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RISCOS Select 2 - September 2002

We very much hope you have enjoyed the new features and improvements that we have been able to include in the RISC OS Select scheme so far. Your support of the scheme is crucial to our continued development of RISC OS 4 and we very much hope that you will want to renew your subscription to the scheme.

Some of the major new features released so far have included:

  • Easy entry of spaces into filenames
  • Correct numerical sorting of files
  • Creation of JPEG files from Paint
  • Creation of SVG files from Draw
  • New Screen savers
  • Hardware profiles
  • DHCP support.
  • Multi-User Logon.
  • A preview of the new !Printers with some new PDF's.
  • A preview of the new OmniClient with Appletalk support.
  • Built in Firewalling
  • Streamlined Boot sequence and much more.

The contents of the first CD included:-

  1. A full backup copy of the RISC OS 4.02 Disc contents.
  2. A full copy of the RISC OS 3 Manuals CD along with HTML corrections.
  3. A copy of the RISC OS 4 PRM Vol 6 from the Select Web Site.
  4. A full copy of the ANT Internet Suite.
  5. A copy of ImageFS from the RISC OS 4 bundled applications.
  6. A copy of the RISC OS 4.28 Disc Image for clean installation onto new hard drives.
  7. The new Installer and ROM image for RISC OS 4.28 to install the new RISC OS Select Boot sequence and to upgrade from earlier versions of Select.

Support for RiscStation and MicroDigital computers.

The MicroDigital Mico is now fully supported by the Select Scheme, and we are awaiting the delivery of a MicroDigital Omega in order to test its compatibility with Select. We do not anticipate any major problems in using Select with the Omega. We are still investigating the problems that have prevented the production of a version of Select that is fully compatible with the RiscStation R7500. We have released trial versions to some users of R7500 machines, which allow all the features of Select to be used with some operational restrictions. The new RiscStation portable has been developed with Select in mind, and we expect it to be able to fully use future Select Scheme upgrades.

Where can I find documentation for the new features of Select?

General summaries of the new features of Select can be found via the RISC OS Select SmartGroup.

http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/riscos-select/Documents/

The RISC OS 4 Programmers Reference Guides are available at (invalid link removed - Ed)
 

What's planned for future releases of Select?

For practical reasons we can't be definite about what will feature in any given release of Select, as it is impossible to predict how long any new feature will take to complete and test. The nature of the Select scheme is also such that we reserve the right to change the development schedule of Select to meet the needs to our RISC OS Licensees.

 However the following are some of the items that are in an advance stage of development:-

  • Scroll wheel mouse support.
  • Improved Image File Rendering via a new plugin.
  • Pinboard support for Drawfiles.
  • New InetConfigure module.
  • Transparency introduced to Sprites, JPEGs, Blendtable and DragASprite.
  • New TextGadget scrolling lists.
  • New Wimp with improved dithering, fading, tool ordering, italic text sizing, CMYK sprites and much more.
  • DDEUtils has been improved to handle long lines.
  • New FontMenu.
  • Basic Printing support for the all the latest HP Printers.
  • Improved CDPlayer.
  • Better handling of PNG files in Paint.
  • A comprehensive multi-tasking Acorn Replay release with improved movies to take advantage of the enhanced capabilities of the new machines being produced.

As always there is also a substantial amount of other "under the hood" development that doesn't offer immediately visible improvements, but does contribute to our goal of making RISC OS, easier to maintain and develop, as well as providing improved hooks for third party developers. An example is the "bring the pinboard to the front" routine which is being hooked into by the StrongEd team to provide a quick method of toggling the Pinboard to the front or the back of the screen.

The full list of the developments we have planned is extensive and we will release further details as, and when, they reach a sufficiently advanced stage.

Please support the future development of RISC OS by renewing your subscription to the RISC OS Select Scheme

N.B. The next CD is expected at the end of October 2002.

 

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