In a previous article we've looked at what software is available via !PackMan. But what if you're a developer who wants to get your software listed - where do you start?
 
 

Hot on the heels of updating Font Directory Pro, Elesar have announced a new release of the resurrected Accounting package Prophet.
 
The main changes in the new releases have been to bring the software so that it runs on all modern machines with a nice set of RISC OS 4 or 5 icons and does not need Aemulor to run on 32bit. Oh, and it understands the tax system in 2018.
 
There is also a revised 262 page manual for the product.
 
Elesar has been developing quite a track record of reviving and updating old RISC OS software, and we look forward to seeing what they have planned for Prophet (and what other surprises they spring on us).
 
Website link with a new license for 97.20 (Including VAT) or 68.40 for an upgrade.
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

RISC OS friendly ISP and hosting provider Orpheus Internet have recently launched a crowd funding campaign, with the goal of helping to raise the funds needed to set up a second data centre in a new location. This new data centre will act as a mirror of their primary data centre, providing some much-needed redundancy for when things go wrong - like the incident early last month that left all of their servers unreachable for several hours, and left some systems down for a couple of days.
 
Setting up a second data centre is something that Orpheus have been planning for a while now, but have been struggling to find the funding for - the business doesn't have enough capital to spare, and despite recognising the plans as being sound, banks and other lenders have been unwilling to offer up any cash of their own. Last month's incident - Orpheus's only major outage in the past ten years - was enough to convince Richard that the plans for the second data centre should be kicked up a notch, hence the launch of the crowdfunding campaign.
 
So far the campaign has received donation pledges and long-term loan pledges totalling £3,950 out of the £15,000 goal. This is good progress, but that progress will only continue if new pledges continue to be received. If this is something you're interested in supporting, please contact Richard on 01702 462385 or via the email address crowdfunding@orpheusnet.co.uk.
 

Some things we noticed this month. What did you see?
 
Interesting debugging tool called BreakAid that hooks into the OS breakpoint system.
 
Review of Jason Tribbeck's game Equinox on RISC OS blog.
 
Elesar releases new version 3.23 of Font Directory Pro
 
R-Comp have announced that their new mini.m computer is available for sale, squeezing the power of their ARMX6 into a much smaller and cheaper package.
 
Mark will be taking a break from writing articles over the summer holiday.
 

If you are a MacOS user, you have probably heard of MacPorts (unless you are a Howebrew fan).
 
RISC OS users have a similarly named website at http://www.riscosports.co.uk
 
This site has a good collection of software including lot of Emulators for classic consoles and machines, Games, and a selection of downloads.
 
There are also some programs compiled with VFP support, including Quake, POVRay and MuView.
 
You will also find Raspberry Pi specific items including Khronos.
 
Finally there are some fun little OpenGL examples and some useful resources.
 
Some of the software is older release (ie Vice) but the site is still being update in 2018 and there is plenty of interest to download and try.
 

We wrote previously about the welcome continued improvements in Organizer. Another application which continues to see welcome regular improvements is RiscOSM, the software which allows you to create your own maps from raw data. These can then be exported to other RISC OS applications.
 
You can review the version history online. The latest update is 20th June 2018. As well as lots of bug fixes, Sine Nomine continue to expand the software in two key directions.
 
Firstly the software features allow you to do more and more with the maps. A highlight of the recent Wakefield show was watching the enthusiastic demonstration of the new editor features for changing paths.
 
Secondly, a map creation program is only as good as the raw data it is able to use. There is now a large range of data available for use covering not just UK but large parts of Europe, America and Australia. The software now also offers integration to some online photo resources.
 
It is great to see the software continuing to evolve, and we look forward to seeing what Sine Nomine will be showing at the next Show.
 
RiscOSM website
 

Elesar have released an updated version of Font Directory Pro. As the version number suggests, this is just an incremental update. It does add one really useful feature (suggested by a user) to allow text on the global clipboard to be used in the application.
 
It is good to see the software being updated, and Elesar are always keen to hear if you have any other ideas for improving the software.
 
The update is free to existing users (you should have received an email if you are registered) and can be purchased online
 

Steve Fryatt is a well-known face in the RISC OS world and a regular fixture at RISC OS shows where his stand always has lots of interesting software.
 
His website hosts lots of free software including the free home accounts software CashBook. This has recently reached release 1.41
 
There are utilities like Locate, PrintPDF and PS2Paper, lots of games.
 
If you are looking to write your own software, there are Build Tools and a guide to Wimp Programming In C
 
Steve also has some interesting pages on his website on his non-RISC OS activities.
 
Steve Fryatt's website