New To RISC OS Open

Hello All,

I just wanted to say hello, and introduce myself as a new RISC OS Open user. I have recently purchased a Beagle Board, and the official C/C++ Development kit.

Currently I have limited C++ skills, but I am keen to learn. I would like to help in any way I can.

Does anyone have any good pointers as to where to start with RISC OS Open development?

Regards, Rob.

I just wanted to say hello, and introduce myself as a new RISC OS Open user.

Hooray!

Currently I have limited C++ skills,

There’s actually no C++ (I think) anywhere in the RISC OS sources, except for some superficial source. RISC OS is mainly C, assembler and BASIC. C++ on RISC OS mainly exists in ports, and a little native application development.

Does anyone have any good pointers as to where to start with RISC OS Open development?

For small C programs, you should start with the “core apps” – Paint and Draw in particular could do with various improvements; bringing them up to the standard of the ROL versions would be a big win.

Hello!

It’s always good to see a new face :)

Are you new to RISC OS in general, or just new to RISC OS Open? If needed we can give you a quick rundown of the main RISC OS websites, useful software, how to use the OS, etc.

With regards to how to get started with development, this section of the Wiki has a fair amount of information about how to get started with the build system. In particular there’s the guide for building the Cortex/OMAP3 ROM, which is probably the most up-to-date getting-started guide at the moment (And fairly relevant to you since you own a BeagleBoard). And of course the guide for actually running a ROM image, which is equally applicable for ROM images you build yourself and for the prebuilt OMAP3 ROM image available on one of the download pages

Of course if you are completely new to RISC OS, and the BeagleBoard is your only RISC OS machine you might be a bit stuck – although you can set up the machine without any external help from another RISC OS machine, I don’t think RISC OS has any support for USB CD/DVD drives, so you’ll be a bit stuck trying to install the C/C++ tools! If that’s the case then I think a quick word in ROOL’s ear should be all that’s needed to sort you out (e.g. they could upload a .zip file of the CD contents somewhere private and allow you to grab a copy). It may also be possible to make a copy of the CD using an emulator, although I haven’t been keeping up with the developments of the free emulators enough to know if that’s a possibility.

There are many different areas of the RISC OS codebase where help would be appreciated. If you’re unsure of your coding abilities then sticking with the “core apps” as Peter suggests may be a good idea, as they are mostly written in plain C. If you want to get involved with some of the deeper elements of the OS then a firm grasp of ARM assembler is required, as the kernel and a lot of the driver modules are written in either pure assembler or a C/assembler mix.

I just wanted to say hello, and introduce myself as a new RISC OS Open user.

Hi there. Always nice to see another new face around here.

Currently I have limited C++ skills, but I am keen to learn. I would like to help in any way I can.

Well, as you’ve got the C/C++ Tools CD I guess you’ve got everything you need to start investigating how the RISC OS sources are put together. As the sources are made up of many different files, I think looking through some of the smaller, less system-wide areas would be a good start. As Peter points out, perhaps investigating updating the Paint or Draw applications? Although these apps lack many now common features, they are still widely used by many RISC OS users, so any updates will be appreciated.

Thats one of the reasons why I find RISC OS Open so exciting – There is so much that can be improved, that every little bit of help can make a big difference.

In addition, I’m working on converting the Programmers Reference Manuals to the be available online, so that is always another avenue you may like to explore some time too.

Anyway, we’re all pretty friendly and helpful, so always feel free to post on the forum. Hope you enjoy RISC OS - Its a lovely Operating System.

Thanks for the information Peter, I will take a look at the source for Paint and Draw as you suggest.

And Jeffrey, No I’m not new to RISC OS, I currently have around 10 RISC OS based machines, and have been using Acorn machines for almost 20 years now. For my A-Level in computing, I created a replacement for the NetFiler module, that made our school network much more friendly! (Albeit it was written in BASIC, and a little slow!)

I got back into RISC OS about 3 years ago, when I purchased a Risc PC, as I always wanted one back in my teens! However I made the most of my A3010 right into 1999!

Over the recent months I have started to learn C++, I have been looking for something to get my teeth into, and RISC OS Open seemed a good choice. If anyone has any recommendations for books to study regarding C/C++ development, please let me know!

Rob.

I am sorry for the double post, not sure what happaned there. When I try to delete one, I am told I don’t have permission.

[ NOTE FROM ROOL: we’ve removed the duplicate for you :) ]

Probably a double-click on “Save Reply”.

I’d delete the post (witness my administrative power! <insert cackle here>) but then this part of the thread wouldn’t make any sense so I’ll leave it alone :)

[ NOTE FROM ROOL: I’ve done it anyway because it was something to do :D Plus I like winding Andrew up… ]

Aha Thanks Andrew!

In addition, I’m working on converting the Programmers Reference Manuals to the be available online, so that is always another avenue you may like to explore some time too.

Are the Programmers Reference Manuals you are converting the RISC OS 3 ones? I have dug out my copy of those, just wondered if there are newer ones available?

RISC OS documentation post RISC OS 3 PRMs, and especially post-Acorn is a bit disjointed, but I think the ROOL documentation may finally have everything in one place (apart from Select stuff). I have updated the following to bring it more up to date – obviously it could do with more work:

http://www.riscos.info/index.php/RISC_OS_Documentation

Over the recent months I have started to learn C++, I have been looking for something to get my teeth into, and RISC OS Open seemed a good choice. If anyone has any recommendations for books to study regarding C/C++ development, please let me know!

Hi Rob.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of studying and programming C++, myself (most of my C++ books are listed here), and some of the books I’d recommend are the “classical” “Effective C++” books by Scott Meyers.

These capture best practices, as well as pitfalls to avoid in C++.

Also, I would recommend the ACCU mailing lists, which has a friendly bunch of people, discussing a variety of subjects, especially C/C++/Java.

Although I haven’t done much C++ development in RISC OS, feel free to contact me privately if you have any questions or whatever (tslettebo@broadpark.no).

Regards,

Terje

I have updated the following to bring it more up to date – obviously it could do with more work.

Thanks Peter, I have to say I’m very impressed with the wealth of knowledge available on your site!

I’ve been doing quite a bit of studying and programming C+, myself (most of my C+ books are listed here)

Thanks Terje, I’ll take a look at those books, the links to Amazon are really handy there!

Although I haven’t done much C++ development in RISC OS, feel free to contact me privately if you have any questions or whatever (tslettebo@broadpark.no).

Many thanks for the kind offer to help me privately! If I do get stuck, I’ll drop you an Email, but I’ll try not to bother you with silly questions!

Hi Rob.

Regarding C++ programming: It wouldn’t be a bother at all. :) I know very few people who program in C++ in RISC OS, so any discussion regarding C++ or RISC OS would be very welcome.

Nowadays, I work with web application development using PHP, as well as ARM assembly programming on my free time (the extASM assembler I’ve mentioned in other threads), :) so it’s been a while since I’ve done much with C++, but it’s a favourite language of mine, and I’ve at least followed its development (including what’s new in the upcoming new version of the standard, called C++0x).

Regards,

Terje

Paint and Draw in particular could do with various improvements; bringing them up to the standard of the ROL versions would be a big win.

Yes, and before I forget. In particular PNG support in Paint, and wherever else, as a “native” file format as it is in Select. That might mean a move towards the IFR API, which could also be a win.

Yes, and before I forget. In particular PNG support in Paint, and wherever else, as a “native” file format as it is in Select.

Thanks Peter, now I have a programming goal to work towards! Can’t say it will happen quickly, but I will do my best.

Rob, I’d love to see some work on Paint. If you ever want any testing doing or detailed bug reports, let me know. The ROOL version of Paint added sorting of sprites within the main viewer window, which was a great feature. IIRC, there were still a few glitches to iron out. Fixing this might be a nice way into the application. If you’re interested, I’ll do some investigating and send you more details on the problem.

It sounds like you’re an old RISC OS hand, so these links might be superfluous, but the documentation for Select’s IFR API is here. As Peter says, making any changes compatible with the IFR system would be great news. And you might also be interested in this. Private Eye is a wonderful image viewer that handles PNGs, so getting in touch with the developer may be beneficial.

Finally, you may be aware of the Tinct module, which enables plotting of bitmaps with an alpha channel. Currently the OS doesn’t support this out of the box, so it might be helpful.

Thanks Chris!

I will certainly have a good go at updating Paint. As I said I’ve only been learning C++ for the lat few months, so I can’t guarentee how quickly things will move, but I will try my best.

Thanks for the pointers!

My Beagle Board arrived this morning! I’m now trying to setup RISC OS Open.

I’ve seen references on this forum to a setup guide written by Jeffrey Lee. I have tried searching the Wiki and I am unable to find it. (Clearly I’m using the wrong keywords!)

If anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

The main page you’re after is this.

As its unlikely you’re the only person in this situation, I taken the opportubity to create a link from the wiki home page too.

Have fun, and don’t forget to let us know how you get on.

Many thanks Alan!

I’ll have a play later! Although I think I’m going to be stuck for the moment, as I forgot to order the serial port that plugs onto the Beagle Board, so I can’t program it to boot from SD :(

It should boot from SD by default. At least mine did.

It should boot from SD by default. At least mine did.

Thats good news! I’ll have a play when I get home from work!

Well my Beagle Board did boot from SD by default, and I now have RISC OS Open running!

I assume without access to an Iyonix, I have no way to transfer files to the Beagle Board?

I have a seagate external USB drive, and some USB sticks. Plus I have Virtual Acorn and a Risc PC equipped with a UNIPOD. (If any of these can be used!)

Just format a USB stick as FAT32.

Thanks Chris! Will I be albe to run the !Boot sequence from a FAT32 filesystem?

You can but it will be much faster if you filecore format the USB drive and use that instead.