HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bernhard@flipper.pvv.unit.no (Kjetil Bernhard Thomassen)
Subject: Norwegian territory for RiscOS 3.10 and A310?
Organization: The Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: 24 Nov 92 03:09:04

I have just upgraded my 4 MB A310 to RiscOS 3.10. But I was
disappointed to find that the only territory supported is UK. Isn't
this supposed to be one of the main features of RiscOS 3? I mean to
support many territories. I have heard that all there's to it (or
should be) is to set the correct territory, and all the local things
would be set up. This includes the time zone, keyboard and alphabet.
But what do I find? I have to rmkill the int'l module in RiscOS 3 and
use the one from RiscOS 2 to get my keyboard layout correct (or I
could use the IntKey application, which does exactly that). 

I have tried reading the manual and the release notes, but they
include nothing useful about this topic. The worst thing about the
release notes is that they tell me *not* to use the IntKey application.

A friend of mine has an A5000 running RiscOS 3.0, and he has no problems
with his keyboard layout. Is my problem caused by a bug in RiscOS 3.10
or by hardware differences?

One of the files in the resources: filing system tells me that the
Norwegian territory is no. 15, but all I get when I try to configure
territory 15 is a picture of a floppy disc on the screen when I reset
my computer. When I try to list the territories using the territories
command is territory 1 (UK).

So, naturally I wonder what is going on. Do I have to get a disc
module that includes the definition of the Norwegian territory? Where
can I in that case get it? And why didn't Acorn put this definition in
ROM? 

I should mention that I got my upgrade from EFF in UK because a
certain UK based firm named Lindis is unable to supply the Norwegian
distributor with upgrades (or anything else, for that matter).
(Acorn has given Lindis all the rights for distribution of their
products outside of UK. At least, that's what I've been told.)

Apart from this problem, I'm very well satisfied with RiscOS 3.10. One
of the new features I really like is the pinboard and the new
keyboard shortcuts.

Kjetil Bernhard Thomassen
bernhard@pvv.unit.no (this address is opposite of janet-std, no means Norway)
From: u91pag@ecs.ox.ac.uk (Paul Gilkerson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Getting 3rd Party Filing Systems To Use Showfree
Date: 19 Nov 92 16:45:58 GMT
Followup-To: u91pag@ecs.ox.ac.uk
Organization: Oxford University, UK
Originator: microsoc@black

Thanks for the information Clive, but you forgot to mention that the routine
should exit with

LDMFD R13!,{PC}

which caused me a few problems ;-)

If anyone's interested I've got it working. I hacked the Free module, replacing
SCSI calls with IDE calls, and also changing the filing system number (which
was why it didn't work before). I also hacked the RISC Development's IDEfiler
module, so that it ran Showfree rather than Free.

The alterations are really quite simple, only four words needed to be changed
in the Free module, and one word, with some stuff tacked onto the end of the
IDEFSfiler module. If anyone's interested I can send more details (I don't
think posting the hacked modules is a copyright-friendly idea).

Paul.
From: arb@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Andrew Brooks)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Remote Terminal - Taskwindow
Date: 23 Nov 92 10:44:01 GMT
Organization: Department of Computing at Lancaster University, UK.

In article <1992Nov23.121624.12389@waikato.ac.nz> pdenize@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>
>I have spent the weekend attempting to hook a VT320 into the serial port and
>then use it as a "taskwindow" while someone else uses my Archimedes desktop.
>
>I get the feeling that this redirection can be achieved by running a prog
>multi-tasking on the Arch but it just seemed more difficult that I first
>envisaged.
>
>Has anyone else tried this sort of thing.

I wrote such a program so I could log in remotely from our workstations.
All it required was a loop:
1) reading from the serial port and sending the characters in a message
   to the taskwindow
2) receiving messages from the taskwindow and sending the characters to
   the serial port

Andrew.
-- 
arb@comp.lancs.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: bernhard@flipper.pvv.unit.no (Kjetil Bernhard Thomassen)
Subject: Problem printing directly to LaserJet+
Organization: The Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: 24 Nov 92 03:27:36

I've got my 4 MB A310 running RiscOS 3.10 connected to a Facit P7150
laser printer via the parallell port. This printer emulates the HP
LaserJet+ and has 2,5 MB of RAM. 

My problem is the following: When I print a document from Draw using
the HP LaserJet II driver in 300x300 dpi resolution directly to the
printer, the output is distributed over several pages.  This does not
happen if I print the document to file and therafter dump this file to
the printer. If I print the document in 150x150 dpi, everything works
fine. What is going on?

I also had the same problems using PrinterLJ 2.42 and 1.xx running
RiscOS 2.00. Is this a problem with my printer, my computer or RiscOS?

I think my printer is using CR+LF or LF+CR as line terminator.
This is configurable, but I haven't tested other configurations. I
have configured my A310 to 'no ignore'.

I now have MEMC1a, but with RiscOS 2.00 I had the original MEMC1.

Kjetil Bernhard Thomassen
bernhard@pvv.unit.no (This address is opposite janet addresses, no
                      means Norway.)
From: wright_j@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: International Currency Sybol
Date: 18 Nov 92 18:51:27 NZST
Organization: Welligton City Council, Public Access.
NNTP-Posting-Host: kosmos.wcc.govt.nz

/G=Owen/S=Smith/O=SJ-Research/ADMD=INTERSPAN/C=GB/@mhs-relay.ac.uk writes:

> My advice - avoid this character like the plague. It's a top bit set
> character too, which is another reason to avoid it if you want file
> portability (anyone tried putting it on a DOS disk and then seeing what
> MS-DOS thinks of it?).

Well, cranking up the ole PCemulator as I type this, it seems to think of
this character as looking like:

   ######

   #####
   ##  ##
   ##  ##
   ##  ##

ie. an accented `n'.

Gee I like multitasking... :-)
    Cheers, Julian.
From: smiths@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Little SteeeveS)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Up-ing the Speed of My A310.
Date: 17 Nov 92 12:48:02 GMT

A few months ago there was a lot of talk in this group of increasing
 the speed of A310's by replacing the RAM and using a faster crystal
 to clock the machine.

Last Christmas I upgraded my machine to 4Megs (by Craddock Ltd ) and so
 I find myself thinking on these lines...
In a 4 meg upgrade I believe the old RAM is discarded and completely replaced. Therefore this 4meg is quite modern RAM. Is it therfore capable of going faster?
i.e. can I whip out my 8MHz crystal and replace it with a 12Mhz one? ( I assume the new Riscos 3 ROMS will survive this but will the new RAM).

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
Which crystal (exactly) do I have to change and what new crystal should
I put in instead? (ie how exactly do you do it down to where it is on the board)

thanks
Little SteeeveS
From: banksie@khantazi.welly.gen.nz (Philip R. Banks)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Controlling the 2? Mhz timer
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 14:34:40 +1300
Reply-To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Organization: My Arc.

jkreyka@cs.vu.nl (Kreijkamp J) writes:

> Does anybody know how to use the (second) IOC-timer I have tried
> several things without very much succes. There _must_ be somebody
> who have used it before! Please help me!

   It is a 2MHz timer and it is fairly simple to use if you can get access to
the VLSI datasheets to make sense of the various latches. The simple precie is that you register your code as a device driver/handler with the OS for device 6 (IOC Timer 1). You then set the IOC's latch and trigger it. From there on it till you stop it the timer will generate an Interupt every x number of 2 MHz ticks.

   What are you wanting to use it for?

    Philip

--
Philip R. Banks  Syntax: mail < banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz >            @@@@@/|
                                                                        @@@@/#|
                                                                        @@@/##|
And who are we to criticize or scorn the the things that they do?       @@/---|
For we shall seek and we shall find Ammonia Avenue. ---A.P.P.           @/    |
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: sdaveyj@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: 310 or 3020 help?
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 06:03:22 GMT

Hi everyone,

I have a friend here who really wants to dump his 386 33Mhz PC with SVGA
120Mb and all that for an Archimedes. Yippee!

However, money is the usual problem. We can see two possible avenues,
for which I need all your advices.

1.- A 3020.

    Adv:  HD floppie, Risc Os 3 etc etc
          Can drive a SVGA monitor

    Dis:  Will he ever be able to put an ARM3 in it

2.- A severely upgraded 310
    (ARM3, SVGA job, IDE HD etc)

    Adv:  ARM3, Nice box, 4Mb Ram,

    Dis:  It's old. Low density floppies.

Questions:

    What are your oppinions?

    Can you fit IDE or SCSI harddiscs in a 310 without a backplane?

    Any luck with VGA monitors on a 310 with or without the watford
    SVGA thingy.

    How can I tell if this 310 will need a carrier board for RO3 
    ( it's about 3 years old)

    I would also appreciate advice about which companies are quickest 
    and most efficient at mailordering Drives, Arm3, Memory etc
    (I believe IFEL are good for Mem)

    All other suggestions greatly appreciated.


Total cost no more than about $2500 or 1000 pounds.

      Thank you all,


             John Davey   (and my mate Rob)
From: dcw-a@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Removable mass storage (Syquest,Flopticals...)
Keywords: Archimedes World
Date: 20 Nov 92 11:54:24 GMT
Followup-To: dcw-a@minster.york.ac.uk
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

In article <1992Nov19.195618.364@logica.co.uk> blacka@logica.co.uk writes:
>In article <5593@krafla.rhi.hi.is>, adamd@rhi.hi.is (Adam David) writes:
>
>> The nice thing about flopticals is that they handle all the useful 3.5"
>> magnetic floppies too. 
>
>I have heard it said that flopticals are unable to handle
>high density disks (eg 1.4M DOS disks).  Can anyone clarify
>this?   I am tossing up between Syquest and Flopticals.
>The ability to read/write 1.4M disks from work could swing
>the balance.
>
>NB I have RISCOS3.1 on a 420 (in case that is relevant)
>
>Andrew Black

	Well, according to _Archimedes World_ none of the floptical drives available
for the arc at this time can cope with normal magnetic media. Bit of a bummer really.
Although I must admit the source of this information isn't exactly famous for accuracy...


	Doug.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com (Pete Goodwin)
Subject: RO3.1, C dbox's and 3d icons
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:42:40 GMT


I knew about the bug in 3.1 with 3d icons on exit, and I've coded around that.
What I didn't know was that there's another bug - actually more serious.

Take a window with a few icons, all r5 - click, they push in. I use this window
in a dbox like so:

d = dbox_new("view");
dbox_show(d);
dbox_fillin(d);
dbox_dispose(&d);

Now, ordinarily, this is fine. You click on the icon, the window disappears. No
problem. Now, introduce a delay between the dbox_dispose and the next
event_process call (actually due to redrawing a window) - CRASH!!!

I can see an Address Exception in the window manager if I use debug. If I don't
use debug, a few wierd effects occur.

On some occaisons, I get an 'Internal Trap', then EVERY task generates an
address exception until the desktop vanishes leaving me at the '*' prompt.
Typing 'desktop' produces the Initialising screen but it immediately drops back
to '*'.

On other occaisons, everything seems fine. I try to change mode, and it ignores
me. Huh? I look at the TaskWindow, try to drag some of the sliders. I get an
error window full of 'Message Template' repeated a dozen times. Huh? I drop
down to the '*' prompt with F12, try anything I get 'Filecore error' then the
machine hangs.

NONE of these effects occur if I take away the r5 icons, and replace them with
r2 (which doesn't do the indenting).

Anyone else seen this one?

Pete Goodwin
goodwin@edieng.enet.dec.com
From: r_voisey@garlic.uwe.ac.uk (R Voisey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: MFM Harddisc size
Date: 19 Nov 92 09:09:20 GMT
Reply-To: r_voisey@csd.bristol-poly.ac.uk
Organization: The University of the West of England (The Magic Roundabout)

In article <1992Nov17.180524.42564@urz.unibas.ch>, gaspar@urz.unibas.ch writes:

|> > bigger than 50Megs you have to swap a link (to change sector size I think).
|>                                / ^^^^^^^^^^^
|> Could someone tell me what this means? 

|> 9 heads and when I enter that parameter I get a message that I might! 
|> swap link 3 or something like that.

On the Archimedes motherboard there are a number of links, consisting of
small plastic jumpers which bridge two upright metal pins.  These can be
set (jumper attached) or unset (jumper removed).  Sometimes there are 3
vertical pins, and the jumper can bridge the middle pin to either of the
other two (but not both at once).  Jumpers are identified by the letter
J followed by a number - this will be printed onto the PCB next to each
jumper.  So, if you want to swap link 3 you have to take the lid off your
machine, and find J3.  If it's a two-pin link, and it's currently set,
then remove the jumper.  If it's two-pin and unset, then obtain a jumper
and attach it.  If it's a three-pin link, then swap the position of the
jumper.

Hope that helps

Bob

-- 
  Robert J. Voisey  :  r_voisey@csd.uwe.ac.uk
         -- Probug Software Developments --
162 Staplehill Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, Avon, England
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: zrzm0111@helpdesk.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (MUFTI)
Subject: Re: Ada
Organization: User Help Desk, Comp.Center (RUS), U of Stuttgart, FRG
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:20:02 GMT

In article <721568878.8377@minster.york.ac.uk> dcw-a@minster.york.ac.uk writes:
>In article <721427694.8949@minster.york.ac.uk> rmp-a@minster.york.ac.uk (Roger M. Pimlott ) writes:
>>OK is it possible to get the Ada programming language on an Arc?
>>If so how?
>>
>	Well, all that i have seen working is various versions of PC Ada running under the emulator.
>This is a question that comes up at this time of year on this group every year, and lots of people reply,
>but very few of the questioners ever bother implementing it, because the chance of getting even a small
>program to compile in a naff, memory-intensive language like ada, is v.slim indeed, esp. under emulation.

So I know, someone try to port ADAED to the acorn Archimedes.
It's a tokenizer/executor for the ADA language, but it's currently not
validated (but it's earlier validated). 
If don't know, how much memory it will want, if it will be ready, but there
is a IBM-PC-version of ADAED, so I hope, the memory-requirement will not
be too much ....

so long
MUFTI
From: mre@ukc.ac.uk (Mike)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Getting 3rd Party Filing Systems To Use Showfree
Date: 16 Nov 92 21:55:07 GMT
Reply-To: mre@ukc.ac.uk (Mike)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

In article <1992Nov16.212802.8912@black.ox.ac.uk> u91pag@ecs.ox.ac.uk (Paul Gilkerson) writes:
>
>I have a RISC Developments IDE Hard disc, and have been trying to get
>the filer to use showfree instead of the old-fashioned free command
>(RISC Developments havn't updated their software to take advantage of
>RO3 yet).
...
>I would appreciate any replies.


Well, I also have a 20MByte hard-disc from Risc Developments (as regular
readers of comp.sys.acorn will know.  Unfortunately )-: ) and I had a little
chat with some of the people at Risc Developments when I went to the BBC
Acorn User Show recently.

As a result of this chat (incidentally the most informative chat from RD
yet) I am now awaiting the arrival of the new firmware for the IDE drives -
it is currently in Alpha-test and I have been promised a Beta-test version
ASAP or sooner.  The Alpha-test version does look good - not only has the
*showfree problem been fixed, but the drive may now be partitioned with
read/write protect on each partition and so on.  All in all a good package -
if they get all the bugs out of it.

So now you know why I bought lots of discs at the show.... (-:

-- 
Mike Ellis, Darwin College, The University, Canterbury, Kent, England, CT2 7NY.

    ********* Views expressed are my own and in no way represent *********
    *********     the views of any past or present employers.    *********
From: r_voisey@kiwi.uwe.ac.uk (R Voisey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: Up-ing the Speed of My A310.
Date: 20 Nov 92 09:20:55 GMT
Reply-To: r_voisey@csd.bristol-poly.ac.uk
Organization: The University of the West of England (The Magic Roundabout)

In article <1992Nov18.102423.4349@odin.diku.dk>, torbenm@diku.dk (Torben AEgidius Mogensen) writes:

|> Don't expect the memory to be able to run faster even if it is newer,
|> it will always be cheaper to use slow RAM. As for changing the

I've yet to come across a RAM upgrade with memory slower than 80ns..  compared
to the 120ns stuff in your 310, that's a big improvement, and should run
fine on a 12Mhz bus.

|> crystal, the apparent conclusion to the discussion on this group is
|> that it can't be done, as the same clock feeds the IOC etc. Making IOC
|> run faster will make the timing of i/o go wrong. The new machines that
|> use 12MHz memory still use a 8MHz IOC, and some advanced circuitry to
|> interface these. It would be very difficult (if possible at all) to

The advanced circuitry you refer to consists of a couple of PALs which
divide the clock and synchronise bus cycles.

You can certainly speed the bus up on a 400, so I suspect it's possible
on a 300.  Doing so involves a lot of butchery (including cutting tracks,
wire links etc) and some experience with PALs.  If I can get the
disclaimers right, I might post the details (though I plan to try it out
on a /1 and a 300 series first for the sake of completeness).

Cheers

Bob

-- 
  Robert J. Voisey  :  r_voisey@csd.uwe.ac.uk
         -- Probug Software Developments --
162 Staplehill Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, Avon, England
From: microsoc@oxford.ac.uk (Robin Watts)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Freebie On Line Manuals...
Date: 16 Nov 92 13:05:52 GMT
Reply-To: m90rjw@uk.ac.ox.ecs
Distribution: comp
Organization: /u3/microsoc/users/rjw/.organization


I am interested in writing an On-Line manual thingy for the Arc, but obviously
for this I need to get some documentation to have On-Line. Now every now and
then people from Acorn and Others 'In-The-Know' have posted docs in Ascii to
comp.sys.acorn. I have collected as much of this as I can, but I have lost
a large amount of it.

So this is an appeal for documentation. If anyone has any stuff like this, can
they please mail it to me? As soon as I get the app written I will make it
available on Newcastle, and the docs themselves could even be posted on 
comp.sources.acorn (Make a change to have something posted :-))[1]

I am especially hoping that that those lovely nice people from Acorn could
donate something (like the RO3.1 PRM's perhaps >8*) )

Thanks in advance,

Robin
(m90rjw@uk.ac.ox.ecs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: vulch@kernow.demon.co.uk (Anthony Frost)
Reply-To: vulch@kernow.demon.co.uk
Subject: RO3.1, C dbox's and 3d icons
Organization: VCS Kernow
X-Mailer: ReaderS for the Acorn Archimedes
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:03:27 +0000

 
  > I knew about the bug in 3.1 with 3d icons on exit, and I've
  > coded around that. What I didn't know was that there's
  > another bug - actually more serious. 
 
  > On some occaisons, I get an 'Internal Trap', then EVERY task
  > generates an address exception until the desktop vanishes
  > leaving me at the '*' prompt. Anyone else seen this one? 
 
Yup! At 03873B74? I think it is the same bug rather than a different one
though. I got round it by replacing the dbox_dispose() with a call to an
alarm function in the same way as for closing a normal window. pass "(void
*) d" as the alarm handle and you can cast it back and dispose of it when
all is clear. I am told setting the button type to one of the notify on
release flavours is an alternative cure.
 
        Anthony
From: merlin@maths.tcd.ie (Merlin Hughes)
Subject: Noticing when a new FS starts up
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 12:40:59 GMT

Is there any message or service call passed around when a new FS
starts up? I want to keep a list of current filing systems, but
don't want to have to keep polling for known FSs. Its for RISC OS 2,
a soon-to-be released utility thingy. Should work under RISC OS 3
too when I get it. Alternatively, is there any system call I can
legally intercept to monitor when an FS starts up and when it dies.

I don't want to rely on anything to do with the FS filer.

Ta,

Merlin.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
From: thughes@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Tom Hughes)
Subject: Re: Noticing when Shutdown is activated
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 09:25:49 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.020639.10146@infodev.cam.ac.uk> crj10@phx.cam.ac.uk (Clive Jones) writes:
>In article <BxytAB.8KB@newcastle.ac.uk>, unregistered@newcastle.ac.uk (Jason O'Broin) writes:
>> In addition to this, I need to be able to distinguish between this and Exiting
>> the desktop (ie. closing down the desktop is not the same as starting the
>> shutdown procedure). Does anyone know the actual operations performed by
>> shutdown. Ideally, I'd like to replace it completely.
>
>I believe the mechanism is almost identical between RiscOS3.1 and previous
>versions, in terms of its external interface. The difference between the
>shutdown dbox and merely leaving the desktop is slight.
>
>Basically, all tasks are first sent a PreQuit message (number 8). If none of
>them respond, they're all sent Quit (0) messages. So - the former should be
>handled if you want the opportunity to object to the shutdown, or the latter
>can be handled if you just want to do something.
>
>Under RiscOS3, the PreQuit message *may* have a flag word at address 20 in
>the message block (if the block is large enough). The bottom bit of this is set
>if it's your application being quit, or clear if a shutdown is happening.

Right. I looked this up in the RiscOS 3 PRMs last night, and whilst
the above info is correct, there are some new calls.

Firstly, there is a new messagem, Message_Shutdown (message 14) which
I think is only issued on the portable when an enforced shutdown
occurs (due to battery failure). I suspect this replaces the
Message_PreQuit/Quit sequence, as applciations should try to save and
exit gracefully when they receive it (accoring to the manuals).

Secondly, there are two service calls. These are Service_Shutdown
(&7E) which is issued before a shutdown, and may be claimed to block
the shutdown, and Service_ShutdownComplete (&80) which is issued after
a shutdown is completed.

One other clever (?) way of replacing the shutdown sequence that I
thought of is to install a post-filter on the task manager, watch for
Shutdown/Exit being selected from the menu of ctrl-shift-F12 being
pressed, and then mask these out from the task manager and do your own
thing. This is however truly sick.

Tom.

============================================================================
Tom Hughes, CS3

thughes@uk.ac.warwick.dcs            57 Shakleton Road
csugk@uk.ac.warwick.csv              Earlsdon
                                     Coventry
(0203) 673584                        CV5 6HT
============================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech