Beginners FAQ:Applications (Rev #4)

Image Handling

Q: How do I make screenshots?
A: If you have the RISC OS Pi distribution, you’ll find !Snapper in the ‘$.Utilities’ directory ($ is the root of the main filing system of RISC OS). It allows you to create screenshots of a window, the whole screen or a region on the screen and save it as a variety of image file formats.

Q: How do I convert Image Format X to [JPEG/TIFF/PNG/etc]
A: Using !ChangeFSI from the ‘$.Utilities’ directory ($ is the root of the main filing system of RISC OS). Usage see: Software information: ChangeFSI

Q: What are Sprites? / What is the native RISC OS image Format?
A: A sprite is to RISC OS what a BMP is to Windows. Sprites are the RISC OS native image format. One sprite file can contain multiple sprites. This can be completely different sprites which can be different sizes, colour depths, etc.

Q: .jpgs sometimes give an error when using !SwiftJPEG.
A: Either switch off the error detection in the choices, or use !PrivatEye to open and save them.

Q: Can I convert image formats in batch?
A: Yup. !FSI_Batch does a grand job as a front end to !ChangeFSI

Document Handling

Q: Can I read PDF files?
A: Yes. !PDF installed as part of RISC OS as a reader.

Q: Can I create PDF files?
A: Yes. !PrintPDF is bundled with RISC OS, and uses !GhostScript, also bundled, as a backend to produce any printed output as a .pdf file.

Q: Can I use .doc format files?
A: Yes. EasiWriter offers both .DOC and .DOCX file import. Writer+ (in the NutPi collection) can import the older .DOC format but not the newer .DOCX format.

Q: What spreadsheet programs are there? Can they use .xls files?
A: Two spreadsheet applications – FireWorkz and PipeDream – are readily available, but neither of them can handle .XLS or .XLSX files at present.
ViewXLS can load .XLS files and will allow you to save the cell contents in a CSV file which can then be loaded into FireWorkz or PipeDream. It does not handle the newer .XLSX format.

Personal Organisers

Q: Is there a personal organiser available?
A: Yes. !Organiser, from NutPi. Be aware though, it’s standalone. It will import various formats, but the problem with RISC OS is getting the file exported in the first place. For example, Google Calendars can’t be accessed from !NetSurf.