HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gta@st-andrews.ac.uk (Graham Allan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Why isn't everything PD ?
Date: 17 Aug 92 04:21:03 GMT
Reply-To: gta@st-andrews.ac.uk
Organization: Greyfriars mail-relay

mcg@waikato.ac.nz writes:

> Besides, the elementary routines you used in your progs (i.e. LZW compression 
> in !Packdir) are obviously *NOT* created by you, more like the elementary 
> routines were obtained from standard texts on Data Compression and converted,
>  by you, to run on the Arc.

This is a possible argument. The trouble is, there's no end to it. I mean,
the algorithms to split lines in wordprocessors come from elementary texts -
I don't know what, maybe from Knuth's code for TeX, or something earlier.
But there's not much more to a wordprocessor than packaging up a bunch of
such routines, then selling it (as an extreme case).

Graham
From: row@bnr.co.uk (Reuben Wells)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Minix/Linux
Date: 19 Aug 92 08:12:23 GMT
Reply-To: row@bnr.co.uk (Reuben Wells)
Organization: BNR Europe Limited, London Road, Harlow, Essex, GB

>I'm afraid he's right: linux on the archimedes would be an almost
>impossible quest.  If I've understood correctly, even the minix port has
>some problems, and that's despite the fact that minix isn't that
>hardware-dependent (but maybe they were just driver-problems: "just" a
>matter of some programming - no fundamental problems). 

I think I may have to finally have to take the plunge and buy an
IBM PC and get rid of my Archimedes :-( I need to be able to run
X windows and Unix, the Acorn solution would cost me a fortune ie.
1000L for RISCiX (Linux is free !), 250L for Acorn SCSI card, 600L
8 Megs RAM, 200 ARM3, plus need at least 100 Meg SCSI drive ...
and then once I have got all this I still can't even compile
gcc, g++ what a joke ! A similar PC based solution would cost 
around 1200L for the complete system (486DX 33Mh ... ).

Its a real shame because the Archimedes is a far nicer machine, and
RISC OS is ace compared with DOS, but Acorn cannot meet my requirments
anymore. I am hoping that I won't ever have to do anything at the DOS
prompt or even go near Windows 3 if I get X running.

Oh well ... anyone interested in an 2 Meg A3000, Philips CM8833 monitor,
16 bit SCSI card, 48Meg ST157N SCSI drive, RISCOS 2 PRM's, Teletext
adaptor (turns monitor into TV) ? And no, before anyone asks I am not
giving it away ! (Re: Why isn't everything PD ?)


Reuben O. Wells	- BNR Europe Ltd - (+44) 279 403704
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: impression->TEX
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 18:38:17 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.091359.18759@doc.ic.ac.uk>, ijp@oak10.doc.ic.ac.uk (Ian Palmer) writes:
> Not directly (well as far as I can work out anyway) because all TeX
> macros must start with a '\', and Impression DDF doesn't use that. But

Not true! (read the TeXbook). You can redefine { as an escape character if
you want. TeX is a full programming language; you certainly could write
a converter, although I don't know how much effort it would be (probably not
much, if you're only converting things like font changes). TeX does its
own page layout, so I doubt that you could keep it wysiwyg.

> frame info get saved into a DDF file?) and graphics would be a
> nightmare (TeX graphics always are :-) ).

The normal approach would be to have the graphics in a separate PostScript
file, and  use \special{} commands to merge them at the DVItoPS stage.

> Then of course there's the problem of font translation (unless you
> only use the TeX fonts - but then you'd need to get over 1/3rd the TeX
> distibution anyway, so you might as well go the full hog).

This is an interesting question - are PostScript fonts available for TeX? (i.e.
as TFM files). There's no reason why they shouldn't be, but I've never seen
any.

e----><----p | Stephen Burke           | Internet: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
 H   H   1   | Gruppe FH1T (Liverpool) | DECnet:   vxdesy::burke (13313::burke)
 H   H  11   | DESY, Notkestrasse 85   | BITNET:   BURKE@DESYVAX or SB2@UKACRL
 HHHHH   1   | 2000 Hamburg 52         | JANET:    sb2@uk.ac.rl.ib
 H   H   1   | Germany                 | Phone:    + 49 40 8998 2282
 H   H 11111 | HERA, the world's largest electron microscope!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: maurp@warwick.ac.uk (Emmet Spier)
Subject: printing in RISC OS
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 19:12:53 GMT

Yesterday I saw Windows 3.1 print a file (I think from word) of several
typefaces in several point sizes on a Cannon (?) bubblejet (think deskjet!)
and I was very impressed. It used TrueType fonts and  happly rendered the
entire page to the print manager in less than 30 seconds and while it went
back to tasking (err very baddly indeed a 386 2Mb is just not enough!) the
page finished 30 seconds later.
If a 386 can do that with windows 3.1 why can't RISC OS 3 let alone 2. What is
it about acorns printing stratagy that slows things down & the page cannot be
rendered at even the speed of the parallel line (my Desket waits arround a
lot!)

Cheers Emm
-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 From Emmet Spier  (maurp@csv.warwick.ac.uk)
 59 Claremont Rd, Leammington Spa, Warks. CV31 3EH        Tel (0926) 426 955
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: t-piersh@microsoft.com (Piers Haken)
Subject: Re: Why isn't everything PD ?y
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:32:28 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA 98052

In article <1992Aug18.095919.10153@waikato.ac.nz> mcg@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>In article <1992Aug17.141647.1@vxdesy.desy.de>, burke@vxdesy.desy.de writes:
>> 
>>   I find the original post a bit strange - why shouldn't someone be paid for
>> the time they spend writing software? Should Computer Concepts give us
>> Impression for free? The only thing is, if you sell your software you have a
>
>The difference between a commerical setup and, say, John's (previous) setup is:
>
> a) Companies like CC employ hordes of programmers to write a prog (wages).

Because they have to. They're producing a large range of high quality stuff
which one guy could never write on his own. Imagine the work that's gone
into Impression or artworks. I'm not saying that John's not put any work
into his stuff ('cos he has) but he doesn't need (or doesn't want) to
employ people to write stuff that he could enjoy writing himself. 

> b) They Pacakge their wares in (attractive) cases/packaging.

Because they have to. You've got to attract the customer in a competitive
market (which John's not targetting).

> c) They provide separate *type-set* manuals.

This is debateable. Reading through some manuals makes you think "What the
hell did they waste this paper for?" Anyway, if John produced a manual for
his stuff, would you REALLY read it? Nope - nobody reads the manuals for
stuff anymore, it's either generically intuitive to use or has on-line
help (or both). If you really want docs then look on the disc.

>
>A, B, C are the cost of making the software for a company, whereas the only 
>expense incurred by, say John, is the electricity/coffee used in making the 
>prog.

Yes.

> He neither incurrs the expense of supplying a disc or return postage (maybe 
>e-mail costs, but they are negligable), so the fee he sets is basically 
>, (excuse the pun) *pure* profit.

And?

It seems that you're complaining about the fact that John is charging
you money for something he enjoys doing. That's not unfair, that's being
a programmer.

Piers.

>
>
>From Martin Glanvill		(mcg@waikato.ac.nz)
>
>Dept. Maths 							      @@@@@/|@
>University of Waikato						      @@@@/ |@
>Hamilton							      @@@/__|@
>New Zealand							      @@/   |@
>								      @@@@@@@@
>
>----------------****=====| A quote to make your day |======****-----------------
>A majority is always the best repartee.			- Disraeli
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Disclaimer: These views are my own and not necessarily
            those of the company for which I work.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: kortink@cs.utwente.nl (John Kortink)
Subject: Why isn't everything PD ?
Organization: University of Twente, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 11:25:42 GMT

row@bnr.co.uk (Reuben O. Wells) writes :

>P.S All these people who are making their software "shareware" suck -
>espicially when they ask the net for help ! Peeps give their help for
>free and then they start selling the software. How many of these people
>use all the wonderful PD software that other people have written - why
>should they charge ?

Don't you think some software is worth a little money ? In the end that's
all there is to it, and the world is a happy place again.

Otherwise ask yourself why isn't *everything* PD ? (I'll give you the
answer if you need it).


John Kortink

Student of Informatics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands
NETMAIL : kortink@cs.utwente.nl              DISCLAIMER : the usual
From: osmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: PC keyboards
Date: 18 Aug 92 11:32:58 GMT
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England

In article <4995@tuegate.tue.nl> gtoal@gem.stack.urc.tue.nl (Graham Toal)
writes:

>Being able to plug in a PC keyboard, which I didn't know about till
>you said, is a definite step forward.

The only Acorn machine you can plug a PC keyboard into is the A4.

Owen.

The views expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of Acorn.
From: cstevens@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: cgm->draw
Date: 12 Aug 92 09:31:10 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

Hi There, I'm lookig for anyone who's got a program which can convert Computer
graphics metafiles (cgm) to draw format for use on the ARC. If anyone's got it
I'd appreciate it very much if it could be uploaded to .binaries. I'm told a
copy exists on Arcade bbs, but I domn't have the tcp/ip adress of this service.
Any help Appreciated
Chris Stevens
CSTEVENS@uk.ac.ox.vax
From: lithgow@upjomon.usl.com (Malcolm Lithgow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Authorship (Was: Disasters?)
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:34:09 GMT

[Stephen Burke says:]
>Going off on a tangent, why don't Acorn manuals have authors? I'm sure
>*someone* must write them; have Acorn marketing decided that we should see them
>as a faceless single entity, or are the authors just too ashamed to admit
>it? :-)

It's probably just tradition.

Have a look at an AT&T or USL UNIX manual sometime. In fact, have a look
at the code some time (on second thoughts, don't, it may be embarrassing
;->).

None of this stuff has authors names in it, unless it comes from Bell
Labs (recently, not originally, since it all came from Bell Labs) or
outside, such as ksh (which doesn't really need a name on it, anyway).

The only way to find out who wrote what is to look up the sccs history of
the code -- a history only available to people who work here. I would
guess Acorn has a similar setup.

On a different tack -- lots of Acorn (and Computer Concepts) stuff is
written in Assembler. I'm interested in whether the source is merely
simple assembler, or whether extensive macro-usage, etc. makes the
programs look like a 'mid-level' language. Can anyone tell me?

-Malcolm.  lithgow@usl.com  These are merely my opinions.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: gtoal@ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal)
Subject: Re: impression->TEX
Organization: The IBM PC User Group, UK.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 00:49:51 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.141557.8155@vax.oxford.ac.uk> cstevens@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>was possible I'd be able to forget about the 15Meg of TEX I have, buy

You *can* trim it down to about 5Mb quite easily.  Throw away all the
sources for a start.

(Oh no - _someone_ had better keep them I guess... my Winnie gets
reformatted tomorrow.)

G
--
From: dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk (Denis Howe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Acorn pushes out small dealers
Date: 21 Aug 92 14:58:06 GMT
Organization: Computing Department, Imperial College, London, UK
NNTP-Posting-Host: wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk
In-reply-to: sfc@ukc.ac.uk's message of 21 Aug 92 13:50:40 GMT

In article <4415@gos.ukc.ac.uk> sfc@ukc.ac.uk (Si.) writes:

>Acorn announced to him a whole set of new rules and regulations
>detailing the requirements he should meet to continue being an Acorn
>dealer.  Some of these requirements are listed here:
>
>	He should have available liquid accets of not less than 50,000
>	pounds (bank guarenteed).
>	He should have at least two members of fully trained staff.
>	He should stock x number of every Acorn machine, plus all third
>	party hardware, and software.
>	And the list goes on.....

This is incredible.  Even Dixons and John Lewis will have trouble
meeting some of those.  Obviously Acorn want to protect their
reputation but surely not to the point of making it difficult for
people to get hold of their stuff?

I was really pleased to see that John Lewis in Brent Cross had an
A5000 on the shelf last month but even round London there are too few
Acorn dealers.
--
Denis Howe <dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk>
So Biggs, you're the idiot who bought all these IBM PCs.  You're fired!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: t-piersh@microsoft.com (Piers Haken)
Subject: Re: impression->TEX
Date: 13 Aug 92 21:34:12 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA 98052

In article <1992Aug12.130140.2375@cs.nott.ac.uk> rsxdp@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (D.Pead) writes:
>In article <1992Aug10.141557.8155@vax.oxford.ac.uk> cstevens@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>>	anyone out there know if CC's Impression can produce TEX output files?
>>does anyone have a module that'll convert from one to the other. I've been told
>
>Impression "Document Description Format" looks a bit like this:
>
>{Lots and lots of format data}
>Some plain text, with or with out linefeeds & returns as required
>{"Italic" on}A bit of text in Italics{"Italic" off} and without
>{"Wobbly" on}A bit of text in a user defined style{"Wobbly" off}
>
>etc.
>
>So you could probably write a utility to do the conversion (e.g. in
>one of the UN*X-type PD tools such as SED or as a MICROEMACS Macro).
>
>ASCII input/output is a doddle.
>
>Impression has a mechanism for bolt-on import/export modules, but I don't
>think anybody other than CC has produced any.

Alternatively you could write a set of latex macros that could
interpret CC description documents directly, no?

Piers.
-- 
Disclaimer: These views are my own and not necessarily
            those of the company for which I work.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Broken Directory needs fixing
From: sbla2@cs.aukuni.ac.nz
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 23:56:01 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

2105995@hydra.maths.unsw.EDU.AU () writes:



>AARRGGHHH!!!!!!

>Does ANYone know how to fix a 'broken directory'?
>I have some _rather_ important files contained in
>one of these beasts.
>Can those who do know how to fix it email me, and
>if anyone comes up with the brainwave 'format your
>HD', i think i shall scream! 


A broken directory occurs when the directory sequence number in the directory
is corrupted. There are two copies one at the beginning and one at the end.
These copies must match for the directory to be considered valid.

I cant remember the exact locations of these bytes, but fixing this probably
wont fix your problem anyway, as the directory is corrupted.

The best way of recovering 'some' of your files is to use
ADFS_DiscOp, load the disc (or part of) into memory and do a search for the
file data. Text files are the easiest to recover. Other types of files
are next to impossible unless you really know what you are doing.

I am currently writting a Disk Editor/Fixer/Backup utility, which will allow
you to recover (at least partially) from this situation. The program allows the
user to find the map and directory sectors and display these in a readable
format. The program does not assume that any data on the disk is correct, and
allows the user to override all disk defaults (eg Sector size, Map position).

QUESTION:
    Does anyone KNOW how to find the map on a disk (eg 1.6M/Hard disk)?

    E format disks always have the map at 0. The 1.6M and hard disks seem
    to have them in the middle of the disk (somewhere?)

Shaun Blackmore.

-- 
 ___   __   _ _               /                       / It is impossible to
|   | |  | | | |   Software  /    Shaun Blackmore    /  make anything foolproof
|---| |--| |   |   Supplies /                       /   because fools are so
|   | |  \ |   |           / sbla2@cs.aukuni.ac.nz /    ingenious.
From: zzassgl@uts.mcc.ac.uk (Geoff Lane)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Word Hound version 1.10
Date: 17 Aug 92 09:02:04 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre, Manchester, England, M13 9PL.

In article <BssvDt.Mp@ibmpcug.co.uk> gtoal@ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal) writes:
>Please keep your commercial advertising out of this group.
>G
>-- 



A complaint about commercial activity from a site with the address
"ibmpcug.co.uk" !!!!   :-) :-)




-- 
Geoff. Lane.                                  Janet: zzassgl@uk.ac.mcc.uts
UTS Sys Admin, Manchester Computing Centre, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL
From: r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (R Voisey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: PC keyboards
Date: 18 Aug 92 22:59:19 GMT
Organization: Bristol Polytechnic, England

In article <17848@acorn.co.uk> osmith@acorn.co.uk (Owen Smith) writes:
>In article <4995@tuegate.tue.nl> gtoal@gem.stack.urc.tue.nl (Graham Toal)
>writes:
>
>>Being able to plug in a PC keyboard, which I didn't know about till
>>you said, is a definite step forward.
>
>The only Acorn machine you can plug a PC keyboard into is the A4.

...  until now ..

;-)

Bob


-- 
Robert J. Voisey  :  r_voisey@csd.brispoly.ac.uk   (Janet)
GUI coders do it     Bob Voisey @ 2:252/106.0      (Fidonet)
on the desktop       Bob Voisey @ 100:104/106.0    (TurboNet)
From: sfc@ukc.ac.uk (Si.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Acorn pushes out small dealers
Date: 21 Aug 92 13:50:40 GMT
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.


  I don't usually get involved in "political" type arguments, which maybe
this is. I have a collegue who I work with on occasion. He runs an Acorn
dealership in the Kent area, and is just about to move to a new industrial
estate unit.
  With the new school term approaching, and having secured a fair number of
schools as prospective Acorn Archimedes buyers (this Area is quite solidly
RM Nimbus stocked...), he finds that Acorn have effectivley illeminated him
from supplying these schools with their new Acron machines!
  Why? I hear you ask...  Because in a recent letter, Acorn announced to
him a whole set of new rules and regulations detailing the requirements he
should meet to continue being an Acorn dealer. Some of these requirements
are listed here:

	He should have available liquid accets of not less than 50,000
pounds (bank guarenteed).
	He should have at least two members of fully trained staff.
	He should stock x number of every Acorn machine, plus all third
party hardware, and software.
	And the list goes on.....

  As I see it, these measures will break up all the "smaller" dealerships
around the country, and leave us with only the large "box-shifting"
companies. These people are fine when all you need is a cheap computer, but
where do you go when you need help? For me I would probably have to travel
the 100 or so miles to Watford Electronics, and having already had a year
of hastle with them I am not happy....

  Anyway, there's my tuppence worth. If I have any details wrong I
appologise, but this is pretty much a sad case of bullying, as I see it.


Si.

                ------------------------------------------
                University of Kent at Canterbury (England)
                           Phone (0227) 780 039
From: mcg@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Acorn pushes out small dealers
Date: 23 Aug 92 15:49:30 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand


In article <17981@acorn.co.uk>, bcockburn@acorn.co.uk (Bruce Cockburn) writes:
> People,
> 
>   Let me preface these remarks by saying that I work on the *technical* side
> of Acorn and have nothing to do with dealer policy.
> 
>   However I do remember some time ago there was a load of traffic on this
> group about a dealer who went to the wall with somebody's money (having
> failed to deliver the goods) and there have been several threads about how
> poor some dealers are in terms of *technical* support.  Surely it is exactly
> these problems that Acorn is trying to prevent?
> 

Moral: Deal Direct through the Manufacturers (Acorn) if there's no 
reputable local dealer.... it can (sometimes) be a heap cheaper, and more 
convenient. 


Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: jkh@sparc3.lotus.com (Jordan K Hubbard)
Subject: So, should I buy an A540 now or wait for what's behind door #1?
Organization: Lotus Ireland
Distribution: comp
Date: 12 Aug 92 10:28:12

First, let me just thank everyone for their very informative responses
to my "Amiga / 486 Owner needs information on ARM A5000 / A570(?)" posting.

Sorry I got the model number of the A540 wrong.  I'm pretty clear now
on what the A5000 and A540 models can and can't do.

Now here's my dilemma:

My local Acorn dealer has put together a good looking package
for me that's basically as follows:

A540 with 4MB of memory & 100MB hard disk, cables, software, docs,
etc. for 2400 Irish pounds (worth a little less than pounds sterling).

This does not include a monitor since I already have an EIZO 9080i
sort of lying around that I can use.  I also have some extra SCSI
drives, so 100MB is more than enough since I'm assured that the
case has room for several more 3.5" drives.

He's also assured me that I'll get a good price on the 4MB upgrade,
when it's available, since he hasn't currently got it in stock.


Now I could go down this week and have all this in my hot little hands
quickly enough, but I'm starting to wonder if this is such a good idea
with Acorn's next beastie rumored to be waiting in the wings.  Even
with the A540's CPU slot upgrade, it won't help me much if Acorn comes
out with new video / sound hardware in the new machine as well.  Also,
the cost of upgrading + original machine is always more expensive than
the whole new machine, so I'd feel pretty foolish if I bought a new
machine now only to have to look at upgrading in 6 months or less.

Now, even if this new machine isn't going to be sold for another year,
I can more than occupy my time with other things until it's released.
I really don't like buying hardware that's at or near the end of its
lifecycle (I've lost too much money doing that as it is) and would
much rather put the 2400 quid into an NCD X terminal for the PC, or
one of HP's new 720 workstations (not a bad looking little machine),
and wait for Acorn to come up with something really impressive.

On the other hand, it's also possible to get into the kind of cycle
where you're always waiting for "the newest model" and you miss the
boat entirely (I did that with the entire Macintosh line).  If this
new machine is going to stay in the wings for a 18 months or more,
I'd tend to swing back the other way.

Since I can't make up my mind, I thought I'd ask you Acorn owners, who
are closer to the rumor mill on these things (and have a better
appreciation of the joys of Archie ownership as well), just what the
heck I should do.

Thanks!

					Jordan