It is hoped to have demonstrations of video editing on both MacOS (Gareth) and Windows XP (Peter) to show the capabilities available now. If you have any videos of your own that you would like to try out then bring your camera along and we can set them up.
It should be possible to do this with digital cameras with DVout as well as with analogue cameras by passing the signal through a digital camera or else using a my digital camera to playback directly if they are on Hi8 tape. This will be a partly formal and partly a hands-on evening I hope.
Firefox as you probably know is a free browser developed for Windows PC use from Mozilla. It has been ported to GNU Linux and Peter is now porting it to RISCOS. Peter began by detailing the long line of historical RISCOS browsers from Fresco, Arcweb, Browse, Webster, Oregano1, Oregano2 and Netsurf before coming to his own work with Firefox port. Early browsers had no support for frames, Java, Javascript or CSS. Acorn added an early Java implementation Java1.0 with Browse. Webster and Oregano implemented Javascript (to some extent). Oregano was developed by Oregan principally for their TV browser for Sony which was initially based on ARM chips. However they have moved away from supporting the style guide. The original version appeared in 1998. Oregano was complete rewrite in C++ but without CSS support and it is understood Oregano3 is yet another redevelopment.
Peter said that Netsurf was fast with CSS but not Javascript. Memory usage varies a lot with Oregano using about 0.5 MB and Netsurf 2.33MB, c.f. IE uses 30MB+.
Peter has ported various UNIX programs which may be downloaded from his website.
Firefox is based on the Mozilla Engine similar to Konqueror. peter wrote Dillo which is a direct Linux port. However his first version of Firefox is very slow to load about 40 seconds on a RISC PC as it has a 17MB binary and uses 30MB memory to start up. There are various speed /memory trade-offs which may be made. He use Webjames to illustrate the browser. One of the attractions of using Firefox is the use of plugins to add functionality, e.g. Flash5 , Real Audio and a free java Virtual machine. There were also extensions available for XUL. The software does include secure modules for https but is lacking printer support. It will probably be easiest to provide postscript support.
Peter is looking for support for this work at the rate of £50 per year and subscribers will then be entitled to receive the finished software. 6 monthly subs are available for £25. He has produced a CD of software which is £12 or less if purchased with a subscription. dgs has spare forms available. See Peter's website for more details www.chocky.org.
An interesting talk with a difference.
After Peter Naulls talk last month I have registered my support for the porting project and I hope others have too, since I consider it a very worthwhile venture. In particular I would like to see a good working version of Firefox on RISC machines since I already use it on the Windows PC.
I have now received an email inviting me to join the UNIX porting newsgroup. This could be interesting.
Hello Computer Club Members,
I have been asked by both ICENI & EAUG clubs, to write about the Wakefield Show.
Similar to 2004, my initial response is disappointment that only Alan from EAUG
and myself put in an appearance. It must be stressed that the Wakefield Computer
Club sponsor this show and without greater support from the various RISCOS clubs
this excellent venue might not be continued!
The tenth Wakefield show was held on 21/22 May 2005, with entry prices of £5 in
advance and £6 at the door. From the Show Guide I have listed the 34 Exhibitors
giving brief details of their products. Following this I have added my personal
comments on individual stands that were of interest to myself. According to the
Show Guide: stands 5, 6 & 13 were vacant and stands 30, 33 & 34 were duplicated.
1 Wakefield Computer Club Sponsors of the Wakefield Computer Show 2005.
2 Castle Technology Ltd Main exhibit was still the Iyonix Computer.
3 Genesis Developments Ltd Developers of the Oregano RISC OS Web Browser.
4 Denbridge Marine Ltd Uses the RISC OS system to monitor shipping.
7 APDL Large collection of RISC OS hardware & software
8 Virtual Acorn Latest versions of Virtual Acorn for "Windows".
9 X-Ample Technology RISC OS developer & dealer in The Netherlands.
10 Electronic Font Foundry Selling quality typefaces for over 60 languages
11 Brain Games Designs & supplies educational games for RISCOS
12 Quercus Successor to the Acorn user computer magazine.
14 RiscCAD Software Allows its users to create complex 2D designs.
15 ITC-UK Ltd Large selection of the original Acorn spares.
16 Domesday System A working BBC Domesday System: on Sunday only.
17 Archive Publications Archive RISC OS magazine & Archive CD for sale.
18 Orpheus Internet Services Easy-to-set-up Internet services for all users.
19 Liquid Silicon Scottish Dealer for all major RISC OS products.
20 The Arm Club Selling Eureka CD and the DiscKnight software.
21 Unix Porting Project Selling the RISC OS Firefox port at the Show.
22 MathMagical Software Co Selling ArtGraph and TurtleChalk at the Show.
23 RISC OS Packaging Project Selling RISC OS packages using RiscPkg at Show.
24 JGH BBC Software Software and hardware for 8-bit Acorn BBC`s etc
25 Etc Systems Yorkshire firm selling second-hand user items.
26 Charity Stall WROCC sponsored: proceeds to Wakefield Hospice.
27 R-Comp/R-Comp Interactive New versions of Messenger Pro 3 & RISCube etc.
28 CJE Micros/4th Dimension Tries to have RISC OS related items in stock.
30 Hubersn Software Demonstration of new version of CDBurn at Show.
30 MW Software The latest developments on photo-real printing.
31 Icon Technology Major upgrade to "EasiWriter" and "Techwriter".
32 Spellings Computer Services Aemulor, Cino, Geminus and DeskDebug at Show.
33 Advantage Six Ltd A range of RISC OS solutions for all users.
33 Stuart Tyrrell Developments Known for IPKam, Unipod, PS2MouseMini & NET100.
34 NetSurf Open source Web browser NETSurf for RISC OS.
34 RaspSoft Business Software Ultimate RISC OS payroll system "HardCash".
My initial concern was to go to the Charity store to see whether they had an old
type keyboard with the mouse in the back. They had one in a box complete with an
Archimedes 420 and mouse plus a "magic" lead from 9-pin to 15-pin monitor for £5
the lot! That is why I missed Jack Lillingstone`s talk at 10.30. in the theatre.
After dumping this lot in my car I went to Virtual Acorn, where I purchased the
latest version for £149. They had a reduced version for £99, but this only gave
the basic items needed. They said that there were three ways to transfer details
from a non-USB computer to a Windows/Virtual Acorn laptop. Using a network card,
which I did not have on the Kinetic: buying a separate CD burner for the Kinetic
or buying an external floppy drive. This floppy drive was purchased from R-Comp
for £30. For those wanting to know the problems I had getting this to work, come
to my combined talk at Ipswich on 5 October 2005.
Following Stewart Brookes talk at EAUG in March 2005 on EasiWriter, I upgraded
my version 4 supplied with my Kinetic. At the Wakefield Show I purchased their
latest upgrade from Icon Technology for £20, after attending their lecture held
in the theatre at 12.30.pm.
After returning home from the Wakefield Show I bought my Acer Aspire 1670 laptop
from Silicon Alley for £839 (including VAT), with an 80Gb hard-drive. So it thus
cost me a total of £988 (including Virtual Acorn). This compared favourably with
R-Comp`s Extreme costing £1850 according to Quercus issue 275 page n° 5. R-Comp`s
laptop according to Quercus runs on resolution: 1680 x 1050. My laptop is best on
1024 x 768: it can run on 1600 x 1200 if you only wish to see part of the screen
though. You therefore get what you pay for!
See you all at the 2006 Wakefield Show!
Tony Lister.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks very much Tony for your detailed report . This Newsletter is produced on Easiwriter.(Ed.)
What developments were there on Photoreal printing I wonder?
The Committee have decided that we can now afford a video projector to be purchased out of Club funds for less than £400.
Our current account (8/6/2005) balance is £542·34. Michael Peck has emailed us details of a Sanyo PCL-SW30 projector costing £399·96 which will give 800x600 resolution with 1250 lumens brightness which should meet our needs well. We would like to get a vote from the members however, before we proceed, since we will be committing a large percentage of our capital funds. However we consider that it would be very beneficial to the enjoyment of our evenings. Please give your vote when you attend next week's meeting or else by email if you are unable to attend.
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| 6th July 2005 | Video Editing | Gareth & Peter |
| 3rd August | Club Dinner at the "Bowling Green" pub in Weeley | More details later. |
| September | (Wireless) Networking | Club |
| October | Virtual Acorn hands on | |
| November | Outside speaker TBA | TBA |
| December | Gadgets, DVD burning etc. | Club |
| January | Social evening TBA | |
| February | Unix, Solaris and Java | Club |
| March | JPEG slideshow 10mins per person | Club |
| April | AGM |
Talks with Visiting speakers are shown in Red. We will give more details as soon as they are available. the more distant dates are more provisional in definition! Some more meetings may have an outside speaker.
Our meetings are held at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road, Ipswich IP2 8NP , for a map and other details please see the website. http://icenicomputerclub.users.btopenworld.com
The first visit is free and subsequent visits for non - members is £2. The membership fee is £18 due from the AGM date in April, but may be reduced for those joining late in the year.
None this month.
Continuing our publicity for EAUG events their next meeting will be:
12th July 2005 "e-Commerce" rescheduled from June.
Cedric Woodhall, back from his travels, will talk about using open source applications to build an e-commerce website. This will include installation of Apache, PHP and MySQL; also installation and configuration of OSCommerce.
For details of the above see the website
http://www.watsnees.demon.co.uk/fw/eaug/
Meetings are at the Great Baddow Village Hall,
opening at 7:30 p.m. for a start at 7:45 - 8:00 p.m.
For directions see below (note the new web addresses)
http://www.watsnees.demon.co.uk/fw/eaug/ven.htm
or 'phone one of the contacts on http://www.watsnees.demon.co.uk/fw/eaug/ppl.htm
See you soon!
Frank.
"ICENI does not have any Insurance cover for computers or other equipment so please be advised that you bring machines to the club at your own risk."
P.S. My insurance company have added my computer cover away from home with no extra premium required, yours might do the same.(Ed.)
I am open to suggestions on what people would like to have included in the new website. Our website URL has changed to
http://icenicomputerclub.users.btopenworld.com as a virtual domain,
it can also be reached using http://www.btinternet.com/~icenicomputerclub
Email to: iceni@woolridge.org.uk