User Guide updates

As some of you may have noticed, ROOL have made a PDF of the User Guide available on the Miscellaneous downloads page, and have suggested that an updated User Guide could accompany the next stable release of RISC OS (version 5.28, expected later in 2020).

Bernard Boase already has a User Guide small corrections page up and running, but more substantial alterations to the User Guide will also be needed.

These would include:

• Clipboard cut and paste now supported by Draw, Paint, and the Filer
• “Artist-friendly” colour picker option in Paint
• ChangeFSI now has 4K and 64K sprite output options
• Maestro user interface overhaul

Some lesser items that may (or may not) need a mention:

• AcornSSL now part of the standard disc build
• Right-click on a drive icon to access Filecore partition on dual-format drives
• Mention of some system limits (e.g. maximum file size 4GB)

Anything else?

Is there any need to mention OLE? Impression and Artworks can both handle graphics files created in Euqasor, TableMate and FamTree (Impression only for the latter as Artworks’ OLE is hard coded whereas Impression’s is externally defined by the creating application) which use the internal structure of a draw file so that importing them shows the graphic but they have a different file type. Hidden within a draw tag is the data required for a CTRL-double click within the application to load the file in its native format into the creating application to edit them. Saving them then re-imports the updated file.

The OLE feature is defined in an application note (and was supported by Acorn, I think, although defined by Computer Concepts).

The HardDisc build is defined in one of three ways: the basic HardDisc4 from ROOL, the enhanced Pi image from ROOL and RISC OS Direct from ROD/ROOL. Some of the bundled applications not present in the ‘vanilla’ HardDisc4 might deserve mention.

I think it worth mentioning that User Guide currently available is for RISC OS 5.24. It was based on the RISC OS 3.6 User Guide and had a very significant amount of work done on it by Barnard and others in the last few years. As development on RISC OS continues the manual needs to be kept in step at least with ‘releases’.

Right-click on a drive icon to access Filecore partition

Heretic! Flog the man until he learns the wickedness of his Windows ways!

The HardDisc build is defined in one of three ways: the basic HardDisc4 from ROOL, the enhanced Pi image from ROOL and RISC OS Direct from ROD/ROOL. Some of the bundled applications not present in the ‘vanilla’ HardDisc4 might deserve mention.

The User Guide describes the common denominator Open Source RISC OS 5, rather than specific targets. For example: the section on disc handling covers both floppy discs (Iyonix/Risc PC) and memory cards (Pi et al) too. Therefore, it’s the HardDisc4 image from the downloads page rather than the one with extras for Pi (which is supplied with supplementary material).

Please step up and make any edits on the Wiki page, or by sending them to the address on the Reader’s Comments page at the back of the book. A new draft will be available shortly with the first few community changes added.

[the] User Guide […] was based on the RISC OS 3.6 User Guide and had a very significant amount of work done on it

It was based on the 3.70 text.

Thanks for the acknowledgement Stuart and Chris, but my contribution has been quite modest: aeveral other people have done far more.

@UserGuideEditor: Have there been entries on the Wiki page that are now deleted there, having been incorporated into the new draft? If so, we need access to the new draft to avoid people looking for and repeating already found issues in the published guide.

Oh, good grief… I looked at several drafts of the User Guide over a period of months, I’ve had a physical copy on my bookshelf for a year and a half, and only just now did I notice that there are two chapter 11s.

there are two chapter 11s.

Is it an important topic that bears repeating?

No it is two completely different topics, just numbered wrong.

Hello, i know this thread is from last year, but could someone tell me where the
user guide PDF is located? Mabye im blind but i cannot find it.

Hello, i know this thread is from last year, but could someone tell me where the user guide PDF is located?

ROOL withdrew the download last October, due to font licensing issues. A version with replacement fonts has been promised, but I don’t know when it will be released.

The User Guide PDF is on the ROD distro. Just download it (or buy it on an SD card from ROD) and it’s there.

ROOL withdrew the download last October, due to font licensing issues. A version with replacement fonts has been promised, but I don’t know when it will be released.

Watch this space for an announcement!

Watch this space for an announcement!

I might as well fill this space :)

The User Guide is once again available from the Misc downloads page.

The User Guide is once again available from the Misc downloads page.

Note particularly that the terms have changed “Now published under the Apache 2.0 license.”
No more extended discussions about fonts… :)

CJE Micro’s have generously stepped forward and paid to change that for a more
permissive font licence.

Thank you, Chris Evans, ROOL and everyone who updated the manual.

+1 Thanks to ROOL/CJE andf also the contributors who updated the User document over the past couple of years and without who we would not have an updated user guide.

Official announcement here.

And it usefully gives an ISBN so we can check our local online tat bazaar…

…um, yeah, about that…

Capitalism in action!

(note, it’s £31,50 to Europe directly from ROOL ;) )

(note, it’s £31,50 to Europe directly from ROOL ;) )

Although I guese ordering direct from ROOL will incur Import VAT (and handling charge?) on delivery whereas from eg. Amazon should include that in their overall price. Not that Import VAT would account for anywhere near the huge difference in prices though.

+1 Thanks to CJE/ROOL and all the contributors who updated the User Guide! :)

Capitalism in action!

This is called LOLPrice looool

(note, it’s £31,50 to Europe directly from ROOL ;) )

Yup that’s more like it, if someone really needs a printed version, given that is probably not being mass-printed etc.

from eg. Amazon should include that in their overall price.

I think they only provide a (reasonably accurate) estimation if they themselves supply the product.

If it comes from a third party… Tous frais supplémentaires de dédouanement seront à votre charge ; nous n’acons aucun contrôle sur ces frais. Les politiques douanières varient fortement d’un pays à l’autre, vous devez donc contacter le service local des douanes pour plus d’informations.

Or, in English: All additional taxes are your problem, we don’t have any control over these fees. The import duties vary widely from one country to another, so go bother the appropriate customs office for information.

Strangely, the only information I can find regarding the UK situation is for stuff being imported into the UK. Which is a weird thing to find written in French in the French Amazon app. <shrug>

given that is probably not being mass-printed

Comes across as a Lulu price, to be honest. Which may well be what it is.

Note particularly that the terms have changed “Now published under the Apache 2.0 license.”

Yet the PDF has copy protection enabled.

Yet the PDF has copy protection enabled.

It’s the first time we’ve published a book in this way, so there are some rough edges to iron out – notably the wording on page 2 isn’t quite right as it stands. We’ll address these in the next issue, if not sooner.