RISC OS wish list

Various

• Key shortcuts (2013-09-13) - 26 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Shortcuts for filer-/OS-Menus (important for RiscBOOK)
  • + This is a must have. Pressing the delete key should delete a file (after confirmation), Ctrl-C should bring up the copy dialogue box and so on.
• Boot (2013-09-13) - 26 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + A re-written and simplified !Boot
  • + Together with a central logging location where apps can report errors in a useful, contextual manner instead of just throwing up an error box leaving you to guess which app is in trouble and guess how its affected the bootup!
  • + Plus publicly available documentation of how its supposed to work and why its that way.
  • - Pick up one of the nice A3 !Boot posters from the RISC OS Ltd stand at the next show you attend - its shows in great detail the structure and the purpose of the various components.
  • + Well, I wish somebody'd post the contents of it somewhere! At least Justin Fletcher has posted the info on how to properly use Choices: on his site though...
  • + It's available to foundation members on the site. Probably ROL don't want to just give the thing away because it is an incentive to foundation members and even covering the costs of producing it must be covered somehow. I doubt ROL can be run as a charity.
  • + The technicalities of the !Boot system do not bother me although using to for example customise my machine could be done a lot easier - by an extension of the !Configure app perhaps.
  • + Mammoth flatulence; 10 Mb on this RPC, 33Mb on new 7000+ (everyone dumps there eg ARMovie 9Mb)
  • + Mine's about 12Mb, mostly taken up by !Fonts and !System
  • + get RISC OS 4
  • + Easily able to tell Boot to start up list of apps without having to copy the apps inside Boot itself. I want to be able to drag adfs::Disk4.$.Apps.Browsers.!Fresco into a config utilty and it remembers the path, not hides a copy of the whole app inside Boot.
• RISC OS stand at the Cebit Show (2013-09-13) - 24 - agree - disagree - follow up
• System wide dynamic linking scheme (2013-09-13) - 22 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + that runs in user mode so it's easy to make a library shareable between apps but still memory protected.
  • + (sorry about the length) Yes, proper support for dynamic linking has so many uses it's unbelievable. Conventional modules don't always cut it. The straylight system was a good hack but the source is no longer available. I also believe it's definitely worth sacrificing compatability with BASIC to get this (although Adhesive apparently managed)
  • + Well this is really needed/ included in POSIX and would reduce the side on native X apps by about 1MB a go
  • + The Straylight SDLS source has been released with GNU public license
• Support for File Resynchronisation (2013-07-20) - 18 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + If RON takes off the RiscOS system should implement a system for file resynchronisation (so that users can update their desktop from the netbook as appropriate)
• Menus (2013-07-20) - 18 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + add !treemenu variant and !Menubar ( 8. )
  • + Or indeed go as far to suggest something like Nick Craig-Wood's !Director module?
  • + Allow selection of menu opions such as Copy,Rename. The rest of the menu would disappear when you clicked thus stopping you typing into thin air if the mouse slips.
  • + !Director does all the menu needs here ...
  • + Integrate a Director-like module into RISC OS - it would be a genuinely useful addition.
• Decent console to replace task window (2013-07-20) - 14 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + It'd be great to have a task window that supported the various VDU commands for stuff like colours, moving the curser etc.
  • - It exists. SmallTask by Thomas Newcomb.
  • + and curses-VDU library so we can run unix console apps in it
  • + I'm working on a new Curses library for RISC OS which is totally independent of RISC_OSlib and self-contained. It should be ready in about a month.
  • + It would be nice to see built into Risc OS!!!
• programming desctop (2013-07-20) - 12 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + need ability to hide icons in programs (not delete)
  • + also add ability to change icons
  • + change icon flags word so that it is possible to use 'styles' instead of fore/back colour font border etc.
  • + icons as objects - depending on values supplied to the icon block gives different objects, eg page tabs, draw objects.
  • + invisible windows - where background is actually invisible, ie window redraws are passed to windows behind.
  • + tab routing possible via an icon validation, eg Tnext,previous; which also includes non wirteable objects. include logic that if icon grey then cannot enter to execute its validation Tnext,prev;
  • + Add ability to move caret to an option but not put caret in icon then with the space bar toggles option on/off. Also move caret to a button icon again no caret in icon but enter acts as click on icon.
  • + error logging - when the wimp receives a Wimp_RepoerError the various details are dumped to a pre configured text file.
  • + directory watch - set a watch on a directory and the filer sets a poll word depending on if any action has occured inside that directory, eg file deletes, stamps, creates, etc.
  • + change wimp key values so that all are unique, eg s + up isn't pageup
  • - If you hide something, how would the OS find it, or how would you find it?
• KeyMod (2013-08-30) - 11 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Integrate the functions of "KeyMod" (configurable) The Block above the arrows. DEL deletes the character at the right side of the cursor, POS1 moves the cursor to the left (beginning of a line) and END to the end of the line.
• Alt Break Lists Progs to be killed (2013-04-16) - 11 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I'm sure it would be easier to list the Programs that can be killed. Doesnt it damage other programs when you Alt Break another. I am sure the system is less stable after an Alt Break.
• Better relationships between RISC OS and Equipment Manufacturers (2013-08-17) - 10 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + So that, one day, printer drivers, USB device drivers etc can be put on the CD ROM with the PC and Mac versions. There must be room for the small amount of code a RISC device would require.
• Native PNG support (2013-07-18) - 9 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + PNGs could replace sprite files containing single sprites with better compression, same colour depths but better mask facillities - more use than JPEG support.
  • - How would you identify the name? Name of the app it was in, I suppose...
  • + I would have to say a Image fileing system wood do the trick
  • + How about an 'extended sprite' format that can include any bitmap format that Risc Os can understand - with built-in support for PNG, you could use either sprites, PNG's or JPEG's for icons/backdrops - presumably whatever is best for the situation in hand.
  • - And how about extending it to encompass TIFF files too ? And GIFs ? And BMPs ? And PBMs ? And PPMs ? And MPEGs ? Gosh, we could end up with a format the encompassed all the pixel based graphics formats. Now compare and contrast this with the evils of RIFF which encapsulates an incredibly large number of filetypes. If there's a perfectly good file format available, then why encapsulate ?!
  • + I'm working on a standard image rendering system for Webite ATM. It hides away a lot of the difficulty of supporting multiple filetypes and is pretty extendable.
  • + That's exactly what we need!
  • + RISCOS ltd. is implementing the PNG image format!!
• BASIC should close OPENIN/OUT/UP files on exit. (2013-04-16) - 9 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + BASIC should ensure that all files opened with OPENIN/OPENOUT/OPENUP are closed when a program exits.
  • - What about legacy code that expects them to stay open ?
  • - You can already create font menus.
  • + Then the legacy code is written in an extraordinary fashion, and probably shouldn't be allowed anyway.
  • - Almost like saying: calling some code should close any files that code opened on exit. If the programmer isn't following their opens and closing them properly, the programmer is writing a sloppy program. How about: Basic applications should be able to operate in an environment which allows it to register opens so that any unclosed opens are closed on exit. It could also register that it wants its own CSD at the same time ;)
  • + just supply me with a modern enough machine and set of uptodate manuals and I can extend string lengths and use efficent code. ARM@ukGinger.net
• OS calls for programmers to make a filetype/font menu (2013-08-17) - 7 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Filetype menus (all named types with small/scaled file icons), and Font menus (all installed fonts, nested with different styles/weights) are used in a large number of applications. Rather than each programmer having to go to a lot of trouble to create these, the OS should do it automatically via a new SWI call. The filetypes menu generation would need a few flags (allow more than one selection, include extra writable field).
  • + Font_ListFonts will build a menu for you...
• B-tree (2013-07-18) - 7 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Add a B-tree module. One of the CC people wrote one years ago (W Waghorn I think). Re-written, it could provide an excellent foundation for any app storing lots of data. Anyone want to have a try?
  • + Comment: Dare, I ask what you mean by a B-tree module ?
  • - I don't believe things like this belong as modules. A library would be more appropriate (although accessing it from BASIC would be tricky) Perhaps an update to BASIC to allow code from library files to be used would be nice.
  • + Perhaps a general Data Management module that implements a simple database system. With support for CSV, SDF import export. This could include B-Tree functionality via SWI's.
• Support for more languages (2013-08-17) - 6 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + I would like to see this easily configurable and in every single part of the OS, most importantly the web browser. I know !Browse uses unicode, but how about providing some fonts for it? At the moment I have no way of reading or entering Chinese using a RISC PC, and it's giving me a hard time.
  • + Very, very definately. I am struggling to avoid having to buy a PC just so my wife can do Chinese language document processing. Note that to wordprocess a foreign language (eg Chinese) it is not neccessary for the actual User Interface to be in that language. I can wordprocess in French, but pressing f3 save 'Save', not 'Ecrive' - not a problem.
  • + I suspect it neccesery in the near future to standardize on Unicode in Risc OS as there exist an ISO standard. This becoming a standard on other platform.
  • + The Japanese Mincho & Gothic fonts are available at http://www.4oznuff.org.uk which is a start, but since the character sets are different as are the codings (naturally!) there would be some fun & games involved for those who want Chinese. Similarly, there is a Japanese word processor called JWP written in C on Jim Breen's Japanese site (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japanese.html) which if ported to Risc OS could no doubt be used as a basis for Chinese (new parser, obviously). I can run it under English Win3.11 on the emulator, and it works fine, despite what the Japanese would regard as idiosyncratic character entry (necessary with a non-Japanese keyboard). However, there seems to be no documentation for the !Unicode font handler, although there are rumours that RISCOS Ltd have a 2-byte font handler available (but not released - please, pretty please).
• Macros (2013-08-17) - 6 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Common text entries should be set up. e.g. Alt W inserts http://www. Alt-R would insert my Name (rob) Alt D for Date, Alt T for Time.
  • + Mouse/keyboard action macros?
• MouseAxess (2013-07-18) - 5 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + MouseAxess: It'd be nice to have this as standard with RO4 - everyone I've heard mention it (including me) seems to wonder how they ever got on without it :-)
  • + Select+Adjust to shut a window-as in my Tortils app. I only write in basic so MA has the drop on me. Also, Menu+Select (select first) to drag any window. Difficult/disabled for impression type nested windows.
  • + I love the way you can switch between apps and hide apps without covering the pinboard with iconised windows. It would be even better if you could use it to bring individual windows to the front. There could be sub menus in it's app menu displaying all the open documents of the apps.
• better printer driver (2013-07-20) - 5 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + i hate the new error message i get when printig e.g. mail merges with impression, that "there is a problem with the printer" although the printer is just not accepting data because its buffer is full. i have to stay and press ok all the time now. :-(((((
  • + The new ability to recieve errors from printers is ok but I would like a change of icon when the paper is out not a error box apperaring
  • - The first person has a broken Printer. The 'error' line is used to indicate an ... error. And the 'busy' line is for when you're busy... so, if it's giving error when it's busy, it's wrong.
• 2D Acceleration (2013-08-17) - 5 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + 2D Acceleration should be built into RISC OS as standard so all 'OS_SpriteOp' commands are passed into the hardware graphics card.
• Linux style pipes (2013-07-20) - 4 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Complex things can be done with pipes and why not port this power to riscos
  • - there already is output redirection { file } so why bother with pipes
  • + redirection is ok but doesnt allow for complex lists of commands to be built up with the output from one comand going through grep then through sed and then into a file or a text viewer
  • + ATM, the options are gerph's SquigglyPipes module or "pipe", which is in ds_utils at http://www.youmustbejoking.demon.co.uk/progs.utils.html#gnu
  • + It would be nice to allow redirection wothout all those {'s and }'s - 'cos it takes too long to type. Allowing this at (and only at) the end of the command line would probably not break too much. (At the moment you can type thinks like *c{ > $.Output }at and it works. While we're at it can we have proper stderr support in the OS as well as pipes?
• In BASIC, strings of more than 255 characters (2013-07-20) - 4 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + In BASIC, support for strings of more than 255 characters in length is needed to support the long-filenames disc environment of RISC OS 4. It would also be good to take the opportunity to make BASIC zero-terminate its strings (both BASIC strings, and those constructed using the $ operator).
  • - What about compatibility with older applications that can only cope with 255 character strings ?
  • + If they were written in BASIC, then they would now have the ability to handle longer strings. Oh no! Major disaster! There is nothing in the BASIC language that prevents long strings, it is just primitive.
  • + Older apps that can only cope with 255-char strings should have things like LENA$<255 in them rather than just waiting for a String Too Long error. It's an implementation-specific feature, so a properly-written program should not break if it's changed to provide greater ability. ("should" as in "is prescribed to", not as in "in most cases will".) It would be useful to be able to tell whether the executing program can use long strings. LENSTRING$(" ",256) being 0 or 256 might do it.
  • + Just supply me with a modern enough machine and set of uptodate manuals and I can extend string lengths and use efficent code. ARM@ukGinger.net
• Security (2013-08-17) - 2 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Accounts, Profiles, Rights. On all levels of the OS and network support. Perhaps an add-on for a server setup featuring centralized account management and authentication.
• Monitor Definition at Boot (2013-07-23) - 1 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Change the old 'press the 0,1,2' keys on switchon to support vga,svga,xga modes on bootup - people with newer riscpcs don't use TV monitors as their main Monitors anymore and have it overide the Monitor definition file in !Boot.
• Multiple Screen Support (2013-08-17) - 0 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Windows has support for a dual screen desktop with win98,me & 2k. This is very useful for presentation packages such as power point 2000, this could alos be useful for DTP and CAD etc. RISCOS would definetly benfit for the support of multiple displays and with new PCI machines arriving this could work!
• Wheel mouse support (2013-07-23) - -1 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Native support for window scrolling with a wheel mouse - might even make Fresco frames more useable.
  • + There is support for MS wheel mouse, can't remeber the exact page with the app on it, but if you look on comp.sys.acorn.announce, it was updated about 2 weeks ago.
• Choice of layouts for the switcher (2013-07-23) - -4 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + wouldn't it be good if you could change the way the tasks are aranged in the switcher icon?
  • - This would be mighty tricky as it has to put the programs somewhere and it doesn't know how many you are going to load at any one time. It would need a window for each section, which would be OK I guess...
• Start button (2013-09-14) - -55 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + A 'Start' button could be placed on the icon bar to launch applications.
  • - Noooooo!
  • - yes, and close down by going to the start button
  • - We have the Apps icon for that.
  • - Are you joking??? /me hits you round the head with a blunt jamacian pastie
  • - Allowing directories in Apps would be most useful
  • + But the Start button is used on Windows. And we all like Windows.
  • - If you like windows so much, go and use it and stop wasting time on RISC OS. Er, that's a NO for the Start button, BTW.
  • - No to a start button, but a preconfigured copy of StrongMen in Choices.Boot.Tasks?
  • + But the Start button is what people want. We need a Start button.
  • - We need a start button like a fish needs a bicycle...
  • + But the other systems have a Start button. Surely that means it is good ?
  • - No, it means it is the evil spawn of Satan
  • - The start button is already catered for, it's functions are 1/3 in the Apps icon, 2/3 in the Switcher icon.
  • - What for???? If Risc Os needs a start button then Windoze needs a FOAD button.
  • + Forget about the word 'START BUTTON' ;-) What is ment/we need/want is an all-purpose point to start from functionally similar to the Wind*ws Start Button - I personally would see this in an extension of the TASK MANAGER ICON. So reformulate the demand to 'Make the TaskManager Icon and its menu customiseable'
  • + an easy way to find out where a programme, which is on the icon bar, is located (yes, like the properties in windoze)
  • - ...but windoze DOES need a FOAD button!
  • + What we really need rather than a start button is a version of Menon which puts it's menu on the Resources icon.
  • - User NCW's Director app - it's the job!
  • + Fair enough! Onto the job!
  • + I like the idea of intergrating it with Apps (logical isn't it?), how about the OS picks which apps are loaded most often a makes a menu of the 10 most used apps and puts them on the apps menu (and the actual program name, not the ! directory name) - I think this would be a good idea in general
  • + Yes, this is a very sensible idea (a menu of files/apps from the Apps icon). In fact, I suggested it to Acorn before they went AWOL.
  • + As has already been said the Apps icon fulfils this role - though for some reason it has taken me 6 years to reaslise the usefulness of this (among other features - already standard in RO)
  • - ISTR a little app called "OnHand" that at on the Iconbar and had a configurable menu used to start applications. I found it useful with RISC OS 2, but dispensed with it in RISC OS 3 and used the Pinboard instead. Personally, I would not like to a Start Button as a standard RISC OS feature, but resurrecting an application like this could staisfy those with a yearning for RISC OS to become more like Windows. Or alternatively, they can simply buy a PC.
  • + There's been one of these for ages at http://www.cowgate.demon.co.uk/acorn/apps/start (or something like that). Top notch kit!
  • + How about if the New Task entry in the Task Manager menu read Run instead?
  • - What we need is a way of putting directorys inside the apps folder on the iconbar not some anoying button thingy
  • + Using both !Director and !StrongMen (from Guttorm Vik) - both excellent and no need for a start button - much better to be able to click menu anywhere on the pinboard or the left side of the screen for StrongMen
  • + There is a little utility called fileflick, which can be set up to give the best function of the start button.
  • + Windows start button is rubbish, whenever Ive used it I always goto my computer first. IT IS POINTLESS.
  • - Create a directory in Apps... Isn't that called ResourceFS_RegisterMemory...?
  • - THIS IS WHAT THE F-ING APPS ICON IS FOR!
  • - erm, loading apps? about the start button, its the worst idea ive heard for the os, go and use a PD program to do it if you want one so badly, code one! I think its a crap idea!
  • - Adding this would mean adding every app you copy to your hard drive into the start menu - too tedious and rubbishe and windows like!
  • - For providing a quick access to the most used Applications/Directories/Documents, there is a utility called !TopTen which does it. It is not as complete as Director in terms of fucntionalities but it suits well the user requirement described above.
• Sound schemes (2013-09-13) - -479 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + optional!
  • + See Phillip Bank's site. I quickly got tired of having sounds going off all the time (esp. his standard set - take floppy disk out "Give me thatback...").
  • + Already working on it, to go with the desktop themes. Annoys the hell out of me as well, but at least I added a nighttime setting that automagically switches to a different volume between certain hours.
• Writable icons (2013-09-13) - -979 - agree - disagree - follow up
  • + Proper support for writable icons (including being able to select part of the text and overwrite it) would be good, as well.
  • + I'd also like a universal way build into RISC OS to copy text from the title bar or icon text into another program or writable field. (Ok, there are 3rd party utils to do this one, I do one myself, but one built into RISC OS would be extremely useful).
  • + Quite right! Also better writable-icon-editing would be nice... for example, being able to highlight text then cut/paste/delete? Pressing Ctrl-U and re-typing pathname is a right pain if it's big and there're no filer windows visible.
  • + What about proper support for multiple line icons, while we're about it?
  • + Definetly should be able to select regions of text in writable icons - one of the few useful features of Windows
  • + Proper multi-line wirtable icons would be wonderful for programmers.
  • + proper drag and drop from any writable icon
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