If the Cybermen threatened to “backspace” it just wouldn’t seem as bad!
In a post on the RISC OS Open forums in July, Steve Fryatt explained that he has updated several old modules.
The purpose of the updates was, to start with, to make them more maintainable. They were originally assembled using Darren Salt’s ExtBasAsm module, which means the work had to be done in a RISC OS environment. However, Steve’s RISC OS development work tends to take place on Linux these days, so he has started converting the sources to ObjAsm/Asasm format, the former being supplied with the RISC OS Desktop Development Environment, and the latter being supplied with GCC.
At the same time, Steve has fed the code through Dave Ruck’s ARMalyser, which was originally written to help with the task of porting 26-bit software to 32-bit systems, and he has looked for any other obvious ARMv7 issues – and in some cases he has also started fixing some longstanding bugs and generally improving the source code.
Steve has given the new versions “test” status, popping them onto the page on his website that he uses for releases of test builds, and said that he’ll make proper releases after he has been able to work through his list of unresolved bugs and issues, and after giving people time to provide feedback on the test builds.
The modules in question are:
- Filer Dir Patch: A small module to make clicks on “New Directory” in the Filer’s menu create a new directory called “Directory”. (The normal behaviour is that clicking on that item in the menu does nothing; to create a new directory, the user has to open the sub-menu dialogue, enter a name for the directory, then drag and drop the folder icon in a filer window.)
- Fortune: This module displays a “fortune cookie” underneath the welcome banner, whenever the desktop is started. No “fortunes” are supplied, but many suitable files can be found on the internet. Creating one should be possible, and it could include hints and tips for using RISC OS, which could be a nice touch for new users.
- MsgMon: Aimed at developers, this module works alongside Reporter to record and display the details of any Wimp messages being sent around the system.
- PC Keyboard: A module to change the behaviour of the Delete, End (sometimes labelled ‘Copy’) and Home keys, so that they act more like other platforms, which can therefore cause confusion when switching between RISC OS and another system.
- Windows Scroll: This module is used to provide the “joystick-like” window scrolling, using the mouse, as found on some Microsoft Windows applications. Clicking Ctrl-Menu over a window that has scroll bars will allow the window to be scrolled by moving the mouse away from a “centre-point” on the screen.
These test builds, like other recent releases from Steve, are licenced under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL), and the source code is available.
