ROOL Forum: Recent posts

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 11:56:27 +0000

I’m currently using Compo to load jpegs onto the canvas, and these then get processed into the ‘DeToxed’ image. Thus far I do some stats and just write out some info files. Compo will load any of the filetypes it recognises, and on the canvas they "look like a sprite* in terms of how the values are stored in Compo. The ‘C’ program in control can then save out info.
At present I’ve just done this to demo/experiment the ability to DeTox. HOWEVER…

At present Compo just lets the specified program (written in Acorn ‘C’) load and read from the item on the Compo canvas, and crunch numbers which can be saved into files. That’s how I get the data to plot the RGB stats. But the same routine should also be able to write out a P5 file of the DeToxed grescale result.

i.e. go from any image format Compo can load to output a file of whatever type you get the ‘C’ program in control to write out as it has access to the data in Compo and can generate output files.

Compo can also do loops through a series of files.

So far as I can see that means it may well be able to do the job from start to finish. i.e. take a list/directory of input pages in any ‘recognisable’ format, and then generate DeToxed pages in any standard RO format or in a file with a simple format like P5. Loop till done. Deterimined by the program being run via CompoScript;

The version I’ve just sent to Archive mag just does the DeTox demo on one page. But that’s a test/demo limited by my time-limits and my grindingly slow programming ability. So given that people here are clearly better at this than me, I wonder if I’m wrong somehow about the above, or if they may not yet realise the potential of using Compo like this. It isn’t GIMP, but it is the closest we have to it, and is open and expandable now.

All of that said, yes, if what is being done by other means give us a good way to do the job, that’s fine with me. :-) … but I may well go on out of curiosity to also get Compo to loop though a series of input files and output DeToxed P5 Greyscale… just that it will probably take me ages to manage to get enough time to do it.

Other side of this:- OK, is there now a routine I can get from you I can try out on some of the PDFs I have that need DeTox? 8-] Again, hope to see this, and would aim to write about it in due time for Archive.

FWIW I’m still mostly using my old ARMX6, but do have a new NVME box from RComp that I am grandually migrating things to. Again, alas, this migration is less swift than is ideal.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 11:23:36 +0000

Im due to arrive at the hotel at 3pm , the train is packed and its like sardines!! i can’t wait to get off this thing.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:50:04 +0000

I believe the hotel’s own Bar/grill/restaurart will be open.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:36:11 +0000

So will any refreshments be available at the hotel?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:07:30 +0000

Just in case you had not heard, the Starbucks at the hotel, will not be re-opening till Monday after the show! Just been informed by the hotel.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:13:31 +0000

Hi Chris, yes it was fixed in 3.25.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:03:35 +0000

No worries about car parking here as Sine Nomine Software will be arriving by train!

We have updates to RiscOSM, Impact, Nominatim, and also a brand new application: PlaneSpot. For folk who upgraded at or after the London Show, the upgrades are all free.

Come and see us on the stand and in the theatre talk at 14:45.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:56:30 +0000

The February / March 2026 issue of Archive, the magazine for RISC OS users, is out now! The digital edition is being sent out in batches today, with the printed edition dropping through letterboxes in 18 countries around the world shortly.

Not a subscriber? It’s not too late to take out a print or digital subscription and still receive the latest issue! See below for details.

The original Archive editor, Paul Beverley, returns this issue… but only for an interview. Rob Sprowson begins a brand new three part series titled ‘Getting on the upgrade treadmill’. Andy Marks fell in love with a monitor, and you can read why. Forth continues its somewhat unexpected and niche revival on RISC OS, this time with an article from Robin Wilks. Chris Hall returns with more features of RiscOSM that you may not have realised exist. Two systems in one Mini-ITX case? Gaukur Gardarsson made it happen. Andrew Oyston covers the latest 8-bit Acorn news. And John McCartney brings Starting Basic, the Ray Favre classic, back to life.
We’ve also got our usual comprehensive roundup of the latest news and software updates. See the cover for full contents.

Viewing on RISC OS
For viewing on RISC OS, I highly recommend using the follow combination:
- !MuView 0.05 alpha or later, downloadable from !PackMan
- ButtonBar from The Flying Pig https://flypig.co.uk/riscos
- BarMuView from John Williams https://petitfour.space/BarMuView.zip
The second two items should be placed in Tasks.
Alternatively the !Iris browser also produces good results.

Subscribe
6 issue digital subscriptions cost £35, print subscriptions cost £42 (UK) or £62 (rest of world). The print subscriptions include the digital edition free of charge. It’s quick and easy to subscribe – payment can be made by PayPal, bank transfer, and cheque. Full details at https://www.archivemag.co.uk/subscriptions.html or contact gavin@archivemag.co.uk for more information.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:53:59 +0000

Thanks to the hard work of John McCartney, Starting Basic from Ray Favre has been “resurrected” and is available to download for free. This is an excellent book for BASIC beginners, even today.

Starting Basic is the second book that John has lovingly (and torturously) recreated, having already produced a third edition of Ray’s Dr Wimp’s Surgery.

You can download both of these books from https://drwimp.archivemag.co.uk, free of charge. John has also written an article about the process involved – see p.40 in the new issue of Archive Magazine (Volume 28 Issue 2).

Archive – the magazine for RISC OS users
www.archivemag.co.uk
Archive Magazine, Beresford Business Centre, 2 Beresford Road, Coleraine, BT52 1GE, UK

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 04:21:55 +0000

Has Image/Rotate/Align to axis been fixed? It throws an error but continues OK if the error is accepted.

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:38:01 +0000

This Sunday – 22nd March, at 1pm UK time – I’ll be continuing the integration of the Wimp Templates into the WindowManager. Last week we managed to squash all the bugs, and I was happy that we were good… and then another one turned up. So we’ll be looking into that!

Come along if you like – https://youtube.com/live/Dx-GCkH5pM8?feature=share – or you can always watch the video afterwards at the same address.

For anyone who hasn’t seen these live coding sessions, this where I share my screen for about 3 hours and code some RISC OS component, whilst talking about what I’m doing, what I’m thinking, and answering questions on the chat.

The template loader pretty much works now. We’re really looking like the whole thing is working like the original. But, of course, it’s written in C.

If you want to watch the whole series, you can follow it through the playlist on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVVIu906Y7rEklq…

Alternatively, the series is also available from my Presentations website: https://presentation.riscos.online/live/wimptemplates.… (once it has been published).