Path: news1.ucsd.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.OZ.AU!comp.vuw.ac.nz!central.co.nz!khantazi.central.co.nz!banksie From: banksie@khantazi.central.co.nz (Philip R. Banks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.announce,comp.sys.acorn.misc,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Comp.Sys.Acorn FAQ List Posting (Part 1/3) Followup-To: comp.sys.acorn.misc Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 01:06:30 +1300 Organization: My Arc. Lines: 1006 Approved: aglover@acorn.co.uk,news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 01:06:29 +1300 Message-ID: Reply-To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz NNTP-Posting-Host: khantazi.central.co.nz Keywords: Frequent Questions Answers Xref: news1.ucsd.edu comp.sys.acorn.announce:746 comp.sys.acorn.misc:12715 comp.answers:13169 news.answers:51413 Archive-name: acorn/faq/part1 Frequency: bi-weekly Comp.Sys.Acorn FAQ List. ========================= Last alterations 9th Dec 1995 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recent alterations :- * Question 11.1 has been mildly updated with a new drive added. * Question 11.3 has several new devices added to it. * Question 7.2 now has Alternative Publishing Ltd's, Archive Magazine and Norwich Computer Services email addresses. Doggysoft's addresses adjusted to their new site name. * Question 10.1 corrected to the right version number of the PC card frontend software. * Question 1.10 is corrected with proper attribution of the ExtrctNms program. * Question 5.7 has been added to cover why ChangeFSI can display a blank white window instead of an image. * Question 7.5 has Doggysoft's new WWW pages and the Acorn Cybervillage added. * Question 8.2 corrected the link to the IBM BBC BASIC emulator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained below is a list of the most commonly asked questions about Acorn machines in the comp.sys.acorn heirachy. Before posting to comp.sys.acorn.*, if you are new to the groups, check to see if your question(s) are already answered below. Corrections and/or additions to the list can be emailed to :- banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz And I'll try to add them as soon as possible.... This FAQ is posted bi-weekly to comp.sys.acorn.misc, comp.sys.acorn.announce, comp.answers and news.answers. The posted sections of the FAQ is available from an email server at MIT. To request the FAQ from this server send an email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu . No subject is needed and the body should be :- send /pub/usenet/news.answers/acorn/faq Also the FAQ itself and sub-sections of it are stored in an email server I personally run. See question 7.4 for further details on how to access this email server. For Web browsers out there, the FAQ is available at :- http://www.central.co.nz/~philip/Archives/FaqHTML.html This, like the email server, contains the latest version of the FAQ, as well as a few other documents I have placed up for perusal. Lastly this list is copyright to Philip R. Banks but permission is granted for free distribution of the entire list or quoted segments of it. If you wish to include segments of the list into other documents then proper attribution must be performed and if you wish to include a part of the list, or the list in full, in any commercial product then express permission must be obtained from myself. Index of Questions. The questions have been catagorised loosely into related sections, in an effort to make finding the desired information simpler and quicker. Section 1: Acorn Hardware and Operating Systems. 1.1) What is an Acorn machine? 1.2) What kind of Acorn machines are there? 1.3) What versions of the ARM processors are there? 1.4) What are the main new features of RISC OS 3? 1.5) What are the differences between RISC OS 3.5 and RISC OS 3.11 & 3.10? 1.6) What are the graphics capabilities of the Acorn machines? 1.7) Is Virtual Memory possible under RISC OS? 1.8) What is the current status of Linux for Acorn machines? 1.9) What are the differences between RISC OS 3.6 and RISC OS 3.5? 1.10) What 'Easter Eggs' are present in RISC OS? 1.11) What is the current status of RiscBSD for Acorn machines? Section 2: Upgrades and Expansion. 2.1) What are the memory limits of the various Acorn machines? 2.2) What is a second processor and what second processors are there? 2.3) Can PC VGA & Multisync Monitors be added to an Acorn machine? 2.4) Are there any Acorn cards for IBM PC or compatible machines? 2.5) What is a VIDC enhancer? Will I need one for my new multisync monitor? 2.6) What configuration of serial cable should I use for modem work? 2.7) How can I get unfiltered sound from an Acorn machine? 2.8) Can I connect a SCART monitor to my Acorn machine? Section 3: Configuration. 3.1) What is ADFSBuffers and what is the best setting for it? 3.2) How do I enable solid drags in RISC OS 3? Section 4: Hardware problems. 4.1) What do the hard drive error numbers mean? 4.2) What can I do with a 'Broken Directory' or a corrupt Free Space Map? 4.3) What does the power on self-test check? 4.4) My Real Time Clock has paused, how do I restart it? 4.5) Why doesn't *Speaker work on my machine? Section 5: Software Issues. 5.1) Why does DOSFS corrupt my files occasionally? 5.2) Where can I obtain the latest version of module X? 5.3) What are the current File-type allocation ranges? 5.4) Is there a Modula 2 compiler for the Arc? 5.5) What Public Domain Languages are available for Acorn machines? 5.6) Why does the RO3.5 desktop sometimes revert to the system font? 5.7) Why does ChangeFSI display a blank white window, not an image? Section 6: Viruses. 6.1) How can I protect against viruses? 6.2) Where can I obtain !Killer? 6.3) Where can I obtain !SmartKill!? Section 7: Network resources. 7.1) What archives/FTP sites are available? 7.2) What Acorn related companies are available on the net via email? 7.3) Why are comp.{binaries,sources}.acorn empty? 7.4) How to retreive the FAQ from the source... 7.5) What WWW pages are out there for Acorn topics? 7.6) What Acorn BBS's are there? Section 8: Compatibility with other Machines. 8.1) How compatible with other systems is an Acorn machine? 8.2) Is there a BBC BASIC for other machines? 8.3) Can I run 65Host on the Risc PC? 8.4) Can I read BBC B formated discs on a PC? Section 9: Technical Details. 9.1) How do I get a faster interupt timer than the centisecond ones? 9.2) How can I create Interlaced GIFs on Acorn machines? Section 10: Risc PC PC Card Details. 10.1) What is the latest version of the Emulator software? 10.2) Why does the serial port not work after using the card? 10.3) Why do Windows progams give incorrect colours in a 256 colour mode? 10.4) How much memory can I configure for the PCEmulator? 10.5) Can I use Win95 with the card? Section 11: Hardware Compatibility. 11.1) What IDE drives work on Acorn machines? 11.2) What are the master / slave link settings for my IDE Drive? 11.3) What works with what? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1: Acorn Hardware and Operating Systems ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1) What is an Acorn machine? Acorn computers are a British built line of computers that started with 6502 based machines and now are based on ARM processors. Oddly enough Acorn computers are made by Acorn Computers ( see http://www.acorn.co.uk/ for more details.) Section 1.2 details those machines currently in manufacture and how to fetch a full list of all machines known to have been made by Acorn. Acorn machines are known for their innovation, flexibility and reliability of hardware/software. Reading through section 1 should give newcomers to the Acorn scene a reasonable appreciation of what the machines can do by default. They are fairly strong in education and it is Acorn's primary market. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2) What kind of Acorn machines are there? The full list of Acorn made machines is somewhat lengthy now and are mostly no longer in manufacture. Accordingly this list distributed in the FAQ includes only Archimedes/ARM based machines, which are those currently manufactured by Acorn. A full list is maintained in my email server under the filename 'MachineLst'. (see question 7.4 for how to use my email server.) This is, as far as I am aware, a complete list of all Acorn machines made with the possible exception of the latest machines for which I have yet to get the detailed specifications. * A4 - Acorns first portable machine. The A4 is functionally an A5000 in portable form. Featuring power save modes, an LCD screen and software configuration of the power saving features it was released July 1992. It is called the A4 because it's footprint on a desk is apparently that of an A4 piece of paper. It is interesting to note that the A4 is not an A5000 squeezed into portable form but rather the A5000 is the A4 in desktop form, whereby the A5000 design was largely a spin off from the design of the A4. 2048k Memory Advanced Disc Filing System by default with High Density drives. ARM 3 processor. (24 MHz normally, 6 MHz in power save mode.) 12 MHz RAM. (3 MHz in power save mode.) 2048k OS in ROM. ~13.25 MIPS. * A30x0 - Two models of this machine exist the A3010 and the A3020. Both are designed as low end 'family solution' machines. They are also among the first machines to feature the ARM250 processor offering improved performance over an ARM2 (but less than an ARM3) and are designed to supplement the A3000 machine as a low cost entry machine into the Acorn world. Its other main claim to fame is it is the first Archimedes series machine that features joystick ports (only in 3010 model, the 3020 has a network connector instead.). Launched August 27th 1992. 1024k Memory Advanced Disc Filing System by default with High Density drives. IDE 60 Mb Hard Drive (only in A3020 with HD option). ARM 250 processor 12 MHz RAM. 2048k OS in ROM. ~7.2 MIPS * A4000 - This is a higher end more expandable version of the 30x0 series machines and is in a three box format similar to the A5000. It also is driven by an ARM 250 processor however it features over the A30x0 machines optional Ethernet & Econet ports, a high density floppy drive and an 80Mb IDE drive by default. The aim of this machine is strongly towards the home office and more 'serious' applications than the A300x0 series. Launched August 27th 1992. 2048k Memory Advanced Disc Filing System by default with High Density drives. IDE 80 Mb Hard Drive by default. ARM 250 processor 12 MHz RAM. 2048k OS in ROM. ~7.2 MIPS Acorn RiscPC series This is the next generation and architecture of machines - superceeding, but compatible with, the Archimedes range of machines. All of them feature a highly configurable and modular system that makes a bewildering variety of options available. All are founded on the 'second generation' chipset featuring VIDC20, IOMD and the newer ARM6, and better, cell processors. This new range was launched on the 15th of April 1994 with the RiscPC 600 series of machines. The new machines feature the processor card option, the concept of which was first shown in the A540 as well as a unique second processor slot allowing the machines to have two processors in the system, at once, of radically different types. Simply by slipping a 486 chip in, on an appropriate board of course, Intel based software can be run on the machine adjacent to native ARM programs. Both processors share the system resources and can be allocated memory and the like to use. Memory managment has been improved with memory paging always being done in 4K pages. Further more the podule interface has been extended with DMA to and from podules, extended addressing, 32bit data pathways from the IO system as well as a vastly expanded memory map for each podule. Realtime video from the IO system becomes a reality with high speed and data tranfer applications being boosted considerably. These machines are to be the ones to carry Acorn for the next three to six years and look set to do so nicely. * Risc PC 600 series The initial set of machines that launched the RiscPC range. Initially they all featured 30 MHz processors, but as of the Launch of the Risc PC 700 the 600 series machines all feature a 33 MHz ARM 610 instead. RiscPC 600 2M HD210 2048Kb Memory. (No VRAM) Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (210 Mb.) ARM 610 processor (33 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 2048k OS in ROM. ~26 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) RiscPC 600 5M HD210 4096Kb Memory. (1Mb of VRAM) Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (210 Mb.) ARM 610 processor (33 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 2048k OS in ROM. ~26 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) RiscPC 600 9M HD420 8192Kb Memory. (1Mb of VRAM) Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (420 Mb.) ARM 610 processor (33 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 2048k OS in ROM. ~26 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) * A7000 - a successor to the A4000 machine, this is a 'cut down' Risc PC intended for school/home entry as a cheaper alternative to the RiscPC. Both this and the RiscPC 700 are the first machines to feature RISC OS 3.6. Unlike the RiscPC the A7000 has no second processor slot, only one DRAM socket and no VRAM capabilities. This limits the memory expansion of the machine to 128Mb + whatever memory is soldered on the motherboard. Launched 12th of July 1995 A7000 Net 2048Kb Memory. Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. Ethernet interface in place of hard drive. ARM7500 processor. (32 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~25 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) 2048Kb Memory. Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (425 Mb.) ARM7500 processor. (32 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~25 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) 4096Kb Memory. Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (425 Mb.) ARM7500 processor. (32 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~25 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) * Risc PC 700 series is the second generation of Risc PCs to be shipped. They feature the newer ARM710 processor, 16 bit sound as default with audio mixer on the motherboard and RISC OS 3.6. Not so much a major advancement as an incremental improvement of the RiscPC to keep pace with the computing world. Launched 12th of July 1995. RiscPC 700 4M HD425 4096Kb Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (425 Mb.) ARM710 processor. (40 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~32 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) RiscPC 700 9M HD425 4096Kb (1 Mb of VRAM) Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (425 Mb.) ARM710 processor. (40 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~32 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) RiscPC 700 10M HD850 8192Kb (2 Mb of VRAM) Advanced Disc Filing System by default with a High Density drive. IDE interface by default. (850 Mb.) ARM710 processor. (40 MHz) 16 MHz RAM. 4096k OS in ROM. ~32 MIPS. (Arbitrary estimate.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3) What versions of the ARM processor are there? The details of all current ARM chips and their capabilities are contained within a file stored in my email server, the filename is 'ARMChips'. See question 7.4 for how to request this file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4) What are the main new features of RISC OS 3? This information is now contained in my email server. If you wish to know the 'new' features of RO3 over RO2 then send a request to my email server, as detailed at the start of the FAQ, for the filename 'RO3diffs'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5) What are the differences between RISC OS 3.5 and RISC OS 3.11 & 3.10? There are alot of behind the scenes differences but the most obvious changes are :- * The system font has been replaced by an outline font. * The Filer uses solid drag icons, including a 'package' icon for multiple file drags. * Error dialogue boxes can now have a button for requesting interactive help on the error. * Windows can have textured backgrounds by default. (This feature can be used independantly of the application supporting it.) * Applications can have up to 28Mb of memory apiece, if available. * The Palette utility has been replaced by the Display Manager, offering an alternative method of choosing screen modes from the older mode number method. * The Task Manager allocates memory via logarithmicly scaled slider bars. * Rogue tasks can be stopped, or killed, by pressing Alt-Break. * The CMOS & hard drive can be protected from alteration. Also, due to the new hardware, there are alot of behind the scenes extensions to the OS including the provision of new dynamic areas, extended podule support, hard drive locking and a wealth of other features. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6) What are the graphics capabilities of the Acorn machines? All the Acorn machines are highly upgradable so that they can achieve colour depths and resolutions beyond what is listed here. What is listed here is the default capabilities of the machines as supplied by Acorn. As such it should be taken as a guide to the minimum abilities of the hardware. * 8 bit machines. This covers the BBC Model B, BBC Model B+, Master 128 and ABC range of machines. The display hardware was based on the 6845CRTC chip and was highly flexible for it's time. Resolutions possible :- X res. Y res. Colours 640 256 2 320 256 2,4 160 256 4,16 As well a Teletext character graphics mode and two text only modes were provided by default. The palette range was 16 colours with modes using less than 16 colours capable choosing any mix of the 16 colours, up to the number displayable of course, for display. * 8 MHz ARM based machines. This is the original Archimedes range of machines and covers the A300 series, A400 series, R140 and A3000 machines. The increased capability of the VIDC1a chip dramatically enhanced the resolutions and colours depths possible, namely :- X res. Y res. Colours 160 256 4,16,256 320 256 2,4,16,256 640 250 4,16 640 256 2,4,16,256 640 480 2,4,16,256 640 512 2,4,16,256 1056 250 16 1056 256 16,256 1152 896 2 As can be seen this quite a wide variety of default screen modes. Most are provided to allow driving the various kinds of monitors out there easier, since they are suited to that monitor. The palette range was 4096 colours (12 bit) but the VIDC1a only had 16 hardware palette registers. This meant that in screen modes with sixteen colours or less then the colours could be mapped to any of the 4096 available. However in 256 colour modes 4bits of the colour data are hardware derived and cannot be adjusted. The net result was in a 256 colour a block of 16 colours could be assigned as desired with that block of 16 covering a range of the 4096 available colours. * 12 MHz ARM based machines. This covers the A3010, A3020, A4000, A4, A500, A540 & R260 machines. Here the VIDC1a was still used but it had an extra oscillators added and the primary oscillator was faster (32 MHz) giving finer pixel resolutions. The extra oscillator provided true PC VGA style compatibility for monitors instead of a 24 MHz 'faked' version which sometimes caused problems with intolerant VGA monitors. X res. Y res. Colours 160 256 4,16,256 320 256 2,4,16,256 640 200 2,4,16,256 640 250 16 640 256 2,4,16,256 640 352 2,4,16,256 640 480 2,4,16,256 640 512 2,4,16,256 768 288 2,4,16,256 800 600 2,4,16 896 352 2,4,16,256 1056 250 16 1056 256 16,256 1152 896 2 Because the display hardware was essentially the same as the 8MHz machines' the palette handling was identical. * Risc PC machines. This covers all Risc PC in the Risc PC 600, Risc PC 700 & A7000 machines. Here the newer VIDC20 chip has been used and the display capabilities are somewhat extended. Namely :- X res. Y res. Colours 160 256 4,16,256 320 256 2,4,16,256 640 200 2,4,16,256 640 250 4,16 640 256 2,4,16,256 640 352 2,4,16,256 640 480 2,4,16,256 640 512 2,4,16,256 768 288 2,4,16,256 800 600 2,4,16,256,32k*,16M** 896 352 2,4,16,256 1024 768 16,256*,32k** 1056 250 16 1056 256 16,256 1152 896 2 1280 1024 4,16*,256** 1600 1200 16*,256** * Requires 1 MB of VRAM ** Requires 2 MB of VRAM With the addition of Video RAM (VRAM) to the Risc PC the base capabilities are a touch variable, thus the note next to some of entries. All other modes are available with standard DRAM, and these the only modes the A7000 can access. Furthermore the new VIDC20 has 256 palette registers, compared to the VIDC1a's 16, and a palette range of 16 million colours. Exactly how the colour mapping in 32,000 modes is handled is not yet clear. Again these are just standard screen modes provided, and even perhaps not all of them - the Risc PC is completely configurable in display resolutions and capabilities. It must be stressed again that these are merely the resolutions and colour depths defined by the machines operating systems. In all of the machines cases there are both hardware and software extensions that alter and increase the list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.7) Is Virtual Memory possible under RISC OS? Short answer, full VM is not possible under the current versions of RISC OS. The problem is that most of RISC OS works in SVC mode, if a DataFetch abort occurs then R14_svc is corrupted . This makes returning from the SWI somewhat problematic. This is a hardware limitation with the ARM2 and ARM3 cell chips. Hardware using ARM6 or better processor cells have special memory abort modes that alleviate this problem so future machines and incarnations of RISC OS may well have VM available. Indeed the new RiscPC machines make prime candidates for having virtual memory, however there are still re-entrancy issues that make this problematic for RISC OS. (Consider loading data from a file into paged out virtual memory...) However limited solutions are available now. !Virtual is one such solution allowing VM for a user process using a limited subset of SWI's that are carefully 'protected' against R14_svc being corrupted. Such solutions suffer from the restricted set of SWI's they support and are mostly useful for batch style processing jobs like compilation or memory intensive processing jobs. !Virtual currently does not work with Risc PCs due to the fact that it requires a page size which is a multiple of 8kb. (This means !Virtual will not work with A305s.) Also available commercially, from Clares Micro Supplies, is Virtualise for the RiscPC machines. This provides virtual memory on dynamic areas. As more and more software starts to use dynamic areas for data storage and manipulation this will become increasingly useful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.8) What is the current status of Linux for Acorn machines? Due to the rapid development of Linux exact details about the latest incarnation of Linux are not kept in this FAQ. However for the latest information you might like to consult these web pages, or email the people involved with the port :- Native Linux page :- http://whirligig.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~rmk92/armlinux.html (rmk92@ecs.soton.ac.uk) PC card Linux :- http://www.ph.kcl.ac.uk/~amb/linux.html (amb@physig.ph.kcl.ac.uk) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.9) What are the differences between RISC OS 3.6 and RISC OS 3.5? Quite a few, although nothing particularly drastic OS wise, mostly improvments although the lifting of the FileCore partition limit and the incorporation of JPEG handling into the OS are quite substantial improvements. Here is the list :- * Now stored on 2x2Mb ROMs, or an increase ot a potential 4096Kb of OS. * FileCore improvements allowing at least 4Gb partitions. * Support for ATAPI style CD-ROM drives. * JFIF handling incorporated into the OS. * Standard applications have been moved back into ROM. * Toolbox modules, the Cv5 support modules, moved into ROM. * CDFS modules moved into ROM. * Access modules moved into ROM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.10) What 'Easter Eggs' are present in RISC OS? It has been a long tradition with Acorn OSes to have hidden sections that give credit to the people involved in the creation of that OS. The BBC Model B ROMs had the names of the people involved hidden in the memory space occupied by Fred, Jim and Shel ia. With the release of the ARM powered machines this tradition has continued on. * RISC OS 2.00 * tucked away in the ROMs is a list of the names of involved people. * RISC OS 3.00 * If you type 'rmtmd' when the desktop welcome screen is displayed a slide show of the key RISC OS team members is displayed on the screen. * In the info box of the task manager if you clicked menu over the letters 'rmtmd', in that order, contained within the author icon a full list of the people involved with the OS's development is displayed in that icon. * RISC OS 3.10 & 3.11 * In the info box of the task manager if you clicked menu over the letters 'team', in that order, contained within the author icon a full list of the people involved with the OS's development is displayed in that icon. * Using a template editor examine the task managers templates file from the Resources filing system. (Resources:$.Resources.Switcher.Templates) Inside the 'power' dialogue is a message. * RISC OS 3.50 * In the info box of the task manager if you clicked menu over the author icon four times a full list of the people involved with the OS's development is displayed in that icon. (This can take a while to watch, be warned...) * Using a template editor examine the task managers templates file from the Resources filing system. (Resources:$.Resources.Switcher.Template3D) Inside the 'power' dialogue is a message, in 3D. This message also appeared in the replacement templates supplied with NewLook for RISC OS 3.1. * Run this program to be given a list and pictures of the primary developers of RISC OS 3.50. REM >ExtrctNms REM Extract Names and Pictures from RISC OS 3.50 ROM REM Provided by james@jrmiller.demon.co.uk (James R Miller) REM Original program by Nick Craig-Wood. REM S=&39F47AC: E=&39F78DC: O=65536 SYS"OS_Byte",129,0,&FF TO,V IF V<>&A5 ELSE SYS"Squash_Decompress",%1000,-1 TO Q DIM R Q,P O SYS"Squash_Decompress",%0100,R,S,E-S,P,O TO,,,,,U A$="." B$=A$+"b":A$+="a" C$="Filer_Run " SYS"OS_File",10,A$,&FF9,,P+8,P+P!4+8 SYS"OS_File",10,B$,&FFF,,P+P!4+8,P+O-U OSCLI C$+A$ OSCLI C$+B$ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.11) What is the current status of RiscBSD for Acorn machines? Due to the rapid development of RiscBSD exact details about the latest incarnation of it are not kept in this FAQ. However for the latest information you might like to consult these web pages, listen to the RiscBSD email list or email the people involved with development of it :- Risc BSD page :- http://www.ph.kcl.ac.uk/~amb/riscbsd/ (amb@physig.ph.kcl.ac.uk) RiscBSD email list :- listserver@ic.ac.uk place " subscribe riscbsd " in the message body. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 2: Upgrades and Expansion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1) What are the memory limits of the various Acorn machines? For the most part the 8 bit machines were limited to a maximum of around 256k of memory. Although various expansion systems including second processors effectively meant the upper limit was about 1 Meg. (Although I have been told of a second processor with 4 Meg of memory in it. ) For the early 32 bit machines the upper limit currently is 16 Meg of memory. Not all of the range of machines are capable of this however and the list looks something like this :- A3xx - 8 Mb maximum through third party, 1 Mb official limit. A4xx - 8 Mb maximum through third party, 4 Mb official limit. A4xx/I - 8 Mb maximum through third party, 4 Mb official limit. A3000 - 8 Mb maximum through third party, 2 Mb official limit. A540 - 16 Mb maximum. A5000 - 8 Mb maximum through third party, 4 Mb official limit. A4 - 4 Mb official limit. A30x0 - 4 Mb official limit. A4000 - 4 Mb official limit. A5000 - 8 Mb official limit. (alpha variant of the A5000) A7000 - 128 Mb + memory on mother board. (Tops out at 132 Mb and requires a 128 Mb SIMM to do it.) Newer RiscPC machines have an official upper limit of 256 Mb, plus 2 Mb of VRAM, on all models. However this does require you using 128 Mb SIMMS which are currently not very common... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2) What is a second processor and what second processors are there? A second processor was the generic name for a range of parasite processors that could be linked to Acorn's 8 bit machines via what was called the `Tube` interface. Basically the host machine became dedicated to handling the Input and Output while the second processor would do the higher level functions (like running your programs). The second processor ran asyncronously to the host processor allowing incredible increases in execution speed for programs. A wide range of processors were supported this way allowing Acorn's eight bit range of machines to remain viable and useful for much longer than their technology would suggest. The Second Processors that existed are :- * Z80 second processor. 6 MHz RAM. 64k Memory. CP/M OS. External second processor for all eight bit machines. * 6502 second processor. 3 MHz RAM. 64k Memory. Extended version of the BBC MOS. External processor for all eight bit machines. * 32016 second processor. 6 MHz RAM. 256k-4096k Memory. Panos. External processor for all eight bit machines. * ARM 1 second processor. 4 MHz RAM. (At a guess...) 4096k Memory. Brazil OS. External processor for all eight bit machines. * 6502 co-processor. (internal second processor). 4 MHz RAM. 64k Memory. Extended version of BBC MOS. Internal processor for Master 128 machines but could be fitted external to the other eight bit machines. * 80186 co-processor. 10 MHz RAM. 512k Memory. DR-DOS+ with GEM. Internal processor for Master 128 machines but could be fitted external to the other eight bit machines. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3) Can PC VGA & Multisync Monitors be added to an Acorn machine? It depends on what monitor you have, and what Acorn machine you have. There are two main types of PC VGA monitors out there... * Fixed Frequency These monitors will only display video signals with certain line and refresh rates. They will typically only display CGA / EGA / VGA modes. * Multi Frequency These monitors will display any video signal within a certain range, typically 30-50Khz line rate and 50-80Hz refresh rate. Type 1 almost always require separate syncs as the monitor uses the polarity of the syncs (mainly positive going negative or mainly negative going positive) to determine what the line and refresh rate should be. Type 2 vary. Some require seperate syncs (vertical and horizontal) and others will work with composite syncs (vertical and horizontal EOR together). As PC monitors typically start at a line rate of 30Khz compared to the TV broadcast modes (mode 12 etc.) that have a line rate of 15Khz, VIDC has to do more work to obtain a 30Khz line rate. This means that you computer will slow down silghtly if you use a 30Khz+ line rate monitor. If you have an ARM 3 fitted such slow downs will probably be negligible. Now, depending on what type of Archimedes you have depends on what type of monitor you can use. * A540 / A5000 / A4 / A3010 / A3020 /A4000 Has software control over the polarity of the syncs and what frequency VIDC is clocked at. The A540 with RISC OS 2 can only use modes 26-28 (640x480) and 31 (800x600). However, by changing links and a *configure option, you can get the computer to generate seperate syncs with no problem. The other machines with RISC OS 3 can do even better. If you tell the computer that you have a VGA monitor it will re-map all of the 15Khz line rate modes up to 30KHz line rate. This means that you can play your games that require mode 12 / 13. However, as a PC monitor is designed to display 320 lines minimum then you will get a 'letterbox' effect as mode 12 has only 256 lines. All these machines have 24Mhz, 25.175Mhz and 36Mhz crystals to drive VIDC with. The 25.175Mhz crystal is needed to obtain the correct video rates for PC monitors displaying 640x480 screens. The 36Mhz crystal is used to obtain higher resolution modes, like 800x600x16 colours. * A3000 This can generate seperate syncs but requires links to be set to determine the polarity. It has only a 24Mhz crystal and can therefore only drive 'forgiving' monitors correctly that don't mind the 640x480 video mode timings being slightly incorrect. The links to change, to set the sync polarity, are as follows: Link 24: Change from SOUTH to NORTH Link 25: Change from OPEN to CLOSED In order to obtain proper timings, and software control of the sync polarity, you will need a VGA VIDC Enhancer for the A3000. * A400 series. The situation gets more complex. Due to an 'error' in the PCB / circuit diagram, the A400 series cannot generate seperate syncs satisfactorily. The video signal loses the green component when seperate syncs is selected. It has been reported to me that 400/I series machines can have this fault corrected by cutting pin 3 of IC9. As standard, there is no polarity control over the syncs. In common with the A3000, there is only a 24Mhz crystal. Also it is links 1 and 2 that need changing. If the PC monitor can handle composite syncs then the monitor can be used in 640x480 mode only. * A300 series. Most, if not all, of the A300 series had the circuit board hardwired into composite mode continuously. There is only a 24Mhz crystal, and only composite sync monitors can be used. Also the A300 suffers the same problem as the A400, it looses green component in seperate sync mode. However I am told that it is possible if you are prepared to alter the hardware, by fitting a three pin header to both LK10 and LK11 (sited near the RGB connector). Cut the track which connects the middle pin to one of the outer pins of each header. Place a link between the middle pin and the other pin for each header. Finally configure sync to 0 and monitor to 3 to inform RISC OS of the change and you should have seperate syncs. Even after these changes it may be required to cut pin 2 of IC4 to remove the composite sync off the green signal. Some SVGA monitors in particular are fussy about this. * RiscPC series. This has a very flexible VIDC in it and is quite capable of driving PC monitors with no trouble. However to connect an older machine (A3000,A300,400 series) to a VGA monitor, you will need a means of connecting the standard 15-pin VGA plug to the 9-pin socket in the computer. A number of companies sell 'converters', but all this boils down to is a lead with the following configuration :- .------------------------. VGA 15-pin socket \ 1 2 3 4 5 / \ 6 7 8 9 10 / \ 11 12 13 14 15 / '------------------' .------------------------. Arc 9-pin plug \ 1 2 3 4 5 / \ / \ 6 7 8 9 / '------------------' Signal VGA pin Arc pin Gnd 10 9 Red 1 1 Green 2 2 Blue 3 3 R gnd 6 6 G gnd 7 7 B gnd 8 8 H 13 4 V 14 5 In conclusion, apart from the A5000 and newer machines, no computer as standard can drive either a fixed frequency or multi-frequency PC monitor in all of the Archimedes modes satisfactorily. However VIDC enhancer boards can be bought to upgrade an Archimedes series machine to handle the needed timing and signals. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4) Are there any Acorn cards for IBM PC or compatible machines? Yes. Three cards in total :- * Springboard. ARM 2 processor. 4096k Memory. 8 MHz RAM. Brazil OS. * PC ARM development system. Precursor to Springboard. Hardware functionally identical. * Ecolink. An econet link card for the PC. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5) What is a VIDC enhancer? Will I need one for my new multisync monitor? A VIDC enhancer is basically a clock change for your VIDC. Most Arcs (bar the A540 and newer machines) have 24 MHz VIDC chips installed in them. A VIDC enhancer increases this to 36 MHz allowing much higher resolution screen modes to be displayed on your Arc. (800x600x16 or SVGA standard becomes available.) You do not need one to use a Multisync monitor - the standard VIDC handles that just fine. However having a VIDC enhancer is only really useful if you do have a Multi-sync monitor. Note a VIDC enhancer is unneccesary and incompatible with the RiscPC range of machines. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.6) What configuration of serial cable should I use for modem work? Here follows a diagram of the necessary connections for common terminal programs to work properly. They are as far as I know the informal standard agreed upon by commercial comms software developers for the Arc. Pins 1, 4, and 8 must be connected together inside the 9 pin plug. This is to avoid the well known serial port chip bugs. The modem's DCD (Data Carrier Detect) signal has been rerouted to the Arc's RI (Ring Indicator) most modems broadcast a software RING signal anyway, and even then it's not really necessary to detect it for the modem to answer the call. Arc (9 pin) Modem (25 pin) ----------- -------------- +---1---DCD | | 2---RxD------------------------RxD----3 | | 3---TxD------------------------TxD----2 | +---4---DTR------------------------DTR---20 | | 5---0v-------------------------SG-----7 | | 6---DSR------------------------CTS----5 | | 7---RTS------------------------RTS----4 | +---8---CTS 9---RI-------------------------DCD----8 Of course you can connect the Modem pin 20 to any one of pins 1, 4, or 8 on the Archimedes plug, as they are all connected together anyway. Chocks Away Extra Missions (the flight simulator from 4th Dimension) suggests that the serial cable be wired as above except that pins 1-4-6 are connected together and the modem's CTS (pin 5) be connected to the Arc's pin 8 (ie the connections at pins 6 and 8 be swapped over at the Arc's end). This has been and it also seems to work fine. However newer Arc's like the A5000 have come out (and indeed the occasional A310) with a `corrected` serial port. This newer serial port operates as it should and is directly compatible with standard PC cables. Most comms software about at the moment does not take this in account and assumes that you have a cable patched in the manner described above. If you do not use such a patched cable on these `fixed` serial ports the software will generally fail to work completely. With the advent of the Risc PC a standard PC cable is advised. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.7) How can I get unfiltered sound from an Acorn machine? All Acorn machines are equipped with a sound filter designed to remove high frequency harmonics from the sound output. However this does cause a muffled feel to the sound as on some machines the filter is a little too excessive and it filters out valid frequencies. Also the filter is optimised for 20.833 kHz output and has less desirable results when the output rate is changed. Accordingly people who do audio work often want to bypass the filter. On all machines bar the A3000 there is the Internal Auxiliary Audio Connector (usually called link LK3), which can be easily plugged into to provide the unfiltered output. This connector has 10 pins on it and is usually found near the headphone socket on the motherboard. The pins are :- 1 Unfiltered Left 2 Ground 3 Filtered Left 4 Ground 5 Auxiliary Input 6 Ground 7 Filtered Right 8 Ground 9 Unfiltered Right 10 Ground Simply hook into the Unfiltered outputs. On an A3000 you need two 10uF 16V ALEC capacitors. Look for chip LM324 (IC39) and hook the capacitors like this :- Pin 1 --> --|+ |--- Unfiltered Left Pin 2 --> --|+ |--- Unfiltered Right The Risc PC & A400 machines have a connector similar to the A5000. There are several caveats to this procedure. Opening your machine may void your warranty and most definitely should not be attempted if you are unsure of the procedure. Do not unplug/plug the unfiltered audio output while the machine is turned on, by bypassing the filter you also bypass the normal protective circutry for the audio output. Finally you will hear higher harmonics present in the audio signal so you will need to connect the signal to a filter of some kind to reduce this extra noise. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news1.ucsd.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.OZ.AU!comp.vuw.ac.nz!central.co.nz!khantazi.central.co.nz!banksie From: banksie@khantazi.central.co.nz (Philip R. Banks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.announce,comp.sys.acorn.misc,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Comp.Sys.Acorn FAQ List Posting (Part 2/3) Followup-To: comp.sys.acorn.misc Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 01:06:08 +1300 Organization: My Arc. Lines: 1014 Approved: aglover@acorn.co.uk,news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 01:06:08 +1300 Message-ID: Reply-To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz NNTP-Posting-Host: khantazi.central.co.nz Keywords: Frequent Questions Answers Xref: news1.ucsd.edu comp.sys.acorn.announce:747 comp.sys.acorn.misc:12716 comp.answers:13170 news.answers:51414 Archive-name: acorn/faq/part2 Frequency: bi-weekly 2.8) Can I connect a SCART monitor to my Acorn machine? If you have an older Acorn machine with a nine pin video socket, then yes and here is the wiring diagram :- .------------------------. Arc 9-pin plug \ 1 2 3 4 5 / \ / \ 6 7 8 9 / Case '------------------' _____________________ |19 1| SCART 21-pin plug | | | | | | | | | | | | / | / | | | | | | | | | | | /___20_________________2_| 21 (metal casing) A SCART connector is also known as a Euroconnector or a Peri-Television connector. Arc SCART Case | ------------- 21 Case Red 1 ------------- 15 Red Green 2 ------------- 11 Green Blue 3 ------------- 7 Blue CSYNC 4 ------------- 20 Composite video input Ground (0V) 6 -+---------+- 13 Red ground Ground (0V) 7 -+ +- 9 Green ground Ground (0V) 8 -+ +- 5 Blue ground Ground (0V) 9 -+ +- 13 CVBS video ground Ideally each ground wire should be linked to a separate Arc pin. Also, depending on your SCART monitor, pin 16 may need a +5V input to it. Unfortunately the Arc 9 pin socket does not provide a +5V output so this will have to be sourced from somewhere else. If you have a newer Acorn machine, with the 15 pin high density video socket then you need this kind of wiring :- .--------------------. 15-pin VGA style plug \ 1 2 3 4 5 / \ 6 7 8 9 10 / \ 11 12 13 14 15 / '--------------' Connections: Arc SCART 1 red ---------------------------- 15 2 green--------------------------- 11 3 blue---------------------------- 7 4 ID[2] nc 5 0V (test) 6 red rtn------------------------- 13 7 green rtn----------------------- 9 8 blue rtn------------------------ 5 75 ohms 9 +5V-------------/\/\/\/--------- 16 10 0V----------------------------- 17,18 12 ID[1]-------------------------- 8 11 ID[0] 11 | 120 ohms 14 CSync------------/\/\/\/------- 20 15 ID[3] nc Notice the two resistors. Also notice that the HSync output (pin 13) of the 15-way plug has to be connected to the ID[0] input (pin 11) of the same plug. (Be aware I have no direct confirmation that this wiring works .) As is usual care must be taken when doing this procedure. Older Acorn machine did not have their VIDC chips fully buffered and unplugging/plugging cables from the video socket while the machine is turned on can cause damage to the video circutry. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 3: Configuration. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1) What is ADFSBuffers and what is the best setting for it? ADFSBuffers are Read Ahead and Write Behind buffers for ADFS on your Archimedes. These are designed to improve the speed of filing operations by doing work at optimum times. There are some side effects of using them though. When active under RISC OS v2.00 and v2.01 discs must be dismounted before being removed from the floppy drive. Failure to do so results in the dreaded 'FileCore in use.' error. However if you are prepared to sacrifice the speed improvement they give configuring the buffers to 0 does remove this problem. (Or so I am informed.) Under RISC OS v3.00, as supplied with the early A5000 machines, these buffers generate a different problem and must always be configured off. Failure to do so results in spurious errors when using the Hard Drive on an early A5000. Symptoms include reformatting of crucial sectors of the disc, disc address errors and general failure to save files to the drive. So when using an A5000 with RISC OS 3.00 remember to configure them off! With RISC OS v3.10 all of the old problems have been cured with a new one introduced. Namely that if you have only a few ADFSBuffers configured and are accessing the floppy drive then your machine can occasionally lock up completely for you. It appears that any value of ADFSBuffers above 8 causes that problem to be largely alleviated (read it only occurs rarely at these settings). So under RISC OS 3.10 it is reccomended that you set your ADFSBuffers to 8+. There is a patch module available, called ADFSUtils, that does fix this problem - contact your local dealer for a copy of it. RISC OS 3.5 seems to have all of these problems cured and no new bugs introduced. Under 3.5 the number of ADFSBuffers can be left at the OS's discretion and generally the OS chooses a number based on the amount of memory present in your RiscPC. As for the optimum settings for ADFSBuffers, as far as I am aware no one has done any speed tests to see what is the best setting. Presumably though Acorn will have arranged for the system to start up (Well except for RO3.00...) in the optimum state for most uses. I would be interested in anyone who has done speed tests sending me the results of their investigations.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2) How do I enable solid drags in RISC OS 3? Solid drags are controlled by bit 1 in byte 28 of the CMOS RAM. Setting this bit enables solid drags on all solid drag 'aware' applications. However setting this bit using a *FX command from the command line is a foolish way to do it, as this will unset/set the other 7 bits in that byte which have meaning to FileSwitch and the Wimp. Accordingly the reccomended way to set this bit is using a program like this BASIC one enclosed below :- REM Toggle state of DragASprite bit in CMOS REM Read byte SYS "OS_Byte",161,&1C TO ,,byte% REM EOR byte with mask for bit 1 byte% = byte% EOR %10 REM Write byte back again SYS "OS_Byte",162,&1C,byte% END Which safely sets bit 1 while preserving the settings of the other bits. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 4: Hardware problems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1) What do the hard drive error numbers mean? The error numbers returned indicate the type of error encountered. Exactly why slightly more meaningful messages are not returned I am unsure. The error codes meanings are as follows :- ST506 error codes &01 ABT Command abort has been accepted &02 IVC Invalid command &03 PER Command parameter error &04 NIN Head positioning, disc access, or drive check before SPC has been issued &05 RTS TST command invalid after SPC &06 NUS USELD for a selected drive has not been returned &07 WFL Write fault has been detected on the ST506 interface &08 NRY Ready signal has been negated &09 NSC Seek completed (SCP) wasn't returned before a timeout &0A ISE SEK, or disc access command issued during seek &0B INC Next cylinder address greater than number of cylinders &0C ISR Invalid step rate: highest-speed seek specified in normal seek mode &0D SKE SEK or disc access command issued to drive with seek error &0E OVR Data overrun (memory slower than drive) &0F IPH Head address greater then number of heads &10 DEE Error Correction Code (ECC) detected an error &11 DCE CRC error in data area &12 ECR ECC corrected an error &13 DFE Fatal ECC error in data area &14 NHT In CMPD command data mismatched from host and disc &15 ICE CRC error in ID field (not generated for ST506) &16 TOV ID not found within timeout &17 NIA ID area started with an improper address mask &18 NDA Missing address mark &19 NWR Drive write protected IDE errors - As ST506, except: &02 IVC Command aborted by controller &07 WFL Write fault &08 NRY Drive not ready &09 NSC Track 0 not found &13 DFE Uncorrected data error &16 TOV Sector ID field not found &17 NIA Bad block mark detected &18 NDA No data address mark &20 No DRQ when expected &21 Drive busy when commanded &22 Drive busy on command completion &23 Controller did not respond within timeout &24 Unknown code in error register ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2) What can I do with a 'Broken Directory' or a corrupt Free Space Map? There are various programs out there now which fix this problem. The PD ones all are 'caveat emptor' programs but are worth trying if you vitally need to recover some files, or just don't have the floppy disc/streamer space to back your drive up. In the FAQ maintainer's experience the utility 'fsck' (a shareware utility available at good FTP sites near you) works reliably and well. Another shareware tool is DiscEdit - strictly speaking it is a disc sector editor but it also contains routines for directory repair. Even so it is recommended that if you have critical data on your drive you should use one of these tools to recover the data and then reformat the drive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3) What does the power on self-test check? The power on self test was introduced with RISC OS 3.0 and later versions of the OS. On power up your machine checks the hardware for physical faults before letting you use it, hopefully signalling important errors to you before further hardware damage can result. The purple screen at power on indicates that the self-test has begun. A brief ROM, RAM, VIDC and IOC test is performed and then the screen colour changes to blue and a full memory test is performed, along with a second test of the VIDC and IOC. When the screen returns to purple, the machine is testing for an ARM3. At the end of this sequence the screen colour is set to green (for pass) or red (for fail). If the tests have all passed then the machine starts to boot and the RISC OS 3 welcome screen is displayed. If any test fails, the screen will remain red and the disc drive light will blink a fault code. A short flash is used to indicate a binary '0' and a long flash indicates a binary '1'. The bits are grouped into eight nybbles (blocks of four bits) with the most significant bit first. The lowest seven bits are a status word. The meaning of each bit is given below in hex :- 00000001 Self-test due to power on 00000002 Self-test due to interface hardware 00000004 Self-test due to test link 00000008 Long memory test performed 00000010 ARM 3 fitted 00000020 Long memory test disabled 00000040 PC-style IO world detected Bits 8-31 indicate the fault code and are described below. Not all the bits are used. 00000200 ROM failed checksum test 00000400 MEMC CAM mapping failed 00000800 MEMC protection failed 00004000 VIDC Virq (video interrupt) timing failed 00008000 VIDC Sirq (sound interrupt) timing failed 00020000 RAM control line failure 00040000 Long RAM test failure Some third party VIDC enhancers on older hardware trigger the self test to fail. If you are getting a failed self test with a VIDC enhancer, yet the machine is working fine, enter and run this BASIC program and then save your CMOS settings :- REM Toggle state of power on self test bit in CMOS REM Read byte SYS "OS_Byte",161,&BC TO ,,byte% REM EOR byte with mask for bit 1 byte% = byte% EOR %10000000 REM Write byte back again SYS "OS_Byte",162,&BC,byte% END This modifies the self test to cope with the VIDC enhancer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4) My Real Time Clock has paused, how do I restart it? This is a problem caused most often by 'rogue' software chatting to the IIC bus and incorrectly setting the pause bit on the RTC control register. Symptoms of this happening are that the time is always the same everytime you reboot and the software clock tends to run slightly slow (losing about a minute every hour or so.). If you are experiencing these symptoms this program should restart your RTC clock :- REM poke RTC control register REM Bit 0 1 REM 7 Count ResetDivider REM 6 Count HoldLastCount REM write 0 for normal operation, write &80 or &40 freezes RTC DIM cmosdata% 16 !cmosdata%=&00000000 REM write 0 twice to RTC, first 0 is address- control reg REM second is control reg value 0 is defualt i.e. clock on SYS &240, &A0, cmosdata%,2 END You will need to reset the time after running this program but hopefully your RTC will keep the correct time from here on in. If the same symptoms persist after trying this program contact your local Acorn dealer as something more serious has gone wrong. Note that to check that the symptoms are persisting you must reboot your machine after running this program and having set the time. This is due to the way RISC OS maintains a 'soft' copy of the real time clock and until you reboot it will not be obvious whether your RTC has indeed started working again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5) Why doesn't *Speaker work on my machine? The *Speaker command does not work on new models of Acorn machines. The A300, A400, A3000, A540, A5000 and A4 all had software control of the inbuilt speaker. With newer machines this feature has been removed in favour of a automatic hardware cut off of the speaker when a jack is inserted into the sound socket on the machine. However to ensure compatibility with old software the command *Speaker has been left in the OS, it merely doesn't do anything. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5: Software Issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1) Why does DOSFS corrupt my files occasionally? Under RISC OS 3 DOS, and indeed with any other ImageFS filing system, discs are treated as one large file and ADFS applies write-behind caching to nearly everything it does. (See the question on ADFSBuffers for more details about this.) This means while working on a DOS disc the entire disc is treated as one large open file. However as long as a file is held open the cache is not flushed out fully till the machine is explicitly told to do so. This means when working with non-ADFS format discs always dismount them before removing them from the drive. With ADFS format discs this is not so critical, as files aren't held open during most operations on them, but it is good to get into the habit of dismounting floppy discs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2) Where can I obtain the latest version of module X? All patch modules, official Acorn OS extensions and the like can be sourced from the Acorn ftp sites. Ideally your dealer will also have copies of them too and you should be able to obtain them from them. (If they don't you may like to pass on the ones from the ftp site, if you request them, so that they are up to-date.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3) What are the current File-type allocation ranges? Acorn have reallocated the File-type ranges for applications. The new ranges are :- Non-user area &E00-&FFF Acorn &B00-&DFF Commercial software &A00-&AFF Acornsoft, and other commercial software &400-&9FF Commercial Software User area &100-&3FF Non-commercial distributed software (ie PD) &000-&0FF User's personal usage (ie non-distributed) 75% of the user area is for PD/Shareware, with allocations co-ordinated by Acorn. If your software is going to be distributed, you should have an allocated filetype to avoid clashes. Acorn cannot publish it's master list of filetypes because, at any given time, it will contain allocations made for products which have not yet been announced. Therefore, Acorn would be in breach of confidence by doing so - and the editing overhead for producing a sanitised list is too great. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4) Is there a Modula 2 compiler for the Arc? Currently, no. Acorn did have, in the early days of the experimental ARM work, an in house compiler. However this compiler was sufficiently unstable and buggy to be unreleasable as commercial product and was only used because in house support was available immediately to the users of the compiler. When Olivetti invested in Acorn this technology went to them so that Acorn no longer have even an in house Modula 2 compiler. However some companies have stated intentions to produce Modula 2 compilers for the Arc. Whether these intentions become reality has yet to be seen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5) What Public Domain Languages are available for Acorn machines? The answer to this is a list that is maintained by Gavin Wraith (G.Wraith@sussex.ac.uk) . Accordingly updates, corrections and other comments should all be sent to him. ******** PD Languages for Risc OS *********** Version 4. (20/02/95) New: BinProlog 3.3 On the usenet group comp.compilers there is regularly posted an archive of PD compilers and interpreters (about 373K's worth of information) by D.Sharnoff and A.Robenalt. Enquiries to compilers-request@iecc.com. Here is an incomplete list of PD programming languages available for Risc OS machines, with brief comments (no flames please). If you think I have omitted a significant item, I will be grateful to hear about it. My thanks to Al Slater for the latest item. Most items be obtained by anonymous ftp from http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/micros/arch/riscos/ where is as specified below. Imperative languages -------------------- Charm - A Pascal like compiled language. Not portable. Available from some PD mail order dealers, I think. Personal opinion: sweet but limited. PC - Pascal. = a/a122. Personal opinion: No experience of it. I find Pascal over-didactic and clumsy. Icon - Griswold, 1970's. A descendant of SNOBOL4 with Pascal-like syntax. Icon is a general-purpose language with special features for string scanning. "The Icon Programming Language", Ralph & Marge Griswold, 2nd ed P-H 1990. ftp://cs.arizona.edu list: icon-group@arizona.edu = a/a106 Personal opinion: A rolling stone from the past. GRS = b/b062 Personal opinion: I could not get it to work. Ada = c/c052. Kevin Quinn writes: This is a port of Ada/Ed, which is an Ada'83 implementation that compiles to an intermediate code which is interpreted. Useful to try all that Ada out when commercial compilers cost on the order of 10K and the GNU Ada9X (GNAT) is still incomplete. Not really for developing WIMP applications :-) Ada is used extensively in the military embedded market (where its use is mandated) and more recently in a flood of air-traffic control systems. Popular with relatively high integrity systems. Ada is a much bigger language than C/Pascal etc - packages, tasks, run-time range checks and very strong type constraints are the main features. Lacking a couple of bits and bobs for effective object-oriented programming, although most Ada software is object-based. Ada9X brings in all the object oriented stuff (run-time polymorphism and the like). GCC = b/b013. GNU C and C++. Portable. Based on GCC 2.4.5. Release 2.2. Personal opinion: Not for beginners or those with limited RAM. Its availability is a very significant development, especially as the rise of Linux enhances the importance of GNU software. Armbob 2.1 = b/b178. Not portable. C-like, object oriented language. Supports wimp programming. Implicit typing. Compiles to intermediate code for a virtual stack machine which is then run. Personal opinion: Just the ticket for beginners who want something more flexible than but as easy as Basic. Perl = a/a049. Kevin Quinn writes: Combines the best features of Awk, Grep, Sed and C to make a great language for text processing. Martin Portman has written a newsreader for the Arc with it (martin@tumble.demon.co.uk). SMALLTALKS ---------- LITTLEST = a/a102 David G.Jones writes: Little Smalltalk By Tim Budd, latest version 3.14. This follows a mix of Smalltalk-80 and its predecessor -76. Designed more for the casual/child user, reflecting the original idea of the project. Contains a reduced and more straightforward view. Slow but does not require too much memory. GNUST = c/c045 GNU Smalltalk 1.1.1. David G.Jones writes: This is an attempt to implement the core of the Smalltalk-80 definition. Quite demanding in terms of memory and CPU speed. Quite a few bugs. Lacks the charm of ST-80 without the window environment. FORTH variations ---------------- Personal opinion: Some people go wild over Forth. Look at all the articles on it in old magazines. It is not for beginners, and it misses out on all the developments of the last 20 years. Fascinating for implementors, a pain in the stack for users. Forthmacs = c/c073 AForth = a/a293 TileForth = a/a111 Written in C for portability. Almost as weird as Forth is J (son of APL) J = a/a165 Personal opinion: Dijkstra got the size of it when he said that APL was a language developed to perfection - in the wrong direction. IBM once adopted APL - can one be ruder? Declarative Languages --------------------- BinProlog 3.3 = d/d005 Al Slater claims that this is the fastest Prolog available for Risc OS, commercial versions included. Full Edinburgh- style syntax. SB-Prolog = a/a067 Personal opinion: I find relations a lot clumsier than functions. Hope = a/a139 Eager evaluation, but lists can have lazy tails. Personal opinion: I believe this started out as a project at Imperial College, but the code (in Pascal) was so awful that they disowned it. I found it a bit flaky. Hope has been superseded by later languages. SML = a/a216 Eager evaluation. No modules. Personal opinion: Fairly basic core language, using a bytecode interpreter. Good choice for a beginner armed with a good text book (e.g. Wikstroem). Poor interface to low level. Gofer 2.30 = a/a262 Lazy evaluation. Type classes. Gofer was developed as an expermental tool for investigating Haskell's ground-breaking type class system. Personal opinion: This language represents the very latest in ideas about types, and it is sweet to use, too. The low level interface is poor, so it is hardly the language for exploiting the machine, but for teaching or for symbolic manipulation it is wonderful. Hugs 1.0 "Haskell Users' Gofer System". Like Gofer but closer to the Haskell 1.2 standard ("Haskell for the micro"). Has arbitray size integers. Availability - on Hensa and Stuttgart when Acorn get round to assigning filetypes for script and project files. Lisp Family ----------- Personal opinion: These packages tend to be unsuitable for beginners by reason of lack of good documentation or useful low-level interface, though there are plenty of books to cover non-machine-specific aspects. Lisp, or at least, Scheme is potentially a winner for beginners because it is simple, powerful and there are lots of good text books. It has been an educational tool in the USA for years. GNU is going to adopt it as a scripting language. Down side is - no types, too many brackets, missed out on recent developments in programming language design. I have had some experience with EdScheme (not PD) which I found excellent. I have not had sufficient experience with the others to comment. Maybe readers out there can help? Clisp = c/c189 Common Lisp, interpreter and compiler. Should be more portable than other entries here. Xlisp = a/a103 XScheme = a/a138 Siod = a/a275 Xlisp+ = b/b076 GNU Scheme = b/b105 symbolic maths, graphics Foolslisp = c/c162 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.6) Why does the RO3.5 desktop sometimes revert to the system font? This is due to a bug in the RISC OS 3.5 Wimp module. Applications that have outline fonts in their icons and a validation string of R5 or R6 (slabbed icon) will trigger this bug and cause the desktop to revert to the system font. There are two solutions to this problem depending on your level of computer literacy. The easiest solution, for people who are very shy of template editors, is to complain to the author(s) of the application about this problem and get them to fix it. If you are not shy of template editors you could also go in and edit the applications templates so that none of the slabbed icons have outline fonts in them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.7) Why does ChangeFSI display a blank white window, not an image? Version 1.13S of ChangeFSI now has the RISC OS 3.6 JPEG support built into it. However the code has been designed to fail ' gracefully ' if the support code is not available in the OS. For instance when you run the software on versions of the OS older than RISC OS 3.6. In this case a blank white window is displayed. To regain normal use of ChangeFSI go to the main menu and select Sprite Output instead of JPEG output. Next time you load a picture, or reprocess the current one, an image will be displayed. The JPEG Output option is not greyed out because even though no image is displayed you can still save the processed file as a JPEG. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 6: Viruses. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1) How can I protect against viruses? Pineapple Software have produced a program called !Killer, which is the definitive means of checking for or killing viruses. See the next question. Other than !Killer there are one or two commercial virus killers. SmartKill is one of these and information about it can be obtained from MGResearch. (See section 6.3) There are also a few PD programs around, but these tend to detect only a small subset of the viruses in circulation. !VKiller used to be OK, but it is no longer maintained, is now seriously out of date and fails to work under RISC OS 3. Out of the PD virus utilities the current best is Tor Houghton's Scanner. This detects most known viruses and removes quite a few as well and serves as a good secondary defence if Killer is unavailable to you. Scanner should be available on various FTP/Email servers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2) Where can I obtain !Killer? It is now a commercial product and will be distributed by Pineapple Software. Who can be reached at:- 39 Brownlea Gardens, Seven Kings, Ilford, ESSEX IG3 9NL Tel. +44 (181) 599 1476 Fax +44 (181) 598 2343 via email :- sales@pinesoft.demon.co.uk support@pinesoft.demon.co.uk Or if you need a German version of the program you can contact Uffenkamp Computer Systeme at :- Gartenstr. 3, D-32130 Enger. Tel. +49 (5224) 69644 Fax +49 (5224) 7812 via email :- ucsorder@ucs.de usupport@ucs.de Early versions (up to 1.26) are PD, but should not be used now as they are ineffective against the new crop of viruses that have subsequently appeared since it's release. It is the FAQ maintainer's opinion that this is the commercial virus killer to buy.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3) Where can I obtain !SmartKill!? This is a comercial product put out by MGResearch. They can be reached at :- MGResearch, 46 Corringway, Church Crookham, Fleet, Hants, GU13 OAW, England. via email :- 42327@sixth.demon.co.uk (Mike Goodwin) As far as I am aware no PD version of this has been released. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 7: Network Resources. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1) What archives/FTP sites are available? See the regular (fortnightly) posting by Gerben Vos. This posting is also available from an email server at MIT. To request it from this server send an email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. No subject is needed and the body should contain :- send /pub/usenet/news.answers/acorn/archives ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.2) What Acorn related companies are available on the net via email? There are quite a few companies now on the net and reachable via email with more joining as time passes. Here is the list of companies that have given permission to be entered here in the FAQ. If the email address is to a person rather than either an automated system or perhaps a group of people I have placed the name of the person in brackets after the email address description. 3SL Ltd :- sales@sssl.demon.co.uk Information about products and prices. Acorn Computers (Uk) :- customer.services@acorn.co.uk Enquiries and product information. RiscPC.techquery@acorn.co.uk RiscPC information. The Advisory Unit :- info@advunit.demon.co.uk General enquiries. alun@advunit.demon.co.uk (Alun Hinder) Aleph One :- Sales@aleph1.co.uk Information about products and prices. Support@aleph1.co.uk After-sales support. Alternative Publishing Ltd :- sales@altpvb.demon.co.uk Sales, service and upgrades ANT Ltd :- sales@ant.co.uk Sales and general enquiries. support@ant.co.uk Technical support. Archive magazine :- parky@argonet.co.uk Internet columnist (Dave Pantling) paul.NCS@paston.co.uk Editor (Paul Beverley) The ARM Club :- clubinfo@nucleus.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... ARMed Forces Software :- AForces@spark.demon.co.uk Product Support Armstrong Walker Ltd :- Andy@armswalk.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... (Andy Armstrong) Nigel@armswalk.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... (Nigel Walker) Atomwide :- Sales@atomwide.co.uk Information about products and prices. Support@atomwide.co.uk After-sales support. Beebug Ltd :- sales@beebug.co.uk Sales. info@beebug.co.uk General enquiries. ruser@beebug.co.uk Email for Risc User. technical@beebug.co.uk Technical enquiries for our products and items purchased from Beebug. Castle Technology :- Sales@castlet.demon.co.uk Info, Products, Prices, Ordering etc. Support@castlet.demon.co.uk Support issues etc. Clares Micro Supplies :- DClare@Clares.demon.co.uk General enquiries. (Dave Clare) GOwen@Clares.demon.co.uk General enquiries. (Gareth Owen) DJackson@Clares.demon.co.uk Technical enquiries. (David Jackson) Sales@Clares.demon.co.uk Ordering and sales information. Colton Software :- info@colton.co.uk Automated reply, listing services available. sales@colton.co.uk general sales etc. support@colton.co.uk technical support on existing products. Computer Concepts :- info@cconcepts.co.uk Automated reply, giving information. sales@cconcepts.co.uk For credit card orders of products. support@cconcepts.co.uk Technical support for products. Comspec :- acorn_info@comrad.comspec.com Canadian Acorn dealer. Enquiries about Acorn hardware and products welcome including USA enquiries. (Domenic DeFrancesco) Cumbria :- sales@cumsoft.demon.co.uk General sales enquiries. David Pilling Software :- david@pilling.demon.co.uk All enquiries to this address. Desktop Projects Ltd :- info@desktopp.demon.co.uk General enquiries sales@desktopp.demon.co.uk Sales information and orders support@desktopp.demon.co.uk Customer technical support line DoggySoft :- sales@doggysoft.co.uk Sales information and orders support@doggysoft.co.uk Customer technical support line I-Cubed Ltd :- advice@i-cubed.demon.co.uk Pre sales advice / general queries support@i-cubed.demon.co.uk After sales support / technical queries sales@i-cubed.demon.co.uk Pricing / Availability / Dealers etc. Iota Software :- support@iota.co.uk Enquires & support for Iota products. Learning Curve Software Systems :- banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz Enquiries & technical support. (Philip R. Banks) howard_s@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz Enquiries. (Steve Howard) wright_j@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz Enquiries & technical support. (Julian Wright) Machine Love :- csyss1@scs.leeds.ac.uk Enquries etc... (Shane Suebsahakarn) Meu Cymru :- info@meucymru.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... MGResearch :- 42327@sixth.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... (Mike Goodwin) Micro Laser Designs :- info@microlas.demon.co.uk General Enquiries sales@microlas.demon.co.uk Sales Enquiries users@microlas.demon.co.uk User Group Enquiries Millipede Electronic Graphics :- sales@millipede.dungeon.com Information on products and current prices. support@millipede.dungeon.com After-sales support. richard@millipede.dungeon.com If all else fails! (Richard Jozefowski) Minerva Software :- minerva@zynet.co.uk Enquiries etc... Mirage Enterprises :- Sales@spark.demon.co.uk Sales Enquiries Support@spark.demon.co.uk Product Support Moray Micro Computing :- sales@m-micro.demon.co.uk Sales Enquiries. Norwich Computer Services :- sales.NCS@paston.co.uk Sales tech.NCS@paston.co.uk Technical help Octupus Systems :- PSkirrow@arcade.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc... (Paul Skirrow) Old Mother Software :- main@oldmothr.demon.co.uk General enquiries info@oldmothr.demon.co.uk Product information tech@oldmothr.demon.co.uk Technical support Oregan Software Developments :- sales@oregan.demon.co.uk General enquiries, product info and credit card orders support@oregan.demon.co.uk Technical queries Paradise :- info@paradise1.compulink.co.uk Product Information support@paradise1.compulink.co.uk Support/feedback. PEP Associates :- info@pep-assoc.co.uk Product information. support@pep-assoc.co.uk Product support. Quantum Software :- Info@quantumsoft.co.uk Info about products, version numbers, etc. Support@quantumsoft.co.uk Technical support for customers. Sales@quantumsoft.co.uk General info about products and prices, etc. Resource :- Info@Resourcekt.co.uk General information etc... Sales@Resourcekt.co.uk Credit card orders. Support@Resourcekt.co.uk Technical support. SENLAC Computing :- sykesp@senlac.demon.co.uk Enquiries etc. (Peter R. Sykes) The Serial Port :- altman@cryton.demon.co.uk Software support. bob@cryton.demon.co.uk Retail enquiries. jim@cryton.demon.co.uk To reach Jim Nagel, author of the Acorn column in Computer Shopper magazine. pcats@cryton.demon.co.uk Hardware support Sherston Software :- sales@sherston.co.uk Sales and Product information. support@sherston.co.uk Technical support/queries etc. Spacetech Imaging Technology :- sales@spacetec.demon.co.uk Sales and Product information. support@spacetec.demon.co.uk Technical Support. Supreme Software Systems Ltd :- info@supreme.demon.co.uk All Enquiries. Thinx Solutions :- Thinx@spark.demon.co.uk Sales Enquiries and Product Support Uffenkamp Computer Systeme :- ucsinfo@ucs.de Product information, events et al. usupport@ucs.de After sales support, technical queries. ucsorder@ucs.de Sales enquiries. Uniqueway :- info@uniqway.demon.co.uk General queries, product related or otherwise. support@uniqway.demon.co.uk Support for products. (Serial number should be quoted where relevant.) sales@uniqway.demon.co.uk For credit card orders. Vertical Twist :- sales@equinoxe.demon.co.uk Enquiries, orders etc. techsup@equinoxe.demon.co.uk Technical support. Warm Silence Software :- Robin.Watts@prg.ox.ac.uk Enquiries etc. (Robin Watts) Wyddfa Software :- gwilliams@cix.compulink.co.uk Enquiries etc. (Gwyn Williams) Zynet Ltd :- zynet@zynet.co.uk Enquiries etc... If you are a company and you would like to included in this list please send me an email, to the address specified at the bottom of the FAQ, detailing the email addresses and their general function. I will then include them into the FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Path: news1.ucsd.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.OZ.AU!comp.vuw.ac.nz!central.co.nz!khantazi.central.co.nz!banksie From: banksie@khantazi.central.co.nz (Philip R. Banks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.announce,comp.sys.acorn.misc,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Comp.Sys.Acorn FAQ List Posting (Part 3/3) Followup-To: comp.sys.acorn.misc Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 01:05:48 +1300 Organization: My Arc. Lines: 660 Approved: aglover@acorn.co.uk,news-answers-request@mit.edu Expires: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 01:05:47 +1300 Message-ID: Reply-To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz NNTP-Posting-Host: khantazi.central.co.nz Keywords: Frequent Questions Answers Xref: news1.ucsd.edu comp.sys.acorn.announce:748 comp.sys.acorn.misc:12717 comp.answers:13171 news.answers:51415 Archive-name: acorn/faq/part3 Frequency: bi-weekly 7.3) Why are comp.{binaries,sources}.acorn empty? Submissions are on the low side these days, accordingly little is posted. If you would like to submit something either post directly to the group (and your News software will email it to the appropriate place) OR, preferrably, email it to poor@esu6.auckland.ac.nz with a covering description of what the software does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.4) How to retreive the FAQ from the source... As I frequently update the FAQ between postings you may wish to get the latest and most up-todate copy of the FAQ before it next gets posted. There are two ways to do this. Firstly read it off the web at http://www.central.co.nz/~philip/Archives/FaqHTML.html . Secondly I maintain an email server on my personal machine for people to use. Due to the various complications at my end, and a distinct desire to minimise email charges incurred to myself, the email server shares my email address with me. To use the server send an email message looking something like this :- To: banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz Subject: ServerMail ---message text begins--- Help: In this case it will send a help file to you detailing how to use the server. Be aware that the spelling and case of the subject line is very important. My software searches for email with exactly this subject line automatically once a day and it is case & spelling sensitive. Failure to type this correctly will result in your message appearing in my normal email list and depending on my mood may, or may not, be adjusted to reach the email server. The server understands and uses Reply-To: headers but has distinct problems sending material to bang path addressed sites. (Well to be more accurate it has problems sending to any site that has an ! in the email address.) If you are using a site with such addressing then I am afraid the email server will be unable to help you. Also please ensure that your From: header, or your Reply-To: header if you using that, is valid. Email file requests that bounce due to this tend to annoy me and repeat offenders will be placed on the server's 'to be ignored' list. As well as the FAQ and it's related files I store a small collection of technical documents, 'special' data files and other generally useful data on the server. To obtain a listing of all the sections available to you, and the contents of those sections, send a message as detailed above but instead of help put :- Section: index in the body of the message. Please be aware that this server is at the tail end of a 2400 baud link so while you are most welcome to use it I must ask that you try to source any files from other sites before using this server and to strictly follow the guidelines outlined above. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.5) What WWW pages are out there for Acorn topics? Web pages are popping up all over the place these days, especially now that Web client software exists for Acorn machines. This list of Web pages is checked periodicly by myself for validity but I make no claims that URL's present here are currently valid. A more comprehensive list is contained in the fortnightly FTP servers list maintained by Gerben Vos. * http://www.acorn.co.uk/ Acorn Computers WWW pages. * http://www.cybervillage.co.uk/acorn/ The Acorn CyberVillage pages - dealers, developers, information, software and low cost web rental. * http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk:80/Societies/Acorn/ The Acorn computer user WWW Server. - contains pointers to other Acorn Web pages. * http://www.stir.ac.uk/~rhh01/Main.html "Acorn On The Net" list page - contains pointers to other Acorn Web pages. * http://www.ant.co.uk/ ANT Ltd web pages. * http://http1.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~cs92adf/ The ARM Club home page. * http://www.icafe.co.za/mirage/ARMedForces ARMed Forces Software WWW pages. * http://www.geko.com.au/riscman/ Australian Acorn Enthusiast Web site. * http://www.doggysoft.co.uk/ Doggysoft's WWW pages. * http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/users/u1smt/u1smt.html "The Jungle" Simon Truss's web page containing pointers to a variety of other web pages. * http://www.zynet.co.uk/minerva/ Minerva Software's home page. * http://www.demon.co.uk/oldmothr/ Old Mother Software. * http://www.pobox.com/~netline RISC User netline pages. * http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/users/robin.watts/ Robin Watts' home pages. * http://www.zynet.co.uk/ Zynet Ltd's home page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.6) What Acorn BBS's are there? This list is maintained by Chris Claydon, it is by no means complete and some items of information are missing, but all reasonable efforts will be made to keep it up-to-date. Please send correction, additions etc. to aforces@spark.demon.co.uk or at Fido 2:252/501 RiscNet 7:44/212 or at ARMed Forces BBS. The latest version of this list is both posted every two weeks in the Acorn FAQ list and is always available on the WWW site: http://www.icafe.co.za/mirage/ARMedForces in the Archive section. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBS name Phone number Times Speeds Location ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arcade 01816 542212 24 hour 300-28800 Croydon, London 01816 554412 24 hour Arc-Forum 01506 440367 24 hour 300-14400 Scotland Archiboard Central 01603 744231 24 hour Norwich Arctic 01819 031308 24 hour London 01819 031309 24 hour ARMed Forces 01962 880003 24 hour 9600-14400 Winchester Digital Databank 01707 323531 24 hour 300-28800 Welwyn Garden City 01707 323032 24 hour 300-28800 Equinox 01705 871531 24 hour Portsmouth Furzefield HQ 01494 681711 24 hour Beaconsfield Galaxy 01617 079306 24 hour 300-14400 Eccles InterComm Central 01819 598868 24 hour 300-14400 Mill Hill, London Northern ARM 01274 530831 24 hour 300-14400 Bradford Pangill 01723 581460 2100-0700 300-14400 Scarborough Renegade 01224 621956 24 hour 300-14400 Scotland Rich in Paradise 01716 240740 24 hour 300-14400 London Skyline Online 01812 556912 24 hour 300-2400 London StarNet (Schoolnet) 01603 507216 24 hour 300-14400 Norwich The Plasma Sphere 01925 757920 24 hour 300-14400 Lymm, Cheshire 01925 757921 24 hour 300-14400 World of Cryton 01749 670030 24 hour Wells (Somerset) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 8: Compatibility with other Machines. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1) How compatible with other systems is an Acorn machine? PC :- The Archimedes can handle DOS discs (720k; the A5000 and later models can also handle 1.44M floppies). In RO3, this is built in, under RO2 you have to use one of the (PD) utilities. There are two PC (software) emulators that can handle most PC software, three if you count the fact that Acorn's offering is split into two emulator programs. There are also PC cards, containing an 80x86 processor and other PC hardware, which uses the Archimedes' disc and video. All emulators are multitasking (and not PD). RiscPC machines, by adding a 486 processor card, can fully emulate a PC. Unix :- Unix software can be ported (and in fact many packages already have been) with the help of UnixLib, which is PD. Memory-hungry ports, such as gcc, can be run with the aid of !Virtual (also PD). Of course if your really desperate to run Unix software it might be advisable to buy RISCiX, the Acorn flavour of Unix. Mac :- Software has been released that reads Macintosh High Density discs and there is some out there which claims to read the low density ones as well (I have yet to verify this personally though) so that the shifting of files to and from a Macintosh is possible. Also most modern Macintoshs can, like Acorn machines, read and write PC format discs so transfer is possible via that medium as well. There is no Mac emulator available. Atari ST :- Like PC floppies, the Archimedes can read, write and format ST-format floppies. No emulator for the ST is known. Amiga :- The amiga uses an unusual disc format that is not easily read by other machines. Accordingly there is currently no Amiga format disc reader available. But Amiga's can read PC discs, so again transfers can occur via that medium. There is no Amiga emulator. Spectrum :- There are emulators around for this and Amstrad, the owners of the Sinclair copyright, have released permission for the ROM images, needed to run these emulators, to be copied and released with the emulators. Apple][ :- Again emulators are available for this. However they, like the Spectrum emulators, require a copy of the ROM image to work. The copyright of the ROM image for these machines, as far as I am aware, prevents them being distributed, so you have to source your own copy of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.2) Is there a BBC BASIC for other machines? The short answer is, yes. Macintosh :- A BBC BASIC environment was released some years back as a commercial product featuring compatibility with a limited subset of OS_Bytes and other features for limited compatibility with a BBC Model B. IBM Compats :- A version of BBC BASIC exists for these machines. Apparently it is fairly old and runs on any DOS better than 3.30. It features an inbuilt BASIC editor, limited OS_Byte support, some OSCLI commands and CGA standard graphics. I am unsure of it's copyright status, but it is available at ftp://ftp.misa.ac.ru/usr/pub/BBC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.3) Can I run 65Host on the Risc PC? Officially, no. Unofficially there is a patch that enables the Emulator to run fairly well. Unfortunately the patch does not correctly enable the break key; however, it does substitute the Scroll Lock key, so you can reset the emulator easily from inside the emulator. Here is the patch :- REM >HostPatch REM RISC PC !65Host patch REM Obtained from comp.sys.acorn.games REM Provided by stimpy@gladding.demon.co.uk (Tim Gladding) REM of Cambridge, England REM Tweaked to substitute ScrollLock for Break REM by arcsalt@spuddy.mew.co.uk (Darren Salt) SYS "OS_File",5,"<65Host$Dir>.!RunImage" TO t,,,,len DIM data len SYS "OS_File",255,"<65Host$Dir>.!RunImage",data FOR ptr=0 TO len-4 STEP 4 word=data!ptr CASE word OF WHEN &E3520402, &E2600402, &E3510402: data?ptr=&05 WHEN &13A0000F: data?ptr=&0E: REM key code for ScrollLock ENDCASE NEXT ptr SYS "OS_File",10,"<65Host$Dir>.!RunImage",&FFA,,data,data+len It is a BASIC program - simply enter it into the BASIC editor of your choice, let the filer see the copy of 65Host that is to be patched and run it. A copy of the 65Host emulator can be found on the Acorn FTP site. There is also a comercially avaliable BBC emulator, called 6502Em, available that works on the RiscPC range and boats improved compatibility, mostly with games, over the Acorn effort. Contact Warm Silence Software for details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.4) Can I read BBC B formated discs on a PC? Yes, a utility called BeebDos exists which claims to proide this functionality. It is a commercial program and was sold by :- MicroBoss Ltd, Business Orientated Software Systems Telephone: 01255 671095 (Uk number) 3 Hadleigh Road, Frinton on Sea, Essex, CO13 9HG. Unfortunately I am unaware if they currently still sell the program or not. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 9: Technical Details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.1) How do I get a faster interupt timer than the centisecond ones? For this you require the use of IOC Timer 1, a 2MHz timer unused by RISC OS and claimable by code for use. Details of how to program the timer are available in the IOC datasheets, or you could look for various PD utilities like TimerCtrl that handle the timer for you. I am informed that the forthcoming Acorn TimeCode system now has laid claim to Timer 1 and that software using it is deprecated. However if the software properly obeys the claiming protocols in RISC OS this, hopefully, shouldn't be a major problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.2) How can I create Interlaced GIFs on Acorn machines? Two utilities exist to let you create these. spr2gif will take a sprite and convert it to a gif file. It will interlace and render transparent the gif as well. For the transparency it uses the colour of the first masked pixel it encounters in the sprite - suitable for automated gif image creating. (No need to twiddle with specifying transparency colours.) The second utility, WebGIF, allows you to add transparency and interlacing to your GIFs as well. However you have to specify the transparency colour directly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 10: Risc PC PC Card Details. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1) What is the latest version of the Emulator software? The latest, released, version is 1.91 (with v1.92 on beta release) and it is available from the Acorn FTP sites. Features include memory up to 32Mb, fully redefiniable 256 colour modes and the addition of directly accessed SCSI drives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.2) Why does the serial port not work after using the card? With v1.87 of the controlling software if you choose 'Direct Serial', to enable the serial port under the emulator, and then quit the emulator it doesn't correctly release the serial port back to RISC OS. However a temporary patch is to uncomment the very last line of the !PC486.!Run file. Run .!RunImage |uncomment the next line if you need to use the serial port after using !PC | RMreinit SerialDeviceDriver Namely uncomment the RMreinit SerialDeviceDriver so that the above looks more like this. Run .!RunImage |uncomment the next line if you need to use the serial port after using !PC RMreinit SerialDeviceDriver Then you should find control of the serial port returned to RISC OS after you have finished with the emulator. As of v1.91 this has been fixed and the serial port will be released properly. The latest version can be obtained from the Acorn FTP site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.3) Why do Windows programs give me incorrect colours in a 256 colour mode? This can happen if you forgot to put a 'p' after colour descriptor in your Windows mode definition string. For example to configure the emulator to give windows a 1024x768 screen mode at 256 colours with fully programmable colours your string should look like this :- x1024y768c256p Note the p at the end of the line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.4) How much memory can I configure for the PC Emulator? Up to v1.86 of the software the upper limit was 16 Mb of memory. As of v1.87 that has been raised up to 32 Mb of memory. However, for some odd reason, after 16 Mb of memory the memory can be only configured in 4 Mb chunks. Consequently the possible values go 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, 20,24,28 & 32 Mb. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.5) Can I use Win95 with the card? Yes, however the installation of it is slightly more complicated than (should be) normal for a PC. Choose a custom setup and inform the Win95 installer of what hardware you have present, under the Video driver section install the default VGA driver. Then complete the install. Once it is installed you may then install the Arm video driver in a similar fashion as for the instructions for installing it under Windows 3.11. You should then be away. N.B. I don't actually have Win95 so am unable to test this at all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 11: Hardware Compatibility. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.1) What IDE drives work on Acorn machines? Here is a list of IDE drives known to either work or not work with Acorn hardware. If the drive appears with no notes then it will work fine with the machine specified. This list is maintained by Toby Smith (tcs@cs.bham.ac.uk) and all corrections, additions and updates should be emailed to him. The IDE Drives & Interfaces "What Works With What" list +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Manufacturer Part Number Size Interface Notes Conner CFS850A 850 ICS (FS 3.12) M-M2684TAM [1] Conner CFA540A 540 [4] WstrnDigtl Caviar 2540 540 Std/RiscPC E-IDE Quantum 540 DT Soft Format to 512M WstrnDigtl Maverick (?) 540 Std/RiscPC E-IDE Conner CFS540A 540 Std/A5000 S-CP3044 Conner CFS540A 540 Std/RiscPC Formats to 512M IBM 528 Std/RiscPC Odd noises! [3] Fujitsu M2684TAM 528 ICS Real 504M S-H3171-A2 [3] Seagate ST5660A 528 Std/RiscPC Format to 512M (1039 Cycls) Seagate 420 ICS Conner CFS420A 420 Watford Seagate 420 ICS Conner CFS420A 420 Std/A5000 M-CP3044 Conner CP30424 (?) 420 ICS Internal PSU Conner CFS420A 420 Std/RiscPC # Cooner CFS420A 420 Std/A5000 Seagate ST3491A 408 [2] Fujitsu M286T 340 Watford M-S-NEC D3756 Maxtor 7345A 340 Std/RiscPC S-CFS210. Wont work alone Fujitsu M2682T 340 Conner CP30254 250 ICS M-CP3044 S-CFS420A Conner CFS210A 210 Std/RiscPC # WstrnDigtl Caviar 200 Std/AnyAcorn WILL NOT WORK IBM H3171-A2 171 ICS M-M2984TAM Real 163MB Conner CP30174E 170 Std/A5000 Maxtor 7120 130 ICS Disable on-disc cache. (ICS util) SyQuest SQ3105 AT 105 Std/A5000 M-CP3044 S-CFS420A Rodime RO3139AP 100 Watford Works alone, wont co-exist. NEC D3756 100 Watford M-S-M286T Conner CP3085 (?) 85 ICS Running off computer's PSU too! Maxtor 7080 85 ICS Disable on-disc cache. (ICS util) Conner CF3008E 80 Std/A5000,A4000 # Maxtor 80 ICS (FS 2.03) Conner CP3044 40 Std/A5000 # S-SQ3105 AT Seagate ST51A/X 40 Std/RiscPC S-CFS420A Conner CP3044 40 ICS (FS 2.03) Seagate ST351A/X 40 Watford IDE PrairieTek 20 ICS (FS 2.01) Conner CFS1275A ? Std M-CFS425 Seagate ST9235AG 210 HCCS K3111: IDE + 2 slots for A3000 Enlargements to notes: [1] Formatted to 3 partitions 248M, 248M & 316M (to get small LFAU) [2] Seagate ST3491A Wont S/M to CFS240A (High end A5000). Will slave to CFS420A (Risc PC) [3] This drive recalibrates for thermal adjustments every 10mins, making a click. [4] CFA drives will work with RISC OS 3.60 (new Risc PCs, A7000) but not with older versions of the Acorn IDE interface. They will work on ICS interfaces though. (Badly defined part of IDE spec aparently) Understanding the list: 1. Interface = 'Std/****' indicates the IDE interface provided with the specified machine as part of the standard purchase package. 2. M-XXXXXX -Fitted as Master to drive (slave drive part number given) S-XXXXXX -Fitted as Slave to drive (Master drive part number given) 3. A '#' in the notes section indicates a drive provided packaged with the specified machine. 4. Sizes quoted are the 'manufacturer' sizes (for purchasing reference) remember that manufacturer Megabytes are 1000K, whereas formatted megabytes are 1024K... to get the 'real' size, multiply the number given by 1000, then divide by 1024. 5. Master / Slave information usually refers to other drives in the list! Disclaimer: This list reports the reported experiences of others. Neither the maintainer, nor the contributors are definately saying that these combinations will work - just that they have for them. So don't sue us! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.2) What are the master / slave link settings for my IDE Drive? Most of the modern drives have this information nicely on a label on the top of the drive, but some of the earlier ones don't. There follows a list of drive settings for some of the packaged drives. Extra submissions to Toby Smith (tcs@cs.bham.ac.uk) DRIVE AS SOLE AS MASTER AS SLAVE HSP C/D DSP ACT HSP C/D DSP ACT HSP C/D DSP ACT CP3044 - y - y - y y y - - - y CP3008E - y - - - y - - - - - - CP30126 - y - - - y y - - - - - CP30174E - y - - - y - - - - - - CFS210A - y - - - y - - - - - - CFS420A - y - - - y - - - - - - Link connectors are on the front of the drive, the narrower end that doesn't have the cables coming in, next to the activity light connector (which is missing on Risc PC Drives - it's on the motherboard) It should also be noted that if you need an extra linker don't expect it to have been provided (notably on the CF3008E, the 80M drive in the A4000 & A5000.) (Details translated from table by Dave Walker, as published in Acorn User Sept 95. Not all permutations have been tested, and we ain't promising!) Extra submisions welcome! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.3) What works with what? Here is a list of devices known to either work or not work with Acorn hardware. If the device appears with no notes then it will work fine with the machine specified. This list is maintained by Nigel Barrett (nigel@c3po.demon.co.uk) and all corrections, additions and updates should be emailed to him. The Computers, Peripherals and Interfaces List ============================================== (formerly known as the new What Works With What list) This list contains details of hardware known to work on Acorn computers, and is intended as a guide for those wanting to upgrade. The list covers all storage devices: hard discs, magneto-optical drives, tape, CD-rom, and related interfaces: ide, scsi, mfm, etc. *NEW* The list now covers modems and serial cards. This list is based on information from users. Please support the list by mailing your hardware details to nigel@c3po.demon.co.uk Corrections and comments are also welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comp Dev Dev Device Device Iface Iface Special model type info Manuf. Model info Manuf. Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A310 HD 250M Seagate ST3290A IDE TSP none A310 HD 120M Seagate ST3144A IDE Evolution none A310 HD 120M Quantum LPS127A IDE Evolution none A310 HD 47M Seagate 257 SCSI8b Lingen. none A310 HD 100M Quantum LP105S SCSIU Morley none A310 HD 330M Seagate ST2383N SCSIU Morley none A310 HD 516M Quantum Mav 540S SCSIU Morley none A310 HD 87M Fujitsu M2612S SCSIU Morley none A310 HD 700M Quantum Lightning SCSI Lingen. none 730S A310 HD 191M Maxtor LXT-200S SCSI Lingen. none A310 HD 80M Quantum P80S SCSI Oak none A310 HD 210M Quantum PD210S SCSI Oak external unit A310 HD 210M Conner CP3200F SCSI Oak Ext Apple A310 HD 110M Rodime RO-5125ST SCSI Oak Ext Apple A310 HD 60M Seagate ST-277N SCSI Oak Ext Apple A310 HD 46M Seagate ST157N SCSI1 Cuman/Oak none A310 HD 46M Seagate ST277N SCSI1 Oak Use Acorn SCSIFiler with RO31 A310 HD 340M Conner CFA340 SCSI1 Cuman/Oak none A310 HD 105M Quantum Prodrive SCSI Oak none A410/1 HD 115M IBM 7910A12r1 SCSIC Morley none A410/1 HD 170M Quantum Prodrive SCSIC Morley none A410/1 HD 1G HP C2247 SCSI2 Morley none A410/1 HD 213M Maxtor 7213S SCSIU Morley none A410/1 HD 1G HP C2247 SCSI8b Lingen. didn't work A410/1 HD 250M WestDig - IDE ICS none A410/1 HD 120M Quantum LPS127A IDE Evolution none A410/1 HD 335M Seagate ST3389A IDE Evolution none A410/1 HD 523M IBM DSAS-3540 SCSI16 Cumana none A410/1 HD 40M Seagate ST251/1 ST506 Acorn ext Case+PSU A410/1 HD 40M Seagate ST251/0 ST506 Acorn ext Case+PSU A410/1 HD 40M NEC D3156 ST506 Acorn none A410/1 HD 68M Seagate ST1100 ST506 Acorn none A420/1 HD 730M Quantum LT730S SCSI TSP 512M max. A420/1 HD 330M Maxtor 7345S SCSI TSP none A440 HD 66M Rodime RO3085S SCSI Lingen'ty none A540 HD 116M Conner CP30100 SCSI Acorn none LPS170 R140 HD 730M Quantm LT730S SCSIv3 Acorn (Used with RISCiX) R140 HD 330M Maxtor 7345S SCSIv3 Acorn (Used with RISCiX) A3000 HD 81M Quantum ELS85S SCSI Cumana none A3000 HD 51M Quantum LP52S SCSI Cumana none A3000 HD 42M NEC D3835 SCSI TSP(VTi) none A3000 HD 120M Castle - IDE Castle none A3000 HD 210M Seagate ST9325AG IDE HCCS HCCS K3111 A5000 HD 340M Conner CP30344 IDE Acorn none A5000 HD 210M Conner CP30204 IDE Acorn none A5000 HD 425M Conner CFS425A IDE Acorn none A5000 HD 1.06G Conner CFP1060S SCSI2 Cumana none A5000 HD 340M Quantum LPS340S SCSI Cumana none A4 HD 520M Fujitsu M2684S PSCSI Atomwide bid parallel RPC600 HD 1G Quantum Fireball IDE ICS none RPC600 HD 250M Seagate ST3290A IDE Acorn/ICS none RPC600 HD 420M Conner CFS420A IDE Acorn/ICS/TSP none RPC600 HD 540M IBM - IDE ICS Needed 20s to mount RPC600 HD 210M Conner CFS210A IDE Watford none RPC600 HD 540M Conner CFS540A IDE Acorn Filecore Limitation RPC600 HD 540M Conner CFS540A IDE Watford none RPC600 HD 335M Seagate ST3389A IDE Acorn none RPC600 HD 504M Quant LPS540A IDE Acorn none RPC600 HD 1G Seagate 31220A IDE ICS Master only RPC600 HD 540M WestDig WD2540H IDE Acorn RPC600 HD 1.2G Conner CFS1275A EIDE Acorn New filecore RPC600 HD 210M Conner CP3200F SCSI Oak Ext Apple *POSS PROBLEM WITH THIS DRIVE/INT: REQUIRED OCCASIONAL RMREINIT SCSI RPC600 HD 110M Rodime RO-5125ST SCSI Oak Ext Apple RPC600 HD 496M Fujitsu M2624F-512 SCSI1 TSP none RPC600 HD 121M Maxtor 7120SCS SCSI2 Cumana none (drive=scsi1) RPC600 HD 523M IBM DSAS-3540 SCSI2 Cumana none (drive=scsi1) RPC600 HD 2.1G Fujitsu 2915 SCSI2 Cumana New Filecore RPC600 HD 650M Cumana Proteus SCSI2 Cumana New Filecore RPC600 HD 1G Quantum Fireball SCSI2 Cumana none FB1080 RPC600 HD 850M Quantum TRB850S SCSI2 Cumana none A4 HD-R 105M Syquest - PSCSI Atomwide bid parallel RPC600 HD-R 105M Syquest - IDE ICS none A310 CD 3.4x Toshiba XM5201 SCSI1 Cuman/Oak CDX driver A310 CD x1 Sony CDU-541 SCSIU Morley none A410/1 CD 2x Apple CD300 SCSIC Morley AppleSony module A410/1 CD 2x Sanyo CRD-250S SCSI2 Morley none A420/1 CD 2x Apple CD300e SCSI TSP CDFS 2.2+ driver A5000 CD 4.4x Pioneer DR-U124X SCSI2 Cumana Eesox SCSI2dr A5000 CD 2x Toshiba XM-3401TA SCSI Cumana EESOX CDFS_SCSC2 driver for PHOTO CDs RPC600 CD 2x Cumana Indigo IDE Cumana none RPC600 CD 2x Apple CD300e SCSIv3 Acorn CDFS 2.2+ driver RPC600 CD x4 Toshiba XM-3601TA SCSI1 TSP EEsox SCSI2 driver RPC600 CD 4x Cumana Proteus SCSI2 Cumana none RPC600 CD - Plextor PX-4XCS SCSI2 Cumana none (drive=scsi1) RPC700 CD 2x Cumana Bravo SLCD Cumana Unplug CDFSAtapi RPC600 CD 4x NEC Multispin SCSI2 Power-tec none A5000 MO 230M Fujitsu M2512A SCSI Cumana none A310 5.25f 19M QUME HF24DR SCSIU Morley none A310 MODM 9k6 Pace MicroLin 19k2 Acorn (used with Arcfax v1.10+) A410/1 MODM 28.8 USR Sportster 115200 TSP 04/95 modem firmware A410/1 MODM 28.8 USR Sportster 9600 Acorn 04/95 modem firmware RPC600 MODM 28k8 USR V34 Courier 115k2 Acorn 07/95 modem firmware ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key: HD:Hard Disc HD-R: Removable Hard Disc CD: CD-ROM MO:Magneto-optical 5.25f: 5.25 inch floppy disc MODM: Modem Interface notes --------------- The RPC has an EIDE (Enhanced) controller Some quirks in the Watford Electronics IDE interface can be overcome using !IDEFiler by Brian Marsden The Serial Port SCSI interface = Arxe Alpha Dual (obsolete) The Morley SCSI1 interface is either cached or uncached. The maximum speeds of these are uncached: 2MB/s, cached: 4MB/s. Equivalents ----------- Manuf Model Manuf Model Apple CD300 Sony CDU-8003A Rev. 1.9a Cumana Proteus Panasonic -- Drive sizes ----------- Note that some manufacturers quote Megabytes as 1000K. This is of course totally incorrect but they like to cheat with numbers, so to get the _real_ size, multiply by 1000/1024. Versions of Risc OS older than 3.6 can only cope with drives < 512 MB. Larger drives can be used if formatted to this size. Some filing systems allow large drives to be partitioned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks go to all the people who have contributed corrections and additions to the list. Without this help this list would be a hell of alot buggier (spot the programmer... :-) ) than it is... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All additions, corrections & suggestions for the FAQ List should be sent to banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz. Being the maintainer of this FAQ I reserve the right to be wrong, incorrect, slow, out of date and generally how I please with the FAQ List. .