RISC OS 4 requires a RiscPC, A7000 or A7000+ machine with a minimum of 4 Mb RAM (8
advisable) and a hard disc or network access. A Super VGA colour monitor is strongly
recommended, although output to TV resolution displays is also possible. A CD ROM drive is
recommended, as much software is supplied on the accompanying CD. RISC OS 4 is 99.9%
millennium compliant when run on any existing Risc PC and A7000(+) machines.
RISC OS 4 is significantly faster on existing hardware platforms, compared to the same
machines running RISC OS 3.7. Users still running RISC OS 3.5 or 3.6 will notice
particular improvements, as all enhancements in 3.7 are included in RISC OS 4.
Comparing two identical StrongArm machines side by side, one running RISC OS 3.7 with
the "nested window manger" (released by Acorn mid 1998) and the other running
RISC OS 4.0 alpha release, the following real-world results were observed:
| Test | RISC OS 3.7 | RISC OS 4.0 | Improvement | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArmSI speed index | 43.512 | 55.269 | + 27% | Tests processor performance |
| Doom+ (smaller the better!) |
9536 | 7102 | + 34% | Single tasking game, not regarded as OS dependent! |
| Web page render | 1.60s | 1.08s | + 49% | Internal server home page |
| Desktop responsiveness | Although not quantifiable, the desktop appears around 40% smoother | |||
Please note that in tests, ARM 610/710 users observed much larger improvements,
especially compared to RISC OS 3.5 or 3.6, but even compared to RISC OS 3.7, desktop
responsiveness was found to be noticably improved, although such results were not
quantifiable.
RISC OS 4 is at least as stable as RISC OS 3.7, even with all the new features enabled.
It is conceivable that a small number of very old applications may object to the long
filenames facilities of RISC OS 4, although internal testing with major applications has
failed to provide any hard evidence of this. Additionally, under-the-hood improvements in
RISCOS 4 increase compatibility with older applications. In general, any application which
works correctly under RISC OS 3.7 should work correctly on RISC OS 4. Please note that
old-style hard discs are still supported if users do find that a critical application
doesn't support long filenames.
Window Manager / Desktop Enhancements
The additional benefits introduced in the disc based "nested window manager"
(WindowManager 3.9x) are now integrated into the RISC OS 4 ROMs. This allows for complex
windows-within-windows, making creating complex window structures much easier and more
responsive to the user. Moving the mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen will pop the
iconbar to the front.
The much loved "3D patch" is now optionally integrated into the window
manger, giving dialogue boxes, the iconbar and menus an attractive 3D look and feel. In
addition, a window background can be set for menus, to give them a textured look, but
distinguishing them from other windows (traditionally, a much paler texture would be
appropriate). Other benefits include full font blending of all icons, support for 24bpp
colours within icons, correct handling of background tiles for non-grey windows, and
proper mapping of window title bar colours to the textured toolsprites.
Windows can have an "iconise" button which will minimize the window in one
mouse click. The "minimize" location (ie. a corner of the screen or the iconbar)
can be specified via the pinboard settings.
Hard Disc/Filing System Enhancements
One of RISC OS
4's most exciting features is support for large hard discs, long filenames and a
practically unlimited number of files per directory. The maximum limit on size of hard
disc is now 256 Gb (although only 18Gb has been tested), and the maximum filename limit is
1024 characters, although the desktop filer imposes a 200 character limit. There will
ultimately be no limit on the number of files which can live within one folder, and the
filer will sort these properly. In practice a limit of around 3,500 to 5,000 (depending on
filename lengths) files per directory applies at present.
The filer now has the ability to set the current "work" (CSD) directory by
pressing Menu over the appropriate window and clicking the option. Files can be dragged or
saved to the disc icons on the iconbar to copy/save them to the appropriate work directory
for that drive.
Both old and new style hard disc formats can co-exist (on different drives/partitions
obviously), so cautious users can gradually move from old to new, without problems.
Users with Access/ShareFS networks can mix RISC OS 4 new filecore discs with RISC OS
3.7 machine old style discs freely on the network. Users running RISC OS 3.7 will be able
to access shared new style discs and vice versa. Please note, however, that you cannot
physically run a new style hard drive in a RISC OS 3.7 machine, you can only access them
over a network.
More control is provided over default "options" for copying, deleting etc.
The "faster" option can be enabled by default, and "confirm" can be
set to only apply to file deletes. There is also a "faster" button in the window
which appears when copying/deleting etc.
When formatting a new disc, you can now generate much more space on your drive by
decreasing the "LFAU" (Large File Allocation Unit) which is the actual minimum
size for a file. To explain, imagine a 50 byte text file, perhaps containing your name and
address. Although it only contains 50 bytes of text, this one file might well take up 64KB
or even 128KB! Directories suffer a similar problem, and large, well ordered drives might
lose up to 40% of their space through such wastage. Under RISC OS 4, you can choose how
big the LFAU is, and this can allow reclaiming of around 30% of disc space. The only
downside to using a small LFAU is that it slightly decreases performance, although this is
only noticeable at startup when the system may spend a second or two cacheing the drive
map - the smaller the LFAU (and hence the more data on the drive) the longer this will
take, although even a very large drive with a small LFAU won't take a significant amount
of time to cache this data.
RISCOS 4 will ship with an enhanced version of CDFS 2. This maintains compatibility
with all existing 3rd party CD Rom drivers, such as those supplied with most SCSI cards.
It also retains compatibility with existing CD applications. The main enhancements include
proper support for file extension > -> < filetype conversion. This utilises a new
system-wide mapping via the MimeMap module, allowing for mappings to be set in one place
and apply across the board.
Additional enhancements since earlier versions of RISC OS include improved ATAPI CD
support and greater stability.
The Pinboard in RISC OS 3.7 had remained largely unchanged since that in
RISC OS 3.1. As a result, it has received a major overhaul in RISC OS 4. Its single
biggest new feature is that you can now set where various types of file, or iconised
window, gravitate to when placed on the pinboard. This makes finding things on the
pinboard significantly easier, especially iconised windows, which can be sent to the
iconbar to make it quicker to find them.
Configuration of background graphics has been significantly simplified and now forms
part of !Configure. As well as centred, scaled and tiled graphic backdrops, fixed colour
backdrops are possible in any colour/shade, providing an attractive backdrop without the
memory and other overheads associated with large graphics images.
When used in association with ImageFS 2 (see additional applications) almost any format
of image can be used as a background graphic.
The default screen colour depth is now 256 colours, facilitating a move to a much more
appealing desktop display. A new standard window background has been designed giving a
much smoother look benefiting from the improved colour depth. Many new icons have been
created, giving the desktop a more up-to-date feel. When selecting a screen mode, the
Frequency can be selected/shown so that you know what refresh rate is being used. Finally,
when changing mode, the screen now fades in and out, rather than switching abruptly.
The new configure tool makes it easier for users to personalise (and restore) their
system settings by acting as a central repository for all configuration options. It is
easily expandable as it is now plug-in based, allowing Developers to add their own
hardware- (or even application-) specific configuration buttons to the main Configure
window with ease.
A much greater array of options are included in Configure, and it should now never be
necessary to use the command line to adjust the settings. To reduce complexity, default
settings are provided, and are easy to restore if things go wrong.
It is aimed to ship RISC OS 4 with support for several European languages, with easy
expansion for others. Support for the Euro symbol is also included.
RISC OS 3.7, and more recently the Nested Window Manager, have come with ever more
complex (and slow) !Boot sequences. In the old days of RISC OS 2, a machine could boot
into the desktop in the required screen mode within a couple of seconds. A RISC OS 3.7
machine can take 15-20 seconds to boot as initially shipped, or up to a minute to boot
with a variety of apps and patches. The visual aspect of booting has also left much to be
desired.
RISC OS 4 alleviates this in several ways. Firstly, many extra patches that users will
need are now integrated into the OS, so that there is much less of a need for the
assortment of PreDesk files that plagues RISC OS 3.7. The new sequence also cuts down on
the number of files required to boot making loading faster. The interface for this is
provided by a Choices module, which can be used to create additional 3rd party choices. By
removing this from application control, configuration is much safer.
A machine should never become "unbootable". To this extent, the new !Boot
will retain "safe" default settings so that the user can easily get back to a
working system should he accidentally break their configuration files.
RISC OS 4 addresses many long-standing problems with the shutdown process. The highly
confusing "Exit" option on the Task Menu has been removed completely. It now
appears on the new Shutdown menu. This provides the user with a Cancel button as a
"way out" of shutting down their machine, as well as giving options to reboot or
exit the desktop completely (with appropriate warnings).
The printer drivers will be on hard disc for RISC OS 4. With hard disc speeds (and the
OS in general) now much improved, this should not prove a problem. It also allows the
inclusion of new printer definition files for more recent printers. Beyond out-of-the-box
support for a much increased array of devices, timescales forbid a complete overhaul of
the printing system at this stage. A full list will be made available in due course.
A new version of the Help utility is supplied which is significantly more
useful than that supplied with RISC OS 3.7 and earlier. It provides help "at the
pointer" rather than in a cumbersome window at the bottom of the screen. The help now
appears if you leave your pointer over something which has associated help, for a short
period, right where your eyes are focussed on the screen. A further improvement is the
option to stop displaying "common" help messages such as those associated with
the window tools. This makes the use of !Help much less annoying for veteran RISC OS
users, as it will only provide help on applications, buttons and menu items when needed.
RISCOS 4 provides a new screensave protocol, allowing coders to write their own desktop
screensavers rapidly with all manner of configurable effects. A variety of these are
supplied as standard, and support is present for many existing screensavers, so that you
can integrate your favourite effects into RISC OS 4 without the need for a memory-hogging
front end. A wide variety of these savers will be provided as bonuses on the CD. At the
time of writing, additional screensavers supported include Darkhorse and Hangfire savers
as well as new, custom written savers.
Screensavers which do not alter the displayed desktop screen (ie those which simply set
the screen to black and show an effect) benefit from automatic fade in/out effects.
As well as enhanced versions of the standard applications, the following new
applications are anticipated to be supplied as major OS components:
| Writer | RISCOS has long been supplied with Edit, Draw and Paint.
Draw is a particularly powerful tool, and Paint is a perfectly functional painting tool
(although admittedly better suited to icon design), but Edit is a text editor, not a word
processor, and doesn't provide any way of bringing together work created in Draw and
Paint. To this end, Writer will offer a range of word processing features to allow reasonably
complex letter-style documents to be created easily. Text will be WYSIWYG with the ability
to change font face, size and colour. Paragraph alignment will be possible, as will the
addition of images tothe document. One of Writer's other exciting features will be its import/export options. As well as
its own (Easi/Techwriter compatible) file format, the tool will import HTML files, text
files and RTF files, as well as handling many image formats. Export as text will also be
possible. |
|---|---|
| ImageFS 2 | It is anticipated that we shall be supplying a special RISC
OS 4 edition of ImageFS 2, designed to expand the image I/O options available within RISC
OS. |
It is hoped that a replacement for Edit can be provided with additional features (but
probably retaining a similar interface for ease of migration), along with an improved
version of Draw. Other tools (in particular Paint and Alarm) are due for update too.
A CD of additional selected freeware/shareware programs will be supplied with the OS to
provide a wealth of "ready to roll" software out of the box.
We have discovered a single minor bug in one RISC OS 4 system call which does not
return a Y2K compliant value when called. Although it is unlikely to affect most
application programmers, any developers with any concerns regarding this should contact us
for more details. The offending call is OS_Word 14,1. This call has now been deprecated,
and will be removed in due course.
E&OE © Copyright RISCOS Ltd. 1999
