Beginners FAQ:General Questions

File Compression

Q: How do I compress something?
A: You can use “!Squash” to compress a single file. If you want to create a ZIP archive, you can use InfoZIP or SparkFS (see below).

Q: What is SparkFS?
A: SparkFS lets you access the contents of an archive file as if it was a regular directory (i.e. you can open files from within the archive by double-clicking, drag & drop files and so on).

Q: Why is SparkFS read only?
A: Historically, SparkFS was commercial software; the read-only version was a “free demo”. From July 2022 onwards, the full (i.e. read/write) version of SparkFS is available free-of-charge: you can download the latest version from the Miscellaneous downloads page.

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.
If you have the read-only version of SparkFS, download the full version (see next item).

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

1. Download the self-extracting version of SparkFS from the Miscellaneous downloads page.
2. Set the filetype to “Utility” and double-click on the file. This will unpack !SparkFS to the current directory.
3. Go to ‘$.Utilities’ and delete the ‘!SparkFS’ application (select it and press CTRL-K).
4. Move (Shift-drag) the new ‘!SparkFS’ application to ‘$.Utilities’ from its temporary location (i.e. where you unpacked it in step 2 above).
5. Double click the new !SparkFS icon in ‘$.Utilities’ to launch your new SparkFS.
6. MENU-click the SparkFS icon in the icon bar and select ‘Choices…’ to modify the SparkFS setup. For example, you may wish to increase the maximum memory usage (see next item).

Q: I have SparkFS. When trying to open a ZIP file I get an error message saying I don’t have enough RAM!
A1: SparkFS normally only uses 4 MiByte of RAM. To increase that, launch !SparkFS from ‘$.Utilities’, MENU (middle)-click on its IconBar icon and select ‘Choices’. Drag the Maximum Slider in the Memory panel to the value you desire (32000K is a good value) and click on ‘Save’.
A2: If your computer has 4GB or 8GB RAM, older versions of SparkFS won’t work properly. Upgrade SparkFS to version 1.46 or later.

Q: How do I compress a file with !Squash?
A: Start Squash, then drag the file onto the Squash icon in the IconBar.

Q: Are there any alternatives to SparkFS?
A: You can use InfoZIP to create new ZIP archives, add files or extract files from ZIP archives. Info ZIP is available via !Packman, the RISC OS package manager. Install “Infozip”, “Zip” and “Unzip” using !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 (ARJ, CAB, LZH, McStuffit, PackdDir, Spark, tar, ZIP, 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.

Q: Why do pinboard icons go missing after a restart?
A: By default, items pinned to the Pinboard are only kept for the current session. If you want them to be there after a restart, you have to explicitly save the Pinboard. Click MENU (middle mouse button) on the desktop background and choose the “Save” option (don’t change the filename, just click on OK).

Q: I’ve lost a window off the edge of the screen. How do I get it back?
A: You can’t drag it completely off the screen, but it can be quite hard to find (e.g. if it’s obscured by the icon bar). To retrieve all windows, Select-click on the “Display Manager” icon towards the right-hand end of the icon bar and choose a different resolution. This will cause all windows to be repositioned so they appear on the screen: you can then switch back to your original screen resolution.

Q: Why do pinboard icons go missing when I change the desktop resolution?
A: Pinboard places all icons relative to the bottom left corner of the screen. Hence if you reduce the screen resolution, some icons could disappear off the top edge (or right edge) of the screen. To redisplay the icons, call up the Pinboard menu (by pressing MENU on the desktop background) then choose “Select all > Files” followed by “Tidy”.

Q: Can I use the “Windows” and “Menu” keys on the bottom row of the keyboard?
A: Configure > Keyboard allows you to assign actions to the keys (known as “Left flag”, “Right flag” and “Right menu”). If you type text into the field, RISC OS will run a command of that name (e.g. a BASIC program or an Obey file in !Boot.Library) or you can drag an application of your choice onto the field to have that key run the application instead.

Miscellaneous

Q: How can I search for a pattern in a file?
A1: If you just want to search one file, grep is available via PackMan, and the syntax is the same as in unix grep. 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 via 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, !Store – downloadable from http://www.plingstore.org.uk/ – allows you to access a wide selection of free software, along with software to purchase.

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

• http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Recommended_software
• https://riscos.fr/english.html
• 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/

Q: When I try to run an application, it doesn’t start. Instead, a text editor window appears, containing the contents of the application’s !Run file. Why does this happen?
A: When installing an application supplied in a ZIP archive, if you unpack the ZIP archive under another OS (e.g. Windows or macOS) the files in the application will lose their filetypes and the application won’t work. You should unpack the ZIP archive under RISC OS.

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 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: I can’t find a 32-bit version of Program !XYZ. Is there any way of using the program?
A: Aemulor can be used to run many 26-bit desktop programs. If you’re looking to play old games, you may prefer to use ADFFS instead.

Q: Can I get to a command line?
A: There are two easy ways of getting to a command line.

1. 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.
2. Pressing F12 will open a single-tasking command line¹. All other tasks on the desktop will be suspended for the duration of this session. Press Enter on a blank line to return to the desktop.

See CLI Basics for more on how to use the command line.

¹ If you issue a command that generates a lot of output, the display will pause after a screenful of text: press the SHIFT key to see the next screenful.

Q: Help! I’ve broken something. Can I reboot without removing the power?
A1: If an application won’t quit but 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’.
A2: If you do want to reboot the machine, press Ctrl-Break². If it does something other than rebooting (e.g. it may display a dialogue screen instead) press Ctrl-Break again. If two presses of Ctrl-Break don’t get you anywhere useful, it’s time to reach for the power switch.

² On some keyboards, the BREAK key is marked PAUSE. If your keyboard has neither key, see The Break key for how to configure another key as BREAK.

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 7th software website
• !SafeStore is available, either as part of the ePic collection, or from R-Comp directly. The full version from R-Comp contains some extra features not included in the ePic versions.

Q: What’s the difference between RISC OS 4, 5 and 6? Which is most recent?
A: At one time there were two separate 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.