HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: Albert.Koelmans@newcastle.ac.uk (Albert Koelmans)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: ReadNews 0.21 is on it's way
Date: 11 Sep 92 08:29:50 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU

julian@bridge.welly.gen.nz (Julian Wright) writes:

>Ok people, I have just sent version 0.21 of ReadNews to Newcastle.
>It's been a long time coming, but I hope you will think the wait
>was worth it. Best wait until Albert posts an update message
>before requesting it though or you may get the old one. :-)

I will mount it sometime today (Friday 11th). The message will not appear
until Alan comes back - there are several other messages in his queue
already.

Albert

--

E-mail address:  Albert.Koelmans@newcastle.ac.uk
Computing Science Department, University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK (telephone +44 091-2228155,fax 2228232)
From: johny@cogs.sussex.ac.uk (Lord Yak Da Hairy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: where can I get RISC OS 3.1?
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:45:25 GMT
Organization: The Devastating Rear Shot, Inc.

In article <1992Sep8.183754.24196@cs.nott.ac.uk> smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows) writes:
>I think the supply situation is extremely erratic. I phoned up a dealer
>last night, and he brought up the subject of upgrades. He is supplied
>directly by Acorn, and has no upgrades. The swear-words which he
>directed towards Acorn are unrepeatable!!

CJE Micros in Worthing seem to have plenty. I don't have their address to
hand (it's Brighton Road, Worthing, but I don't have postcodes or such...)

-- John Yeates (Lord Yak Da Hairy) ---------------- johny@cogs.susx.ac.uk --
-- ...THIS definitely takes, eats and shits the cake. - allane@unsw.oz.au --
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: OAK SCSI Problems
Keywords: OAK, SCSI, Problems
Date: 14 Sep 92 22:26:08 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

In article <5408@tuegate.tue.nl> frankp@blade (Frank van de Pol) writes:
>Help, I have problems with my SCSI harddrive when I use video modes
>with a high bandwidth on the memory system.

Hum...I bought an Oak SCSI card for use on my A440/1 with RISC OS 3.10,
and the SCSI formatter wouldn't work because they had abbreviated lots
of commands in the BASIC (heavily crunched) program. They had not even
used OSCLI, just the raw *command. It was not surprising that the
formatter would not work... and I thought that Oak claimed to be a
quality manufacturer and supplier!

Simon.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: u894776@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (James McCoull)
Subject: Demo Competition / A7000 [ARM7xx/VIDC2] details
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 02:13:39 GMT

	Sorry about the subject line... but I had to get
attention some way.
	Response to the demo competition... has not exactly
been great at this stage - maybe I expect too much from a
world wide network posting? read by 1000's of acorn buffs!
[Don't undergrads have net access in the uk? - If not
 its *your* responsibility to pass these demo posts on
 to them :)]

Here is a list of interested parties so far:
[If you are not on the list - then mail now to
   	u894776@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au
 expressing your interest]

C'mon men and women - don't feel shy, there will probably
we at least 3 divisions:
	low	= arm2/memc1	   	[310's and works]
	high	= A5000			[rich bastards :) ]
	basic   = BASIC only demos	[RiscMan??]
	dreams  = A7000			[details acorn :) ? please?]	

Interested people so far:
        u894776@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au    
        2105995@hydra.maths.unsw.edu.au 
        A.J.D.Hurley@bnr.co.uk
        Ikki@beiz.mediatex.ch
        sproven@computer-science.strathclyde.ac.uk

People who dont think they are in it - but I know otherwise ( :) )
        m91jru@bellatrix.tdb.uu.se (Jesper Rudberg)
        cknight@pieman.compserv.utas.edu.au (Christopher Josef Knight)   
        nizar@RISC.CAM.ORG (Nizar Sabra)        

Possibles:
        banksie@khantazi.welly.gen.nz (Philip R. Banks)

Regards, James.

--
	Life is for the living - not the dead!
	Show some life doods!
From: D.S.Walker@bradford.ac.uk (Simeon Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Limit on files per directory
Date: 10 Sep 92 10:15:12 GMT
Organization: University of Bradford, UK
Originator: 91909178@ccw408

A while back on c.s.a I read about ADFS having a limit of 77 files per
directory. Since I had no directory with more than about 50 files I 
never came across this limit. However, last night I was uuencoding and
splitting an archive and accidently left the uucode split option at 200
lines instead of changing it to 2000 lines. What I ended up with was a
directory with 102 files in it, over 80 of which were 12K chunks of
uucode.

Does anyone know how this could have happened, or did I just misunderstand
something when this subject was originally discussed?

-- 
Sim. ----------------------------------------------------------- Simeon Walker,
----------------------------------------- Department of Electrical Engineering,
D.S.Walker@bradford.ac.uk -------------------- University of Bradford, England.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: gtoal@pizzabox.demon.co.uk (Graham Toal)
Subject: ST506 card wanted for 310
Distribution: world
Organization: Cuddlehogs Anonymous
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:02:33 +0000

I'm passing on a message for a friend:

Does anyone want to sell a ST506 hard disk controller card?

If so, phone 0332 754 894 after 5pm and ask for John Robinson

Thanks.
PS Presumably at a price below that of Acorn :-)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com (Pete Goodwin)
Subject: Re: OS differences and improvements
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 07:43:17 GMT


In article <Bu5u02.3n6@ibmpcug.co.uk>, gtoal@ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal) writes...

>Exactly.  They are *icons* - after sufficient use your brain plugs
>them directly from concept to keyboard while bypassing the semantics
>of the command name itself.  Just like visual icons on windows systems -
>if you have to work out what they do from the picture, you take *ages*
>to do anything.  It's only after repeated use that the _icon_ comes to
>represent the concept.  Actually, text icons are better than visual
>ones because the brain has to do more conscious processing to coordinate
>a move to an icon as opposed to the use of 'muscle memory' in typing runes.

What bothers me about commands like 'ls', 'grep' (or GROPE on Archimedes!) is
that if they are 'icons' representing some concept, I think they're pretty
awful icons. It reduces the command line to 'magic incantations' in order to
get what you want. I'd like to see a CLI that is reasonably easy to understand
at first glance, rather than one with magic words.

Pete Goodwin
goodwin@system.enet.dec.com
From: sproven@cs.strath.ac.uk (Simon B Proven IE91)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: A3010 views
Date: 14 Sep 92 12:26:34 GMT
Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.

In article <1992Sep12.054336.16351@cs.aukuni.ac.nz> jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA) writes:
>It really depends what you are doing. The Amiga 500, when compared to the
>ARM-2 (8MHz) powered Arcs is pitiful in processing power, but if you compare
>almost any *graphics* based application, the Amiga holds its own because of
>its graphics hardware. Thus, demos and games on the Amiga are about equivalent
>to those on an 8MHzArm2. (leaving aside little matters like being able to
>plot to different bitplanes, 32-colour mode (amiga) or 256 colour mode (arc)
>that make obvious differences in some areas)

Hmmmmm

For games, it really depends what type of game you're running...

for instance, MiG29 on an ARM2@8MHz is MUCH faster than the same game on the
Amiga 500 - simply because on the 500, the CPU is doing all the work as the
blitter can't draw polygons.  I've heard that the Amiga programmers are
chuffed with 400 polygons/sec, but IMHO MiG29 on the Arc must be doing more
like 1000/sec

And of course, programmers on the Arc are really only now showing what can be
done - for instance, many Amiga owners drool on about the "copper" chip which
does "raster bars" and they think that because the Arc has no copper the
Arc games will never have raster bars...

strange, I must have been imagining that Archimedes screen shot with raster
bars....

:)

mad@bike
From: tomc@siesoft.co.uk (Tom Crossland)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: ARcterm7 and KA9Q
Date: 8 Sep 92 12:45:30 GMT
Reply-To: tomc@siesoft.co.uk
Organization: Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Ltd.

nicho@VNET.IBM.COM writes:
: 
:  Subject says it. Has anyone managed to get these 2 programs to
: coexist peacefully ?? I'm trying to use Arcterm7 to dial my
: Internet gate, and then switch into KA9Q to run the SLIP session.
: It would appear at first glance that Arcterm7 doesn't approve of
: other comms programs running alongside it. Can anyone comment on
: this plz ?

I would guess it's because they both want access to the serial port
simultaneously, so when KA9Q pulls some data from the serial input
buffer, ArcTerm can't see it, and visa versa.

Solution: ??? Perhaps there's a way of having two serial input
buffers simultaneously, so when data is recieved it is copied into
both. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Tom.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: lorcan@cix.compulink.co.uk (Lorcan Mongey)
Subject: Re: RISCOS 3.10/ArcTerm7 and serial input - help!
Cc: lorcan@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: lorcan@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 22:26:19 +0000

In article <716525169snx@klaatu.demon.co.uk> Steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk
(Steve Loft) writes:
 
>[ other stuff about flow control deleted ]
>You may well be right, but why have I only started having these
>problems since I installed RISC OS 3.10?
 
Problems like this surfaced when the A5000 first appeared and were cured
by Hugo doing a mod to ArcTerm. If you get version 2.40 or later you
should be OK. OTOH, if you've already got 2.40, panic! :)
 
Lorcan
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com (Pete Goodwin)
Subject: Re: RISCOS 3.1, the final conclusions..
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:47:20 GMT


In article <18502@acorn.co.uk>, DWallin@acorn.co.uk (Dick Wallin) writes...

>There are 12 fonts in the RISC OS 3.10 ROM (as there were in RISC OS 3.00)

Sorry I meant there were three font GROUPS not 12 fonts (in three groups as you
correctly point out!).

>>That's funny, formatting was multitasking. Even on an ARM2 it was never that
>>slow.
> 
>Formatting was NOT multitasking on RISC OS 2 but WAS multitasking on RISC OS
>3.00 and as you correctly point out was/is not slow.

There was an application that did formatting on the desktop on RO2. It's not as
neat as the built in one on 3.1

>>Now if only I could work out why my SCSI has stopped working (whimper).
> 
>I must sympathise; when my card went down I did miss it rather a lot!

Mine's a Morley controller - I'm trying to work out if there's a problem with
their software and 3.1 or the ARM3 upgrade I did at the same time... or my
drive died the same time we did the upgrade (unlikely!).

Pete Goodwin
goodwin@system.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: amell@nyx.cs.du.edu (Andrew P.Mell)
Subject: Re: Authorship (Was: Disasters?)
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 01:54:18 GMT

In article <1992Sep5.005203.793@eoc.com> pete@eo11.eoc.com (Peter Cockerell) writes:
>
>It was at Acorn. When I worked at Acornsoft (RIP), the publications
>department always put manuals' authors' names in them. When I moved

Talking of Acorn Manuals, I hope that they will abandon the strange paper
format they use at present and move to A4 pages in loose leaf folders like
the Sun manuals. Its so much easier to read and update then. I dread to
think how much bookshelf space the new RO3 PRMs are going to take.

Large paper with well spread out text is so much easier to read, please,
please rethink the manual strategy? A looseleaf folder in white with
a single Acorn on the front would look rather neat and be more durable
than the present format.

Andy
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: A3010 views
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 05:43:36 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

cadwallader@forty2.enet.dec.com () writes:
>When I first had my "taste" of an Arc "doing something" more than just
>sitting in a shop switched on - I expected a REAL treat because of all the
>RISC chip hype. I had obviously underestimated the power of the Amiga's
>dedicated chips because the huge gulf I expected to see between the 2
>machines was virtually non-existent. 

It really depends what you are doing. The Amiga 500, when compared to the
ARM-2 (8MHz) powered Arcs is pitiful in processing power, but if you compare
almost any *graphics* based application, the Amiga holds its own because of
its graphics hardware. Thus, demos and games on the Amiga are about equivalent
to those on an 8MHzArm2. (leaving aside little matters like being able to
plot to different bitplanes, 32-colour mode (amiga) or 256 colour mode (arc)
that make obvious differences in some areas)

Obviously, a 12MHz Arm-250 powered machine is going to be a bit faster still,
so it should be able to do a bit more in most cases than an Amiga 500... I
don't know about the performance differnce between an Amiga 500 & 600...

Comparing a 25MHz 030 powered Amiga to the A5000, again, the A5000 will blow
it away for raw processing power, but probably be roughly equvalent in
the graphics areas.

Conclusion: The Arcs are a lot faster, but most of the comparison one
sees is that they both just manage to pump out the graphics on such-and-such
a game, or on such-and-such a demo, with no free cpu time left over on either
machine!

This is a comparison of the low-end machines only. Higher end Amigas will be
faster... but they also cost more.
I think that comparing the Amiga600 to the A3010 is probably a bit daft -
sure the 3010 costs more, but it is a lot faster. (So what if it doesn't
run 'bigger, better, faster' games - it may only be equal in this area, but
try compiling some code, editing a DTP document, etc: Anything that forces
all the workload onto the main processor, and the (low-end) Amiga just doesn't
come close.)

[Note: This comparison ios based upon my experience of the Amiga 500, and I
don't know what the performance difference between this and the 600 is, so
it is possible (likely) that the performance gap isn't quite as large as
between Arc310 and Amiga500]

-- 
_________________  "I'd like to answer this question in two ways:
  /____ _ _/_ __       First in my normal voice, and then
 // / //_//_ /_/       in a silly, high-pitched whine." (Monty Python)
From: mrp@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Versions of Fortran77
Date: 14 Sep 92 10:27:03 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

Simple question: what's the latest release of Fortran77 for the Arc,
and how do I obtain an upgrade from an Arthur version to a RISC-OS
version.
(this is for a friend having problems with very dense arc dealers,
i've never done fortran, ever.  honest.)

   - Martin

#===========================================================================#
| Martin Portman, Dept. of Comp. Science, University of York, Heslington,   |
| YORK YO1 5DD ENGLAND.  Phone: (0904) 432735 JANET: mrp@uk.ac.york.minster |
#===========================================================================#
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com (Pete Goodwin)
Subject: RISCOS 3.1, ARM3 and MORLEY SCSI
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 07:39:26 GMT


Last weekend I upgraded my humble A410/1 to an ARM3 and RISC OS 3.1. I wanted
the ARM3 so I could run Powershade faster (already a fast raytracer), and it
seemed like a good idea to upgrade to 3.1 as well. I've seen Powershade running
on A5000's and a friends ARM3 A440 so I knew it would make a big difference (it
really blasts out the scan lines!).

I did have some doubts about the Morley SCSI card - would it work with 3.1? The
answer, sadly, has turned out to be no, so far. At the moment Morley are
baffled by the problem, and I've returned to my trusty (but small) ST506
20Mbyte drive. Everything works fine with this setup.

At the moment when I run the ARM3 with the cache off, it doesn't seem to be
that much slower than I remember. I use mode 12 a lot since I have the Acorn
monitor that came with the system. Certainly loading !Edit, !Draw etc. is
faster 'cos they're in ROM.

I'm still fumbling around with 3.1, getting used to multitasking filers, the
extended filer menu (SetType, Find - hooray!) and the Pinboard. I've seen
backdrop manager's before, but never really tried them out so much. Now that I
can autorun applications, I can get a desktop quickly into a state I like.

Pete Goodwin
goodwin@system.enet.dec.com

"Is he picking his nose or wot... you only get a whoosh with a wotsit"
Xref: sparky comp.sys.acorn:8626 comp.sys.acorn.advocacy:125
From: neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn,comp.sys.acorn.advocacy
Subject: Machine Wars (wasRe: A3010 views)
Date: 12 Sep 92 23:03:12 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computing & Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Sep11.122231.22334@rdg.dec.com> cadwallader@forty2.enet.dec.com () writes:
>
>	I posted my (disappointed views) on the new A3010 a while back
>expecting some response which could perhaps turn my view somewhat... it
>didn't happen though: anyone want to give their views on what they think
>of the A3010, how it matches up to the competition and whether they
>think it will take off?

Not really. Too over priced, and low on expansion. Much the same problem
as the low end Amigas.

>	I have an Amiga 500Plus w/ 2Meg ChipRAM OS2.04 and 100Mb HD at
>the mo and am waiting for new `AA' chipset machines to arrive, HOWEVER
>whilst I wait and watch I keep note of new changes... like /|\ Falcon030
>and Acorn A3010... so what do you reckon?

Ya boo sucks to you !!

The new 'AA' chipset for the Amiga ain't gonna be available for the 500 !!!
You'll have to get a new machine. Commodore are always having new versions
of their 'chips' on the horizon. Can't they ever get it right ??

Atari Falcon. I've yet to see Atari fulfill their vapourware promises.

Where did the TT, ATW/Abaq go. Ha-ha. Atari are also-rans.

>	FWIW - I have seen A310s and such in action and haven't been
>"stunned" as I expected. I did like the A5000 I played with a while back
>in Heelas store in Reading, but again I got the feeling that if I bought
>that I might as well buy an Amiga 3000/25MHz w/ 50Mb HD 2Mb for #1300.

I take it you did more than switch the machine on. Archimedes wipes the
floor with Amiga. The Amiga workbench is the most disgusting desktop I
have ever seen (preparing to be jumped on by the 'customise it then' 
brigade :-)). Even GEM on the ST/PC looks better.

The Amiga 3000 is an over-priced heap. For that sort of price range 1000-1500
you should consider either an A5000 or a cheap Mac (Classic II or LCII), or
a PC if you are a sicko.

>	BTW - if this isn't the right group, is there another for
>general discussion, (comp.sys.acorn.misc type thing?)
>

Yes, comp.sys.acorn.advocacy where this is cross-ported to. Please follow-up
**there**.

Regards,

	Neil


****************************| Sig' Time |*********************************
JANET: 	  neilp@uk.ac.hw.cs   *   Neil Postlethwaite, Rm G.25, 
INTERNET: neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk   *   Dept of Computer Science,  
UUCP: 	  ..!uknet!hwcs!neilp *   Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton Campus
                              *   Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
------------------------------*-------------------------------------------
Computer Science Account      *   Phone +44 (0)31 449-5111 x4174
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: blekken@fwi.uva.nl (Erwin 'Yaaah' Blekkenhorst (I88))
Subject: Looking for literature...
Organization: FWI, University of Amsterdam
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 14:35:50 GMT


	Hi,

	I am looking for any books, arcticles etc. concerning the ARM.
	If you know of anything usefull, please let me know.
	I've seen other postings on this newsgroup of people who were
	writing a paper or something on the matter, and were in search
	of literature. If you were one of those, why not get in touch
	with me. I have to write my own paper, so you may be of great
	help.

	Thanx,

	Erwin

-- 
  _____ ____
   /     /__)  ------------------------------------ x
  /--   / \    Erwin Blekkenhorst                   x University Of Amsterdam
 /___  /___)   blekken@fwi.uva.nl                   x
From: pdenize@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: RISC OS 3.10 and non-standard modes
Date: 7 Sep 92 13:44:12 +1200
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

> OK, I seem to have found the cause of my 'disappearing icons' problem.
> It appears to be a nice little application called !ArmState, by Paul
> Denize.  Any chance of a RISC OS 3.10 compatible version, Paul?  I'm
> missing it already!

Well if anyone has a problem and found my name they would also find my email
address.  When RiscOS 3.10 is released  world wide the answer is maybe. Until
then complain to Acorn about the lack of release speed and documentation,
worldwide.

I dont have RiscOS 3.10 and have a number of applications that require the
message protocol to work under RiscOS 3.  But until Acorn releases
documentation, I dont give a damn and we all suffer for it.  I want things like
that to load automatically as can !Edit etc in RiscOS 3. But have no idea of
the protocol.

Im sure many apps will be rewritten in haste when Acorn gets of their fat
&^%$$'s and deliver the documentation we all needed long ago.


Paul Denize.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Denize                                Internet: PDenize@Waikato.ac.nz
Department of Computer Science
University of Waikato                         phone: ++64 7 8562-889
Hamilton                                                          Ext 8743
NEW ZEALAND                                   fax  : ++64 7 8560-135
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: banksie@khantazi.welly.gen.nz (Philip R. Banks)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Archimedes Demo *Competition* [Any one interested?]
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 23:55:01 +1200
Reply-To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Organization: My Arc.

[warning lots deleted below...]

u894776@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au (James McCoull) writes:

> [THE FOLLOWING IS NOT MEANT TO BE OFFENSIVE - BUT MEANT TO WHIP SOME OF YOU
>  CRUSTY OLD FOLKS INTO ACTION]

   Me? Crusty? *Chuckle* I have been called many things thus far in my 21
years of existance but not crusty thus far... :-)

>       Now as I have had no replies for this demo competition thing yet, I
> may have to start firing off letters to the authors of all posts I see on
> the acorn news groups. [Yes even you at Acorn!]

> Phillip Banks, TMOTA, et al... show'em how us upside down folks do it!

   *Cough* minor pet hate. One l in Philip for me thanks...

> CMON FOLKS - NO EXCUSES ACCEPTED! ANY LANGUAGE - ANY IDEAS - GET CRACKING!

   Erm actually I have a few other coding projects I must work on first and
I am heading into exam teritory real soon now. So my entry, presuming I code
one, will not be until Novemberish at the earliest...

> [Sincere apologies to anyone who is offended]

   Amused here actually. If I get some time I'll try to enter something...
Perhaps for those busy types you might like to post a reminder about this
competition around the end of October (just after exams for those of us who
have them...).

    Philip

--
Philip R. Banks  Syntax: mail < banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz >            @@@@@/|
If you can't take a little bloody nose maybe you oughta go back home    @@@@/#|
and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous with   @@@/##|
treasures to sastiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for   @@/---|
the timid! --- The Q Entity from 'Q-Who?' ST:TNG                        @/    |