Release of previous version a little too impulsive! When Sine Nomine released a new version (0.21) of the Impulse module recently, the intention was to deal with some issues whereby the module could interfere with messages sent by a task to itself – issues that came to light during the development of ImpEmail, the new mail merging email software supplied with the Impact database. The module, which was originally developed by Computer Concepts (now Xara), provides a mechanism for inter-application communications, command execution and data transfer. However, it soon emerged…
Read MoreLcheck updated for Euro Millions
App to tell you when Euro millionaire. Lcheck, the lottery syndicate checking application from Kevin Wells, has been updated to version 1.08. The recent update to version 1.07 added the facility to for the software to use wget and a working internet connection to fetch the last eleven draws for the main Lottery, Thunderball and Plus 5 games. Missing from that list were the results of the Euro Millions because, according to Kevin, “the last field in their csv download file is for the Millionaire raffle and sometimes they have…
Read MoreWelcome to PandaLand!
Everything for one panda! R-Comp, who last year brought out the ARMini computer, based around a BeagleBoard-xM and subsequently launched a software support scheme for BeagleBoard owners wishing to run RISC OS on their devices, have now produced a similar scheme for PandaBoard owners – with the potentially puntastic name of PandaLand! The new scheme is intended to provide PandaBoard owners with software and operating system components with a degree of support – something that isn’t really there if you opt for the DIY approach of performing a self-install of…
Read MoreCharm 2.5.5 released
A sunbeam to warm you, a new keyword to charm you. Peter Nowosad of Qubit Consultancy Ltd has announced the availability of version 2.5.5 of Charm, his programming language for RISC OS computers. With a compiler that generates efficient code with a small memory footprint, and a desktop shell that supports easy editing, compiling, assembling or linking of multiple files, Charm is described as “a simple to learn yet powerful object oriented high level language.”
Read MorePreviously missed: A 32-bit version of TBAFS
Sadly spotted after TBA’s revival comes to a halt. A piece of news that somehow passed me by is that a month after making the 26-bit version of TBAFS available for download, which was itself back in October 2011, an update to the 32-bit version was released – itself having been made available last May. According to Alan Peters on the TBA Blog, “This fixes a bug in the TBA (Fast) decompression code that was introduced when it was converted to 32bit.” The software, version 1.03, is described on the…
Read MoreFFplay speed boost
Smooth moves for the movies. FFplay, the simple media player closely associated with FFmpeg, has been updated. The version number remains at 1.23, and Christopher Martin, who has been working on both, describes the update as a minor one. A minor update which increases the player’s speed by up to 10%, with particular benefit to full-screen mode. “Movies that would mostly play, but with some jittering should now play quite smoothly” explains Christopher – who also jokingly clarifies that the “up to 10%” increase is “not an exact figure”
Read MoreOpenVector and DrawPlus gain new feature
A genuine “Nothing to see here, move along please” response to a click. Christopher Martin has released another update to OpenVector and DrawPlus, bringing them up to version 3.41.2, introducing a new feature to both, while OpenGridPro remains at version 3.41. That new feature presents itself when clicking with the Alt key held down; when you do this, both OpenVector and DrawPlus will act as though there is no object beneath the pointer. This means that, for example, if you have a complicated drawing with one or more objects selected,…
Read MoreDRenderer 0.56 beta 8
Another bug squashed, poor little mite. With the release of Chris Gransden’s ports of Hheretic and Hhexen, a problem was found with the then latest version of the DRenderer module – 0.56 beta 6. Christopher Martin, who has been updating the module lately, was hot on the case and released beta 7, which he thought addressed the problem. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. However, Christopher has looked at the module yet again, and has now issued version 0.56 beta 8, fixing another bug that surfaced with…
Read MoreOpenVector mailing list
Jumps out. Says “Boo!” With OpenVector and its brethren continuing to be updated by Christopher Martin, Richard Torrens has highlighted the existence of the OpenVector mailing list, which he has been running for a couple of years, and is for both existing users of the software, as well as potential new users. Richard, who also operates a number of other mailing lists, enthused about the software, saying “OpenVector does everything Draw does (and then some!) and completely replaces Draw. If you use Draw at all – switch to OpenVector!” There…
Read MoreDrawPrint 1.39 in hot pursuit of 1.38
Murphy’s law alive and well in the world of RISC OS software. A new version of DrawPrint is available from Sine Nomine Software, released to deal with a problem discovered in the previous version very soon after its release. DrawPrint is an application that provides more control when printing Drawfiles, sprites or JPEGs, allowing them to be printed over multiple pages, allowing the user to select a scale, margins, overlaps, and so on. It also allows individual pages to be exported as Drawfiles for use in other applications. Version 1.39…
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