If you've got a lot of TV programmes or other video clips on a PC, chances are you'll be wanting to be able to play them on RISC OS as well. This article will explain how to use free tools to convert them to a suitable format for playback on RISC OS. Furthermore the process can be fully automated, so is ideal for processing large collections.
 
 

A port of Firefox 2 for Castle Technology's IYONIX PC has been released by Peter Naulls. This release comes after users contributed the 1000 GBP that Peter had asked for to fund the development.
 
Peter would like to thank all those who contributed, but he is still after another 4000 GBP to release a further update with integration to RISC OS, and fixing some other issues. This release is targeted for Christmas day if the contributions meet the target.
 
A port for Advantage Six's A9home computer has not been ruled out subject to financial interest, and Peter is asking people interested in a port for any RISC OS platform to email him.
 
Update: Rob Kendrick has released a patch that allows the IYONIX Firefox port to run on the A9home by providing emulation for the XScale-specific instructions to a fudged copy of the Firefox executable.
 
Link:
RISC OS Firefox
 

News just in, Mozilla Firefox 2 is now working on the Iyonix and may be ready for release quite soon!
 
As before, donations totalling £1000 are required to fund the work that has been required to release this version which may lack HTTPS support.
This new version is apparently a bit faster and more stable than the last release (Firefox 1.5b5)
 
Also, subject to an extra £4000 funding on top of the above, further development can also be secured to give full RISC OS integration, including:

• Unicode fonts
• plug-in support
• RISC OS widget usage (?)
• Speed improvements

Lucky Iyonix users!
An A9 version is also being considered depending on the level of interest.
 
No other version is currently planned.
Full details can be found on the Firefox page at the RISC OS.info website.
 

Once again it's time for the Wakefield show, the 11th one to be exact. Just for you lucky punters, roughly 30 exhibitors will be attending the show this year, and as usual the theatre has a packed programme throughout the day. In addition to this, there's also a "RISC OS in action" section, manned by Ian Chamberlain and sponsored by Qercus, which will have a number of demonstrations of RISC OS in use on A9 and Iyonix computers doing various tasks.

Exhibitors this year include Castle Technology, Genesys Developments, MW Software and the NetSurf development team, who will be demonstrating the latest developments on the open source browser.

VirtualAcorn will also be present, demonstrating their latest addition to their product family, VirtualRPC-SA, which provides emulation of the StrongARM processor in addition to the Arm710 processor it previously supported.

The theatre programme for this year's show is as follows:

Parking at Thornes Park Athletics Stadium is free, and entry to the show costs £6, with under 5 year olds getting in free (I'd imagine that's physical age, not mental age!) The show is open from 10am until 5pm on Saturday 13th of May.

If you're going to the show this year and would like to share your thoughts of the show with us, please get in touch!

Source: Wakefield Show
 

Now here's something you don't see every day: RISC OS on TV! Take a look at the screen capture linked on the right - what operating system do you see Edgar Stiles from 24 using? Perhaps he has an Iyonix hidden under his desk.

And what about this one with Jack Bauer? Why is he using the RISC OS Task Manager? Somebody get him chopper command!

Following a conversation on IRC, it turns out that a certain Mr Paul Vigay is (indirectly) responsible. As a UFO consultant for the movie Signs, PV took the opportunity to promote the benefits of his Risc PC to several TV tech bods in the US - in particular, one Steven Lloyd, now a digital compositor working on several Fox TV shows, including 24. RISC OS has been used in TV and film production in the past, thanks to Uniqueway/RISCOS Ltd's Paul Middleton (listen to Podcast V for more details), often when "realistic" computer displays are needed (ie. not Windows). As RISC OS is completely unknown in America, it's easy to pass off the standard RISC OS desktop as something hi-tech!

If you've spotted RISC OS in the media, please get in touch.

Update: Spoilers.
 

In this roundup: !AVerMedia; CJE stock; APDL world domination; RISCOS Ltd's latest offer; BeebIt 0.59; other new releases.

For those of you with USB capabilities on your RISC OS machines, and a need for software to control USB radios, Dave Higton brings you !AVerMedia hot on the heels of !DRU-R100. !AVerMedia is free, the code is GPL, you can use it with other apps (e.g. !Alarm) and it works on both the Castle and Simtec USB stacks. So how about throwing Dave a couple of quid so he can actually buy his own unit instead of borrowing one, for when you lot start wanting support? As for where you'd actually buy an AVerMedia USB radio, I dunno, surely even CJE Micros don't... oh, they do? In stock too? Should have known.
Link: !AVerMedia

Speaking as we were of CJE Micros and their legendary stock levels, they have a few other new tricks up their sleeves. First up is the Sharp 172GW 17" LCD monitor, which has those handy dual inputs y'all apparently seem to like: one's a DVI, but with a handy converter you can plug in two regular VGA connectors and switch between them. 225 GBP (inc VAT, ex-delivery) for the monitor, 14 GBP (inc VAT) for the converter, say about a tenner for delivery.
Next up are two Iyonix-compatible external USB hard drives, in 40GB and 80GB flavours - 125 and 140 earth pounds respectively, fully inclusive. They've also reduced prices on Virtal RiscPC-equipped Windows laptops. There's a lot of other new stuff - USB seems to be in this month - but the shocking news is a "What's Not In Stock" page! It mostly seems to be old hardware (video stuff like Viewfinder 8, 32 or 128MB, Irlam VideoDesk, 24i16 or i16 and Eagle M2 podules), computers (working BBC Masters, A4s in any condition) and other bits (A540 PSU, Risc PC Econet, and unused 80 track floppy media), so if you're sitting on any of this stuff (VIGAY!) now might be the time to make a little cash...
Link: CJE Micros

David Bradforth has announced that the Alligata line of books are going digital via self-publish website lulu.com. Basic V: A Dabhand Guide by Mike Williams can currently be downloaded for $6 (what, only three and a half quid?) or bought printed for $12.45. Those prices are set to change RSN though. APDL are also looking for testers for 32-bit neutral WimpBasic and an Excel loader/exporter for Schema2! Email info(at)apdl.co.uk, but make sure you have the latest versions, returned your registration card etc.
Link: APDL

RISCOS Ltd. celebrates the "7th Anniversary of signing Agreement with Element 14" by offering RISC OS 4.39 "Adjust" ROMs for 69 quid (63 + p&p); you've only got from Wednesday 1st March to Friday 17th March for this one though.
Link: RISCOS Ltd.

Michael Foot, one of my favourite Kiwis (after Peter Jackson and my Uncle Bob of course), has released v0.59 of 8-bit Acorn emulator BeebIt. A lot of work appears to have been done to the memory handling, which has the not inconsequencial effect of allowing Level 9 adventures to run in BBC Master and B+ modes.
Link: BeebIt

Other releases

• Free books!
• Bazound RISC OS sound system configuration and diagnostic utility
• Routines v1.19 BASIC programming library
• Avalanche VNC client v0.11
• TechWriter v8.54
• FreeMem updated

 

RISCOS Ltd have been in touch detailing their achievements over the 8 years they have been trading, and have announced that a 50,000 ordinary share issue will take place soon.

In summary:

• 6400 copies of RISC OS 4.02 sold with upgrade copies alone generating £370,000 (exc VAT) sales over the last 6 years.
  
• Over 1900 copies of RISC OS 4 supplied in new computers from Castle Technology, MicroDigital, RiscStation and Advantage 6.
  
• RISC OS 4.39 recently sold its 500th copy.
  
• Sales of Virtual Acorn add "several thousand more copies to the total number of current RISC OS users"

Paul Middleton, MD of RISCOS Ltd also told us that "the personalised special offer for RISC OS 3.X and RISC OS 4.0X users who want to upgrade to RISC OS 4.39 is still available" although "It is NOT suitable for MicroDigital Mico users as those computers do not have the required ROM sockets."

At the 2004 RISCOS Ltd AGM it was agreed to issue 50,000 ordinary shares. ROL will be shortly issuing these, and ask anyone who is interested in investing to contact them. (details in the Press Release) Previously, ROL shares have been sold for around £1.25 each with 50 new investors allowed each year, so this share issue has the potential to raise more than £50,000.

Money raised from the share issue will be "used to fund further development of RISC OS 4 beyond the limits of the cashflow generated by sales of RISC OS "Select" subscriptions and RISC OS "Adjust" ROMs. It will also be used to fund the development and acquisition of complimentary technologies for RISC OS."

Paul Middleton also detailed that "The full launch of the A9 computer, and then Select 4, are currently targetted for around May this year", perhaps at the Wakefield show, "and once completed attention can be focussed on the Iyonix". However, despite meeting the 100 user pledge target for Iyonix Select Paul said that "the current level of pledges is insufficient to cover the full amount of work needed. It is likely therefore that the first stage will be a limited release of features to users who have continued with their Select subscriptions and who pay a supplement."

Link:
Press Release
RISCOS Ltd
 

Neil Spellings has this morning announced that the Geminus screen acceleration software for the Iyonix is now available to be purchased and downloaded from his online store.

The screen acceleration software doesn't require any additional hardware (graphics cards, etc) as it uses the existing NVidia card supplied with every Iyonix machine. If you do have multiple graphics cards/monitors though, the Geminus screen acceleration software will make full use of all of them.

Geminus screen acceleration was released in beta form last month, and since then has been tweaked, tuned and bug fixed. A list of features is available in Neil's press release.

Links:
- Spellings.net (Online store)
- Geminus info and ordering
- Press release