Monitor Misery

For Christmas I got an Acorn StrongARM Risc PC running RISC OS 3.7. Finally an upgrade on my Archimedes!
I have no instructions or experience other than working in RISC OS 3.11.

I did quite well initially. Having downloaded some software on my vista laptop, zipped it and burned to cd, I was pleased to see the cd and folder names were recognised when loaded from the cd-rom drive of the risc pc. After some deliberating and screen-staring, I realised I needed SparkFS and having it on the cd would be no good as the catch 22 situation meant I couldn’t unpack it.

Fortunately I managed to find a version of the freeware, Sparkplug on my A3020 hard drive which I then transferred via floppy.

Sparkplug was a slightly strange application to use since it required opening the log option and then dragging the data file directly onto the sparkplug icon to get the log to respond and the unpacking to begin. A really crucial piece of software! I felt really good having worked out the process and the application without any instructions and solved the problem.

I was able to install StrongGuard! With the database this way and finally I felt like I was getting somewhere with my new computer!

The joy was temporary however. 24 hours and several tries later and I haven’t got one game working on my risc pc :-(

Here are the attempts and then my request at the end of all this is really for advice on a suitable monitor:

Dune II – This does actually work but refuses to install. The install option results in an error message referring to a missing line in the code. Manually copying the discs to the hard drive doesn’t work either since loading results in serial requests for disks…

Stunt Racer 2000 – Its such an important game for me and the database insists it is SA compatible. The first problem is the reporting of a potential virus on disc 1. I very much doubt there is one on there. Secondly, install fails. Again there is a problem found in the code. Again manual copying failed, this time it repeatedly asks for a tracks disc. Running the game from floppy does start but crashes and never makes it to the title screen. Am I failing to use StrongGuard properly? I’ve tried dragging the icon everywhere in SG, it insists there is no modification to be made.

Sensible Soccer – Sensi installed and a successful modification was made in SG. However, loading resulted in a blank screen. I suspect its the lcd monitor I’m using which doesn’t support whatever old screen mode that Sensi caused a reversion to. Another control-break job.

Ankh (Demo) – Having no luck with my favourite Arc games which were supposed to work according to StrongGuard, I decided to try this Ankh demo thay I’d included on my RISC OS downloads disc. This was another pain. It required a unique mdf (mode definition file) to be created. I followed the instructions to reach boot and config but it didn’t match up with what the Ankh instructions referred to at all. I’ve since discovered some text files under a folder called Full Screen which look more like what Ankh was referring to. Eventually I gave up and decided to look at the whole mdf thing another time. I just wanted something to work

I tried other things like Caves, Big Bang, they both refused to display despite music playing in thr background. Do I need a more flexible monitor? One that’s capable of older frequencies? Do I need to change the screen res and colours to something very low? 480 × 352 seems to be the lowest listed and I’ve not figured out how to set manual ones. How do I make the most of StrongGuard? Am I missing something there?

Any help is much appreciated! There must be something I can play on my Risc PC! Its only day 2 so there is much to learn yet. At least I’ve fathomed the shifting and sparking with sparkplug, hence I can keep trying new things and hopefully get some more info and instructions.

All the best,

Matt.

StrongARM in RISC OS 3.70.

Having downloaded some software on my vista laptop, zipped it and burned to cd,

That’ll be your problem. Having un-zipped RISC OS software on Vista will have changed the filetypes. Needs to be zipped before seeing Windows or downloaded direct to RISC OS.

Dune II CD needed a StrongArm Upgrade:
http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/individual/newprodpages/prodinfo.php?prodcode=ECL-DUNESACD

I’m not sure if the FD version was upgraded or upgradeable:-(

Update: Dune II now installed successfully by dragging the install icon directly over the StrongGuard icon in the icon bar. Display works reasonably well with the enhanced vga mode selected. Struggling with Stunt Racer, install now looks successful via same method but not got a display.

Thanks, I will look at what StrongARM upgrades I might need. Are they enhanced for newer screens at all? Most of my games are archimedes floppy disc originals including dune ii, stunt racer and sensi. As for the download stuff, some of that was already in a zip format when downloaded and so made the transfer successfully without being unzipped in windows I believe, but any that wasn’t, does need re-checking yes.

I honestly think its a monitor/display challenge to work out now. Now that I think I’m installing correctly ie. With StrongGuard. So it might just be a case of selecting the correct display/monitor. Or getting newer versions of classic games. I’m sure the game runs, the monitor just decides it doesn’t like the input when I run one.