HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: New Template format discussion document
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:34:06 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat) writes:

[icon grouping]
>As in Draw, group of icons can be nested.  However, there are certain
>consequences if we are using this approach : the icon numbering could be the
>order of apperance in the list of Icon object definitions.  And this puts a
>restriction on grouping/ungrouping because this action can change the order
>of the icon object definition block.

>This restriction does not apply for the programmer because (s)he only needs
>to remake the #define file but that's no solution for the user.

NO! You *must* use *tags* for icons! We use messagetrans tags for text, and
tags for window names, and we intend to have tags for menu entries, so why
leave this stupid icon-number thing in place?

Icons *should* be tagged so that they can be moved/grouped/edited wothout
changing the references inside the program: This is for 2 reasons:
  1) Users then wouldn't be able to freely edit templates
  2) It's a pain in the bum for the programmer, no matter how automated
     your system for spewing out header files is.

If you are really concerned about icon tags taking up a lot of sapce, then
I suggest that icon tags are either:
  * 8 bytes of text, or
  * 4 bytes of text/an integer.

It would be fine to use sequential numbers as tags, so long as once a number
is assigned to an icon, it is not renumbered by any change of position...

>Maybe we should give each icon its own explicit number ?

Yup... Note also, though, that using a 4-byte number, we can also use
numbers with weird 'values' such as:

  Wimp_GetIconInfo(mainwindow, 'ICok',...)

rather than just
  Wimp_GetIconInfo(mainwindow, 34, ...)

...which is more convenient ...


>Yes, it would.  What about defining the menu format in the Glass file ?

Already a proposition put forward. This would define menu entries and
build menus from them. Each menu entry is tagged and contains some msgtransed
text (e.g. the 'quit' item might contain the text 'Quit'). The support code
will support extra stuff like ESG groups for tickable items, and proper
handling of stuff like shading icons (shade an item with a submenu link
and the submenu will still appear, only shaded, as in Acorn's Style Guide)

This will also allow users to edit the menu layout completely, i.e. move
'quit' into a submenu so that it's actually main -> go away -> die -> quit
and the main program will still quite happily quit when 'quit' is selected.

A mechanism would also ve included for automatically handling hotkeys for
a menu item, so the user can change most of the key-bindings as well.

-- 
themasterofthearcanejwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nzthismessagewassentonrecycledelectrons
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: mp2@irz207.inf.tu-dresden.de (Matthias Paschke)
Subject: Re: New StrongED supports External Edit Protocol
Reply-To: mp2@irz301.inf.tu-dresden.de
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, TU Dresden, Germany.
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:49:54 GMT


Well!
If it is possible you could send me the new version of StrongED.???
Thanx.:-)
------------------------+---------------------------------------------.
| Matthias Paschke       | TCP/IP-Mail: paschke@freia.inf.tu-dresden.de|
|   (91/08/11)           |                                             |
+------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
|           How does an octopuss come into a bottle??????              |
|                                                                      |
|                       W E L L A R M E D                              |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------'

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: idg10@cl.cam.ac.uk (I.D. Griffiths)
Subject: Re: EPS files
Reply-To: idg10@phx.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 11:18:00 GMT

In article <1992Dec23.155806.22223@gec-rl-hrc.co.uk>, rknight@gec-rl-hrc.co.uk (Roger Knight (B21)) writes:
 |> I recently tried to export the EPS from Mentor Graphics CAD tools into
|> !Artworks with no success whatsoever.  Have CC produced a proper EPS
|> interpreter for !Artworks? I suspect they've hard-coded the macros which
|> Corel Draw, Adobe etc. use in their EPS files instead of reading the
|> full PS prolog.
|> 

Well, they've written a postscript interpretter, it's called Showpage... 
EPS files are generally files produced by drawing packages which expect to
have a number of library commands built in (e.g. fountain fills and the
like) but don't actually include these commands in the file, since they
are being used to transfer information, rather than being printable, and
rely on the package loading them to know what these routines do.

Writing a general interpretter to take prologs including these routines and
translating them into and Artworks file would be very inefficient, since
it would not be able to turn objects into anything much more sophisticated
than paths (so a bit like exporting something with graduated fills and
blends into draw - it works but you loose a lot of information) and would
also be rather hard, since you would need to have a postscript interpretter,
which you don't need to read EPS files (since they're not really programs, but
a postscript representation of a data structure), and then you would have
problems with programs possibly not terminating, and it all gets a bit
horrid.

So no basically.  Artworks is designed to import from the EPS files it can
export to, and if it manages much better than this, then you're simply
lucky.

Ian Griffiths
From: aramsey@ugly.UVic.CA (Aaron  Ramsey)
Subject: ARM risc speed?
Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 06:21:52 GMT

I'll start off by saying that I know nothing about the Acorn. But, I
have heard that the ARM risc chips are going to be used in the new
3DO systems that will start showing up in the next year or so. My
problem is that I know nothing about these risc chips. What different
kinds are there? What speeds do they run at (mhz mips, whatever),
and most important, how do they compare to motorola and intel cisc
chips? I'm particularily interested in how the ARM risc chips compare
to a 68040 motorola chip.

Thanks alot.

Aaron Ramsey
amramsey@sirius.UVIC.ca
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Administrivia: Postings update
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:04:13 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

[Date: 05/01/93]
		     comp.sources.acorn postings during 1993

The following sources have been posted so far this year:

Name              Date    # parts   Description
=============================================================================
ExtEdit102      05/01/92     3      External editing message protocol docs

---
Jason Williams
Sources Moderator
-- 
themasterofthearcanejwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nzthismessagewassentonrecycledelectrons
From: gst@dcs.ed.ac.uk (George Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: A5000 serial port
Date: 12 Jan 93 11:52:41 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh


Background:
My first A5000 mother board came with a dud serial port. This was replaced with
another board (with other faults) and then  replaced with a 3rd board. The serial
port was working (to A310) but after 10 weeks without using serial port it fails
to work. It has been tested with scope/multi-meter an in completely inactive.
My machine is currently having a FOURTH motherboard fitted (Norwhich computer
services were not very happy to recieve my machine again.)

I don't feel particularily confident that this one is going to last long either.
(I have NOT been connecting it to dodegy equipment likely to cause damage.)

Is this a possible design fault? 

I'd be interested to hear how many A5000's have faulty serial ports 
but probably hardly anyone uses them so they wouldn't notice.)

If this board go's wrong, it will be too late to get it fixed under warranty,
so I'll have to fix it myself or use a prototype podule card and make my own.

-- 
George
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: hobbs@rocks.enet.dec.com (Mike Hobbs)
Subject: Help with printer offsets please
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:14:42 GMT


I recently spoke to a commercial software developer about this (and he
was not too ethusiastic about the quality of the Acorn printer drivers)
but I thought I'd address it to the world in case there is a solution,
and if not then maybe Acorn will be listening.

I recently got RO 3 and set up !Printers to drive my Citizen ProLaser
12, HP PaintJet, KXP1124 and ArcFax.

One of the first things I noticed was that there is a nice !PrintEdit
application and so I used it to try to set up the graphics printing
origin for the ProLaser because the default is far too far down the
page.  However, these x and y offsets seem to be totally ignored.

I dumped the output of a test print to a file before and after changing
the x and y offsets and both files were identical.  If I manually edit
the print file I can get the printer to start printing at a different
origin but the Acorn driver just doesn't do its stuff.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Mike Hobbs
hobbs@rocks.enet.dec.com
From: andyf@uk.sun.com (Andrew Fox - Sun UK - Answer centre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: versions of fortran for the arc
Date: 11 Jan 93 15:07:16 GMT
Reply-To: andyf@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd.

Martin,

I think that I may be able to help..........only problem is all my e-mail
to you is bouncing.

Send me a quick mail, and I'll see if your return address on the e-mail
works any better.

Cheers,

Andy.

+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Fox,                 |     'Life, don't talk to me about life.'     |
| Product Support Engineer,   +----------------------------------------------+
| Sun Microsystems Inc.,      |  					     |
| Citygate, Sale,             | Disclaimer:These opinions are mine, assuming |
| Cheshire, M33 1JF,          |            I can remember what I've said.    |
| ENGLAND. +44 (0)61-905-4589 |                                              |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| 	                 e-mail: andrew.fox@uk.sun.com                       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+  
|									     |
|    "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something      |
|     completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete    |
|     fools."                                                                |
|                                      - Douglas Adams, "Mostly Harmless"    |
|									     |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: ssurawls@susssys1.reading.ac.uk (Ian Rawlings)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: RISK
Date: 12 Jan 93 10:57:01 GMT
Organization: University of Reading


Does anyone out there have a copy of RISK for the archie? I only managed
to catch the last two parts on comp.binaries and would like to have a bash
at using it. Quite like the board game so it would make a nice addition.

I have posting 3 and 4, but not 1 and 2. If anyone could send them to me,
would be most helpful!

Thanx

Ian

-- 

=+=+=+=+=+ 8< =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 8< =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ 8< =+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Mr Ian Rawlings, Telephone Reading (0734) 661431
	EMAIL ssurawls@susssys1.rdg.ac.uk
From: dsharple@axion.bt.co.uk (David Sharples)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Help! Adding a serial port to the A3000
Date: 6 Jan 93 16:40:31 GMT
Reply-To: dsharple@axion.bt.co.uk
Organization: BT Labs
Organisation: BT Laboratories, Martlesham Heath, IPSWICH UK

Can anyone help?

I was wondering if there is an easy way of fitting/enabling 
the serial port on an early A3000. (Without buying the upgrade kit).

Is the support circuitary on the main circuit board, I assume is it.

If so, which chips are missing?

Has anyone self fitted the chips and got the port working? 

Thanks it advance,

		Dave Sharples.


**********************************************************************
+  J. David Sharples,   Tel : (0473) 647459                          +
+  G44, SSTF Building,  Fax : (0473) 643019                          +
+  BT Laboratories,                                                  +
+  Martlesham Heath,    Email (Internet) : D.Sharples@axion.bt.co.uk +
+  IPSWICH,                             			     +
+  IP5 7RE.            					             +
**********************************************************************
 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: kortink@cs.utwente.nl (John Kortink)
Subject: ShowFree for ICS IDEFS
Organization: University of Twente, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 13:19:35 GMT

I hacked up a little module last night to do the required things
for ShowFree to work on Ian Copestake's IDEFS (fsnr 49).

In case anyone else needs it, it's uuencoded and PackDirred, enclosed
below.


John Kortink

Still student of Informatics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands
NETMAIL : kortink@cs.utwente.nl                    DISCLAIMER : the usual
OhYeahsuzannevegakatebushtoriamosrebeccademornayumathurmanrosannaarquette

---


begin 640 freeidefs.pkd
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L0 !$).74%\XP_;VS' !J#">(5D \R!H1X" 083D3L$?=. ,U!]Q]<J$3$ !J
 
end
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Subject: Re: Dixons etc.
Organization: Nottingham University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 21:39:35 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.174528.1@vxdesy.desy.de> burke@vxdesy.desy.de writes:
>While I was back in England for Christmas I did a quick survey of Dixons
>branches. There were no Acorn machines at all in the main branches in Luton
>and Oxford; the one in Oxford St. (London) had one A3010 (switched off), and
>I'm told there was some presence in Milton Keynes. I found one person who
>remembered seeing the TV ads, and my cousin bought an Amiga for her two
>daughters (I don't think she'd even heard of Acorn). So much for the marketing
>blitz.

I think you'll find that the "marketing blitz" was targetted on certain groups-
for example, the TV adverts weren't shown in the London area because apparently
statistics & research show that people there can't afford Acorn machines at 
the moment (debts, mortgage arrears etc). 

As far as Dixons branches are concerned, I guess that everyone (even Acorn)
is aware how abominable many of them are at pushing Acorn machines - I don't
suppose that Acorn could do any more than they have done, and it is better
that the machines are on every high street rather than not at all.

Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Burrows   smb@cs.nott.ac.uk  psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk  +44 533 712030
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: 3DO system
From: Gavin.Flower@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Gavin Flower)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 22:16:33 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.

In article <ssurawls.726775019@reading> you write:
>The following was found on a virtual reality newsgroup.....
>
>START QUOTE...
>
>Clarinet, the online newservice available via many USENET hosts,
>reports that 3DO, the new startup headed by Electronic Arts CEO Trip
>Hawkins, is showing its advanced video-game player, capable of "3D"
>effects, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

[...]
>
>Sounds good! But does anyone know anything about this "Clarinet" system?
>Yet another BB to read....


Well there are a whole seies of "clarinet" groups on usenet, mostly
prefixed by "clari." - the following is part of a posting from
"clari.tw.computers" suggest people read there rather than repost...

========================================

[...]
	3DO Corp., a start-up Silicon Valley company made a major splash at
Thursday's opening session by unveiling a powerful video-game player it
says will revolutionize home entertainment because of its multiple
functions and ability to create three-dimensional pictures.
	The $700 device, dubbed the ``3DO Interactive Multiplayer,'' will hit
stores in the fall.
	However, Mealy said he remained somewhat skeptical about the ability
of 3DO -- a spinoff of software producer Electronic Arts and backed by
heavyweights Time Warner, AT&T and Matsushita -- to deliver on its
promises, since it has no track record as a distributor.
	``If they can do it, more power to them,'' he said.
	In the meantime, Software Toolworks will be using digital-compression
technology to start making CD programs that can run on ``multiple
platforms'' -- industry jargon for products usable on any computer
system. That will make it much easier for retailers to market the
product, Mealy said.
[...]

-- 
Tomorrow's Society                              | flower_g@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
    Depends on                                   ----------------------------
Today's Children  - help us raise them properly! 
*******  These comments have no known correlation with dept. policy!  *******
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Screen goes white while acces
From: AJLHMCTM@kcbbs.gen.nz (Tony Garnockjones)
Date: 6 Jan 93 01:54:35 GMT
Organization: Kappa Crucis Unix BBS, Auckland, New Zealand

 
  ak> Speak to Morley again - Gary Partis there tells me he's
  ak> tweaked the code so that it runs in the foreground (ie, not
  ak> on IRQs anymore - which happened [.....]
 
It's great to hear something of Gary Partis again...  Is he working 
on any 
more cult-following type games for the Arc?  If anyone could squeeze 
the 
last drop out of the beeb's processor, it was Gary :-)

Tony.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: okrumnow@mcshh.Hanse.DE (Olaf Krumnow)
Subject: Re: AW puts its foot in it
Organization: Point of Presence & MCS Hamburg
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 20:13:05 GMT

roger@number7.demon.co.uk (Roger C-H Horne) writes:

>"Through the new Minitel link, users can obtain real time market information
>from the Paris sock exchange...  Additionally, some services provide on-line
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Miller with Jones, Smith with Taylor, ...



Olaf.

------------------------------------------------------------
Olaf Krumnow                 e-mail: okrumnow@mcshh.hanse.de
                             snail : August-Bebel-Str. 102c
Headquarter of the                   W-2050 Hamburg 80
German Archimedes Group              Germany
------------------------------------------------------------
From: alla0008@student.tc.umn.edu (Graham Allan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Wanted: HP Colour Deskjet Driver
Date: 7 Jan 93 15:14:19 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota

In article <14043@texsun.Central.Sun.COM> andyf@uk.sun.com writes:
> 
>Come on Acorn, write us some decent driver code to support the excellent dtp
>and art programs that are now available.
>Failing that, how about CC having a go. If they can write a program like
>ArtWorks, I'm sure that they can write a decent colour printer driver.

CC said they are working on a Turbodriver for the 500C (that was back in
September, maybe they lost interest or maybe it takes a long time). It
might do better colour printing. Pity about the insane printer cable
rewiring they use. It would be nice if it could integrate with the RO3
printer drivers too (I don't think their current Turbodrivers do). I don't
know how technically possible this is, given they probably do everything
totally differently, but it's nice to be able to switch between printers
so easily with !Printers (especially if you're using something like ArcFax
as well as a normal printer). 

Graham.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com (Pete Goodwin)
Subject: Re: PSION SYSTEM 3 VS. ACORN POCKET BOOK
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:09:43 GMT


In article <1ik0flINN3m1@oak5.doc.ic.ac.uk>, ijp@doc.ic.ac.uk (Ian Palmer) writes...

>According to Acorn Customer Services the A-Link (the thingy that
>connects the Arc to the Pocketbook) also works with the Psion-3.

Yep, I've tried it. Rather neat, multitasks at both ends!

>This
>is also stated in a recent Risc User magazine. Bearing this in mind
>the Psion-3 looks a far better choise for the average user for the
>following reasons :
> 
>1) The word processor in the series 3 has (according to Risc User)
>more features then the Pocketbook version. Although quite what
>advantage this gives is debatable as most people would export as plain
>text, if this is possible.

The 'extra features' on the Series 3 machine are: Outline format and Password.
Not exactly earth shattering...

>2) It's got a diary application, the Pocketbook hasn't.
> 
>3) It's got the OPL editor and compiler, the Pocketbook hasn't.

OPL programs created and compiled on Series 3 run on Acorn Pocketbooks.

>The Pocketbook does have a spell checker and spreadsheet which are not
>in the Series 3 as standard, but I guess both are available seperatly
>if needed. The other advantage of the Pocketbook is that it has a
>little green acorn on it :-)

Yep, both the spell checker and spreadsheet are available seperately for the
Series 3, though they cost!!!

Pete Goodwin
goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com
From: ee91mds2@brunel.ac.uk (Mark D Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: AW puts its foot in it
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:17:13 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK

In article <930107181506@number7.demon.co.uk> Roger C-H Horne writes 

>"Through the new Minitel link, users can obtain real time market information
>from the Paris sock exchange...  Additionally, some services provide on-line
>booking facilities."
 
>The odd things those frogs get up to.
 
>Roger

Is this a hot tip for 1993 to invest our millions in socks?

Mark.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  M    M   AAA   RRRR   K  K   Janet email: ee91mds2@brunel.ac.uk            |
|  MM  MM  A   A  R   R  K K    Subject: Microelectronic Systems Design       |
|  M MM M  AAAAA  RRRR   KK     Establishment: Brunel University, U.K.        |
|  M    M  A   A  R R    K K                                                  |
|  M    M  A   A  R  RR  K  K                                                 |