen an advert for a SPACE kit from PRES which
included brackets and all the leads, I changed my mind and went for
that. Price was £38.72 inc VAT. The work involved was to:
6.1
1)   Remove top two podule blanking plates.
6.1
2)   Fit metal brackets to drive using screws supplied.
6.1
3)   Remove the 34 way data cable and replace it with the one supplied,
connecting it to the existing drive and mother board (SK11), leaving
spare connector to connect to the second drive later.
6.1
4)   Connect the supplied 20 way control cable to the spare connector
(SK8) on the mother board, leaving the other end to be connected to the
second drive later.
6.1
5)   Remove the power cable from the psu and existing drive and replace
it with the supplied cable, leaving the spare connector for the second
drive.
6.1
6)   Lead all three cables to the back of the computer and through the
space left by removing the blanking plates and connect them to the
second drive.
6.1
7)   Attach the blanking plates to the metal brackets on the second
drive using nuts & bolts supplied.
6.1
8)   Ensure second drive is set to ‘1’ by changing the appropriate DIP
switch or DS-Jumper.
6.1
9)   Insert the drive through the back of computer until the front of
the brackets rests on backplane connectors (psu side) and the blanking
plates line up with the back of the computer. Screw in blanking plate
screws.
6.1
10)   Once computer is up and running it will have to be configured for
a second hard drive.
6.1
The work was very easy to carry out and the instructions supplied were
very good. The drive then has to be formatted using Acorn’s HFORM
program. The program had to be modified to do the ‘slow’ formatting by
altering the following lines:
6.1
7530 REMmed out
7540 REMmed out
7550 REM removed
7560 REM remove
6.1
Once this was done, the drive formatted with no problems and, using the
PC Emulator’s configure program, I created a 19 Mb DOS partition.
6.1
I would recommend this solution of gaining extra drive capacity if you
have access to a cheap drive and do not mind losing the space of two
half width podules.  Chris Bass, Grimsby
6.1
•   Mah Jong from CIS − If you have recently purchased the Mah Jong game
from Cambridge International Software, you may wish to check for the
presence of a ‘benign’ virus. This can be done by double-clicking on the
!MahJong game while holding the <shift> key down. Choose the ‘Display >
Full Info’ option on the filer window. If the MemAlloc module is larger
that 2608 bytes then your copy is infected and you should contact CIS
directly at Unit 2a, Essex Road, London  N1 3QP or telephone
071−226−3340.
6.1
•   Measuring free space − I would like to say a big thank you to all the
people who wrote in response to my plea for help in finding a way of
checking, from within a program, whether there is enough space for a
file before it is saved.
6.1
The most ingenious suggestion was to use the following commands:
6.1
*FREE {ram:ccc }
X=OPENUP(“RAM:CCC”)
REPEAT B=BGET#X: UNTIL B=ASC“=”
REPEAT B=BGET#X
 IF B>47 AND B<58 B$=B$+CHR$B
UNTIL B=ASC“B”
*SHUT
6.1
to put the free space in the variable B$.
6.1
Some people pointed me to ‘ADFS_FreeSpace’ (also RamFS_FreeSpace,
SCSIFS_FreeSpace, etc.) which can be used with syntax such as:
6.1
SYS “ADFS_FreeSpace”,Drive$ TO Free%,Largest%.
6.1
The same information was given on page 7 of the Archive 5.12.
6.1
Although all these answers have been very helpful, they have also taught
me a salutary lesson, namely that you have to be very precise when
describing your problem: because, although they have answered the
question (and told me things that I did not know) they haven’t actually
told me what I needed to know!
6.1
What I actually want is a filing system independent way of finding out
whether a file with any given path name can be saved. For instance, if
the user of my program indicates (by dragging an icon to a filer window
or typing into a save box) that he wants to save a file with the path
name ‘XXXFS::$....Filename’ and if my program knows how long the file
will be, I want my program to be able to find out whether the file will
fit in the specified place, without knowing in advance whether ‘XXXFS’
stands for ADFS or CFS or SCSIFS or RamFS or whatever. The program also
has to work if a path is not specified and the file is simply to be
saved to the CSD.
6.1
A couple of correspondents have pointed out that there is an SWI called
‘FileCore_FreeSpace’ (on page 1021 of the PRM). However, in order to use
this you have to know the ‘private word’ of the filing system in
question and, so far as I can see, this SWI can only therefore be called
by a filing system module, which is not much use to a mere mortal
programmer!
6.1
I still, therefore, believe that the only generalised way of doing what
I want is to use syntax like the following :
6.1
X%=OPENOUT(Filename$)
SYS “XOS_Args”,6,X%,Length% TO ,,Allocated%
IF Allocated% >= Length% THEN ... go ahead and save it.
6.1
This is hardly elegant but it seems to work.
6.1
I understand that RISC-OS 3 will include the generalised SWI that I
want. However, this will not be much use, of course, in a program that
is designed to work in RISC-OS 2 as well!  Hugh Eagle, Horsham
6.1
•   Formatting numbers (continued) − Over the last two months, I have been
following the correspondence on Basic’s number formatting ability (PRINT
and STR$) with some interest. Has the increased size and complexity of
RISC-OS caused the oversight of some of the slightly esoteric but very
powerful features of BBC Basic? One such feature is the @% variable in
Basic. The @% variable controls the format of the PRINT and STR$
functions and much of last month’s discussions could have been settled
by altering the @% variable so that STR$ was formatted in the same way
as PRINT.
6.1
@% is fully discussed in the manuals that accompany the computer under
the PRINT command but I will try to give some useful pointers here. As
with all Basic integers, the @% variable is four bytes long. When Byte 4
(the left-most byte) is zero Basic ignores @% when using the STR$
function (this is the default and the source of last month’s problems)
otherwise STR$ is formatted exactly the same as PRINT. Byte 3 allows the
choice of three different formatting types: 0 − general (the default), 1
− exponent and 2 − fixed. Byte 2 specifies the number of digits printed
and Byte 1 gives the print field width when you use comma separators in
PRINT.
6.1
Our problem arises from two areas: the way computers represent numbers
and the value of @%. At this point, I think it is necessary to take an
aside into the nature of real number representation in computers so, if
you are only interested in how to circumvent Basic’s printing problems,
skip to the end of this article.
6.1
Common advice to novice programmers is not to use real variables unless
you really have to. Speed and storage reasons are normally given for
simplicity but a far more important reason is that real numbers are not
exact in the same way as integers and they must be treated differently.
A classic example is the problem in mathematics of dealing with two
representations of, say, the number one: which could be 1.000... or
0.999.... As far as we are concerned both are the same but if we ask a
computer whether or not they are equal, we find not. This is due to no
fault of the computer or the programmer but the acceptance that
computers cannot store the infinite expressions for real numbers but
must approximate to a number of decimal places and so springs up the
subject of numerical analysis.
6.1
How then do we equate real numbers? Well, we must choose a value for a
zero! That is a number where any number smaller than it we consider to
be ‘as good as zero’. An example for Basic is 10−7, any smaller and the
errors in calculations become significant. So when we want to check
equality of two numbers a and b we use the expression (ABS(a­b) < 1E-7).
If this is true then the two numbers are ‘as good as equal’. (ABS is
used since we are only interested in the magnitude of the difference
between the numbers.)
6.1
The second important point with numbers stored in computers is that they
are stored in binary. Yes, of course, you all knew that but fewer people
are aware how computers store fractions. Much like in decimal when we
have a decimal point, computers use a binary point where the digits to
the right of the point have place values 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc. In decimal
there is a problem of representing fractions like 1/3 or 1/6 because the
prime factors of 3 or 6 are not divisible by the factors of 10 (2, 5) so
you get infinite decimal expansions for them. In binary, the problem is
greater because there is only one factor of two (unlike two factors of
ten) so even more numbers have infinite representations (this is why
some people advocate using base 12 instead of base 10 for day to day
life − it makes mental arithmetic so much easier). This means that
simple decimal numbers like 0.6 have an infinite expansion in binary.
6.1
What has all this got to do with printing numbers in Basic? Well, an
appreciation of what is going on when you store numbers will help you
avoid the pitfalls that last month’s contributors highlighted. Now that
we are aware that innocuous looking numbers like 2.1 can have infinite
expansions when stored in binary, it becomes clear that 2.1 × 10 may not
equal 21 but, perhaps, 20.99999999!
6.1
Is there anything that we can do about this? Yes, indeed there is. We
can tell Basic to round off the number to nine decimal places instead of
attempting to print 10 which extends the precision beyond the accuracy
(in general Basic is accurate to nine decimal places unless you are
using the floating point version where I believe 19 is the limit but not
having a RISC-OS 3...).
6.1
Now we come back to @%. At default, @% specifies 9 decimal places but it
only affects PRINT and not STR$ which defaults to ten. To alter this,
all we need to do is set the byte 4 flag in @% to one. Try PRINT
STR$(0.6) and then set @% = &0100090A and try again (by the way, &90A is
the default value for @% whereas STR$ uses &A0A if byte 4 is unset).
6.1
If we want to print money then we can set @% to two decimal places by
&0002020A (remember to set byte 4 to one if you want to use STR$). This
has the added bonus of allowing you to print the number rounded off but
still maintain the extra places for further calculations.
6.1
I hope you can now see the power and simplicity of using @%. My only
warning is that if you wish to use several formats in your program, then
either save the previous @% or declare it as a local variable.  Emmet
Spier, Guildford.
6.1
This subject seems to have opened up quite a debate. Emmet has agreed to
edit any comments regarding rounding errors for us and so if your wish
to add to the debate you should write to him directly. Emmet Spier, 6
Parklands Place, Guildford, Surrey  GU1 2PS.
6.1
•   PC keyboards for A4 − A word of warning − not all PC type keyboards
work on the A4 (or all PCs for that matter!), so take the A4 to the shop
and try before you buy! Reasonable ones can be had for about £40 at some
computer fairs. Note that non PS/2 type keyboards (with the 5 pin DIN
plug) can be used with an adaptor or by changing the plug.  Mike
Harrison
6.1
•   RISC-OS 3 DOS partitions − Because DOS filenames (including exten
sions) are in general longer than the maximum length of a valid ADFS
filename (10), it is not always possible to copy or move DOS files from
hard or floppy discs directly to the ADFS.
6.1
The !MultiFS utility as supplied with the PC Emulator solves this by
allowing you to truncate the DOS filename while the translation process
takes place. Another very useful option (which I often use when copying
files from C programs) is to force !MultiFS to handle DOS extensions as
(hierarchical) directories.
6.1
However, when the filetype of a DOS partition on your ADFS hard disc is
set to ‘DOSdisc’, RISC-OS 3 will display a filer window for the
partition when you try to open the folder, while !MultiFS just ignores
it (i.e. no :C drive on the iconbar.) This is all very nice but RISC-OS
3 doesn’t offer the nice name translation options mentioned above. To
enable !MultiFS to display your DOS partitions, just set their filetype
to ‘data’ before you start !MultiFS. Remember to use the command line
and not the filer menu because the latter doesn’t allow you to change
the the filetype of DOSdiscs. I inserted 3 lines for each DOS partition
in the !MultiFS !Run file to swap between ‘DOSdisc’ and ‘data’ type
partitions when !MultiFS is started:
6.1
   *Filer_CloseDir    <PCe$Drive_X>
6.1
*SetType    <PCe$Drive_X> Data
6.1
directly after setting the system variable <PCe$Drive_X>, and
6.1
   *SetType    <PCe$Drive_X> DOSDisc
6.1
at the end of the !Run file (although the comment tells us not to do
so).
6.1
Unfortunately, there are some bugs in !MultiFS: When you copy to a
MultiFS filer window, you must ensure name translation is not set to
hierarchical or you will end up with wildcards (‘?’) in filenames. When
this happens you must use DOS itself to delete the file because RISC-OS
fails to wipe those objects. Another bug appears if you shut down your
system after using !MultiFS. This results in an error report and a task
manager crash.  Paul Groot, Holland.
6.1
•   Saloon Cars Deluxe − If you are having problems running Saloon Cars
Deluxe, it may be worth knowing that you must have the Font Manager
installed for it to run.
6.1
•   Shareware 44 (Fortran Friends) update − There is a small bug in the
!Fortran77. DesktopF77 program. Line 1400 should read:
6.1
1400 IF INSTR(b$,“rror”) THEN E%+=1
6.1
This allows errors in the code generator part of the compiler to be
detected. Kate Crennell, Oxon.
6.1
•   Zelanites cheat − The following program provides a cheat for
Zelanites. It stops the number of lives decreasing below 9.  Steve
Edwards, Stourbridge.
 10 REM >:0.$.hints.zelcheat
 20 REM Archive hints & tips section
 30 REM (c) S.EDWARDS 1992
 40 REM infinite lives for Zelanites
 50 REM ****************************
 60 REM * When you have run the program the game should *
 70 REM * then be run as normal. This time when you die  *
 80 REM * you will have not gone down one life but up   *
 90 REM * to NINE lives, which stay with you for ever.  *
100 REM *                          *
110 REM ****************************
120 :
130 DIM store% &400
140 MODE 0
150 PROCDisc_op
160 PRINT‘********FINISHED********’
170 PRINT
180 PRINT‘****NOW GET BLASTING****’
190 END
200 :
210 DEF PROCDisc_op
220 PRINT ‘Put !ZELANITE disc into drive 0’
230 PRINT ‘   and press a key.’
240 A=GET
250 PRINT ‘Loading  sector information’
260 SYS ‘ADFS_DiscOp’,0,1,&50400, store%,&400
270 store%?&67=&6A:REM Original code =&2A
280 INPUT‘Are you are ready to make the change ?’;A$
290 IF LEFT$(A$,1)=‘N’ OR LEFT$(A$,1)=‘n’ THEN END
300 IF LEFT$(A$,1)=‘Y’ OR LEFT$(A$,1)=‘y’ THEN
310   PRINT‘Saving cheat back to disk’
320   SYS ‘ADFS_DiscOp’,0,2,&50400, store%,&400
330 ENDIF
340 ENDPROC

Hints and Tips
6.2
•   3D icons for RISC-OS 3.1 − Here are some tips for those of you who
upgraded from RISC-OS 3.00 to RISC-OS 3.10 (and for anyone else who is
interested in a fancy desktop).
6.2
If you have used the fancy 3D-like window borders on your A5000, you
will probably have noticed that, with RISC-OS 3.1, the borders will not
install properly. This is because RISC-OS 3.0 programs used the
‘IconSprites’ command to install the wimp’s tool sprites (i.e. borders),
while in RISC-OS 3.1 there is a new command to install user defined
window tools:
6.2
*ToolSprites <spritefile>
6.2
This is, I think, because the border sprites are now held in a separate
sprite area for faster redrawing. So, the only thing you have to do is
to change the command ‘IconSprites’ into ‘ToolSprites’ at the appropri
ate places in your files. Note that you can also re-install the default
window tools by entering ‘ToolSprites’ on the command line.
6.2
The small utility I use to install enhanced icons (a modified version of
!SetIcons), shows another minor modification of RISC-OS 3.1. It is now
assumed that some icons have the same dimension. For example, some
border elements are painted from two sets of sprites − one that is
normally used and one that is used when you select this particular
border element. If corresponding sprites within these sets are different
in size, you will see that some parts of the elements are not painted
when you select them. To overcome this problem, you can adjust the sizes
with !Paint.
6.2
For those programmers who liked the Impression-style dialogue boxes,
there exists a module called ‘Interface’. This module takes care of most
of the code to generate fancy icon borders. RISC-OS 3.0 has some in-
built extras to achieve the same thing without the need to insert extra
lines of code into your program. (The programmer only has to define some
validation strings which contain the information to generate the desired
effect.) However, because the validation string command syntax was
essentially the same as the syntax used by the Interface module, there
were sometimes problems when using the Interface module with RISC-OS
3.0.
6.2
After I installed the new RISC-OS 3.1 ROMs, I was surprised to see that
my own (RISC-OS 3.0!) programs didn’t have fancy borders any more. After
some experimenting with the validation strings, I discovered that the
command syntax is now different from the syntax used by the Interface
module. To be more specific, RISC-OS 3.1 makes use of ‘r<int><colour>’
(where <int> is a number between 0 and 8 and <colour> is a WIMP colour
number), instead of ‘b<int>, ...’. This modification probably has been
made to overcome the incompatibility problems with the Interface module.
The simplicity with which you can use this prompts a question: Why don’t
the ROM based applications like Draw use this facility? I guess this is
just another ‘Acorn-mystery’.  Paul Groot, Holland.
6.2
• Editing paper sizes in RISC-OS 3 − If attempts are made to edit the
paper sizes contained within the standard RISC-OS 3 printer driver
files, it will be found that any changes made to the Text Margins
section will revert to 0 when the window is closed, even if Save
Settings is selected. This is due to a bug, but can be rectified by
editing the paper files directly.
6.2
Editing any of the paper sizes results in a new file called PaperRW
being generated in the Printers application directory. This file can be
modified using Edit. Make sure that the Printers application is not
running (i.e. Choose Quit from the iconbar menu if it is). Find the
!Printers application (normally in the App1 directory) and open it using
Shift-double-click. Open the file called PaperRW by Shift-double-
clicking on it. Scroll down the file until you find the name of the
paper setting which you defined or modified. It will look something like
’pn: Fanfold A4’. At the bottom of the set of numbers relevant to this
paper setting are five values (called tb, tt, tl, tr, th) which
correspond to the text bottom, top, left and right margins and the
height (in lines) respectively. Alter the values from 0 to your required
numbers and save the file. When you re-run the Printers application,
your paper sizes will be rectified.  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
•   How NOT to treat your SCSI hard disk − A few weeks ago I found a new
way to get rid of all those files that clogged my external hard disk(!)
6.2
Every verify I did showed up one questionable sector, so I decided to
map it out as defective. The *Defect command applies only to ADFS, so I
browsed through the SCSI disk’s manual and, finally, found what I was
looking for (or so I thought).
6.2
Morley supply their hard disks with a formatter application which,
amongst other things, can add defects to a list. There is a warning that
a low level format would result in total loss of data but, later in the
description, an option was mentioned to decide whether or not to do the
low level format while running the application.
6.2
This led me to believe that clicking on ‘No’ would keep my data intact −
alas, I was wrong!
6.2
The Morley hotline informed me that I had in fact done a high level
format which wipes out the information about the addresses for each
file. As the passage in the manual could be misunderstood, they very
kindly offered to restore my data for me free of charge (just p&p).
(Great service!!)
6.2
However, it was not to be: I forgot to inform them that I use Computer
Concepts’ Compression on most of my files and this, I was told later,
encodes the files in such a way that retrieval becomes virtually
impossible.
6.2
I learned two things from my self-made disaster:
6.2
1) Even the excellent Compression is not proof against all kinds of
fools.
6.2
2) 800 Kb floppy disks are just not good enough as a backup medium! I
shudder at the thought that I will have to feed 112 floppies into my
machine, once the hard disk returns from England.
6.2
As a consequence, for future backups I have ordered a 20Mb floptical
drive from Morley, to be sent as soon as it is able to read and write
Acorn floppy formats.  Jochen Konietzko, Köln, Germany.
6.2
•   Humour in RISC-OS 3.1! − You will be pleased to hear that humour still
exists within Acorn. If you load ‘Resources:$.Resources.
Switcher.Templates’ into the template editor, FormEd, you get an
interesting message.  Knut Folmo, Norway
6.2
•   Loading multiple Impression documents − If you want to load a number
of Impression files at once, just select them (with rubber band dragging
on RISC-OS 3, if you like) and drag them down onto the Impression icon
on the iconbar.
6.2
• Memory size from Basic − In Basic, there is no specific way to find
out how much physical memory is fitted to the host machine. However, it
can be calculated using a SWI call as in this example:
6.2
10 SYS “OS_ReadMemMapInfo” TO PageSize%, NumOfPages%
6.2
20 TotalMemory% = PageSize% * NumOfPages%
6.2
30   REM This value is in bytes
6.2
40 Total% = TotalMemory% / 2^20
6.2
50   REM This value is in Mbytes
6.2
Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
•   More RISC-OS 3.1 Alt Characters The current A5000 Welcome Guide
mentions some additional Alt-key characters. These alt-keys don’t
actually produce a character themselves, they just set up an accent, so
that the following character is changed into an accented character. This
only happens if the accent is suitable for the following character.
6.2
For example to type an ‘e’ with an acute accent (é): Whilst holding down
the Alt key, press and release <[>. Release <alt> and the press and
release <E>. Thus:-
6.2
Alt-[  E     é
Alt-]  E     è
Alt-;  E     ë
Alt-’  E     ê
Alt-,  N   ñ
Alt-.  A     å
Alt-/  C     ç
6.2
The only other Alt-key character missing from the previous list is Alt-
hyphen which gives character 173, which, in the Acorn fonts, looks
exactly like a normal hyphen, but is often different in fonts from other
suppliers.  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
• MS-DOS 5, PC Emulators and the Archimedes keyboard − (This excerpt
from a reply to an Archive reader’s letter may prove useful to others.)
The cursor keys do not work correctly with the PC emulators due to a
bug. They will not work properly with either QBasic or DOS Edit. They
can be used to move around the text but, to select text, you must use
the cursor and editing keys which are mapped on the numeric keypad (as
on a normal PC AT-style keyboard). Therefore, when inside the editors,
make sure that NumLock is off and use <shift> and the following keys (on
the numeric keypad):
6.2
6.3
6.2
AMOUSE.COM is fully compatible with MS-DOS 5. However, as with all PCs,
you cannot display the mouse pointer at the DOS prompt. Also, not all PC
programs support the mouse. However, if the AMOUSE command is present in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the program you want to use accepts a mouse
(e.g. QBasic, EDIT and DOSSHELL), you must start the appropriate
application first and then select Connect Mouse (by pressing <menu> over
the PC emulator window) if you are running the emulator from a window in
the RISC-OS desktop. If you are using the emulator under Single Task
mode, the mouse should automatically connect itself. (If the mouse does
not connect itself automatically when running the emulator under Single
Task mode, then this is a further bug in the PC emulator.) Typing AMOUSE
at the DOS prompt or selecting Connect Mouse from the window’s menu will
not display the DOS mouse pointer, as DOS itself does not support a
mouse. If you do this, the RISC-OS pointer will disappear (because
control has passed to DOS) and you must press <menu> on the mouse to
relinquish control from the emulator back to RISC-OS.  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
• Pound sign problems − The pound sign has always been a difficult
character to print and display on the screen. To make the pound sign
appear in the PC Emulator, press and hold <alt> and type 156 on the
numeric keypad. When you release <alt>, the pound sign will appear.
6.2
If you are printing a file as text (i.e. from Edit or PipeDream for
instance) then the pound sign will print as a hash (#). You can reverse
this by using a hash symbol in your text in place of the pound sign,
although it is important that your printer is set up with a UK character
set − see the DIP switch settings for your specific printer. If you are
printing a file produced using bitmaps (e.g. Impression) then the pound
sign will print correctly anyway. Basically, any program which defaults
to printing on the screen using the system font will print characters as
plain text − there is a section on plain and fancy text in the RISC-OS
User Guide.
6.2
By the way, does anybody know why you can’t access the pound sign
(either from the keyboard or <alt-156>) in a Task Window under RISC-OS
3.0?  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
• RISC-OS 3.1: A310 − There is a problem when fitting RISC-OS 3.1 to
A310 machines fitted with the Arcram 434 ARM3 + 4Mb upgrade from Watford
Electronics. It causes the machine to hang on power-up. Replacement PAL
chips and more information are available from Watford Electronics on
0923−37774 (Fax: 33642).  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
• RISC-OS 3.1: SCSI drives − There may be problems accessing the SCSI
drive using the HCCS Hard Card interface with RISC-OS 3.1. Contact HCCS
for details.  Simon Moy, N.C.S.
6.2
• Rotated fonts and sprites using Laser Direct − With the advent of
RISC-OS 3.1, there are problems with printing rotated text and graphics
using the currently existing RISC-OS 2 printer drivers such as that
supplied with Laser Direct. To overcome the problem, transform the text
or sprite to any angle in Draw, make sure that the item is selected and
choose the Convert to Path option from the Select submenu. This will
allow rotated text or sprites to be printed correctly using the RISC-OS
2 printer driver supplied with Laser Direct. This does not mean that it
will work with all RISC-OS 2 printer drivers − you will have to
experiment! Steve Costin, Ramsgate.
6.2
•   TV interference − In response to Chris Bass’ enquiry in Archive 6.1
p36, here is a general procedure which covers almost all cases:
6.2
1. Does the computer interfere with your own TV, when it is as close/
closer to your computer than your neighbour’s TV is? (On either side of
a party wall they could be less than 1 m apart!)
6.2
If YES, go to 2. If NO, go to 3.
6.2
2. Does the interference disappear when the computer is 3 m or more from
the TV?
6.2
If YES, agree with your neighbour to move your computer and his TV so
that they are more than 3 m apart. If moving them apart is inconvenient,
you could try sticking cooking foil on to the party wall (under the wall
covering, eventually). You need a minimum of about 2 m by 2 m, and there
is usually no point in earthing it, but you could try the effect.
6.2
In some types of building, your computer might be too close to your
neighbour’s TV aerial, in which case moving them apart is the best bet.
6.2
If NO, the computer may be faulty. Many dealers may not be able to cope
with this type of fault, so you, or your dealer, should contact Acorn
with a FULL description of the problem.
6.2
3. If NO to question 1, your neighbour’s TV has either an inadequate
aerial or inadequate ‘immunity’. (This is a technical term describing
‘resistance to electromagnetic disturbances’.) An inadequate aerial
usually also gives ‘fuzzy’ pictures and/or ghosts (outlines of images
displaced sideways). The aerial itself may be OK; the fault may be in
the downlead. They tend to fill up with water and deteriorate after a
time. A new aerial (and downlead) is quite inexpensive, even a large
one. If the aerial is not the problem, the manufacturer of the receiver
should be contacted, either directly or through the TV dealer or rental
company, regarding the probable lack of immunity of the TV. Manufac
turers (of TVs and computers) are quite concerned about this at present,
because of an EC Directive on the subject.
6.2
4. If all else fails, the DTI Radio Investigation Service will look at
the problem and give advice but there is a fee of about £21 involved.
The Service has much information and experience of such problems and
their cures, including private information about know immunity problems.
For Lincolnshire, the address is (or was) PO Box 2500, Nottingham NG8
3SS. The head office is at Waterloo Bridge House, Waterloo Road, London
SE1 8UA. A book, ‘How to improve Television and Radio Reception’ is/was
available from the Service, and gives a good deal of information on
interference problems (some of it technical).  John Woodgate, Rayleigh,
Essex.  A



Hints, Tips and Letters
6.2
A combined selection this month, since the hints and tips stem from
letters I have received recently.
6.2
• Key Window / Impression problem:  I am grateful to Jack Evans of
Bristol for pointing out this problem to me, particularly since I am the
author of the program in question. Key Window (available on Shareware 47
– see review in Archive 6.1 p31) is a program which displays keystrips
in a window, and the strips update themselves as you move the caret
between tasks.
6.2
The problem is that if you have Key Window running at the same time as
you are editing a document in Impression which is set to auto-save, the
auto-save doesn’t work. You can still save manually of course, but this
is something which is easy to forget about. The solution is easily
effected, if not very satisfactory. You have to de-select ‘Sense caret’
in Key Window’s Options menu. Unfortunately, this will prevent Key
Window from changing keystrips as you move between applications. If you
use Impression’s auto-save a lot, and want to disable Key Window’s
interference permanently, you can edit the !Run file to disable the
‘sense caret’ option via a system variable. Full instructions for doing
this are provided in the file.
6.2
Users may be interested to know that I have just started work on version
2 of Key Window, and am re-writing it from scratch to make it a much
better program with enhanced facilities. I intend to approach Computer
Concepts about the problem, to see if a satisfactory solution can be
found. Other programs with auto-save facilities, such as Ovation and
Vector, do not appear to suffer from the problem.
6.2
• Protecting Impression files:  Charles Martin from the Isle of Wight
has been having a few problems with some Impression ‘template’ files –
empty documents with standard formats. He wants to make them Delete- and
Write-protected via the filer’s Access menu but has found that setting
the files (which are, of course, in the form of application directories)
to ‘locked’ does not protect their contents. Similarly, opening the
directories and choosing ‘Select all’ does not have the desired effect.
6.2
This situation actually applies to all applications and directories, not
just Impression files. However, under RISC-OS 3, the Access menu is
completely redesigned and works much better, so the problem only really
affects RISC-OS 2 users. The difficulty arises because of the distinc
tion that the filer makes between directories (be they normal
directories or application directories) and actual files. This is one of
those ‘features’ of RISC-OS 2 which needs a bit of care.
6.2
Under RISC-OS 3, if you select a directory or application directory
(such as an Impression file) and set it to ‘Protected’, the filer will
protect all the files within it, no matter how many sub-directories
there are. Under RISC-OS 2, however, it will only set the status of the
directory itself. You therefore need to open the directory, select all
the files within it and set their attributes via the Access menu.
However, there is a further complication: if the selection of files
contains any directories, the process will be upset − the directories
need to be deselected first.
6.2
Under RISC-OS 2, to protect an Impression file, you would need to open
it up, choose ‘Select all’ from the filer menu, deselect any directories
in the selection by clicking on them with <adjust>, and finally set all
the files’ attributes via the Access menu. Then repeat the process for
each of the directories which you had deselected (‘MasterChap’,
‘Chapter1’, etc). There is simply no point in protecting the directories
themselves, since it is impossible to delete a directory which contains
locked files, and locking a directory (under RISC-OS 2) does not affect
the access status of the files within it in any case.
6.2
All in all, it’s probably easiest to upgrade to RISC-OS 3!
6.2
• Applause for Ovation:  A highly enthusiastic letter about Ovation has
been received from Tony Greenfield of Birmingham. He has the following
to say:
6.2
“[Ovation] does just what I had hoped for and more. The manual is
brilliant! It is a work book on DTP, quite good enough as an introduc
tion to the subject to beginners and as an encouraging tutorial for more
experienced users. I found it much more useful than First Impression. I
have learnt much about Impression II and much about how a manual should
be presented. I wonder if the reason that there are not many hints and
tips on using Ovation [in Archive] is because the user manual is so
clear? (It may also have something to do with the relative numbers of
people using the two packages. Ed.) There are many features which I like
about the program. In fact, there is not very much missing – I wonder
if, for most people, Impression is not really required − after all, it’s
more expensive than Ovation. I’m sure that, for schools who have yet to
purchase a DTP package, Ovation would be a must better buy than
Impression, for many reasons − perhaps most of all for the ease of use,
and I guess it would be easier to learn than Impression.”
6.2
Tony goes on to list various features which he likes in Ovation, notably
its wide range of effects such as word underline, small caps and
tracking, and its system of basing font styles on one family name, so
that changing the base family will also alter the italic and bold fonts.
6.2
I would certainly agree with Tony’s comments about the manual, which is
indeed a very helpful document, although I think Impression is the
easier of the two to learn, as Ovation has a quite unwieldy menu
structure. Perhaps the quality of the manual really is the reason why we
haven’t received more tips on using the program from readers. Anyway,
things are set to change from this month in Archive, with the advent of
Maurice Edmundson’s dedicated Ovation column. (We also have a new DTP
editor, Ray Dawson, whose first column will appear next month.) For
further comments about Ovation, see my Ovation/Impression comparison
article which follows on page 33.  A

Hints and Tips
6.3
•   A3010 joystick ports − several A3010s have been returned to Acorn with
complaints of faulty joystick ports. They are not faulty. The A3010 is
the first Archimedes to have a built-in digital (i.e. Atari-style)
joystick port and because of this, many of the games already available
do not cater for digital joysticks. This is a fairly major problem and
hopefully someone will soon produce some sort of patch (either hardware
or software) which allows digital joysticks to be used in place of the
more common proportional joysticks (such as the Voltmace Delta). Until
then, two sources of information about digital joystick interfaces are
The Leading Edge and Beebug.
6.3
•   A4 Portable Guide − on page 31 of this guide, the pin-out diagram for
the AKF18 monitor is slightly incorrect. Pins 13 and 14 (horizontal and
vertical sync) have been reversed.
6.3
•   Artworks & Impression dongles − There appears to be a clash between
these two dongles when using an A5000 and a JP-150: printouts appear
with spurious information across them. Computer Concepts say that the
problem only occurs between A5000s and JP-150 printers and add that they
are looking into the problem.
6.3
•   Banner-making − I have just seen, in Archive 6.1, a review of a
program called Banner.
6.3
If you own a printer which takes fanfold paper, there is an alternative
way for making banners. (By the way, fanfold paper does not need
sprocket holes if you are careful about the line-up and select friction
feed, so normal paper rolls can be used. For example, the Colourjet 132
users can print banners in this way.)
6.3
The print margins on all the Acorn printer drivers are user-definable
and as long as you want to print out banners shorter in length than A0,
extending the appropriate print margin and setting Draw to A0 landscape
will normally allow satisfactory banners to be produced. (Changing the
print margins is described in the manuals; change only the height of the
page to whatever you wish and leave the width alone.) If print margins
are shown, keeping to these will ensure that none of the picture is
lost.
6.3
The additional flexibility of Draw, especially in conjunction with the
drawfile utilities (!FontFX, !DrawBender, etc) would, in my opinion,
offset most of the ease of use of Banner, except perhaps in primary
schools.
6.3
Note that the printer should not be set to skip perforations, or
problems will result, but I have had no difficulty in printing banners
on an Epson LX and even a Colourjet 132 in this manner.
6.3
For those requiring longer banners, !Draw½ and, I believe, !Draw+
(Careware 13) allow an option to set the work area to the print margins,
which will then enable them to use the longer pages which the printer
driver can handle but, again, for a banner you should set the page to be
much taller than normal in the printer driver and edit the display in
landscape mode. I have used this to produce banners several metres long.
6.3
I am sure Banner is a very useful package and I have not attempted to
use it but I would be unwilling to spend £15 when the same effect seems
to be available from the software supplied with the machine and
Careware.   Andrew Garrard, Cambridge.
6.3
•   Banner-making again − Recently I needed to print up a large banner for
a meeting, and wondered how I should go about it. Of course, I could
always have bought ‘Banner’ for £15 but, for a once off job, I thought
this just a touch extravagant. This set me thinking... Impression can
define master pages as big as you like... hmm... This is what I did, and
it works!
6.3
1.   Open a new document in Impression
6.3
2.   Create a new Master Page (Custom Job) − Width: 1000 and Depth: 210
6.3
3.   Return to the document and set the Master Page in Alter Chapter
6.3
4.   Set the Font Size to 500
6.3
5.   Type in “Hello World!” or whatever
6.3
6.   Set the printer driver page size to − Height: 1000 and Width: 210
6.3
7.   Set the Impression Print Dialogue to print sideways, and fire away
6.3
Warning − this is not ‘printer ribbon friendly’... in fact, it is
positively ‘printer ribbon hostile’!  Philip Lardner, Co. Wicklow,
Ireland.
6.3
•   CC BJ10ex Turbo Driver − It seems that the only method of using the
Turbo Driver with the PC Emulator is to load !BJ10e and quit it again
before loading the emulator.  Chris McIntosh, Blackheath.
6.3
•   Programming the Serial Port (Vertical Twist) graphics board − On the
monthly program disc is a series of programs which, in themselves, do
nothing much. However, they show how the 65000 colour modes can be
accessed from Basic and C.
6.3
They mainly show how to draw lines, circles and fill shapes. Most do not
need any interaction. Fill requires five mouse selections to create to
outline − the sixth should be inside the box.
6.3
Lines − just move the mouse and press <select> to change colour.
6.3
15_120ASM converts mode 15/21 sprites to mode 120. Copy the sprite image
to the floppy’s root directory before running. It’s not very fast. Jim
Bailey, Sunderland.
6.3
•   Squirrel update − Digital Services have upgraded Squirrel from version
1.07. Currently, Squirrel is being supplied with the original V1.07 disc
and manual and a V1.20 upgrade disc. A new manual is due out soon and
Digital Services will send all existing Squirrel owners this new copy
providing they have registered.
6.3
•   VIDC enhancer & RISC-OS 3.10 − There can be problems using very early
Atomwide VIDC enhancer hardware with RISC-OS 3.10. It appears that if
the enhancer is software switched, RISC-OS 3.10 will automatically
switch it on which prevents the computer from starting up correctly. To
solve the problem, you have two choices: (a) at the command line, type
*FX 162,&BC,&80 and switch your machine off, then on again, to check
that the command has worked (full details are on page 14 in the RISC OS
3.10 release note) or (b) return the enhancer hardware to Atomwide with
£5 and they will modify the hardware so that it works correctly.
6.3
•   Vision Digitiser. As I concluded in my review of the monochrome
version of this product (Archive 5.12.42), the package is amazing value
for money. However, the supplied software is a little basic. Further
more, Robert Golightly at HCCS tells me that the software module
(promised in the !ReadMe file) to provide * commands and SWIs for users
to write their own programs has a priority below that of the 512-line
upgrade, and is not likely to appear in the near future.
6.3
All is not lost, for the software – at least the monochrome version – is
written using Basic’s in-line assembler, and so can be modified by the
careful user.
6.3
For example, as it stands, the !Vision application always demands 450Kb
of memory. For those with 1M machines, or those who like to multi-task
it with other memory-demanding applications, it would be useful to be
able to reduce this. Examination of the code reveals that a 320Kb screen
buffer is reserved, whatever screen mode you are using. 320Kb will be
needed for mode 21, but only 160Kb for modes 15 and 20, and 80Kb for
mode 12. If you haven’t a multi-sync monitor and want to save 160Kb of
memory when using !Vision, change the following lines of a copy of
!RUNIMAGE, having first checked that the first line of the !Run file
shows that you have Version 1.0, dated March 1992.
6.3
  130 DIM M% 210000
6.3
 8650 BNE mode_error
6.3
23260 EQUD 163840
6.3
23460 FN_work (163840)
6.3
Then amend line 2 of !Run to read:
6.3
wimpslot -min 288K -max 288K
6.3
I’m working on other possible improvements to the software, such as mode
67 compatibility, but it occurs to me that others might be doing the
same. If you are interested in participating in an informal user-group
for the Vision Digitiser, please send an SAE to Stuart Bell, 23 Ryecroft
Drive, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 2AW.  A
6.3
TechSoft
6.3
From 6.2 page 19
6.3
TechSoft
6.3
From 6.2 page 15
6.3
Risc Developments (2)
6.3
New Artwork
6.3
Using RISC-OS 3
6.3
Hugh Eagle
6.3
Many thanks to all those who have sent in material about RISC-OS 3.10.
Hugh has done a lot of work for us in collating all this information, so
read it carefully, check it out on your own systems and let us know if
you find solutions to some of the problems and/or see more problems.
This kind of information is very valuable indeed in terms of helping
other people who have to go through the same learning curve as you, with
the new operating system.
6.3
I think it would also be good to send in a few ‘I hadn’t realised that
you could... ...but it makes life much easier’comments.
6.3
By the way, as at 28/11/92, N.C.S. actually has the £50 upgrades in
stock although A5000 owners will still have to be patient, I’m afraid.
Ed.
6.3
(Throughout the column, references to RISC-OS 3 mean RISC-OS 3.10 unless
otherwise stated. HE)
6.3
After ‘The Long Wait’ and an acute dose of ‘Bent Pin Anxiety’, I had, to
cap it all, ‘The Hunt For The Missing Apps 1 Disc’. After all that, I
was quite surprised to find that the machine actually worked when I
turned it on!
6.3
Reconfiguring it so that it ran as well as it did before the upgrade,
was quite a fiddly process. The main hint I would give to anyone who
hasn’t yet done the upgrade is: watch your Fontmax settings!
6.3
•   In the Memory section of !Configure don’t be misled by the illustra
tion on page 94 of the manual. You can not safely leave the “Font cache
limit” setting at zero and expect the operating system to default to a
sensible limit as you can with most of the other memory settings. Unless
you set “Font cache” to a reasonably large amount, you must set a larger
“Font cache limit”. (On a 4Mb machine, I have them set to 128Kb and
512Kb respectively.)
6.3
•   If you have a multisync monitor, read the bit on page 119 (in the
section on screen modes!) when deciding what settings to use for anti-
aliasing and cached bitmaps in the Fonts section of !Configure.
6.3
•   Keith Lowe adds − Where the upgrade instructions tell you to hold down
the Delete key until the power-on self-test has been completed, they
mean don’t release the key until text has appeared on the screen!
Otherwise your old configuration will still be there and that can cause
no end of confusion!
6.3
•   Ed Harris encountered problems in installing the user fit ROM carrier
board from IFEL to his A310. IFEL were very helpful in providing advice
and when Keith was still unable to track down his mistake, they sorted
it out and returned it by return with only a nominal charge to cover
their costs. Many thanks to IFEL.
6.3
•   Mark Lambert reports problems trying to install RISC-OS 3 in an A310
fitted with a Watford 4Mb RAM upgrade (the second edition with a
vertical daughterboard holding the processor). Watford have told him
that a simple wire link is required on the RAM board but, as yet, they
have not told him the exact details. Does anyone happen to know the
details of the link required?
6.3
•   Steve Hutchinson writes: I was assured that it was quite simple to do
the necessary hardware upgrade to my old A440. In the event, I managed
it without hiccup but it was not quite so simple. I had to remove the
main circuit board from the case − which means unplugging loads of
things in my machine with all its upgrades. If you haven’t reasonable
electronic experience, think twice!
6.3
And is the upgrade worth it? For 1Mb or floppy disc only users, the
answer must surely be yes. It must be a godsend to have the standard
applications, plus fonts, plus modules, all in ROM. For hard disc owners
.... well, what do you think? Some readers have no doubts.
6.3
Ed Harris, for instance, writes: All in all, I have found RISC-OS 3.1 to
be a great improvement on an already excellent operating system (RISC-OS
2) and well worth the cost of the upgrade. However, I wonder whether
others share my disappointment that the improvements were not more
dramatic? Perhaps now is the time for us to begin to compile a Wish List
of things we would like to see in RISC-OS 4.
6.3
Why not send your thoughts either to Archive or to me at the address at
the end of this column?
6.3
Most programs work well in RISC-OS 3
6.3
Robert Macmillan of Colton Software has written to point out (further to
Gerald Fitton’s comments in the Pipeline Column of Archive 6.1) that not
only do all versions of Pipedream from 3.10 onwards work in RISC-OS 3,
they all work better with RISC-OS 3. This is because RISC-OS 3 has the
latest versions of system software built in and these perform better
than the old versions supplied with RISC-OS 2. In particular, the font
manager is much, much faster and the benefits of having the fonts built
in make it possible for floppy disc users to make good use of fonts
without inordinate disc swapping.
6.3
Robert suggests that Archive should publish a table showing which of the
most popular software packages work, and which don’t work or need
upgrading. Judging by the number of needless phone calls he has been
receiving, this would be of great benefit to users considering the
upgrade to RISC-OS 3.
6.3
I think the drawback with this idea is that although most people will
report that most programs work perfectly well (and the list could
potentially fill much of the magazine) some programs that do work well
for most people seem to cause problems for some others.
6.3
However, I do agree that it is important to emphasise that most programs
do work and so, to set the ball rolling, I confirm that, from my limited
experience and that of my friends, the following generally seem to work
well:
6.3
   all the standard Acorn applications
   Impression 2.17 (but see below)
   Poster 1.21
   Artworks (all versions)
   Vector
   TWO
   Squirrel
   Pacmania
   E-Type
   Twin World
   Lemmings
   Gods
6.3
Programs that need minor modifications
6.3
•   Sigmasheet (Minerva) must have FPEmulator in the same directory, even
though that module is in ROM. (John Waddell)
6.3
•   First Word Plus release 1.1 − As my current word processor is First
Word Plus release 1, I was worried by the assertion in the release notes
that this was unuseable under RISC-OS 3.1. This happily proved not to be
the case. If colour 14 within the WIMP palette is redefined, the menus
become legible. I have created an obey file to invoke 1WP (on the
monthly program disc) which loads a modified palette on entry and
restores the default palette on exit. Using this, I have experienced no
problems running 1WP. (Ed Harris)
6.3
•   DiscTree does not work correctly under RISC-OS 3. Oak Solutions are
working on the problem.
6.3
•   InterWord – My copy of InterWord has its own directory in the hard
disc root directory. It runs in 65Tube, which isn’t where it used to be
under RISC-OS 2, and appears under a different name. To get InterWord
going again, copy the new App2.!65Tube.!RunImage to the InterWord
directory and rename it as 65Tube; it should now be sitting alongside
!IWord in that directory. In the I/WORD.!IWORD.!RUN file, insert the
following line after Set Interword$Dir <Obey$Dir>:
6.3
RMLoad ADFS::HD4.$.IWORD.65Tube
6.3
(where HD4 is the name of the hard disc). Double click on !IWORD in the
usual way to start it.
6.3
A similar method should apply to single floppy machines by substituting
the appropriate floppy name for that of the hard disc above. (Ken Cowap)
6.3
•   Holed Out – I have a boot file on the hard disc which sets up the
machine with some applications on the iconbar and some more on the
pinboard. The golf game “Holed Out” finds this environment disagreeable
and won’t start. The following gets it going:
6.3
*CONFIGURE DRIVE 0
6.3
*MOUNT :0
6.3
   <shift-break> (machine re-boots to bare-bones iconbar)
6.3
   Click Drive 0 icon to get “Holed Out” filer
6.3
   Double click !Boot
6.3
Terminate the game with:
6.3
   Shift/Break
6.3
*CONFIGURE DRIVE 4
6.3
*MOUNT:4
6.3
   <ctrl-break> (machine re-boots to populated iconbar, etc) (Ken Cowap)
6.3
•   Chocks Away – The flight simulator Chocks Away isn’t quite so fussy
about a populated iconbar and will generally start normally. However, if
it does object, it may help to try a <ctrl-break> followed immediately
by <escape>, which re-boots to an unpopulated iconbar, then double click
on !Chocks. (Ken Cowap)
6.3
Other program problems
6.3
Mike Williams has supplied a list of programs that he has found don’t
work under RISC-OS 3.1:
6.3
   Ground Control Teletext Adaptor (At the A.U.      Show, Ground Control
said they weren’t      aware of any problems. HE.)
6.3
   Clares’ Arcade Games
   Quazer
   StarTrader
   Arcendium
   Corruption
   Terramex
   Boogie Buggy
6.3
Ed Harris has found several public domain applications that have failed
to run:
6.3
   Mandelplot (garbage on screen − machine      locks)
   ChartDraw (“illegal window handle” error)
   Hyper (“illegal window handle” error)
6.3
•   Computer Concepts admit that ShowPage does not work with RISC-OS 3 and
say that they have no plans to get it working with RISC-OS 3. There just
is not the demand for this product to make it worthwhile doing the
upgrade which is more like a complete re-write for the new operating
system.
6.3
Denis Fox reports problems with:
6.3
•   Impression (2.17) and LaserDirect (2.05) work much more slowly, even
with Fontsize set to 256Kb and Fontmax to 512Kb. There are regular poor
printouts, sometimes with patterned effects in what should be black
areas, hang ups when transferring lots of text between documents and
continual error messages when printing. (I have a similar setup but have
not noticed any deterioration in performance. HE.)
6.3
To help the speed, I suggest you try NOT using the ROM fonts − then you
can have Quick Text switched on. To do this, add a FontRemove
Resources:$.Fonts. in the !Fonts.!Boot file before the FontInstall
<Obey$Dir>. command.
6.3
I have once had the patterned effect in black areas but quitting and
restarting the printer driver cleared it. Ed
6.3
•   Multistore V11 not printing with a Star LC24-200. (At the AU Show,
Minerva said there may be problems with earlier versions and that users
experiencing such difficulties should contact them quoting their version
number. HE.)
6.3
•   Scanlight Plus 256 not working at all. (There are no known problems.
Are you sure you have a power supply connected to the board? You do need
the p.s.u. connected even on the A5000. Ed.)
6.3
•   A number of people have had problems (mainly “illegal window handle”
errors) with versions up to 1.07 of my PD application PickAPic. I found
that there was an error in the code that only occasionally caused
problems in RISC-OS 2, but caused the program to crash quite often in
RISC-OS 3, presumably because of a change in the way the window manager
numbers its windows. Anyone who wants an upgrade to the latest version
please write to me at the address at the bottom of this column. (Hugh
Eagle)
6.3
•   Droom – I can’t get Droom to work. It reports “Not enough system
sprite memory” whether I use Memalloc and the *Spritesize command (this
used to work in RISC-OS 2), or the new *ChangeDynamicArea command, or
whether I set the System sprites slider in the Task Manager window.
(Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Compression − Computer Concepts have informed me that the release note
for version 3.10 is slightly too pessimistic when it claims that
Compression (up to version 1.10) does not work on RISC_OS 3.10. What
apparently happens is that sometimes when you compress a directory with
several files, the last file, instead of being processed, produces an
error message. It can then be compressed singly. (In the first two weeks
of working with the new OS, I have had no trouble with Compression, so
the problem appears to be marginal. HE) (Jochen Konietzko)
6.3
•   Impression and the Pinboard − Can anyone tell me why the Pinboard has
such problems with Impression documents?
6.3
When I drag a compressed document onto the desktop, the next reset will
produce an error message “Sprite does not exist”. Without Compression,
the document does appear on the desktop but the Impression icon is
replaced by the standard application icon. (Jochen Konietzko) (I seem to
have no difficulty with Impression icons on the Pinboard in my
Compression-less setup. HE)
6.3
•   PC Emulator (version 1.6) – I applied the patch to my copy of the PC
Emulator (Version 1.6) and changed the filetype of the DOS partitions to
DOSDisc as recommended in the release notes. I then found that the
machine locked whenever I ran the emulator, even after a <ctrl-break>.
Things worked perfectly, however, after the machine had been powered off
and restarted. (Ed Harris)
6.3
•   Trouble with !FontFX − It has already been documented, at least twice,
that !FontFX will not run under RISC-OS 3 and the suggested “fix” is to
reset Font$Path using *SetMacro. Having done this, I still can’t get it
to use the Trinity and Homerton fonts supplied in ROM. To get round the
problem, I have renamed the original RISC-OS 2 versions OldTrinity and
OldHomertn and installed them in my !Fonts directory on disc. Now
choosing these from the fonts list in !FontFX works beautifully. So far
there have been no side effects!
6.3
It occurs to me that the problem may be that !FontFX is looking for
files called IntMetric and Outlines (there are lots of references to
these names in the !RunImage) whereas the files in ResourcesFS are
stored as IntMetric() and Outlines(). The real answer would be for the
program to be amended to accept either version of the filenames. I shall
speak to DataStore to find out if they intend to make the necessary
alterations. (Tom Harkness)
6.3
The release notes say that FontFX must be more recent than 4.31 to work.
My version, 4.08, works fine so long as you don’t use ROM fonts. If you
do try to, it reports ‘Can’t find outlines’ and promptly exits from the
iconbar! All other fonts seem fine, even from multiple directories.
(Steve Hutchinson)
6.3
•   Ovation – Ovation meets a problem or two with RISC-OS 3 despite its
recent update (version 1.35S). If text is indented (e.g. at the start of
a paragraph) and is also justified, the correct format is presented on
screen but when printed, the indented line projects to the right beyond
the text frame. It is understood that Risc Developments are working on
this. Also, if Ovation encounters a faulty outline font (e.g. containing
a zero-width character, not uncommon in some PD fonts) it puts out an
incorrect error message saying that the font cache is full. This bug is
more likely to be purely Ovation’s rather than in conjunction with RISC-
OS 3, but hasn’t been resolved as yet (except of course by ensuring that
outline fonts are fault-free). (Ken Cowap)
6.3
•   ArcDFS – Since fitting the RISC-OS 3 upgrade, ArcDFS no longer works
correctly and consistently comes up with error messages. This causes me
great problems since, throughout our group of companies, we possess some
50+ Acorn BBC units ranging from the old BBC Model B’s (yes, they’re
still going strong after eight years of service) through to Master
128’s.
6.3
We are only just moving on to Archimedes and to maintain our wealth of
information accumulated on our Beebs, I am transferring files from DFS
to ADFS via a set of external 5¼“ disc drives I have had connected to my
A3000. This has worked perfectly in the past with complete surfaces of
DFS discs being transferred to ADFS in seconds. Without ArcDFS, I am
left with only one solution − to *MOVE individual DFS files to 640Kb
ADFS discs using a Master Series Computer and then transferring these
640Kb discs to the Archimedes. Clearly, this is a retrograde step after
the convenience of ArcDFS.
6.3
I have been in contact with Dabs Press and, although they are aware of
the problem, they could not tell me whether or not they were going to
make the necessary modifications to their software! I sincerely hope
they receive a large enough response from their users to persuade them
to produce an upgrade for this product. (S. J. Furnell)
6.3
•   !Alarm – A couple of tricky little bugs exist in the new Alarm
application. I’ve already reported these to Risc User and trust they
will advise Acorn in turn. If the Repeating Alarm facility is used to
operate, say, every first Monday of every month, it malfunctions when
the next month comes up to December. It advances a year instead of a
month, going from November 1992 to December 1993.
6.3
Perhaps less important, but still a nuisance if you want to use it, is
the bug in the automatic BST to GMT facility. It refuses to accept
entries for two different years such as were needed at the recent change
on 25th October. Before that date, it should have been in order to enter
6.3
   BST starts on Sunday 28th March 1993 at 01:00
6.3
   BST ends on Sunday 25th October 1992 at 01:00
6.3
but Alarm invalidates such an entry by altering the “starts” date to be
earlier than the “ends” date. If one capitulates and enters the two real
changeover dates for 1992, (hoping that Alarm will calculate forward
into 1993) Alarm does indeed respond with a date in 1993 but only about
11 months ahead, on 1st March 1993. There is a fundamental difficulty
for the programmer here. The changeover date doesn’t, as far as I know,
follow a properly defined rule and tends to be arbitrary. I suspect that
the programmer intended to issue a reminder to the operator 11 months
after the last change so that the true date, known by then, could be
entered. However, the algorithm obviously needs re-examination. (Ken
Cowap)
6.3
Can readers (or the manufacturers) offer any advice on how to overcome
problems with these programs (or any others that have proved
troublesome)?
6.3
Hardware problems
6.3
•   Oak SCSI “Free Space” display – My Oak SCSI hard disc won’t use the
new ‘Free Space’ window but uses the old RISC-OS 2 ‘stop-everything-and
press-space’ window. The Release notes suggest that SCSIFiler will fix
this for the Acorn SCSI card, but it doesn’t appear to for my Oak
(v.1.16). Any thoughts? (Steve Hutchinson) (The solution to this was
explained in Archive 5.5 p40. Ed.)
6.3
•   Digitisers, SCSI and the RS232 port – I managed to get RISC-OS 3
fitted to my faithful A440 only to discover that my Technomatic
(Brainsoft) Multipod Professional digitiser not only does not work with
RISC-OS 3.10 but the computer will not work with the podule fitted.
Richard Brain says that he was not aware of a problem and there are
currently no plans for an upgrade, but he will have a look when he gets
time to see if an upgrade is possible. In the meantime, I have no video
digitiser, no stereo digitiser and no extra RS232 ports.
6.3
I mentioned the problem to Malcolm Banthorpe and he tells me that his
Pineapple digitiser is now “unwell” with RISC-OS 3.10. I wonder whether
there are some differences in the way that podules download their ROM
modules and initialise under RISC-OS 3.10?
6.3
I also hear rumours that people are experiencing interrupt problems with
SCSI interfaces causing data loss on the RS232 port (interrupts not
returning quickly enough to avoid loss of incoming data on the port).
Apparently, uncached Morley cards may be particularly prone but I have
no first hand experience. It certainly fits in with Malcolm Banthorpe’s
experience on his digitiser which seems to be suffering from an overdose
of interrupts. (Tim Nicholson)
6.3
Laser Direct RISC-OS 3 printer driver?
6.3
It seems barely credible, but a whole year after RISC-OS 3 was first
released, the Rolls Royce of Archimedes printers still lacks a RISC-OS 3
printer driver. For many purposes this doesn’t matter, but rotated fonts
seem a bit pointless if you can’t print them out, and users with more
than one printer would like to be able to access their LD using the
Print Manager.
6.3
Readers have been getting contradictory explanations from Computer
Concepts: one was told that they’ve been too busy writing Artworks,
while another was told that Acorn haven’t given them a printer driver
specification yet! (There’s an element of truth in both. Let’s just say
that it is a non-trivial task to write a printer driver to work with
Acorn’s Print Manager. Ed.)
6.3
Other printer problems
6.3
•   Epson MX100-III – My printer is an ageing Epson MX100-III. Using the
standard settings provided by the Acorn printer driver, I find thin
lines can disappear. e.g. the staves in a Rhapsody score. Using the
highest resolution setting (120 x 216 dpi dithered) produces an
excellent standard of output but 1.5 to 2 times slower than the RISC-OS
2 driver (at a resolution of 120 × 144 dpi). (Ed Harris)
6.3
•   Print buffering – I have an Archimedes 420/1 expanded to 4Mb memory,
with twin Cumana 5¼“ disc drives and recently equipped with ARM3 and
RISC-OS 3.1. Ever since I installed RISC-OS 3.1, I have had a problem
with printing. I use Impression most of the time but the same problem
arises with Draw, Acorn DTP, DrawPlus, etc, etc. I shall put the problem
in the form of a question: What is the point of a printer buffer that
does not release control of the machine back to the user until the print
job is finished?
6.3
I wrote to Acorn as follows: Whatever setting I use for PrinterBuffer
Size, it just does not seem to make any difference. I have 4Mb of memory
and use Impression a great deal. Sometimes I set the PrinterBufferSize
as high as 512Kb but the computer does not return control to the desktop
until the document is completely printed. Under RISC-OS 2, I used a
printer buffer program and found that I was able to work on a new
document within a minute or two of sending the previous one to the
printer provided the buffer was set high enough to accommodate all of
the data being sent to the printer. Now the machine is always tied up
until the printing is complete. How does one get the printer buffer to
work? I use *Configure PrinterBufferSize to set the size of the buffer.
Is there another command that I can use to make it operational and is it
possible to turn it off (*Configure PrinterBufferSize 0Kb sets it to the
default of 1Kb) and use one of the many printer buffer programs that are
available?
6.3
Acorn (Peter Dunn) replied: “Although the printer buffer does work in
that data is passed into the buffer, control is not released back to the
user until the print job is finished.”
6.3
I have tried RMKilling the BufferManager but that stops all data being
sent to the printer.
6.3
I have devised a work-around but it is a little long-winded:
6.3
1. Have two versions of the chosen printer driver on the iconbar and
make them active.
6.3
2. Set one (F) to send the data for the printer to a file on the hard
disc and set the other (P) to send the data to the parallel or serial
printer.
6.3
3. Select (F) by clicking on it and ‘print’ the document. A file called
Printout will appear on the hard disc.
6.3
4. Change the name of the file called Printout to, say, Printoutx.
6.3
5. Select (P) by clicking on it and drag Printoutx onto the Printer icon
that is yellow.
6.3
The file will now print in the background and control is instantly
returned to the user. Step 4 is not strictly necessary but is useful if
you are printing longish documents and wish to, as it were, stack them
ready for sending to the printer. If one does not change the name to
something unique, there is a danger of overprinting one file with
another. Instead of the hard disc one may, of course, use a floppy or
RAMFS.
6.3
This is quite a laborious work-around when one has a printer buffer
built in (so one would think) to RISC-OS 3.1. A better arrangement must
be possible and so I should be grateful for any hints or tips the
readers can give. (M. P. Ireland)
6.3
•   Epson FX-105 – The driver for the Epson FX-85 does not work with the
Epson FX-105 even though the printer manual suggests that they are
virtually identical apart from the carriage width. The printout is
always aligned along the left hand side even when it is supposed to be
centered, etc. Furthermore, large letters, being sent in several
separate lines, are often incorrectly aligned from top to bottom. When I
raised this in my letter to Acorn, they replied as follows:
6.3
“The Epson FX-105 does not support the ESC $ (remove leading white
space) options supported by the FX-85 but does however support NLQ text
printing. The decision by Epson not to support ESC $ in its newer
printers has only recently come to light when testing the Epson LX-100.
We have written a driver for the LX-100 which I am sure you will find
works correctly with your printer.”
6.3
A copy was sent to me and I can confirm that it does indeed work. (M. P.
Ireland)
6.3
•   Bug in !Printers − If you configure two printers of the same type
(e.g. a 300dpi HPLJ-2 and a 150dpi HPLJ-2) then delete the first one,
!Printers crashes with an address error. (Mike Williams)
6.3
•   LaserJetII printer driver and Qume Crystalprint Series II – My problem
concerns the LaserJet II printer driver. Quite simply, I always get an
extra blank sheet for every page printed. Also stray characters appear
in the left margin. The Qume CrystalPrint Series II printer is very
similar to that used initially by Computer Concepts for their Laser
Direct series, but mine isn’t a Laser Direct model.
6.3
In the early days of RISC-OS 2, I vaguely remember I had a similar
problem that was solved only when Acorn (fairly quickly) brought out
another printer driver.
6.3
In my efforts to solve the problem, I’ve tried lots of things – like
changing margins, etc, etc. I’ve had long discussions with Gerald
Fitton, too. From him, I know that others have plenty of problems,
though perhaps not quite like mine. The silly thing is that all was OK
with the RISC-OS 2 driver but, despite the impression given in Risc
User, neither of us thinks that RISC-OS 2 drivers can be used with RISC-
OS 3. Is this correct, I wonder? If they can be used, that would be a
good temporary solution. (John Jordan)
6.3
•   Getting the page length right – After quite a number of abortive
attempts to set the page length for 12 inch fanfold paper, I finally
found out that any changes I make become effective (at least on my
combination of machines) only after I have saved all changes, quit and
then reloaded the printer driver. (By the way, the correct setting for
my Fujitsu DL1100 printer, using the Epson LQ860 emulation is, for some
inscrutable reason, 12.309 inches, 72 lines). (Jochen Konietzko)
6.3
•   Panasonic KX-P1124 – Probably my most difficult problem was with the
printer drivers. The old RISC-OS 2 drivers just have to be abandoned −
they merely generate an error message. My printer happens to be a
Panasonic KX-P1124 (24-pin dot matrix, monochrome) but Acorn haven’t
seen fit to include any Panasonic printers at all. Though they blandly
say that one of the others will probably be near enough, in fact, it
requires a considerable amount of research to be confident that the
range of control codes is (a) sufficient to fully exploit the machine’s
capabilities and (b) doesn’t contain any alien codes to cause unwanted
results. At the end of the day (or several!) I reduced the probables to
two, the Epson LQ860 and the NEC P6+ (despite the fact that both
machines are colour printers). I had misgivings about the NEC which
includes, in its control code repertoire, some which started with 28
instead of the old familiar 27 (Escape). The matter was finally clinched
when I was able to question an Acorn representative at the Acorn User
Show. He told me that quite definitely I should use the Epson LQ860. So
this I do, and without any problems so far. I haven’t even edited out
the control codes for the colours − the driver is used, unmodified. (Ken
Cowap)
6.3
Where are the hare and the tortoise?
6.3
Can I get the hare and tortoise icons that came with my ARM3 back on the
iconbar? Or do I have to tell people that if they want E-Type to go at a
playable pace they have to press <F12> then type “Cache off” then press
<return> twice before running it?! (I just use
6.3
RMEnsure Arm3Icon 0.9 Run scsi::4 .$.<leafname>.!Arm3
6.3
 in my !boot file and... hare presto! Ed.)
6.3
Programmers’ Reference Manual
6.3
At the Acorn User Show, a “beta” copy of the new PRM was on sale in
photocopy form for £120. The final version will apparently be available
“in the first quarter” of 1993. It is about 50% bigger than the RISC-OS
2 manual and will fill six volumes. From my brief inspection, it looks
as if it contains quite a lot more explanatory material than its
predecessor. I was told that neither the price of the final version nor
details of the trade-in arrangements (if any!) have yet been fixed.
6.3
Various hints and tips:
6.3
•   Problem with Impression dongle − You can’t write to a printer when the
Impression dongle is fitted unless you have run the Impression appli
cation first. (Mike Williams)
6.3
•   Summer time blues − Some C programs (e.g. PVray) get the time wildly
wrong when *BST is configured. (Mike Williams)
6.3
•   Bug in !SciCalc − It gives wildly inaccurate results to the <±>
function for some values, e.g. if you enter “1<Exp>56” then press <1/x>
to give “10E−57” then press <±> you get the surprising result: “10E−58”.
If you press <±> again, you get “10E−41”. (Mike Williams)
6.3
•   Where did this file come from? − There are quite a few ways in which
<adjust> clicking can be very helpful. I’m sure you all know that
<adjust> double-clicking a directory opens it and closes the parent and
that using <adjust> to close the directory opens up the parent. You may
even know that clicking the close icon with <adjust> while holding down
<shift> actually opens the parent without closing the directory. What
you may not have noticed is that you can do the same with (some)
applications. With most applications, it seems, <adjust> double-clicking
a file loads the file and closes the directory from which it came. (I
think this is a function of the Filer and is therefore true for all
applications and files. HE.) Then, if you click in the close box with
<adjust>, holding <shift> at the same time, the directory from which the
file came appears on screen without the file disappearing from view.
With Impression, however, there is no need to hold <shift> as well −
just using <adjust> on the close box brings up the directory viewer in
which the file is saved.
6.3
Oh, and I’ve only just discovered that if you draw a window’s scroll bar
with <adjust>, you can move about in both x and y directions! (Paul
Beverley)
6.3
•   Rubber-banding − Those who have gone straight to RISC-OS 3 without
reading the manual (like Ed!) may not have noticed that you can use
rubber-banding to select a group of files. So instead of <adjust>
clicking every individual file you want to select, you can click
<select> in the space between two file icons and, as you drag, a red
bounding box appears which you can release when it is over the files you
want. Using <adjust> instead of <select> simply adds files to those
already selected but note that if you go over a file that is already
selected, it is then de-selected. (Paul Beverley)
6.3
•   SerialDeviceDriver module − On an A5000, never unplug the module
called “SerialDevice Driver”, as the following strange things will
happen. After a power off/on the machine will boot up but, during
booting, an error message “Error from Task Manager” will appear and
there is only a “Cancel” button to click on. Then the boot up is
finished correctly but no Taskmanager is present! It will only reappear
if you double-click on any file with the new Desktop filetype (&FEA),
even if this is 0 bytes long! In addition, the Taskmanager will not
function correctly in all cases: try to get an “!Edit Task Window” now.
Bug or not? (Carsten Bussman)
6.3
•   Double-clicking into Basic − On my first machine (which was killed by
my dealer while trying to fit a SCSI hard drive) I was able to enter BBC
Basic V directly by double-clicking into the system’s start-up message
window (“RISC-OS ... initialising”). This does not work with my current
machine (Serial no. 1009939); I don’t know why. This was a nice feature
which I’m missing now, so why isn’t it implemented in all RISC-OS 3
ROMs? (Carsten Bussman)
6.3
•   Inserting path names into !Edit − Try dragging any file or directory
into an !Edit window while pressing the Shift key. This will give the
file’s pathname. (Carsten Bussman)
6.3
•   “Menu Area Full” error in FormEd – Captain K. J. Tompkins reports the
error “Menu Area Full (Internal code 6560,1)” from his version of
!FormEd. This is probably because he has one of the earlier versions of
this program which only allows limited space for building its menus and
is defeated if there are too many fonts installed. If so, it is fairly
easy to cure: in the Basic program called !RunImage inside the !FormEd
directory there is a line that reads something like:
6.3
DIM menufree% &1800: menuend% = menufree%+&1800
6.3
(this is at line 790 in the version I’m now looking at). If each of the
two &1800’s is replaced by &2000, so that the line reads:
6.3
DIM menufree% &2000: menuend% = menufree%+&2000
6.3
 the program should work.
6.3
(Note: this hint does not apply to all versions of FormEd) (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Filer_Run syntax − it seems that the command
6.3
*Filer_Run <App$Dir>
6.3
(where App$Dir is a system variable set to the name of an application)
doesn’t run the application as you might expect. What it does is to open
a filer window on the application’s directory with “<App$Dir>” (not the
actual pathname) in the title bar.
6.3
The following syntax, however, does seem to work:
6.3
*Set Alias$FR Filer_Run <App$Dir>
6.3
*FR
6.3
*UnSet Alias$FR
6.3
(this is equivalent to the old trick that used to be needed in RISC-OS 2
to open a directory viewer with *Filer_OpenDir). (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   *FontRemove syntax − The FontRemove star command seems to be very
fussy. You have to tell it the name of the directory that you want to
remove in exactly the form in which it is included in the Font$Path
system variable. For instance, if you want to remove
RAM::RamDisc0.$.!Fonts. from Font$Path you must type
6.3
*FontRemove RAM::RamDisc0.$. !Fonts.
6.3
including both the disc name (RamDisc0) and the full stop at the end.
(Robert Chrismas has sent in a handy application called !FontsCut which
lists the directories currently included in Font$Path with numbers
beside them and all you have to do is type in the number corresponding
to the directory you want to remove. This is included on the monthly
program disc.) (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Configuring Shift Caps − In the Caps lock section of the Keyboard
window of !Configure, the effects of “Caps lock on” and “Shift caps”
seem to be reversed. In other words, selecting “Caps lock on” means that
holding down <shift> reverts to lower case whereas selecting “Shift
caps” means that you get upper case regardless of whether <shift> is
held down or not. (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Mouse button codes – If you enter and run the following simple Basic
program:
6.3
REPEAT
  MOUSE X,Y,B
  PRINT TAB(10,10)B
UNTIL FALSE
6.3
then watch what number is displayed on the screen as you press the
various mouse buttons you will see:
6.3
no button   0
6.3
Select      4
6.3
Menu        2 for an instant, followed by 0
6.3
Adjust      1
6.3
The behaviour of the menu button has changed from RISC-OS 2, I think.
Those programs that are interested only in detecting whether the button
has been clicked won’t be affected, but the change can cause problems
for programs that want to detect whether the Menu button remains held
down. Luckily, there is a simple solution: the function
6.3
INKEY(-11)
6.3
will return the value TRUE however long the Menu button is held. (Hugh
Eagle)
6.3
•   Getting Art Nouveau to run – Hands up those who remember Art Nouveau?
Well, this excellent old program has one quirk, namely that you have to
hold down the menu button while you move round the menu tree until you
make your selection. So, because of the changed functioning of the mouse
button (see above), it doesn’t work in RISC-OS 3.1 unless you make a
slight modification. In the Basic program called ArtNouveau from the
directory ANfiles at line 30950 in my version there is a line that
reads:
6.3
WHILE stayopen AND mbut=2
6.3
I have found that altering this to:
6.3
WHILE stayopen AND INKEY-11
6.3
restores the program to health. (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Using a TaskObey file to display a message – The new filetype
“TaskObey” is useful if you want the !Run file of an application to pop
up a message in a window without halting the whole system. You might use
this for instance to display a warning to change the setting of your
printer. Thus, to display “This is a message” in a window, create a file
called, say, Message containing:
6.3
Echo This is a message
6.3
set the filetype to TaskObey and include, in the application’s !Run
file, the line
6.3
Filer_Run <Obey$Dir>.Message
6.3
If you had set the filetype to Obey, the message would pop up moment
arily then disappear before the application loaded. (Hugh Eagle)
6.3
•   Deskboot files and the Pinboard – The User Guide explains how to
create a !Boot file to boot the computer in your desired configuration.
It adds that, when saving the !Boot file, information to start up
applications produced before RISC-OS 3 is not saved automatically. To
get round this, it explains how to rename the !Boot file as Deskboot and
to incorporate it in a !Boot application. It goes on to explain how to
edit the Deskboot file, either to remove or to add lines as necessary.
6.3
If you use the Pinboard as I do, some icons will be changed on a regular
basis. For example, I have regularly used files which change each month.
If the Deskboot file is saved each time the Pinboard is changed, a
certain amount of what the User Guide calls “hand editing” would have to
be done each time a change is made, to remove or add relevant
instructions.
6.3
There is an easy solution. Set up your Desktop once and save the
Deskboot file. Then click <menu> over an empty space on the desktop and
save the Pinboard settings in the Pinboard file in your root directory.
Now drag your Deskboot file into !Edit (or Shift-double-click on it) and
delete all the lines which begin “Pin”. Alter the line “Pinboard” or
“Pinboard -Grid” to read “Run Pinboard” or “Run Pinboard -Grid”.
6.3
Future changes to the Pinboard setting now need be saved only to the
Pinboard file in your root directory. (John Waddell)
6.3
Ken Cowap warns that a DeskBoot file can easily be unnecessarily
cluttered if, for instance, there are a number of unwanted items on the
screen when it is made. This will incur a penalty in the time taken to
boot up − his started at two and a half minutes before he trimmed it
ruthlessly.
6.3
•   ADFS buffers − According to Acorn’s telephone help line, the bug which
made it advisable to configure the adfs buffers to zero has been fixed!
(According to Computer Concepts, unless the buffers are configured to
zero, it is vital to dismount disks before removing them for good from
the machine, because otherwise there may be trouble later.) (Jochen
Konietzko)
6.3
•   OS_Byte calls and the serial port – I use my A3000 for many purposes,
one of the more important being as a terminal to our mainframe computer.
The software for this I have written myself in Basic. After the upgrade,
my terminal program wouldn’t work. It would not accept characters from
the serial port. I tried using the serial port utility module supplied
with the upgrade, but this did not help.
6.3
After a lot of experimenting, we finally discovered that if we changed
all the *FX calls for SYS “OS_Byte” calls, then the program would work.
It still puzzles me why two supposedly similar commands should give
different results! (S. J. Furnell)
6.3
•   Z88 Filers – The Release Note says that the !Z88 filer supplied with
Pipedream requires interactive filing to be off. You’ll be pleased to
know that David Holden’s !Z88 filer (Careware 7) suffers from no such
problems. (Steve Hutchinson)
6.3
•   Programs that call machine code from Basic – An application I used a
lot, !BPrint (Risc User) wouldn’t run with RISC-OS 3, and the cure for
this may well apply to other applications organised in a similar layout,
i.e. using a central Basic program calling a separate piece of machine
code. The cure was to re-assemble the code under RISC-OS 3; obviously
there is some small difference between its assembler and that of RISC-OS
2. In this particular application, its “ancestor” (the program developed
over a period of time), a program called FileList from vol.2 issue 5 was
rerun to produce the assembled file BLIST which was substituted for the
original. (Ken Cowap)
6.3
•   Mode number conflicts – A program for plotting Mandelbrot diagrams
failed with RISC-OS 3 and the manner of its failure may indicate a cure
for others. This particular program called a Mode 40 which didn’t exist
under RISC-OS 2 but which was specially designed and provided with the
program. RISC-OS 3 of course does have a native Mode 40 and a clash
between it and the “special” gave rise to the error report. The cure was
to rename the “special” to a mode number outside the range provided with
RISC-OS 3, in this case Mode 50. (Ken Cowap)
6.3
•   Setting !Alarm options – This is a minor matter, unless you are trying
to set your own !Alarm display format in a !Boot file. This you do with
a Set Alarm$Options line (p136 App Guide). The quotes are omitted. This
is my (working) line:
6.3
Set Alarm$Options -format “%z24:%mi %zdy.%zmn.%zyr”
6.3
If you use a !Boot file and !Alarm, put it in to see my favourite
display format! (Steve Hutchinson)
6.3
Miscellaneous comments
6.3
•   Surely a ‘grown up’ operating system shouldn’t say, “Disc error 10 at
:0/00000000” when you try to read an unformatted disc?
6.3
•   It seems strange that !Configure requires you to press <return> after
typing into a writable icon. This is not normal RISC-OS convention.
6.3
•   It’s a shame that they didn’t manage to squeeze some suitable backdrop
sprites onto one of the RISC-OS 3 discs. Those who have access to
Windows 3 might like to know that its wallpaper bitmaps seem to work
very well on the RISC-OS 3 Pinboard, and it is very easy to transfer
them from an MS-DOS floppy, via !ChangeFSI (on the Support disc), into
sprite format on an Archimedes disc. The file called “leaves.bmp” makes
an excellent seasonal backdrop (I’m writing this in October!).
6.3
Alt-key combinations
6.3
The last couple of issues of Archive have contained lists of Alt-Key
combinations in RISC-OS 3.1. To complete the picture I would add:
6.3
To get accents ( ´ ` ¨ ^ ° ¸ ) on their own, press the appropriate Alt-
key combination (e.g. Alt-[ for a ´ ) then the space bar.
6.3
Alt-Spacebar gives a “hard space” or “non-breaking space” (the sort you
put between “NR2” and “2SD” if you don’t want Archive’s postcode
“NR2 2SD” to be split over two lines.)
6.3
I have put a diagram of the keyboard showing the Alt-key combinations
below, and I hope that Paul will put the drawfile on the monthly program
disc.
6.3
Incidentally, I am a bit puzzled about the character (code 173) that is
produced by the Alt-hyphen combination. What’s it for? I thought at
first that it was the “soft hyphen” that is described on page 109 of the
Impression 2 manual, but I now see that this is produced by Ctrl-hyphen
(this character – code 31 – is normally invisible but indicates a
preferred place for breaking a word with a hyphen at the end of a line;
it works even if the hyphenation module is not present). By contrast,
character 173 is, so far as I can see, always visible (as a hyphen if
the font follows the Acorn standard) but its effect is to prevent a word
into which it is inserted ever being broken over the end of a line even
if hyphenation is switched on. Am I correct in describing it as a “hard
hyphen”? (Well, I can think of one application. Suppose you want to use
a word like “pray­ers” where you deliberately hyphenate the word to
refer to the people doing the praying. In that case, if it were an
ordinary hyphen, the word might get split at the end of a line. Using a
‘hard hyphen’ avoids the split. Ed)
6.3
The upgrade again
6.3
Finally, I thought it would be good to take a slightly light-hearted
look at the subject as we hear the experiences that Rob Wears had in
fitting and using RISC-OS 3 on an A310...
6.3
I finally managed to get my grubby mitts on the RISC-OS 3 upgrade at the
Acorn User show, and arrived back home with that odd mixture of terror
and excitement that comes from having to take the lid off the machine.
I’ve fitted one or two things in the past, like the soldered 4MByte RAM
upgrade, but no matter how many times I do it, it’s still a bit like
performing neurosurgery on a close friend. Will Archie pull through,
Doc? Actually, fitting was a lot easier than I’d thought. I used the
IFEL carrier board, as their memory upgrade has proven so reliable. My
only source of concern was the discrepancy between their fitting
instructions and the ones supplied by Acorn which alluded to changing
links on the mother board. I followed the IFEL guidelines, which had the
link changes on their board, and waited anxiously for the machine to
explode when I switched it on. No problem, apart from the fact that I
bypassed the desktop and ended up at the command line. Still, the
desktop was easily accessible with a simple “*” command.
6.3
The hard drive icon was where it should be (and no longer jumped around
when I mounted or dismounted the disc!) and I am pleased to say that I
encountered no problems with the Oak SCSI board (version 1.16 of SCSI
driver).
6.3
I couldn’t resist the urge to delve into the Apps directory, and here I
encountered my first problem. Initially, I couldn’t get !Edit to load
from Apps and was greeted with the wonderfully informative message ‘File
“Basic” not found’. Fighting the sudden tide of panic (“It wouldn’t work
at all if the ROM legs were snapped off, idiot!”) I checked the module
list via the command line and found that I was apparently the lucky
owner of the one set of chips which Acorn had shipped without putting
Basic on board first. I was about to fall on my soldering iron in
despair when I thought of checking the status of the system modules
using *ROMModules and found that the Basic module was unplugged. I
reinitialised the module, and !Edit worked fine. There, that wasn’t too
bad − the hair will probably grow back and nobody will notice the
teethmarks on the manual....
6.3
Incidentally, the ARM3Support module was also unplugged and therefore
the *Cache command wouldn’t work, but I’d got the hang of things by now,
and pressed on happily. I t