RISC OS Select
original preview from 2001 by John Cartmell
Select - a new way of presenting the RISC operating system
There has been much speculation but at last the contents of RISCOS Ltd's new offering, RISC OS Select, otherwise known as RISC OS 4+, has been revealed as more than a simple list of wishes and RISC OS Ltd have done exactly what every successful company must do - they've listened. As one aspect of RISC OS 4+ after another was demonstrated my overwhelming thought was, "That's just what we wanted." Many of the changes in Select are small but together they make RO4+ a clearly more responsive and intuitive operating system.
So what is Select? Essentially it's a new version of the RISC operating system for current users of RO 4.02. It's different in the way that it is to be distributed. Typically operating systems are sold after years of development and represent a big change from the previous version. Acorn/RISC operating systems were always produced on ROM so there was a significant material cost in its production. In general upgrading operating systems goes hand-in-hand with needing a new machine to run it on. Unlike Acorn, RISC OS Ltd don't produce hardware and they have and are developing RO4.
What to do? Producing ROMs would be expensive and would freeze the new version of the operating system at the date the ROMs were produced. Instead they have decided on a novel (for RISC OS) means of supplying the OS. It won't be in a ROM but on a CD and, rather than a receiving a single CD, the purchaser will receive CDs produced at regular intervals throughout the year. Producing RO4+ in this way means that problems identified after the first release can be modified in time for the second release and so on. In essence each CD will include some release modules (judged safe to use) and beta-modules (use/test at your own risk); where one CD includes a beta version the next is likely to include the release version. There are both positive and negative views of this form of release but there is a basic fact that must be borne in mind; RISC OS Ltd have looked at the alternative means of supplying RO4+ and the Select scheme is the only viable one. If you want RO4+ (you probably will!) you will obtain it through Select.
There have been critcisms of them supplying the OS on CD because the consequent soft-loading of RO4+ will add time to the boot-up sequence; it will, but the good news is that this is only about 5 or 6 seconds. The advantages of the system include the chance to improve (and debug) modules in months (for the next CD) instead of having to wait 3 or more years between full OS releases. Should major faults occur, they aren't expected, the remedy can be distributed even faster over the RISCOS Ltd website. All OS releases include problems, testing on a range of 25 machines can't possibly reveal possible difficulties from every combination of hardware, but the Select scheme offers the best possible option of properly dealing with such problems.
What does Select offer? Over the next two years (the current public planning horizon) RISCOS Ltd will publish an expected 3 CDs each year. The contents will include the kernel and modules of the OS together with a new, streamlined !Boot directory and associated applications. The version of RO4 will advance over time but number changes will reflect changes to the kernel of the system and not just module changes; although the Select release has been touted as v4.5 (as half-way to RO5) its actual number at present is v4.23 and this may be the first released version.
RO 4+ offers improvements which were produced by ROL in its work to produce v4.02, but not ready for release at that time, work at Pace and current development for RISC OS Ltd. Although RO4.02 is stable RO4+ will be even more stable. The kernel has been simplified and modules have been moved to dynamic areas which can now be protected. Moving modules from the kernel means that the system is easier to maintain and changes to modules won't need a complete new ROM build. The changes ensure that ROL can implement updates quickly and smoothly. All known bugs have been fixed with minor intractable but limited exceptions, eg long standing minor problems with too many interdependencies, but these are unlikely to cause problems. RO4+ will be backwards compatible unless software relies on bugs! Developers will need to have a copy of the Programmer's Reference Manual as these PRMs will be followed. And before programmers complain - yes the PRMs will be updated! New documentation is being produced and will be published on the ROL website as soon as each section is available. Anyone needing early documentation for a particular topic is invited to contribute to that documentation - they will be offered access to the technical data.
There will be new components to RO4+ and the OS now takes up 4.3Mb of 6Mb ROMS (compared with 4Mb for the previous OS). RISC OS Ltd are now recommending that we use machines with at least 16Mb RAM.
There isn't enough room here to describe all the changes - simply demonstrating them took five hours! - and the development hasn't stopped; ROL were still taking on board ideas offered this week and agreeing to include features that I have been requesting ever since Risc PCs were first sold. The RO4+ operating system is being sold over a period of time and early users of the OS will be able to help remove outstanding problems and influence the product that is produced. There will be no justification for later complaint if you don't take advantage of that offer now.
ROL will be providing an improved version of the ANT Suite as already announced. Its inclusion will allow new users to access the internet immediately and leave open their option to replace any or all of the ANT modules as they learn how to use the Internet, assess their needs and appreciate the pros and cons of alternative software available. It is expected that this will be enabled by moving the ANT configuration panel to a standard RISC OS configuration through Boot. This open access philosophy is followed throughout the changes to RO4 as links are made available for improvements to the OS by PD and commercial authors. Count, Free, Find and similar Filer items will include a simple link for authors to add improvements so the user effectively enhances the filer rather than having to load (yet another) application, eg a graphical display of directory contents. ROL are being careful to upgrade and improve whilst generating additional space for 3rd party authors; and the best such offerings may, with agreement, be included in later Select CDs. As the deal with ANT was only recently completed the work in this area is behind other work but RISC OS Ltd are clear that they want a more standardised Boot sequence so that the Ant Suite uses the normal RISC OS internet stack and not mess around with it's own modules/stack etc. This is good news for users experimenting with alternative Internet applications.
CDFS has been improved although the commercial CDROMFS still remains a better alternative. There is a new CD player which will automatically pop-up in response to clicking on a music CD icon. The player will read mixed mode and video CDs and will use !AcornCD for access to CD labelling. There are more extensive PD versions available but the built-in application is much more versatile than before and limitations are removed. The CDSoftAtapi module will now read DVD drives. Those with a network of machines will appreciate that the Access+ functions are now built into the system so CDs can be shared across the network passworded, as can selected contents of harddrives, floppy discs and RAM.
The philosophy has been to make the system smoother, iron out the niggles and enhance the enjoyment of using the system - for both general users and software writers.
"Are you sure you want to shut the computer down?" - You do - but only to restart it. Now there's an option to do it directly.
"Ready to format" - all you actually want to do is to clear the floppy's content and formatting will take too long. So choose the Quick option to simply delete the disk's directory.
"Why doesn't RISC OS have a global clipboard like Windows?" It does, and has for some time, but not all software writers used it. Why should they when the standard applications ignored the option? Now there's another slick way of transferring items between Draw, Paint, ChangeFSI, Edit, SciCalc, ... and there's no excuse for anyone not knowing about the global clipboard.
"Can't we have a more interesting pinboard?" Perhaps shading from any colour to any other colour - OK. "And options for writers to pull the pinboard to the front, take action when the pointer is held at the sides, tint icons?" OK. Done that.
"Don't you hate the rigmarole of naming new directories - surely someone could arrange for the directory to be produced with a default name and the pointer in the name field ready to be amended - just as if I'd pressed alt-select on the name?" Done. By the way - have you noted that it takes far longer to describe that than do the action itself. Slick!
Of course alt-select is a bit long winded now for renaming files (introduced in RO4.02) and clicking on the name of a selected file would be far smoother. Done.
"And selecting a group of files is a bit hit and miss." Perhaps you'd like files to show immediately they are selected?
"As is dragging files" Would labelling the file that's being dragged help? And groups of files labelled with the number of files.
"And I hate numbered files that go 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c" That's OK. Just get Select and your pet peeve will disappear.
Once an operating system has the big things right (and RISC OS got many big things right early on) it's the little things that cause the niggles, or not, and RO4+ puts lots of niggles behind us. By listening, leaving the system open for enhancement by third-parties, simplifying and keeping to the style guide RISC OS Ltd have produced an Operating System that will be a pleasure to use. Some will complain that it's no more than what should have been there before and others that it's too expensive. It includes features I would have liked with v3.5 and a philosophy that would have undoubtedly made Acorn more successful. The new features weren't included earlier and what we have from Acorn is a legacy of an excellent OS design with potential. RISC OS Ltd are realising that potential.
Hardware
Select works with ViewFinder and the changes required to work with Kinetic are being worked on at the present. As we mentioned two months ago the other manufacturers need to discuss the special requirements of their hardware with ROL. Delays here will not be appreciated by eg RiscStation customers (like myself!).If you're worried about adding a new Operating System and getting stuck, particularly if you run the beta modules, then a new boot option should remove your concern; booting with shift held down will produce a set of boot options including booting from harddrive, floppy, CD, network, etc or return to the original RO4.02/3 ROMS and shared boots will be shown.
As I've mentioned above there is far too much in RO4+ to describe in one month but we thought it important to indicate a feel for the product now that we've seen it in action. Next month we hope to be able to start reviewing RO4+ (rather than a preview) and perhaps then we'll include more of the features that we've seen demonstrated as well as those we hope to get extended access to for ourselves.
The Select scheme can be purchased for 1 year (3 CDs are planned for the first year) for £105 (£99 to Foundation members) but the Select CDs will only work on machines already running RO4. If you don't have RO4 but do have a machine that can take a RO4 upgrade then the upgrade and a year's subscription to Select will cost £179. The upgrade to RO4.02 alone costs £109. If you upgrade to RO4.02 and then order Select within 4 months the Select subscription will only cost £80.
The Scheme is particularly advantageous for users with more than one RO4 machine at home as only one subscription needs to be purchased - but users with more than 10 machines under the same roof need to ask ROL about the price they need to pay.
RO4 users with non-standard machines such as the RiscStations would be best advised to check with ROL or their computer suppliers to ensure that Select has been tested on their supplier and won't cause problems with a machine specific Boot file. Other than that it looks as if RO4+ could be exactly what we wanted. Roll on Select CD1!
The article above was originally published in Acorn User in October 2001
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