Recent Posts

Topic: Community Support / cannot open applications

Yeah, that sounds pretty broken.

And it’s interesting you get to change your real name while you cannot change your email/password… Given the capriciousness of cloud providers and the likelihood of people changing ISP (seriously, is there anybody here that still trusts TalkTalk?), it would make much more sense to leave the name alone and change the email/password…

Topic: Tests / Nothing to see here

Oh no you aren’t…

Topic: General / How to find a machine's IP address

Of course what nobody’s spotted yet is that the reason the question is hard to answer is because the question is nonsense. A machine doesn’t have an IP address, it’s an interface that does. A machine can have more than one (physical) interface, and some drivers allow you to have virtual (software) interfaces, and would hence have more than one IP address too.

You can ask what the IP address of an interface is by opening a datagram socket (SOCK_DGRAM) then using an ioctl to request SIOCGIFADDR and SIOCGIFNETMASK. Both ifconfig and InetSetup’s status dialogue do this (in C), converting to BASIC and calling the appropriate Socket_ SWIs is certainly possible, but left as an exercise for masochists.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

The boot block dump is here

and

I have sent you boot block dumps when running 5.22 and also 5.23 9th July 16.

having written all those out to a disc, they all look entirely normal, then using HForm (which reads in the parameters) the disc formatted and mounted fine here. So that’s an investigative dead end.

Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way, so here are 5 ROMs which apply the 5 changes from 3.73 to 3.74. Hopefully one of those will show where to look.

Topic: General / How to find a machine's IP address

If networking is not set up, you can still obtain the machine’s MAC address (except on Beagleboard, Pandaboard and IGEPv5 which do not have a MAC address, just a locally administered address). Even a model A Pi has a MAC address even though it has no network adapter.

Topic: Wish lists / Repeat command and archives

To be complete, consider Application directories also.

I think you may be confusing object types with file types. PRM 2-44 & 2-70 say that OS_GBPB 12 returns an object type (at +16: 0 = not found, 1 = file, 2 = directory, 3 = image file [i.e. both file and directory]) an object filetype (at +20: -1 = untyped, use load address, &1000 = directory, &2000 = application directory) and a filetype (at +0 from load address in bits 8-19 if bits 20-31 all set).

Application directories are just directories and although they have a datestamp, the returned datestamp is that of the !RunImage file inside the directory if present. Image files are not returned as a directory – either the image filing system is loaded (in which case they are returned as object type 3) or it is not (and they are returned as object type 1). I have added the option to !Cat to force treatment of object files as files rather than as directories. This means that zip archives and StrongHelp files (for example) can be listed as files rather than as a directory along with its contents. !Cat always operates recursively to ensure contents of every directory are listed.

Topic: Tests / Nothing to see here

Last one!

Topic: Tests / Nothing to see here

Poke?

Topic: Tests / Nothing to see here

Move along.

Topic: Community Support / cannot open applications

Slightly off-topic, but what’s this form for? I just changed my name in there and it didn’t seem to affect my post above.

Edit: Ah, it affects new posts (and resets the post count to 1!)

Edit 2: Hang on, what’s going on here? I’ve changed my profile back to my normal name and now I’ve lost the Edit links on all my existing posts, other than this one. Help!

Edit 3: Yeah, something’s definitely broken now… my profile says “Chris Mahoney” but new posts are coming up as “Chris Mahoney Test”.

Topic: Community Support / cannot open applications

Re-posted on behalf of entityfree, who accidentally signed up with their e-mail address as their visible name and didn’t want it showing; I therefore by their request deleted the post and am re-posting here on their behalf:

so excited to add risc os open to raspberry pi and new to learning it! how can i prove it is able to add and run an application? i have been trying to with, from here, !scicalc, !sparkfs, !blocks. the message is usually something like ‘filer cannot find application to run the file’. been trying use filer_run,boot,opendir , run, exec, obey v, from the command line, and with the mouse, and reading about !boot, !run, and !runimage files, filesystems, tried clicking to change permissions or using access, editing path names in !run file, starting from different directories, moving to Public directory. we are not allowed to install any programs at the library(disadvantage for e.g. image installers). but i did get pico on :) and then i copied the r14 image over and renamed it to riscos.img. the desktop boots up once i cancel and i can run edit, and paint and stuff. sorry.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Hi Rob,

I have sent you boot block dumps when running 5.22 and also 5.23 9th July 16.

I have also tried the 3.74 ROM version and it gives the same issue as the 9th July ROM namely broken directories and errors from Disknight.

On the subject of DiscKnight I have now got another 1.51 version and that correctly reports itself as 1.51 when running and not 1.50.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Did you happen to grab the boot block before the fit of enthusiasm kicked in?

Of course not.

A take 2 then, hopefully valid.

Drive 4 was reformatted with the OS5.22 !HForm 2.70, it is now good again on OS5.22.

It does fail on the FileCore 3.74 test ROM.

The boot block dump is here

HTH.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Failing that it would be good to get a softload with 3.74 in it just to try and narrow things down.

I’ve put such a thing here for anyone able to try, though ideally more people would run the nightly builds so there’s a chance of spotting issues without having to manually wind back.

In a fit of enthusiasm I reformatted Drive 4 with the new !HForm 2.74 under OS5.23 and it now works with OS5.23, it just does not work with OS5.22!

That sounds right. HForm will have spotted that the newer FileCore was present and chosen a smaller/more efficient file granularity, which OS 5.22 doesn’t know about. You can manually force it to use a larger granularity (it’s step 9 of 10 in the User Guide chapter on HForm), say it picked an LFAU of 8192 then keep doubling that number until it fits 2 ¹⁹ fragments).

This is the same situation as for long filenames, if a newer FileCore is present long filenames are selected by default unless manually overridden. Formatting on a long filenames OS then reverting to a short filenames OS leaves you not being able to mount the drive on the older one.

Did you happen to grab the boot block before the fit of enthusiasm kicked in?

Topic: Community Support / ShareFS with headless RPi 3 on RC15

Perhaps you have a point, then.

Given the age of the older machines, one wonders if it’s coming time to take a snapshot of the universal boot, and then begin to strip out the older 26 bit realm stuff and look if the boot method could be improved…

Topic: Announcements / AMCOG Game Development Kit at ROUGOL, 17 July 2017

For those who would like to put their creative skills into game making but find all that mucking about with ARM code hard work, this month’s meeting of the RISC OS User Group Of London will show how to do it the easy way in BBC BASIC :-)

Anthony Bartram will be demonstrating the AMCOG Game Development Kit, which makes game writing on RISC OS simpler than ever before. The kit includes:
- core library to enable sprite plotting, screen transitions, MP3 playback and much more
- tile library to provide a general game engine for games based on tiles
- sound library and virtual sound chip: RDSP
- Game sprites
- Music tracks
- Sound samples

Free graphics, music tracks and sound samples are included, plus three games developed using the kit:
- Mutant Penguin
- Cyborg
- Sparky – a simpler playable tile library case study

Sparky is only available with the Development Kit and is presented both as a playable game and development case study. Anthony will walk us through the Sparky example to show how easily a game can be put together using the kit.

He will also explain more about RDSP, his sound synthesis system that 30 years after the creation of RISC OS finally gives it a working ENVELOPE command!

When & Where:

Monday 17th July 2017, 7:45pm

The Blue-Eyed Maid (upstairs in the restaurant)
173 Borough High Street
London, SE1 1HR

The BEM is easy to reach by public transport from in and around London and the south east:
- 2 minutes walk from Borough tube station
- 5 minutes walk from London Bridge station
- 10 minutes from Waterloo (two stops eastbound on the Jubilee line to London Bridge)
- 20 minutes from Euston and Kings Cross/St Pancras (southbound on the Bank branch of the Northern Line to Borough)

ROUGOL meetings are held on the third Monday of every month and are free to attend, so drop in for food, drink and a chat. More details on the website – http://rougol.jellybaby.net/meetings/index.html

Bryan.

Topic: Community Support / ShareFS with headless RPi 3 on RC15

Ah – the PlingSystem archive – I’d forgotten about that!

So the universality is already compromised! Perhaps you have a point, then.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Hmm. I see on start up it fails on finding !Boot.choices.boot.predesk.Monitor, so, probably not the correct fix, but the fastest before I go to work, I just created an empty obey file called Monitor in predesk, re-booted and now network gets correctly set up on 5.22 and 5.23 softloaded. So, maybe just check there are no errors on boot that might be stopping the network set up.

Many thanks, that was the issue here too. The Iyonix is now booting fully on both OS5.22 and OS5.23.

This also means that my early post on the failure of one drive in OS5.23 is valid after all.

Both drives are 120GB which DiscKnight 1.50 show as good under OS5.22, with OS5.23 Drive 5 is still good but Drive 4 shows multiple failures.

In a fit of enthusiasm I reformatted Drive 4 with the new !HForm 2.74 under OS5.23 and it now works with OS5.23, it just does not work with OS5.22!

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Ok put everything in an old directory and put a clean boot on, rebooted and had some screen issues so copied over my old monitor file and set that up in 5.22 and then booted in to 5.23 9th July and I got no broken directory issues on drive 4 but drive 5 showing as unformatted.

Run Diskight on the drive 4 and lots of errors with fiels in the “old” directory and it says 2345 files found but not referenced including ones in a directory lost & found which is not on the hard drive according to filer.

So boot back to 5.22 and run diskight again and it says all is OK.

Boot in to 5.23 8th May 17 and everything is fine including a scan via Disknight.

Anyway off to work now but will have more time on Friday/Weekend to look at this.

Topic: Community Support / ShareFS with headless RPi 3 on RC15

I don’t follow this – the System app is in Resources in the Universal Boot.

Yes, but it doesn’t contain everything needed for pre-OS 5 systems. For example, it doesn’t include CLib. There is a separate “System resources” zip containing the rest of the System app.

Topic: Community Support / ShareFS with headless RPi 3 on RC15

when I had a 25MB HD on an A3000, it might have been more of an issue!

On reflection, I think it was 20MB, which I see is what John S saved by “rationalising” his Boot.

Boot used to be (floppy days) a single file of type Desktop in which you could place the Run paths of things you needed to boot/have running, the Desktop file not halting if something “barfed”.

When things became too complicated, with some stuff needing loading before the desktop was entered, some after, the “new” Boot was conceived, and eventually developed into the Universal Boot, something which will work on any RISC OS machine that has a hard disc within its physical limitations.

there’s already a separate System app that needs to be installed into Boot if you’re not running OS 5

I don’t follow this – the System app is in Resources in the Universal Boot.

We used to need a separate System app on a floppy in olden times, but no longer!

Most of the stuff in System is redundant as well, but, once again, there for compatibility on/with earlier systems.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

Ok so I’ve got a copy of the boot sector for Drive 4 which is formatted to 112G when running 5.22 so what do I do with it now?

I’ve also tried to get a new update of DiscKnight but there seems an issue with the website. I did dig out an old version , 1.47, and used my previous 1.51 upgrade on that and again it shows 1.51 (15-Dec-2013) from the iconbar menu but the output file shows 1.50 (08-Apr-2013).

I am running a full DiscKnight check on the drive but I did that last night and also asked it to repair and it came back with zero repairs.

I notice Will who have stated the upgrade works has drives less than 100G could this be a factor on the Iyonix?

To rule out anything on my system I might install a totally clean boot/disc image, hiding the old stuff in a directory called old, and see what that does with the new upgrade.

Failing that it would be good to get a softload with 3.74 in it just to try and narrow things down.

Topic: Bugs / Broken Directory/Disc Error with 9th July 17 Iyonix softload

networking went awry

Ah, I noticed I had no network when I booted to 5.23, didn’t think much of it as I’d not updated !Boot. I now see going back to 5.22 no network. Hmm. I see on start up it fails on finding !Boot.choices.boot.predesk.Monitor, so, probably not the correct fix, but the fastest before I go to work, I just created an empty obey file called Monitor in predesk, re-booted and now network gets correctly set up on 5.22 and 5.23 softloaded. So, maybe just check there are no errors on boot that might be stopping the network set up.

Topic: Community Support / cannot open applications

How did you create your SD card originally? It sounds like you may have downloaded the ROM and the disc separately; it’s best to use the “RC15 SD card image” from this page for your initial setup. You can then use something like Win32DiskImager on Windows, or dd on Mac/Linux, to copy the image onto your card.

Topic: Community Support / ShareFS with headless RPi 3 on RC15

With that said, does it still “need” to be universal? Bear in mind that there’s already a separate System app that needs to be installed into Boot if you’re not running OS 5 – would it make sense to move all the pre-OS 5 stuff into the System download so that Boot is pared down on modern computers?

Of course, as noted, it doesn’t really matter much with today’s storage capacities.