HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cs89jmb@brunel.ac.uk (Aeon Flux)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: PROBLEMS WITH THE MAKEGIF PROGRAM.
Date: 17 Dec 92 11:50:35 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

064230062: Fernmeldedirektion Olten (Ikki@BEIZ.mediatex.ch) wrote:
: I converted some Archimedes-sprites with
:  makeGIF into GIF files for a friend of
: mine. I tested it out on our MS-DOS mach
: ine at home with a GIF-image-displayer,
: but the resukt was awful: The pictures
: was only a sort of red monochrome, with
: a little blue, but mainly red. It would
: be absolutely grateful if someone could
: help me.
: Does it depend on the GIF-reader on the
: MS-DOS machine, or is my Version of
: makeGIF old? (I have got the vers. 2.10,
:  it might be old if it is dated from
: 1990)

At a guess I would blame the limited palette on the Archie - 256 colours by
16 tints = 4096 "shades" isn't all that cool - especially as quite a few
DOS machines now have reasonable graphics cards (around 256,000 colours is
quite common).

Why not try to get hold of !Creator - that can create GIF, PBM, TIFF files
- not sure of the current version.


Jayce.

--
"I may be a shallow guy, but a shallow guy with a great ass!" - Cat, Red Dwarf

Jason "Archangel" Banham               Internet: cs89jmb@brunel.ac.uk       
					         aangel@sequent.co.uk

   ***** Acorn rep on StudentSoft/Archimedes owner/Computer Scientist *****
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: smb@cs.nott.ac.uk (Simon Burrows)
Subject: Re: Acorn's professionally designed 3d sprites.
Organization: Nottingham University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 16:27:23 GMT

BBC Acorn User magazine seems to have been chatting with Acorn - they have
an "exclusive" in the latest issue:

"The diversity of custom designs [of 3D iconsprites] has been causing
headaches for Acorn, which wishes to maintain a consistent look. In
response to the proliferation, the head of RISC OS development, William
Stoye, has commissioned an 'official' set of RISC OS 3D sprites which
should be available early in 1993. There is a distinct possibility that
future ROM releases of RISC OS will hav the new sprites built in".

Simon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Burrows   smb@cs.nott.ac.uk  psyhsmb@unicorn.nott.ac.uk  +44 533 712030
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: Phil Emery
Subject: Re: WARNING! Tracker player disaster with RISC OS 3.1
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 09:02:27 GMT
Organization: The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

>
>In article <Bz3Ft7.KtB@cen.ex.ac.uk> CDLatham@cen.ex.ac.uk writes:
>
>!Protracker gives all sorts of horrible problems on an A5000 with
>RISC OS 3.1 too.  It is especially nasty with the TCP/IP suite, so
>bad in fact I thought it was a very malicious virus.
>
>Ctrl-Reset doesn't get the machine working, it needs at least power
>off/on, sometimes several times and a Delete-power on reset to cure
>things.  I have never seen these problems with RISC OS 3.0.
>
>          ***DO NOT USE TRACKER PLAYERS WITH RISC OS 3.1***
>

I often run ProTracker on an A410/1 with RO3.1 with no problems.
!STracker is also OK, except for the VU meter which kills everything.

Phil.

(emeryptj@uk.ac.birmingham.computer-centre.ibm3090)
From: pdenize@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: !Edit and BASIC
Date: 14 Dec 92 17:15:40 +1300
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

I find it most annoying that !Edit checks BASIC programs for matching brackets 
etc. so carelessly.  

Quite often the offending line is just a REM line with a little humour ;-)

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: Ikki@BEIZ.mediatex.ch (064230062: Fernmeldedirektion Olten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: PROBLEMS WITH THE MAKEGIF PROGRAM.
Date: 16 Dec 92 00:02:39 GMT
Organization: MEDIAtex AG, CH-8807 Freienbach/SZ

I converted some Archimedes-sprites with
 makeGIF into GIF files for a friend of
mine. I tested it out on our MS-DOS mach
ine at home with a GIF-image-displayer,
but the resukt was awful: The pictures
was only a sort of red monochrome, with
a little blue, but mainly red. It would
be absolutely grateful if someone could
help me.
Does it depend on the GIF-reader on the
MS-DOS machine, or is my Version of
makeGIF old? (I have got the vers. 2.10,
 it might be old if it is dated from
1990)
Thanks for all advices in advance.
Internet: Ikki(at)BEIZ.mediatex.ch

|B                                    B|
|E           CH: VTX *3600#           E|
|I           D:  BTX *28881#          I|
|Z                                    Z|
From: cs89jmb@brunel.ac.uk (Aeon Flux)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Merry Christmas
Date: 17 Dec 92 13:16:13 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]



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

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

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


Let's hope the New Year sees very good things for Acorn!


Jayce.

--
"I may be a shallow guy, but a shallow guy with a great ass!" - Cat, Red Dwarf

Jason "Archangel" Banham               Internet: cs89jmb@brunel.ac.uk       
					         aangel@sequent.co.uk

   ***** Acorn rep on StudentSoft/Archimedes owner/Computer Scientist *****
From: cs92dty@brunel.ac.uk (Danny T Yates)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Hang after ten disks seen
Date: 17 Dec 92 15:15:30 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

Greets,

The answer to this one is simple (having the same problem with my A3000).

Only problem is I can't recall 'coz I've been away from my machine for 3 months! *sigh*

You need to either *RMREINIT or *RMINIT (I don't think the latter exists?) a module!
Now I hear you ask... Which module?? Well... either ADFS or FILECORE.

I think the solution is:   *RMREINIT ADFS

But it is CERTAINLY one of the four possible combinations... suck it and see!

This is only a TEMPORARY fix. It will allow you to save your work, you should then
reboot. There is a more permanent fix... dismount all discs when you've finished with
them (like Jayce said).

Hope it helps...

Dan.
From: jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (TMOTA)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: Hang after ten disks seen
Date: 20 Dec 92 01:04:53 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland

burke@vxdesy.desy.de writes:

>Can anyone give a definite statement as to whether the ADFSbuffers problem
>has been fixed in RO3.1?

Yes the bug to which you refer is no longer present
(There is a new bug, but it I think it only occurs on 1Meg machines and it
certainly isn't as prevalent as the previous one)
-- 
_________________  "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)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: derijkp@reks.uia.ac.be (Peter De Rijk)
Subject: Re: Big mouse pointer for A4
Organization: U.I.A.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 09:55:25 GMT

Ferdinand Oeinck (ferdinan@oeinck.waterland.wlink.nl) wrote:
: ferdinan@oeinck.waterland.wlink.nl (ferdinand oeinck) writes:
: 
: > This message is posted on behalf of Joris Roling
: > 
: > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
: > Recently I purchased a Acorn-A4. Somewhere I've read that there exists a
: > module (written by Acorn ?) that enlarges the mouse pointer on screen so it
: > is easily trackable, as the LCD screen is rather slow compared to the rest
: > of this wonderful machine.
: > 
: > Does someone know of such a module, and its availabilty?
: > 
: > Please send replies to the following address:
: > ferdinan@oeinck.waterland.wlink.nl
: > 
: >                           Thanks in advance, Joris Roling
: > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
: > 
: > Ferdinand.
: >         
: 
: Thanks to all who replied to Joris' message. Special thanks to Anthony Frost
: who actually included the !Pointer application in his reply. Joris has
: recieved the prog and is very happy with it.
: 
: Ferdinand.
Any chance of it being available somewhere public? (Newcastle, cba)
I'd be interested as well.

Thanks,

Peter
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat)
Subject: Re: How to convert Amiga mods to Arch?
Originator: tytgat@rilke
Reply-To: tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat)
Organization: K.U.Leuven, Belgium
Distribution: comp
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 11:35:11 GMT

In article <JKH.92Dec14042514@whisker.lotus.ie> jkh@whisker.lotus.ie (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes:
>None of the players I have will play my Amiga mods "out of the box"
>so I imagine some conversion step is required.  I've looked in the
>usual ftp spots under "sounds", but no joy.  Suggestions?

It could be that you have taken (OCTA)MED files.  As far as we know, no
Archimedes soundtracker program can take these as input yet.  We hope to
change this and to build support for reading (and hopefully writing too)
(OCTA)MED files in 'Digital Symphony'.

(Just checking : the 'binary' bit was on during the ftp transfer ?)

>BTW, I have mod.toccata in the Arch format and now an Amiga user
>wants it!  I figured that since it was converted from the Amiga
>(as per comments in the mod) it would work, but I was wrong.  Is
>this conversion process two-way?  I'd like to convert some of the
>arch mods back into Amiga mods since I don't have the original
>Amiga versions..

I do not know what you mean by 'Arch format'.  Is it in 'Tracker' format
(program by Serial Port/Vertiacl Twist) ? In case it is, you have to
look for a convertion program.  I saw several of such convertors in
PD/FreeWare scene.

However you have to be careful when you are converting the 'Tracker'
files : the samples are in 'logarithmic' form and have to be converted
back to 'linear' form.  You will lose your sample quality if you convert
several times from 'logarithmic' to 'linear' and visa versa.

Another solution could be 'Digital Symphony' :-) : there you can straightaway
save your files in Symphony, Tracker or ProTracker format.  There is no
doubt your Am*ga friend can read the ProTracker files.


Disclaimer : I wrote several parts of the 'Digital Symphony' program, so
             I'm completely biased ;-).

John.
tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be
BASS
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: kortink@cs.utwente.nl (John Kortink)
Subject: 256-greys sprites to GIF/TIFF
Organization: University of Twente, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 13:19:27 GMT

ssudavss@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk (Stephen John Davis) writes :

>Does anyone know of an application that can convert 256 grey level sprites
>(like those created by CC's scanner) into 256 grey level GIFs, PBM's etc
>etc...
>
>!Creator screws the palettes up and chops it down to 16 greys.

It's not aware of the new sprite format (nor, apparently, is anybody else
considering the lack of docs, though I myself do have them).

>I have knocked up a little prog to do the conversion and although it works I
>would rather have a proper application if there is one around.

Maybe you'd like to register first and get the current versions.

>Any ideas anyone.... (thanks in advance)

Those are mine, the author's.


John Kortink

Still student of Informatics at the University of Twente, The Netherlands
NETMAIL : kortink@cs.utwente.nl                    DISCLAIMER : the usual
OhYeahsuzannevegakatebushtoriamosrebeccademornayumathurmanrosannaarquette
From: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: How to convert Amiga mods to Arch?
Date: 16 Dec 92 13:12:53 NZST
Organization: Welligton City Council, Public Access.
Distribution: comp
NNTP-Posting-Host: kosmos.wcc.govt.nz

In article <1992Dec14.113511.3676@gate.esat.kuleuven.ac.be>, tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat) writes:
[stuff deleted]
> It could be that you have taken (OCTA)MED files.  As far as we know, no
> Archimedes soundtracker program can take these as input yet.  We hope to
> change this and to build support for reading (and hopefully writing too)
> (OCTA)MED files in 'Digital Symphony'.

   I beleive Tracker loads and converts OctaMED format trackers.

> However you have to be careful when you are converting the 'Tracker'
> files : the samples are in 'logarithmic' form and have to be converted
> back to 'linear' form.  You will lose your sample quality if you convert
> several times from 'logarithmic' to 'linear' and visa versa.

   Only if the conversion code is written badly. The conversion between
Log and Linear 8 bit samples retains about 6.9 bits worth of the information.
However once a sample has been converted from one type to the other there
should be no further data loss converting in either direction.

   Philip
--
Now I have to add some lines to keep this news posting software happy.
Argggh.
From: andyf@uk.sun.com (Andrew Fox - Sun UK - Answer centre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: Re: How to convert Amiga mods to Arch?
Date: 16 Dec 92 10:23:31 GMT
Reply-To: andyf@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd.

In article 12598 banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz writes:

>In article <1992Dec14.113511.3676@gate.esat.kuleuven.ac.be>, >tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat) writes:
>[stuff deleted]
>> It could be that you have taken (OCTA)MED files.  As far as we know, no
>> Archimedes soundtracker program can take these as input yet.  We hope to
>> change this and to build support for reading (and hopefully writing too)
>> (OCTA)MED files in 'Digital Symphony'.
>
>   I beleive Tracker loads and converts OctaMED format trackers.

[stuff deleted]

I'm afraid not. Tracker loads and converts Oktalyzer files (very badly).
This was one of the first 8-channel soundtrackers to appear on the Amiga,
and it's files are not directly compatible with OctaMED.

On a different subject, I'd just like to congratulate BASS on Digital
Symphony. It is superb!
Having used 'Digital Symphony' and the new 'Desktop Tracker', I must say
that Digital Symphony wins hands down at the moment. The play routine is
much better, with tracks actually sounding like they did on my Amiga.
The editing facilities are easy to use, and the sample editor is great.
If OctaMED loading and saving were added, I'd probably abandon my Amiga
and OctaMED once and for all!

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 |                                              |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------+

"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"

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: gtoal@ibmpcug.co.uk (Graham Toal)
Subject: Re: Reading mac discs
Organization: The IBM PC User Group, UK.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 02:13:37 GMT

In article <722693398.22949@minster.york.ac.uk> tjh-a@minster.york.ac.uk writes:
>I have got a copy of an Acorn user from a while
>back which had a skeleton listing for a 68k
>emulator - the author said to send him any 
>improvements or implementations of instructions
>which he had not considered, possibly with the 
>intention of puting it into the public domain
>in the future - surely this would be the ideal
>start to a Mac emulator?

1) It was a lame-brained half-assed piece of code
2) Acorns 'links' with apple won't go anywhere near
   getting anything actually *useful* out of them
   like permission to run the OS.  It's marginally
   feasible that the people doing the Mac clones
   under X might license their code, but no hobbyist
   is going to be able to afford it.

G
-- 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: leo@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Leo Hendry)
Subject: Re: POPULOUS ON THE ARCHIMEDES
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 02:29:50 GMT

In article <7030@m1.cs.man.ac.uk> bosman@vtx.ma.man.ac.uk (Steve Bosman) writes:
>In article <1992Dec11.115112.27508@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>, aroberts@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Andrew Roberts) writes:
>|> I've been wondering about the same thing as the two player option is mentioned
>|> in the manual but I've been unable to find it on the game itself. But this is
>|> not suprising as the manual seems to have been done in a rush. Noticeable form
>|> the non Archi screen shots, the upside-down shots and the occasional error just
>|> to annoy you further.
>
>On the amiga version i used to play at a friends house the two player option was played over a link
>between two amigas one as host the other as slave presumably ther's some way of doing this on the arc but
>i haven't a clue what the connection is. The relevent menu options are 
On my ST version the link is via serial port and both machines are started up
with a copy of the same map, each machine updating their version (hopefully in
the same way) as the game went along.

>i haven't a clue what the connection is. The relevent menu options are still there (i think its via the world icon
>-- sorry can't be more specific but the power supply on my arc died two days ago so can't check it out)

On Andy's Arc version the menu options were not there when I looked (but then
the game hadn't been started in custom mode).

- Leo.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: idg10@cl.cam.ac.uk (I.D. Griffiths)
Subject: Re: Ok, so where do I get a MOD player that doesn't play at w 
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 02:52:18 GMT

In article <723916754snx@cryton.demon.co.uk>, altman@cryton.demon.co.uk (Hugo Fiennes) writes:

  ... stuff about Tracker timing deleted ...

|>On mine (when I was writing it ;-) ) I tried using the 100Hz ticker vector,
|> but this was worse than useless, appearing (on RO2 anyway, not tried it
|> for years now) to be called around 97-98 times a second, rather irregularly,
|> giving a very lumpy playback. There is a 'user' timer on the IOC, but
|> RISC OS has no claim mechanism for this so there can be incompatibilities
|> between programs (especially sound related ones).
|> 
|> Hugo


Did you ever try my suggestion of basing timings off sound DMA buffer events?
These presumably are reasonably regular (we hope) and you won't getter any
better temporal resolution than that out of the sound system.

Ian Griffiths
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: Big mouse pointer for A4
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 13:37:25 GMT

In article <9qDHVB1w165w@oeinck.waterland.wlink.nl>, ferdinan@oeinck.waterland.wlink.nl (ferdinand oeinck) writes:
> module (written by Acorn ?) that enlarges the mouse pointer on screen so it
> is easily trackable, as the LCD screen is rather slow compared to the rest

A tangential comment: how about using one or two of these things with eyes that
follow the pointer (BabyBlues or whatever)? I don't have an A4, so I can't tell
how effective it would be, but it should make things easier.

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: kjetilho@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Torgrim Homme)
Subject: Re: Hang after ten disks seen
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 02:39:31 GMT
Originator: kjetilho@maud.ifi.uio.no

The answer is even simpler:

configure adfsbuffers 0


Kjetil T.
From: dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk (Denis Howe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: !Yow.!RunImage fix (v1.06)
Date: 15 Dec 92 10:00:49
Organization: Computing Department, Imperial College, London, UK
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk

There was a slight bug in !Yow - my fortune cooky program recently
posted to c.b.a which affected redrawing of the garfield sprite.
Thanks to Steve Loft <steve@h8211.demon.co.uk> for reporting it.  A
fixed version follows in a seperate message.  It's a plain ASCII
version of the Basic.  For those of you who don't want to download it
all, just replace the following two lines in PROCCreateWindow:

SprW%=170*2:SprH%=184*2                 :REM Sprite size, pix*OS/pix
LeftMargin%=SprW%+20:TopMargin%=36      :REM Text offsets

And add the following line to the change log:

REM 1.06 10-Dec-1992 Fix garfield sprite width.

BTW, you get the weirdest effects if you tell the Wimp that a sprite
is only half its real width.  What gets redrawn depends on which
direction you drag another window over it!
--
Denis Howe <dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk>
So Biggs, you're the idiot who bought all these IBM PCs.  You're fired!
From: gpcec@westminster.ac.uk (Tom Kirby-Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: RISC OS 3 validation strings
Date: 14 Dec 92 11:23:05 GMT
Organization: University of Westminster

Plea for RISC OS 3 details...

	Does anyone have any info on the new (ish ) validation strings for
RISC OS 3. I need the ones that allow 3D type icons ( where can I get hold
of details for the "offical" set that everyone is on about ? ). Secondly
I understand its possible to make the pointer change shape when its over
a icon. Does anyone have the validation str' for this too? I "think" the 
ones I need are "P" and "K" ( not sure ). 
	Any help very much welcomed... Oh, thanks to all for sorting out
the resspr / indirected icons business. Much clearer. WHY wasn't all this
IN the manual WHERE IT BELONGS??? "Myth and Lore" is not the best way to
spread this kind of information!

		Just trying to be, Tom.

-- 
/---| The University of Westminster : BSc Computer Science. Hons, Year 3 |---\
| Tom Kirby-Green            Email : gpcec@sun.pcl.ac.uk  or  Silence@Arcade |
\----------| "Merry XMas to all, and a Windows(tm) free new year". |---------/
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn