new user question

Hi
I been using RO about two days.
I installed it on my Raspberry Pi.
My question is about the Resources:$.Apps folder on the icon bar.

I know how to add an app to this folder using Add-to-@apps.
But how do I delete apps that was already there?

Thanks!

>> DavidS wrote "There are a few that are built into the ROM, those can not be removed "

…

First, welcome to the world of RISC OS Zhu T

You can remove any of them that are in the Apps folder on the boot drive (your SD if using default on RPi). You can also remove any that are added through the boot configure.

The proper way is to use AddToApps

I’m going to guess that Zhu has a Pi with the Risc OS Direct image on it.

That image has a some of the software that is elsewhere on the drive added to the Apps folder using the AddToApps function, however I think it was done using a text editor to copy in the commands to the Desktop file:

$.!Boot.Choices.Boot.Desktop

That is probably what “broke” the add/remove capability. So what is needed to open the root directory, hold down shift and double-click on the !Boot icon, now double click the choices directory icon, and then the Boot icon in that and then hold shift and double-click the Desktop file.

scroll down the file until you see a line:
|Start RISCOS BootRun 0.01 Run

Things are added to Apps by everything between this and the line that says:
|End

All those lines will begin IfThere Boot:^.

Delete them. Press F3 to save the file.
That is the backdoor method for removing the added items. It “fixed” the brokeness, so now you can use the proper way.

The correct way to add new items to the Apps on the iconbar is to use the AddToApps.
I won’t re-invent the wheel – the instructions and more are in the UserGuide on the Direct image

Just read the PDF file: $.Documents.UserGuide.UserGuide

Brief description: double-click !Boot, click !Boot in the configuration window that opens and then click AddToApps and drag in the icon of whatever you want to add (it forms a sort of shortcut/symbolic link to the App in the Apps folder on the iconbar) removing things is a case of select highlighting a line in the add to apps and clicking the “Remove selection”

Oh, yes.

To aid Zhu in exploring – there is a command called “AddTinyDir” which allows you to add a directory to the iconbar which you might find useful.

I used the Raspberry Imager Tool to install the OS. i think the tool copy an image file onto the SD card.

Steve,

I looked in “$.!Boot.Choices.Boot.Desktop”,
but I don’t see the apps being called from here.

So I looked in “$.!Boot.Choices.Boot.PreDesktop”.
I see 3 IfThere statements (see below).
I commented them out, and then rebooted.
After reboot, alot of the apps disappeared like I wanted. Now, these are the remaining ones: Alarm, Chars, Draw, Edit, Help, Paint. This is much less clutter. I could live with this. I would delete these 6 also if I could.

====== ResApps Section of My PreDesktop File ======
|Start RISCOS !Boot 0.72 ResApps
| -————————
|
| ResApps
|
| -————————
|
| More applications to appear in Resources can be added here.
|
IfThere Boot:^.Apps then AddApp Boot:^.Apps.!*
IfThere Boot:RO520Hook.Apps Then AddApp Boot:RO520Hook.Apps.!*
IfThere Boot:^.Printing.!Printers Then AddApp Boot:^.Printing.!Printers
|End

What is RO520Hook ? Is it important?

By the way, the folder $.!Boot.RO520Hook.Apps is empty.

THANKS!

One more question:

I am using running Aemulor for Impression Style.

| More applications to appear in Resources can be added here.
|
IfThere Boot:^.Apps then AddApp Boot:^.Apps.!*
IfThere Boot:RO520Hook.Apps Then AddApp Boot:RO520Hook.Apps.!*
IfThere Boot:^.Printing.!Printers Then AddApp Boot:^.Printing.!Printers

Those belong there.
The first makes any Application that is placed in the $.Apps folder appear in the “Apps” on the iconbar. Anything that disappeared when you did the comment out you can remove by moving it from $.Apps to a new directory called Applications. Do that and uncomment those three lines.

If you now add an app to Apps (AddToApps in Configure) you will see that the system puts references in both PreDesktop and Desktop.

The ROxxxHook directories pull in resources in a fashion that depends on the version of OS (notice there are numbers other than 520?)

I was going from memory (obviously not good) as to which held the broken references.

Glad you got that bit sorted. Just a bit of tidy up as above needed.

Now, these are the remaining ones: Alarm, Chars, Draw, Edit, Help, Paint. This is much less clutter. I could live with this. I would delete these 6 also if I could.

Those are ROM resident, so you have to resort to trickery to remove the references.
You will probably find them useful until you get fully up to speed with RO and by then you won’t actually care about anything in Apps most of the time. :)

But “Add-to-Apps” won’t let me add Aemulor.

That’s because it isn’t an application, Aemulor is a utility. If you need it to run old 26 bit applications then run it as described in the help. If you don’t need it then don’t run it at startup as it puts certain limitations on the amount of memory available to applications.

I would delete these 6 also if I could.

My recommendation is to live with them, but if you really want to remove them you could try my AppUtils.

The Apps folder on the Iconbar is part of the Resources filing system, which is quite unlike any other filing system. All the items in it are in memory, mostly in ROM. The added applications are in RAM but !Draw etc are in ROM and can only be removed with some fiddling with pointers.

Add-to-Apps won’t let me add Aemulor. Is it because Aemulor is a module?

Essentially, yes. AddToApps only adds applications, beginning with ‘!’, and what you see in the Iconbar Apps directory is what we call a ‘pseudo-app’ with files inside pointing to the actual application on disc. It is quite possible to add other files to the directory, but not using AddToApps. I think Aemulor adds itself when initialised, doesn’t it?

This all seems a bit advanced for someone new to RISC OS, so I think you should explore and enjoy everything else before returning to this.

Have a good holiday, everyone. ;-)

>> " I think Aemulor adds itself when initialised, doesn’t it?"

Aemulor does indeed pop up in the iconbar-Apps, when I run it.

One thing I noticed about Aemulor is it would not quit properly. I click quit on the Aemulor icon on the iconbar and icon disappear like it should. But the task manager still shows Aemulor processes running. And it was still limiting RAM for new task.

i was tryingt Impression Style. Now i am using Fireworkz.

i had trouble importing simple Linux text file into Impression. There are lots of missing text. Impression seems to have randomly deleted words.

so, i am trying Fireworkz. Fireworkz can read my text file properly. But where is the UNDO command!? I looked everywhere. Theres no undo? Ahhh!

I installed a PS-to-PDF conversion app, and it is working pretty good.
I do the conversion, because i need a more universal format in order to share my doc with other people.

So i was able to write my resume (CV), and convert to PDF. The PDF looks correct on my iPhone. Going to the library next to verify it can be printed properly!

But where is the UNDO command!? I looked everywhere. Theres no undo? Ahhh!

The RISC OS standard is that the F8 key is undo. Not every application honours that however. Fireworks does honour it, while its relative, Pipedream, does not.

Going back to Apps: If you look in the Apps folder on the disc/SD card, you will see a lot of applications. Some are there, as others have said, because they are in ROM. Others may have been installed there. If you open one of those, you’ll see a lot of files, including the executable (often called Runimage). The third category have been added using the Add to Apps config tool. If you open those there are very few files. Opening the !Run or !Boot file (using shift-double click) you will see the paths to where the application resides on disc.

The prefered method is to use Add to Apps and install the software elsewhere. It’s generally tidier, and makes it easier to add or remove things, for example while testing.

If you haven’t yet found Add to Apps, you get to it using configure. This can be accessed by running !Boot from the disc, (old method) or pressing middle-click on the right-most icon on the icon bar and choosing Config (more up to date method). Both work equally well, it’s just a matter of preference.

Once Config is running, choose Boot.