Beginners FAQ:General Questions (Rev #14, changes)

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File Compression

Q: How do I compress something?
A: You can use “!Squash” to compress a single file, InfoZIP or the commercial version of “!SparkFS”.

Q: What is SparkFS?
A: SparkFS can open a variety of archive files (ZIP,ARJ,CAB,LZH,McStuffit,PackdDir,Spark,TAR,ZOO). It lets you access the contents as if they were in a regular directory. (You can drag & drop files, open files from within the archive by double clicking etc.) – So, simply said: It converts an archive into a folder.

Q: Why is SparkFS read only?
A: The SparkFS included in the RISC OS Pi distribution is a free ‘demo’ that only allows reading from the archive files. If you would like to have a complete version of SparkFS order it directly or buy the ePic SD that contains the full version.

Q: How do I create a new ZIP file with SparkFS?
A: If you have the full version of SparkFS: Launch !SparkFS from ‘$.Utilities’ and MENU (middle) click on the IconBar icon. Select ‘New Archive’ and choose the archive type you want to create.

Q: How do I install SparkFS to the RISC OS Pi?
A: Follow these steps:

1. Open the SparkFS ZIP file using the read only version of SparkFS shipped with the RISC OS distribution. If you have the ePic (or NutPi) collection, you’ll find the SparkFS ZIP file in ‘$.NutPi.DavidPilling.SparkFs.sparkfs/zip’.
2. Copy the ‘!SparkFS’ folder to the RAM disc or any other location on your SD Card.
3. Close the read-only version of SparkFS by MENU-clicking on its IconBar icon. Select ‘Close>FS too’.
4. Go to ‘$.Utilities’ and delete the ‘!SparkFS’ folder found there. (Select it and press CTRL-K.)
5. Copy (Drag & Drop) the new ‘!SparkFS’ folder to ‘$.Utilities’ and delete the file from the temporary storage chosen in step 2. (CTRL+K)
6. Double click the new !SparkFS icon to launch your new SparkFS.
7. MENU-click the SparkFS icon in the IconBar and select ‘Choices…’ to modify the SparkFS setup.

Q: I have SparkFS. When trying to open a ZIP file I get an error message saying I don’t have enough RAM!
A: SparkFS normally only uses 4 MiByte of RAM. To increase that launch !SparkFS from ‘$.Utilities’, MENU (middle)-click on its IconBar icon and say select ‘Choices’. Drag the Maximum Slider in theRAM panel to the value you desire. (48000 (32000 is a good value.)

Q: How do I compress a file with !Squash?
A: Squash can ony compress files. To do so, simply drag it onto the Squash Icon in the IconBar. (Squash has to be started beforehand.)

Q: I don’t want to buy SparkFS, any alternatives?
A: You can use InfoZIP to create new ZIP archives, add files or extract files from ZIP archives. Info ZIP is available from !Packman, the RISC OS package manager. Install “Infozip”, “Zip” and “Unzip” from !Packman.

Q: How do I uncompress something?
A: It depends on what sort of file it is. You usually do so by dragging the file onto the icon bar icon of a utility that can uncompress the file. For example:

• The read-only version of SparkFS can unpack Spark, ZIP and Tar archives; the full version of SparkFS can handle a much larger range of archive types (ZIP, ARJ, CAB, LZH, McStuffit, PackdDir, Spark, TAR, ZOO).
• InfoZIP (mentioned above) can unpack ZIP archives.
• ArcFS is used – unsurprisingly – to unpack ArcFS archives.
• UnTarBZ2 (available from the Miscellaneous downloads page) can unpack the special “tar.bz2” format used by RISC OS Open Ltd for source code archives.

If your archive type isn’t listed above, command-line utilities exist to unpack RAR, LHARC, 7Zip, GZIP and BZ2 archives. Have a look at the software list on Packman.

Desktop Environment

Q: Why do I get strange looks when I talk about a Desktop?
A: RISC OS has different names for things. It’s just the way it is. So, you’ll see a lot of references to the Pinboard (analogous to a Windows desktop) and Icon Bar (analogous to a Windows taskbar).

Q: I want program !XYZ to execute on startup! (Eg. !WinSnap, !Alarm)
A: Use !Configure and then click !Boot in the configure window. Click ‘Run’ in the new window and drag the icon of the application you want to start at boot time into the ‘Run at Startup’ window. (This adds a pointer (link) to the original file to the startup list.)

Q: How do I get a clock down the icon bar and how do I set this to run every time I boot the RISC OS box?
A: Using the above method, set !Alarm to execute at startup. This method can also be used to emulate a crontab, by setting ‘task alarms’ where the alarm text is executed as a command. Be aware of a bug here: if the shift key is held down when the alarm triggers, instead of being executed the file is opened for editing.

Miscellaneous

Q: How can I search for a pattern in a file?
A1: If you just want to search one file, grep is available from PackMan, and the syntax is the same is in unix. Although the command will accept wildcards, they are not processed by a shell before passing to the program, and so do not behave in the expected unix way. A far better solution is:
A2: !Textseek (also available in PackMan) – this is a fast, WIMP enabled search that supports wildcards, and displays the results in a throwback window so a simple click takes you straight to the file in your favourite editor.

Q: Is there a list of good places to get software?
A: Firstly, check !PackMan. Update the list on a regular basis (start !PackMan, middle click on the icon, and choose ‘UpdateLists’), as more and more packages are being added. Secondly, try here:

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

Failing that, try one of the following. It’s not an exhaustive list, obviously. Please add to it!

• http://www.filebase.org.uk/
• http://www.stevefryatt.org.uk/software/
• http://chris-johnson.org.uk/software/index.html
• http://www.starfighter.acornarcade.com/mysite/
• http://www.flypig.co.uk/?page=riscos&dnload=risc%20os
• http://www.armclub.org.uk/free/
• http://www.vigay.com/software/

Unfortunately, you’ll come across a lot of dead links when navigating these pages. Hopefully the resurgence of interest in RISC OS due to the launch on the Raspberry Pi will help to breathe some life back into them.

Q: Program !XYZ crashes with an alignment exception!
A: Take a look at your CPU mode in !Configure. Then have a look at the ARMv7 compatibility primer to check the differences between the modes. Generally speaking, ARMv5 compatibility is the most forgiving mode, but if your CPU uses uses the ARMv7 or ARMv8 architecture, ARMv5 compatibility mode won’t be available. If you are still having problems you’ll have to see if an updated version of the program itself is available.

Q: Can I get to a command line?
A: Yes. Press ctrl-F12 to open a multi-tasking command line window (actually an editor session, but entries are passed to the command processor). This will enable other tasks to carry on in the background. Pressing F12 will open a single-tasking command line. All other tasks on the desktop will be suspended for the duration of this session.

Q: Help! I’ve broken something. Can I reboot without removing the power?
A: If you can get to the desktop, you can click on the RISC OS icon on the bottom right to get a task list, and then try to kill individual tasks by middle-clicking on the task name and selecting ‘Task → Quit’. If you can’t get to the desktop, firstly, try alt-Break to terminate individual tasks. If that doesn’t recover the desktop, try ctrl-Break. Be warned though, it’s not graceful.

Q: OK. I really broke something. I need to start doing some backups in case I do it again. Any suggestions?
A: Two programs spring immediately to mind.

• !7backup is included on the RISC OS Pi distribution, or is available direct from the the 7th software website
• !SafeStore is available, either as part of the NutPi/ePic collection, or from R-Comp directly. The full version from R-Comp contains some extra features not included in the ePic (NutPi) versions.

Q: What’s the difference between RISC OS 4, 5 and 6? Which is most recent?
A: There are two concurrent strands of RISC OS development, RISC OS 4 and 6 by RISCOS Ltd and RISC OS 5 from RISC OS Open Ltd under licence (Apache 2.0) from RISC OS Developments Ltd. You might wish to read this wikipedia article which explains the history and some of the differences.