Yet another chapter in my Monitor saga. Acorn AKF12. If anyone's interested, this RGB TV type Monitor has a Scart input, which Acorn Risc OS computers can use and a TTL input which is suitable for 8-bitters (Elk, BBC, etc). I've just got hold of one of these and so I'm back in business. Elk and A3010 can happily share the same monitor without swapping and changing cables.
What's more, the instruction book gives the full pinout of both connectors, so if anyone's struggling out there, let me know and I'll happily send details. Also if anyone wants one of these monitors, the person who sold me mine, may still have another one for £75.
On another note, what on earth happened to the Menu program(s) on EUG #36? Since my previous dual-purpose monitor blew up some time ago, my Elk has lain somewhat dormant and I've been viewing EUG disks via the Beeb emulator on my A3010 without problem. However, on receiving my "new" AKF12 just last week, I decided to bring the old faithful back into play. Only to find I couldn't get beyond the Main Menu for "No Room" errors. I tried it on my spare Elk as well with the same result.
I've also found glitches on EUG #37!
On !BOOTing up, the title screen flashed past and went straight to the menu. An OSCLI"FX 21" command fixed this but unfortunately none of the submenus, except Games, would return to the Main Menu. Is there any need for all of these separate files of menus? The 8 Bit Software disks have all their sub-menus controlled from one Menu program. Their disks run without any problems on both my Elks (albeit without Mode 7). Obviously I'm not suggesting Richard nicks their coding, but a little look might be inspiring.
If Mark Bellis is so sure of the future of the RISC processor then surely the only PC he wants is a RISC PC. IBM PC compatibility is then available by plugging in a PC card. That way he'll get the best of both worlds. If PC owners start coming over to the RISC platform, he'll already be there. The latest PC cards are 586's and the fastest run at 133Mhz, with 512K cache and will quite happily run Windows 95 or 3.11. RISC PCII is due out (probably early next year) and that will more than likely allow even faster PC cards.
CD ROM drives and a fair selection of Acorn compatible CD ROMs are available for any Acorn Risc computer (I have one connected to my A3010) although obviously a PC card (or reader) is needed to access WINDOWS-type CD ROMs.
The internet can be accessed by any computer with the right hardware and software. Indeed, the December 1997 issue of Acorn User had a quite detailed two page article on connecting a BBC.
Most of your 8 bit Acorn stuff should run via emulation on a Risc PC and any that don't run with Acorn's Beeb emulator can usually be sorted out by a rather good emulator from Warm Silence Software. This, with an extra module, will even run DFS disks. Many others can be "patched" by a nifty little package called Strong guard/Game on from the Arm Club.
I mentioned a utility that Robert Sprowson made for me a little while ago. It converts AMX/BBC screens and pages into Sprites for RISC OS computers and works in the Desktop. I've had no objections from him for distributing it, so I've included it on this disk. It's called !AMXConvert. Its instructions are contained within the program in a Help file.
I think that's covered everything for now.
John Crane, EUG #38