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RISC OS 5 modules and changes
A number of users are unsure of what they have to gain by moving to RISC OS 5 on the Iyonix in comparison with what they are familiar with in RISC OS Select.
The following table presents in a no-nonsense form the major highlights based on the revised feature lists released by RISCOS Ltd as of 7th May 2003 and the 5.03 ROM upgrade from Castle Technology. Minor feature points and general bug fixing have been omitted for clarity - you should consult the relevant support channel for information on these details.
| Feature | Select 1 | Select 2 | Select 3 | RISC OS 5 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependancy on Acorn chipset and peripherals removed | N | N | N | Y | Acorn chipsets are no longer made |
| Sprite sorting in !Paint | N | N | N | Y | |
| Hi res teletext MODE 7 | N | N | N | Y | Twice normal resolution |
| Unicode font system | N | N | N | Y | For alphabets with > 256 characters/glyphs |
| V5T ARM support in BASIC and debugger | N | N | N | Y | Required for modern processors |
| UDMA disc access in ADFS | N | N | N | Y | Up to 100Mbytes/s file loading speed |
| DOSFS handles disc titles properly | N | N | N | Y | Problematic with discs originating from Windows |
| ShareFS operates over subnets | N | N | N | Y | Allows campus wide networking of machines |
| Publically available documentation updates | N | N | N | Y | |
| Runs in 32-bit mode on modern processors | N | N | N | Y | New ARMs don't have a 26-bit mode any more |
| Support for pre RISC OS 4 | N | N | N | Y | |
| Easier to find online !Help | N | N | N | Y | On the pinboard and applications themselves |
| Support for macro keys in the desktop | N | N | N | Y | Uses the 'Windows' keys on the keyboard |
| Display Manager icon matches the configured monitor | N | N | N | Y | Provided one was supplied with the MDF |
| Free space display available for data CDs | N | N | N | Y | Desktop and command line |
| Spaces allowed in filenames | Y | Y | Y | Y | Rather than needing <ALT><Space> |
| LanManFS in ROM | Y | Y | Y | Y | Allows booting off a PC |
| CDFS supporting Joliet long filenames | Y | Y | Y | N | Displays filenames as seen on a PC |
| Updated Configuration plugins | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| JPEG export from !Paint | Y | Y | Y | N | |
| Filer sort by number and lowercase | Y | Y | Y | N | |
| Boot from CD-ROM, Network, or HDD | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| PNG support | Y | Y | Y | N | PNGs are portable network graphics files |
| Overhauled Printer Manager | Y | Y | Y | Y | Includes easier setup |
| Support via a dedicated SmartGroup | Y | Y | Y | Y | Allows feedback from users |
| CDPlayer built into CDFS | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| TaskWindow speed enhancements | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Multi User support | Y | Y | Y | N | |
| SpriteExtend supporting 1:2 sampled JPEGs/EXIF | Y | Y | Y | Y | EXIFs are used by most digital cameras |
| Maximum filesize loaded by ROM apps increased | Y | Y | Y | Y | RISC OS 5 has bigger application space instead of Dynamic Areas |
| DHCP networking | Y | Y | Y | Y | Useful for broadband internet setup |
| CMYK sprite handling | N | Y | Y | N | CMYK is used mainly in the printing industry |
| True translucent sprite plotting | N | Y | Y | N | Used when dragging file icons around |
| Scroll wheel mice | N | Y | Y | 3rd party | |
| AUN networking | N | Y | Y | Y | |
| Local flood fill with 'transparent' in !Paint | N | Y | Y | Y | Previously was faulted |
| Graphics filtering/conversions | N | Y | Y | ChangeFSI | GIF, XBM, Sun, BMP, PNM, PNG files handled |
| Font sizing algorithm improvements | N | Y | Y | Y | Stops the ends of italic text being cropped off |
| Alpha channel sprites | N | Y | Y | N | |
| Easy access to Configure through TaskManager | N | N | Y | Y | Makes setup more intuitive |
| Printer autodetect possible | N | N | Y | Y | Makes setup easier |
| AppleTalk networking in ROM | N | N | Y | N | AppleTalk networks your machine to Apple Macs |
| Rounded buttons possible in windows | N | N | Y | N | |
| Attempting to delete !Boot gives a warning | N | N | Y | N | |
| Thumbnailing in Filer | N | N | Y | N | |
| Recycle bin | N | N | Y | N | |
| Cut and paste in icons | N | N | Y | N | |
| Sprites11 support | N | N | Y | Y | Allows 180dpi sprites in huge desktops |
From this table it is clear to see that on machines which have already been upgraded to RISC OS 4, Select is the next logical step to enhancing your old hardware. However, running on the latest and fastest ARM processors at or above 600MHz requires the power of RISC OS 5 - with a closely matched feature set, now is the time to upgrade and get a whole raft of new bonuses.
RISC OS 5 Modules
| Module Name | Version | |
| UtilityModule | 5.03 | *ChangeDynamicArea can take megabyte/gigabyte sizes High resolution teletext (with reveal/conceal and black foreground support) Module area moved high Application slot increased to support 512MB |
| Podule | 1.60 | Support for the 4 new podule speeds |
| PCI | 0.04 | |
| FileSwitch | 2.65 | |
| ResourceFS | 0.23 | |
| TerritoryManager | 0.42 | |
| Messages | 1.05 | Includes recovery "emergency" network utilities like 'ifconfig' and 'ping' provided through ResourceFS |
| MessageTrans | 0.45 | |
| UK | 0.49 | |
| WindowManager | 4.90 | New Sprites 3D windows/menus as per RISC OS 4 PC delete *WimpSlot can take megabyte/gigabyte sizes Shift+back icon moves by one window forward/backward Sprites11 support Command window self scaling and now centred Automatic translation of spaces to hard spaces (especially. useful in filenames) Ellipsis truncation support (currently used by Filer/Pinboard) Optional interactive help for shaded icons Unicode support |
| Desktop | 2.65 | |
| SharedCLibrary | 5.45 | Sprites11 support |
| NVidia | 0.05 | Gamma correction in /all/ colour depths |
| TaskManager | 1.24 | Exit option now works! Red/green/blue macro key support Configure option in menu Now says "Desktop state" not "Desktop boot" Memory usage now displayed in logical order, and adds up correctly |
| ADFSFiler | 0.93 | Misc UI changes |
| ARM | 0.17 | |
| BASIC | 1.35 | See seperate note at http://www.iyonix.com/32bit/ |
| BASIC64 | 1.35 | See seperate note at http://www.iyonix.com/32bit/ |
| BASICTrans | 2.07 | |
| BufferManager | 0.36 | |
| ColourTrans | 1.75 | |
| Debugger | 1.76 | New command *Memory [A][P] H ARM V5 and Thumb disassembly. |
| DeviceFS | 0.64 | Support for sleeping |
| USBDriver | 0.23 | |
| OHCIDriver | 0.13 | |
| DisplayManager | 0.38 | Shades colour popup menu entries when unavailable Support for replacement icons on a per monitor basis (eg. display manager icon can look like an LCD for an LCD monitor) |
| DMAManager | 0.17 | Detailed changes to aid support UDMA and floppies. |
| DragASprite | 0.15 | |
| DragAnObject | 0.08 | |
| Draw | 1.16 | Clip to path (as described at http://www.iyonix.com/32bit) |
| BBCEconet | 0.17 | |
| FileCore | 3.31 | |
| ADFS | 3.35 | PCI floppy / UDMA support |
| RamFS | 2.19 | 128M max RAM disc size |
| Filer | 2.08 | Set directory option main menu Adjust dragging a directory will close the parent |
| FilerSWIs | 0.05 | |
| FSLock | 1.21 | |
| FontManager | 3.56 | Unicode support |
| FPEmulator | 4.20 | Uses CLZ for speed up |
| Free | 0.39 | |
| Hourglass | 2.16 | Nested pointer colour changes work properly at last |
| IIC | 0.18 | |
| International | 1.65 | |
| InternationalKeyboard | 0.88 | Red/green/blue key support |
| InverseTable | 0.15 | |
| NetFS | 5.92 | |
| NetFiler | 0.79 | |
| NetPrint | 5.56 | |
| NetStatus | 2.09 | |
| NetUtils | 2.01 | |
| Obey | 0.38 | |
| Pinboard | 0.80 | Options->Help for online help when the item selected is an app with a !Help file Text colour/background colour configurable Configure plugin allows random backdrop |
| PipeFS | 0.22 | |
| RAMFSFiler | 0.38 | Share option Disc rename option |
| ResourceFiler | 0.18 | |
| ROMFonts | 0.66 | Euro symbol in the right place |
| ScreenBlanker | 2.32 | |
| ScrSaver | 0.14 | |
| Serial | 0.25 | Dual serial |
| SerialDeviceDriver | 0.39 | |
| SerialDeviceSupport | 0.24 | |
| SerialMouse | 0.07 | |
| ShellCLI | 0.33 | |
| SoundDMA | 1.64 | |
| SoundControl | 1.00 | Entirely new. (And matching new Configure plug-in) |
| SoundChannels | 1.34 | |
| SoundScheduler | 1.27 | |
| SpriteExtend | 1.15 | Loads EXIF files from digital cameras |
| SpriteUtils | 1.12 | |
| Squash | 0.27 | |
| SuperSample | 0.13 | |
| SystemDevices | 1.30 | |
| TaskWindow | 0.70 | |
| WindowUtils | 2.53 | |
| FilterManager | 0.24 | |
| WaveSynth | 1.18 | |
| StringLib | 1.15 | |
| Percussion | 1.14 | |
| Filer_Action | 0.46 | Speeded up operation, also added Faster button. |
| DOSFS | 0.73 | Doesn't muck up disc titles which were named under Windows Optionally uses MimeMap |
| ColourPicker | 0.49 | |
| ScreenModes | 0.30 | |
| DrawFile | 1.52 | |
| BootCommands | 1.31 | 1k CLI limit,several new commands (see *HELP BootCommands) |
| AUNMsgs | 0.16 | |
| MbufManager | 0.26 | |
| Internet | 5.45 | |
| Resolver | 0.67 | |
| Net | 6.19 | |
| BootNet | 0.94 | |
| Freeway | 0.34 | Added ability to share over subnets (see *HELP Freeway) |
| ShareFS | 3.49 | Free space for 'big' discs added to protocol |
| MimeMap | 0.15 | |
| LanManFS | 2.26 | Mimemapped long filenames |
| EtherK | 0.10 | Gigabit support |
| DHCP | 0.20 | |
| !Edit | 1.62 | PC delete |
| !Draw | 1.13 | PC delete |
| !Paint | 1.96 | New sprite sort option New 'create sprite' dialogue Flood fill locally with 'transparent' added Support for EXIF JPEGs |
| !Alarm | 2.73 | |
| !Chars | 1.20 | |
| !Help | 3.13 | |
| TinyStubs | 0.12 | |
| Toolbox | 1.52 | Sprites11 support |
| Window | 1.69 | |
| ToolAction | 0.28 | |
| Menu | 0.36 | |
| Iconbar | 1.20 | |
| ColourDbox | 0.19 | |
| ColourMenu | 0.21 | |
| DCS | 1.11 | |
| FileInfo | 0.18 | |
| FontDbox | 0.18 | |
| FontMenu | 0.24 | |
| PrintDbox | 0.16 | |
| ProgInfo | 0.17 | |
| SaveAs | 0.17 | |
| Scale | 0.15 | |
| TextGadgets | 0.26 | PC delete |
| CDFSdriver | 2.39 | CDBurn support (see ATAPIOp docs) |
| CDFSSoftATAPI | 1.32 | Supports up to 4 IDE drives CDBurn support (see ATAPIOp docs). |
| CDFS | 2.47 | Filename extensions work. Can boot from CD when CDFS is the configured filesystem. *Free, free space for shared CDs and interactive free all implemented |
| CDFSFiler | 2.46 | Better help Proper slider Window positioning Built in CD player |
E&OE