New Raspberry Pi - RISC OS - Upgrading to RISC OS 5.28

Thank you, I will try this, instead of making too many posts.

There’s a dedicated Tests forum at the bottom of the main forum page that is there for this purpose.

There’s a dedicated Tests forum

Thank you, Graham – I was too busy trying to find how to display the code finish tag, I didn’t have time to check!

There’s a dedicated Tests forum at the bottom of the main forum page that is there for this purpose.

There are even a few worked examples of quotes in there

I found this one particularly useful

https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/6/topics/15894

Also, It is all so much easier if you use <blockquote> and </blockquote> rather than bq.

Most normal hlml works as well as the things specific to Textile, like bq.

And just to clarify,bq. followed by space starts a block quote. It will include multiple lines, and ends after a blank line.

Once I have placed an order for a Pi 4 or Pi 400, what type and what size micro SD card would you recommend to used?

Brands

People here like Samsung and SanDisk (but make sure you aren’t buying a counterfeit card). Any of the reputable brands should last a reasonable amount of time; cheaper brands are more likely to fail early¹.

Card characteristics

The important ones are “A1” (improved performance for random-access reads/writes) and either “U3” or “V30” (which guarantee 30MB/s write speed). Faster cards (V60 etc.) will function, but the Pi’s SD card interface is the limiting factor.

Card markings to avoid:

• UHS-II or UHS-III (they have a different connector arrangement – an extra row of pins)
• A2 (which requires hardware assist that the Raspberry Pi² does not have)

Card capacity

RISC OS Pi fits comfortably on a 2GB card; RISC OS Direct needs an 8GB or 16GB card. Larger cards will work (32GB cards aren’t too expensive) but if you’re looking to store large amounts of data an external drive (e.g. SSD) would be the preferred option.

¹ Having said that, I’ve not had any serious failures with an SD card in the past three years.

² Perhaps that should read “RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi…”

I finally decided to go for the Pi4 8GB as would like to run other operating systems on it, even though I mainly plan to use it with RISC OS.

Only error that I have made is I have a full size HDMI lead connected to the TV, on the Pi4 8GB what looks like 2 small micro HDMI leads, what type of adapter will I need.

What type of adaptor will I need.

A full cable

An adaptor

You’ll only really be able to use the micro-HDMI nearest the USB type C power port, so you’ll only need the one.

Yes, this are micro HDMI outlets. You need either a HDMI to micro-HDMI cable, or some adaptors. (I prefer micro HDMI to HDMI – cable lightwight type, to give not to much force on the RasPi )

Ordered.

Thank you

There are even a few worked examples of quotes in there

There is documentation on how to drive the Forum over on the Wiki.

Steve,

Thank you.

I now have RISC OS 5.28 up and running, as expected can only see 4GB available. I have the Pi4 8GB connected up to a Samsung TV and there is a black border around the screen, how do I go about removing this.

I also have a CD/CVD drive and when I insert a CD/DVD into the drive you can hear the drive spooling up but RISC OS does not seem to recognise it for some reason.

Finally, what the best way to connect to WiFi.

Thank you.

there is a black border around the screen, how do I go about removing this

Edit config.txt to add the line
disable_overscan=1

when I insert a CD/DVD into the drive you can hear the drive spooling up but RISC OS does not seem to recognise it

Go to Configuration > Discs and increase the number of CD-ROM drives to 1.

what the best way to connect to WiFi

Two options spring to mind:

1. Elesar sell a “WiFi HAT” which attaches to the GPIO pins.
2. Ethernet-to-WiFi bridge/repeaters exist (the Vonets one is fairly popular for RISC OS use) – CJE usually have some in stock.

Stuart,

I have added the line to the config.txt file, then re-booted, once the re-boot had finished, the size of the screen has gone beyond the edge of the SAMSUNG TV, for example, I can only just see the CD ROM icon on the left side, what do I need to do to correct this.

I have changed the configuration for the CD ROM drive and can now see the CD icon on the far left of the icon bar, but when I insert say for example a Acorn User CD, it’s not being recognised for some reason, could it be the type of CD ROM drive that I have.

the size of the screen has gone beyond the edge of the SAMSUNG TV, for example, I can only just see the CD ROM icon on the left side, what do I need to do to correct this.

If disable_overscan=1 is really in your config.txt, it is likely that your Samsung TV is not operating in “true 1:1 pixel mode”, but pretends that some overscan is needed (which was a good idea back in PAL days, but is a nuisance in this digital age).

Try to switch throught the aspect ratio settings – look for “true scan” or “just scan” or “1:1” or “pixel perfect” or “screen fit” or something like that. Every TV vendor has their own wording…

could it be the type of CD ROM drive that I have.

That – sadly – is a distinct possibility. I recall the author of DVDBurn saying that the number of drives that worked was on the low side; all I can say for sure is that the LG drive I’ve got does work.

If you look at the raspberry pi config.txt information you will see that it is possible to specify the top, bottom, left and right ‘overscan’ amounts separately. Just try different values until it looks right. Alternatively add ‘disable_mode_changes’ to cmdline.txt.

Extract:

disable_overscan

Set disable_overscan to 1 to disable the default values of overscan that is set by the firmware. The default value of overscan for the left, right, top, and bottom edges is 48 for HD CEA modes, 32 for SD CEA modes, and 0 for DMT modes. The default value for disable_overscan is 0.
NOTE: any further additional overscan options such as overscan_scale or overscan edges can still be applied after this option.

overscan_left
The overscan_left command specifies the number of pixels to add to the firmware default value of overscan on the left edge of the screen. The default value is 0.
Increase this value if the text flows off the left edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the left edge of the screen and the text.

overscan_right
The overscan_right command specifies the number of pixels to add to the firmware default value of overscan on the right edge of the screen. The default value is 0.
Increase this value if the text flows off the right edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the right edge of the screen and the text.

overscan_top
The overscan_top command specifies the number of pixels to add to the firmware default value of overscan on the top edge of the screen. The default value is 0.
Increase this value if the text flows off the top edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the top edge of the screen and the text.

overscan_bottom
The overscan_bottom command specifies the number of pixels to add to the firmware default value of overscan on the bottom edge of the screen. The default value is 0.
Increase this value if the text flows off the bottom edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the bottom edge of the screen and the text.

Note that it’s better to fix the issue in the TV settings if you can; setting values manually in config/txt should be left as a last resort.

but when I insert say for example a Acorn User CD, it’s not being recognised

What happens when you click on the CD icon? Does the drive spin up again? Do you get an error message? If so which one?

The very fact Geoff’s asking about overscan etc means (I think) he’s not using RISC OS direct. Please, Geoff, do yourself a favour and use that, as most of this is pre-configured in Direct.

Chris M – I don’t wish to be argumentative, but it isn’t best to fix overscan on the TV if it is underscanning (ie. black borders). Only if it is overscanning. The reason being that on modern TVs, overscan is done by artificial scaling (ie. not 1:1 display) which damages picture quality. Geoff’s problem (black borders) means that the Pi is underscanning (more artificial scaling) to try and compensate for TVs artificially overscanning. This absolutely needs fixing on the Pi, as the TV sounds like it is doing 1:1 correctly. For best results, you don’t want any artifical scaling on either the Pi or the TV.

Note that if Geoff were to buy our PiTools software, this should take care of this stuff if you tick the appropriate options.

Please note that I’m post-covid-jab today, again, so may not be thinking clearly.

he’s not using RISC OS direct.

The joy of multiple distributions. What happens when Cloverleaf throws theirs into the mix?

as most of this is pre-configured in Direct.

Just out of interest (not installing Direct, I have my own setup built over years, but then I’m not Direct’s target demographic), does it make assumptions about what sort of display is connected, or does it ask the monitor and set itself up accordingly?

Because my monitor? Won’t touch HD.

By default, Direct lets the Pi interrogate the display, and uses that info to configure RISC OS modes. That’s how the Pi usually works (remember it is a GPU first and foremost, so everything starts there) and it provides best compatibility for legacy games etc. Nothing is hard-wired in that regard, except that it does rather assume HDMI connection, rather than analogue video out.

Monitor defs are available if the autodetection doesn’t play nice with your screen. PiTools goes into this in more depth, though, as it unlocks a range of options that would require different config.txt settings (ie. multually exclusive options) via a UI.

Geoff’s problem (black borders)

Geoff’s first problem was black borders, solved by adding disable_overscan=1 to the config.txt. Now his problem has changed to “the size of the screen has gone beyond the edge of the SAMSUNG TV”.

The solution to this is to change the TVs scaling, as I wrote previously.